Black Friday Decoys

Is it just me or has it felt like Black Friday has been going on for a few weeks already?  

It seems like everyone has been having Black Friday deals going on from electronics to furniture to appliances in stores like Kohl's, Target, and Home Depot.

Maybe this has always been the case, but it definitely feels more unique to this year than year's past. 

There are a few things that I will be picking up for the new house today, which I am really excited about. 

Above is the 2016 Panini Black Friday Decoy parallel numvered to 50 copies.

Have you notice a surge of pre Black Friday sales?

Fry Day, Friday

Each year during the month of October, I show off only pink (and shades of pink like magenta, peach, etc) to help raise awareness of Breast Cancer, a leading cause of death for females in the United States.  

Due to my own financial situation this year I will not be able to make a donation for each (meaningful, non spam) comment left by those that follow the blog.  Once things settle down on the home front though I will be looking to make a donation in 2022 based on the comments left during this year's event.  Hopefully together we can help at least one woman get a much needed mammogram.  Early detection is key!!!

If you want to make your own private donation please visit the National Breast Cancer Foundation.  There is a donate button on the main page and it only takes a minute of your time.  Every little bit helps.

I have focused primarily on cards that only feature Andrew McCutchen on the card, but in recent years have also featured cards with a cameo appearance (either being seen on the card or as a name cameo on the back of the card).  In 2019, I created Falco Files which discussed players that replaced (Shane Falco Replacements movie reference) on an active roster, number worn, or trade.  I will also be showing some Cutch's Crew cards that show pink cards of players that have played with Cutch on multiple teams. I will continue to utilize these styles of posts as we celebrate the 5th Collecting Cutch Save Second Base event (I am no longer counting my first run on the Pirates Treasure Room I did back in 2014).

I am always looking for new ways to incorporate new celebrities into the event so today I am presenting

Rebecca Black

Rebecca Black made a song in 2011 and it went viral on YouTube among a few other social media platforms.

The song was called Friday, not to be confused with Fry Day

Friday featured Black riding around singing about her friends and what they were going to do that night.

It was dubbed by several music critics as the worse song of all time.

Today Black is all grown up and still involved with music, but she is not associated with thousands of memes like she was back in 2011.  That song did springboard a small part of a Katy Perry music video though.

Today Rebecca is all grown up and she is back on stage.

Black Friday Magenta Color Progression Proof

The back of the card (like all progression cards) is blank backed.

Where are the best fries found and what style of fries do you prefer?

Do you have any color progression cards in your collection?

Black Friday Shopping?

I have no problem shopping on Black Friday nor do I feel any sympathy for those retail workers.  That might sound harsh, but I work in the Supermarket business and every year before Thanksgiving I am working close to 10 days straight of 10-14 hour days with an hour commute each way.  I deserve this, is what I tell myself each year.

Don't get the wrong impression though.

Here's how it usually goes down.  I shop at midnight until about 4am.  Fall asleep and go into a mini coma until it's time to return to work on Sunday.

One thing that I have been enjoying for the past several years is seeing if Andrew McCutchen is in Panini's Black Friday set release.

The 2012 is my favorite of the bunch

With the exception of 2014, Cutch has been in every release since 2012.

I still need a lot of the parallels that I hope to add over the next few months as prices for these are very low right now.

Black Friday the 13th

October is National Breast Cancer Awareness month.  Visit the official site here.

Breast Cancer will be detected in one of eight women in the US each year.
It is the second leading cause of cancer death among women each year.
On average every 2 minutes a woman will be diagnosed with breast cancer and every 13 minutes one person will die from breast cancer.
There are currently 33 million breast cancer survivors in the USA.

It's important to support the research for cancer.  Breast Cancer is often associated with the color pink so I will be showing off some pink Cutch cards.

In addition, you can expect to see some boobs with each post.  Who doesn't love boobs?

So let's start with what we're hoping to save!

Juliana Guill made a name for herself with her role in the remake of Friday the 13th.  She played the character Bree, who you can see below.

She has also appeared in tv shows like How I Met Your Mother, but she was sexy AF in Friday the 13th.

Personally I think she looks better with lighter brown or blonde hair as she is currently sporting.

Continuing the theme of Fridays, I present my Black Friday Pink (magenta) progression test card.

Similar to a printing plate, but just a piece of cardboard, these progression cards are basically used to just test the ink.  It is one of 2 that I have from Panini.

Panini, you unoriginal bums!!!!

You may recall a few weeks ago I made a post about how Topps used the exact same wording for two card backs.

Well, Panini must of thought it was a good idea and did the same thing.  When I saw Spider-Man in theatres, I showed off a card that referenced the webhead on the back.

Little did I realize at the time of that post that I already had a National Treasures card with the same wording AND just a few weeks after publishing that post I would be getting in a new patch with the same wording.

Panini, you unoriginal bums!!!!

Give me something original on the backs!!!

Especially if I am shelling out big bucks for all the variant parallels on the front side.  At least make the backs have some original material.  The most frustrating thing is that National Treasures can cost around $400 a box and Black Friday packs are practically free.

Fashion sense

Christmas season is upon us. I am stuck with the undaunting chore of trying to find gifts for family members, friends, and the significant other.  Everyone needs clothes, right?

That's where I get a little clueless. I am a jeans and hoodie kind of guy. I don't know what fashion trends are currently sweeping the country by storm. I don't know if buttoned shirts are meant to be tucked in or untucked. I am clueless.

Since Panini doesn't have their MLB license anymore they have been using top stars dressed in casual clothes for their yearly Black Friday release. This year they used Cutch in a horizontal backshot of him hitting the ball in PNC Park.

In previous years they gave us a cool card like this though.

Does anyone else have trouble clothes shopping for Christmas?