2011 Upper Deck Exquisite Football

Upper Deck Exquisite Football is back after a couple of years and Upper Deck brought it on strong. This product is loaded with cards that will bring about plenty of descriptions involving the term “Mojo!” (This word has been used so often in the hobby that it has become a joke). With 7-card packs running $600 this product is definitely geared towards the collectors with “disposable” income when it goes live in about a week.

The box break will include:

1 Numbered Rookie Autograph Patch
1 Numbered UD Black or UD Black Rookie Lustrous Signature
3 Additional Numbered Autographs

The base set consists of 126 cards, 60 regular cards, 30 Exquisite Rookie Signatures and 36 Exquisite Rookie Signature Patch cards. Some of the returning hits include UD Black Lustrous Rookie Signatures (#/75), UD Black Signatures, Rookie Book Marks (#/40), Ensemble 2 Signatures, Masterpieces (#/25 or less), Dimensions Autographs and Inscriptions (#/10 or less). New inserts are Signature Slots and Exquisite Twelve Signatures (1/1).  

On the downside, the jersey relics and patch cards are from jerseys that were worn by the players but they are not game-used. I was a bit surprised by that, with a product that costs as much as these jerseys should be game-worn and autographs should be on-card. They did at least get most of the autographs on-card. I can understand the Exquisite Twelve Signatures, it is difficult to get 12 people to all sign in a reasonable amount of time, but it does appear that most of the remaining cards were hard signed.

Mars-Sanity Takes Control!

Normally I do not get involved with “Hot” packs, I have heard some horror stories and depending on the product you can almost guarantee that the pack has been opened and resealed but when I came across an auction for a 2012 Heritage Mars Attacks! pack that was guaranteed to include a sketch card for a dollar I figured I would toss my hat in to the ring. The 2012 Topps Heritage Mars Attacks! series is a 50th Anniversary tribute set based on the original 1962 Topps Mars Attacks! release.

I always got a kick out of anything that involves Mars and aliens. I can almost guarantee that I was the only kid in my neighborhood to have a cassette tape with Orson Welles War of the World original broadcast, I have seen every adaptation spawned from Welles work too. I am standing here today to acknowledge openly that I am a Martian addict. I will even begin my 12-step program by admitting that not only did I see the 1996 Mars Attacks! movie but that I loved it and own a copy on VHS and DVD… I may now hang my head in shame.

So, now with the back story out of the way I can get on to the reason we are here today.

So, I came across a hot pack with a guaranteed sketch card in the pack, they actually come one per box (24 packs per box) so it is not really a huge thing to find one but it was sitting at 99 cents and 2 days left so I tossed up a bid for $2.01 and figured the countdown would come soon enough. Packs run $2.08 at Target so my bid was well within reason and hell, if I know I am getting a sketch card why not pay the pack price right?

Then apparently stupidity took over and my bid was blown away, not like a simple little increase but blown away as if the Miami Heat played the local Jr High basketball team type of blown away. After a flurry of bidding the winner walked away paying a hefty $20 for the pack. Considering that a sealed box only runs about $45, which includes 24 packs and one sketch card, why would anyone pay that much for a single pack?

I have picked up a couple of packs and will most likely end up buying a Hobby box to break, I will post something up shortly about my first impressions hands-on.

I just want to end this with some pure Martian awsomness. This is one of Joe Simko's sketch cards, he has worked with Topps for a number of years with his work appearing in Garbage Pail Kids and Wacky Packages and his most recent work is with a company called Wax Eye in their Cereal Killers stickers.

Early Preview: ITG The History Of Hockey

In The Game is known for their hockey sets, unfortunately they do not have an NHL license, but that has never stopped them from putting out some quality releases. The newest product on the horizon is the History of Hockey release. So far no release date or price information has been announced. The product will be limited to 4,000 total packs.

Each pack/box will contain 4 cards: 1 Greatest Moments in Hockey, 1 Rookie card, 1 Autograph card and 1 Buy-Back card. The Greatest Moment cards are all hand painted original-art cards created for the set while the other 3 subsets are buy-back cards and encased as part of this set. The cards will include labels that are color coded to distinguish each category, the Greatest Moments have a silver label, the Rookie cards have a gold label, the Autographs have a white PSA/DNA label and the Buy-Backs have a green label.

