DA CHAMPS!

I am sure a lot of my non-Giant fan, Patriot fans or non-football fan readers are sick to death of me talking about the two NY Giants Super Bowl wins of recent, but I can't help it. Those were two of the greatest sport moments in my life.

In 2015, Topps celebrated Presidential Celebrations at the White House by putting in a case hit insert. I had never heard of these before until my Twitter friend @clrshonuff told me about them.

When I saw the checklist, I noticed that the Giants had two cards on the checklist, both are from the two Super Bowls I keep talking about.

The cards feature the head coach and the president at the time along with the players in the background.

 

This is Super Bowl 42 with George Bush. I actually picked this one up for $1.

And then this one, the tougher of the two, landing at $12, was my latest add a couple months ago.

Thanks again to Chris for the heads up on these.

Thoughts on these adds or thoughts on these types of inserts welcomed in comments.

Random Card Of The Day #11:2001 Upper Deck Super Bowl XXXV Ron DIxon

Kerry's Cardboard:2001 Upper Deck Collectibles Super Bowl XXXV

In his second season with the Giants, Kerry Collins put up good numbers in the 2000 season leading the Giants to a 12-4 record and a trip to the Super Bowl to play against the Ravens.

However, Giants actually going to the Super Bowl vs actually playing in it were two different things.

Collins put up by far the worst numbers of his career and the third worst Super Bowl rating for a QB as the Ravens defense dominated and shut him down to completing only 15 of 39 passes for 112 yards and four interceptions. The Giants played awful and lost 34-7.

To commemorate the Super Bowl, Upper Deck created a 21 card set featuring both of the teams featured in the game. A set I didn't know existed til recently when I stumbled up on the Collins.

Not too shabby of a design.

 

Card back shows Collins as card 12 in the boxed set

The Super Bowl play really hung over Collins who lost a record 23 fumbles in 2001 with the Giants.

Shane Sends Cardboard Heat!

I recently made a big trade with my friend and fellow 90's wax buster Shane. He is the one who runs the Cheap Wax Wednesday and Other Stuff where he breaks boxes that cost under $50 from 80's, 90's and today.

I have already shown the other halves of this trade, now it's time to really dig in. First it kicks off with that Rodney Hampton auto /10

And now all of this.......

Some names I recognize above, like I have said before I don't listen to the music, just collect the cards. However, this next name I definitely knew....

Wynonna! What a cool auto as well. Great add to my non sports PC

Sterling Shepard tie dye auto, looks super sharp in person. Numbered to 20!

By far my best Daniel Jones autograph! Such a beauty with silver ink.

(not that this one isn't too shabby. This card came in another deal with someone else I didn't post on here yet but let's just get it out there since it showed up around the same time as Shane's)

The last coin I was missing. Well, at least the two Super Bowl winning ones for the Giants. Love adding stuff from those games. I have so, so many memories attached to both Super Bowls in 42 and 46.

A Hall Of Famer auto knocked off my want list.

Make that two. Really dig these Pro Line autos. I haven't heard of a fake Elway versions of these signed by a spouse or autopenned so hopefully this time I am good unlike my last Elway autograph I tried to add.

Thanks goes out to Shane for yet another great deal. I have already begun your next pile and who knows, maybe by Christmas we can pull off another!

Can't Stad Ya, But Respect Ya

For weeks I watched @jnarbles have a Tom Brady rookie up for sale. Good deal to and not one person bit on it which was surprising to me. For those weeks I tried to pry it away in a trade. Well, finally I was able to do a trade for the card I wanted. Yes, I actually wanted a Tom Brady card.

Many of you know my absolute hatred of everything New England Patriots and Tom Brady, but just because I can't stand Mr. Brady, doesn't mean I don't respect him. Throw aside all of the scandals involving the team, as a player, Tom is as good as it gets. Pure talent and a winner. Well, when they aren't video taping other teams practices or deflating footballs. Sorry, had to throw that in there. Hard to admit he is a legend of the game and I want to throw up in my mouth for saying so. But, looking at the players he has around them, he turned average dudes into studs.

Once again today he finds himself in the big game, ugh, so sick of seeing them there. Okay, time to refocus on my trade. So I had to get another rookie card of the legend just because I wanted another. What can I say, I love rookie cards especially when they are of superstars.

