HF Sharks Quarantine Survival Thread #3: Sharks merch/memorabilia stories

[The Nemesis]

Part 2 of my series of threads to get us through the no-hockey times is something that is (selfishly) a lot lower maintenance compared to the trivia thread, just so that I don't have to spend all my time tracking and updating multiple threads over most of my time. Instead I just want to get the ball rolling on a slightly different track:

Do you have any fun or interesting Sharks merch or memorabilia? Do you have any interesting stories around getting something of the sort? Anything with sentimental value? Some sort of coolness factor? Just something you're proud of? Or just something you want to show off and share with the masses?

Ideally the thing that would sustain the most discussion is personal stories around getting or finding interesting pieces, like the time you found an original early 90s Starter jacket in a thrift shop or picked up an autographed stick at a yard sale or ran into Brent Burns at a pizza place and he signed your 49ers hat (of all things), but there probably aren't enough of those to carry this thread for more than a couple of days, so basically this thread is about anything at all. Even if it's just "this is the hat I wear every day. I got it at the mall on a whim. There's nothing special about it, but I like it."

Pictures are also always a plus, since cool swag is very much a visual experience.

So let's hear what you've got that's worth talking about. Or even what you have that you don't think is worth talking about. Talk about it anyway. It's not like any of us have anything better to do with our time.


Personally I have a ton of Sharks knick-knacks and random stuff that I've collected over the years, so maybe in line with how I'm updating the quiz every few days I'll pop back in every 2 or 3 days here with another set of pics and a story about something in my collection, from the cool and obscure to the utterly mundane. Just to keep things rolling along for a couple weeks or until this thread completely dies and the well runs dry

I'll try to have something personal up later today once I've had a few minutes to take some pictures and write the story.

Also you can easily take the thread subtitle as being non-serious. the "dumb stuff someone spent money on" line is mostly because I wanted a snarky comment and it ties into what I figure will be the first thing I talk about, but on the whole it doesn't have to define what you're doing. If you got something for free, cool. If you don't think it's dumb, great. It's all good.

Click to read more...

 

[Pavelski2112]

Found a set of Zubaz Sharks shorts plus the matching beanie a long time ago on eBay. My gf at the time bought me the beanie for my birthday or something like that and I grabbed the shorts, which I used to wear quite often.

A lot of other cool old eBay/thrift finds. Jackets, old jerseys, stuff like that. Used to wear hats a lot more, so a lot of those. Some newer jerseys, including a game-worn Fehr.

Have an old Bernie Nicholls kids jersey from when I was younger.

My favorite is probably my last-gen (with the black shoulders) Pavelski jersey that I got signed at a practice in 2011, right after Burns got traded here. Was borrowing Sharpies all day and the only sig in a different color was my boy Joe himself. Also signed by Jumbo, Desi, Cooch, Clowe, Handzus, Greiss, a bunch of others.

 

[Powinkle]

When I was first getting into hockey my dad's coworker had season tickets to the Ontario Reign when they were part of the ECHL. He heard that I was starting to like the sport and he managed to get a Patric Kjellberg game (maybe practice?) used stick. It didn't have a signature on it but it had his name printed on the side.

The confusing part is Patric didn't play hockey past 2003 when he finished with the ducks until 2011 when he played in Europe. So I'm not sure the circumstances that caused him to come into possession of the stick but, I still have it to this day. The mystery is kind of why I like it.

 

[LadyStanley]

Probably my most unique item.

For the last winter Olympics the NHLers participated, the Sharks released a puck commemorating the four participants.

I probably picked it up at game and the next day took it to practice where I got four autographs.

But there was a printing error (Finnish flag incorrect) and it got pulled from sale. So I'm not sure how many are out in the wild.

 

[The Nemesis]

When I was first getting into hockey my dad's coworker had season tickets to the Ontario Reign when they were part of the ECHL. He heard that I was starting to like the sport and he managed to get a Patric Kjellberg game (maybe practice?) used stick. It didn't have a signature on it but it had his name printed on the side.

The confusing part is Patric didn't play hockey past 2003 when he finished with the ducks until 2011 when he played in Europe. So I'm not sure the circumstances that caused him to come into possession of the stick but, I still have it to this day. The mystery is kind of why I like it.

