Cedar Hills Show – The low budget version ep.III

Posted by cardboard hogs on June 30, 2013

Today is supposed to be all time Redskin day, but i’m too lazy to scan the next guys cards…so i’m going to push that off until I have the energy.

With that out of the way, I still have a few cards from the show last week to go over…and here we go!

The first card is of Brad Johnson and his apparent twin. This card is all kinds of weird. It’s not a jersey card, but sure looks like one with his big ass 14 in the background. Love the mesh number look, it gives you that old school practice/game jersey look of a high school uni. This was the big breathable technology before the breathable technology got out of control by Nike, Adidas and every other sporting product company. I really don’t understand the dual training camp photo thing either. This is the first Flair Showcase card that I recall seeing, so I have no idea if this was the case will all the cards, or if Brad was just special. Seems to me that two completely random photos would have made more sense. When I first saw this card, I thought it was another dude dropping back to sling it downfield. But nope, that mid-drift belongs to James Bradley Johnson in both photos.

This card was one of those great finds in a 7/$5 box. A black bordered Robert Griffin III from the 2013 Bowman release. I just happened to stumble upon this card. The table where it was purchased always has a ton of boxes, and when i say a ton, i’m talking 12-15 5000 count boxes filled with all types of cards. Going through this guys stuff is a challenge in patience and stick-to-itiveness that was waring me out. I had stopped at 12 cards and the guy told me that he was going to charge me $10 if I bought 12 or 14 cards…oh yeah…i get two more cards. I grabbed a handful of cards and once i found this one (and the Hanley in the previous post) i was done. Not bad for a freebee?

This card was from a nickel box. Not bad. Nothing special, but not bad either.

The last card in tonights post is a bit of a sad story. When i go to the shows, I take a small box, the 200-300 count type boxes so I have something to carry my purchases in and still look around. This time though, I couldn’t find an empty box so I was forced to take a 100 count box, card collector problems…i know. 100 cards seems like a good size box, but when you consider the amount of damage you can do on a nickel and dime box, plus the top loaders, they fill up quickly. This card was purchased without a penny sleeve and i put it in the box, but somehow it ended up on the bottom about 14 top loader packed cards with a closed lid…needless to say, when i got home the card was dented and scratched to crap. It’s hard to tell in the photo, but it’s pretty dinged up. Phillip would not be happy with the condition of his rookie card. The good point is that I picked the card up for a dollar so it wasn’t too much of a heartbreaker, but a definite lesson was learned. Don’t smash your stuff.

Hope you guys have a good, short week!

An RG3 autograph has come to my home.

Posted by cardboard hogs on June 24, 2013

No words to describe this one.

This is the card that I wanted as soon as I saw it and I got a pretty good deal for it on e-bay. After a few months of stewing over the piece of cardboard I went for it!

I really couldn’t pass up an on-card autograph of the Washington Redskins Rookie of Year Quarterback numbered to 25 (21 for Sean Taylor?)

One of the dealers at the local card shows had a different, higher serial numbered version of the card for the same price I paid and so I’m glad I waited. This is going to be a great addition to my collection and something that I will always enjoy owning…I keep telling myself that…it may just become an investment, if that’s something you believe in with football cards.

The piece itself is in pretty spectacular condition and has no scratches or dents anywhere on the card, plus the corners are all sharp. This is one card that I had thought about getting graded, but am going to pass at this point as I just can do that to a card on my own…not yet at least.

Bonus Redskins and a gift package

Posted by cardboard hogs on June 11, 2013

As I mentioned in the previous post Colbey from Cardboard Collections hooked me up with a few extra Redskin cards, which was very cool. As I was flipping through the team bag of cards, I noticed most of the cards I do not have for my team sets, so they will be great additions. Thank, Colbey!

Here is a peek at the cards that stood out for me.

The Orakpo is really nice. One of my favorite players on the team and a Rookie card to boot. This one of those cards that i’ve never seen before either…so a really nice piece of cardboard.

