Fun with Justin Williams

Yesterday, after a long day at work, I went out with the intention of buying one of those cheap box o' hockey cards. Instead, I bought one of the slightly more expensive boxes with 12 packs of 2007-08 Fleer Ultra cards. Out of all the cards I've been getting in the box o' cards, I like the Fleer Ultra the best. I think they're good looking cards for the collector without a ton of money. Also, the bonus inserts, like the gold medallion parallel set and the rookie set are very cool for such a reasonably priced card.
As I opened the box and felt each of the packs, I noticed that one was considerably thicker than the others. That's a good indicator that there's a special card, like an autograph card or a jersey or stick card. I saved it for last. Out of the other 11 packs, there were a couple of pretty cool limited run cards, including a Sidney Crosby "Difference Maker" card that might be worth as much as $12, and a Michael Nylander gold medallion parallel card that, for some reason, could be worth $10. Right there, if I were into card dealing, the box has paid for itself. I had no idea how completely awesome the special card in that last pack would be.

If you know me, you know that Justin "Viva" Williams is my favorite player on my favorite team. So you can imagine how excited I was when I got this:


I'm really new to card collecting. When I bought baseball and football cards as a kid, I wasn't really "collecting" them. I had no idea about things like "complete sets" and "rookie cards". Of course, that was in the '70s, before card collecting became the beast that it is now. The point is, I'm really excited about that card, and it couldn't have been more perfect. For me.

Also, since we're already on the Justin Williams topic, allow me to share this video that I've wanted to share for some time. It's from the "ask the Canes" in-game feature from the last home game last season. Watch how quickly Viva answers "What's your favorite section?" with "Section 112", as if to say "Of course it's 112. Why would it be anything else?" 112 is, of course, where I have sat since 2002. All the more reason to love 112. As if the bar within the section wasn't enough.