The Green Card

Contest alert!

2011-03-05T08:01:00.001-08:00

The lost collector is doing a contest to coincide with the big east tournament. All you have to do is pick the winner of one of the closest conferences in college hoops, simple right?

http://thelostcollector.blogspot.com/2011/03/contest-big-east-tournament-style.html

Contest alert!

2011-03-01T11:58:00.000-08:00

Second contest alert of the day comes from Tomahawk Chopping. A custom package from your wants/favourite teams what more could you want? all on your doorstep before opening day! Check out the competition here

Contest alert!

2011-03-01T03:36:00.000-08:00

Charles over at hoopography is having an awesome contest, where you have the chance of wining some Panini playoff contenders patches basketball. Go check it out here.

Topps announce big contest

2011-02-22T15:47:00.000-08:00

Topps today announced a contest to help promote their new five star football product. The contest basically revolves around people taking a photo with the card Topps announces, the first person to send this to Topps wins. The first of the prizes is amazing, an autographed helmet from the 2008 NFL Rookie Premiere, featuring the signatures of Matt Ryan, Matt Forte, Joe Flacco, Chris Johnson, Felix Jones, and Jonathan Stewart. I think it's a great idea, but honestly I would prefer it if Topps would do contests giving away these incredibly premium cards instead of contests using the cards. Hopefully this kind of promotion will be used to promote their less premium products coming out in 2011.

Press Pass Football checklist revealed

2011-02-18T08:37:00.000-08:00

Although the future of the 2011 NFL is still very uncertain one thing that we do know will be happening is the NFL draft, which as usual will lead to a mad rush of football products on the market containing autographs from the hot new rookies. One of the first will be 2011 Press Pass Football, which will actually be released before the draft on March 23, 2011. Today Press Pass released a checklist of some of the rookies expected to be in the product. The checklist is not final, but already features the projected No.1 pick, Nick Fairley, and the last two Heisman trophy winners, Mark Ingram and Cam Newton

Darvin Adams WR Auburn
Prince Amukamara CB Nebraska
Akeem Ayers LB UCLA
Jonathan Baldwin WR Pitt
Armon Binns WR Cincinnati
Ahmad Black S Florida
Da'Quan Bowers DE Clemson
Brandon Burton CB Utah
Delone Carter RB Syracuse
John Clay RB Wisconsin
Randall Cobb WR Kentucky
Andy Dalton QB TCU
Marcell Dareus DT Alabama
Tandon Doss WR Indiana
Nick Fairley DT Auburn
Blaine Gabbert QB Missouri
AJ Green WR Georgia
Roy Helu, Jr. RB Nebraska
Mark Herzlich LB Boston College
Cameron Heyward DE Ohio St.
Kendall Hunter RB Ok St.
Mark Ingram RB Alabama
Jerrel Jernigan WR Troy
Julio Jones WR Alabama
Colin Kaepernick QB Nevada
Ryan Kerrigan DE Purdue
Mikel Leshoure RB Illinois
Dion Lewis RB Pitt
Greg Little WR North Carolina
Derrick Locke RB Kentucky
Jake Locker QB Washington
Ryan Mallett QB Arkansas
DeAndre McDaniel S Clemson
Von Miller LB Texas A&M
Rahim Moore S UCLA
DeMarco Murray RB Oklahoma
Drake Nevis DT LSU
Cameron Newton QB Auburn
Stephen Paea DT Oregon St.
Niles Paul WR Nebraska
Austin Pettis WR Boise St.
Christian Ponder QB FSU
Stevan Ridley RB LSU
Jacquizz Rodgers RB Oregon St.
Evan Royster RB Penn St.
Kyle Rudolph TE Notre Dame
Greg Salas WR Hawaii
Dane Sanzenbacher WR Ohio St.
Aldon Smith DE Missouri
Torrey Smith WR Maryland
Luke Stocker TE Tennessee
Tyrod Taylor QB Va. Tech
Daniel Thomas RB Kan. St.
Jordan Todman RB Connecticut
Terrence Toliver WR LSU
Shane Vereen RB Cal
JJ Watt DE Wisconsin
Aaron Williams CB Texas
DJ Williams TE Arkansas
Ryan Williams RB Va. Tech
Titus Young WR Boise St.