Next is a couple of blasts from the not so far past. SP Threads of Portis and Campbell…wish I had done a better job of aligning the card banding.

Colbey also sent the two Griffin’s from this years Upper Deck set that I noticed on his blog…and really wanted for my RG3 personal collection. Love the Baylor jerseys.

Next is a three card filmstrip of sorts of Moss, Orakpo and Hankerson. I absolutely love the Orakpo photo…although it was used on the Topps issue as well…or at least the same pose…not really sure right now and too lazy to look it up. The Hankerson card is a little disconcerting as it is cropped really poorly and he is chopped off at the ankles…not to mention the gigantic offensive lineman ass poking out from the right. Ass.

I’m ending with Captain Chaos, Chris Cooooooley because I don’t believe he will be back next year…and I hope he ends up retiring. Can’t wait to watch him in the booth calling games in the future…or maybe he will become some crazy weed smoking hippy living in the hills and making pottery.

As I said, there were a lot of great cards and these were just a small handful of my favorites from Colbey. Thanks again!

My last card purchase in the Alamo City

Posted by cardboard hogs on June 2, 2013

As i’ve mentioned in previous posts, I spent last week and a part of this week moving my mom from San Antonio to her new home in Portland. She is making this move to be closer to her only son and first grandson…and it’s a pretty big move for her. We moved to San Antonio in 1979 and remained there for most of our lives. Both of my parents worked for the Air Force and if you are a military person, you are aware that San Antonio is a large hub for military families to work and retire. But my mom has decided to retire in Portland and we are very happy to have her here.

So when I was in San Antonio, one of my goals in a short window of time, was to find Sports Cards Plus and pick up some cardboard for the road. When I left town, I had not visited this shop but had heard great things about it from random postings on line as well as Panini’s blog. Finding this shop for me was tough as San Antonio has grown 1,000x larger than when I left 10 years ago…so getting around was quite a task. I felt like a lost tourist looking Pee-Wee’s bike in the Alamo basement. After 45 minutes of driving and sitting in traffic i find my destination and walk in…My first impressions about the store were pretty high. It was everything I believe a card shop should be. Lots of cards laying around and boxes filled with commons organized for set builders. Opened and unopened boxes of high end cards for those that want to buy an expensive pack or a really expensive box. Lots of great stuff on display…and I loved everything about the shop. I wish i could have gone here when I lived in San Antonio.

My time was limited in the shop, so i just poked around for a few minutes and was able to find some Redskins cards to fill my PC…and boy were they gems!

and this one…

and this guy…

I was able to find a nice Stephen Davis card…wish they had a second one so I could add it to the Redskins PC and my Stephen Davis PC.

I also picked up a couple packs of the new Archives football just for fun and pulled a sweet base card of RG3.

Box Break: 2012 Panini Prizm

Posted by cardboard hogs on May 16, 2013

Prizm has had a huge impact on the hobby this year starting with the basketball version, to football and now to baseball. I picked up the football box a while ago and am just now getting around to reviewing it. Spoiler alert, i really liked what i saw.

My favorite part of the box is that the cover image of RG3 was removable and created a nice box topper, top box-er of sorts.

Card Design – 5 of 5

The cards for this set are awesome. Panini did a great job of bringing in the shininess that we like and adding in some texture as well. The cards have a feel of something from the future and the future is really cool…and shiny. Everything pops in the card and has a great thickness with the card stock used.

Photography – 5 of 5

Each image appears to jump out of the card. The players blend in and out of the border of the card and each picture has a bit of a 3D affect to them. Again, there is minimal processing and a very high image quality. The best part for me is the slight recess that traces the border of the player putting the focus on their intensity and emotion.

Hits – 3 of 5

The hits for me were terrible, but hey, the base cards are great and I don’t think you buy this brand for the hits. You buy them for the quality of card along with the strong visual and textural quality of each card. There were a couple of nice inserts in the box that offered a wide variety of players from Page to Peyton.

The Luke Kuechly auto is really cool and he seems to be one of the next great linebackers in the NFL.

