Embarking on a New Collecting Journey

Hello to anyone who might still be out there! It sure has been a long time since I've posted here. I'm not really sure how it got to be so long. I feel like I blinked and seven+ months of blogging inactivity have passed by. I've written several different 'return post' drafts along the way and subsequently deleted them all. Each seemed like a good way to re-engage, but inevitably something would come up and I'd have to leave the post unfinished. By he time I was ready to begin work on it again, he subject material just didn't seem that exciting anymore. That is probably a function of my inactivity being strictly blog related, not hobby related. In fact, the past several months have seen quite a large explosion within my collection. In some ways this is good, but in many ways things are admittedly getting a bit out of control. For a little while, I thought I had done a good job setting and maintaining limits on my various collecting interests. However, the flood gates started to open about eight months ago and I am just now starting to close them a bit once again.

I'd like to say that I have no idea how hints spiraled so quickly, but in truth I know exactly how. I was working on a trade and happened to start digging through a box that hadn't seen the light of day in a few years. Immediately I was reminded of players, insert sets, and parallels I hadn't thought about in just as long. It's this idea that brings me to the focus of my first post in what feels like forever.

World Series/Playoff highlight cards have long been a fixture in baseball card sets, but they were significantly more difficult to come by in football products over the years. Imagine my surprise when 1998 Skybox Premium football dropped and there was a 15 card Super Bowl subset called One For the Ages that happened to feature my beloved Denver Broncos' victory over the Green Bay Packers in SBXXXII. I was thrilled when I was able to complete the 15 card base set via pack ripping. On the day I finished the set, I was busting a few packs at my then LCS. A handful of packs into my day I pulled the following Star Rubies parallel:

I was happy with the pull, but younger me was disappointed that it wasn't one that had Elway or Terrell Davis on it and I was still laser focused on trying to pull the last base card I needed for the subset. A few packs later I finished my subset and stopped buying packs for the day. Before I left the shop, I slid the somewhat disappointing parallel into a sleeve and top loader. When I got home it went into a box of some 'lesser' PC cards where it stayed, rarely touched in the years since. It had probably been around 5 or 6 years since I had last seen it when I stumbled upon the box it lived in while searching for cards I could include in a (relatively)recent trade. Funny thing is that when I saw it this time around it stirred up all of my memories surrounding that first SB victory for the Broncos. There began a search for other Rubies from the subset. I wasn't committed to trying to build the parallel subset, but the thought was now floating around my mind. In short order I had added a few more for cheaper than I thought I could get limited parallels from 20 years ago.

These three were acquired within a few weeks of starting to search. Slowly, I began to consider hunting for the full set. However, none of these featured TD or Elway and those would surely be cost prohibitive. I set a saved search notification and put the idea of finishing this potential project on the back burner. Then one day about a month later, a notification for another one of these popped up. It was reasonable priced with a 'best offer' option so I sent in an offer that I was comfortable with and it was quickly accepted. A few days later this greeted me at the mail box:

I was so excited! TD, Rod Smith, Mile High Salute...its all here in its sparkly glory. It was here I decided that finding the rest of these would be an official collecting goal. I just told myself that a task like this would require time and plenty of patience(funding and collecting sacrifice too). What immediately followed my decision to try to complete the subset was several weeks of no luck finding additional needs. Why not test hat patience right out of the chute, right? About two months into the hunting drought I received a new notification. I was immediately struck with joy and sadness all at the same time. There was joy at the potential of adding another of these to the collection. There was sadness because the asking price was nowhere near being in my collecting budget. I immediately began searching my collection for cards I could sell to raise funds. I sacrificed my Bray Wyatt 1/1 auto that I pulled a while back. I set it up on eBay with a really high BIN/make an offer. I was surprised that within a day I had an offer that was higher than I anticipated settling for. I gambled to see if I could get more out of it and countered. The buyer upped the original offer a bit and I accepted, all the while hoping that the sale would help me land the latest project need to hit the market. Once the funds hit my PayPal account, I offered on the Star Ruby. After a bit if back and forth, a sale price was agreed upon and I was one card closer to my collecting goal.

One HUGE card closer!

