Merry Lynchmas!

 

 

And lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round them: and they were sore afraid.

 

2025 Card-vent Calendar: December 24, 2025

December 24, 2025:

1992 DC Cosmic Cards #137 Mr. Nebula 

Yeah, it doesn't sound great on paper, but the Eiffel Tower decorated to resemble a Christmas tree kind of does it for me.  Apparently this extremely deep cut of a character was a piss take on Marvel's Galactus.  He can modify the shape, color, and texture of any object, and it looks like he's using his powers for good here?  And it that a smile?  Not very villainy if you ask me.
 

 And tomorrow... a savior.

2025 Card-vent Calendar: December 23

December 23, 2025:

1995 Upper Deck SP Championship Series #36 Barry Larkin

Sometimes, a card featuring a great player making a great play in the field is all you need to get the job done.  Good work today, Card-vent Calendar
 

2025 Card-vent Calendar: December 22

December 22, 2025:

1994 Upper Deck Minor League #49 Rick Greene

Rick played in exactly one baseball game in his career, a 10-1 loss to my Milwaukee Brewers on June 19, 1999.  After Reds starter Ron Villone got rocked for 6 runs while recording only a single out, Greene put in 5.2 innings of serviceable mop-up duty, giving up two home runs (Jose Valentin, Dave Nilsson).  One game isn't much of a career, but it's more than most of us ever get.

 

It doesn't give you license to dance around like an asshole, though.

2025 Card-vent Calendar: December 21

December 21, 2025:

2018 Topps #FP-15 Bill Withers First Pitch

If today goes as well as I hope it does, it's going to be the loveliest day I've had in quite some time, followed by a string of even lovelier days.

 

One day last year my wife got sick and I went to Target to pick up her prescription.  The pharmacy wasn't set to open for another ten or fifteen minutes, but this song came on over the in-store speakers, and it made all the frustration and hassle of waiting just go away.  Bill Withers is the man.

2025 Card-vent Calendar: December 20

December 20, 2025:

1997 Fleer #10 Andy Pettitte Team Leader Die-Cut

It's an odd choice to cut the border of a card to match the outline of a player's face.  I can't find any more of these in my collection, so I'm assuming each is sculpted a little differently?  These are the questions worth asking.

 

By the way, I had a female roommate in college who once remarked that Andy Pettitte looked like a child molester.  Not sure where that came from, but I'm going with that it's "no news is good news" for Andy in 2025.  By all accounts, he's a decent guy.

2025 Card-vent Calendar: December 19

December 19, 2025:

1994 Classic Mortal Kombat #96 Story Line: Sub-Zero and Scorpion

My Mortal Kombat gaming experience is limited to the first console game.  Probably Genesis-only, if I remember correctly.  My buddy Jason, whom I knew since first grade, then started to pal around with around 8th-11th grade, had the system, so we would spend a lot of time playing that, watching Beavis and Butt-Head, and just enjoying the little commercials and interstitials that MTV still played at the time.  (Remembering some guy talking about a "bum wing" while taking the bus, maybe?  Riding in cabs?  Just experiencing hints of vapors of that bygone time in my middle age.)

Mostly, though, I would just watch him play.  And I was fine with that.  He wasn't greedy, he would've given up the controller if I had asked, but I just enjoyed providing the commentary to his gameplay.  We would throw on "Alapalooza" or Dennis Leary's "No Cure for Cancer" and just have a great time.  All of those other games in the franchise that have come since have no meaning to me.

 

My favorite character was always Sub-Zero.  Freezing an opponent with an icy blast and then smashing him to pieces was utterly satisfying.  "Get over here!" is the more famous line, but I preferred freezing a motherfucker.

 

Who was your favorite Mortal Kombat character?