There was a redemption

and there was a parallel die cut

Review

This is a great product and something i will be picking up next year. I’m not a fan of the baseball version since i can’t get over the lack of logos or photoshopped hats and jerseys. The quantity and quality of cards was great and i was able to get some of the base Redskins cards in my box.

Ryan Kerrigan, a Buccaneer??!!?

Posted by cardboard hogs on May 15, 2013

I realize that i’m crazy late here, but why did Topps do this?

I know it’s always nice to be first, but why did they feel the need to jump out ahead of everyone on the 2011 NFL Draft and basically do a Mock Draft of manufactured patches…and be wrong? I’ve seen the Cam Newton version of this card with the Redskins patch…in hindsight, i’m glad that was not the case. Kerrigan has proven himself to be a pretty good Defensive End and of course…RG3 is in DC.

One Dollar and Five Cents Pt. III: QB Carousel

Posted by cardboard hogs on May 7, 2013

I stopped by Marv’s table over the weekend to go through his nickel box of football cards and ended up buying 100 cards for a whopping $4. Thanks for the deal Marv!

As I was going through the cards, i kept pulling QB’s and thinking to myself…’what in the hell is going on here!’ I’ve seen the charts and understand the numbers of QB’s that the Redskins have had since their last Super Bowl winning QB, Mark Rypien…but DAMN! To see it through a card collector’s eyes was a little overwhelming and as a fan, quite disappointing. It’s no wonder why the Redskins have had so little success in the past 20+ seasons. I realize it doesn’t begin and end with the QB, but that’s one major part of the ‘Why’.

Here’s one group starting with Rypien. Shuler…ugghhh…and Frerotte. Gus actually had a pretty good NFL career and saw some success with the Minnesota Vikings as well as the Redskins. Just not enough to be a franchise QB

The next group included Brad Johnson. He had varying degrees of success before and after his Redskins career and nearly got the Redskins to the NFC Championship game in 1999…but not close enough. Jeff George was a freaking disaster and appeared visibly unaffected by his inability to complete a pass to one of his teammates. Todd Husak…i don’t even remember him…

Now for the really dark days. Sage Rosenfels never got a start for the Redskins and i’m not sure if he had any games played in the NFL and I don’t really care to look it up. Patrick Ramsey. The poor kid. I was really excited when the Redskins drafted him and thought he could be a franchise QB…unfortunately, the team around him, especially the O Line was terrible and he got knocked around like a punching bag which hindered his career as it would anyone. Tim Hasselbeck. The thing i know about him is that he’s one of the generalist talking heads at ESPN and his wife is quite obnoxious, although cute, but still obnoxious.

Brighter days are ahead with this next group. Brunell led the Redskins to the playoffs in 2005, well not really because he was terrible and could barely complete a pass. That team made the playoff because of the defense and the running of Clinton Portis. Insert Jason Campbell. I really, really thought he would be the guy and was extremely excited about him starting at QB. But, similar to Ramsey, he was in a very unstable environment which ended up stunting his growth. You can’t expect a guy to learn a new offense every season of his career and have any ounce of success. He has bounced around the past few years and never really gotten a fair shot a starting job. I’m hoping he can be the guy in Cleveland this year. The Browns have done a great job of rebuilding their franchise and I think he can perform better than Weeden at this point. Palmer…that’s it.

Here is a list of the men that have taken a snap from center since Mark Rypien was injured and eventually released from the Redskins in 1994.

Rich Gannon – 4 games

Cary Conklin – 2 games

Heath Shuler – 13 games

John Friesz – 4 games

Gus Frerotte – 49 games

Jeff Hostetler – 3 games

Trent Green – 14 games

Brad Johnson – 27 games

Jeff George – 7 games

Tony Banks – 14 games

Shane Matthews – 7 games

Patrick Ramsey – 24 games

Danny Wuerffel – 4 games

Tim Hasselbeck – 5 games

Mark Brunell – 33 games

Jason Campbell – 52 games

Todd Collins – 3 games

Donovan McNabb – 13 games

Rex Grossman – 16 games

John Beck – 3 games

RG3 – 15 games

Kirk Cousins – 1 game

That’s 20 QB’s that have bridged the gap between Rypien and Griffin. This hopefully makes it clear why us Redskins fans are so overly infatuated with Robert Griffin III. He’s brought some stability to a very unstable position…now, if he can stay healthy…but, if he can’t? I will take my chances with Kirk Cousins…or at least welcome a first rounder or two for Captain Kirk next season.

