Kicking Off the New Season

The NFL (and pretty much every other sports league out there) has taken a back seat to the MLB in my eyes for the better half of a decade.  It has to do with my inability to focus on too many things at once.  

The change took place sometime in the during the 2010's.  I noticed I wouldn't really care about football or even collecting football cards until both the A's and Padres seasons had ended.  These days, it doesn't even matter if the A's or Padres are in the playoffs.  If both teams get an early vacation, I'll pick teams that don't bother me and casually root for them until a World Series Champion is declared.

Until then... the NFL season and my Seattle Seahawks and Green Bay Packers fanfare are put on hold.  I'll check their box scores and watch highlights, but unless they are playing each other or the 49ers... I won't go out of my way to watch their games online until November.

But there was a time in my life when I would dedicate a serious amount of time following both baseball and football during the two-plus months in the fall when their seasons overlap.

As some of you might know... football cards don't generate as much interest on card blogs as baseball.  However sometimes I have cards I want to share with my readers.  So consider this my obligatory football post to kick off the 2021 NFL season.

Back in late July, I set up as a dealer for the first time in my life at my buddy's card show.  I spent a lot of time digging through boxes looking for cards that no longer fit my collecting interests.  One of the main things I targeted were "sticker-graphs".  I had an entire three-row super shoe box dedicated to them.  80% of the box was stuff most collectors have very little interest in.  Then there were the cards I pulled to sell at the show.  These cards were the bigger names who I thought people might be interested in.

The last group of cards were cards that I decided to keep... even though I have turned my back on signed stickers.  Today's post features the handful of football autographs I pulled from the box along with a brief explanation of why I decided to keep them.

#1:  2007 Triple Threads Autographed Relic Red #TTRA97 (#'d to 18)

Barry was one of those once in a generation athletes and sticker-graph or not, I'm holding onto this card.

One of the things that lured me back into the hobby was watching box breaks of products like Triple Threads, Exquisite Collection, and UD Black on YouTube.  These products were out of my league, but over the years I'd add a single or two from these products to my collection.  This card was purchased in 2010 for $90 (free shipping) on eBay.  Can't imagine spending that much on a sticker-graph these days.

#2:  Donald Driver Sticker-graphs

2008 Leaf Limited Material Monikers Jersey Number #10 (#'d to 50)

2009 Limited Team Trademarks Autographed Materials Prime #9 (#'d to 18)

2007 UD Premier Penmanship Bronze Autograph #PP-DD (#'d to 75)

2008 Donruss Classics Sunday's Best Jersey Numbers Autograph #SB-24 (#'d to 25)

Donald Driver is the Green Bay Packers all-time leading receiver... and he doesn't sign a lot for card companies.  That's why back in 2009, I went out and scooped up these four sticker-graphs for a little under $100 from three different sellers on eBay within a three week period.

I was actually surprised to see these sitting in the sticker-graph box.  They should have been in my Green Bay Packers PC box... which is where they reside now.

#3:  2005 Exquisite Collection Endorsements Autographs #EE-AB (#'d 01/15)

I had been looking for this card, because it's one of the nicer autographs in my Prime # PC.  I actually question whether or not this is even a sticker-graph, because Boldin's signature fits perfectly inside of this window.

This card has been safely transferred into my Prime # PC box.

#4:  2008 Donruss Classics Old School Colors Autographs #OSC-11 (#'d 01/25)

Steve Largent is one of my all-time favorite football players and I had absolutely no idea I owned this card.  Maybe I tossed this card into that box, because it was a Tulsa University card.  But I pulled it out, because it's a Largent and it joins the Boldin in my Prime # PC.

In addition to these two autographs, Reader X recently sent me another care package and inside were two more cards that were the first serial numbered cards in the run...

2016 Elite Extra Edition Emerald Status Auto #8 (#'d 01/25)

Quantrill actually fits into two collections: Prime #'s and Stanford PC.  I guess technically he's also part of my San Diego Padres PC, but he's currently in Cleveland.  He was part of the trade that brought Mike Clevinger to San Diego.

2019 Topps Factory Set Sparkle Foil #231 (#'d 001/162)

2019 Topps is my favorite Topps flagship set since 2015.  I bought and opened up one of these factory sets when they came out, but don't remember these Sparkle Foil parallels.  Most of the #1's in my collection are serial numbered to below 100, so it was nice to see this card in the care package.

The coolest card in Reader X's most current care package was this hard signed custom of him and his son:

I'm always excited to add a fellow collector's custom card to my Sports Card Smorgasbord binder.

Thank again Xavier!  There are still plenty from his numerous care packages that I need to write about.  There's a really unique item he added to my Oakland A's collection that I'll be writing about in the next few days, so stay tuned.

And as for the new NFL season kicking off this week...

Are you excited?  Are you rooting for any team in particular?  Favorite players?

Let's go football fans!  Sound off, because you might not see another football card post on here until after the World Series.

Happy Saturday and sayonara!