2021 Hobby Goals

Happy New Year!  As I have mentioned several times in the past, I love reading about how collectors did with their past year's collecting goals and their goals for the upcoming New Year.  I like to do them to help me focus my purchases and hobby time to help give me focus.  2020 was good hobby year for me, but just like everyone else I had to overcome all the challenges living under a pandemic.  I have a feeling most of 2021 is going to look like 2020 and am hopeful we can get back to normalcy by the end of the summer.  Thanks to all my readers and here are my 10 collecting goals this year:

Goal #1: Blog 60 posts this year!

I barely hit my blogging goal last year with posting on average once a week, but this year I want to challenge myself to get 60 posts.  Blogging is more therapy than anything and I hope I can provide a brief bit of information, knowledge, and entertainment as well to the larger collecting community.  I won't be short of things to blog about and am hoping the rest of my life can cooperate.  

 

  

Goal #2: Publish the 5th Edition of the Sumo Menko and Card Checklist.

This is it!  This is the year to get the next edition of my book self-published.  The 4th Edition was completed way back in 2017 and there have been numerous updates and additions ready to be captured in the 5th Edition.  To help me get motivated, I created a draft of the cover already....let's hope this is the year.

Goal #3: Get to the halfway point with my 1973 Calbee set

The 1973 set is a monster in terms of cost to complete.  With cards ranging anywhere from $50-$200 or higher, this 36-card set is a monster to put together.  It takes time and definitely resources to whittle away to completion.  Crazy enough, this is the most expensive sumo set in existence....it even eclipses the sets made in the 1890s....yes 1890s not 1980s...as well as the ultra-rare pre-war sets.  Because of supply and demand, prices have been elevated for a while now, but I am feeling lucky this year to get to the 50% completion mark.  

  

Goal #4: Relabel my Binders/Sets and Pass Along Excess "Stuff"

The majority of my Japanese card collection is in binders, but needs a bit of TLC to properly relabel each of my sets and relabel my binders.  Since my collection has grown from when I first started, I am continually organizing the sets within the binders but wanted to wait until it had settled out a bit before I went back in there and put more permanent labels on everything.  I also need to get into my misc. cards and make sure everything is tidied up and pass along some of my excess in care packages.  Not to mention I need to get my desk stacks incorporated into my collection.  This is the year I'd like to get that done.  Speaking of organizing, look at this binder carousel!  I have my binders on shelves, but this carousel is no joke.

Goal #5: Expand my 1980s/1990s Japanese Telephone Card Collection

I have been totally enamored recently with holographic cards.  Doing some browsing on Yahoo Japan Auctions, there are some legitimate and awesome looking Japanese holographic telephone cards.  I plan on picking up some here and there to complement my sumo wrestling telephone card collection.  Speaking of which, my sumo wrestling telephone card collection was sadly put on the backburner for the past several years, but this is the year I am going to start expanding it.  I used the word "expand" since I don't know which direction I want to take both the hologram and sumo telephone cards yet, but defining them and growing them will be this year's goal.  The real question is, how do I take good quality photos of holographic cards since scanning does not do them any justice?  

Goal #6: Do Something with my Yukata Card/Bolt Collection

I spent a good amount of energy this past year collecting Japanese indigo yukata bolts with their attached cards....so much in fact that there are very few left out there that are coming up for auction.  It's weird...you used to be able to find them on every street corner, now they are almost non-existent.  Anyway, I need to take the 40 or so I have to the next level.  I'll probably try and establish some sort of catalogue system for them and publish them on my blog.

Goal #7: Continue Giving my Non-Sumo Collections Some Love

I'm collecting specific non-sumo sets and want to continue working towards completion of them.  Each one is in a different stage of completion so I have specific goals this year of inching ever closer to 100%.

Amada Nintendo (NES)/Famicon Mini Cards

This 360-card set was issued in 6 different series and is so much fun to chase down.  These cards depict game art as well as actually screen shots from different NES games that were popular in the mid-1980s.  Right now I have only 170 of the cards leaving me a little over 47% complete.  My goal is to see if I can bump the total up by 10% to around 57% which means I need to add about 35 cards to my collection this year.

