Two Failures Failing

With the NFL Draft two days away two former First Round draft picks, who both wore #2, are in the news.

The failure that is JaMarcuss Russell, the 2007 #1 pick, has announced in a recent SI interview that he is willing to play one season in the NFL for free. He even sent a letter to Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones saying that he will start from the bottom working with the practice team to learn the playbook. Jones is a big proponent of giving questionable players a second chance but Russell has not played a down since 2009 and has only had to one workout with a team since, in 2013 with the Bears.

Also in the news in Johnny Manziel who was indicted today in Texas on assault charges on his ex-girlfriend. Normally I wouldn't give Manziel and space on my blog but his life has been in free fall since January and he is flirting with jail time now, the assault charge is a misdemeanor with up to one year in jail and fines. America loves to watch a train wreck but when the person is destroying their body with drugs and alcohol he is beyond a train wreck and his family is fearing he may not live to his next birthday. In this case jail may be the best option to help Manziel. I am willing to bet that he won't see any jail time and a minimum fine because affluence seems to be a viable defense in Texas.

Personally I hope they both just move on and stop trying to add more of a media circus to the NFL.

The Pain Of A Failed Prospect

I just endured a beating (in price) that has taught me a serious lesson on prospecting. Fortunately I did not purchase the card I had pulled it from a box but in this case I ended up missing out on a lot of money when I walked away from an insane offer.

In 2006 I pulled a 2006 Bowman Chrome Matt Leinart Rookie Autograph blue refractor #41/75 while I was busting a box in a friend’s card shop. At the time every one was seeking Vince Young, Matt Leinart, Reggie Bush and even LenDale White and their cards were shooting up in price every day. There was a Leinart collector who frequented the store and word was passed on that I pulled the card, he made an offer of $275. I turned him down and decided to sit on the card because Leinart was slated to be the future of the Arizona Cardinals organization and I figured I would be able to cash in big time after he proved his potential.

He started 11 games in 2006 and while he didn’t burn up the field he was ok for a rookie. Even then I held on to the card hoping for a better sophomore season. Needless to say he played in only 21 more games over the next 6 seasons and ended his career in 2012 with a total of 4,065 yards, 15 TDs and 21 INTs and a 70.2% QB rating.

For a number of years now I have been trying to sell the card hoping to find that diehard USC fan, I finally found a buyer. The final selling price… $3.50

I left $271.50 on the table and I am now done with prospecting, anything I pull that is hot and I don’t collect gets put up for sale.

How Much Fail Can One Person Pack In To A Career?

 Every so often I like to look back on a story I wrote and do a follow up. The tragic tale of Jeremy Tyler is one of these posts that I am revisiting.

 

In 2009 Tyler had “Potential Star” written all over him, he had talent and was averaging 28.7 points per game in his junior year in high school. He was so certain of his future pay-day that he quit high school and headed to Israel to begin his pro career. He ended up playing only 10 games in Israel and averaged 2.1 points again before quitting the team and heading home. In 2010 he signed with a Japanese team and played 33 games with the Tokyo Apache where he averaged 9.9 points a game.

 

Somehow he ended up getting drafted by the Charlotte Bobcats during the 2011 NBA Draft but was traded to Golden State the same night for cash. His NBA career lasted 3 season for 3 different teams (Golden State, Atlanta & NY Knicks), he played 104 games and averaged 3.6 points. He was on the Lakers pre-season team this year but was cut before the season began and he is currently playing in China.

 

His NBA career was a flash and sadly he did not prove his worth when he had the chance. He was given the opportunity but wasted it, an opportunity that many kids would love to have. At 23 years old he is a wash out and a good chance it has to do with his attitude, channeling his best JaMarcus Russell impression.

 

Panini did think enough of him that they included him in some of their 2012-13 NBA releases, this shows how low they are willing to scrape the bottom of the barrel to include players in sets. For anyone willing to still consider this kid a prospect his cards are dirt cheap, a rookie can be picked up for under $1 and an autograph will cost you another dollar.

