A Generous trader goes Boom!

About a week ago, i received an email out of the blue from a guy wanting to send me some Redskin cards…and i was like “HAIL YEAH MAN!”  So i gave the random guy my home address and waited…not really sure what to expect.  This is the first time, somebody out of the blue has been so extremely generous to just offer up some cards, Redskins cards no less.  I had to quickly update my lists, which as it turned out was a great step for me to…update my want lists.

Here’s the breakdown of the cards sent by Mark Zentkovich, which i received tonight.

A couple of…umm…Swell cards of some old old old school Redskins.  Mr. Battles in some shiny, silky pants…or maybe they are some original Zubaz!  The other sepia snap shot is of Turk Edwards on the prowl about to tackle someone while wearing a QB’s number…Jason Campbell.

90 SW Sammy Baugh

The next Swell card is of Slingin’ Sammy Baugh, who would have turned 103 a couple weeks ago.  Not sure what’s going on with my scanner, but this card is in great shape…not cut and jagged like the upper right shows.

79 FL Redskins Drawing a Crowd

The next series of cards are various team cards from Fleer.  I don’t believe Fleer ever made individual player cards during their early 80’s run, just team issues.  Luckily though, unlike a couple of the early 80’s Topps sets, the logos on the helmets weren’t airbrushed off.

88 FL Redskins Defense88 FL Redskins NFC Playoff

These beauties are from the 1988 Fleer set, which if i remember correctly was the last year Fleer made team only sets…bringing back their sets in 1990.  The game against Chicago was notable for me for a couple of reasons.  It was the game that Darrell Green returned the punt while hurdling a defender and pulling a muscle in his rib cage.  He was visible holding his side with one arm and holding the football with the other as he brought it back all the way for a touchdown, putting the Redskins up for good.  The other notable memory of this game was that it was Walter Payton’s last NFL game…although i was a huge Redskins fan. My favorite non Redskins was hands down Walter Payton.  His greatness was something special that i thoroughly enjoyed watching in my younger years…man i miss the 80’s.

Next run of cards are not cards, but stickers…unfortunately, they are the then defending Super Bowl champs over my ‘Skins.  Also, got some foil action below.

84 TSF Bostic

Badass Jeff Bostic, a former Hog and a former-er Clemson Tiger.  No idea who the Bill is though…sorry.

89 PS Clark Green89 PS Bryant Rypien

Now some Panini stickers from the year 1989.  You know, back when the Redskins weren’t a dumpster fire led by the leaderless.  This was quite a grouping of studs too Gary Clark, Darrell Green, Kelvin Bryant and Mark Rypien…man, i really miss the 80’s.

Not bad for something so unexpected, thank you Mark!  Really appreciate the cards.  I will put something together and send it off to you in a week or so.  Much appreciated!

Now, for something fun.  One of my favorite groups out right now is Run the Jewels, i’ve talked about them a few times here and made it out to the concert last month at the Crystal Ballroom…with the bouncy floor and all.  Here are a couple photos from that show.

IMG_3994IMG_3991

A new Run The Jewels video!!  So many punch lines in this one too, gotta say El-P really brought it with the innuendos here, plus that poor ass bunny went boom!

Top 12 All Time Redskins: The Hogs

One list I’ve always wanted to put together was my all-time favorite Redskins.  Each month I will list a new player until the end of the year when I name my favorite Washington Redskins player of all time.  Coming up with twelve names isn’t really that easy when you start to break it down, so I did the best I could and had very few rules for the list.  The first one being that they had to be playing when I became a fan in 1982.  There are many legendary players like Sammy Baugh, Sonny Jurgensen, Chris Hanburger, Charley Taylor, Bobby Mitchell and so on.  All of these guys are legendary Redskins and I love the history they bring to the organization, but I never saw them play…so I can’t really sort them out for this list.  The other rule was that they have to been a part of the Redskins at least three years…so for now that means no RGIII or Alfred Morris.

That’s it, two simple rules…I like to keep things as simple as possible.

So, for January, my #12 All-Time favorite Washington Redskin is…are The Hogs.  First name on the list and I’m bending my rules…guess I’m a little scatter brained sometimes.  I’m sticking with The Hogs on this one though.  They are the main reason for the name of the blog and a major reason why I became a fan of the Redskins in the first place.  As a kid, I loved the name…but couldn’t really figure out why they were called The Hogs if they played for a team with a (racist) Native American moniker as their mascot…until I understood that it was due to their nastiness and scrappiness on the offensive line.  Ah yes, Pigs…Hogs…mud…getting dirty, I get it now.  This makes total sense.  This group of men was led by Joe Bugel and played as a unit from 1982 to 1984 as the first iteration of The Hogs.  As players retired and other guys came in, they remained The Hogs but the core of guys I remember were a part of the back to back NFC Championship teams in 1982 and 1983.

They lined up from Left to right as…

The Hogs Cards 1

LT Joe Jacoby

LG Russ Grimm

C Jeff Bostic

RG Mark May

RT George Starke

RB John Riggins – an honorary member

TE’s Doc Walker and Donny Warren – honorary members

The Hogs Cards Riggo Warren

Working on my team sets, I’ve come to realize that most card companies don’t have offensive lineman cards since they don’t typically collect stats and they are mostly unnamed guys.  I guess if you hear the name of an O-Line guy than he’s probably not doing a very good job…right?  They seem to appreciate that as well and love the lack of attention and working as one unit rather than being pieces on a team.  The great thing about the O-Linemen is that they seem to develop a bond tighter than any other team on the field since they have to work in unison each and every play and be aware of what is being run behind them.  They set up the skills guys to have their spotlight and rarely get a light for them to stand under…but that comes with the territory I guess.

Sadly Russ Grimm is the only Hog to be inducted in to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2010.  Joe Jacoby has been on the list many years, but just can get enough votes to get in…which is sad.  If the Redskins had won Super Bowl XVIII against the Raiders I believe Jacoby would be in and possibly Bostic and May…unfortunately that just didn’t happen.  All Redskin fans know these guys and appreciate what they brought to the team and the glory days of Joes Gibbs I, RFK and Jack Kent Cooke.  Hopefully a new Hog chapter will develop with Trent Williams, Josh LeRibeus, Adam Gettis, and Erik Cooke.

Although The Hogs carried on until the early 1990’s, they were the core and the #12 favorite Redskins for me. –HTTR!

#12 – The Hogs