Panini NFL Sticker Backs

The fun challenge the last couple of years for me was chasing down the letters on the back of Panini NFL Stickers that spell out a word and once thats complete you send it in to Panini in exchange for a prize. Last year, I fell more than 4 letters short. You would have to assume some of them are much harder to get than others as my doubles started to stack up.

So in 2012 when Panini released NFL Stickers I once again was on the chase. Not only for filling up the sticker book. But to find all of the letters. This years letters needed to spell the word F-O-O-T-B-A-L-L.

For months it was stuck at the word  F-O-O-T-B-L-L. I assumed no matter how many sticker packets I pick up, 27 more to be exact after finding those letters, I would never get it and didn't from those 27 packs. So I searched eBay. They had all the letters but. Once again I thought disappointment was upon me. As you remember a few weeks back I had a post about a prize lot I had won from a Beckett forum member:

http://sportcardcollectors.blogspot.com/2013/02/prize-lot-i-won.html

There were some sweet cards and then in the middle of the prize pack were some NY Giants NFL stickers. I didn't think much about them and left them out of the last post cause I figured they were nothing of interest to you guys. But when sorting those card and getting ready to put the stickers away,  there it was staring at me the letter A. My first reaction was...is this the right year? I couldn't believe it! Months and months of searching. At least 50+ sticker packets. And here it was staring at me from a prize lot unexpectedly.

So here are the final results. I went back onto Beckett Forum thanking that member profusely. Never thought it would happen but I did complete it. Now to wait for the prize that could range from shirts, tote bags, cards, stickers and more.

Have you ever tried searching down these letters and have you ever completed a word? Or have you even heard of this before? Let us know in comments!

Fan Box Breaks: Panini Prizm Football 2012 4 Boxes

Our Twitter friend Shane Salmsonson shared his 4 box break of Prizm Football with us. We have been waiting to see how this product looks and hope to try some for ourselves. But for now we could only salivate and watch someone else do the break. Here are his results. Let us know your thoughts as well!

Box  1 Hits

Box 2 Hits

Box 3 Hits

Box 4 Hits

 

Here is what Shane said about his break:
"After seeing how hot Prizm Basketball was, I had to grab at least a few boxes when Football was released.

 

Box 1 was probably my best box overall. Zach Miller was my red die cut. Nothing special, although certainly a sharp looking card. The two autos were the best pair out of my 4 boxes though. Bruce Irvin was the first, with a David Wilson refractor looking to be the best pull of the lot.

 

Box 2 featured a Matt Schaub red die cut. The two rookie autos were Nick Perry and a Robert Turbin redemption. I am excited to see what Turbin turns into over the next few years, as I have pulled quite a bit of him this year. Also, it turns out that the redemption was for a Rookie Prizm Autograph, which will be numbered to 99, instead of the base Rookie Autograph, with a print run of 250. The Turbin could turn into my best hit of the 4 box lot.

 

Box 3 delivered a Tony Gonzalez red die cut and also a Doug Martin refractor "Impact" insert. The best of the two autos was my 2nd Kirk Cousins of the day.

 

Box 4 held my only rookie red die cut, that of A.J. Jenkins. The two autos were Josh Robinson and a Bernard Pierce redemption. Pierce is another running back I have hit quite a bit, and he seems to have quite a bit of promise as well.

 

Overall, Prizm delivered the quality product that it had debuted with basketball this year. Very sharp design. Would have been nice to see the red die cuts serial numbered. Unfortunately I didn't hit a gold prizm, as those have been going absolutely wild on the internet. Was certainly a fun break though. Sharp cards, something to look forward to for years to come."

Fan Box Break: 2012 Sp Authentic Fooball Case Break

Our Twitter friend Shane Salmonson was glad to share his 12 box case break of Sp Authentic Football 2012. Let us know how you think he did:

Box 1 Hits

 

Box 2 Hits:

Box 3 Hits:

 

Box 4 Hits

 

Box 5 Hits

 

Box 6 Hits:

Box 7 Hits

 

Box 8 Hits

Box 9 Hits

Box 10 Hits

Box 11 Hits

 

Box 12 Hits

Here is what he said about his break:

"I buy a case of SP Authentic Football basically every year, or have for the last 4-5 at least. I have always liked the rookie patch autos. And, of course, I appreciate the fact that all autos are on-card.

 

The case started off pretty hot with a Doug Martin patch auto. Was excited to see that in the 1st box.

 

The 3rd box delivered my 1st Stadium Authentics card. Love the look of these cards, and the beauty doesn't really come through with the picture. And with the odds of landing these only 1 in 110 packs, it is certainly not a bad hit. Doesn't hurt that it was Barry Sanders. This box also brought my only gold auto, with it (unfortunately) being Javon Criner. Being numbered to 15 it was still a good hit though. My 3rd rookie patch auto turned out to be Dan Herron, who decided to take over my case from there on out. (I pulled 2 other different Herron autos in the rest of the case). Really nice 4 color patch on this card though.

 

Box 4 yielded my first Sign of the Times card, T.J. Graham. These are some sharp looking cards. Nothing to complain about on the design on the SOTT. The auto patch in box 4 was Brandon Weeden. Nice 3 color patch, and Weeden's auto is a nice one, especially when compared to a lot of the players today.

