Random Blaster: 2014 Topps Valor Football

I finally gave in and purchased a blaster of 2014 Valor football, it has been quite a few months since I even bought a pack of cards but I do like the Valor design and each box included a relic so I figured it wouldn’t be too bad to give in just once.

 

The Valor set, while only 2 years have been released (2012 & 2014), is one of my favorite sets. I just like the way that Topps designed the sets with an artistic flair but also focusing on the players. This year Topps went with a plaid design which reminds me of the Celtic Tartan patterns. I am of Irish decent so the Celtic (pronounced Keltic) pattern leaves me with a soft spot in my heart. If I still built sets this would be a release that I would complete.

 

The cards are on light weight cardboard, except the parallels, I am not sure if this is because this is a retail product. Does anyone know if the hobby packs contain thicker cards?

 

So let’s take a look at what I pulled.

 

Starting with the Seahawks, I pulled two current and one ex-Hawk. Marshawn Lynch, Paul Richardson and Percy Harvin.

Only one Cardinal base card, the rookie TE Troy Niklas

A couple of veterans/Hall of Famers led by Barry Sanders and Deon Sanders. I also pulled a Bo Jackson (College HOF), Troy Aikman and John Riggins.

I pulled two parallels, which are on a thicker cardboard than what was used with the base cards. A Courage John Riggins #/399 and a Strength Jordy Nelson #/499

 

The relic I pulled is of Cardinals rookie QB Logan Thomas, who has become the backup to starter Drew Stanton following Carson Palmer’s season-ending knee injury last week. I am happy the relic is of a player on a team I collect.

 

Stocking Blaster Time II

This is the second half to yesterday’s post. I got a couple of Topps Chrome Football blasters in my stocking, along with some various packs of cards. So this closes out my Santa Claus pack break.

 

Would you believe that I have opened around 25 packs of 2013 Topps Chrome Football and I have pulled a limited number of base cards from my favorite teams. I have actually pulled as many photo variations (one) as Seahawks (Richard Sherman).

 

Three cards from the Seahawks and Cardinals

 

I did pull a Keenan Allen photo variation which is pretty cool

I think this David Wilson card is about the coolest photo in the entire set, a great shot by Topps.

A nice selection of Orange Refractors from the rack packs. At least I added another Seahawk and Cardinals player.

A Blue Wave Refactor of the 2013 #1 Draft Pick, Eric Fisher

A Purple Refractor of the top QB taken in the 2013 Draft, EJ Manuel

A Camo and Pink Refractor of two Top 20 drafted players

 

I pulled from 4 different insert sets plus a couple of relics, one per blaster. A double shot of Geno Smith plus a EJ Manuel mini. Between them they threw for 410 completions on 722 attempts (56.8%), 4,828 yards, 33 TDs and 30 INT. That gives them a combined 75.2 QB Rating.

 

The Bills were 6-10 last year, they are 6-9 heading in to the final game of the season versus Smith and the Jets. The Jets were 6-10 last season and are 7-8 heading in to the game against Buffalo. Needless to say, these two QBs do not compare with the top 2 QBs selected in the 2011 NFL Draft.

 

 

Stocking Blaster Time

It is Boxing Day, so what better way to represent than to open a box of cards?

 

Ok, so it is not that type of box but since Santa included two blasters of Topps Chrome Football and one blaster of Topps Olympic in my stocking I will get to ripping packs today. First up is the blaster of 2014 Winter Olympics.

 I like the design which is very similar to the Topps Summer Olympic set from last year. What really grabbed my attention is the action shots, there are some amazing pictures in this set. I think if I were a fan of the Olympic Games I would probably pick up a hobby box and work to complete at least the base set.

The base set is made up of 100 cards and consist of athletes who will be on the 2014 U.S. Winter Olympic team, athletes who will be on the 2014 U.S. Winter Paralympic team and athletes who were expected to try out/compete for a position on one of the teams. Because the set was designed before the teams were finalized some athletes in the set may not be in Sochi. Each base card also has a parallel that is based on an Olympic medal; Bronze, Silver and Gold plus Rainbow. The base parallels are not numbered but the autograph and relic parallels are numbered.

 

With base card parallels I pulled almost 2 per pack; 1 Gold, 4 Silver and 8 Bronze. Here is one of each so you get an idea of what they look like, basically the logo in the bottom corner is a colored foil instead of the U.S. Olympic team logo.

 

 

I pulled two inserts

One Games of the Olympiad set: Erika Brown Curling

I do not know why but I am drawn to Curling, I don’t even know the rules but all of the action involved with tossing the stone down the ice just keeps my interest. Probably my inner ADHD getting the… oh look… a butterfly

One Venue of the Olympiad set: Iceberg Skating Palace

 

Did you know that the word “iceberg” is common to multiple languages including Russian and English? Now that Topps has informed me of this fact I now know and knowing is half the battle.

 

This location is where figure skating and short track speed skating will take place, it only takes coordinators 2 hours to convert the venue from one sport to the other, pretty speedy people.

I close out with a Hannah Kearney two-colored relic, not a bad way to end the break. Kearney won Gold at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games and is expected to repeat this February.

 

Random Blaster Box: 2013 Topps Chrome Football

There are two football releases each year that I tend to gravitate towards, Platinum and Chrome. They are reasonably priced and you get a solid checklist of players. I reviewed a Platinum Football blaster back in September and now it is time for a Chrome Football blaster (plus a couple of rack packs) break and review.