Vince Young, Step In To My Office

In 2006 many fans were surprised when Tennessee selected Vince Young with the #3 pick in the NFL Draft, 7 slots before Matt Leinart who many assumed would be one of the first 2 or 3 picks that year. Given Young had just won the NCAA National Championship over Leinart’s USC Trojans but there were many questions about him including his Wonderlic Test score (rumored to have been a record low of 6/50), his leadership skills, organization skills and his work ethics.

After 5 seasons with the Titans, team owner Bud Adams has decided to sever ties with Vince Young. With Young being “fired” you have to wonder if he will pick up with another team next year, barring lockout. Will he follow another Top 10 Draft Pick failure party boy Matt Leinart and sit quietly in the #3 role or will he be out of football all together?

Even being picked #3 in the draft ahead of Leinart, Jay Cutler, Joseph Adai, Maurice Jones-Drew and Brandon Marshall, he was never a collectors dream. He didn’t seem to garner the attention that those other players received and his cards never really sold at the levels of Leinart's cards. I find it funny and sad that some people are still posting his 2006 Exquisite Auto-Patch #/99 for $3,500, even his Gold Exquisite 1/1 graded PSA 10 would be a stretch at the $2,400 asking price. There are some very interesting Vince Young offerings up for bid right now, but you will notice that not one card over $75 even has a bid and there is a reason for that… his work ethic of course being unemployed does not help.

Jeremy Tyler, Round 2

Jeremy Tyler is in the news again, the player who at one time considered a Top 3 pick in the 2011 NBA Draft, this time is slightly positive news. He signed a contract with the Tokyo Apache of the JPL (Japanese Basketball League). Hopefully this round will last longer then his first professional tour with Maccabi Haifa, which lasted only 10 games before he quit the team. I wrote about Tyler back in March after he quit the Israeli team, hopefully his time with the Apaches will last longer and with better results then his time with Maccabi Haifa. Another failed attempt will most likely put a damper on any dreams that Tyler has of ever playing in the NBA.

Why Panini?

I picked up some packs of 2010 Panini Prestige Football and I have to say that I am disappointed. I cannot understand the fascination that Panini has with lines and angles; every card set has some odd angle to them. The designers must begin with a protractor and a blank card and go from there. Now there is a way to work angles in to a design and still have something worth looking at and then there is a way to ruin a card from the start.

Using the Prestige base card I created a mock up using the current base design to give the card a more pleasing aesthetic. Base above left, mock up above right.

I pulled a couple of rookies including Sam Bradford, Dexter McCluster and Dez Bryant. I actually kind of like the rookies, they are set up perfectly for the autograph, which unfortunately is a lick-em stick-em auto.

The insert sets are another round of crazy angles and colors with foil board tossed in to add that extra irritation you already feel by the time you pull an insert.

2010 Panini Rookie & Stars Football

Panini started sending out previews of their 2010 Panini NFL Rookies & Stars set that will be released in August just in time for the beginning of the NFL preseason.

Scheduled Release Date: August 9, 2010
Box Configuration: 8 cards per pack, 24 packs per box
SRP: $95/box

Box Break:
4 Autograph/Memorabilia cards (at least 1 auto)
4 Rookies
4 Longevity Parallels
5 “Other” cards

This set consists of 300 total cards in the set, 165 base cards and 135 SP rookies. In addition there are 5 different insert sets; Prime Cuts, Cross Training, Studio Rookies, Studio Combo Rookies and Gold Stars. Oh and did I mention there are a few parallels? Make that 40 different parallels, some #/500 or less, some with sticker autographs and some with dime-sized jersey or patch swatches.

