It's Been One Week Since You Looked At Me

First of all, happy Opening Day everyone!  Why isn't this a national holiday yet?  Although, I'll be much more excited when the Cubs open their schedule tomorrow against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, Orange County, California of the United States of North America.  Nevertheless, the fact that real baseball is back makes me all warm and fuzzy inside, like Christmas is supposed to.

Speaking of holidays, exactly one week ago today, we had one of those:

Yes, that holiday was Easter Sunday, in case anyone forgot.

My fiancee and I may be in our mid-20's, but we still exchange Easter baskets with each other and pretend like it was the Easter Bunny who hid them... because we are giant children and life is more fun that way.

As you can see, the lovely lady (errrm, I mean, rabbit) stuffed mine with some of my favorite snack foods - Tootsie Rolls, Little Debbie Cakes, Jerky, Jelly Bellys, etc. along with some silly string and bubbles.  See?  Giant children.

Additionally, because she knows me well, she also included a couple packs of these:

The perfect Easter basket, Christmas stocking, trick or treat bag or turkey stuffing.  OK - maybe don't try that last one.

She seems to have the golden touch when it comes to picking packs; after all, her first ever selection yielded an autograph.  So, I was hoping to pull something really cool:

It's not a "hit," per se, at least not in the traditional sense.  However, to this rabid Cubs fan who lives where even a normal Bryant base card will run you an Abraham Lincoln flash card. an insert of the man with the best baby blues in Chicago is definitely a "hit" with me.

The Perspectives set is pretty cool too.  Sure, the text they used is quite reminiscent of WordArt in Microsoft Office, but at least Topps actually tried something different for once.

The only other Cub found within the two packs was this card of the "Professor" redux.  Hendricks is heavily underrepresented in my collection; thus, this two was a welcome find.  Here's hoping he can take the next step forward in his development and become the best fifth starter in the league.

Now, we've all seen and dissected the base set enough by now, so I'll just show off what other inserts came with my Cubbies:

If anyone likes them, call dibs - they don't really do anything for this Windy City inhabitant.  Also, I've said this before, but why did Topps completely eliminate the backgrounds on the Walk Off Wins inserts?  Half of the fun of such dramatic occurrences is the chaos and pure joy found in the background by fans and teams alike.  

Anyway, while I only got two Cubs for my collection out of the two packs, any cards that come as gifts are especially special to me.  So, I was more than satisfied when it came to what I got out of these Series 1 packs.

That said, those weren't the only cards that I got on the Easter holiday either.  In the process of building my fiancee's Easter Basket, I made a quick, last minute run to Target for a few more small items because Target is that woman's happy place.  It was inevitable that I'd find something that'd catch her eye.

Not to mention, it was pretty much inevitable that I'd be walking out of there with some trading cards for myself too because, again, I'm a giant man-child who can't be trusted alone:

I decided to go with a couple of new products that haven't made their way into my possession yet.  The Wacky Packages were an easy selection, seeing as the Cubs card on top guaranteed that the pack wouldnt be a total waste (even if it is pretty lame).  Also, Donruss... I guess I grabbed it because of the pack's pastel colors were appropriate for Easter?  I dunno, I just wanted to rip some cards.

After I assembled the lady's Easter basket, this is what I Found within my impulse purchases:

Again, super lame Cubs-themed sticker here.  At least the Diamondback's example is actually tied in with their franchise in some way.  The Cubs don't even have that many left handed pitchers.  Lamesauce, as the kiddies say.

At least the minor league cards were entertaining, maybe moreso because MiLB clubs are something inherently different than there being any of the subversive humor Wacky Packs are supposed to feature.  However, I do think the Stone Crabs Crabcakes fit the mold.

Also, who doesn't love flying squirrels?  Maybe Boris and Natasha... but that's it.

The only other Wacky Pack of interest was this green grass parallel.  Again, this seems really forced and dull parody wise - I mean, I'd like to see someone trying to get a flea collar on a tiger (that would make a much more Wacky illustration).  Also, parallels in a sticker product?  This truly is the parallel era in card collecting.

Okay - so, the Wacky Packages hanger was a bit of a let down; this is a shame, because this product crossover had so much potential.  Maybe the ever-repetitive Donruss would throw me a curveball?

A Kirby hot pack!  I think I got Brian's package by mistake - some wires must have been crossed somewhere.

I sure wouldn't mind coming across a Cub on the throwback insert though - personally, I've always liked the early Donruss designs.

Here's a couple of youngsters that I'm tangentially aware of - Reyes moreso than Marte, since the Cardinals are my teams arch rival and all.  I do rather like the framing of the picture used for Reyes; the pitch suspended in mid-air is almost always a cool look.

Hopefully the Cubs draft Nick Banks and then this pre-rookie card of the guy will fit right into my "baby bears" collection.  As it stands, he's currently representing Team USA and Texas A&M.  I do find the patriotic design of these cards to be fairly appealing too.

Can't be Donruss without a Diamond King.  I think it would be much more intriguing if they purposely created some nightmare-inducing portraits like some of those that appeared in the originals.  As it stands, they're rather majestic looking cards. which, I suppose is how a Diamond King should look.

My goodness - I have legitimately pulled a Seager card in almost every product I've sampled this year.  Seriously, look:

Seriously, the baseball card gods must be confused about which shade of blue is my favorite.  Well, good thing there are a couple of Dodger bloggers out there, I think.

As for the base cards, the best of the bunch were my first ever cards of these two youngins.  After all, the base set is pretty dull and damn near carbon copies of 2015 and 2014.  Not that the design is terrible, it just kinda "been there, done that."

Also, not a single Cubs card in the whole group - well, that's disappointing.

Alright, I'm finally all caught up - I suppose being one week behind really isn't all that big of a deal; however, this OCD man-child was not okay with it.  The moral of this story is that I definitely should leave the pack selection up to my fiancee, especially on holidays.

Happy Easter.... ummm.... I mean, Opening Day everyone!