How To remove Old Decals

If you acquire a used helmet to refurbish from a high school or somewhere else, chances are that the helmet will have decals on it. Now, you can’t paint over decals, although they did for the Pro Bowl in the 60s and early 70s, so you are going to have to remove them. Depending on how old they are, you may have a few issues to deal with. Decals are made to stick, so you are going to need some heat to soften up the glue and once that is over you will need to clean up the glue residue or worst case scenario repair damaged paint that occasionally happens when the glue has a reaction with the paint. To apply the heat you can use a heat gun, at the low setting, but your standard household hair dryer will do the job. I bought a cheap one just for this purpose and only use the heat gun for really tough jobs. To help lift up the decals once heated, you can use a chisel blade which will help lift up the decals. The logo and stripes are usually the easy part. It is the warning stickers and other various recertification decals that can be the toughest to remove. Once you get them removed you can clean with goo gone, alcohol or acetone to remove and remaining glue residue.

Thrift Store Finds!

I try to hit up as many local thrift stores on a regular basis. Most times I won’t find anything of interest, but every once in a while you will find something cool or a real gem. Every once in a while I will feature some of the items I have found over the years.

Vintage Softball/Baseball Jersey

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It can be a bad time for finding true vintage clothing at most low-end thrift stores. All of the great stuff from the 50s-80s is long gong or on sale on ebay or some high end trendy vintage clothing store with ridiculously priced items. If you want to find something good, you are going to have to flip through the racks until your hands are raw, because most of the stuff donated to your average thrift store these days is from the 1990s or 2000s. Not exactly great stuff. I would still keep your eyes peeled, though, because sometimes you will find some really great stuff if your timing is right. At this particular visit, I wasn’t expecting much when I went in to my local AMVETS Thrift Store. I hadn’t found anything interesting at this location and my confidence that I would was low. I went over the sports section looking for a helmet or anything football related I could find, but nothing. I went to the glassware, hoping to see some rare NFL glass, but nothing. Finally I headed over to the men’s clothing section when my eyes discovered a most beautiful sight. A yellow and bright green baseball jersey with a tackle twill letter H sewn onto the chest. This was a real find and it was under five bucks. What a deal! I really like this jersey and as a bonus it was a perfect fit. The jersey is basically an Oakland Athletics jersey with an H instead of an A. Later on I bought myself some matching stirrups and matching sanitaries.

Buffalo Bills #12 Stuffed Doll With Blue Facemask

Another great Item I found at Savers Thrift store was this stuffed #12 Buffalo Bills doll. It is dated 1988 on the tag, but it features a blue mask which was last worn on the field in 1986. I paid under 10 bucks for it, but have seen them go for quite a bit more on eBay.

Got Tape?

Speaking of eBay, a few years ago I thought I landed on a goldmine when I saw this lot of helmet tape dispensers. I paid like 10 bucks for the whole lot and figured I could sell them for a lot more than that. well, that was a few years ago and I have not sold any of them. Instead I have decorated my own stuff with them. I have one on my desk at work and a few down in the lair. The others are all sitting in a box waiting to go to a good home. I have a bunch of Bills ones in the package and a few other ones, Buccaneers and maybe a couple others loose. If anyone is interested. Let me know.

Unwrapping: 1992 Topps Stadium Club Unopened Pack

I am having a ton of fun opening up the packs I got in this lot from eBay. I am trying to draw it out and doing it one a day, saving the 1990 Topps pack with gum for last. This time I opened up a 1992 Topps Stadium Club pack. I’m hardly and expert when it comes to cards, but this is a nice set. The cards are high quality glossy cards with action shots and overall aesthetically pleasing. Each card also features the players rookie card on the back which is a cool touch. I always get excited when I get a Warren Moon in a pack. The cards also have some kind of Rating system for each player. The pack also came with a Stadium Club Membership form. I’m guessing I can’t still join this club. This is turning out to be great fun. I am going to have to do some more. Take a look in the slide show below to see what I got.

What I watched: 1983 MNF (Sunday Edition) Los Angeles Raiders Vs. Dallas Cowboys

What I watched: 1983 MNF (Sunday Edition) Los Angeles Raiders Vs. Dallas Cowboys

In only their third meeting ever, the Los Angeles Raiders visited Texas stadium for a match with the 7-0 Dallas Cowboys. Frank Gifford, OJ and Dandy Don called the game with Howard Cosell off for the special Sunday Night edition of Monday Night Football (there was was also a normal Monday broadcast the next day between the Giants and Cardinals.). The best part of this video is that it is raw satellite feed which means you get to hear Giff, OJ and Don talk during what would have been commercial breaks during the original broadcasts. Comments on the stadium, the cheerleaders and getting notes from the producers in the truck are all heard during the timeouts. Although the Cowboys were undefeated, the future champion Raiders kicked a couple field goals in the 4th quarter to get the 40-38 win in Dallas.

Helmet Of The Day: Upside Down Colts

This 1981 Fleer sticker features an upside down Baltimore Colts horseshoe logo. Apparently no one caught the mistake and these were mass produced and released to the public. This is way more notable than if the logo was the right way. When I posted this on Twitter, some mentioned that this was bad luck, but it turns out there is lots of debate on which way you display a horseshoe brings the most luck. For the Colts football team Luck already plays QB.