 

Box 5 probably brought my best hit of the case, with the Herschel Walker Sign of the Times redemption. Looking forward to getting this one in the mail, whenever that may be. Considering I just recently got a redemption from my 2010 SP Authentic case I won't hold my breath while waiting for this one. The auto patch featured another nice autograph, that of Kirk Cousins.

 

In box 6 I pulled a RG III Stadium Authentic card. Again, very nice card. Glad to see the added insert set this year. Last year it got pretty old pulling nothing but base cards. This was probably one of @SportCardCollec's favorite box, because it featured the patch auto of Rueben Randle. Unfortunately just a solid color patch on this card.

 

Box 7 held one of my favorite cards from the case. Not because of value necessarily, but simply because of the neon color of the LaMichael James patch.

 

From here on out the case got pretty cold, with the exception of the "bonus" packs of SP Threads.

 

Box 8 unleashed my 2nd RG III Stadium Authentics card, this one being a "Bowl Game Edition." Ryan Broyles was the patch auto. I hadn't realized at that point that I should have been pretty happy to pull the Broyles...as you'll see from the next few rookies.

 

Box 9 finally brought me my 1st "bonus" pack of SP Threads, with the card inside being an auto relic of LaMichael James. I started to become a bit suspicious though when the rest of the box only yielded the auto patch and one other auto. It turns out that the "bonus" packs counted as one of the autos for the box. I don't remember this being the case last year. I thought for sure that last year I still pulled 2 other autos in addition to the patch auto and the bonus pack. Who knows. The patch auto in this box was Jeff Fuller. (Who?)

 

Box 10 delivered a Nick Toon SP Threads auto relic. My 10th auto patch was Dwight Jones. (I told you the case got cold)

 

Box 11 held my 3rd SP Threads pack, Kellen Moore the card inside. DeVier Posey was the patch auto, could turn out to be a solid receiver in a few years.

 

The final box fittingly had my final SP Threads pack. Saved the best for last on those, Doug Martin. My last patch auto was a decent 3 color Kendall Wright.

 

Overall, still a big fan of the patch auto cards. The patches and the on-card autos just really stand out. At first glance I thought the base cards looked pretty crisp and clean. That was until I spotted the first names of the players on the top of the cards in gold foil. Really thought this took away from the overall look of the base cards, and now I have to deal with over 1,000 of them. I liked the fact that the base cards just featured the player. Really stand out.

 

As far as the value of my case, I don't think I did very well. Missed out on probably the top 3 rookies in the product (RG III, Russell Wilson & Trent Richardson). I also did not pull a gold patch auto for the first time in a few years. The only gold being the Criner base auto. I was glad, however, to only pull 2 redemptions. Unfortunately though my best auto was a redemption (Herschel Walker)."

Thanks again Shane for sharing this with us. If you have a break to share, email us the break and a small writeup to sportcardcollectors@hotmail.com.

Review Panini Contenders Basketball 12-13

Love the football version of this product and wanted to give the basketball a go. Here are the results!

Box Break Down:

• 20 Packs Per Box,
• Find 4 Autograph Cards per Box!
• Boxes will run ya $100

 BASE CARDS: I like the simplicity to the Contenders base cards. Though most of the base card is white, the splash of color is great on the eyes. The white background is kinda scratchy while the player and the color parts are in full gloss. Really helps the card standout. Something you can't see from a picture and only in person.

  

INSERTS: As you can tell from the pictures, most of the inserts are opposite of the base cards, most are very dark. I think a little bit of color may have helped these and separate them from each other since most of them look the same. I also wouldn't mind seeing some numbering to these either. I am a fan though of the Rookie of The Year Contenders die cuts. They look nice, they are die cut and who doesn't like those and they just have a different feel.

AUTOGRAPHS: With four autographs per box, the possibilities are endless when you could possibly hit that top rookie. We didn't, but the one reason this product is always so popular is for these rookie autos some of which are rarer than others and some you may not see everyday. But someday, those are the players to watch out for. Example..Jeremy Lin.

JERSEY/PATCH CARDS: I really like the addition of memorabilia cards to this product and wished they did the same for football. Some are extremely sick pieces and some are even autographed. I don't believe you get one of these in every box but they look nice and are numbered to 49 when you do stumble upon one like we did. In this case, this one is numbered to 49.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Once again, if you are a fan of rookie autographs, this is the product for you. This product is not for everyone though. You can have those great boxes with some top rookie autos or you could have those ones that you never heard of. But for the price it might be worth the risk since the top rookies would go for the big bucks.And now with the inclusion of memorabilia this product might be more appealing to all. Other than some needed work on the inserts, I would recommend this product.

RATINGS:  Bloggers Note: Our ratings are based specifically on the blaster, box or packs we opened and do not express what the overall product could bring. Ratings based on a 1-5. 1 Being the lowest and 5 being the highest.
                Packaging: 3
                Base Design: 3
                Insert Design: 2
                Memorablila/Autographs: 5
                Blaster, Hobby Box, or Pack Value: 4