I was born in South Carolina. Conway Country, South Carolina, Myrtle Beach…Myrtle Beach Air Force Base to be exact. My parents were both in the Air Force when i was born and they were born in South Carolina as well. Both of my parents were born in South Carolina. My mom was born in Charleston and My dad’s family was from Spartanburg, SC. He was the son of a cotton factory worker that loved football, Clemson football. Football is huge in Texas and really all throughout the south. Every summer we would visit the Palmetto state, and when we went to Spartanburg we would go to the Beacon drive in. It’s a bit of a divey drive in greasy spoon kinda place, but damn that food is good! And the walls were always covered in Clemson newspaper clippings, Frank Howard and Danny Ford photos along Tiger memorabilia everywhere…not so much with the other school in the state, the Cocks, just mostly Clemson Tigers. So, as a young’n my college football team was chosen. The Clemson Tigers. A Tigers fan in the state of Texas, where i could have chosen the Longhorns or Aggies or Red Raiders or whatever…I stuck with my family on this one. Football hasn’t been too nice to me over the past few years. The ebbs and flow of a football season are quite emotional, far more than baseball, which i think is why i’m more drawn to the diamond than the gridiron. But tonight, my team won and it feels great!…and yes, i did order some Panini Clemson Tigers cards tonight.
Now to some baseball cards.
Wrapping up my box of Topps update with the hits. Like i said, nothing too major, but some cool decent stuff from the jumbo box.
Christian Vazquez – Boston Red Sox Scouting Report Certified Autograph
Stephen Strasburg – Washington Nationals All Star Game 2016 Event Worn Workout Jersey
Willie McCovey – San Francisco Giants 500 Home Run Club Capt. James Cook Stamp
My mind is a little distracted right now and i’m having a little difficulty writing and listening to ESPN, so i’m just going to let the images be. That Captain James Cook stamp got me doing some serious research though on global sailing, exploration and cartography. Maybe i can save some of my research for another (re)post.
Hope you guys have a great night! Here’s a cool song my wife introduced me to a couple of days ago…probably late on these guys, but love the song! Enjoy.
It’s been a while since i’ve picked up a box of cards. I have been doing my best to stay away from boxes of cards unless I plan to put the set together since I have terrible luck with the ‘hits’. I’m not a hit chaser and don’t plan to be one either…but I do love opening packs of cards. It takes me back to being a happy go lucky kid with $5 in my pocket riding my bike to the Stop’n Go for a few packs of 1986 Topps or Garbage Pail Kids and tall bottle of coke…man, those were the days. Back when $5 could get you way more than 8 cards to a pack.
As you can see from the title, the box is Magic Football from this year. Unlike the last couple of years, the rookie class isn’t too exciting…but I love this brand and here we go!
Card Design: 3.5 of 5
Just like the past couple of years, the base card design is pretty simple.
Topps does it’s best to give these cards a sort of retro look with the banner and stars. Nobody really does that anymore, do they? seems like a throwback to the 50’s. I’ve always felt like Magic is Topps version of Heritage for football, minus the copying of vintage designs. Instead of copying them verbatim, they take bits and pieces of the cards to create a ‘new throwback’ look, which i love.
I also like that they used a good solid card stock with no glossy finish. I’m kind of old school like that. The glossy cards are great and have a time and place, but i really enjoy a card that isn’t slippery or covered with texture. Just some nice smooth cardboard with a little friction. Such a weird comment…
Photography: 4 of 5
Photography, yes, photography. The photos are highly over processed and in most cases i despise this. Technology is a great thing, but a heavy hand can ruin a great photo.
I was quite impressed that Topps was able to get a photo (almost looks photoshopped, eh?) of Josh Freeman’s short lived stint with the Vikings (is he coming back to the Vikings next year?) As i’ve mentioned in previous posts, I enjoy photography and my wife is a professional photographer, so we have our fair share of HDR imagery discussion in our home. Fun huh?
This fairly new form of photo processing is everywhere now and definitely has its place…and I think sports card photography is that place.
The photos on these cards always look really sharp and you can see a lot of texture and depth on each card…i guess for some, this may make up for the lack of glossy-ness.
Look at that smile! And those Tattoos!
Look at those crazy eyes! And that old school mesh jersey top!
Hits: 3 of 5
As i’ve mentioned, I do not by boxes for the hits. I am not that type of collector. Magic does offer three autographs in their boxes along with the occasional relic or memorabilia card. The autographs are stickers though…ugh stickers…better than redemptions, but man an on card autograph is so great! Since the rookie class wasn’t too stellar this year, the autographs weren’t that stellar either.