That's cool. Random stuff like that is always my favorite.


My contribution for today is this:

I don't have or get much in the way of autographed or unique merch on a regular basis since it's the heart of Canucks territory. But most years at Christmas my dad visits a local memorabilia shop where he knows the owner and tries to pick up anything Sharks-related that they have.

Anyway a few years ago through that I got an autographed puck.

...yeah.

I realize this probably makes it look like like I'm being ungrateful or dickish, but that's 100% not the case. I still think it's a cool piece to have, especially when you consider that he was the first draft pick in Sharks history and had a solid rookie season and all that, but it's kind of a constant reminder of the first failure in franchise history. And in my dad's defence he would've had absolutely no idea what Falloon means to the Sharks organization and to a Sharks fan. But the fact that the most unique piece of merch I have is a symbol of the early futility of the franchise is fun. And that in the mid/late 2000s someone actually paid money for something by Pat Falloon.

 

[slocal]

Found a set of Zubaz Sharks shorts plus the matching beanie a long time ago on eBay. My gf at the time bought me the beanie for my birthday or something like that and I grabbed the shorts, which I used to wear quite often.

I have the pants...somewhere. Here's a pic of me in them at a dance during my senior year in HS:

Let that image burn into all of your heads.

 

[Pavelski2112]

I have the pants...somewhere. Here's a pic of me in them at a dance during my senior year in HS:

Let that image burn into all of your heads.

Nice!

Found a couple old pics too, back when I had long hair and played in more punk bands:

 

[slocal]

Nice!

Found a couple old pics too, back when I had long hair and played in more punk bands:

Dude, that's awesome!

Aside from the awesome zubas, that Julio shirt is legit af.

 

[Pavelski2112]

Dude, that's awesome!

Aside from the awesome zubas, that Julio shirt is legit af.

Hah, thanks! My gf at the time's mom worked at a Salvation Army, so she'd give me free clothes all the time, that shirt included. Hell, for Christmas one year, she gave me an old Sharks roller hockey jersey that I still have lying around as well.

That girl let me borrow an SF Spiders jersey that I just never gave back. Her loss.

 

[The Nemesis]

Nice!

Found a couple old pics too, back when I had long hair and played in more punk bands:

To throw a Canadian-ism at you, that's a sweet toque. Which is fitting given what appears to be a Rush t-shirt.

Meanwhile @slocal looked like he'd be leaving the dance early so he could make it to the rumble with the gang across town. Either that or a breakdancing competition.

I don't have any cool retro clothes like that anymore. All I ever had were some kids sweatshirts and the like and a cool jacket that was like a crossbreed of a school varsity jacket, a starter jacket, and a sweatshirt hoodie. It had letterman jacket cuffs and collar, but sweatshirt style cotton sleeves and a hood and a satin-finish teal body with a huge Sharks logo on the back. But sadly my mom donated it when I outgrew it, and also I had stopped wearing it because my idiot 6 or 7 year old friends and I had somehow discovered that my best friend's sister's collection of bath beads could have little holes pinched in them and then be squeezed to use like makeshift squirt guns. Only then we got home and our parents found out that the oil in the beads was not quite as water soluble when it was concentrated and the oily streak across my arm from shielding myself wasn't coming out. So I don't have that anymore. But I do have one thing that I might show off in a couple days.

 

[WTFetus]

As much as I love hating on the dude, I have a signed Team Canada (2010) Marlov jersey.

For random merchandise, I have Sharks headrest covers on my car signed by him too. Literally had him sign it while they were on the headrests that I took out of the car.

 

[slocal]

Meanwhile @slocal looked like he'd be leaving the dance early so he could make it to the rumble with the gang across town. Either that or a breakdancing competition.

It's makeup, not a black eye!

Also, how did you know I used to be into breakdancing back then? Ah, that was during the bboy resurgence, started by a remake of "Rappers Delight". I played/rewound the dance parts of Breakin' so many times on the VCR, the tape got ruined.

Oh yeah, I have one or two things that I will be posting here. Gotta spread then out for maximum time coverage.