1983 Myojo Noodle Mechanical (Meca) Cards

Back in 1983, Myojo issued 9 different series of cards depicting different types of mechanical machines: Series 1 - World Steam Locomotives, Series 2 - World Racing Cars, Series 3 - World Classic Cars, Series 4 - World Ships, Series 5 - World Jets, Series 6 - World Motorcycles, Series 7 - World Space Machines/Meca, Series 8 - World Dream Cars, Series 9 - Star Wars Machines/Meca.  Each of these series has 30 cards for a total of 270 cards.  I only have 55 of the cards at the moment (20%), but am looking to boost that total up to 33%, or another 35 cards.  I have confidence that I can do that this year, no doubt!

2014-2020 Airport Trading Cards

I first heard about this set while I was flying through Chicago back in 2015.  I was instantly hooked and have made it my goal to try and collect them all.  No one knows how many there actually are in the master set.  I have it pegged at 156 cards, but I am likely a few short.  Back in October I talked about the "Dirty 5"....these are the 5 toughest cards to get out of the set and my goal this year is to get at least 1 of the Dirty 5!

1974 Japanese Yamakatsu Bruce Lee "The Way of the Dragon"

In 1974, Japan was going crazy over Bruce Lee and to capitalize on his popularity and promote his movies, Yamakatsu issued a three-series set covering 144 cards (48 per series).  Series 1 was focused on the movie "Enter the Dragon", Series 2 on "The Way of the Dragon" and Series 3 on "The Green Hornet".  Each Series gets progressively harder to complete and I was finally able to finish Series 1 back in September.  Right now I am down to needing only 4 more card for Series 2.  My goal for 2021 is to finish Series 2 "The Way of the Dragon" and then turn my focus to Series 3 "The Green Hornet" and add 5 more cards there.  Even something more cool about Series 2 is that it also captures the very first trading cards of Chuck Norris on them!

Radio Shack Zip Zap Cards

Some of the very first miniaturized radio control cars that came to market were the Zip Zap cars marketed by Radio Shack.  These were a huge hit and millions were sold.  All sorts of accessories, upgrades, body kits, and motors were available to customize each of the cars.  Included along with the cars and some of the accessories were trading cards.  Right now, I have been able to track down 82 cards in the master set, but I think there are more than that out there....I have 51 of the 82 (62%) cards, but would like to get that number close to 70% by the end of the year.  I need to go in and update the checklist too and try to get it reflected on the Trading Card Database.

Brandon Laird and Yuta Tabuse Cards

My three PC guys are Nolan Ryan, Brandon Laird, and Yuta Tabuse and my only goal this year is to continue adding to each of the PCs.  I don't have a specific number goal, but at least for Brandon Laird my goal is to start building up his Japanese-issued cards.

Goal #8: Get out at least 1 Care Package a month

I love sending random care packages....I actually enjoy shopping for things to put in them because of the challenge of trying to help fellow collectors out.  I am hoping I can get out at least 12 care packages this year!

Goal #9: Get to The National!

Assuming it is still on this year, my goal is to get out to The National.  Two scenarios: 1) I can hop on a redeye from LAX, land in the morning in Chicago and then hit up the show all day and fly home late that evening, or 2) spend a couple of nights in a hotel and then I can spend a few days at the show.  It all depends on my work schedule and how much time I can take off. 

Goal #10: Maintain/Improve Google/Yahoo/Bing Search Engine results for Sumo Card(s) & Menko

As a repeat from the past four years, my goal has been for this blog to be the #1-at-the-very-top-of-your-browser result when you go search up Sumo Card(s) and Menko.  In 2019, I was the #1 on Yahoo, almost the #1 on Bing, and the #1 to #6 on Google.  Now I am in the top 3 all around!  Here is where I currently stand, let's hope I can maintain that this year!

