Friday, January 31, 2014

EJ Manuel RC Topps Finest #115


Today's card going down the line of base rookies I pulled is one of the better ones of the product. This one and Geno Smith are the two quarterbacks you want to pull. Eventually we may find one of the other QBs drafted this year was actually the best one once given a starting role, could be Landry Jones or who  knows, even Zac Dysert? You never know what with injuries, trades or starters getting benched due to poor play. Put the right guy in the right situation and he could blow up. EJ struggled down the stretch but you could say he has promise if you ignore the fact that the last successful QB to come from Florida State was Brad Johnson. And wow, was that a long time ago.

Thursday, January 30, 2014

Couple of Sick (for me anyway) adds from 2012 Spx Football


Pretty sweet adds here from my slowly growing 2012 Spx set. Although neither one of these guys plays in the NFL anymore it's pretty cool to get autographed rookie cards for next to nothing. If you bought a box of Spx (which would run you more than 100 dollars) you could have gotten these two cards, a Jersey auto Rc of Jeff Fuller and some shadow slots as your hits. In other words, finding these in a box today wouldn't be very nice. Since I'm putting together the set (about half-way there) I'm happy to pick these up for a couple of dollars a piece. Besides, I'm pretty sure this is the first "Richmond Spiders" autograph I have in my collection, and FOR SURE the only auto with the spider logo on it. That's why my allegiance to the Spx brand has continued even though they lost their license. The quality and design work of the cards is still there, perhaps even stronger than in years past.

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Couple days adds. One Topps Finest RC and one Old Timey Rookie from a card show about ten years ago!


The first card is just me making my way through the massive group of cards I got from my 2 box break earlier last year. The second one I've had for at least 10 years but have never officially "added" it to my Beckett Organize. This is my only 2003 Sp Authentic card. If I remember right I bought it for about 3-4 dollars even back then which is about what it's worth now. People will still pay a few bucks for these very common rookies just because of the beauty of the card and the fact that it is serially numbered and has a jersey swatch. I figure that everyone that wanted a 2003 Sp Authentic Football set already has one by now. You have to remember that these cards were the "box hit" out of a very expensive (for the time) box. Back then you did not have boxes running much over 100 dollars, now it's pretty commonplace because collectors expect more out of their breaks.

The vertical layout was kind of odd and it looks even more odd for the autographed rookies out of this set; from my memories of constantly browsing this set in the mid 2000's, Carson Palmer, Terrell Suggs and Byron Leftwich were all autographed. The pens used for this set were often very hit or miss and you see bubbled up autographs that didn't transfer all that well to the sticker material they used that year. Looking back on this set it might be a kind of fun one to put together if I stumbled on a large lot to get me started. So far this is the only one from the set that I have.

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Today's card, 2013 Finest #110 Matt Barkley


Here's today's card, a beautiful Topps Finest RC card of USC star Matt Barkley. He was teammates with the guy on my card addition yesterday, Robert Woods and according to the back is USC's all time TD passing leader. Kind of hard to believe with all the great USC college Qbs that have preceded him. Matt Lienart is one of the first ones that comes to my mind. Based on the few chances Barkley got this year he didn't prove much throwing for 4 interceptions and 0 touchdowns.

Saturday, January 25, 2014

Robert Woods, an emerging star and today's addition to my collection.


This beauty is card #107 in the Finest set. Looks like these generally sell in the 1-2 dollar range on Ebay so it's not a huge card by any means. He was one of the better rookies in 2013 although we all know Keenan Allen was much better and is probably as close to a lock on rookie of the year as you can get. Early on it looked like either Eddy Lacy or Giovani Bernard; two dynamic running backs were going to be the RC of the year but both kind of fizzled out at the end of the season whereas Keenan Allen only got better for the Chargers.

I did manage to pick up a couple of RC autos from Spx 2012 on the cheap from Ebay and they came in looking nice and mint. I really like this set even though it's all college uniforms because I still really love the Spx brand.

Friday, January 24, 2014

Working on the Rookies, here's a Texan for ya'll.


