2015 East Coast National: Breaking Thrones

Hey everyone, Drew back here! At the East Coast National last weekend, I wanted to mix things up and have a little fun with two of my all time favorite TV Shows; Breaking Bad and Game of Thrones. I watched Breaking Bad during my tumultuous stage in upstate New York last fall, and I caught up with Game of Thrones just a few weeks ago. I'm absolutely obsessed with them both, as well as Dexter and The Walking Dead; so you can clearly see why I haven't wrote as much as I did 4 or 5 years ago.

I bought one pack of Breaking Bad Cryptozoic trading cards from their set that ranged from the beginning of the series until the end. The cards are extremely similar to The Walking Dead's annual set, but with just one set crossing all 5 seasons, almost every card showcases important moments.

*SPOILER ALERT: If you are not up to date with either show, for your own good click out of this page now*

Of course, I would happen to pull the card of the most annoying episode of the whole series: the fly episode. To this day, I still don't understand the importance of that one, but it was probably just filler so they could do more awesome stuff later on in the season. That, they most certainly did. I'm not a huge fan of these types of sets that highlight specific moments, but I like the design and the photo choices seem to be on point. I may have to pick up a full set down the road, we'll see.

For the record, as awesome as it was to watch Walter White transform from a chemistry teacher to a criminal, Jesse was my favorite character.

I never thought I would enjoy a show more than the Walking Dead. I did feel like Breaking Bad was a better show as a whole, but I love the characters in TWD to the point where I thought it would never be defeated. Well, it was. Game of Thrones has captivated me all summer, resulting in me not posting as often and really not doing much these past few months. If you haven't watched it yet, and don't think it's your type, you should watch it because it will be your type.

I prefer this style over the Breaking Bad set without a doubt, but this set is also quite a bit more expensive. I'm not sure what the highlight of this first pack was, either Daenerys Targaryen of the House Targaryen, the First of her Name, the Unburnt, the Queen of Meereen, Queen of the Andals and the Rhyonar of the First Men, Khaleesi of the Great Sea, Breaker of Chains, and Mother of Dragons... or Hot Pie. Dany is incredible in about a million ways, but Hot Pie's simplicity and delightful direwolf bread wins in my book. 

In Pack 2, the Season 4 edition, it was an easier choice. I love watching Tyrion interact with Varys, and Stannis had a rough break to say the least at the end of Season 5 (but is he alive?!). But Arya Stark is one of my favorites, partially because I believe I'm falling for Maisie Williams, so her card was my favorite of the pack.

Each pack also came with a foil parallel, which look especially nice in person. I pulled two poor men in charge of protecting the Wall (not the Pink Floyd album, for non GOT watchers reading). I certainly wouldn't mind Alliser Thorne dying soon. I'm sure he was behind the (spoilers) killing of Jon Snow at the end of Season 5. Bastard.

After watching many theory videos, I do think Jon Snow is bound to return in some way in the show (and not just a simple funeral). He appears to be too important to the story for him to just die in such brutal fashion. But who knows what is inside George R.R. Martin's kooky mind. If I had to make a prediction, I will go with the common assumption that Melisandre will use the blood sacrifice made from Stannis' daughter to save Jon Snow's life, because that would actually give that brutal burning scene some significance beyond just pure and utter torture. I don't know if he'll return in full form in Season 6, but I do believe in the R+L=J theory and feel like he and Daenerys will ultimately fight the White Walkers in the final season.

Sorry if that was too much for you all to handle. If you've watched it, you'll understand. If not, don't worry, I've got more baseball for you next on the agenda!

See Ya!

Walking Dead Season 5 Finale TONIGHT!

Hey everyone, Drew back here! As you can see from the post title, I am taking a day off from talking/thinking/writing about baseball to focus on the conclusion of what I believe has been an excellent 5th season of my favorite show, The Walking Dead. I've been thoroughly enjoying this season, and I think it's safe to say that it, along with Game of Thrones, are the biggest shows on TV. I have yet to get into Thrones, as I am currently discovering Lost, but it is next on my TV show agenda!

About a week ago, I picked up my first two packs of the Cryptozoic Walking Dead card set at Target! I have seen these here and there online but never saw them in stores, especially by individual packs. I didn't expect to pull any big autos or relics, but just wanted to get a taste for the product. 

