Rodney's Cardboard:It's ALL Here!

 

I have been doing posts on Rodney Hampton for the past three years and I think it's finally time to show off everything in one post of my Super PC.

I have already shared these once on Twitter, but figured a lot of you don't have Twitter so why not do it on here as well.

So here we go,

(uncut sheet)

(this binder has all of my non rare Rodneys')

(Rares)

(Oddballs)

And there you have it. At least for now. I have a good amount in trade coming still as well and will need to do an update post at some point in the future as well.

Blast From The Past:1996 Topps Football Pack Break

In 1999, a flick with Brendan Fraser and Alicia Silverstone called Blast From The Past came out. It was about a scientist named Calvin Webber who was played by Christopher Walken, that took his pregnant wife in a deep underground fallout shelter in 1962 when he thought a nuclear war was imminent. During that time, their son Adam played by Fraser (who seemed to had been in every late 90's movie) was born and was exposed to only the culture of 1962 in the shelter such as the music and TV shows of the time. Life was accustomed to not being at the surface. 

Fast forward 35 years later, their supplies and food was running low so someone would have to come above ground and take a risk to get new products. That was supposed to be Calvin, up until he was ill from stress from his one visit to the surface. So his son Adam would have to venture out in a world he had never met.....

This segment takes a look at products that may have been hidden in a underground fallout shelter for over 20 years and now just coming back out to be rediscovered....by me. Guess you can call me Adam even though my name is Matt. These are products I opened when I was first collecting and is a Part Of My Past, but may not have a memory or a Origins story to attach to them. Most products I post on here will, but some won't and those will be covered in this new segment.These products will be between the years of 1995-1999 only.

Let's just hope my experience with these breaks is better than Adams first visit to the surface.

So let's take a Blast From The Past with a one pack break of 1996 Topps Football!

I busted a ton of this stuff back in 1996 which almost made this more of a Origins post than a Blast From The Past. But, here we are.

This was the 40th Anniversary Edition of Topps football and it had a lot of great stuff within. Especially it's inserts. I am chasing many of them for sets including Broadway's Reviews (I finished this one) and Turf Warriors which I need a lot of help with (hint hint readers!!)

I paid about $1 for this pack hoping to land some insert help!

Here are the odds on those inserts.

Let's give this pack a rip ( to shorten this post some I posted the names I knew best from the pack)

Mike Mamula played for the Eagles for five seasons. Was a pretty decent LB and was also the person I pulled my first autograph card of.

Bernie has no spent more time as a assistant coach and coach then he did in his time in the NFL.

Cook didn't make it too far in the NFL only lasting 4 NFL seasons. But, he did get to don the Oilers jersey so that's pretty cool.

Mark Carrier played for 10 seasons and 3 teams.  He was also a three time Pro Bowler.

Pepper played for four teams in twelve seasons most notably with my Gmen.He was a two time Pro Bowler and two time Super Bowl Champion. Then of course as coach he added another three rings.

I always loved the 1,000 Yard club subsets but mainly the 1995 and 1996 editions. Brett Perriman was a Detroit Lion to me. Even though he had four teams in 9 seasons.

Moulds played for three teams in 11 seasons. Was a three time Pro Bowler but didn't feel like he lived all of his hype up when all of us collectors were chasing him in 1996.

Sapp was a dominant player but however plagued with controversy. However, is a Hall Of Famer with a ring and seven Pro Bowls.

Mayberry played for 10 seasons for two teams.  He was a Pro Bowler in 2002.

Rice had an amazing 12 year career playing for 4 teams. He ranks right up there all time in sacks, he was Super Bowl champion, and a 3x Pro Bowler.

Duane Clemons played for three teams in nine seasons. He didn't have a bad career in that time.

Well, for a $1 it's a bargain, but looking at this overall, not the best pack in the world.

This sums up another Blast From The Past.

Subtle Changes

I have been promoting this for awhile on Twitter, but, once September hit I was going to make some subtle changes to this blog.