Today's card is #103 from the Finest Set, DeAndre Hopkins from Clemson. 27th overall in the draft he had some pretty good plays this year and I'd expect him to be even better next year. The Texans will have the number one pick in the draft in a few months so we'll see if they go with a traditional pick or reach for someone like QB Johnny Manziel to possibly try to ignite the franchise again. Most mock drafts have Manziel going at number 4 to the Browns which makes alot of sense too. I honestly think the Texan's season was a statistical anomaly in that they were much much better than their record shows. They lost quite a few games by 7 points or less and Case Keenum looked spectacular at times. 

The rookie cards are cool in that they show college stats on the back, while many card sets do that I've seen some that have zero stats when they are rookies.

Thursday, January 23, 2014

Final Base card for 2013 Finest, First Rookie



Cards number 100 and 102 in the Finest set. Looks like I did not pull #101, Mike Glennon the rookie QB from the Bucs from my two box break. Ertz had a solid rookie campaign with 36 grabs and 4 TDs, pretty decent stats for a rookie TE. What more can be said about the Rodgers card other than he is steadily supplanting Favre as the best QB that Green Bay has ever seen and you just can't have too many cards of him in your collection.


Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Last three days of adds. Getting close to the final base card for 2013 Finest~




These are nearly it for my 2013 Finest base set. Just have Aaron Rodgers which I'll add tomorrow, then we're on to the rookies! My Broncos are Going to the SuperBowl! I've never lived in an NFL city who's team was going to the Superbowl so this ought to be kind of freaking cool. I was a fan of the Broncos during their back-to-back championship seasons but I lived in 29 Palms California at the time. 

All three of these guys did not have very good seasons as opposed to 2012, it's almost like they had the "Madden Curse" without being on the cover!

(Wikipedia has a section on the "Madden Curse" found here)




Saturday, January 18, 2014

Two more day's worth of additons, NFC opponent QBs!



Today's adds feature a pair of very popular QBs in the football collector world. While both of these guys are not considered "elite" Qbs yet, they are still very very popular. I'm getting to the end of the regular set and soon I'll be adding a base Rookie card from Finest to my collection on a daily basis.

Pretty excited about the AFC championship coming here to Denver this weekend. Should be a great game although weather won't be a factor (figures to be about 60 degrees.) That being said,  I think bad weather might have actually helped the Patriots more than it would us because of the long history of shitty weather games that have been won in Foxboro. I really think Denver is going to pull it out despite their poor second half showing last week. Putting the ball in Mannings hands at the very end rather than trying to pound the ball was exactly the right play.

Thursday, January 16, 2014

Today's addition, little bit of Broncos flavor!

I love it when I get to add new Broncos cards to my collection. Initially this was the only team I would actively seek out. It seems like the Broncos are one of those heavily collected teams because you never really see huge Broncos lots like you do other team lots. I've bid and lost on huge lots with star autos like Terrell Davis and John Elway; there's just too much competition for the stuff. I was really excited when Mcgahee signed on with the Broncos but I realized he was signing at the tail end of his career, much in the same vein as Tony Dorsett or even Travis Henry did in years past. I'm excited to see that Knowshon Moreno is finally becoming at least a good running back in the NFL this year. If you invested in his cards in 2009 you probably lost out big time. At least if you hung on to some of them you could recoup 25 - 30 percent of the value you might have paid for them in the beginning. Still... it's better than nothing. He could have an even better resurgence in value depending on what happens in the next few weeks.

Here's today's card: 2013  Finest Willis Mcgahee #88!


Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Yesterday and today's adds


Today's cards are number 85 and 86 respectively out of the 2013 Finest Set! Wright was Robert Griffin III's teammate at Baylor and was a first rounder as well which explains his presence in many 2012 products. JPP is one of those cogs to a Giants defense that was very good last year, this year, not so much.