Greatest Moments in Hockey:

This 145-card set will include some of the greatest moments in hockey like Wayne Gretzky’s 802^nd goal, the 1980 US Miracle on Ice and Martin Brodeur’s All-Time Wins Record. Each card in the set is hand-painted and limited, the first 60 cards in the checklist will be limited to #/10 (1 Gold version and 9 Silvers) and the remaining 85 will be limited to #/40 (10 Gold versions and 30 Silver versions).

Jared Kelly and Mike James both have artwork included in the set. The preview image that ITG released of Bobby Orr’s flying goal is one of the two cards that Jared has included in the Greatest Moments checklist. Jared included a "Before" image of the Orr card on his website showing what the card looked like before the relic was added.

Rookie cards:

ITG went out and found rookie cards of some of the greatest players ever, which they encased to protect, and included one in each pack. There are some amazing pulls here including:

1911 C55 Georges Vezina
1951-52 Parkhurst Rocket Richard
51-52 Parkie Gordie Howe
66-67 Topps Bobby Orr
2005-06 Upper Deck Young Guns Sidney Crosby

Autograph cards:

ITG bought a number of cards from various players (not sure if they purchased them already signed or had the players sign them) and then had the autographs authenticated and encased by PSA/DNA.

Buy-Backs:

ITG went out and bought 4,000 cards dating back to when they opened their doors in 1998, half of the 4,000 cards are autographs and the other half are memorabilia cards. The cards were encased and marked as part of the History of Hockey set.

Personally I would probably end up busting some of these cards out of their cases, I know that they protect the cards but if I have pull the 1911 C55 Vezina card I would have to consider selling it, which would probably sell better being graded. Most of the rookie cards would fall in to this category for me.

Jalen Rose And His (Lack Of) Knowledge Of Music History

In a recent radio interview with Jaime Samuelsen of Detroit’s 97.1 “The Ticket”, Jalen Rose disparaged the media for being lazy when they began describing the USA Women’s Gymnastic gold medal winning team “The Fab Five”. I applaud his dedicated work to trademark the phrase “Fab Five” to ensure that it is never again used in a fraudulent manor that will make his Michigan Wolverine’s basketball team appear in a negative light or in a demeaning way (outside of how they already appear for being a bunch of knuckleheads).

In Rose’s own words: “To use the nickname just points and screams of lazy journalism by the national media, that’s really what it is,”… “It’s no fault at all of the young gymnasts. But I really wish they would have come up with an even more creative tag for them and their gold medal pursuit.”

As a fan of early-1990s NCAA Men’s Basketball losers I stand by Rose and I go a step further by saying

How dare the media be so blatantly lazy by stealing the nickname of a beloved group of young men!

This is a travesty of epic proportions that has never been seen in the history of this entire world and I demand an apology from every single media outlet that has ever used the term FAB “insert number here” to describe anyone but the wonderful and talented collection of Jalen Rose, Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Ray Jackson and Jimmy King.

I am waiting…

Nah… just kidding…Apparently Jalen has never heard that little-known British band The Beatles, full of floppy haired musicians, who attempted to ride the coattails of the original Fab Five by claiming the inappropriate nickname of the Fab Four in 1963, 10 years before the elegant Mr. Rose was born unto this world.

I know hindsight is 20/20 but I would be a rich man if I had trademarked terms such as “Losers”, “Historical Footnote”, “Scapegoat”, “Marginal Career”, “Michigan Looses Again”, “Choke Artist” and “Dumbass” in 1991 before Jalen Rose ever made a name for himself (by loosing). Hell, he should be excited that the name “Fab Five” is finally connected to someone who came through and won when it counted.

And before anyone considers it, I have already trademarked the phrase “Jalen Rose is a bonehead!”

I promise, this is my last rant for awhile. Now back to your regularly scheduled sports card stories...

The Seahawks Go Dumpster Diving

Earlier today ESPN announced that TO was in discussion with the Seahawks, I think I threw up a little in my mouth when I read it. Now as I head to bed and take a quick look at the news I come across this headline:

   Terrell Owens signs with Seahawks

Two months I said TO would only end up being a side show for a team and I stick by that. The Seahawks are going to have a locker room that will be polarized before mid-season. I know TO says he has been humbled, but he has said that with each team he joined. He was humbled in Philly, he was humbled in Dallas, he was humbled in Buffalo, he was humbled in Cincy, he was humbled with the arena team Allen Wranglers and he is humbled coming to Seattle. This crap is all lip service. This is the guy who was on Dr Phil and blamed all his baby-mommas for the problems with not seeing his kids in May, this is also the guy who didn't show up for a trial a few weeks ago dealing with his missed child support payments and now may face jail time. This is the same guy who owned part of an arena football team and still refused to play games and show up at team events which led to being fired (from a team he partially owned mind you) and having his owner stake revoked. I am sure that this time will be different... right?