 

[SJSharksfan39]

I have a few of the rally towels from the Sharks stanley cup run in 2016. That is still probably my proudest moment as a fan. I typically don't get to go to big events like that (Too much money) but to go to a game in each round and just experience that atmosphere was something special.

 

[slocal]

Easily one of my most-cherished items comes from @LadyStanley. After Jumbo's famous defense of Hertl's 4th goal, I had made a fun little avatar with Foghorn. LS was kind and generous enough to offer a chance to get Joe to sign something "bigger".

She took some great pics of Joe and let me pick one to edit. She then took it to Sharks' practice and had him sign it.

I screamed in disbelief when this arrived in the mail:

I am forever in her debt. THANK YOU!!

 

[The Nemesis]

Easily one of my most-cherised items comes from @LadyStanley. After Jumbo's famous defense of Hertl's 4th goal, I had made a fun little avatar with Foghorn. LS was kind and generous enough to offer a chance to get Joe to sign something "bigger".

She took some great pics of Joe and let me pic one to edit. She then took it to Sharks' practice and had him sign it.

I screamed in disbelief when this arrived in the mail:

I am forever in her debt. THANK YOU!!

That's awesome.

I would've loved to see Jumbo's reaction to being handed that to sign as well

 

[slocal]

That's awesome.

I would've loved to see Jumbo's reaction to being handed that to sign as well

Oh man, same.

 

[tiburon12]

Being a non-local fan, I dont have a lot of merch, and certainly not many with good stories. That said, the most valuable piece i have comes with a great story.

When I was 16, my dad and I decided to do a California trip for spring break to see the Sharks at home for the first time. The Sharks schedule at the time aligned perfectly with my school holiday, and we planned to see 5 games (4 at home, one in LA). This was 2008, just after the Sharks acquired Campbell and in the middle of their season ending 18-2-2 run. It was pretty cool as well because just before this they had played the Atlantic teams and i think i went to see them play the Rangers, Islanders, and Flyers, and was days after what i consider one of the best regular season Sharks games of all time against MTL

To commemorate the trip, i got a Torrey Mitchell #17 teal jersey, who at the time i thought was going to be a future cornerstone. He was so fast and scrappy and played very similarly to how i played. Thornton was my favorite player, and in hindsight probably should gotten his number, but oh well.

Anyway, first game was against the Blues and we had seats behind the away net. Sharks had four goals in the first, including a goal a minute in, then 3 in 3 minutes capped off by a Marleau penalty shot. First time at the tank and it was f***ing electric.

Game two was home against EDM, where the Sharks lost in a shootout. If you all recall, EDM won 13 shootouts that season and their goalie was 30/32. Pretty cool to see that machine running when the shootout was still exciting. Game 3 we drove down to LA for a 2-1 win, then back up the next day on the PCH (epic drive) to see them play the Wild. We had glass seats and perfect view of this hit by Murray on Bouchard (we're in this video too).

Before game 5 against the Ducks, my dad emailed the Sharks PR team and told them our story of coming from the east coast etc, and the PR guy got back to us told us to come to morning skate at the tank. We got to watch from the stands, then catch the players on the way out of the locker room. Even got to chat with DW, who bizarrely was familiar with my hometown. I got every player's autograph on my jersey......every single one, but Patrick f***ing Marleau. He blew right past me, didnt look when i called his name. I harbor resent towards him in perpetuity. But the sharks won and there was a great fight between Shelley and Parros.

It was an amazing trip all in all, and the way the sharks treated us was first class. Solidified my faith in the organization. And now i have a very strange Torrey Mitchell jersey signed by the whole 07/08 team, except Marleau.

 

[SJSharksfan39]

Easily one of my most-cherished items comes from @LadyStanley. After Jumbo's famous defense of Hertl's 4th goal, I had made a fun little avatar with Foghorn. LS was kind and generous enough to offer a chance to get Joe to sign something "bigger".

She took some great pics of Joe and let me pick one to edit. She then took it to Sharks' practice and had him sign it.

I screamed in disbelief when this arrived in the mail:

I am forever in her debt. THANK YOU!!

I am amazed that this is actually real. Well done man.