I was quite disappointed because I did not pull a single Seahawk or Cardinal base card. My base pulls were QB heavy starting with Peyton Manning, card #1 and ending with Colin Kaepernick, card #220. I saw many of the rookies that have plagued my pack busting this year; Justin Hunter, Marquise Goodwin, Le’Veon Bell and Giovani Bernard.

 

I did not pull any variations but I did get plenty of refractors, 16 total. I start with three Refractors (not shown), four X-Fractors, six Orange Retail Refractors, one Blue Wave Refractor, one Purple Refractor (#/499) and one Blue Refractor (#/199).

 

Two 1959 Minis, including the Quinton Patton refractor #/99

Two 1965 Tall Boys, which includes the only Seahawks player that graced my packs

A Marquise Goodwin 1969 insert

Two 1986 inserts

A Die-cut Le’Veon Bell Chrome Rookie

The blaster boxes include a Rookie Relics card, mine was Aaron Dobson

 

Random Blaster: 2013 Panini Cooperstown Baseball

So while I was on the hunt for a horse head mask for my son’s Halloween costume, no luck, I hit a number of stores including 2 Walmart stores and a Target and while I had no luck on the mask I stopped by the card aisles to see if anybody had one of Panini’s Monster Boxes, no luck. So after a successions of strike outs I grabbed a blaster of Panini Cooperstown baseball at the last Walmart I hit so I didn’t end the day empty handed. The blaster included a handful of packs plus 3 Green Crystal parallels. I like the designs this year, the darker border and close up images just come over a lot better. 

 

There is a pretty good variety of Hall of Famers, whenever I see Johnny Evers I think of Baseball’s Sad Lexicon poem about the Chicago Cubs with the line “Tinker to Evers to Chance”. Evers had a solid early career, winning the World Series three times and being named the 1914 NL MVP player.

 

Dan Brouthers was an old-school player, he began his career in 1879 with the Troy Trojans. He played 17 seasons and retired with a .342 batting average, which puts him as the 9^th highest batting average in MLB history. What made me laugh was the description on the back of the card that says he was called “Big Dan” because he was 6-2” and weighed 210, a size that would now earn him the nickname “Dan”. I think CC Sabathia would eat Brouthers lunch and then give him a wedgie. But when you consider the time period he was the big boy on the block at that size.

 

Satchel Paige, this guy was just a freak of nature for his talent. It is said that he was the Negro League’s answer to Babe Ruth. His MLB record of 28-31 with a 3.29 ERA is no indication of his true accomplishments. He is said to have had 300 career shutouts and a win total in excess of 1,500 wins in the Negro Leagues. He won a Negro League World Series title with the KC Monarchs and MLB World Series titles with the Cleveland Indians. He was 60 when he pitched his final professional game for the minor league Peninsula Grays, the catcher? Johnny Bench.

 

A couple of Green Crystal parallels including Frank Chance, to go with my Johnny Evers. Mr. “Baseball is ninety percent and the other half is physical” himself Yogi Berra and the long time St' Louis Cardinals's Red Schoendienst, this guy won 4 World Series titles as a player and another one as a manager.

 

A couple of Colgan’s Chips disc cards, I am very happy with my group.

 

I closed out with a Lumberjack wood card. This is the second wood card that I have pulled, I pulled one from a Topps basketball release a couple of years ago, and while these cards are very cool you need to be careful because the wood will actually crack and split if you handle them to roughly.

This is a very cool product and there is a great on-card autograph checklist with players like Reggie Jackson, Cal Ripken Jr. and Brooks Robinson. The best thing about the set is that every card is a Hall of Famer, so you can not really go wrong.

Random Blaster Box: 2013 Bowman Football

I picked up a jumbo pack of 2013 Bowman Football and I like the cards so I picked up a blaster box a couple of days later. The jumbo packs come with 16 cards and to my surprise I pulled a Donald Monroe Collegiate autograph.

 

I really like the base card design, nice focus on the player with an interesting border in team colors. I actually feel that this would have been the ideal design for the die-cut cards but Topps actually changed the borders for the die-cut cards. The rookie card design is similar but a bit simpler. There are quite a few parallels along with foil refractors and ice foil refractors. Most of the parallels are numbered too.

 

I came up pretty dry with the vets, only Richard Sherman from the Seahawks and University of Arizona product Nick Foles.

 

This year’s rookie class, at this time, seems pretty thin in the skilled positions but I pulled a couple of players who may make it to the field this year plus a couple of Seahawks rookies with Harper and Williams and Cardinals rookie Ellington.

 

Beginning with the Purple parallels, I pulled four total. Rookies Barner, Sorensen, Lattimore and vet Jeremy Kerley. One thing that stood out to me is that Kerley’s card is a lighter color of purple compared to the rookie cards. I pulled a Philip Lutzenkirchen Purple Rainbow Foil card too.

 

Next up is a Jonathan Hankins Gold parallel card #/399 and a Colin Kaepernick Gold Rainbow Foil card #/75

 

 

Then a Jake Locker Blue Rainbow Foil card #/99

My final parallel is this Le’Veon Bell Green Ice #/50

I closed out my break with a Donald Monroe NFLPA Collegiate on-card autograph