A Goal has been reached

Posted by cardboard hogs on April 4, 2013

I am finally able to cross off a collecting goal of mine for 2013.

An on card short print autographed card of the Washington Redskins QB Robert Griffin III has been obtained by me…and it’s quite beautiful.

I have been looking online at Ebay, COMC and Collector’s Revolution for a good deal on a RGIII on card auto and wasn’t too happy with paying what most of the cards were selling for. Some of them were way out of this guys price range and some were ridiculously priced for a chunk of cardboard. There were quite a few decent priced cards, but they were sticker autos which i was trying to avoid.

How did i get this card you ask? Well, as i’ve mentioned in the past, i’ve been selling off some old personal items like books and CD’s, using that money to purchase cards this year. With each transaction i made, i would put aside a little extra so when i found a nice card i liked i could jump on it. So i did last week. It’s not a perfect card by any means as most of these thicker and darker cards tend to be, but i absolutely LOVE the photo and design of the Inception cards. Not to mention the on card ink! This is always a huge plus for my collector’s eye. The card is also a short print Green variation numbered to 50.

I am happy to have this in my collection, now i’ve been debating whether or not to get it graded. I have never been someone to get a card graded and honestly feel like that’s one of the many things destroying this hobby…but if it preserves my card and can turn it in to a future investment, it might be worth it.

Thoughts?

RGIII is in my HOUSE!

Posted by cardboard hogs on February 16, 2013

This just happened, I bought a doll…or rather, an action figure. I’m a 37 year old man and I just bought an action figure of a 23 year old football player. Can you sense any shame? I have a little, but the child in me is quite giddy. I’ve been staring at this thing all morning, through the packaging of course, hasn’t been opened, nor will it ever! I’ve never been one of those guys that purchases action figures, nothing against it, just never really interested me in the past. I think this is due mostly to the fact that McFarlane Toys doesn’t have a great Redskin inventory. I do have one other action figure (is that what we are calling these things? action figures…i have no idea). A Rickey Henderson, from the Cooperstown Collection a couple of years ago. Rickey and Robert can now hang out together on a wall somewhere in my house where my wife won’t be embarrassed. Probably in my closet with the rest of my collection.

Since this thing came out around Christmas, I’ve made multiple trips to Target only to be dejected and come home empty handed. The collector vultures have always swooped in before me and picked through the limited amount of McFarlane figures. Thus leaving DeMarco Murray and LeSean McCoy hanging by themselves. There is also a Josh Hamilton and Cliff Lee that no one seems to want to purchase. The Lee has seriously been hanging there for over 9 months. I think they should just put it on clearance and get rid of it. Are there no Cliff Lee fans in Portland?

Getting back on track.

I came to realize two things. One, that I would not be able to purchase this guy at retail price ($14). The second is that I would definitely not be over spending or out bid at the last minute for it on ebay ($35+). So that left me with two options. Wait for it to come to the Sports Room and see if I can get a good deal on it or just pass and chalk it up to another RGIII item I will not be able to afford. I was beginning to accept the latter since my LCS didn’t have one in stock…until today.

With all the hours I’ve been working this year on my deadline, I was able to take today off and have some ‘ken’ time. So I stopped in to the Sports Room to pick up supplies for the 2013 Topps set and whattayaknow! They have the RGIII…and the price is $24! Not bad. I asked Rick if I could take a look at it as I hadn’t seen one in person yet. I just kept staring at it like a 12 year old boy. I was thinking of ways to justify the purchase since I’ve been trying to be better about my spending on the hobby when suddenly Rick says…”I tell you what…” my eyes slowly raise up and I wait the for the “what” he is going to “tell me”. He responds, “you can have it for $20”.