Pete Carroll has proven to be a mediocre coach at best, besides his two winning (barely) seasons with Patriots he has shown that at best he is a below-average NFL coach and a NCAA coach willing to by-pass rules and regulations and take off once sanctions are about to be dealt out to his school for his indiscretions.

In his time with the Seahawks he has shown he has limited coaching ability, he has proven time and time again that he will go after players he has a prior connection with and he is now handing over the reigns to a new starting QB for the third time in his three seasons. If he remains with the team, expect him to trade away the current season plus future draft picks and possibly even some young talent for the possibility of drafting USC QB Matt Barkley in the NFL Draft next April.

Again he is now showing that he has no concern for the future of the team. In the past three years so many receivers have passed through the Seahawks locker room. You have to begin to look at the cause, why are so many QBs, TE and WR coming and going? Now I wont touch on the rotation on the Defense, but everything keeps going back to one problem... Carroll. His system is obviously flawed since no players seem to excel.

How many more sub-.500 seasons are we going to have before the allure of his tainted college career has finally worn off?

Jim Mora? Well, he was kind of dealt a bad hand in 2009 and went 5-11

Dennis Erickson? Three seasons and went a reasonable 31-33

Tom Flores? Three seasons and went an unspeakable 14-34 following up the Seattle God-like Chuck Knox

This should stand as a warning to Carroll, quit the shenanigans and play the damn game right. Don't move players like you are trading cards, build a damn team and stick with them. Don't let a player fear loosing their job over a bad game or even a season (Mike Williams, you kicked ass with Hasselbeck, it was Carroll who screwed you). Pete, this is your third season in Seattle, history may be about to repeat itself when another Seahawk coach gets the boot following three crap-tastic seasons.

Personally I hope this TO crap blows up in Week #1 and Paul Allen decides he has had enough of this shit and puts Petey boy on the unemployment line with TO.

In case you are wondering, I am a tad bit upset.

UPDATE 8/9:
Not huge news but Carroll has already shown that he is willing to flaunt rules again. In T.O.'s first practice today Carroll had him wearing shoulder pads, which is a violation of the NFL's CBA. The agreement requires newly signed players during the pre-season to have a 3-day acclimation period and can not wear pads until the fourth practice.

As I said, not really a big deal but it shows that Carroll feels his personal beliefs trump any NCAA or NFL rules that he does not agree with. The NFL has not made a decision on whether to discipline the team, but I would not expect anything beyond a warning or slap on the wrist.

The question stands, with a player like T.O., who has the media following every step he takes, why would Carroll be willing to bypass a small rule that will now draw the NFL's full attention?

Upper Deck Brings Back Shoeless Joe

Joe Jackson is once again making an appearance in an Upper Deck set. In 2001 Upper Deck became the first major card company to add Jackson to their checklist when he showed up in the 2001 SP Legendary Cuts release. They even managed to get a game used bat (from his post MLB-ban days) and included not one but two bat relic cards in the Debut Bat Cards insert. He had a single bat relic card and a dual bat relic card with Hall of Famer Paul Waner.

Prior to Upper Deck’s 2001 release Jackson made a couple of appearances in modern day releases, specifically the Conlon sets during the 90s and a Pacific release around the same time. He has also appeared in Donruss/Panini sets a couple of times since 2008 but they tended to use photos from his later years after he left baseball.

Upper Deck has just announced that they will include a Joe Jackson bat relic in the upcoming 2012 Goodwin Champions release which should be out in just about 2 weeks. Once again there will be a single relic card and a multi-swatch relic card, I do not know if this means he will be paired with another player (like he was in the 2001 SP set), if it will be two Jackson bat relics or if it will be a bat relic and maybe a jersey relic.

I do prefer the 2001 SP Legendary Cuts design but I would not cry about pulling this card. I like that Upper Deck has taken a different route and is using art depicting his time with the Cleveland Naps, where he made his biggest impact in the league. I do not understand why they aged him though, I have included a picture that was most likely used by the artist to create this image for comparison and you can see he was quite younger (@ 25 years old) at the time the photo was taken.