 

So this arrived on Friday. At the time I bet nobody thought neither of these guys would turn out, well they were right about one at least. This is just one of the reasons why I don't ever trade off my rookie cards.

So Tom wasn't the only card in this mailing as we went even deeper with our trade and those I will show off over the next two days.

As for today, I have a feeling the Patriots will win, trying to hold back my throw up hold on a second, the Super Bowl. They have that underdog mentality throughout the playoffs and will for this game as the Rams are picked to win. I think the Pats should be favorites to win against a very young inexperienced in big game Rams who shouldn't even be there in the first place. Yes Saints fan I put this in there. I am hoping the Rams do win and I hope they come out with the mindset of we shouldn't be here so let's prove everyone wrong. Guess we will see.

At least this year I have a team to root for unlike last years game I didn't watch a second of. So everyone have fun watching and make good decisions after the game is over. And thanks @jnarbles for this part of the trade. 

Who do you have in the Big Game?

The Origins Of A Cardboard Addict:The First Undefeated Down

It was 1998. It was football Sunday and I did what I usually do even now, watch my Giants play football.

The Giants 1998 season wasn't a great one. The Giants staggered into their Week 15 match up with a record of 5-8 while their opponent the Denver Broncos came in at 13-0. I thought for sure it was one of those games where I would be sorting cards halfway through it. It was another David vs Goliath match up with both rosters having big talent discrepancy. The Broncos coming off their Super Bowl win the previous year and destroying their way through their 1998 schedule.

Ugly could be seen from miles away even though some sportscasters said this looked like a trap game for the Broncos.

I had prepared myself before the game and put a stack of football cards on the coffee table-when more people used those-and brought out my notebook to jot down what they were. That's how I used to organize everything. I would write down every card and how many cards I had in my collection. There is no way I would I have time for that today. I have enough trouble keeping up with my Giants collection on here.

The game started and I was in a state of shock and some excitement as the Giants had kept the high powered Broncos close into the 4th quarter. The Giants actually led at halftime 10-9 and at the beginning of the 4th quarter 13-9. But, I had a feeling this wasn't still going to end well.

I mean, this was a Broncos roster that featured some these guys on this autograph helmet I recently acquired in a trade from my buddy @Jake1725. Back in 1998, the only autographed memorabilia I had were a few NY Giants Post-It notes from having met a few players in person. I definitely didn't have anything this cool. If I had, it would have made it's way to school as a show and tell item for sure.

On the helmet I acquired from Jake, were autographs of  Terrell Davis, who I have spoken about highly many times on here,

Keith Traylor (one big dude), Jason  (one of the NFL's greatest kickers of all time) and the Coach Mike Shanahan who was one of the best. I only count his years in Denver. Not sure why he bothered with Washington.

 

I felt that the Broncos with those kind of names on the roster were pretty much unbeatable.

The slim NY Giants lead was soon gone three minutes later in the game when that guy above Terrell Davis took it 27 yards to the house. Davis had run well all day with 147 yards on the ground. The Broncos then led 16-13 and I felt deflated knowing the Giants offense hadn't done a lot against Denver's defense.

I went to school the next day like a champ!

For the 1998 season that was my Super Bowl. That was a moment I will never forget. Just like in Super Bowl 42 when the Giants beat the 18-0 Patriots. Both of these games will forever live in my mind and now with this cool autograph helmet, I won't ever forget. I have plenty of Super Bowl 42 memorabilia to help my memory there.

Thanks to Jake for the helmet and bringing back those memories from my Origin. I still have plenty of other memories and cards to dive into for 1998 so this is just the beginning. However, this game brought me even closer to football and really upscale my football card collection that year. It was also the first year I began playing football.

If you have an extra minute, I suggest you go and check out the Giants game winning drive here. It will be well worth your time,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObQCv42J2tI

The Greatest Super Bowl Sunday

Today is Super Bowl Sunday. Usually a great day in the NFL, but not for me at least this year. It features two of my most hated teams facing off and I can't even pick a team I want to win. I think the Kitten and Puppy Bowls are where it's going to be at this year for me. I can at least cheer on Hairdell Beckham Jr or Eli Pupping or something like that.

