Super Bowl Countdown Day 5

I picked up a mini-box of 2013 Finest a while back.  I'm going to split it between two posts because this is a half-assed effort.

Today, we get the first three packs.

Pack 1

Pack 2

There's that Landry Jones again.  He's everywhere.

Pack 2 Refractor of Kyle Rudolph

Pack 3

Pack 3 Xfractor of Tyler Wilson

Well, no more points today.  It's still 8-4 Broncos.

Super Bowl Countdown Day 4

Sadly, three more packs of 2013 Prestige are waiting here for Day 4.  Why do I punish myself like this?

Oh snap.  1 point for each team, despite the fact that I really want to take Sherman's point away.

5-4 Broncos.

You won't hear me complain about Landry Jones.  He's been the subject on two of my best pulls this past year.

Montee ball comes through again!  It's a Bronco; it's a rookie; it's an insert! 3 Points!

8-4 Broncos after 4 days.  Only 3 days remain.

Super Bowl Countdown Day 3

Today's offering is three packs of 2013 Prestige aka 2013 I Wish I Hadn't Bought These.

Wrong Manning.  Perhaps Eli tried to throw some points to Peyton but they were intercepted.

No points.

POINTS!

I award 3 points (Bronco, rookie, insert) to the Broncos for the Montee Ball Prestigious Picks insert.

Broncos lead the Seahawks 4-3 after three days.

Super Bowl Countdown Day 2

Today's pack is a 2013 Topps Football Jumbo pack.  I actually got this right when it came out a long time ago.

Here are some of the base cards I found notable.  No Broncos.  No Seahawks.

Well, the inserts didn't exactly add to the score. 

I managed to get a photo variation in the pack:

Pretty cool, but not a Seahawk or Bronco.

I also hit an auto, and a pretty nice one at that.

This one went on eBay pretty quickly.  Awesome looking card (a mini, too). 

On day 2, the score remains the same.  3-1.

Super Bowl Countdown Day 1

Well, I might as well let some cards predict the super bowl winner this year.  In 2012, the cards correctly predicted a Giants win.  Last year, though, they screwed up and picked the 49ers.  Let's see if they can improve to 2-1.

First up, a bunch of packs of 2013 NFL Stickers.  I'll give 1 point to both Peyton's Broncos and Russell's Seahawks for the wrapper.

Pretty standard unexciting helmetless photos. 

Chris Harper gets the 'Hawks 2 points for his RS (Rookie Sticker?).  Thanks to Dennis for noticing this one as I completely missed it.

 

Well, if that last sticker isn't appropriate, I don't know what is. Seahawks lead 3-1 after day 1.

Winning, Hockey Style

A while back, I won a contest on a blog that doesn't seem to exist anymore.  It was a mostly hockey blog, but he occasionally showed other stuff. He often ran contests, and I typically lost.  Until this time.

From his perspective, the contest involved choosing a number, having a random player assigned to you, and if that player scored the team's first goal of the season, you win.

From my perspective, it involved choosing a number.  I'm not a big hockey guy, so I don't remember names all that well.  I do remember that I actually got to choose the number 3.  That seems to be one of the first ones taken in those contests, so I was happy to get my favorite number.  Unfortunately, it was assigned to a defenseman.  Oh well, better luck next year, I thought.  However, I pulled off a miracle as my guy scored the first goal. 

My prize package was fantastic.

First, a nice auto of the 2010 Olympic MVP and 2010 Vezina Trophy winner.

At this point, I was standing tall.  The next card blew me away, though.  More accurately, it swept the leg.

Wow, a crazy oversized jumbo auto of Billy Zabka of The Karate Kid and How I Met Your Mother fame.

The last card in the package is amazing.  I'm not a hockey collector, but I have a great appreciation for vintage cards, especially when they look great and feature legendary players:

That is one beautiful card.

Thanks, Casey!

Sunday Strata!!!

I enjoyed my first box of 2013 Strata so much (and made back all my money) that I decided to buy a second one just before Christmas.

In my first box, I got the David Wilson base card I wanted, and in my second box I got the Vick base card:

There are retail and hobby versions of the base set, with hobby being on thick card stock.  My want list for the hobby base set can be found here.

I only got 4 topaz parallels this time.

The background looks much orangier in person, I think.

My rookie die cuts were ok.  They're not my favorite inserts ever.

In each box, you can pretty much expect a jersey card, an auto, and a clear cut auto.

#086/213

My jersey card is Marquise Goodwin of the Bills.  He didn't see a ton of balls thrown his way this year, but still managed 17 catches for 283 yards and 3 TDs.  He also put in some special teams work.

Gold #58/99

Hopefully Reed can come back next season and pick up where he left off.  He played just 9 games before a season-ending concussion, but still put up 499 yards and 3 TDs on 45 catches.   This card is headed to Ken over at Cardboard Hogs.  The gold parallel looks great with the 'Skins.

Finally, my clear cut auto is Tyler Eifert.  He's not one of the top rookies, but he's not bottom-of-the-barrel either.  He had a decent rookie year, and has a lot of potential, especially the way TEs get the ball these days.

Not a terrible box, but definitely my last one for a while.

Before I go, I might as well throw out some predictions for today's games.

Broncos by 10 (I hope Manning tears it up)
Seahawks by 12 (I would love for Kaep to have a great game, but don't see it happening)

Trade Post Catch-up: The Lost Collector

Well, AJ aka The Lost Collector only beat me to the trade post by about 6 months.  Not too bad, right?

AJ sent me a plethora of great cards:

Great Zims, including a pair of RCs I didn't have.

More great Zims.

 

More Zim.  In case you were wondering how I met my 2013 Zim goal so easily...

Hey, those aren't Zim!

BJs...teeheehee.

Lastly, a couple of guys making defensive plays:

 

Awesome trade, AJ!