C'mon Guys... Keep It Safe.

Safety in sports has been the hot topic the past few years.  And in the past few weeks, it seems to have heated up a few degrees.  Crown of the helmet hits in football.  Home plate collisions in baseball.  Employing enforcers in hockey.

I've heard plenty of comments from players, announcers, sports analysts, radio hosts, and fans on these topics... and I continue to see both sides of the arguments.  I completely understand trying to keep athletes safe.  The last thing any of us want to see is a player suffering permanent, life threatening, sports related injuries.

On the other hand, we've been seeing hard hits in football, plays at the the plate in baseball, and hockey fights for years.  And I can't speak for anyone but myself... but it's part of what makes each of these sports interesting and entertaining.

Anyways... I'm not here to campaign for either side.  But if you're not a fan of hockey fights... you probably want to skip this post, because things are about to get bloody.

Still here?  Okay... then let's get on with it.  A few months ago, I finished my 2013 Topps Archives Fan Favorites autograph set.  I enjoyed the challenge of building this set, so I set my sights on building another autograph set.

I decided to go with 2011-12 ITG Enforcers for a few reasons:

A.  They're affordable.  Most of the cards I've purchased have been $2 or less shipped.

B.  The 85 cards will pose a challenge... but it's not to the point where it's unrealistic.

C.  I like the overall card design and how ITG makes the most of a sticker autograph.

D.  And most importantly... I collect hockey enforcers.

It started out with three large autograph lot purchases on eBay.  Then I targeted a few of the cheaper autographs on COMC.  And by last weekend, I had more than half of the set completed.  Out of the 85 cards in the set, I only needed 39 more.

So on Monday, I decided to bust open the box I picked up on Black Friday to see if I could lower that number.  Each box contains 12 cards:  5 base cards, 2 memorabilia cards, and 5 autographs.  Here's what I ended up pulling:

Base Cards

I wasn't too impressed with the Tale of the Tape subset cards, but the Bloody Battles subset is awesome!

Memorabilia Cards

My Hockey Enforcer PC only has a few memorabilia cards, so these two will make fine additions.  And finally the five autographs:

I already had these three guys... but was stoked to add this pair to the set:

That leaves me with only 37 autographs left...

Any of you have any of these laying around?  I have a bunch of doubles available for trade if you're trying to build the set too.

Happy Wednesday and sayonara!