The Other Birthday Stuff - Cats and Eagles and Randos

Whereas post #1 focused on Seneca needs I was gifted, post #2 covers '97-'98 Ice Cats needs and Random Wants needs of mine. As I mentioned in my last post, it also contains my favorite card from my entire birthday.

Drum roll please...

Bowman CHL Stars Samy Nasreddine!
...okay, that's a lie, not my favorite card of the birthday. But I figure since Samy only has six cards, and since he never played in the NHL, this may be one of the few times his card pops up on a bunch of blogger's RSS feeds. I even tagged the post with his name. Live it up Samy! *


My real favorite card is Brent Johnson's Upper Deck Rookie Card, because it features part of his Worcester IceCats helmet from 1997-'98:
Obviously you can't see it all, but you've got Scratch's claws and teeth. It was a pretty sweet helmet, as most of Brent Johnson's are. Very nice.


My goal with the IceCats collection is to get a card of every guy from the '97-'98 team, with a sub goal of autos or relics to represent the guys who made it to that point. One such guy, really the star of that '97-'98 Cats team, is current Kings Center Michal Handzus:
It looks like a sticker but it's not, which is awesome. Handzus is a guy I didn't appreciate enough back in the day even though he was far and away the best player on the team (apologies to Jamal Mayers, Johnson, and Bryce Salvador, who are also all still playing). Handzus probably would've been more memorable if he looked like he does now back then.


In non-Cat hockey news, I picked up a Mike Eagles Chrome card, where he's flying like a Steve Miller Band song:
This one's crazy random. I know I've mentioned before that my brother's and I played a lot of sports games, and some of my more random wants come from those games. Well back in 2000 the Sega Dreamcast had a game called NHL2K, which I originally loved because both Terry Virtue and Chris Kenady (former Cats - nice!) were in the game. Here's a video sampling the game and its awesome music**:

Anyway, for whatever reason my brother and I always had to have Glen Metropolit and Mike Eagles on our team as well. Eagles I sort of get - he was one of the worst players in the game and his last name is a bird - classic SpastikMooss roster fodder. But Metropolit? No clue. And then weirdly enough he played with the Boston Bruins for every game of the 07-08 season, scoring 33 points and having the year of his life. Never touched those kind totals since...so weird.

Anyway clearly I need a card of Metropolit's now, so he has been added to my random wants. Bring 'em out!

Add one, take two more off, because the last two cards in the package were Peyton Hillis' 2010 Contenders card and an Allen Rossum 04 Topps:

I needed a card of The Winnebago/Madden 2012 Cover Boy in a Browns Uni, and the Contenders is his nicest to date, so that's why that's there. Rossum's fit two needs for me - 1) it's a scrappy KR/DB type, which is pretty much my favorite position in all of football (Lamont Brightful I'm coming for you!). 2) It's a card that tells it like it is. The back of the card says that Rossum can play Dime back in a pinch, but that his true value will always be as a returner. I like honest cards...guy can do this, can't do this, excels at this. Much respect 2004 Topps, and Allen Rossum, who is the only player in NFL History to score a kick return touchdown with five different teams. Wow.

* Damn...Google'd the guy and it actually turns out he has a decent Facebook presence, is still an active hockey player almost 20 years after he started, and there's a YouTube video of him fighting someone...and winning. Good for you Mr. Nasreddine, I had no idea!

** At 1:36ish background song #2 starts, skips, and starts again at like 1:39. I always thought that was just an issue with my game - looks like they were all messed up. Classic!