The set will look familiar to anyone that picked up the 2009 Panini Rookie & Stars release, that is because the designers must have been on vacation and one of the un-paid interns must have taken a shot at keeping the release afloat. I am a fan of Panini, I think that they have made some real strides since coming to the U.S., but I am clearly disappointed with this release. I understand that this is a base product, low price point, etc. But take a look at Topps and even UD over the last 5 years and the base sets that they produce are clean and straight to the point. This set is encumbered with lines upon lines in every which way, floating jersey swatches, sticker autos, poor placement of font and I am still trying to figure out the paint splatter that makes an appearance on the bottom corner of many of the cards.

Some of the worst offenders include the Elements Prime Materials set (above left), the Cross Training set and the Freshman Orientation (above right). What is up with the huge red border around the patch on the Orientation cards? Maybe if team colors were used that would be one thing but this is just tossing up a bulls eye in the center of the card.

On the positive side a few elements of the set are on the decent side. The Studio Rookies are pretty cool, a nice picture of the rookies on a dark background, the patch is centered nicely in the bottom portion of the card and it is clearly marked “Prime”. Simple coloring, nice borders and this card is a winner. I like the Rookie Signature cards too; this is a carry over from last year’s release. I know that it is a manufactured jersey and patch but the signatures are hard signed and it looks good. But, then Panini goes overboard with it and creates the Team Chemistry set. Now we have multiple signatures squashed in on a section of jersey fabric that was originally created to hold a single signature. Of course the players pictures are shrunk down to fit all the players on the card and lets toss in some color background behind the player so their image gets lost. I understand wanting multiple player autographs on a card but re-design the card to work, don’t just shove it in on the old design and call it good.

My Thoughts:
Stick to picking up singles on eBay. Spending close to $100 to purchase a box loaded with cards that make you say “mhem” is not something most collectors want to do.

Rating:
I will give it 1 out of 5 only because the Studio Rookies and Rookie Signature cards carry the product. I can also say that Panini did use some excellent selections for the patches, multiple colors is definitely a plus.

Who The Hell Is Jeremy Tyler And Does It Matter?

People collect for a variety of reasons, there are almost as many reasons to collect as there are ways of collecting. When I say ways, I mean you have your prospect collectors, your rookie collectors, your player collector, team collector and so on. I wonder if a prospect collector would ever take a chance on Jeremy Tyler?

Not familiar with Jeremy Tyler? Here is a run down of this young man’s basketball career to give you a little insight of what he has the potential for in the future:


-He quit high school in his senior year at San Diego High School to go play professional ball in Israel where he signed a $140,000 1-year contract.

-In 10 games for Maccabi Haifa he has averaged 2.1 points and 1.9 rebounds in 7.6 minutes per game

-He walked out of a game at halftime leaving his team to play on without him because he was upset about not getting more playing time.

-Maccabi Haifa suspended him because they are tired of his immature bullshit

-He quit the team yesterday, without telling his agent, and is returning to San Diego


This kid has pre-mature Diva written all over his face and funny thing is that his agent actually is “positive” about Tyler’s experience in Israel. Does he not realize that the kid played like shit, has a bad attitude and just walked out on a legal contract? Not to mention he can not be drafted or sign with an NBA team until after next season, he can not play in the NCAA because he has played professionally and his actions are damn well sure to be noticed by NBA scouts. This kid just showed another reason why high school players should not be drafted. For every Kobe and LeBron you find a good 5-10 other kids who failed.

Will he ever make it to the NBA? Who knows, there is a chance that he may never play professional ball again, but that will be up to him. This kid was expected to do big things, he was constantly ranked in the top 2-3 of his recruiting class and supposedly has awsome skills. But, can those overcome a poor attitude? As an after thought, Maccabi Haifa, his ex-team, is in a title race in the Israel Premier League, a title could have helped this kid's potential future too. He quit a title contender, imagine how he would play for Minnesota, Knicks or the Bobcats, I wouldn't imagine that the teams would take kindly to an unproven rookie walking out in the middle of a game.