Sumo Card: Bing #1, Google #2, Yahoo #1

Sumo Cards: Bing #1, Google #2, Yahoo #1

Sumo Menko: #1, Google #1, Yahoo #1

Sumo Wrestling Card: Bing #3, Google #3, Yahoo #3

Sumo Wrestling Cards: Bing #2, Google #2, Yahoo #2

I hope everyone has great luck, fortune, and health in 2021!  Thanks for reading and Happy New Year!

We Have Another Majority - 2011 Bowman Chrome Draft Red Refractors #/5

Earlier this year, right before the COVID Pandemic kicked off in full force, I was able to pick up the majority of Brandon Laird's 2008 Bowman Chrome Red Refractors #ed/5.  Sitting in my collection are #s 1, 2, & 4.  Fast forward 8 months to today and I am now the majority owner of Brandon Laird's 2011 Bowman Chrome Draft Red Refractors #ed/5.  My scanner still stinks picking up slabbed cards, but here are the 3 that are now sitting in my collection:  #s 3,4, & 5!  Wondering if cards #1 and #2 will ever show up one day.  Brandon did not have as good of year as in past while playing in Japan, but the COVID-shortened season definitely did not do anyone any favors.  Here is hoping next year will bring more success to him.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and stay safe out there Black Friday shopping!

We Have a Majority - 2008 Bowman Chrome Red Refractors #/5

I have been collecting Brandon Laird (now playing in Japan for the Chiba Lotte Marines) cards for a while now and became interested in Brandon's career for two reasons: 1) I worked with his mom in CA several years ago so would get to hear about his adventures in Japan, and 2) I collect some Japanese sports cards and it was a natural fit.  I've been trying to track down all his U.S. cards and parallels from 2008 to present.  I haven't dove too deeply into his Japanese cards since those tend to be a bit more expensive, but I do monitor auctions for cards from his U.S. playing days.  Recently, I was able to add the third #ed to 5 2008 Bowman Chrome Red Refractor meaning I now own a majority of the 5 that were printed.  Not sure I will be able to add the final two, but would be cool to have all 5 in possession at some point in my life.  Anyone else ever have a majority of refractor parallels of any players?

I've been Zapped! Thanks Kenny at Torren' Up Cards!

Got a nice Zap this past week via Kenny over at Torren' Up Cards!  I never turn down any Brandon Laird cards from his MLB-playing days and these fit nicely in my collection.  Any numbered signature card is definitely a nice addition as well with this 2011 Bowman Chrome Prospects Auto #ed to 500.  Brandon arguably had one of his better years in the NPB this year, although his Marines still finished 9.5 games behind the league leaders.  Let's hope next year brings Brandon and the Marines a lot better results.

Kenny also hooked me up with this authentic sumo wrestling banzuke, or ranking sheet, from the July 1999 tournament.  Awesome!!  I had just landed in Japan at the end of this tournament to start working, although not a sumo fan yet.  Some great rikishi on this banzuke for sure: Akebono, Musashimaru, Takanohana, Wakanohana, Asashoryu (all the way down at Sandanme...the writing is so small I can't even find his name yet), and Kaio.

Thanks a million Kenny!

2019 Year in Review

Here we are again....it seemed just like yesterday that I was writing this blog's 2018 year in review and now in a blink of an eye 2019 is almost over.  It was quite a year with some international travel, a big move, and a new job.  Here is hoping 2020 bring as much excitement as 2019 did.  Let's see how I did with my 2019 collecting goals.  Over the past two years, here is how I faired:

2017 Overall Grade = B

2018 Overall Grade = A-

 

This year I set out to accomplish 12 collecting and hobby goals.  I knew it was ambitious, but I thought most of them could be easily achievable....I wanted my trophies and to get my "A" grade.