I guess if I had to pick a team to win I would go New England for the lesser of two evils for a few reasons. One, I hope Tom Brady would retire after the game. Two, I don't want to see a team from my teams division win it all. Three, I want my NY Giants to be the only team ever to take down Tom and company in the Super Bowl.

Speaking of that, wasn't Super Bowl 42 the greatest Super Bowl game ever played? Can you really pick a better one?

It was February 3rd 2008. Game Day. I spent the entire day nervously planning what to have for snacks, what jersey I was going to wear and who I was going to invite over. It was a big day for me. A day I wasn't sure I was ever going to see again in my lifetime. Which shockingly I did again four years later but we will discuss that next year unless the Giants are in it

The Giants seemed to had been a team that was up one year down another since 2004 and it was the same way that the 2007 season went. The Giants were on a roll to start out the year, fell flat midway and barely made the playoffs in the end. Did I really expect that team to beat Tampa on the road, go to red hot Dallas and hold on with seconds left with an interception in the end zone, then take a trip to Green Bay for the NFC title game in the freezing cold, pick off Brett Favre in OT after blowing so many FG attempts to win and end up winning on a FG?

Never.

And here they were versus the Goliath New England. The one that was 18-0 and was on a roll towards 19-0. The Giants had played them tough in the seasons final game and almost threw off their undefeated season but somehow someway the Patriots found a way to win. It was a high scorer at 38-35. So you could only expect the same result in the Super Bowl...right?

By the way, I am missing the Super Bowl 46 version of this card and if you see it, please pass it on to me :)

I ended up ordering food out, wore my Eli Manning jersey, had my parents over (my father is a huge Giants fan and my mother is a Cowboys one) and my wife was there nervously watching by my side as well as that was her first big game to watch with me. We had Patriots fans, mostly family,  texting us all day and right before kickoff to set this stage even bigger.

Now it was game time.

The Giants took an early 3-0 lead on the first drive of the game with a 32 yard Tynes field goal. That pretty much sums up the first quarter. We will bypass the pass interference on Antonio Pierce pass interference that led to a Patriots early second quarter TD run.

Later on in the second quarter had the Giants on the move after a swifty sideline catch by Amani Toomer that helped the Giants to the Patriots 19 yard line. But, three plays later that turned into a disaster as a ball went off of wide receivers hands and into the Patriots for a pick. Luckily the Giants defense buckled down once again and kept it a 7-3 deficit at the half.

I was still nervous and took off my jersey off at half. A superstition I have if my team is losing at half time at any point in the season. We all enjoyed a great Tom Petty halftime show and got loaded up with more snacks for the second half.

What I didn't expect was a second half that was one for the ages.

The third quarter was pretty quiet. The Patriots did drive down to Giants territory but instead of going for a 49 yard field goal by Gostowski they decided to go for it. The Giants defense made the stop and the score remained the same at the end of three.

So here came the fourth quarter. My team had the ball, trailed by only four points. Something had to give right?

On the first drive of the fourth it did. Eli Manning hit Kevin Boss on an incredible 45 yard catch and run and some plays later on Steve Smith caught a big third down reception setting up the Giants with a 5 yard bullet pass from Eli Manning to David Tyree to give the Giants the lead.

You would have thought someone was attacking us from the loud noises of cheers that could be heard from within my house at that point. It's amazing how much noise four people could make. Luckily the neighbors were at a distance.

None of us could believe we were under five minutes game time away from watching my Giants first Super Bowl win. I wasn't into football when they had won their last and the one they were in previous they got walloped against the Ravens (more on that down the road).

However, my dreams turned to a nightmare fast as New England was quickly chipping away down the field and Tom Brady hit wide receiver Randy Moss on a 6-yard touchdown reception with 2:42 left to play.

I fell to the floor feeling helpless. Was this really how things were going to end after such a magical run?

Well, that answer was no.

Down 14–10, the Giants got the ball on their own 17-yard line with 2:39 left. I couldn't believe they were so backed up and had so far to go. It wasn't like a FG could tie the game, they had to go 83 yards. 83 long, long yards.