 

[The Nemesis]

Being a non-local fan, I dont have a lot of merch, and certainly not many with good stories. That said, the most valuable piece i have comes with a great story.

When I was 16, my dad and I decided to do a California trip for spring break to see the Sharks at home for the first time. The Sharks schedule at the time aligned perfectly with my school holiday, and we planned to see 5 games (4 at home, one in LA). This was 2008, just after the Sharks acquired Campbell and in the middle of their season ending 18-2-2 run. It was pretty cool as well because just before this they had played the Atlantic teams and i think i went to see them play the Rangers, Islanders, and Flyers, and was days after what i consider one of the best regular season Sharks games of all time against MTL

To commemorate the trip, i got a Torrey Mitchell #17 teal jersey, who at the time i thought was going to be a future cornerstone. He was so fast and scrappy and played very similarly to how i played. Thornton was my favorite player, and in hindsight probably should gotten his number, but oh well.

Anyway, first game was against the Blues and we had seats behind the away net. Sharks had four goals in the first, including a goal a minute in, then 3 in 3 minutes capped off by a Marleau penalty shot. First time at the tank and it was f***ing electric.

Game two was home against EDM, where the Sharks lost in a shootout. If you all recall, EDM won 13 shootouts that season and their goalie was 30/32. Pretty cool to see that machine running when the shootout was still exciting. Game 3 we drove down to LA for a 2-1 win, then back up the next day on the PCH (epic drive) to see them play the Wild. We had glass seats and perfect view of this hit by Murray on Bouchard (we're in this video too).

Before game 5 against the Ducks, my dad emailed the Sharks PR team and told them our story of coming from the east coast etc, and the PR guy got back to us told us to come to morning skate at the tank. We got to watch from the stands, then catch the players on the way out of the locker room. Even got to chat with DW, who bizarrely was familiar with my hometown. I got every player's autograph on my jersey......every single one, but Patrick f***ing Marleau. He blew right past me, didnt look when i called his name. I harbor resent towards him in perpetuity. But the sharks won and there was a great fight between Shelley and Parros.

It was an amazing trip all in all, and the way the sharks treated us was first class. Solidified my faith in the organization. And now i have a very strange Torrey Mitchell jersey signed by the whole 07/08 team, except Marleau.

"Gutless..."​

And honestly, I would've laughed if you'd said you got every player to sign it except Torrey Mitchell.

Good ol' Taco Torrey. At least he'll have his bi-annual Bure-esque "Where the hell did that come from?" goals.

 

[Mafoofoo]

I have a ticket stub from the first ever sharks home game. It’s beat up pretty badly but it’s one of my prized sharks items.

I also was a signing event at amici’s pizza a long time ago and somehow missed Thornton by 1 spot in line.

So I have a Thornton jersey signed by Boyle, Randy Hahn

edit: also great thread nem

 

[slocal]

I have a ticket stub from the first ever sharks home game. It’s beat up pretty badly but it’s one of my prized sharks items.

I also was a signing event at amici’s pizza a long time ago and somehow missed Thornton by 1 spot in line.

So I have a Thornton jersey signed by Boyle, Randy Hahn

edit: also great thread nem

This is tragic but I'm laughing my ass off

 

[The Nemesis]

I had intended to have another story for today, but I couldn't find the thing I wanted to share. I'm going to have to spend some time tomorrow seeing if I can find it. If I can't I'll go with a plan B of something else I was saving for down the line.

 

[The Nemesis]

Waaay late on this, but I found what I was looking for. Now I just need to figure out a better lighting setup for other pics after this because this was waaaaaayyyyy too bright. Ended up with so much bloom and lens flares that it was like JJ Abrams was photographing my collection.

On the left is my very first piece of Sharks memorabilia: The hat I got in 1991 and wore like every single day for the next 4 years or so (until it was replaced by a Vancouver Grizzlies cap). Not pictured because I no longer have it, is the jacket I discussed earlier (and for anyone who paid attention, yes I did retell the entire story in this post before I realized that I talked about it in an above post) which I usually wore with the hat.