In other news I got a notice from Panini that one of my redemptions has shipped. It is a 2012 Prism Autograph of Devier Posey. I bought it on a whim for a dollar or so plus shipping (a 3 dollar card essentially) and now a year later? It's still a 3 dollar card but I let Panini borrow my money with no interest. Sometimes it's even worse than that. Case in point is my 2011 Certified Emerald DJ Williams Autograph. These are numbered to five and at the time I purchased it I thought it was a good idea to buy it for 30.00 because the Packers were pretty hot for a good while after they won the SuperBowl. Now because this redemption has sat at Panini for years on end the card will be nearly worthless. I read an article a few years ago saying to buy redemption cards as investments because the redemptions should go for far less.  So far this has never panned out. Take my word for it, just buy live cards if you are looking to turn a profit on your sports cards purchases. Luckily I'm a collector as well as a seller, so if things don't go right I can always choose to keep the card and swallow the loss but big time Ebay kings don't always have that option. Redemption cards are a bad idea for a few reasons. 

1) They reduce the future value of a vintage box. When you buy a box let's say of 2006 Spx you have to realize that there may be redemptions in the box that can't be fulfilled. It might be kind of disappointing to hit a triple autograph that never got made because the card reached its expiration. I think the solution would be to never have an expiration. If they don't have the card, the card company should give you SOMETHING for the incredible gamble you took on buying their product. I'm sure this has been mentioned by collectors around the country but it's one of the reasons we hate HATE redemption cards.

2) They take away from the present value of a box. I've seen so many rips where people are upset that they got a redemption because they know just how long these can take to get in. While it's nice to pull a Dan Marino John Elway autograph, it also sucks to know you might never get it. You may end up getting a replacement product that may not be what you wanted or the value might not be comparable. I've seen people get screwed like this many times on the Beckett message boards as well as other forums.

In short, redemption cards are a big trouble in our hobby and I hope it's something that will eventually go away. Blowing up Topps' Facebook page and Panini's Twitter feed may not get immediate results but perhaps eventually the message will get through.  


Monday, January 13, 2014

Today's card, 2013 Finest Vernon Davis #84


Today's card is a pretty sweet addition, one of the most dynamic Tight Ends in the NFL today. While SportsCards Uncensored noted that all the star tight ends that played this weekend lost hobby love this week due to lack of performance, he also noted that TE is typically not a position that gets much attention.



 I'd say WRs get more love than tight ends, in this hobby Quarterback is King. Running backs have a rabid following as well but due to the high injury rate of the position, it's really not one you can invest in long term unless the player has already retired and is or will be in the Hall of Fame. 

I did a couple of box breaks this weekend, one SuperBox (which I was not very pleased with) and one 2013 Topps Chrome (which was a much better break). I've been on a box breaking frenzy as of late. I like the randomness of what you get and the thrill of opening the packs but I also enjoy set building. I'm going to go vintage next so my goal is to get a hold of a 1999 Spx football box (this was the first issue that I remember of the autographed rookie card.) What will be interesting about this break if I do manage to get a hold of a box or two is that I have the whole base set and all the auto rookies. The only additions to my collection will be the inserts and the parallels. The rest I'll end up selling back. This will be a strange box breaking dynamic but also good because I won't be too upset if I pull a redemption card. Back in the day I bought a Duante Culpepper expired redemption for 3 bucks and carefully peeled off the large sticker on the front. This left me with a pretty nice card with a hole punch and no auto. I ended up selling it on Ebay for about 15 dollars; this was when Culpepper was super hot though. Probably not much demand for this card now but if I pull a redemption I'll keep it for my collection.


Sunday, January 12, 2014

2013 Finest #80 Calvin Johnson


You can never have too many Calvin Johnson cards and this one is another photo that is well suited to the card layout. Calvin Johnson just needs a few more years to shatter every receiving record ever known to man. He's already at #48 and at just 27 years old you have to think he could possibly break Rice's record when it's all done. There was a cool insert back in the late nineties called "Race to" and there was a "Race to Rice", "Race to Marino" and Race to Payton" insert set. Calvin would be on one of those cards if this was produced today, no question.