 

Goal #1: Finish Editing and Print the 5th Edition of my Sumo Menko and Card Checklist Book -  Grade "D"

 

- I really thought I was going to be able to knock this goal out of the park, but the workload of my job prevented me from putting forth a valiant effort here.  Plus it seemed like every time I turned the corner I was getting new sets to catalog and the backlog of unchecklisted sets grew.  I did make a dent in editing, but I still have a large dent that I need to conquer before it is ready for print.  This goal will carry over to next year for sure.  Not a complete failure since I did get some stuff done, but below average for sure. 

 

 

Goal #2: Update this Blog's Content and Publish 75 Posts - Grade "D"

 

- This goal kicked me in the butt as well.  I was on the correct glide path to make 75 posts, but could never get in a rhythm the second half of the year.  It'll be pure luck if I can land 61 posts for 2019.  I had planned on publishing 6 times a month, but that quickly got derailed once we moved.  Plus, I never got around to editing the material in this blog to spice it up and make it more user friendly.  I did add some additional sections to the blog and felt like I kept it somewhat clean so, again, not a complete failure, but below average for what I had planned.

 

 

 

Goal #3: Add 5 New Cars to my 1973 Calbee Set - Grade "A"

 

- I made a "serious" dent in this set this year and was able to add 5 cards to the most expensive sumo set out there.  This set will cost the average collector at least $3000 to complete and cards rarely come up for under $100 per card.  I am now sitting at 13 cards...a whopping 36% complete.  The more expensive cards are the second half of the set...cards #19-#36.  Scored an "A" here...I'll drink to that!

 

 

 

Goal #4: Expand the Checklists for Sumo Wrestling Telephone Cards - Grade "C"

 

- I was able to make a small dent in this and was even able to card out a section in my book for this new CT series of cards.  However, prices continued to detract me from being a serious telephone card collector.  At an average of $15 per card, these cards couldn't tempt me to pull the trigger all that often.  Although unique, I doubt I will be able to expand the checklists much over the next few years even though this is an underappreciated genre of card collecting.  Considering how huge the telephone card craze was in Japan in the 1980s and 1990s, these cards still carry cost premiums that don't make sense for my pocketbook.

 

  

Goal #5: Expand the Event-Signed BBM Sumo Card Checklist - Grade "A"

 

- I'm not going to lie, I "cheated" here.  A fellow sumo card collector, Paul, has done almost all the legwork.  Once we figured out where these cards were getting printed, signed, and distributed, Paul was a hound dog in trying to compile the checklist.  As I mentioned before, I can't believe that BBM can produce these really awesome event cards, yet use sticker autos for their main BBM releases.  These gold ink versions with embossed seals are really sharp.  Paul will get all the credit in my book for compiling the checklist, but we now have captured the information for posterity!

 

Goal #6: Earn 1000 points on the Trading Card Database - Add BBM Sumo Wrestling Checklists - Grade "D"

 

- Gah, I thought this one would be easy, but it was hard to find the time to scan and get things organized.  I'm at 674 points...not much progress was made this year....but I did make some progress so not a complete failure.  I feel like this could be a worthy goal in 2020, but we'll see.  I do have some ideas to boost my numbers as I'd really like to get to the 1000 point mark and attain Level 7 which I think would open the door for me on expanding checklists.

 

 



 Goal #7: Start a YouTube Channel with BBM Card Box Breaks - Grade "A+"

 

- I really had fun with this one and I hope to get back into the swing of making videos.  Before we moved back to the United States, I was able to publish several of these videos a month.  Now I haven't touched the recording equipment in months although I do have the setup all ready to go in my house.  Maybe I'll make a video or two over the holiday break.  Checkout my SumoMenkoMan channel.  Hopefully I can restart adding new content sooner than later.

 

 

Goal #8: Add 5 New Sumo World Magazines to my Collection - Grade "A+"

 

- Boom, nailed this one.  I am down to needing only 28 more magazines to have the complete run from 1973-1999.  Plus I was able to add more post-2000 magazines although I am not focusing on those and only picking them up if they happen to be a good price.  These are pieces of sumo history that shouldn't be forgotten....and they are definitely fun to read....although really hard to come by on the secondary market!