Giving Love To The WNBA

When it comes to the major sports, the WNBA gets very little attention, only a couple of games a year get televised and only Rittenhouse Archives is currently makes cards. Since the inception of the league 15 years ago only Pinnacle, Fleer and Rittenhouse have produced sets. Pinnacle put out two horrible sets but then Fleer took over and between 1999 and 2004 created a number of sets under the Hoops, Ultra, Dominion, Tradition and Authentix brands, when Fleer closed their door Rittenhouse took the reins and has been putting out WNBA cards since the 2005 season.

Initially Rittenhouse released product in hobby boxes, with inserts, autographs and relic cards. This was the standard until 2009 when they played with releasing sets instead of hobby boxes. In 2009 it was a set broken in to 3 series of 16 cards each, one set being released a month from July until September. In 2010 it was one set of 42 cards (36 base, 4 rookies and 2 autographs). In 2011 they went back to Hobby boxes and premium packs contained 9 cards (3 auto cards, 1 rookie and 5 base cards). In 2012 they returned to releasing complete sets and only one autograph card is available.

The 2012 WNBA Basketball set includes 110 base cards and a Nnemkadi Ogwumike autograph card (the 2012 #1 Draft Pick). This includes 96 veterans, 14 rookies and the autograph card. There will only be 500 total sets made and they run $90-100 a set.

The base cards are pretty standard for WNBA products, an action shot with the player name on a banner. The autograph is also pretty similar to some of the rookie autograph cards that we have seen come from Topps and Panini; it shows Ogwumike at the WNBA Draft in April with an on-card autograph.

Currently the 2012 US Olympics Women’s Basketball team is led by WNBA stand outs, Sue Bird, Swin Cash, Diana Turasi and Candace Parker. The US team is on a 37 game win streak and looking to continue their Olympic domination, they have won the last 4 Olympic Gold Medals and hope to make it 5 straight in London.

Preview: Rittenhouse True Blood Premier Edition

In the last few years, among the rise of the Vampire related media onslaught, True Blood seemed to stand above the rabble. Being on HBO the show has been given more leniency than some of the other vampire shows when it comes to violence and the true vision of blood suckers, no glittering demons here. I am a fan of the show; I have been watching since the first episode and have been hooked ever since.

Last year Rittenhouse Archives released the True Blood Legends Series 1 set, a 27 card character set. The True Blood Premiere Edition is a more traditional product being released in pack/box pack out with inserts, parallels and subsets.

Schedule Release Date: August 15, 2012

Box Configuration:  5 cards per pack/24 packs per box

SRP: $84/box

Box Break:

2 Autographs cards

5 Inserts cards

4 Base Parallel cards

The set has a 96-card checklist highlighting the 48 episodes (2 cards for each episode) from Season 1-4, each card contains a synopses for the episode. There are also parallels for each base card.

 

The inserts offer a nice collection for True Blood fans:

The Quotable True Blood- A 9-card set with interesting quotes from different characters.

Character Cards- A 9-card set highlighting the main characters of the show, I am a bit surprised that Rittenhouse did not include Hoyt Fortenberry, Andy Bellefleur or Terry Bellefleur in this set. Hoyt and Andy have been pretty much main characters since season one and Terry has become a main character over the last two seasons.

Black-n-White Cards- A 6-card set that gives a Hipster/Instagram “deep moment” photograph of some of the characters.

Shadowbox Cards- A 4-card shadowbox set that includes Sam, Sookie, Eric and Bill

Autographs- There is 37 autograph cards in the set but only 27 actors signed. The difference is that there are 10 autograph variations. Ten of the actors signed the base autograph version but they also have a full-bleed autograph version. All of the full-bleed (Get it? Bleed...)variations are side characters, some who are already gone from the show like Michael Raymond-James, who played serial killer Rene Lenier who died in Season One, though he has made appearances recently connected to Arlene’s baby.

Rene Base Autograph

Rene Full-Bleed Variation Autograph

There is a True Blood Bottle Case Topper along with 3 & 6 case incentives. The three case incentives is an unreleased Kristin Bauer (Pam) autograph and the six case incentives is an Alexander Skarsgard (Eric) unreleased autograph.

True Blood Bottle Case Topper

Pam 3-Case Incentive

Eric 6-Case Incentive