Saturday, January 11, 2014

2013 Finest # 78 Hakeem Nicks


Today's card is #78 in the set. This is one of the better photos in the set as the background gives him almost a superhero look and it matches his pose. Many of the other cards feature the player from the side so it doesn't work quite as well as this one. Not much to say about the Giants this year except to say I'm sure their losing record was an analomy and that they will be back on track next year. 

Believe it or not the highest selling Nicks card from the last few months was a 2013 Panini Momentum card which you can view here.


Friday, January 10, 2014

Another Portis card comes to roost! Sweet card for the price!

I got my Ebay Bucks certificate last week and decided to cash it in on a Portis jersey card. I only ended up paying a little over a dollar for this card... delivered which is a pretty sweet deal. Over all the card was only 2.40 which is cheaper than some people will ship cards for (myself included). It was shipped with no toploader but the envelope was so thick that the card thankfully did not get damaged. I wouldn't risk shipping things this way but when you get free shipping on items you have to assume the seller is going to take shortcuts, ie, no toploader, no bubble mailer and basically the card may or may not get to you in good shape. This is an unnumbered jersey card, but any jersey card of a player you collect should be special!

Here's a link to the completed auction as well as a better photo of it.

2006 Prestige Stars of the NFL Clinton Portis # 14





Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Newest Add 2013 Finest Danny Amendola # 74

Very similar in size and abilities to Wes Welker comes his replacement this year to the Patriots. What's interesting is that he too was undrafted out of Texas Tech. Amendola was just awesome last year and was one of the bright spots, when healthy, to the Rams WR corps. Towards the end of the year when he got back on the field it was apparent that he is just as dynamic as Welker and surely much cheaper for the Patriots. It will be interesting to see how the Patriots hold up against the Colts who are just on fire right now.Vegas oddsmakers are giving the favor to the Patriots but many experts don't agree. I'f have to say this is not a sure thing, by any means.

Here's the card for the day!


Amendola Helmet Cam



Here's a cool little video of Danny as a Ram. There were a few funny comments about how this was the longest he's ever been on the field, etc....

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Today's card: 2013 Finest Tim Tebow #73

I'm assuming that 2013 will be the last year we see cards of Tim Tebow unless perhaps he comes back a-la Doug Flutie. To do this I think he'd need to go to Area Football, the CFL or some other venue to prove himself as a quarterback again because there is no interest in the NFL any more. I used to get excited slash irritated with the games I watched of him when he was a Denver QB. He could run and make the occasional passing play but this is a quarterback driven league and there's not much place for a QB that can't throw consistently. I was very very happy when we got Peyton Manning because I knew Denver would start scoring some points. I just didn't know (and I don't think anyone did) just how successful the Broncos offense would be under Manning. He'll have to silence some critics this weekend against the Chargers, I feel like this could be a pretty close game, much closer than it should be. I'm going to say that the Broncos are going to edge one out by 7-10 points since they will be at home but our defense is going to have to perform better than they have been.


Monday, January 6, 2014

Today's card: 2013 Finest #69 Santonio Holmes

Here's a card of a much maligned player who really has not lived up to the hype ever since signing on to the Jets from the Pittsburgh Steelers. I think it may have to do with a couple of things. First of all he's not been able to stay on the field consistently. He also doesn't have that breakaway ability that he had in his best years, 2008 and 2009. He also hasn't had much help from the quarterback position. How many catches would you make if your Qbs over the last few years were Mark Sanchez, Tim Tebow and Geno Smith? Put Holmes on a team like the Broncos or the Patriots and he might have found stardom again. Some moves you know will not be good for the player. I took one look at the contract that the Dolphins gave Mike Wallace and just shook my head. You have to have an elite QB to make a large free agent WR signing lucrative for the team. Otherwise you just have a guy who shows flashes of talent but no real long term impact. People were saying at the beginning of the season that the Dolphins were poised to make the playoffs but it looks like they are still missing some pieces, namely a QB, defense and oh... a running game.

Here's the card! I am thinking I may start adding some other sports cards to my breaks. 2013 Elite baseball looks pretty amazing this year, saw some previews on the Panini Facebook feed that made the product look breakworthy!