*SPOILER WARNING: If you have not seen up to the end of Season 3 of The Walking Dead, and don't wish to have the show spoiled, do not continue reading*

Pack 1

There is nothing overly special to this card set, as it draws similarities to just about any other pop culture card set. However, as a fan of the show, it is cool to get to relive some of its earlier moments, especially through one of my favorite outlets; trading cards. I love the card of Daryl (Norman Reedus) and Rick (Andrew Lincoln) hunting in the woods together. Season 3 may be the most disputed season among fans, but I personally really loved the Governor's story arch and couldn't get enough of it. I also really loved how Merle emerged at the end of his life, and seeing Daryl have to put his brother out of his misery was an absolutely heart-wrenching moment. If there's one bright spot to the show, it's Glenn and Maggie's relationship, which I pray does not end tonight. Glenn is the most underrated character on the show, and I would hate to see him succumb to the walker masses that are about to strike Alexandria.

Pack 2

I thought the T-Dog death card looked so cool, and I wasn't particularly crazy about the character either so it didn't exactly bring me to tears. T-Dog's role in the group was minimal, and while he was likeable and funny at points, I don't miss him all that much. My favorite card between the two packs was definitely the first standoff scene card of Rick and the Governor. I remember feeling the suspense in that moment, and begging Rick to just kill the man and put an end to it. But Rick is a better man than I, or maybe it was simply because he didn't realize how dangerous the man with the eye patch was.

There isn't anything special to report about the product, but I think they look cool personally since I love watching the show for its characters. Some of the story archs (Beth in the hospital) haven't been overly entertaining, but the connection you gain to the survivors is what makes the show brilliant. Some have said that "it's the best show about nothing", and I get that since it moves at a relatively slow pace. It may dissolve in mainstream interest over the years, but that would simply be because some viewers don't take the time to understand the importance of every single scene (because even filler episodes contain important plot elements you may not catch right away). Last season, a lot of people complained about the back half of the season, especially the episode in which Daryl and Beth find an abandoned cabin in the middle of the woods and hang out. It wasn't all that fun to watch then, but some of what Beth said in that episode tied together in this season.

*SPOILERS: If you haven't caught up to the Walking Dead and wish to, do not continue to read*

As for tonight's episode, I have been so nervous to see how things play out. I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing Morgan make his long awaited return to Rick and the Survivors, and hopefully it will come about in dramatic fashion. Rick very well may be exiled from Alexandria, but that won't be close to the end of his time there. He knows the Alexandrian people are weak, and that he can take over if it came to that. Understanding what's going on in Rick's mind almost makes you want to like Shane and the Governor more, who knew what it took to survive before Rick found out for himself. If Rick never got into a coma, chances are he could've and would've been quicker to fire his weapon and take charge then he was earlier in the show. His character transformation has been amazing to see, because we can see so much of other characters in him now and that he's too far gone from ever being able to remain civilized for a prolonged period of time.

If I had to predict who could die tonight; I think Pete is a shoo in. He's not going to be happy about what took place between he and Rick last episode, and well, no matter what he does, he's not going to win this battle. As crazy as Rick sounded last episode, it all made sense. We all hoped with Rick in prior years that doing the moral thing would result in being able to overcome the Apocalypse, but we now all see that in order to live, you need to be willing to do whatever it takes. Whoever is a threat needs to be taken care of, especially for Rick, who is ultimately trying to protect his son and daughter. Even strong survivors such as Tyreese couldn't survive because he wasn't willing to make that life adjustment.

I also think we're going to see a huge character death, and I have a bad feeling that it will be one of our 5 original characters. Rick and Carl are safe in my eyes, as there is plenty more of a story behind their characters. I think the show will last between 8 and 10 seasons, and it wouldn't make sense for them to die halfway through. It will be one of my 3 favorite current characters; Daryl, Carol, or Glenn. All three could be in danger tonight at some point, and I'm particularly worried about that Nicholas douchebag who we now know is wielding Rick's gun.

Tonight is going to be crazy, and I can't wait to see what takes place. The episode is 90 minutes long, which is a nice treat and will almost feel like a movie! To say I'm excited is an understatement!

I hope this post reached some Walking Dead fans out there in this blogging community, and if not, oh well. I write on this blog mostly for my personal enjoyment of writing, but being to able to share my thoughts and opinions with you all is a blast too.

With all that in mind, any of you have any death predictions? Enjoy the show tonight!

See Ya!

TTM #129- Another Walker Killing Pro!

Hey guys, Drew back here! My senior year is now underway, and it has already shown signs of being by far the best year of school. The workload hasn't been horrible, and having a car has really made things less stressful on me. Unfortunately, before long I'll be having to submit applications to colleges, so it won't all be fun, but I'm looking forward to seeing where I get accepted and to making a decision in general. On that note, check out this awesome success I recently got through the mail!

