Getting back to the copious amount of cards in Marv’s boxes…I found a lot of good pieces to plug in to my PC for Santana Moss. He’s been with the Washington Redskins for so long, I forget he put up some really nice numbers with the New York Jets in the first four years of his career, most noteworthy was 2003 when he had over 1500 all purpose yards. Not bad for an undersized receiver.
I am way behind on reviewing some of the boxes I have opened in the past few months, mostly focusing on cards that i’ve picked up at card shows. I have a few lined up, so here is the first one. Panini Absolute Football.
Like most of Panini’s cards now, you can buy a retail version and a hobby version but the quality is quite different. As a set collector this would drive me insane, but since i don’t plan on putting this set together, it’s no worries to me. I do think this is a great way to differentiate between a hobby card and something you can pick up at Target, good for the hobby and collectors in my opinion, but allows the fringe collectors to afford different brands of cards.
Card Design – 4 of 5
The base card for Absolute is pretty clean. Photo of the player on the front along with his name and position as well as the team name along the bottom. The greatness of these cards for me is the vertical gradation in the colors from left to right, or right to left depending on your culture. The gradation gives them a nice light show or a cardboard Pink Floyd laser show look to the card. Groovy.
The one thing i’m not liking about these cards is the card stock. Seems really thin for the amount of money these guys cost. I also wasn’t crazy about the overall packaging by Panini. You get the display box, and a pack box…with a cello wrapped cards inside. That’s quite a bit of packaging for a box of cards, wouldn’t you agree?
Living in the Pacific NW, all the extra wrapping is heavily frowned upon. Yes, we are those people that bring their bags to the grocery store and ride our bikes to work in the rain. Reduce, Reuse and Recycle.
Photography – 4 of 5
Panini has the waist up photos locked down. They do a great job of focusing on the player, allowing them to take up most of the photo space available on the card. All the cards i’ve seen appear to be game action photos and give you a good view of their eyes. No over processing or out of control editing for these cards either. Another good job by Panini.
Hits – 4 of 5
No Redskin hits here, but when you get any card autographed and numbered to 10 it’s a good thing, and it’s an even greater thing when that player is AJ Green. This may be one of the best hits i’ve had in a long while. It is a sticker auto, but i will let that slide for a perennial pro bowler card numbered to 10! Not really a Bengals fan or an AJ collector, but the guy has proven to be a beast in his first couple of seasons.
The other hits were fairly nice as well. Brandon Weeden came through with a nice looking jersey card but he looks completely unimpressed in this photo…or thoroughly confused, you be the judge?
I Like the Terrance Ganaway autograph, it has a nice flair to it. The card itself has a ton of great color in person and is very attractive (much better than the scan!)
Review
I was pretty happy with the box i received. Nice hits and i really love the design of these cards. If i have a few extra bucks to spend on cards laying around next year, i can see myself picking up a box for 2013. Although, with my desire to spend less on boxes and packs I doubt i can justify the cost for the value.
Opening each pack was cool, although i think it was a bit excessive packaging. It was nice that i could open one or two as i wanted, can’t have everything i guess. I think Panini can do a better job of their future packaging. Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
In continuation with last weeks post from the Cedar Hills Show, here are a few other cards pulled from the nickel and dollar boxes. My back is finally at it’s full strength from being hunched over the boxes, so all is good…just need to work on the neck strain thing and i will be 100%, taking it day to day.
The Redskins in the late 90’s were pretty much a directionless team led by Norv Turner and a carousel of stop gap quarterbacks. The one constant for a couple years was Stephen Davis. A pretty powerful back in his day and a guy that i loved watching run. I’ve been collecting his cards for a while now and love it when i come across a few cards i’ve never seen before. This is around the time when i wasn’t collecting and they came from the nickel box.
When the Redskins drafted Malcolm Kelly, i was really excited about his potential and thought he would be a phenomenal compliment to Moss. Unfortunately for the kid, he had Greg Oden’s knees and never really got on the field. Jimmy Zorn the Zornado loved him though and they kept him around longer than they should have. I don’t think he is playing anymore, which really sucks for him. These types of stories are a dime a dozen for young athletes. I just hope he has his money right and is a productive member of his community. Love the Diamond background on Santana, he owns the game.