The Giants gained a few yards to start out the drive including getting a 4th and one and there was only 1:15 left in the game when a miracle for the miracle season happened.

It was third and five, the Patriots blitzed Eli Manning, I could only watch them surround him, grasp him, and pull him...and sacccc...wait...what...

He somehow freed himself and chugged his legs like a locomotive and threw a pass in the air. The ball felt like it was up for an eternity and after watching him make bad off-balance throws all season, he had 20 picks that season, I knew what was going to happen. The play previous was one of those as well as the Patriots almost picked him off which would have ended. I knew for sure this was it and was the end. I put my head down for half a second before I heard an eruption on the TV and in my house. Somehow or another, God was watching over them that day and David Tyree had made a leap and pinned the football with his right hand to the crown of his helmet for a 32-yard gain.  A stinkin 32 yard gain on a miraculous catch. Wow.

I couldn't stop watching the replay. Incredible.

Another big third down and long play by Steve Smith, who had been hurt all season as a rookie but made big plays when they needed him in this game, put the Giants in good position. I nervously finished chewing off all of my hangnails before watching Eli Manning toss the ball up to an open Plaxico Burress who had a step on the DB for a 13-yardTD reception with 35 seconds remaining.

I danced in my house like never before. High fives all around with a Giants 17-14 lead.

But, I also realized there was 35 seconds left, Tom Brady and the fastest WR in the NFL in Randy Moss to come out. It was time for the defense that played well all game to make one final stop.

The Giants pressured Brady with an errant throw on first down. I took a deep breath and fingers crossed tightly.

Second down rookie DT Jay Alford pressured Brady up the middle and sacked him for a 10 yard loss. Woo hoo *quietly*

Third down, Corey Webster defended a Moss ball. Holy moly that was close.

And on the next play,came a long final Hail Mary attempt, the ball sailed just out of Moss' hands and defended by Gibril Wilson and the Giants were, well, I will let Amani Toomer tell you....

In a improbable season, improbable comeback against an improbable undefeated team where they were 12 point underdogs. Simply incredible game all around.

It wasn't just the upset over the hated Patriots that made Super Bowl 42 the greatest Big Game ever, it was the incredible plays, the moments I had at home watching the game (and after as I ran out in the middle of winter shirtless to celebrate and shook open three sodas) and seeing what I saw I will remember and relive forever.

Thank you NY Giants and thank you Super Bowl 42.

Super Bowl 51 Contest!

It wasn't long ago when I broke some boxes for review for Panini and mentioned in those reviews I was using some of the cards for a Super Bowl contest, well, it's time to finally announce this contest before the season begins!

This contest is plain and simple and I ran one like it for baseball before.

In comments, just tell me who will win Super Bowl 51? 

One person who guesses the team CORRECTLY will win a prize pack of cards from a variety of Panini products

Here are the other rules as always:

1. Please make sure to take a minute out to thank Panini and Tracy Hackler for providing these boxes for me to review and to host this nice giveaway with. Follow them on all social media sites and visit their site, HERE, as well. Also give Mr.Hackler a Twitter follow too!
2. ***VERY IMPORTANT***MUST BE A U.S. RESIDENT to enter or have a shipping address in the U.S. Shipping costs have gone haywire and I can't afford to ship everywhere.This is always hard to do as I appreciate all readers but I hope you all understand non-U.S. readers.
3. Random winner will be chosen from ALL CORRECT entries
4. Cards may be shipped PWE. I like to forewarn on this.
5. Sport Card Collectors or it's owner (person who runs the blog), WILL NOT be held responsible for lost, stolen or damaged mail. Sorry had to add this in since someone tried to scam me once about this.
6. Contest starts today, ends on August 30th 2016. Winner will be announced in a separate post at the end of the football season.
7. Don't forget to thank the above sponsor of this contest and I won't mind a thank you as well :)

1990 Pro Set Buick Super Bowl Hampton Rookie Addition

 

At first glance, this just looks like a plain Rodney Hampton rookie card. Believe me, I thought the same. Then I started to investigate as I noticed prices for these were a bit higher and they were harder to find.