I got Rick's autograph (Andrew Lincoln) already, but I knew I wouldn't be content until I ended up with Daryl's! Norman Reedus, the rising star of AMC's "The Walking Dead", signed this 8x10 for me in a little over a 3 month wait! As I mentioned in my last "Walking Dead" post, I've been an avid fan since last fall, and this spring I mailed to a few members of the cast. Daryl, Reedus' character, is my favorite on the show by a longshot, so I was thrilled to see this come back! He personalized it to me, and although he signed it in red, it still looks pretty nice!

Any of you guys into the show? Let me know what you think in the comments below!

See Ya!

TTM #108 - Biters Beware! TV Return!

Hey guys, Drew back here! This year, along with my love for the hobby, I've gained additional love for a few TV shows, The Walking Dead in particular! I started watching TWD during the late fall, and have absolutely loved the show. It goes so far beyond the basic zombie gist many people make it out to be, and I guarantee if you're into any suspense or drama shows, you would love this one too. I recently mailed off an 8x10 of a show promo overseas to the leading actor Andrew Lincoln, who plays Rick Grimes. Late last week, Lincoln returned the picture signed! Check out the results:

"Dear Drew, Thank you for your kind words.. Best wishes from the Zombie Apocalypse. Andrew Lincoln"! I hadn't been as excited for a TTM in a long time to the extent I was for this one. Sure, I can get all of the sports stars out there, but something about my autographs of Lil Wayne (whose music I really can't stand anymore), Betty White, Jack Black, etc; carry much more personal value. These are ones I can share around school and get a lot of "Wow Drew, that's awesome", compared to an athlete most haven't really heard of. And this one sure did draw a lot of positive feedback and reaction, especially to my fellow Dead Head friends!

When I took it out of the envelope, this sticky note was placed on the right corner of the photo. It took me forever to figure out what it was, although I still don't know exactly what it says. I sent the photo to Lincoln's agent, so I figure this note was for Andrew to use to sign the photo. Of course, this sort of takes away from the experience; but it's completely understandable that he doesn't get to read all his fan mail. The fact that he still took some time out to sign is appreciated enough.

I originally planned to have a large amount of the cast sign this picture of Rick, however the amount of inscriptions Lincoln added wound up wrecking that plan, in a good way of course. I ordered a bunch of 8x10's to send out to the cast during the filming of Season 4, which will start in less than a month.

This is easily one of my favorite successes now, and I'd like to thank Andrew Lincoln for making my day! Wish me luck in May with the rest of the cast. Praying to get Daryl!

See Ya!

The Yankees Clinched the East, and We Were There!

Hey guys, Drew back here! Wednesday really seemed to be my kind of day, starting off with my recent big news on being included in Beckett Sports Card Monthly. Just following that, we headed down to Yankee Stadium for the makeup game we missed due to rain in late August, the second game of a double header against Tampa Bay! I was glad the game was rained out because Burnett was going to be the scheduled starter for the game, but with the makeup, we got one heck of a pitching matchup, between one of my favorite young pitchers, Rays' Jeremy Hellickson, and Yankees ace CC Sabathia!

My dad, my Grandpa Charlie, Mike, and I all got down to the stadium after a long day, and hoped to have a nice relaxing night. It didn't look promising. The weather was stable for the ride, but as soon as we got into the stadium the rain picked up more and more. We hoped it wouldn't affect us though. In the meantime, we visited Monument Park! I hadn't been to Monument Park in the new stadium yet, so I was excited to see it for the first time. Check out some pics I took in the Yankees Hall of Fame:

Ain't Looking Too Pretty to Start!

Mike and I with Joltin Joe

R.I.P. George Steinbrenner

Never Forgive, Never Forget.

I have to say, I really enjoyed Monument Park as always. They did a nice job putting it together out in center field, and the plaques and numbers look amazing as always. Even with the poor weather at the time we still all enjoyed honoring the past Yankees greats and of course, Jackie Robinson. Getting back to those ugly clouds though, well, it didn't get much better. It started to absolutely poor. However, they didn't put the tarp down on the field so I still thought there was some hope. Eventually, after about a half hour of rain, I stood up and shouted "Rain, STOP!" Two minutes later... it stopped. Time to go help my dad out with the lottery!

We waited by the Yankees bullpen, which, if you walked down the rest of the row in my section, was right next to our seats! We had these same seats back last year when I got to see Andy Pettitte pitch, even though he didn't last long because of a groin injury he sustained. Soon after we waited, Carston Charles Sabathia came out of the indoor bullpen room and began to throw!