Brandon Myers – New York Giants
Kayvon Webster – Denver Broncos
Khaseem Greene – Chicago Bears
Magic is owned by Topps, so they fill your box up with little hits and parallels and a whole bunch of other shit that makes collectors want to collect things they don’t really want to collect. Like some micro cards with Drew Brees and Arian Foster on them.
or how about some receiver action with Cal bookends of Keenan Allen and DeSean Jackson sandwiching Anquan Boldin from the base white mini.
How about some green border minis with these three dudes.
Or what about these black border minis!
and a Hall of Famer Blue Border mini!
I could have done without these groovy Aerial Attack inserts…but my wife loves Cam, so here honey.
The colors on this thing…holy crap…ho-lee-crap.
The Rookie Enchantments are back, but aren’t that enchanting.
Markus Wheaton for all of you Steeler fans out there.
and a Cordarelle Patterson card.
Desmond Trufant, a man that Steve Smith respects.
Review
All in all, i love the cards. I was really hoping to put together a set, but after seeing the 330 card set checklist and heavy dose of SP cards i’m not sure that’s gonna happen. I need to think about it. My collection is a bit chaotic right now and this won’t help with the chaos. I really wish Topps went a little lighter on the SP’s. A box of these guys won’t set you back too much, but if you plan on putting the set together you could be dropping well over $100 on this set and i’m not sure that’s worth it for this group of cards.
and a MINI!
Bacarri Rambo…the best name ever.
Hope you enjoyed the review…my pack breakdown for 2014 Topps will be up soon. I’m waiting for everyone else to release theirs before I put my thoughts out there. 🙂
One more Panini redemption down and one more to go. Come on Panini America, you can do it! Get it done! Get those busy athletes that don’t care about sports cards to sign their autographs on a sheet filled with little 1 3/4″ x 5/8″ stickers. They love it. Tuned in to the latest Rick Ross song bumping through their beats by Dre headphones. C’MON PANINI!
Initially when i pulled this redemption of Jeffery, I wasn’t too excited. He a Gamecock and I’ve always been partial to the Clemson Tigers. I was born in South Carolina and all of my family is from there, so I picked the Tigers at a young age and never looked back. Now that Spurrier is coaching the cocks, i have even more dislike for them…Spurrier…yuck…Clowney is pretty awesome though. And so was Jeffery this past season.
In hindsight, this is actually a pretty decent hit. Unfortunately though, there isn’t a serial number on the card. It’s just a regular ol’ autograph on a nice card. Seeing the high quality of Jeffery’s auto, i can’t imagine it took him too long to get his pen on the sticker.
Quick stats. This card was redeemed on February 23, 2013 and it was pulled from my mailbox on February 5, 2014. Nearly a year, but not quite…348 days to be exact. Way to go Panini, keep those customers happy. Just for the record, i haven’t picked up any packs or boxes from Panini since last summer and I haven’t really missed it.
I apologize for sounding too negative, but the redemption thing in this hobby really needs to end. Of all the frustration this hobby brings on its collectors with parallels, topps control of the mlb contract and high price ‘hits’, the redemption is the most annoying. Waiting nearly a year to get one of your guaranteed hits from a box is simply ridiculous.
I think the 2013 Redskin rookie class could be a pretty good one. Most of their performances were overshadowed by injuries, lack of playing time or just not being ready for NFL action. One of my favorites and a guy that i’ve been picking up a lot of cards of has been Jordan Reed. One of the knocks on him coming out of Florida was his tendency to suffer injuries, or not being able to play through the injuries. He has been shut down for the remainder of the season due to a concussion. I’m hoping this isn’t a precursor to future issues with him as he’s shown to be a player with a ton of upside.
I have a pink chrome refractor card autographed by Mr. Reed…This is a very masculine card.
…and a nice fancy topps base card auto that is unfortunately a sticker auto.
Another kid that i’ve been really excited to see play has been Jawan Jamison. He’s been on the practice squad for most of the year and made the roster last week, but was inactive for the Falcons game. I’m hoping he can see the field against Dallas this weekend and get some good runs in…all over the field agains the Cowteam.
JJ has an extremely tiny signature, but it’s numbered to 25. This card was picked up at the last card show i went to that Tom had pulled for me. He told me he had a nice short print autograph card for me that i could have for free if i could name the player. I said Alfred Morris, wishful thinking i guess…didn’t get the card for free, but I got my usual great deal from Tom and was very pleased to walk away with this platinum #1 beauty.
It’s a little weird seeing a Redskin wear #47 and it not be Chris Coooooooley!