Three years ago, this guy was traded to the Redskins and they got worked by their divisional rival Eagles on the deal. The Shanahans thought they were just a QB away and that McNabb was that QB. I guess the best part about McNabb being terrible as a Redskin was that it lead to Rex Grossman being the QB which led to John Beck being on the roster which led to the Redskins having two guys that shouldn’t be starting in the NFL which led to a terrible season, which finally led to RG3 coming to DC. Life as a Redskin fan looks brighter, assuming of course, RG3 doesn’t also have Greg Oden’s knees.
Jason Campbell, i feel terrible for this guy and think he could have had a solid career if he didn’t play for such a terrible organization. He’s with the Browns right now, which is basically the equivelant of bottoming out in the NFL (sorry Browns fans). I still love Campbell and hope he becomes the starter and does great things in Cleveland this year.
Art Monk, one of my all time favorite Redskins and Michael Westbrook, one of my least favorite. I’m going to refrain from talking too much shit about Westbrook as he can easily kick my ass. I do love the short shorts though, nothing weird about that at all. How about that strategically placed photo with football in the upper right…whattajob Topps, you are indeed the finest.
Last up Darrell Green. The man and the Legend along with Rice. Another legend…no Randy Moss though?
It’s been a while since I’ve been to a card show and since my last post, so I will tackle both in one post this evening!
Each month, we have a show at Mall 205 here in the Portland area. Not sure why they do these things in a strip mall, but that’s how they do it up here I guess. Maybe they pick up residual traffic from mall shoppers? I don’t know. It provides a great opportunity for me to get new deodorant at Target, some new kicks at the Famous Footwear (remember that name…) and chase it all down with a slice of pizza from the place no longer called pizza schmizza although it still looks like a pizza schmizza.
As of late, I’ve been on a purging phase and have managed to get rid of a bunch of CD’s at the local Everyday Music and have some cash for the card shows. So, I had a slightly bigger budget than normal for this trip…the excitement builds. In general, I don’t go to these shows with goals or objectives because I tend to look for the same stuff and hit up the same tables. This time though I really wanted to pick up some new Robinson Cano and Rickey Henderson cards along with any shiny new Redskins cards I didn’t already have. I was only successful with the latter goal.
Having gone to these shows for the past couple of years now, I’ve developed a rapport with a few of the guys and gravitate to their tables first. My first stop is always Tom. Somehow he manages to have some new Redskin stuff for me each time at fantastic prices. He’s always personable and friendly as well as having a tremendous amount of great cards. In my visit with him, he pulls out this triple auto card with RGIII on it that I can only manage to drool over. No idea how much it was and really didn’t want to know…it was too much for me, but a beautiful card no less. I walked away with a new orange Kerrigan card and a serial numbered Fred Davis along with a couple other items.
After Tom’s table, I typically just move down the line knowing the other tables I want to visit will have some good stuff for me. I worked down the line and ran into a new guy, Greg who had some nice stuff to offer. He dropped a Kirk Cousins auto Prizm and Alfred Morris in front of me…$10…why, yes, thank you.
The next couple of items I picked up came from a couple of different tables at good prices…can’t go wrong with any RGIII in my mind.
One table I visited was very interesting. The guy was selling DVD’s, comics and had a box of cards with a really nice and shiny Derek Jeter on top…so I stopped to take a peek. His sign said ‘this box $1 each’, but he tells me that if I buy 5 cards or more, I can have them for 50cents each…hmmm. If I buy 4 cards, that will be $4 but if I buy 5…it will set me back $2.50. I used to be really good at math and from what I can recall it was in my best interest to max out my purchase at this guys table. Unfortunately, I only managed to pick up 5 items. 4 Jeters and my only Rickey Henderson of the show.
As I worked my way to one of my new favorite table, for some reason I have never asked for the guys name…but I always spend a good amount of money on his stuff. He always has great stuff and gives you a nice deal…plus he’s really cool. I was sifting through his 50% off box when I heard some loud cursing. I turned to see some kid darting out of the aforementioned Famous Footwear with some new Nike kicks in his hand. The kid was fast, but I can see that corporate check on those sneaks a mile away.
