2004 Leaf Second Edition

Here's a disappointing pack for a disappointing weekend. My ex-NFL team's first pick in the draft was so spectacularly bungled that even when they sort of rectified the situation by moving back into the first round to finally pick a lineman it was far too late for me. I'll be watching SEC football next year thanks to owner meddling. The Braves dropped two of three to the Mets even though they had Hudson and Smoltz starting. To top it off I just made pizza and I can't find my bottle of hot sauce anywhere. Well, I do have a bottle of Dave's Gourmet Insanity Sauce handy but the Braves and Falcons haven't driven me to suicide yet. Here's a pack of more disappointing crap, 2004 Leaf Second Edition. What's wrong with a series two of Leaf, you may ask? This isn't series two, this is Second Edition. Basically Donruss released Leaf as a Hobby only product, then a few months later put out a retail version called Second Edition. The big difference is that they put a Second Edition logo in the bottom right corner so the entire set is essentially a parallel of the Hobby version. Blech. Should I even bother opening it, or should I just chug the insanity sauce? Nah, I'll open.

134 Josh Beckett
186 Scott Rolen
110 Javy Lopez
288 Sammy Sosa Checklist
Big chunk o' cardboard
81 Aubrey Huff
21 Esteban Loaiza
72 Bret Boone
95 Brian Bowles

As you can see it's not a bad looking set. It's got a decent action shot, the black & white bottom border is nice and the little splash of team colors pulls it all together. It's just... I don't know. That little Second Edition logo screams out "second class citizen" to me. You could only afford the retail product? Wear your badge of shame! It really sucks when you have a set half full of hobby and half full of Second Edition. The whole thing looks bootleg. This is a really craptactular pack too, the big hit is a Sammy Sosa Checklist, hooray. Josh Beckett is still in his Marlins uniform to remind us of the south Florida fire sales. depressing. Scott Rolen mouthed his way out of Philly just to mouth his way out of St. Louis and is now up in the Frozen North. depressing. Aubrey Huff has his sexcapades and Bret Boone had his mysterious little career bump in Seattle. depressing. Ok, so I like the Javy Lopez card, but I'm going to gloss over that to focus on the depressing angle. That's right, A Pack A Day contributors use journalistic bias to twist the story and make the readers think what they want you to think. Isn't that depressing? Now I'm depressed. It's Nine Below Zero. I'm going to go watch some Young Ones and find a happy pack to open tomorrow.