Direct from Germany

As the 2018 winter Olympics approached, I was intrigued in who will be on the hockey rosters.  Will there be any Spartans.  On New Year's Day, the United States roster was announced and Jim Slater is an Olympian.  Woohoo!!

Roughly a week later, I read that Brock Radunske will be playing for the host South Korean team. What?!!!  Evidently, Radunske has been playing in a professional league in South Korea for the last number of years.  He and few other Canadian hockey players who have been playing in South Korea obtained Korean citizenship and are allowed to play for South Korea in the Olympics.

Unlike Slater, I don't have a Radunske card. Does he have a card? After discussing with a collecting friend of mine, I learned he has a card from 2007-08 when he played in Germany.  Now time to find one.  Checked Ebay. nope. COMC.com? nope.  So Google is next. searching for shops and/or collectors who has German cards available.  Found a dealer in Germany and ordered one.  It arrived yesterday....

2007-08 German DEL

Slater and Radunske are the 17th and 18th different Spartan to a part of Olympic hockey.  I have cards of 16 of them (the other 2 don't own any cards).

Also, Radunske is 108th Spartan in my hockey collection.  He is placed between Corey Potter and Mike Ratchuk in my binders.

Super Bowl MVP Nick Foles and Other Spartan Eagles

This past Sunday the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the New England Patriots 41-33 in Super Bowl LII.  One time Spartan quarterback Nick Foles was named game MVP.

2012 Topps Magic

Foles was a member of the Spartan squad in 2007 in which he got game action vs UAB.  In order to get more playing time, he transferred to Arizona after the season.
One cool part about the above card is that the trivia question on back asks "Who is the Eagles starting TE whose brother was once Nick's college roommate?"   The answer is Brent Celek.  Celek's younger brother is Garrett and the two roomed together while at MSU.   One last note about Brent Celek is that his college coach at Cincinnati was current MSU coach Mark Dantonio who, of course, coached Garrett and Foles at MSU.


Other Eagles in my Michigan State collecton include:

1961 Fleer

Clarence Peaks played for Philly from 1957-63

1970 Topps

Gary Ballman 1967-72

2005 Topps Bazooka All Star Relics

Ike Reese 1998-2004

2000 Bowman Chrome

Gari Scott 2001

Other Spartans in my collection that has played for Philadelphia yet not pictured as an Eagle:
B.J. Cunningham (2013)
Al Dorow (1957)
Mark Ingram (1996)
Bill Johnson (1998-99)
Walt Kowalcyzk (1958-59)
Mike Labinjo (2004-05)
Jimmy Raye (1969)
Tom Saidock (1957)
Billy Wellls (1958)

Just Hanga- ring Around

Several months ago, the local newspaper ran an article of a former Spartan football player turned inventor.   Justin Kershaw, a defensive lineman from 2005-08, came up with an alternative to the traditional clothes hanger called the hanga.

2004 Big 33 Ohio

Hanga is innovative way to keep your clothes nicer longer.  Your shirt, dress or any other piece of clothing will not get any annoying lines from a normal hanger and can easily slide right off the hanga when needed. It is also built for lifetime use.  For more information on this product, check it out here.

As a proud Spartan who wishes only the best for other Spartans, I had to support Kershaw and purchase one.  I bought one hanga with a shirt and see it works firsthand. I think it is a good product.  Very easy to use and quite durable.  If you have some clothing that you want to keep in great shape, I would recommend this product.

Tied With Bear

Earlier this January, Alabama head coach Nick Saban won his sixth national championship tying him with the legendary Paul "Bear" Bryant.   Saban, of course, is a former head coach of Michigan State.  His tenure was from 1995-99 and during that time I was able to get his autograph during one of the "Meet the Spartans" events.

I have mentioned to friends that I have Saban's auto before and their usual response is to burn it.  I don't have the hatred for Saban as most Spartan fans posses.  I am a positive man and try to remember the good things that Saban did at MSU.   He was the defensive coordinator for the 1988 Rose Bowl champion team.  He did have some big wins at MSU including beating #1 Ohio State in Columbus.  He also once hired Mark Dantonio as a defensive back coach.

