Monday, September 19, 2022

Dennis Makes My Weekend

Most of us on Monday mornings are dealing with the Monday morning drag, but, not me today. I am on a high as the NY Football Giants are starting the season 2-0 for the first time in 6 years!!

Am I expecting this to be a Super Bowl team? Not even close. Do I expect a playoff run? No, not really. Will there be a bright future, yes, I believe there will finally be one.

Not only am I on a high from the big win but getting a mail day from Too Many Verlanders also helps.

Dennis once again somehow knew what to send without hitting me with too many duplicates.

Actually, the only duplicate was this Phil Simms.

Which is beyond impressive since I have 6500+ Giants cards.
Sending numbered ones like Ron Dayne is always helpful. Hard to get dupes when you send numbered cards.

Same thing for this Andre Woodson. Who is also a reminder of all of the QB's the Giants went through for backups.

Ramses Barden is not numbered, but I also didn't have it.

Joe is not only numbered, but this card also has a great photo. That's what I call a double win.


New Manningham Relics!

Flame die cuts, yes please!

Dennis had this one up for grabs in his trade bait post, I don't ever turn down a shiny 90's insert. Doesn't matter the player.


With 2021 Prizm being impossible to find, I will take any parallels of the Giants I can get. Sadly, I don't have this base card of Jones yet.

And the biggest surprise of this package was a card I have been wanting for some time and have been meaning to add to my Top Want List on here....
 
Dynamic Duos!! How cool is this card?? I have really been into the superhero/sport crossovers.

 
These cards were produced in 2001 and were numbered to 1499.

I spotted this card window shopping on eBay last year but forgot to add it to my want list.

Thanks again for the mail day Dennis. I am working on yours still and a few others I am hoping to get all out by Christmas.

Hope everyone has a great Monday.

Sunday, September 18, 2022

Rodney's Cardboard:1992 Action Packed Mint Parallel

Welcome back for a NEW Rodney's Cardboard to also celebrate another NFL full Sunday slate of games.

Today, the Giants have their home opener against the Carolina Panthers. I am cautiously optimistic as I am sure all of us Giants fans are.

*fingers crossed*

For today's Rodney's Cardboard I am showing off a pretty unique and rare card I never thought I would see. It isn't easy to find new Rodney's anymore but occasionally, once every few months, there is a new one that pops up.

Which is why I didn't ever expect to see this one.
This is a 1992 Action Packed Mint Parallel. The card is the base card, but completely covered in gold foil.

 
The back of the card is also covered in the gold foil, besides the picture of Rodney, and the card is numbered 138/500. I have personally never seen one of these and can only imagine how hard a card numbered to 500 is actually to find in the early 90's.

Thanks to my buddy Shane for helping me acquire this big need.

Thoughts on today's latest Rodney, if you have seen or owned one of these and what early 90's card are you still chasing welcomed in comments.

Hope everyone has a great Sunday, GO GIANTS!

Saturday, September 17, 2022

Autograph Card Of The Week:2010 Panini Contenders Tim Tebow

When does collecting too much become too much?

I have a list of PC's longer than I can list on here. Especially when it comes to also explaining why I collect each of the subjects.

For me, today's player is pretty simple. Tim Tebow is a good person, a great college football player, someone who didn't give up on his dream of playing pro sports, and a devoted Christian.

If there is anyone that I think I should look up to, this would be the guy.

So, that is why there is a side Tebow PC. I don't have a lot of cards in that collection, but some decent ones. None better than today's addition from my trade with Shane.

One of Tim's best cards is his 2010 Panini Contenders rookie autograph. It's not one I ever expected to own, but when talking to Shane about our latest trade, to my surprise, he actually owned one.

So, we did a trade and now it's mine.

 
Here is the card back. Bland like the typical Panini hit card back.

Thanks to Shane for this addition.

Thoughts on Tim Tebow, this card and how many side PC's you have welcomed in comments.

Friday, September 16, 2022

Princess Of Pop

A lot of my collecting, I would say 90% of it, comes from nostalgia. Collecting isn't an investment to me, it's more like a collection of memories. Almost every piece of cardboard, especially for my non sport PC, has some memory connected to it. I am hoping some day when I am older and these memories start to fade, that the cards will help keep them alive. 

Just like music does for me. When I hear certain songs, I can put myself in that time.

Just like I did the other day.

Back in 1998 a big-time female pop star named Britney Spears was created when she released her song, Baby One More Time. This song was very catchy, and it tuned right into my head. Usually, men can't admit they like a female pop song, but I have no problem in doing so. It also helped that Britney was similar in age to me (2 years older) and was pretty hot.