Fast forward to just before Christmas, and I hadn't seen any other copies online or at the few shows I was able to browse. All of a sudden, a 6-day auction popped up for one I needed. Every day I anxiously checked in on the auction to see if any new bids were made. While I certainly preferred the gratification of the BIN nature of the others I had added, the waiting forced by the auction reminded me that the hunt should be just as fun as reaching the goal. I can't easily verbalize how I felt, but going through a week of checking and hoping and checking again made winning that auction even more satisfying.

With this one in hand, I sit at 7/15, teetering on the edge of halfway complete. Once again it's been a long time since a new need has popped up. That's alright though. Patience is on my side. Someday I'll track down the eight remaining needs and this project that inadvertently started over 20 years ago will be compete. Until then, I'll do my best to enjoy search. If you've made it this far, thanks for coming along on the journey with me.

Looks Like a Super Day for a Big Game

Well, I'm back after another unexpected posting drought. My wife and daughters returned from visiting my in-laws a week ago and they brought a nasty virus back with them so everyone in the family has been spending the majority of this past week in recovery mode. Today is the final game of the NFL season though and I couldn't miss out on an opportunity to celebrate the occasion. I'd like to think that I don't care who wins today, but I'd be lying if I said I'd be OK if the Patriots won. In fact, the only possible positive I could see coming out of a NE victory today is the chance that Brady will decide to retire afterwards. So, I can say with no reservations that I'm going to be an Atlanta Falcons fan for a day.

Since I don't collect either team, I guess I'll just have to show off some recently acquired Super Bowl themed, Broncos cardboard.

Up first is this pair of shiny Super a Bowl Heroes depicting two of the defensive anchors of last year's Championship team. The scan doesn't do these justice. In hand, they are reminiscent of some of the mid to late '90's issues from Playoff: shiny, semi dufex-y, goodness. Man, I miss some of the cards from those days! I snagged these from Listia for a combined total of 15,000 credits which roughly translates to a whopping $0.55.

Okay, this one is not technically cardboard, but I love it nonetheless. I 'pulled' this Topps Then insert from a digital pack in Huddle yesterday. It's part of their massive blitzkrieg of Super Bowl products. With 21 'cards' in the set the odds of pulling this one were long, especially for someone who doesn't spend money on the app. I can appreciate that this one highlights Mr. MVP's second strip sack of the game. It goes really well with the card that ended up being my favorite of 2016.

Speaking of my favorite card of 2016... I know I've showcased various versions of this card over the past year, but this will be the last. I found this listed on eBay shortly after Christmas and I knew that I must have it. It's the perfect choice for the first Miller auto to be added to my collection. 

Happy Super Bowl Sunday to you all. Here's hoping for some great commercials and a victory for Matty Ice! Thanks for reading.

My Favorite Piece of 2016 Cardboard

I've got to admit that until I saw the post by P-Town Tom that announced the 'Favorite Card of 2016' contest, I hadn't really taken much time to think on that topic. As I commented on his post, two cards immediately popped into my mind. I have since thought quite a bit about it and actually slowed down to look over a bunch of the cards I have in my collection at have been released this year. I shouldn't have needed an excuse to do that, but I'm glad that the contest reminded me that I should be looking at and flipping through the cards in my collection more often.

I searched through Flagship(1&2), Opening Day, Donruss, Archives, some GQ, a little A&G, Heritage(regular and High Numbers), Bunt(physical), Bowman, Stadium Club, Bowman Platinum, Topps Chrome, Optic, and Topps Holiday. I've considered completed sets like Spring Fever and Marketside Pizza. I've even looked at handfuls of NFL, NHL, WWE, UFC, and even some Star Wars. Through all of that, I've was reminded of some really great cardboard that has been released this year. However, when the searching was over, my thoughts kept returning to those two that originally came to mind. It was a truly difficult decision as both cards clearly captured the emotions that make watching sports so great. After the dust settled, I decided to go with a card that was issued as a part of Panini's Father's Day promotional set.

For me, this card perfectly captures a pivotal moment early in the 'Big Game'. It's got it all: the Super Bowl 50 patch, a view of the fumble that Miller just forced, and the fire in his eyes. It helps that this card depicts a player from my favorite football team who just so happened to become Super Bowl MVP, but I would even find this to be a great card if I weren't a Broncos fan. I'm looking forward to reading about other folks' choices. Good luck to all in the contest and thanks for reading.