THE KID WAS HELLA FAST!
He was being chased out of the mall by Paul Blart’s slimmer brother, well, slightly slimmer and Segway-less. This mall cop had no chance, but it was a valiant effort. I should have offered him a slice of my Hawaiian pizza, they were on sale that day…daily special.
Anyways, back to marked down cardboard. Homeboy hooked me up with some RGIII goodies along with an Aldrick Robinson auto and a Ryan Torain auto that I’ve passed up many times. At least I can cross it off my imaginary list.
Last stop before my wife kills me for being late. New table, friendly guy and great cards that were marked down to 80% off. 80% off! Why in the hell would I pay retail when I can get great cards for 80% off! The guy had a few boxes of nice serial numbered cards with Clinton Portis and Santana Moss cards that I could use for my PC. Unfortunately most of the cards were in their previous teams kits, but still guys I loved to watch.
All in all, a great show that included great deals, food and a petty crime. Can’t beat that at all. I ended up staying under my budget and walked out a happy guy…plus it was sunny and warm on a March day in Portland, Oregon. Life is good
One last thing, I couldn’t help but notice this sign and think of The Chronicles of Fuji.
Hogs out!
I am finally getting around to opening the boxes that have been sitting on my desk for a while now and wanted to start with one of my favorites. Panini’s Contenders. I have always enjoyed the design of these cards and their quality. The simplicity and continuity of the cards each year with the ticket on the sidebar and singular player focus is something that I enjoy in a card. In general, I think Panini does a nice job on their card designs and this set is no different. Contenders is in their 20th year now, which i initially had no idea they were around this long until I remembered the flip box I still have from the first year with Barry Sanders on the inside cover…memories. They used to make the boxes much nicer back then…now it’s just a small box with lots of cards in them.
Now for the review…
Card Design 4 of 5
As i said in the intro, i really like the consistent design. Each card has the basic player information on the front with the name, team, position and player number. Contenders goes a step further with the name of the stadium and years the player has been a pro which is kind of a cool feature you either don’t find on a card or only find on the back. Panini has also managed to incorporate the teams colors in the left bar ‘tickets’. I personally like the Redskins cards, but am partial to the Burgundy and Gold on cards…I think it makes them punch really nicely. What’s up with Carolina Panthers and their 1984 Trapper Keeper font? I’m glad they finally decided to dump it and go with something more contemporary.
One design piece that i don’t think is that successful is the ‘super graphic’ last name ghosted in the background with a very subtle shadow line. My problem with this is that they already have the players full name on the card, so adding the last name again is simply redundant and unnecessary in my opinion. I would also like to have seen the team logo on the top right be a little larger and the helmet on the ticket gone…or maybe this could be where the larger logo occurs. It’s just a little redundant to these eyes.
Contenders does a nice job on their subsets and have continued with the die-cut love fest. The Rookie of the Year Contenders are quite nice and the die cut works well here as they fit nicely in my gentle, yet manly grasp. These types of die cuts don’t work well in sleeves or top loaders and always seems to lean to one side or another.
Another subset is the MVP Contenders and are really nice looking. The die-cut and supergraphic MVP font work very well, even though none of the guys i pulled had any real shot at winning the MVP, it’s still a nice subset for player collectors.
Photography 4 of 5
Panini has managed to gather full length photos of each of the player for the majority of the cards, keeping their knees, ankles and feet in tact! Football cards tend to be overcropped these days so it’s nice to see a full body shot of the player on his card. Each photo is crisp and there is no clutter with unnecessary background action…just the player for whom the card is representing. The photos on the back are a simple blow up of the one on the front of the card. Kind of wish they would use a different photo, maybe a portrait shot or something…different.
Hits 4 of 5
The box advertises 5 autos per box and that is pretty much what you get. I happened to get what i believe is an extra auto with the dreaded redemption card, an Alshon Jeffrey Rookie Ticket RPS. As i’ve stated in the past, i really hate redemption cards. I understand why they do it and that it just needs to be done sometimes…it’s just disappointing to have to wait months for your hit. Sometimes a guy just needs a hit.