The Project Draft Pick

Yesterday the Memphis Grizzles assigned their 2009 First Round Draft Pick Hasheem Thabeet to the D-League. According to league sources the Grizzles even attempted to trade Thabeet and OJ Mayo to Golden State for Monta Ellis before the trade deadline but the trade fell through. This seems to be another situation of a team picking an undeserving player to high in the draft; we all remember what happened with Darko Milicic.

Currently you can pick up Thabeet autographs or relics for well under $10, a sad situation when you consider he was the 2009 #2 Draft Pick. How many more teams are going to pass on Chris Paul or Dwyane Wade to draft a project?

JaMarcus Russell From Top Dog To Left Out

JaMarcus Russell may want to begin packing his bags, it looks as if his position as the starting QB has ultimately been sacked. Russell was benched when the Raiders brought in Bruce Gradkowski who led the Raiders to a pair of upset wins over the Bengals and Pittsburgh before tearing the MCL ligaments in both knees.

You would think that this would be an opportunity for Russell to step up and show that he is the true starter but the Raiders instead choose to use Charlie Frye, who has not played in a game in over a year, to be the starter. To add insult to injury they signed JP Losman, who was not even playing in the NFL, to be the Third string QB. You wonder how long it will be before Losman becomes the #2 guy and Russell is handing out water and towels during timeouts.

Jackie Deserves Better

JackieCut
Originally uploaded by Jumper48

Jeff at New Card Smell recently wrote up a story about cut autographs and gave his take on the subject. I got inquisitive and took a look at cut autos up for auction on eBay and was surprised to come across an abomination of a card <link>.

I am utterly surprised to see that someone at Upper Deck thought it would be a great idea to take a machete to this beautiful Jackie Robinson autograph and then stick it in to a card, number it to /7 and call it a day.

I guess there are collectors out there that have similar feelings about this card because it could not even garner the .99-cent opening bid. It truly is a sad day when a Jackie Robinson autograph can’t even sell of under a buck. To make things worse, or hilarious depending on how you see it, the seller turns around and takes this horrific card that could not even sell for $1 and puts it up for a Buy It Now of $1,599 with free shipping <link>.

Matt Leinart... Does He Have A Future?

Pulling a Matt Leinart 2006 Bowman Chrome RC was nice but when I realized that it was actually an autographed refractor numbered to 75 I thought I had pulled a winner that would definitely appreciate in value. Within a few weeks I was offered as much as $275 but I decided to sit on the card and wait for Leinart to show his talents.

Three years later we see Leinart sitting while the 38-year old Kurt Warner continues to carry the Cardinals to another winning season. This is not how the 26-year old Matt Leinart pictured his career. He was suppose to be the future of the franchise, the face that gets used to advertise season tickets offers and plastered on billboards around the Valley. You have to wonder if he will ever overcome his frat boy image, the guy from USC that likes to party, shirks his parental duties and hangs out with college girls.

It does not help that he only plays in mop up duty, coming in to games when the score is so lopsided that it does not matter how he plays. Today he came in with the Cards up by 20 over the Bears and immediately throws an interception. Leinart is still young but he needs to take control of his destiny.

Omar Jacobs

A couple of years ago I decided to take a chance on some upper end product and picked up a box of Ultimate Baseball and Ultimate Football.

Last night I was reading through Bad Wax and came across a story about ex-Pittsburgh Steelers Omar Jacobs failing in the NFL and doing well in Arena Football. It got me wondering how it is that a player that “played” for 3 different teams in 2006 and 2007 but never actually played for any of those teams actually made it in to so many different football card sets in 2006? Even worse is that he made it in to some upper end products such as Ultimate, Exquisite and National Treasure.

So reading the story got me thinking about my Ultimate experience, so I pulled out a binder I have sitting in my closet to see what I had pulled from the set and sure enough I was fortunate enough to pull a Omar Jacobs Ultimate Rookie Patch #/25. I look back now and think I should have skipped the box and instead picked up individual cards. This card and $3 and I could pick up an Iced Chai Latte at Starbucks.