acrappywebsite.com

As mentioned in the title, I must confess that this page is a shameless plug and it unfortunately won't be very funny at all. My brother in-law has started a web site and as he sort of gave us a couch last week I feel compelled to do him a solid by plugging it here. The web site is luckyboxbusters.com and it's a site wherein he posts live box breaks for football cards.

For those of you unfamiliar with the terminology, a box break is simply a concept wherein you pay a small amount to get a chance at high dollar cards out of high end card boxes. A lot of people who don't collect sports cards would be surprised to know that very high end quality (and value) cards come in boxes of 10 or so cards (sometimes less) that can be sold for a retail price of a few hundred dollars. If you're like me, you probably think that's an outrageous amount to plop down for cards, but that's where the concept of a box break comes in. The idea is that the person breaking the box sells spots (usually by team) for the rights to cards that come out of one of these boxes for a fraction of the cost of the entire box, so you're getting a chance at a high-dollar card without having to fork over a few hundred bucks to do it.

For example, his first live box break is currently set for this Tuesday (April 17th) and features three separate boxes that he will be "breaking" (opening to distribute the cards inside). One of the boxes will be 2011 Panini Plates & Patches. For $12, you can purchase a spot which will be two teams (drawn at random). Let's say I fork over my $12 and I randomly get the Carolina Panthers as one of my two teams. The box he will be opening on Tuesday contains 10 cards (including 1 autographed memorabilia rookie card, 2 additional autographs, and 2 memorabilia cards). So let's say one of those ten cards he pulls out of that box is an autographed Cam Newton jersey card such as this one:

Depending on the serial number on the card and how rare that card is (card rarity for this set can range to being numbered out of 499 all the way down to being a 1 of 1), that card could have a Beckett price guide value of $250 or more. Beckett doesn't actually even list a lot of the really rare cards as it's impossible to determine the market value for something that rare, but it's not uncommon to see 1/1 cards listed for sale at over a thousand dollars. It may seem crazy, but some people have that kind of money and are willing to throw it down for super-rare cards of their favorite teams or players.

Of course, on the other hand, knowing my luck and the sense of humor Zeus has, I could also randomly draw the Pittsburgh Steelers, get an autographed jersey from Ben Rapistberger, and it would promptly become the most expensive thing I've ever wiped my ass with, so there's always that possibility as well.

So at any rate, that's my shameless plug for his new site, so if you're a card collector (and a gambler) and you like the idea of spending a few bucks for a chance at a really expensive card, check out luckyboxbusters.com and tell him Randy sent you

And if you get any Detroit Lions you don't want, you can always feel free to donate them to my personal collection in appreciation for all the hours of enjoyment I've given you.