A Belated But Super Father's Day Gift

No, this wasn't a late gift from my kids. I had hoped to make a trip out to my LCS last Sunday to pick up a few Panini Father's Day promo packs. However, due to family obligations(and realizing that the shop was giving out single packs for every $30 spent) the trip never materialized. I did begin to peruse the offerings on eBay though and when I saw the following listed for a great Buy It Now price, I had to make the purchase.

This is the Cracked Ice parallel of Mr. Super Bowl MVP, Von Miller. It's a bit tough to see through the cracked ice, but that is a photo of him eyeing the loose ball in the moments after one of his forced fumbles in the Big Game. I love everything about this card! The action shot brings me fond memories of watching the game live, the SB50 patch is clearly visible on his jersey, and the perspective of the shot makes me feel like I on the field fighting for the fumble recovery! Oh yeah, one more thing that's tough to see in this scan:

Yup, that's a Christmas card too!

The back is kind of a bland/typical Panini design, but just in case I ever forget the details of that game, they're right there in print!

Did I mention that I love everything about this card? I've had it in hand for only a few hours, but it's already taken its place as one of my favorite cards. Thanks for reading.

The Other Reason to Watch Super Bowl 50 - The Commercial Edition

While I may be significantly invested in watching the teams play tonight, I have always enjoyed Super Bowl commercials! So, for those of you who couldn't care less about the Broncos or Panthers, I've put together a little cardboard related commercial compilation(wow, how's that for alliteration?). I will admit, not all of these commercial cards depict characters from Super Bowl commercials, they are all from fairly well known ads. Let me apologize for the length of this post in advance, but it'll be a fun filled trip down memory lane if you want to take it with me!

We begin way back in 1989/90...

Bo Jackson was the MAN! Somewhere along the lines. I snagged this unlicensed card based upon his 'Bo Knows' Nike campaign. I remember loving this as a kid. In fact, I'm not sure I knew anyone my age that didn't love it(and quote it endlessly). Check out part one here.

Here's part two of the 'Bo' campaign.

Now, let's keep the nostalgia train-a-rolling.

Next up, we have two cards featuring NBA superstar Michael Jordan(or someone that looks and plays a lot like him). The first is from his 1991 Nike campaign with Spike Lee(as Mars Blackmon). This ad was responsible for the ubiquitous 'it's gotta be the shoes' line that stayed around playground pickup games for far too long. The second came in 1994 and features one of two actual Super Bowl ads that I can highlight in the theme of this post. Shortly after MJ retired, this 'new' NBA player named Johnny Kilroy emerged. He had a style very similar to that of His Airness and looked an awful lot like him too. I remember being thrilled to pull this from a pack of UD Special Edition(I think that's what the product was called). Sorry, for the sake of trying to keep this post a bit shorter I won't post video of either of these ads.

Moving right along, we come to Larry Johnson and his memorable Converse campaign from the early '90's. 

I played a lot of playground, pickup basketball when I was a kid and everyone wanted to be 'Grandmama'!

This isn't the original Grandmama commercial, but it was my favorite.

Moving along. In the mid-nineties, one of my favorite players was Anfernee 'Penny' Hardaway, and he had a great series of commercials where he starred alongside an action figure of himself called Lil Penny. These were hilarious and Lil Penny was voiced by Chris Rock! Sad to say that I've never been able to find any trading cards related to these ads.

Fast forward to 2011, LeBron James was one of the best and most popular players in the NBA. He was probably one of the most marketable players too. Thus, The LeBrons were born.

I won't say too much about this campaign because the card sums it up pretty clearly. Sorry, once again, no video.

Thanks for hanging in with me this far, if you've made it. The last card features one of my favorite players and the second two sport star of he post.

In 2013, another mysterious player came out of nowhere to take the NFL Draft Combine by storm. Leon Sandcastle ended up being drafted by the Chiefs with the number one pick. This provided some great entertainment for me during the Super Bowl that year. I love Deion!

So there you have my commercials on cardboard tribute post. Thanks for sticking with me through this twisting, turning journey down memory lane. Here's hoping that in between some great game footage tonight that there are some new cardboard commercial memories to be made.