The second pack I opened in this box had an awesomely shiny Redskins rookie card Autograph numbered 66/99…Kirk Cousins. I was really hoping for the other rookie Redskins QB, but this guy might end up being the guy…somewhere. I believe i have 5 Cousins autos now…and zero RG3 autos…FML! Here’s a fun fact. No matter what orientation you lay the card out, the serial number always says 66/99…fun with sixes and nines you kinky freaks!
The other autos in the box weren’t that spectacular and quite frankly i think the kids these days seriously need to work on their penmanship. They are probably signing hundreds of items, but the Chris Polk auto is just begging to be forged by a man of lesser character.
I got a kicker auto, that’s a little weird. Zeurlein had a great season, but he’s still a kicker. I’m just really i didn’t pull yet another Dontari Poe auto!
The Bucs and the Cardinals guys are not on my radar, if anyone has an idea who they are or just needs them for a PC, let me know. Otherwise they are ebay bound.
This Panini product seems to give you a good number of autos, but nothing spectacular.
Review
All in all i am pretty happy with the box. I managed to get quite a few Redskins, no RG3, but i did pull a serial numbered Kirk Cousins auto. By the way, i used to write just like Captain Kirk when i was in the 5th grade. At least his auto is clean and legible…looking at you Chris Polk! Contenders is a box that i tend to buy each year and will continue to do so…but one a year is more than enough for me. The cards are great and you get a good amount of inserts, I just don’t know if the price justifies the cards you pull and their value.
This years subsets look great as usual. I mentioned the MVP Contenders and the Rookie of the Year Contenders, but the subset I love is the Rookie Stallion cards…the name is a little…um…weird. But the photos are great and i love the layout and use of fonts.
Not too crazy about the Legendary Champion cards, nice idea and great player selection, just don’t love the design.
Here are the Redskins from the box!
That’s it folks. I have a couple more breaks to cover and i will be caught up! Hope you enjoy the reviews.
When I re-started this blog, I wanted it to be a way of tracking my new Redskins cards and display them to the other bloggers out there. I figured it would also be a great way to fill in some of the holes in my collection, while helping others through trades. Another reason was really to show off some of the great card designs. Although the Redskins may not be one of your favorite teams, I think these pieces of cardboard can be appreciated by all sports fans and collectors.
Since the season ended with a big loud thud and the franchise QB laying face down on the dirt in Landover, i haven’t been overly excited about buying new Redskins cards. As with anything, time heals all wounds. So i’m back in the saddle and purchasing new Redskin cards.
Part of my visit to the Sports Room on Friday was to see what new Redskin cards they had for sale. In the past these guys have been great about putting together fantastic team packs for a very affordable price. Through the years, I have managed to pick up the majority of the Redskin sets as there are not too many fans here in Portland – HTTR! With this visit, they had a couple new packs for $3 and $4. That’s a pretty great deal for any collector.
Buying these things is a bit of a gamble since i can only see the front and back card but i did notice multiple thick cards as well as some shiny ones…PLUS, you just cannot beat that $4 sticker!
Each pack turned out to be a great deal for me as i didn’t have most of the cards. They were from higher end sets that i have had to avoid this year due to our new child and the fact that some of these boxes and packs are just too expensive for me right now. I’ve found that this is the best way for me to collect, just wait out all the rush to buy the new stuff and pick up the cards that i collect, rather than buying boxes and getting players i don’t really care about. ALTHOUGH, i still reserve the right to buy boxes…they are still fun to open.
There were a couple serial numbered cards and new pieces to add to my PC. Gotta love it when you can buy cards you need to complete a checklist rather than something to simply put in a box and store away, never to be seen again…
There were quite a few Santana Moss cards that filled the gaps in their respective binder. I loved the Momentum cards this year. Nice cards on thick pieces of card stock and a simple, clean design. I really love the font at the top of the cards too, nice and clean with no serifs.
A very nice serial numbered Art Monk card as well. One of my all time favorites…it took way too long for him to get in to the Hall of Fame by the way.
The topper of the whole visit and the reason why i love stopping at my LCS is this card.