 

 

 

 

Goal #9: Finish my Yamakatsu Bruce Lee Series 1 Set, and Add 5 More Cards to Series 2 & 3 Sets - Grade "A+"

 

- I did it!  I finally finished my 48-card Series 1 set and am down to the final 9 cards for Series 2 and 32 cards for Series 3.  I was able to pick up handfuls here and there so felt really good about this goal.  I didn't think I was actually going to knock this one out, but splurged a little and slightly overpaid for the last two cards.  Oh well, it is complete and now I can sit back and enjoy it while I whittle away at Series 2.  Bruce Lee is no joke and you never finish collecting until Chuck Norris tells you to stop. 

 

 

Goal 10: Maintain Google/Yahoo/Bing Search Engine Rankings for Sumo Card(s) Menko - Grade "B+"

 

- This one was a really fun on to go back and see how the search engines adjusted to my blog and blog traffic.  Last year's rankings are in brackets [ ].  Stayed #1 on Yahoo and improved on Bing, but lost ground on Google. 

 

Sumo Card: Bing #2 [#7], Google #6 [#9], Yahoo #1 [#1]

Sumo Cards: Bing #2 [#2], Google #4 [#2], Yahoo #1 [#1]

Sumo Menko: Bing #1 [#2], Google #1 [#1], Yahoo #1 [#1]

Sumo Wrestling Card: Bing #1 [ #2], Google #3 [#1], Yahoo #1 [#1]

Sumo Wrestling Cards: Bing #1 [#1], Google #2 [#1], Yahoo #1 [#1]

 

 

 

 

Goal 11: Add Additional Cards to my Brandon Laird and Yuta Tabuse Player Collections - Grade "A"

 

- Thanks to Fuji and eBay, I was able to beef up my two player collections, although these days it is hard to find any new Laird cards except for Japanese ones, but the Tabuse cards are still pretty plentiful.  Laird did rather well with his new team, Chiba Lotte Marines, and led his team in homers.  Tabuse is still with the Tochigi Brex and leading the East Division.  The season is halfway over and the next season of BBM B.League cards will soon arrive at my doorstep.  I think if I would have added a small handful more of these, I would have reached the A+ pinnacle.  Whoop!

 

 

 





 Goal 12: Add 10 additional Cards to my Airport Trading Card Collection - Grade "A+"

 

- Last year around this time there were about 125 known cards in the master set of Airport Trading Cards.  As of right now, there are 153 known cards and I am now down to needing only 14 more.  Every year the checklist expands, but I manage to hold my own.....some of the older cards are almost impossible to find no doubt.  I'm not sure I will ever be able to collect them all, but who knows!

 

There you have it.  With some solid "A" grades and some significant "D" grades I feel like I earned an overall Grade of "B" in 2019!  Not bad.  Had I knocked out some of my higher goals this would have pushed up into the B+ range...maybe even A-.  Oh well, there is always next year for sure.

 

2019 Overall Grade = B











2011 Bowman Chrome Baseball Superfractor - Brandon Laird 1/1

A month or so ago I was updating the Brandon Laird section of the Trading Card Database with photos and cleaning up a few other odds and ends.  I noticed the empty photo holes for the 2008 and 2011 Superfractors and figured they would stay empty for a long time.  A few weeks ago, however, eBay worked its magic and the 2011 Bowman Chrome Superfractor popped up.  The seller and I worked a deal and now I finally own a graded card.....my first ever....although I will likely crack it out of its plastic prison soon.

The good news is that I have far exceeded my #11 collecting goal this year with this purchase.  Maybe I'll add a few inexpensive Yuta Tabuse cards and call that goal complete.

By the way, Brandon moved teams in the offseason and will now be playing for the Chiba Lotte Marines.