I know it's like a broken record on here as I am always tweaking, but I promise you it's in the best interests of the readers and for myself. I also know I am not the only one who makes changes to their blog to try new approaches and keep things fresh. I am hoping at some point I can keep some consistency on here, once I find the right blend, so my readers know what to expect. One hopes that changes will bring in new readers as well as it may target a new audience.

This time changes were brought on because of so many mail day posts. Seems like every day this summer a post on here was because of a mail day. That wasn't always my intention for this blog but it helped fill in the gaps in what was a crazy busy summer. Now that I am all caught up on those really old mail days, it's time to move forward with my new changes.

At one point, I had contemplated changing the blog name overall. With the popularity of the Series The Origins Of A Cardboard addict I was 97% sure I was changing this blog to that name. But, instead for one reason or another, I decided to keep the Sport Card Collectors name (a name I still don't like) for at least now anyways. Instead I gave the blog a new look with a new blog header (well I decided not to after all thanks to some advice from a fellow blogger) and it's first ever background (decided against that as well after removing the new header so we are basically back where I started besides the color theme). I also changed the color scheme of the blog to reflect my love of the NY Giants with the season right around the corner. I think it overall the blog came out pretty sharp and fits the theme of what I post about on here. (let me know what you guys think)

Other changes that will take place are updated tabs. Those should have been done already but I fell behind. I will be adding more to my want lists, updating PC numbers finally and more over the next few weeks.

Posts will see a change as well. Here are my hopes when it comes to posts other than trying to add more (better) writing to them.

1. Monday Thru Friday will be a combination of The Origins Of A Cardboard Addict posts, Reviews, Pack Breaks For A Rainy Day (I have been hoarding junk wax), Opinion Thoughts (I have some deep questions I ask myself and then pass them onto you), and PC updates such as my chase for the Psych and Ghostbusters autograph/insert sets.
2. Saturday will be mail day specials! I hope this will also allow me to keep up with the mail days. Most posts, unless they are big mail days, will be multiple mail days combined and hopefully broken down a bit more other than "here is this card, and this one," etc like I used to do. Some mail days will be saved for specific posts such as NY Giants, Psych, and the Ghostbuster ones.
3. Sunday's will be saved for NY Giants. Those posts will either be new Giants pickups from trades, mail days, or myself showcasing a players cards and breaking down the numbers. Should be fun.
4. ALL POSTS SHOULD BE MORE IN-DEPTH. It will take more time and I hope my daily consistency continues but I want quality more than quantity now. I wished I had done that from the start but it's never too late!
5. CONTESTS!!! Yes, contests will also return more often. For this fall I will have the always popular NFL Player Of The Day contest running once again and once the Fantasy Baseball season comes to an end, that focus goes to a new promotion I will be running with my Topps reviews. Stay tuned for details on that promotion and how you could Topp(s) off your month.
6. And posts will also publish 6 hours later in my new approach. Instead of 1am ET it will be 7am ET.

I am hoping to stick with this format for the long run. We will see about it and how smooth it all runs. As with all new formats some parts always need tweaking.

It's good to know that with all of the changes I have done to this blog over it's 6+ years of existence, I should be glad that it's only the blog I keep changing. If I brought these changes to real life situations, for example, if I got a new car every time I got bored with the previous one, I would be broke. Glad I have had my current vehicle as long as I have had this blog.

My biggest hope is that you will enjoy the content on here even more when this all takes in effect tomorrow.

Thanks for reading and leave your thoughts below!

Box Of Goodies,Grady M Mail Day Part 3:Get Ready For Some Football!

Part 3 of my mail day consists of NFL like the title says. So let's take a look at the what was hidden within.

Up first, Score 2015. I am still in the midst of working on the set so hoping some of these will help. I haven't checked yet.

I am trying to do the inserts too.

Football rookie mania! Aaron Donalds not a shabby one to have.

More inserts.

Really dig these framed cards from Gridiron. Didn't have any of these guys.

Hadn't seen one of these. Cool looking.