BOOM!

This thing just got bought!

$20 Bucks!

Yes!

That’s only six dollars over retail. Still ridiculous that I had to pay an upcharge, but that’s how these things work sometimes I guess. You really can’t beat trading an Andrew Jackson for an RGIII can you? Well, I can’t…

I’ve been doing some looking at the figure and am quite impressed with the amount of detail they have. From the air holes in the helmet, the shield on the face mask and the pony tail on the back…these guys didn’t let any detail go to waste. Luckily my model doesn’t have a knee brace…yet…we don’t need to talk about that right now. Here’s hoping that RGIII can have an Adrian Peterson type recovery and I don’t have to sell this one next year in order to purchase the Kirk Cousins version. I know you are reading this Kirk and I mean no offense to you, It’s just RGIII is so much fun to watch.

So there you have it. A grown man has two action figures. I would say that’s a collection.

Hobby and Collecting Goals for 2013

Posted by cardboard hogs on January 3, 2013

It looks like everyone is posting goals for their hobby interests for the new year, so i guess i should jump on board and post something of my own. I don’t normally like to set goals, but i also don’t seem to accomplish too much so maybe a few goals will be good for me…and motivating…with that said, here are five thoughts for my collection this coming year.

First and foremost, i really need to get organized and finish getting my checklists in order. This is something I have been working on for years and always start great, but never finish. I have managed to get the Redskins team checklist set for Topps cards, but the player collections are really lagging behind. Guess i should get some excel time in soon.
As a follow up to the item above, i would like to complete the Redskin Topps team sets for the 70’s and 80’s. This is mostly complete except for the 1970-1973 sets and some random cards for most other years. Once the season is over i can start posting completed pages of Redskins joy! There is a great shop in NE Portland where i could probably knock out the missing cards on one Saturday.
For the past 3 years, i have been scooping up Chris Cooley, Clinton Portis and Santana Moss cards with no real recollection of what i have and what i want. This is the year i get these guys organized and stored properly. Why these three players you may ask? Well, these three guys reflect some great and miserable times as a Redskins fan. All three players were vital to the playoff runs in 2005 and 2007…especially Clinton Portis. I know there are a lot of fans that don’t look too highly on Portis, but for me, the way he carried the team down the playoff stretch will always be remembered. Not to mention the way he rose to the occasion after Sean Taylor was taken away from us…These guys are always going to be Redskins in my mind and am so happy that Cooley and Moss are a part of the 2012 NFC East Division Champions!
Speaking of Sean Taylor…He was a phenomenal player, someone that created so many problems on the field for offenses and made some nasty hits on receivers…and punters. When he was murdered, i was completely shocked and felt like I had lost one of the potentially greatest players of our generation. Some idiots like Colin Cowherd and Michael Wilbon made light of his murder with callous comments suggesting he had it coming. Regardless of what you think of Sean Taylor, he would have been a great player for many years to come. I have been working for years to collect all of his base cards along with some jersey cards, probably staying away from the 1/1 cards though…too much for me.
Last and definitely not the least of my goals. I would really like to get one, just one, on card autograph rookie card of Robert Griffin III. I’m only shooting for one right now due to the cost of the cards…crazy expensive right now and i can’t rationalize spending $500+ on any piece of cardboard right now. At the last card show i noticed the Leaf Signatures card…such a beauty…but going for $250. Kind of steep…but if it’s still around for the next show and i can convince myself that it’s an investment, i will pull the trigger!

So there it is. My collecting goals for 2013. I think they are all attainable, it’s just finding the time to get everything together.

One last note. I am not writer. I am a creative person by nature and career, but writing has never been something i feel overly confident in doing. You may notice run on sentences or incomplete thoughts along with the over usage of commas. Here’s hoping this blog corrects some of those issues.

If you are reading this, please feel free to leave a comment or two so i know someone is out there!

Good luck to you and your hobby goals for the coming year.