My first Contenders autograph in many years

I understand the draw to the Contenders brand. When I picked between the 2000 Spx set and the 2000 Contenders set to collect and complete I obviously made the wrong choice because of how insanely valuable the Tom Brady RC autograph is in this set. He was mostly overlooked in the Spx set but he did get a RC numbered to 1250. That's what people love about Contenders. Almost every single rookie gets an autograph which can help make the set more valuable if a no-name takes off. CJ Anderson would be a great example for the 2013 set. I'm sure this card was only a dollar or two and in the bargain bins of shows and dealer tables everywhere. Now they are selling for 25.00 or more and rising. Hell, I almost picked one up myself until I realized that I'm not a bandwagon collector, I go for sets and don't worry what this player or that player is doing at the current moment. For the most part too much money is lost that way and it's pretty much a no-win situation unless you are going for the top guys in the game. Even that doesn't pan out so well sometimes (see Adrian Peterson and Ray Rice this year)

This Contenders card is pretty cool and all and it is numbered to 21. This is the regular version (with stars on the team logo box on the back, I had to look this up to see what the difference between the SP and regular version was) The differences on the front of the card are super minor but I guess some collectors love this. I'd have to put that style of collector into the "OMG MOJO" catagory because personally I think it's kind of silly but hey, to each his own right? Otherwise they wouldn't have garbage horrifically designed cards like Panini Hot Rookies. I didn't mind getting this card as a bonus, for what I paid for the lot this card seemed to be free but I tell you for sure I'd never buy a box of contenders now. Back in 1999 and 2000 it was a whole different company, whole different set of standards and a much better brand.