All that sparkles isn't always gold (but it may diamond)

2011-02-18T07:21:00.000-08:00

While the hoopla around Panini's gold cards has been enveloping the forums, so has the topic of sparkle variations of cards in Topps 2011 baseball. Today Topps released full checklist for the players who have a ''sparkle'' on a few of their cards. The ''sparkle'' cards are just another way Topps is commemorating it's 60th anniversary in this years set. Below is the full checklist including the card number.

1
Ryan Braun

3
Jon Lester

5
Joey Votto

15
David Wright

20
Hanley Ramirez

23
Jaime Garcia

25
Carl Crawford

35
Shin-Soo Choo

40
Justin Upton

42
Mariano Rivera

44
Martin Prado

50
Alex Rodriguez

60
Andrew McCutchen

61
David Price

67
Vladimir Guerrero

70
Kyle Drabek

75
Jered Weaver

78
Mike Stanton

80
Desmond Jennings

100
Albert Pujols

102
CC Sabathia

108
Zack Greinke

110
Aroldis Chapman

120
Mat Latos

128
Manny Ramirez

140
Brett Anderson

150
Miguel Cabrera

165
Jeremy Hellickson

166
Josh Johnson

169
Chipper Jones

174
Roy Oswalt

177
Brian Matusz

195
Nick Markakis

200
Ichiro

208
Clay Buchholz

209
Carlos Santana

210
Brian Wilson

214
Chase Utley

216
Jose Bautista

218
Victor Martinez

236
Nelson Cruz

240
Andre Ethier

241
Wandy Rodriguez

247
Starlin Castro

250
Carlos Gonzalez

255
Torii Hunter

269
Stephen Drew

270
Ubaldo Jimenez

271
Adam Dunn

275
Clayton Kershaw

290
Ike Davis

293
Justin Morneau

294
Luke Scott

299
Chris Carpenter

300
Roy Halladay

307
Alex Rios

315
David Ortiz

320
Michael Young

322
Brent Morel

330
Derek Jeter

Rush of gold

2011-02-18T06:50:00.000-08:00

Today Panini released a video of the first of their golden ticket cards from 2010 Playoff contenders being redeemed in person. The Mark Sanchez variation of the card was redeemed by Dallas-area collector Michael Keller yesterday. In the video Tracey Hackler (marketing manager for Panini America) also confirms that the Troy Aikman, and Brett Favre variations of the solid gold have also been redeemed, added to this are new listings for the Eli Manning and Chris Johnsons on eBay. The Eli Manning card being the only one with the fixed price, listed at $1,500. At time of writing the highest bid for the Aaoron Rodgers was at $2,025, with 3 and a half days left on the auction. Though the design on the cards may be reasonably simplistic, the idea of owning some of the first solid gold football cards appears to be driving the prices sky high. Below is the video post on Panini America's blog.

Panini Unwraps exlcusives

2011-02-17T13:07:00.000-08:00

While the football variation of playoff contenders seems to be garnering all the attention the basketball version has had a bit of a shake up. This year there is an emphasis on manufactured rookie patch autographs. Manufactured patches don't normally go down too well with collectors, so it'll be interesting to see the reaction to this product. With the emphasis on rookies game worn jersey/patch cards aren't really possible, so I'm guessing this is Panini testing out the waters to see whether the patch cards get a better reception than event worn cards. Below is a box break on this product. The product will retail at $6 a pack and $120 a box, with many online retailers offering pre-sale deals. The product will officially hit shelves on the 23rd of February.