 

Unfortunately my scanner really sucks with graded cards, but it is on our list of new things to purchase this year so maybe I'll get a better scan at some point

2019 Collecting Goals

2018 was a great year for my collection and meeting my collecting goals.  In 2017, I "scored" a B and in 2018, I "scored" an A-.  2019 will be an ambitious year as we have an impending move from Germany to California which will put a pause on my hobby for a good month or two.  Hopefully, I can be proactive and get some posts created beforehand to have ready to go during the move.  This year will also be one of my most ambitious in the hobby as I set out to complete two more goals than last year for a total of 12 goals this year.  I did "complete" all 10 of my goals last year, although some a little better than others.

 

Here are the 12 goals I am setting for myself this year in priority order:

1. Finish Editing and Print the 5th Edition of my Sumo Menko & Card Checklist Book
- The pride and joy to my sumo menko and sumo card hobby has been publishing new editions to the Sumo Menko & Card Checklist Book.  I have enough new content to drastically expand my book (it's currently at 349 pages) and I should be ready to publish the 5th Edition next fall.  The black and white bromide section as well as the playing card section are getting huge makeovers and there are tons of new sets and expansions to current sets that are waiting to get published.  My time on Earth is finite so I want to leave my mark with this book.

2. Update this Blog's Content and Publish 75 posts
- This blog has always been an outlet to organize my thoughts, organize my collection, and to meet fellow collectors.  Regular readers know my content can vary from week to week, but it always centers around my passion for sumo menko and cards.  When I first built this blog, I threw in a bunch of content and frankly haven't touched it since.  That will change this year as I will freshen up links and content to make it a little more useful with a little extra eye appeal.  I am also going to have consistent posting times with the two-week rotation of Week 1: Mon & Thu, Week 2: Wed, Week 3: Mon & Thu, Week 4: Wed. etc....  This should allow me to develop stronger posts and put me at around 75-80 posts for the year.




3. Add 5 New Cards to my 1973 Calbee Set
- Here we go!  I need to get a move on with this 1973 Calbee set and it is time to actively seek out the cards.  Getting 5 cards is not the problem....getting 5 cards that fit within my hobby budget is.  With some effort, though, I should be able to make a decent dent in this set.

4. Expand the Checklists for Sumo Wrestling Telephone Cards
- If you lived in Japan in the 1980s and 1990s, you know how huge the telephone card craze was.  It was on par with POGs across the United States, but lasted a lot longer and these cards inherently had value (most of them still do) as they could be used to make phone calls on Japanese pay phones.  But, aghast, the pay phone would punch a small hole in your card at the end of your call indicating how many credits you had left which also drastically killed the collecting value of your card.  Consequently, printing these cards was like printing free money for the telephone company since a lot of them went unused.  By sheer coincidence, sumo wrestling was going through a huge boom at this time and so there are hundreds of these sumo wrestling telephone cards that have yet to be fully appreciated or catalogued.  I'm ready to dive into this genre of sumo cards and get it published in my book.

5. Expand the Event-Signed BBM Sumo Card Checklist
- BBM as a sports-card company is full of mystery and I still don't know why they choose to use sticker autographs for their main sumo wrestling sets.  Yet when they host special events around Japan to promote new card products, they give away prizes which consists of on-card autograph cards.  They have wrestlers sign a few of them with gold ink and then they emboss the card with the BBM Authentic Seal.  These on-card autos are so much nicer than their ugly cousins and it can't be that much harder to use these in the main sets.  Anyway, there exists no known checklist for these event cards so my goal is to expand this checklist and get it published in my book.

6. Earn 1000 points on the Trading Card Database - Add BBM Sumo Wrestling Checklists
- The Trading Card Database is a refreshing enigma in the card collecting hobby.  It's self-policing and crowd-sourced data entry is so organized.  As a collector who likes to organize things, it is pure joy to navigate the site.  It also rewards you for your work by issuing points which allows you to do more things freely on the site and unlocks permission levels.  My goal is to get to a 1000 points this year, unlock Level 7, and add the BBM Sumo Wrestling Checklists to the database.  I first need a better scanner....any recommendations?

