Not One, Not Two, Not Three…

Score Football is one of my favorite brands. It has a huge, inclusive base set that I enjoy putting together every year. It has featured just about all of the notable rookies each year since its inception in 1989. You can find autographs and low-numbered parallels, but they aren’t really the point of the brand. I would happily still buy it without the hits.

In as much as hits aren’t the typical selling point, I did find one recently I could not pass up. My favorite card brand, my favorite team, a multi-patch card? Yes, please! Now this is not just a dual patch, or a triple, or even a quad. This card has (Lebron, help me out here) not one, not two, not three… ok, that’s enough. This is a double-sided, EIGHT-patch, one-of-one little piece of cardboard glory! Behold!

Chapter 8: The Blog Awakens

Blogging has been slow for me lately, but everything else has been moving at warp speed!  I won’t say I’ve boldly gone where no man has gone before, I’ve just been neglecting my entries in the Captain’s log.  Having found a few moments to meditate on the Force, however, Obi-Wan implored me to go to the WordPress app and continue my blogging.  Realizing the mixed references have probably inspired the First Order to ally with the Klingons by now, I will turn to Capt. James T. Kirk (Cousins) to bail me out with this crisp, gorgeous autograph!  These cards look amazing with so much open space for the signature.  This is one of the only autograph sets I’ve seen that truly focuses on, you know, the autograph, and the results are… out of this world.

Live long and prosper! 

2016 Black Gold HOF Symbols Reggie White

Panini Black Gold is one of my favorite current products, and I knew when I saw these cards in the initial teases for this year’s edition that I would have to grab any Packers cards like this. Sure enough, Bart Starr, Brett Favre, and Reggie White are all part of the HOF Symbols set.  White is the only one I’ve tracked down so far, and it’s a beaut!  That gold colored HOF Symbol medallion really shines against the black background of this card.  Great display piece, for sure, and it will look awesome next to Starr and Favre when I pick them up!

How to Properly Autograph a Football Card

There are some truly awful “autographs” out there.  Rushed initials, single letters, indecipherable scribbles… these are the bane of the modern auto collector.  Here’s a prime example (on a sticker no less!):Mr. Maddy, I’m sorry – your autograph SUCKS.  (Nothing personal, loved your career at Tech.  Also, don’t squash me like a bug. Please.)  That said, a real autograph should look at least a little more like this:This is truly a Hall of Fame worthy autograph.  This man has some pride in his name.  (Being the league’s all-time career sack leader, he certainly should!)  Full name, mostly distinguishable letters and a distinctive look that clearly defines whose name this is.  I also like how his number is tacked on for good measure.  That is how you properly autograph a football card!  (Note that the autograph is inscribed directly on the surface of the card!)

PS – BRUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCE!!! 

PPS – GO HOKIES!!!

Singles Snapshot: 2009 Certified FOTG Nick Barnett

No, it’s not a 90’s card, but it was on my Cards I’m Looking For page!  I’m a huge fan of the Fabric of the Game team name die-cuts, especially the Packers ones.  I’m trying to get one of each of the cards like this for Green Bay, and this was one of only three I had left to complete the set.  I also have another set of FOTG cards, but that’s a story for another post. 😀

HOF 2016: Brett Favre!!!

Brett Favre, legendary Packers (NOT Jets or, well, THEM) QB, my childhood hero, and Pro Football Hall of Fame Class of 2016.  GO PACK GO!!!

1992 Pro Line Portraits Autograph Mike Holmgren

This is a card I had been stalking for a while.  I missed one a few months ago on eBay, then another was listed that looked pretty rough (and wasn’t priced for the condition it was in).  Finally, I was browsing about two weeks ago and found not one, but two for sale!  Serendipitous! (SAT word, kids!)  I grabbed the cheaper of the two.I like the “Certified Authentic” stamp in the corner on these.  I also like how Holmgren signed this one very cleanly in a prominent spot on the card.  The autos in this set tended to be all over the place.  Some are on the fronts of cards, signed in dark ink and barely visible.  Some autos were squeezed into the tiny white spaces in the bottom corners on the back.  I think Holmgren called the right play here by signing boldly over the text.  I’m sure he wanted to leave that congenial smile unobstructed to contrast with this picture…
 …in which he is equal parts no-nonsense rookie head coach and Sith Lord lurking in the shadows, plotting to dominate the division for decades to come!  Already he was watching with great interest the career of a young QB from a back woods part of the galaxy called “Mississippi.”

2015 Topps Finest ’95 Refractor Aaron Rodgers

This one came from my latest COMC shipment.  As soon as I saw it on the site, I knew I had to have it.

 A very faithful reproduction of what the amazing 1995 Topps Finest set looked like – pale blue chrome background, cartoon lightning and some 90’s neon, too.  I love seeing my current favorite player show up on one of my old favorite designs!

  The back is also spot-on to the old set.  The write-up really sent this card over the top for me, though.  That game against Virginia Tech (my all-time most favorite college team) was a great one!  I hate that Tech lost, but the fact that Rodgers went on to be a Packers legend definitely takes some of the sting away.

1997 Press Pass Combine Die-Cuts Orlando Pace

Representing another of the great 2016 NFL Hall of Fame class, this card has just about all of my favorite attributes for an awesome 90’s card: it’s shiny, die-cut, embossed, and even uses a pun on the player’s name in the write up on the back.  This really might be my new favorite card (at least from 1997), especially since it features that rarest breed of football player, the superstar offensive lineman!   
In fact, I’d say he sets the “pace” for the career of every future legendary o-lineman!  After finishing fourth in the voting for the 1996 Heisman Trophy (the Heisman!!!), he was the top pick in the ’97 draft and would be a vital part of one of the most prolific offenses of the time.  Warner, Faulk, Bruce, Holt – these guys owe more than a little of their success to a darn good offensive line anchored by this HOF tackle! 

1996 Metal Marvin Harrison Rookie

A quick rookie card shout-out to 2016 NFL Hall of Fame inductee Marvin Harrison!  Always love to see a 90’s rookie make the Hall!