Friday, May 29, 2020

Grappling with a Challenge: A Cardpocalypse Challenge, Day 5

My collection is divided about as follows:
  • football--55%
  • baseball--42%
  • basketball--2.5%
  • other "miscellaneous" cards--.5%
I don't have many "other" sports in my collection. But I have a couple to consider as my favorite, which is today's blogging challenge from Tim.



I'm not a huge boxing fan, but I do enjoy seeing some bouts. I'm not about to throw a big party for a pay-per-view title match (although, I think I remember my dad doing that years ago), but I know many of the big names. My wife, on the other hand, has an extreme distaste for boxing and makes that known any time it's shown on a movie or whatever. I like this card mainly because Jack Johnson is a legend and I remember him from my American history classes. Athletes are indeed impactful in a cultural history.



But my top "other sport" card is this Cael Sanderson. I realize it's technically a baseball card set, but I'm counting it. When I was a high school wrestler, the Sanderson family was legendary. And they were local, coming from a high school about 30 miles away from mine. Cael was the best of the bunch. When I was doing my high school wrestling, Cael was in the midst of his unprecedented college career. His record at Iowa State was 159-0. That's not a typo. He never lost a college match. He topped his career with a gold medal cherry at the 2004 Olympic games. I know a lot of people would have a WWE card to show as their favorite "other" sport, but I'll take the real deal wrestling and a local legend for mine

4 comments:

  1. Two iconic athletes of their respective sports. I've heard of Cael Sanderson but I was not expecting him to have a card. Great choices.

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  2. Two great choices. Good call on choosing the Sanderson. I don't really follow collegiate wrestling, but he is definitely someone I'm aware of. He was incredible. Very cool that he's fairly local for you too.

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  3. Boxing was arguably the number 2 sport in America (after baseball) when Jack Johnson was around. So he was a big deal.

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  4. I think I've seen that Cael A&G card before, but didn't know the story behind him. Undefeated in college is quite the accomplishment. I wonder how many other wrestlers in NCAA history have accomplished that feat.

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