As for cards, these are the only two cards of Saban I have in my collection.

2005 Bowman gold card and 2013 Allen & Ginter card from Topps's baseball card set.

Who Doesn't Like Bobbleheads?

Bobbleheads  have been a popular giveaway for games for quite a few years now.  Yet as a lifelong collector I do not own any myself... until now.  I searched on Ebay to find a bobblehead of a former Spartan at a reasonable price. Found one of my all time favorite basketball player but in a different sport.

Magic Johnson as a L.A. Dodger.  As we all know, Johnson became part of the ownership group of the Los Angeles Dodgers in 2012.  This bobblehead was a giveaway on September 12, 2013.

Another reason I picked this one because it looks a lot like Magic.  I have seen many bobbleheads that barely look like the players.  I think they got this one down pretty good.   I have been hoping that there would be a Magic Johnson baseball card since he became part owner but I guess this piece will be a good substitute.  Right?  (Magic Johnson shakes his head affirmatively)

Congratulations Coach Shurmur

Congratulations to coach Pat Shurmur for being named the new head coach of the New York Giants.  Shurmur was the offensive coordinator of the Minnesota Vikings who went onto play in the 2017 NFC Championship game after a 13-3 division title.
This is Shurmur's second go around as a full time head coach.  His first was a two year stint with Cleveland Browns in 2011-12.  He had a 9-23 record.

Shurmur was one of the first recruits for head coach George Perles at MSU. By the time he was a senior in 1987, he was a co-captain and named to the All-Big Ten team as a center.  The Spartans ended up winning the Big Ten championship and the Rose Bowl also.

Shurmur does not have any trading cards depicting him nor do I have 8x10 photo of him.  The only Shurmur item in my collection is the program from the 1987 game vs Michigan.  MSU won that day 17-7 much to the thanks of intercepting U of M quarterback seven times.

2018 East/West Shrine Game

The 2018 East-West Shrine Game was played on Saturday.  The only Spartan to play in the all star game is center Brian Allen.   Allen was a co-captain for the 2017 MSU team and was named 2nd team all Big Ten team.

Allen has impressed several NFL scouts this past week during practice leading up to the game.  He has the best chance of any Spartan to get drafted in the upcoming NFL draft.
I already have two Allen cards from the 2014 Leaf  Army All American game. His base card and an auto:

Allen is of course the younger brother of former All American center Jack Allen.

2016 Panini Prizm Draft Pick auto

There is a third Allen brother, Matt, currently on the MSU squad.

Young Guns

First of all I am bringing this blog back from the dead and will try to post more regularly. The combination of being busy and building up my Spartan collection caused me to neglect this page.  My collecton is up to my satisfaction to write about and will do so with some of my recent acquisitions and plus other Spartan stuff.  OK. done with that and now back to the regular scheduled programming- Young Guns.

No, I am not talking about the old western movies from the late 80s. I am referring to the popular rookie cards from the Upper Deck hockey sets.

I finally picked up the 2002/03 Ryan Miller Young Guns rookie card last week from Ebay. Sometimes I can put the pro in procrastination. This Miller rc now completes my Young Gun Spartan collection.  Here are all 14 of them:

Before they became the popular short printed ones, there was a Kip Miller from 90/91 Upper Deck and Rem Murray from the 1996/97 Collector's Choice set.

And here are the rest of them in chronological order:

Adam Hall (2002-03)   Andrew Hutchinson (03/04)

John-Michael Liles (03/04)   Brad Fast (04/05)

Duncan Keith and Jim Slater (05/06)

David Booth (06/07) Drew Miller (07/08)

Justin Abdelkader (08/09)  Corey Tropp (2011/12)

Torey Krug (12/13)

The MSU hockey program has been down over the last decade and the lack of NHLers produced over that time is evident.  Here is to hoping with the new coach, more NHL players are produced at MSU and more Young Guns.