I've juxtaposed that against the most recent cap I got, which was in 2017 in my last trip to San Jose. Not from the arena store, but from a Lids in a mall I checked out on an off-day (and got sick after because it was a few hours outside in the scorching parking lot/bus pickup on the hottest day of the week I was there and I suuuuuuuuck at dealing with hot weather.)

I actually had a good talk with the employee of the store, who talked about traveling to Vancouver a couple years beforehand. So that was fun.

And yes, the eagle-eyed person will spot the cap off to the side on the left, cut off on the edge of the picture. Before that first Sharks cap I had an Oakland A's one. So I guess in some ways my catching on to a hockey team in the Bay Area was preordained. But my interest in the A's didn't last long as 92-93 brought about the rise of Canada-wide Blue Jays mania. So, sorry about that


I have a few more pics that are mostly overexposed-looking like this, but I'll see if I can salvage a few without having to re-take all the shots I did yesterday so I can at least stall and kill another week or two with different stories. Most of them aren't nearly this personal, but I like to think I make up for my lack of really meaningful Sharks-related stories with at least a few cool or unique pieces.

 

[The Nemesis]

A couple more over-exposed pics, but I didn't feel like re-taking the shots today. Among the slightly more odd stuff I have is a decent collection of the Oyo-brand fake-lego Sharks, and a Sharks-branded Zamboni. Though I know they aren't that odd since you could buy them from the Tank's team store back when I was last in San Jose in 2017. I picked up a Martin Jones then (I thought I got Joel Ward too, but I guess not)

The chosen players are just a small part of the collection I have, most of which is several years old and for players no longer with the org including Raffi Torres and LongBeachNativeMatt Nieto

This cross-section is basic teal Hertl, 25th anniversary season Couture, Stadium Series Jumbo, and basic teal Burns.

Not in the image but also out of its package is a teal Marleau, though that one is missing the visor (it popped off and got lost somewhere into the aether, like a random sock from the laundry bin or an insignia sticker off of my gigantic Transformer. )

If nothing else I figure this is right up Slocal's alley

 

[The Nemesis]

I'm going to end up carrying this thread from now on, looking like some sort of frivolous jerk drowning in assorted Sharks merch that he wants to show off, aren't I? I was hoping/expecting that more people had cool stuff worth sharing. I figured that this being one of the hangouts of the hardcore of hardcore fans that there'd be a wealth of really fun stories or random neat swag.


Anyway, because I recognize that the not-Lego stuff is probably a niche interest (I forgot to properly tag @slocal last time to see if it piqued his interest, being the one Lego nerd I know for sure exists within our collective of fans) and not all that rare/unique, I come back with something a little bit more unique(ish):

It doesn't look like much, but it's part of a project I've tinkered with on-and-off for the last 10+ years: a binder with a card for every player to ever suit up in a game for the San Jose Sharks, and specifically a card of them as a Shark wherever possible.

It's massively incomplete so far, largely only covering up to about 2010 and missing a bunch of players from the first 20 years as I try to hunt down appropriate cards (including basically everyone who doesn't have a Sharks-specific card that I can find), but I want to try and catch up and keep this as a sort of ongoing chronicle of the Sharks. Ironically the biggest issue tends to be recent guys who only have rookie cards so far, as even for guys who are basically plugs or cups-of-coffee types they end up costing a few dollars apiece instead of like maybe $0.10-0.15 each for a standard set "common" card. I also think one of the most expensive cards I had to get to fill the binder to the point I got was like $8-10 for a foil-finished card of a trade deadline rental guy (like Brian Campbell) simply because it was out of a limited-release prestige set and was the only card I could find of said player in teal.

It's also tricky because a lot of memorabilia shops now that sell hockey cards don't keep a "commons box" for hockey cards the way they might for TCGs because most hockey card collectors are in it for the awful and mostly untenable "investor" angle and thus they're only out for premium inserts and have no interest in random core set singles enough to keep more than the last year or two. Even my collection of complete sets of Upper Deck runs over the last 20+ years are short a bunch of cards simply because I haven't found a reliable retailer that sells everything I need and the local shop I frequent doesn't keep much of anything.

If anyone cares, I can post more pictures of different pages. Though I suspect nobody really would care that much except me