Also in the break Panini dropped a couple of exclusive announcements. Including the fact that the NBA version of the 24 carat gold cards will be available in NBA Gold standard, which is due out in May. No more details about the cards were revealed. It was however revealed that as well as Kevin Durrant Panini has signed deals with Paul Pierce, and David Robinson. Other things revealed with very little detail in the video was that there would be buybacks and veteran autographs as part of this years NBA playoff contenders patches.

2 down in two days

2011-02-17T08:48:00.000-08:00

A few hours after writing a post in which I talked about the first golden ticket being found it turns out that another one has been discovered by a member of the blowout cards forum. With the Aaron Rodgers being found yesterday, today the Mark Sanchez version has been pulled. The member is intending on redeeming the card at Panini headquarters tomorrow, so hopefully we wont have to wait too long to get a proper scan of one of these cards. Until then this will have to do.

A long lost of short prints

2011-02-17T07:00:00.000-08:00

Yesterday night details of the short prints in Panini's latest release of Playoff Contenders Football became available online (the full list can be seen at the bottom of this post). I have to say I'm a bit underwhelmed and a little bit disappointed. I like the idea of players having short print cards of them in their alternate/throwback jerseys, and my initial impression was that was what Panini was going to do with this release, however that's not the case. As you'll see from the list at the bottom of the page some of the variations are as simplistic as a player having the ball in the other hand, or the player standing in a different position. I personally think this is a bit of a squandered opportunity, I can't see many collectors chasing short prints because a player has the ball in different hands. I hope in future that Panini takes this idea further and has all the players in alternate jerseys for short prints next year.

Keeping on the theme of Playoff Contenders Football, someone has already pulled a redemption card of the Aaron Rodgers version of the much talked about gold ticket card. The card is now listed on eBay and looks set to easily break the $1,000 card.

2010 Panini Contenders Football
RPS Rookie Ticket Autographs
- Some Feature On Card Autographs -
-184 Jermaine Gresham
(White Jersey SP)
201 Andre Roberts
(White Jersey SP)
202 Armanti Edwards
(Black Jersey SP)
203 Arrelious Benn
(White Jersey SP)
204 Ben Tate
(Facing Forward SP)
205 Brandon LaFell
(Running With Ball SP)
206 CJ Spiller
(Blue Jersey SP)
207 Colt McCoy
(Brown Jersey SP)
208 Damian Williams
(Blue Jersey SP)
209 DeMaryius Thomas
(Blue Jersey SP)
210 Dexter McCluster
(Red Jersey SP)
211 Dez Bryant
(White Jersey SP)
212 Emmanuel Sanders
(Black Jersey SP)
213 Eric Berry
(Left Arm Covers # SP)
214 Eric Decker
(Orange Jersey SP)
215 Gerald McCoy
(White Jersey SP)
216 Golden Tate
(Left Leg Covers Name SP)
217 Jahvid Best
(Blue Jersey SP)
219 Jimmy Clausen
(Black Jersey SP)
220 Joe McKnight
(Green Jersey SP)
222 Jordan Shipley
(White Jersey SP)
223 Marcus Easley
(Ball In Right Hand SP)
224 Mardy Gilyard
(Left Hand Out SP)
225 Mike Kafka
(Green Jersey SP)
226 Mike Williams (Exch)
227 Montario Hardesty
(Ball Covers Numbers SP)
228 Ndamukong Suh
(White Jersey SP)
229 Rob Gronkowski
(White Jersey SP)
230 Rolondo McClain
(Hands Above Waist SP)
231 Ryan Matthews
(Facing Forward SP)
232 Sam Bradford
(Both Hands On Ball SP)
233 Taylor Price
(Ball In Right Hand SP)
234 Tim Tebow
(White Jersey SP)
235 Toby Gerhart
(Ball High On Chest SP)

Hobby Gold! (and diamond and erm... pujols)

2011-02-16T09:20:00.000-08:00

This just my round-up and opinion on some of the hobby news stories that have broken over the last day or two.

