You Wanted More

Packs are tragic, cards are bold, you will always open what you wanted more
Packs can be hard, cards are strong, you will never say they don't belong

Cause I wanted more
More than I could get
More than I could afford

For about a year, I have watched a five pack lot of 1997 Bowman's Best football packs rot away in my watch list. I just couldn't pull the trigger on them despite the slight price decrease every couple of weeks.

Why wouldn't I want the shiny-goodness that comes from Bowman's Best? Well, I busted a box not too long ago and have most of the base set-I still have some needs for it-and wouldn't want to bust more just to land a bunch of dupes. It's not like its 1997 anymore and I can trade my duplicates with my friends. They no longer collect and haven't for years.

Then the price dropped again....

I wanted more
More than I could bear

And for $3.49 and shipping, I finally pulled the trigger. Those packs went for much more individually back then and the risk over reward seemed worth it. What happened if I pulled a refractor of Brett Favre? Autograph? Tough insert? Maybe even some set help?

A few days later, they arrived and I was in happy anticipating. Remember that this was awhile ago I picked these up before Coronavirus. Mail right now must be carried by horse and buggy at the speed it moves. Most packages for me take a week to ten days to arrive depending on where it's coming from.

I believe packs of this in the 90's carried a $6.99 price point. At least it did where I bought them. Today's gamble lot I grabbed is $1.47 a pack with shipping involved in that price.

Each pack of 1997 Bowman's Best Football comes with 6 cards and with chances at Refractors,
Atomic Refractors, Mirror Images with Refractors and Atomic Refractors, and Autographs with Refractors and Atomic Refractors. With key rookies to find of Jake Plummer, Corey Dillon, Tony Gonzalez, Tiki Barber, Warrick Dunn, and Jon Kitna.

Any of those names hit the spot?

With five packs in hand, I couldn't decide how many I was going to open. With any pack lot I buy, I always find myself not opening the entire lot. I always save one or two for memories sake. So I decided to break three out of five and save two for the memories. At least then sealed, those two packs would be worth the price of admission I paid for the lot.

I broke these down by pack. So let's see how I did and let's hope for something good!

Pack 1: Key highlights, Eddie George, Cris Carter and Andre Reed base. I also dig the old school Ravens logo on the Vinny.

Pack 2 Key Highlights:Derrick Thomas, Marvin Harrison and Natrone Means with the Jags uni.

Still no rookies. Hmph.

Ohhhh, that's because Pack 3 Highlights has two rookie cards in it. We have the two rookies in Ike Hilliard (PC material despite having three copies already), David LaFleur (who appeared in every pack I opened I felt in 1997) and a Drew Bledsoe base.

Not a whole lot of whoopie here, but it was fun. That's what truly matters to me.

Opening these three however left me staring at the other two like they were still in my watch list. Like they were the last box of Dunkaroos on the store shelves. Like they were the last chance date with Kelly Bundy.

Will I be able to withstand the temptation......time can only tell.

Cause I wanted more
More than these packs could give
More than I could handleAnd packs that I can't live without opening

Today's lyrical re-write is from the song You Wanted More by Tonic in 1999. Great song that you should listen to over and over again like I do.