I remember going to my friend Brian's house and watching the music video for the song, something I didn't have access to at home since we didn't have cable and not something I could watch at my grandmothers who had cable since she said it was a "waste of time watching music when she had a radio you could listen to it on".

Both Brian and I had immediate crushes on her.

When we found out she was going to be performing at one of the big fairs in our state a few months later, we had to find a way to get tickets. I knew I wasn't going to be getting them from my parents since I grew up poor, so I knew I would need another way to. Fortunately, Brian's parents came up with a plan for us to go, but it was going to take some work. In those days, parents just didn't buy you stuff. You had to work for it and work hard for it. Which is what we did. We spent that summer in the heat shoveling manure all over their big property to help the grass grow more and to clean out the barn as well. The manure was loaded up in a wagon attached to a four-wheeler and we had to make stops to fill it up with a shovel and stops to shovel it out.

Let me tell you, we earned those tickets.

The seats we had weren't great, but we still were able to go. We got to see Britney sing and dance and even bought a couple of small pictures of her from the fair so we could treasure the moment. It was a great time.

Years later, the picture I had from that concert became crushed and the ticket stubs have been misplaced. I had nothing but some blurry pictures to go on for memories so recently when window shopping on eBay, I came across a Britney Spears "rookie card."
It's from the April 2001 Sports Illustrated For Kids magazine which featured Derek Jeter on the cover.

At that time, I wasn't collecting the SI For Kids cards, so I knew I didn't have this, so I bid on one that was pretty low priced compared to where they usually are and ended up winning it.

 
Card back features stats on the Princess Of Pop and some other fun tidbits.

Guess you could say I was as happy as 15-year old me would have been if I owned it back then.

:)

Before I finish up today's post, I must tell one more story involving Britney and her hit song Baby One More Time. I can't remember if I told this story before on here or another blog, but I am fine sharing it again.

So, Brian got married a few years ago and we had mistakenly told his soon-to-be wife about our concert. Before the Dollar Dance begin, she snuck over to the DJ and requested that he played Baby One More Time to our surprise as we approached the tent where the dance was being held. We were also forced to dance together in front of a decent amount of people. As embarrassing as it was, it was another added memory.

Thoughts for today's post, your favorite Britney song or SI For Kids cards welcomed in comments.

TGIF to you!!

Monday, September 12, 2022

We Were Titans

We FINALLY did it.

We played a close game and won it.

Not to mention, we are above .500 for the first time in 6 years.

It was a long time coming for my NY Giants. Us, as fans NEEDED that win and that kind of win to prove us that the culture change wasn't just words being spoken. That those words were actually being put into motion.

The 21-20 win over the Tennessee Titans was huge for Giants players and Giants fans and kept us on edge throughout. Coming back from a sloppy first half down by 13, to taking a gamble on a late 2-point conversion when you could have simply kicked the extra point for a tie and possibly overtime, to the defense allowing the Titans to drive into field goal range only to miss it, it was like a Hollywood movie ending for the NY Giants.

I can't remember the last time I had a smile after a NY Giants football game.

On top of this, after a rough couple of seasons for Saquon Barkley, yesterday he looked like his rookie year self, tearing up Titans defense for 164 rush yards,1 touchdown and the key two-point conversion where he made two defenders miss. He carried the entire offense and team to victory. Basically, did the same for my Fantasy football team as well.

In honor of his performance, I thought I would post my Top 10 favorite non-hit cards I have of him.
1. Panini Instant "Barkley Caps Historic Rookie Season" card. Love the photograph on this one.

2. One of the most iconic plays for Saquon with the Legend Eli Manning watching in the background.

3. 2018 Prizm rookie card. The best non-autograph rookie card he has.

4.2019 Prestige Highlight Reel. This is the same photo from the Dallas game above, just at a different angle.

5. It's blue, he is all alone in the end zone, great photo again.

6. Shiny.

7. The face says it all on this one.

8. Throwback Zenith 1997 Zenith base card design, what isn't to like about this card?

9. Saquon always has his eye on the defense. He made sure yesterday to the Titans defenders were on his radar.

 
10. Zenith Z-Team. Anyone who collected Zenith knows how cool these cards actually are.

With those now being posted, I hope Saquon can continue to build off from his success yesterday. The Giants have their first home game of the season coming up this Sunday against the Carolina Panthers. Could the G-Men go 2-0? Fall flat at home? Will Saquon continue to build off last week? So many questions and the answers will be coming up in 6 days and I can't wait.