Football | I Spit Hot Fire

Playing with Panini UEFA Champions League Sticker Album

Wednesday, April 7th, 2010

I really liked stickers as a kid. I still remember that my sister stole/ruined some stickers I earned in the 2nd grade, the remaining stickers I am fairly certain I still have to this day.

When you combined stickers with a love of sports, that was Panini. Now, Panini has the exclusive license for NBA Basketball cards, but back when I was a kid, in the early nineties, they were known more for sticker albums. I still have my NBA album from Shaq’s rookie year, and lot of the stars, including Shaq, my favorite Warriors, and a bunch of All Stars that cool effects on their stickers. Just what any 12 year old what what!

A few days ago, while I was at the Fahasa Bookstore in Downtown Saigon, Q1 on Nguyen Hue, I saw posters for a football (soccer) sticker album from Panini!

Love at first sight! I went to the second floor to find out more. I was a bit worried that they’d cost a ton, but only 25K ($1.30 USD) for the album and 1 sticker pack, and 6K VND for 5 sticker packs (32 cents).

Nice! I picked up 103K worth ($5.26) of stuff (70 stickers!), and I was ready to collect them all! It’s officially called the UEFA Champions League® 2009-2010 Official Sticker Album.

But there’s some bad news.

830226216 rgfKZ M Playing with Panini UEFA Champions League Sticker Album There’s 564 stickers in all, which means your minimum commitment would be $35.62 USD. Of course, it’s only $35.62 if you get no duplicates, which really means your commitment would be closer to $70. Or even $100.

They (through BrandPartner.vn) do offer a service in which you can buy missing stickers manually for 5K VND each, but only a total of 50 stickers, and when you add shipping, you’re basically at 300K VND / $16 USD.

There’s also a cool promotion that if you are one of the first 5 people to get any football club’s full stickers (16 players) plus the first four stickers in the album, you can win the official World Cup ball, which according to Eastbay, is worth $150 USD. But…it looks like the winners may have already claimed their prizes.

By the way, I cannot imagine how heavy a complete sticker album would be. Also, a complete set without the hassle of randomness would cost you at least $80 USD, based on eBay prices. And as with anything, I guess fakes are a problem too.

I had no idea what big business stickers are, especially considering you can buy a complete set of basketball cards for much cheaper.

Tags: bookstore, champions league, fahasa, football, panini, Vietnam

07.04.2010 Sports, Vietnam View Comments

Where to Download Basketball Games

Tuesday, February 16th, 2010

Image by laffy4k via Flickr

I’ve referred to these links through various posts, but I figured I might as well compile them and make a post with an SEO friendly title (yes, I want to see if this results in more PV for the site)

(I know there are private torrent sites that specialize in sports, but I always have issues with them. I always share enough, but I have difficulty getting tracked properly. The sites below all are public/don’t need any special work to access)

Let’s go!

bt.davka.info is the best site I know of for basketball torrents. I probably need to step and donate one of these days.
- Davka also has a forum where you can find useful links to other sites for direct downloads: http://bt.davka.info/forum/viewforum.php?id=5
For direct downloads, ballers.ru is fanastic. I notice people in Vietnam like direct download sites more than torrents (you can buy rapishare accounts here as well)
- Ballers.ru (HD Basketball Games – Huge Files)
- Ballers.ru (Normal Sized Files)
You can also find some games through the Large Clips Section at Mixmakers.net: http://www.mixmakers.net/forums/large-clips/
Lastly, I just found this user who has uploaded some Cal Bears NCAA Mens Basketball torrents.
Alright, I’ll throw in one more, but this is for football (soccer), more specifically, Manchester United matches: http://unitedzone.info/forum/current-campaign-full-matches/

Btw, if you need help with torrents, see My Torrent Guide.

Enjoy and let me know of your own favorite sources!

Edit: Feb 21, found a great resource on Mixmakers, “NBA Game Data Base – Version 1.0 Release“- it’s a list of games available coupled with download link.s

Tags: Basketball, cal, download, football, manchester united, Sports, torrent

16.02.2010 Basketball, Sports View Comments

49ers vs Lions at Candlestick (Bay Area Tales)

Sunday, January 3rd, 2010

Last weekend, I went to the 49ers vs Lions game in San Francisco at Candlestick. (Dad and I on the left) The 49ers got eliminated from the playoffs the previous weekend, but I was looking forward to it because it was the first 49er game I’d go to, and I had $71 lower deck seats for which I paid $55. What’s also great about being back in the US is that there’s no football in Vietnam, unless that football is actually soccer. So I can’t watch any games, I just read stuff.

Good thing, the 49ers won, which they should have- they were playing at home against the worst team in football. Unfortunately, while the defense looked solid, the offense did not. I was really surprised at Alex Smith’s final stats, they looked much better than his actual play.

Notes:

Great weather for the game, but things started getting cold at 3:30, with the sun coming down in the afternoon and the wind kicking in.
There was supposed to be Fan Appreciation Day, in which you get scratch cards when you enter. We did not get anything.
Alex Smith didn’t do much. The 49er has 6 turnovers, excellent field position a ton of times, and still only scored 20 points.
Though people can be against Alex, I’m still for him. But maybe that’s because truly, who else? Yeah, you could draft someone else, but the odds of a good QB coming in are crap, even in the first round. Go ahead and draft another QB if you like someone, but might as well stick with Alex for a full year, and let him repeat with the same offense coordinator for the first time in his career. I don’t necessarily think Alex will ever be a superstar quarterback, but maybe he can be top 12- consistent, solid playmaker. Add that to Frank Gore, good offensive line, and great defense, and that is a real contender.
Offensively, the 49ers looked like a confused mashup. As my sister says, the 49ers can run when they only run and the 49ers can pass when they only pass- they can’t seem to do both in a game. I think Frank Gore has the be the #1 option, and then let Alex push the offense beyond that.
I think the 49ers are two really good players away from being a legit contender, one and offense and the other on defense. On offense, maybe that’s a lineman because I think all the other pieces are there. Crabtree has played really well for a rookie, and the other receivers are young and improving. It’s just about Alex Smith, and that’s where a Pro Bowl level lineman can make things easier for him as well as Frank. On defensive, the 49ers need a pass rusher or just another high level player. The 49ers are 18th in yardage allowed, but only 6th in points, though some of that has to be due to their weak division.

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