Same Game, Same Play?

Have deep do you look at your cards? Have you noticed anything more than just an image of your favorite player featured on the front?

I know that I haven't. 

I do enjoy action photography and can sometimes pick the game from which the picture was taken, but other than that, I don't take much note.

Today's cards however, I will take a deeper look at.

I don't remember who sent me the two cards from today's post, but they pointed out with a note that they have one thing in common, they are from the same game.

Interesting. Never would have thought of matching up two cards to see if the photographs were taken from the same game.

So I dug deeper and looked at the two cards from 2004 Topps and 2004 Topps Total.

The game played was between the St.Louis Rams and the NY Giants. It was played on Week One of the 2003 NFL season in a game which was won by the NY Giants 23-13, despite Kurt Warner's big day.

I looked at the two cards and can see it was the same game, but was there something else about the comparison that I could look at.

 

Here we see Kurt Warner dropping back to pass but the question becomes....

 

is this the same play? Is Mike chasing him down?

Michael Strahan did record a sack in that game but did he get it right there? Does Kurt see Michael coming after him? Is this two different plays?

 

So I had to take a second look by putting the cards side by side again.

 

It appears Kurt's angle doesn't match up with the other card. But, does that rule this out as the same play, no. However, looking at body language tells me a lot. It's pretty obvious on the Kurt Warner card he is throwing. The Strahan card appears he has either already thrown (which doesn't rule it out) or has just handed the ball off looking at the way he is standing and the fact I do not see a ball in his right hand. That would rule it out. 

Once again, I am not dead set on that as an answer.

The only answer I can come up with is the fact it's the same game but not the same play. Am I right? Who knows? Either way it was fun trying to dissect this card and figure it out.

So what do you guys think? Same Game, Same Play? Or nah? Let me know in comments!

Breakin' Wax:2019 Playoff Football Blaster Box

I really wanted to bust some football cards from 2019 since I didn't do much, so my wife went to Walmart and surprised me with a blaster of 2019 Playoff Football.

There are 56 cards in each box and one guaranteed hit. I wasn't expecting anything big, was just hoping for some PC cards.

the base card design is nice. Not a lot of action shots but mainly focused on players which is fine. However, I am a tad disappointed that Kurt Warner had two cards in the base set but neither were him in a Giants uniform...

The base set does however does include many legends of the game including Earl Campbell

and of course veterans like Evan Engram

Rookies

and even a Darius Slayton. Still need the other Giants including Daniel Jones.

I know of a Hook 'Em fan that will enjoy this card I will send sometime. This is a green parallel.

These blasters also include a shot at 2nd down parallels that are /49. Not too bad of a find here.

These Star Gazing inserts are pretty sharp! Antonio Brown

And Baker Mayfield finds for those.

Ooooooh I really like these Air Commands. Really well done Panini! Drew Lock looks to be a stud down the road.

Another great looking insert. Except half the Lightning no longer is a Ram

And once again, another great looking card in this product. Had to be an Eagle of course but now I know I need the Giants of these.

My hit, well, an Eagle. I once again really like the design on this as well. Need to find the Jones and Slayton versions.

Not a bad break at all in my opinion. Got a couple PC cards and a few decent hits. Mainly I am digging the overall design of the product. Really stood out to me this year.

What are your thoughts?

Unsolved Mysteries Episode 3

This blog post series is about unraveling unsolved mysteries from a card lot my mother-in-law bought me from an estate sale. What you are about to see isn't a breaking news broadcast or some new releases. There is a lot to go through here so whenever possible, I will try to condense down some of the graphics and whenever possible, real cards from the actual lot (well all of them are from the actual lot but let's have some fun with it) will be used for pictures.

Someone, somewhere can help me uncover the mysteries within this lot. Let's take a look and maybe one of you, will help me solve some mysteries.

*insert creepy music and theme song*

The location is still completely unknown where my Mother In Law went to grab this lot of sports cards other than it was a Estate Sale. Belief is, it was somewhere isolated as nobody grabbed them before she did. It may be the only explanation on why someone wouldn't have grabbed this lot before she showed up three hours after it started. Or maybe it was because the cards were more than they were expecting? Or was it a government conspiracy? I guess we will have to tune in to today's round and maybe you can help solve this mystery.