7. Start a YouTube Channel with BBM Card Box Breaks (or a variation on this theme)
- There are several YouTube channels that already do this, but I'm hoping to fill a void with the English-language piece.  I expect to make $0.00 doing this, but it will be a fun and interesting way for my son and I to breech the world of YouTube together.  Money talks and he has agreed to take on the job of being my editor and post-production guy.  Nothing fancy...just a good microphone, decent camera, and fun editing.  More to follow as we work out the details.

8. Add 5 New Sumo World Magazines to my Collection
- I'm in too deep on this one and have no other choice but to keep on trudging to the end.  The problem is that I really enjoy reading these old Sumo World magazines, but older ones to add to my collection are so hard to find these days.  They were first published in 1973 and are still being published today.  Around the year 2000 is when the internet killed this magazine, but between 1973 and 2000 the content flourished.  Because it is written in English, it was sent around the world and so there are very few on the secondary market within Japan.  It has thus limited me to eBay.  Right now I am 34 magazines short from completing the entire run from 1973 through the end of 1999.  My goal this year is to add at least 5 more to my collection to keep the momentum moving forward toward completion.

9. Finish my Yamakatsu Bruce Lee Series 1 Set, Add 5 More Cards to Series 2 & 3
- What is better than having Bruce Lee on a trading card?  It is having Bruce Lee AND Chuck Norris on a trading card together.  Series 2 (from the movie The Way of the Dragon) of these Yamakatsu cards are Chuck Norris' rookie cards and are iconic.  Although not extremely difficult to find, they do command a premium and I have been so close to finishing Series 1 of this set for a while now.  I need just two more cards.  I hope this is the year I finish it.  As for Series 2 and Series 3, I am just hoping to add at least 5 more to these sets.  If Chuck Norris can count to infinity twice, I can muster up the patience.  Although, I don't finish Chuck Norris card sets, he just tells me when I am done.




10. Maintain Google/Yahoo/Bing Search Engine Ranking for Sumo Card(s)/Menko
- This is kind of a quirky goal, but the readers of this blog definitely deserve the recognition here.  A few weeks ago, Sean from the Baseball Cards in Japan blog, posted an entry over on his Famiconblog about how his website was Google's #1 hit for the image search of the word "idiot"....this was about 7 years ago.  It got me thinking about what rank this blog is when I Google "Sumo Card".  #9 it turns out.  Then I did what every engineer would do, I conducted a quick test with Yahoo, Bing, and Google on various search terms.  Here is what I came up with:

Sumo Card: Bing #7, Google #9, Yahoo #1
Sumo Cards: Bing #2, Google #2, Yahoo #1
Sumo Menko: Bing #2, Google #1, Yahoo #1
Sumo Wrestling Card: Bing #2, Google #1, Yahoo #1
Sumo Wrestling Cards: Bing #1, Google #1, Yahoo #1

Thanks for making this blog the #1, #2, #7, & #9 website out there for sumo card and sumo menko content.

 

 

 

 

11. Add Additional Cards to my Brandon Laird & Yuta Tabuse Player Collections
- I have exactly two player collections that are non-sumo related: Brandon Laird of the Nippon Ham Fighters baseball team and Yuta Tabuse of the Tochigi Brex basketball team.  Both collections have come along nicely this year and I want to keep whittling down the number of holes in those two collections.  Laird cards that I need from his Yankees days are drying up, but there is an untapped supply of his Japanese cards on Japanese auction sites.  I've got a decent ways to go on Tabuse cards, but figure I'll pick up a few here and there over the course of this year.

12. Add 10 Additional Cards to my Airport Trading Card Collection
- Last up on the list is my Airport Trading Card set.  First issued in 2014, there are about 125 cards in the set issued from various airports around North America; although the exact total number is hard to determine since no checklist was ever made available.  I'm closing in on over 100 of these cards and still have a ways to go since the 2018 series was just released setting me back a little ways.  I'm looking to add at least 10 more this year.  We'll see where my budget leaves me with this #12 priority goal.

There you have it.  Thanks for sticking with this post to the end and thanks for reading.  I want to wish everyone a Happy New Year and best of luck collecting!