Come to find out, this is a 1990 Pro Set Buick Rodney Hampton Super Bowl XXV Commemorative Card. This is from the 1990 Pro Set Buick Super Bowl XXV Silver Anniversary Set that was handed out at Super Bowl XXV. The difference between this and the base rookie is, the Buick card has a Red White and Blue Border at the top and bottom and Buick Logo in the lower right corner.

Finding only two of these on eBay made me grab it before it was too late.

(BLOGGERS NOTE: This post was put together before I decided to do the Hampton Cardboard Craze blog. You will definitely see these cards again on that blog individually front and back and with more detail on each. If you haven't added that blog to your read list, please do so. You can add that blog or check it out with this link, http://hamptoncardboard.blogspot.com/ . Thanks! ) 

SUPER BOWL 50 CONTEST! Thanks to Jaybarkerfan!

Time for another contest! This time you won't know what the prizes are!

Recently, my buddy over at Jaybarkerfan's Junk (please follow the link to check out his blog) has been sending me boxes of goodies. Some I am keeping for my PC and some I have set aside for this giveaway. A prize pack will consist of game used, inserts and base cards of star players across multiple sports. I will also do a few other prize packs but will decide how depending on this turnout. Since I have been sooooooooo busy it took me a long time to finally get this all put together and decide how to spread it all out. Being a huge NFL fan, I think this is the appropriate way.

To win a mystery prize pack, I will reveal this later on when it's all put together along with what bonus winners will receive, read on!

Let's get through this mumble jumble.

1. MUST BE A U.S. RESIDENT OR HAVE A U.S. SHIPPING ADDRESS YOU CAN USE. I know a few non U.S. residents who have people within the U.S. that will ship to them. If you fall in that case, go ahead and enter. If not, I am sorry. Shipping costs are outrageous and I can't afford it. However, if I pull a redemption card or Panini Rewards card in the future I may hold a Non U.S. Residents contest.
2. The contest is sponsored by Sport Card Collectors blog (I may add a few cards in) and Jaybarkerfan's blog. All cards come directly from myself from these two sources.
3. Sport Card Collectors will not be responsible for stolen, lost or damaged mail. I will mail it out the safest way I can, if something happens to it through the USPS process, I cannot be held responsible or asked to replace the original prize. I have a high percentage rate of entrants receiving their prizes.
4. By entering this contest, you agree to the rules above and will abide by them.  If not, you will be DISQUALIFIED!!!!!!
5. If you are a winner and did not follow the rules, you will have to forfeit your prize to someone else.

Now onto how to enter to win this.....

?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

Mystery prize pack(s)!

1. PICK THE SUPER BOWL 50 MATCH-UP! 
2. You get it right, you win something! If there is a tie, a random will be done for first place then I will decide if the turnout is good whether I will expand on that.
3. If nobody guesses it right, I will determine at that point how the prize will be given away. Maybe running another contest of picking the Super Bowl winner.
4. Remember, once a winner is announced, that winner will have 7 days from that post day to claim the prize or we will be in this situation again giving it away to someone else.
5. You will have til September 10th by 8:00 pm et to get your entries in
6. Winner will be announced a day after the Super Bowl.

 Make sure to check out Jaybarkerfan's blog and to say thanks to him!

And I must throw this in as well, GO GIANTS!!!!

Latest Cards To My PC!

Piece of Super Bowl 36 Ticket stub on the back. Some of the most coolest cards.

 Love both of these cards so don't try to make me a trade offer lol. Acquired these for obvious reasons. NY Giants, sweet patch and a Super Bowl Ticket stub above with Isaac Bruce. Unique memorabilia. Both of these cards will be added to my growing PC. Thanks for looking and comments on both of these are always welcomed!!

NY Giants Super Bowl Sets

As I look forward to whatever set they come out with this year for my Super Bowl Champion NY Giants, I reminisce back to Super Bowl 42 and the sets that were created after that huge upset win.

I would say however, the Topps set was more creative. And to me, much more collectible. I own 2 of these. Each set comes with an authentic Super Bowl stub relic from the game. A pretty awesome piece to my collection.

The Upper Deck set is nice too and has a oversize card for its bonus. But it doesn't top the Super Bowl Stub relic. Probably one of the nicest Super Bowl team sets ever produced, from the greatest Super Bowl game ever played.