A 90's trio that I found a lot in packs. Was someone spying on me knowing this information ahead of time? Or was there a conspiracy?

An insert line that says Lottery Legends when it should say Lottery busts. Intriguing.

Except this one. This guy turned out okay. But, why did only one make it big time. Mystery....

Ghosted players in the background or are they really ghosts....

There was a lot of Prism in the box but all base except this one parallel. Staley was left stale in the lot.

Why would you ever leave such a great looking insert behind? Is there more to this card than I know?

How did Don Shula lead the Dolphins to the only undefeated season ever in the history of the NFL?

Why did Upper Deck create such fun parallels and products for kids with Collectors Choice than made the product disappear out of nowhere? it just vaniiiiiiiiisshheed.......................

Cardinals in the 90's, a mysteriously bad team.

299/299. Why was the end of the line found in this box? Why Ahman Green? Will my friend Bryan like this card? Lots of questions that will need to be answered.

So much creativity in inserts at one time with this hobby and then it all disappeared? Why don't we number inserts anymore and drive up their worthiness of being called an insert?

 

And finally, we find a lot of cards that appears was someones attempt at a set but they gave up or fell short? Or did the disappear like the rest of the cards to the set...

This does it for Episode Three of Unsolved Mysteries. There is a lot of unexplained findings here with even more mysteries to unravel. Tune in next time and Perhaps YOU, can help solve a mystery.

I Discovered Area 40 And Look What Happened

During Wes' retirement tour-formerly blogger of Jay Barker Fan blog and now runs a last big hurrah blog in Area 40-he has been unloading packages onto bloggers for goodbye gifts.

He had mentioned to me that mine had hit the road, but what I didn't know was the card storm that would hit as a large flat rate box just about knocked over my mail box with its weight.

Inside, well, was magic. I could literally feel the Lucky Charms rainbow pour out of it with gold coming at the end of the rainbow. With so much found in this box so worthy of needing to be posted, this will have to take a long segment to get it all up.

So let's take a look at the gold or some of it. Remember, not all cards will be posted as it would take at least a month.

First up is this unique Calais Campbell card that should be signed but isn't. Odd. Never seen an unsigned card that was supposed to be signed. Would have been cooler if it had been signed since Campbell had such a big season for the Jags last year.

Steve McNair. He was a fun one to watch and here is a 22K parallel rookie card of the man. Collectors Edge put out so many great products and parallels.

Bowman Chrome, how much I miss you NFL style. This card was pulled out to be shown off because it's a parallel.

SHKENBAKE!

Kurt Warner. I have always been a fan. Wished I had his autograph, especially if one can be found in a Giants uniform.

This is one really cool looking insert. There were a couple of these in the box, maybe a set chase is needed.

/45 numbered cards may not mean much today, but back in the 90's and even in 2001, they did. Tough pulls.

I was probably one of the very few that enjoyed 1996 Collectors Edge Presidents Reserve. The base were printed on acetate and the inserts were themed presidential. Such as Running mates. Man I miss the 90's.

Star Pics. Interesting photos that I just had to share. They look like a cheesy commercial.

Brett Favre. Legend.

Two of the biggest Cowboys in the 90's, I dreaded when my Giants had to play them. Emmitt always had big games against the Giants especially if the games were in prime time.

Hardy isn't messing around on his Gold Leaf Rookie card.

Another great Collectors Edge photo. This one of the great hands Rice. I don't think many will CATCH up to his records. See what I did there.

Great looking Stadium Club insert. Remember when inserts looked better than the base and not vice versa?

Game Breakers with it's hologram technology. I have a few of these already and now I have more after this box. Hmmm maybe another set chase?

Petty never quite shined in NY unlike Tuck who did. Too bad he wasted his last few years of his career in Oakland. I still like my shiny cards though!

The Bus is running at Warp Speed.

And we finish this part up with an Unsung Hero.

 

This mail day was like a good radio station that plays songs from the 80's, 90's and today. Much more to come from this big mail day.