Trade With The Cardboard Don, Or How Marian Hossa is the Biff Tannen to Pittsburgh's George McFly

I just completed my first trade with WickedOrtega from the newly-renamed Cardboard Don. After posting some new cards on my trade bait page, he sent me an e-mail, I found some stuff I liked, and the rest, as they say, is history. Here's the best of what I got.

Now, in the year that I have been actively blogging about the hobby, one (of many) complaints I keep hearing about Upper Deck products (a complaint that I share, BTW) is how in the case of free agent signings or trades, the pictures don't always match up with the team logo on the card. This Marian Hossa, however, takes it one step further, in that THREE teams are represented. Detroit Red Wings logo, Pittsburgh Penguins photo, and Atlanta Thrashers jersey swatches. A pretty cool anomally if you ask me.

As a Penguins fan, here's my take on the whole Marian Hossa thing. If this was in any sport but hockey, this would have been the biggest sports story of the year. Imagine Josh Hamilton's contract being up, and instead of staying with the Rangers, who he just went to the World Series with, he signs a contract with the St. Louis Cardinals, because, as he puts it, the Cardinals give him the best chance to win the World Series. Of course, the season goes by, and in the next years World Series the Rangers and Cardinals meet AGAIN, this time with Hamilton on the opposition.

Now, a lot of Penguin fans had a great deal of animosity toward Hossa, and understandably so. This wasn't just a case of the player leaving for more money, in fact, I believe he took a pay cut. To bolt for the very team that defeated you in the finals was a slap in the face. So, the Penguins and Red Wings meet again for the Stanley Cup, and as fate would have it, Pittsburgh won, giving Marian Hossa two Stanley Cup Losses with two different teams. The funny thing was, when Hossa signed the following year with the Chicago Blackhawks, Penguin fans still booed him with the same resentment that they had the year before, which I didn't quite get.

Once Pittsburgh beat Detroit, game over. The story ends. Hossa bolt, thereby insulting the Penguins and their fans, but in the end, Pittsburgh embarasses him, by showing him that he made the WRONG decision. That's it. Continuing to boo him after that was just mean. Take, for example, Back to the Future. Biff Tannen spends most of the movie insulting, berating and humiliating George McFly. Now when McFly gets his revenge at the Enchantment Under the Sea Dance and kisses Lorraine Baines, he doesn't continue victimizing Biff. He moves on with his life, because he won. He got the girl. In fact, he even patronizes Biff's auto shop when they are older.

I guess, in the same way, I was actually happy for Hossa when he won the cup with the Chicago Blackhawks. We won the battle. He lost. Let's move on.

Wicked also sent me a Jim Thome bat relic from 2011 Topps Heritage. For one, the heritage relic cards in 2011 look AWESOME. When you are using an old design with a relativel new concept, sometimes they don't always match up, but this year, they worked out perfectly. As somewhat of a Twins fan, it is great that this card features him in a Minnesota uniform. Also, since he just hit homerun number 600, isn't a bat card the type of relic you'd want from this guy?

If anyone isn't reading the Cardboard Don, go check it out. A great blogger and a great trader.