I hate to say it considering I have rooted for and respected the guy most of his career, but is Brett Favre blazing his legacy (in a bad way) as he continues to play the way he has over the past 3 seasons? Following the 2007 season Green Bay tanked in the NFC Championship Game at home and then Brett retired in to the sunset but then decided to un-retire and hold the Packers hostage. In New York he started off like a rocket again but then the team lost 4 of the last 5 games and missed the playoffs all together, again Brett scattered out of town on the first bus and left the Jets to rebuild. Now Minnesota has lost 3 of the last 4 games and they went from a Super Bowl lock to being tossed in to the jumble of hopefuls. You wonder if Brett Favre is slowly adding the letter “I” in to the word “Team”.
Favre is at odds with his coach, he is at odds with many of his teammates and he is isolating the fans. Where we once saw a true player sitting there contemplating retirement in Green Bay we now see an egotistical shell of the man wearing Purple for the season, you wonder what team he is going to implode next season.
Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Custom Mariners Logo Patch Card
A few years ago Upper Deck was having a contest where you could design your own cards, the theme was open and left for the designer to create. I decided to throw my hat in the ringer. Since then I have enjoyed creating custom cards and recently I wanted to try and work with relics.
I made this card for my son for Christmas using the logo from a Seattle Mariners baseball cap. This was a unique situation, for most custom cards I would print a front, back and center support card for a total of 3 layers. This time I had to create die-cut windows of varying size to support the card and relic. In total there are 8 layers in this card counting the front, back, relic layer and the die-cut window layers. I probably could have added an additional 4-6 layers because the logo is pretty thick and actually pops out from the card face. This was definitely a learning situation.
I made this card for my son for Christmas using the logo from a Seattle Mariners baseball cap. This was a unique situation, for most custom cards I would print a front, back and center support card for a total of 3 layers. This time I had to create die-cut windows of varying size to support the card and relic. In total there are 8 layers in this card counting the front, back, relic layer and the die-cut window layers. I probably could have added an additional 4-6 layers because the logo is pretty thick and actually pops out from the card face. This was definitely a learning situation.
Friday, December 25, 2009
Ho Ho Ho... Merry Christmas Relic Style
It is now a little past Midnight here, I wanted to take this time to post up a few of my favorite Santa Claus cards that I have picked up over the years. There have actually been quite a few “Santa Claus” inspired cards over the years, mainly in the early 90s when companies like Action Pack, Pro Set, Edge and Pacific included various Santa Claus cards through out their releases. In the 1998 Upper Deck took things a step further and released Santa relics.
I will begin with the first Santa Claus relic card, originally released by Upper Deck in 1998; this card is oversized at 3 ½ “ X 5”. This card was created for Upper Deck employees and special customers only. I bought this card 9 years ago for $20 and I thought I was being ripped off at the time but I wanted to have the card for my son’s first Christmas. The card has become very rare and when you can find them now, they are selling for well over $100. < LINK > If anyone knows how many were released please let me know.
I will begin with the first Santa Claus relic card, originally released by Upper Deck in 1998; this card is oversized at 3 ½ “ X 5”. This card was created for Upper Deck employees and special customers only. I bought this card 9 years ago for $20 and I thought I was being ripped off at the time but I wanted to have the card for my son’s first Christmas. The card has become very rare and when you can find them now, they are selling for well over $100. < LINK > If anyone knows how many were released please let me know.
The second card is my Ken Griffey Jr “Santa Hat” card. This card was part of a special holiday release by Upper Deck in 1999. The cards are also oversized, 3 ½” X 5”, and I believe there were 3 cards in the set, Griffey, Kobe and Garnett. This set is also rare but if you are interested in buying one I suggest waiting until after Christmas when the prices drop.
About 6-8 years ago I came across a Santa Claus autograph card created by one of the major manufacturers (I have forgotten which company though). The card has popped up for auction from time to time but I have always lost out in the end. While I still hunt for that elusive Santa autograph, Topps has made things a bit easier for me in the mean time when they released the 2007 Topps Santa set which included 18 cards total, including a 1952 Topps Santa Rookie, a Santa Claus autograph and Santa relic card. I picked the set up in Target after Christmas that year for like $5 on clearance.
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Topps Scores Again
Topps just announced that they signed an exclusive deal with Stephen Strasburg, the #1 Pick of the 2009 MLB Draft. I wonder if UD was even in the running or if this was a slam-dunk for Topps.
The question now is how long will it be before we see Strasburg breaking in to the Nationals starting lineup. I have a feeling that he will either be the #2 starter in 2010 behind Jason Marquis or you will never see him pitching in a National uniform. He is said to have so much potential and there has been a list of pitching prospects that were rushed to the Majors who ended up not living up to expectations, most recently Rick Ankiel, Kerry Woods, Mark Prior and Andrew Miller come to mind and you hope that Strasburg does not get added to that list.
Saturday, December 19, 2009
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.
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.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
The Bengals Chris Henry Has Passed Away
Cincinnati Bengals Wide Receiver Chris Henry, after a fall from the back of a pickup truck, is reported to be on life support and “Battling for Life” in a Charlotte, NC hospital. According to a police report Henry and his fiancé were having a “domestic dispute” when she attempted to leave the residence in a pickup. Henry jumped in to the back of the pickup as she drove away and at some point he fell from the back of the truck.
Chris Henry has had a spotty off-field record and was one of the on-going embarrassments for the Bengals over the years with his numerous arrests and suspensions from the team. He was actually released by the team in 2008 but returned before the beginning of the next season. This season he was used sparingly and had only 12 receptions for 236 yards before breaking his arm in October.
He may not have a HOF career but he has been productive for the team when he has focused and this would be a terrible end for young life. Unfortunately the vultures have already begun showing up on eBay, listing cards for $50 and up for what could have been purchased for a few cents just yesterday.
My hopes and thoughts go out to the Henry family.
UPDATE 12/17
Cincinnati Bengals Wide Receiver Chris Henry passed away this morning due to the injuries he sustained after falling out of the back of a pickup truck yesterday afternoon.
Like everyone else in the sports community I would like to send my condolences to the Henry family, his fiancé and their 3 children.
Patch Works- Kolb
Player: Kevin Kolb
Team: Philadelphia Eagles
Set: 2007 Leaf Rookies & Stars - Longevity
Card # : 221
Serial # : 1/2
Description: The letter “L” and part of “B” cut from the jersey Kolb wore at the 2007 Rookie Premier
This was a nice card, I was a bit disappointed by the letter placement considering they could have easily made this a 4 card set instead of a 2 card set. So instead of getting just the "L", I get a cut off "L" and a seriously cut off "B".
Team: Philadelphia Eagles
Set: 2007 Leaf Rookies & Stars - Longevity
Card # : 221
Serial # : 1/2
Description: The letter “L” and part of “B” cut from the jersey Kolb wore at the 2007 Rookie Premier
This was a nice card, I was a bit disappointed by the letter placement considering they could have easily made this a 4 card set instead of a 2 card set. So instead of getting just the "L", I get a cut off "L" and a seriously cut off "B".
Saturday, December 12, 2009
More Playoff National Treasure Rookie Signature Preview
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
2009 Playoff National Treasure- Rookie Signature Preview
You will find the top rookies of 2009 in the set including Matt Stafford, Knowshon Moreno, Beanie Wells and Mark Sanchez. This looks to be a nice set and Panini finally learned to keep the design simple and forget the sticker autographs.
I will review the entire product at a later date, I just wanted to get out some of the images of the Rookie Signature inserts. Hopefully this will be a trend for Panini.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Jackie Deserves Better
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>.
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>.
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