Nachos Grande Contest: Round 0

Mmmm... Nachos...

 So, I bumped into a new blog the other day and it's entitled Nachos Grande.  Nachos Grande isn't a new blog, but if I haven't seen it yet, so it's new to me.  The author apparently likes nachos, and until he stops enjoying nachos I'll probably keep following.  I, too, have been known to partake in a plate or large plastic souvenir helmet of nachos.  Exhibit A: My sister and I at a Peoria Chiefs game in Wrigley Field in 2010.  Look at that nacho helmet!

 Obviously, the Cubs aren't going anywhere this year and I'm already waiting on next year.  So while I wait, I'm going to hijack my own blog in an attempt to win a contest sponsored by the aforementioned guy who loves nachos.

 So, there's not a ton of rules in the contest.  I must play nice with my fellow bloggers and I must craft a post about a 3.5" by 2.5" piece of cardboard.  Generally, I would call them "baseball cards," but in this case my preselected muse really doesn't have much to with the beloved national pastime.

Here's my target: Joey Furts.  Allen & Ginter's is one of the more widely collected Topps "baseball" products and it features cards of baseball players, Kate Upton, the world's tallest buildings, people of the Bible, man's best friend, and Rocky Mountain Oysters.   Yeah, it's a pretty wide spectrum.

 
Allen & Ginter's also features a puzzle/code/mystery to solve each year.  From what I can piece together, if you follow Joey and the other murder suspects on Twitter, then you'll probably be the recipient of a few code solving hints through tweets.  Yeah, I like puzzles and I enjoy Twitter, but I just want to collect cards.

Joey Furts totally reminds me of this guy:

Well, not that guy exactly, but you know the type.  The guy I'm thinking of was working ten years ago in Myrtle Beach.  I was out there to stand up with my good friend Jon at his wedding.  {Whoa. Ten years?  Congrats, Jon & Becky!}

Myrtle Beach is a pretty sweet place to vacation for a mid-western guy like myself.  Yet, most places that attract tourists and vacationers contain at least two of the following three things:
1. Strip malls that advertise 5 t-shirts for $10.
2. Double-decker tour buses.
3. Guys, like Joey Furts, trying to make an easy buck.  

I did NOT buy five t-shirts, although there were plenty of opportunities.
I don't specifically remember the tour buses, but that doesn't mean they weren't there. 
I saw Joey Furts.

I suppose it would have been more fitting if he was actually playing three-card monte in Willow Cove as the cardboard suggests.  But instead, he was playing three-seashell monte near the ocean in Myrtle Beach.  The dude moved his hands as though he had been through those same motions a thousand times before, and by the looks of him, he probably had.

Did I try to best the Myrtle Beach Joey Furts in three-seashell monte?  No.  No, I did not.
Did I save what cash I did have for libations and one heck of a wedding weekend.  Yes.  Yes, I did.