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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.