Jeremy Hellickson getting loose

One thing I felt ashamed of not noticing however, was that the whole time CC was throwing, standing right besides Yankee catcher Russell Martin was Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson! I completely didn't realize that he was there until after CC threw out on the field. Fortunately, we did catch Reggie for a moment before he went in to the clubhouse. I double took when I saw him walk by and was like "Oh my god... it's Reggie Jackson!" and started shouting "REGGIE!!" Mike, Dad and I started yelling for him and he stopped to waved to us all before he went in the room. I almost got a perfect picture but I was shaking too much in awe to hold the camera still. 

While that was an incredible moment, I have to say watching CC Sabathia warm up from so close of a distance was unbelievable. He was throwing gas and the pop in Martin's glove was one of the most incredible sounds a baseball can make. Don't get me wrong, watching Pettitte warm up was great, but Sabathia blew him out of the water, especially throwing his nasty slider often in his warm up. 

I also got to snap a few pictures of Yankee pitching prospects, and members of the "Killer Bees": Dellin Betances and Andrew Brackman. Both of them are freakishly huge, Betances being 6'8 and Brackman being a whopping 6'11. Last night they didn't fare well in each of their first pitching appearances, but they certainly have the stuff to become solid pitchers down the road.

At about 8:00, the game began! Unfortunately, being the second game of a doubleheader, the Yankees gave Jeter, Rodriguez, and Swisher a game off, and replaced them with Eric Chavez, Eduardo Nunez, and Chris Dickerson in right field. One of the things I wanted most was to be right behind my favorite player Nick Swisher once again, but sadly, I had to deal with Chris Dickerson in front of me, who was as boring as a rock compared to Swish. 

Jesus Montero!

Here are just a few random shots from throughout the game. Sabathia pitched 7.1 innings, allowing 2 runs, both on solo home runs, including a moon shot by Sean Rodriguez that bounced off the foul pole. Fortunately, the Yankees got in on the action in the home run parade, as one of my favorite players, Robinson Cano, blasted a home run into the shallow right field bleachers. Wait. I was in the shallow right field bleachers! 

Notice anything? Yep, we were on TV! If you're still struggling to realize, we were the 4 people all the way in the front, me being the crazy one with the camera over my neck with my mouth wide open. The ball landed 2 rows behind us, and we came extremely close to adding a game used ball to the collection. Unfortunately, we fell just a bit short, but we got to hold the ball, and we got on TV!

Cano broke the tie game early on, and Jesus Montero added an RBI on a double play with the bases loaded and 0 outs. Boy, was it cool to finally get to watch Montero play!

Andrew Brackman

A Close up on Aaron Laffey

Yankee prospect Austin Romine!

In the eighth, CC was starting to break down, with an extremely high pitch count. The Yankees were loosening up Brackman and Betances, but then in order to keep the game in tact, they warmed up All Star set up man David Robertson to help him out. In a 2-2 game, with the bases loaded and 1 out, the first pitch hit off Robertson made up for a 6-4-3 double play to end the threat! Wow!

Then, you couldn't imagine the joy in my face when Brett Gardner was pinch hit for in the bottom of the eighth by good old Nick Swisher! Well, my joy escalated even more when Swish came up clutch, ripping a double into the gap to lead off the inning!

The Yankees soon loaded the bases, for Jesus Montero.. err.. a pinch hitter...

None other than Jorge Posada was Girardi's choice to come up to the plate in a key appearance, and well, he came up huge, with a 2 RBI double to give the Yankees a 4-2 lead! The stadium, silent all night, erupted with chants, one very big one, was in result of the Orioles triumph over the Red Sox to take the series against the struggling Sox. I started an enormous "RED SOX SUCK" chant that carried throughout the outfield, and took part in the Hip Hop Jorge chant! 

Sadly, Girardi didn't bring Rivera in to close it out, which would've made for a perfect ending to the AL East, instead bringing in our insanely overpaid reliever Rafael Soriano, who worked through the inning, leading to a 4-2 Yankees win! With this win, the Yankees clinched the AL East yet again, which is a major accomplishment given all the smack talk Red Sox fans had to offer before the season. To beat traffic, we left with 2 outs, and missed the celebration, which I regret big time. But its okay, we all had a blast and saw a great game! Congrats to the Yankees! Time to bring home World Series Championship #28!

Also, thanks again so much Dad for taking us and spending all kinds of money on us, you're the best! See Ya!