I really like that Panini does these BCA inserts and memorabilia cards.

I haven't bought any Topps Chrome yet, but seeing these inserts tells me I really need to. Or at the very least I need to pick up the Giants versions of these.

 

NFL down. MLB, Shiny Stuff and more ahead! Come back and see what else I got in this package bomb!

Review:2015 Score Football

To me, this is always the first REAL football card release each year as it's one the NFL's firsts other than Bowman. But, not being a fan of Bowman, I always go straight for Score. I know I am always guaranteed well designed inserts, tons of base for a set, lots of rookies (my big aim) and just a good time. This years Score proved to be no different. I actually had so much fun, I ended up getting two hobby boxes and extra packs on the side. This one is for review purposes but stay tuned for the second one that I pulled a 1/1 in and possibly the breakdown of the extra packs too.

BOX BREAKDOWN:

In every box of 2015 Score football, there are 24 packs with 12 cards per pack. So you know you will be getting your money worth. Each pack comes with a couple inserts and 2-3 rookies. Boxes will run you roughly $45 so spending a little on possible big return.

BASE CARDS:
This years base cards like the last few years are done very well. The border on the cards, usually a problem for me, is done perfectly here acting more as a frame to the action shots than a bother. Some of the photos bring you back to certain moments on the field that you remember from last season. It also captures the raw emotion of the game.

More great photos here. I think we all remember watching this Antonio Brown foot kick to the face of the Browns punter.

The base also has most of the players with their new teams.

The rookie cards in the base set this year are massively improved. Gone are the head shots, in with the action shots. This change happened because of Panini's deal with a CLC license. This type of addition to the set massively improves this product and adds a bit of 90's flair to it as well. In all, there are 440 cards in the base set including 110 of these rookies.

SP'S AND VARIATIONS:
Also, just in years past, there are photo variations. Most of them are easy to find and I found out that in your pack if you find a base card facing backwards in the middle of the pack, that's you variation. These are falling roughly one-per-box.

The thing with Score this year is that it's loaded with parallels. Even the photo variations have them! There are Blue Camo, Desert Camo, Green Camo, Night Camo. Here is a Peyton Manning one I found in my box. These as well fall one-per-box.

INSERTS:
There are other parallels to find as well. In my two hobby boxes, I came up empty on them except my three Scorecards. These are unnumbered parallels as opposed to the others.

And speaking of parallels. HOLY MOLY  there are ton! There are parallels to EVERY SINGLE INSERT set. Each one of the following comes in Red, Green, Gold,and Black. It seems the black parallel is the toughest as you only find a couple of those per box. So for us team collectors, you could gather quite a few rainbows together.

There are some classic designs here as well along with some new ones. I am quite impressed myself. You get quite a mixture of regular and parallel inserts in every box.

All-Time Franchise

Sophomore Selections
Black parallel of Jarvis Landry!

Team Leaders

Gridiron Heritage
Loved this design. Totally throwback!

Franchise
Black Derek Carr!

And the most fun insert of all....fun puzzle cards of top fantasy players you can make any combination of. Who would you put together as a team? You have Ground Gainers (RB), Precision Passers (QB) and Playmakers (WR). These have parallels as well as you can see. Blue Camo, Desert Camo, Green Camo,  and Night Camo like the one of Cam Newton I found.

 

MEMORABILIA CARDS:
In every box you are guaranteed at least one hit. I have seen some boxes online with an auto and a mem. My box came with a memorabilia card, game used too, of a trio of Chief defenders. Pretty cool for a low end product and second hardest other than a quad jersey. I like the design and layout as well.

AUTOGRAPHED CARDS:
N/A in this box
There are some top notch players to find for autographs such as Tom Brady and Peyton Manning along with all of the top rookies.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: 
What can I say? As you can tell by my positive review, I am a huge fan of Score. This is not only fun for adults but a product that would be fun for kids as well. With a low end cost, big checklist throughout there is plenty to collect and be excited about in the 2015 version of Score football.