Sunday, January 5, 2014

Today's card....2013 Finest Arian Foster #68

Today's card features the star running back for the Houston Texans who did not have a very good season this year due to injury. Apparently he's a Vegan too? I had no idea until I came across this article on his website: http://www.gq.com/entertainment/sports/201309/arian-foster-houston-texans-september-2013#ixzz2fA5yLksq

I bet that's something that would not be on any of his football cards. I'm sure he gets a load of shit from guys in the locker room about it too...

Me, I like steak and bacon too much. Since I do Crossfit there's no way I could sustain a high level of energy on vegetables and beans but he's found a way to do it I guess. He probably has to eat a ton of sweet potatoes and soy products to sustain the rigors of an NFL season.


Saturday, January 4, 2014

2013 Finest Jeremy Maclin Eagles # 67 (Newest Add)

Grinding out the base cards is no glorious task but I like the idea of just adding one per day. This allows me the time to really enjoy each card and to review the month's additions as a whole (how many stars were added, how many Personal Collection Clinton Portis cards I got, etc.) Last month only saw me add one Portis card, the 2002 SP Authentic but that makes me much happier than if it were 4 jersey cards from 2010. Might make a trip out to my LCS (Local Card Shop) today but it's snowing so makes me less inclined. Have to pick up some supplies, might be kind of cool to see if he's got any more Portis's I can add to the old collection.

Here's today's add!


Friday, January 3, 2014

A sweet jersey card for today's addition

Today's card is one from 2013 Elite; 2013 Elite New Breed Jerseys Prime #21 Tyler Eifert. Mine seems to be a bit more of a number and mine's number 75/99 but this picture from Ebay is pretty close. Being drafted in the first round is pretty surprising for any tight end but the Bengals seem to think they have a gem here. He had 445 yards and 2 TDs his rookie year which is far from Gronkowski numbers but I'm sure he has room to grow. This was one of the nicer inserts from 2013 Elite this year. The white background looks pretty nice (1000 times better than the silver foil base cards) and the jersey swatch window is very well placed in relation to the photograph. There is also a standard version of this card numbered to 399 copies which is of course, much easier to pull.


Thursday, January 2, 2014

Today's card is 2013 Finest Kyle Rudolph # 66

Jumping ahead 3 cards in the Finest set (I didn't pull #63-65) we have second year phenom Kyle Rudolph. What's interesting about the Finest brand is that you really can put a rainbow set together for every player that you pull. There are 14 variations of the Kyle Rudolph card including 5 different 1/1s (the printing plates and the superfractor), you also have the regular refractor, X-fractor, blue refractor, red refractor, camo refractor numbered to 10 copies, the gold refractor and the pink refractor (also numbered to 10). Yes this is quite a few cards to pick up. Unless your player of choice is Peyton Manning or Adrian Peterson you probably won't have much competition for it though.

I'm really looking forward to some of the games this exciting football weekend, especially the Green Bay San Francisco game. It's going to be epic cold, perhaps billed as the Ice Bowl part II. What's strange is I've been reading that this game may be blacked out due to the fact that not all the tickets have been sold. What? A Green Bay playoff game NOT being sold out? That's unimaginable! I could see if Rodgers had not returned... perhaps... but this is really strange. My prediction... the Packers win this handily by 14 with some strong running by Lacey and a couple long scoring drives by Rodgers who may have to act more of a game manager in this one.

Wednesday, January 1, 2014

2014 is Upon us! The first card is.... 2013 Finest Greg Olsen # 62


Here's the first card in my collection from last year's 2 box break of Topps Finest 2013 Football, my favorite product of the year. This is a very underrated player but since he's a tight end it's understandable he gets no hobby love. He had a decent following in 2007 as a Bears RC as they have a rabid fan base.

It's only been this year that he's truly emerged as a fantasy and real life threat.Since the Panthers are in the playoffs we'll see how he and Cam Newton do. They have a chance to do something this year with a very dominant defense and a running game that is much revitalized.