Rick just gave it to me, had it sitting on the shelf waiting for me too, pretty awesome! A nice shiny, die cut serial numbered card of Captain Chaos! Looking a little closer, you see that it’s number 47/47 and Cooley wears 47. The 47 trifecta! Rick tried to convince me that this is a great card because it’s a 1/1! Not really buying it, but thanks for the free Captain Chaos card! As much as i love Cooley, I really hope he retires this offseason and doesn’t play for another team next year. Can’t really see him making the team next year since he only had 1 catch. A great career no less.
That’s it, my latest Redskin haul. All together, there were 36 unique cards in the two team packs and i needed exactly 25 of them. Not a bad deal.
Hey kids, i just scored some free cards! Ain’t life GRAND!
One of the great things about Dave and Adam’s card world is the free stuff they send when you order from them, love it.
With my jumbo ’13 Topps box and presell Heritage stuff, i got four blaster boxes of 2011 Rookies and Stars. I bought a few of these cards last year and wasn’t too impressed with them, but hey, free is free. I was hoping to pull some Redskin inserts i don’t have yet…didn’t really happen, but managed to get a couple cards i didn’t have for my team sets. Also pulled a couple jersey rookie cards and some weird ass burnt orange or red or whatever color it is, I had no idea these were a thing.. Can’t be too rare as i got 4 of them in the 4 boxes. All in all, not a bad group of cards. Most of them will end up getting sorted and put away in boxes, never to be seen again until i can trade them or find some time to post them on the ebay.
Here is the notable haul for your viewing pleasure.
The Redskin collective. Funny thing about these cards is that they all came in the same box along with the Hankerson (below). Can you feel the heartache in the face of Aldrick Robinson and his photoshopped jersey, the kid looks befuddled! I needed this card, so i feel good about it, just not comfortable with his look on this one. The other card i didn’t have was the McNabb card. The reason i didn’t have it was because i refused to purchase it on a few occasions. I liked McNabb as an Eagles QB, played well but never great. So when he was traded to the Redskins a couple years ago, i about shit a brick…sideways. This old crapper is coming to play for my team? Seriously? Luckily he played poorly from the get go, so there were no long term plans to keep him around…AND it opened the phenomenal RGVIII phase, that’s Rex Grossman, number 8. That’s a whole ‘nother other post.
Here is the Hankerson card. I wish this guy would get rid of the alligator arms, could be a great receiver for years to come for the Redskins.
So, i was speaking to my wife and apparently these cards look gold to her. Burnt orange, Red, gold…don’t really care. They are just odd to me, especially the way Best and Breaston are slowly bursting out of the faded edges. Nothing much else to say. I may do more research to get an idea of print run on these or who they were meant for (target, wal mart…) or not. They are what they are.
The next group is the shiny and somewhat glossy Longevity cards. I think these are a much better parallel than the gold aura gems from above. Panini managed to do some killer super font type branding on these guys, but I think it works nicely here. They are numbered to 249, so that’s good. The two QB’s are marginal at best, so I don’t expect these guys to skyrocket in price. If there’s a Texans fan out there, I got a card for you!
Last up are the jersey cards. I have somewhat of an affinity for really thick cards. Their nice and hearty plus they always have a different sound to them. Almost a little hollow sounding…or tinny? Not sure. Both guys are WR’s and were rookies as the name of the set would suggest. I know Greg Little has shown some flashes of brilliance, but it’s been tempered by McCoy and Weeden’s ability to get him the ball. The back of the card mentions his fanatical attraction to Anquan Boldin and Andre Johnson, which is great because they are both fantastic WR’s…not sure if Little can get to their level, but he’s still young. He is also wearing double zero, which is not good for binary coding…gotta think he could have picked some number, any number and would have been ok, right?
The other guy is just that…the other guy. I think i heard of him on last season’s hard knocks, but don’t really remember. His cut jersey is a little nicer and he appears to have numerous tattoos. When are they going to come out with tattoo cards? They could call be rip cards called tear for tats or something more witty than that.
that’s all i have for now. I have a couple more box reviews i want to do and should get another few posts in soon, hope you are reading whomever you are.
enjoy. -HTTR!
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.
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.