First up as many of you will be aware Topps diamond card give-away has been launched, giving people a chance to collect and trade classic cards from the last 60 years of Topps baseball. The giveaway also gives people a chance to win Topps diamond rings and 1/1 cards that have diamonds embedded in the cards. Within a few hours of the giveaway starting people are already reporting having redeemed one of the diamond embedded cards, the first collector with proof posted this to the blowout cards forum. I personally love the idea of the giveaway, and it adds a level of ease to trading that us overseas collectors aren't used to.

Today Panini announced that collectors will be able to collect real gold cards from this years incarnation of playoff contenders football. The cards will be inserted into packs in the form of redemptions to stop the cards becoming damaged, and one would assume to stop people pack searching the packs for incredibly valuable cards. There are 52 cards that feature veterans as well as rookies. Panini have also released details that there are in fact short printed variations of the rookie on card autogrhs the product is famous for, however information how limited these short prints are hasn't been released to the public. A more accurate description of the gold cards and a box break of playoff contenders can be seen below.

And finally topps has announced today that they will be inputting buybacks for the highly sort after Albert Pujols rookie auto into packs of 2011 Tribute Baseball. There will be 30 buybacks, each of the buybacks will be good for one of the following cards.

2001 Bowman Chrome Autograph

2001 Topps Finest Autograph

2001 Topps Reserve Autograph

It may just be a ploy to get people to buy one of their least popular products, but it has the looks of a ploy that may just work on a lot of collectors.

Something seems amiss

2011-02-15T07:40:00.000-08:00

I'm still relatively new to the concept of how products are put together, but something piqued my interest when watching the production line video of National Treasures Football that Panini posted on their blog last night.

At 4:52 the camera hovers on a patch card of Steve McNair that's waiting for an autograph. Now this is where things seemed a little odd to me. I assume that the autograph will be sticker and not cut, but Steve McNair passed away in July of 2009, so we can assume that the autographs being used weren't originally intended for this product. I'm not sure whether it's common practice for companies to hold back reels of sticker autograph's to use in multiple sets, but it must have done so in this case. I'm sure many Titans fans are excited about having a chance to pull an amazing looking cards of one of the best players in franchise history, for me however it get me questioning whether other auto's in this set (and other sets) are simply left overs from other products. Don't get me wrong I love the look of this set, but for such a high price I would expect more than left over sticker autograph's, then again this could be common practice that I'm just not aware of yet. I have tweeted Track Heckler to ask where the McNair autograph's came from, but at the time of writing this I haven't received a response. If this is a one off it's understandable, but for such a premium product to simply be using run off stickers (and this possibly affecting the checklist and design of the cards) seems a bit lazy to me.

Panini Timeless Treasures: First Impressions

2011-02-14T14:20:00.000-08:00

People always say that it's important to make a good first impression, and wow does timeless treasures do that. Panini have released the second round of images of their soon to be released high end football product. The main selling points are on card autos for all the rookies, massive jumbo game worn patch autos, and a checklist featuring some of the best players to ever play the game. Panini have also managed to get cut auto's from legends who sadly no longer with us including Walter Payton and Jim Thorpe.

The only set back is that the 8 card pack (2 base, 6 auto or mem cards) will set you back $400! If I could afford it I would definitely take a gamble on this set. Topps are really going to have to step up their game if Five Star Football is going to compete with this.

Below is a few of the cards feature and a video looking at some of the mem cards that are yet to be signed. For a more complete gallery check out Panini's blog post here.

A Funner Contest alert!

2011-02-14T06:43:00.001-08:00

I think most of you may have seen this, but if not it's a great contest with some great prizes.
http://thingsarefunnerhere.blogspot.com/2011/02/contest-and-its-easy.html

Bowman Sterling Bang For My Buck

2011-02-14T06:25:00.000-08:00

Despite my university work piling up and my blog posting slowing down my collecting hasn't. Bowman Sterling is a product I would never be able to afford to buy a whole box of, however when looking on the bay I discovered I could get a lot of the lesser hits for around $1. I really love the design of these cards, and so a new PC was born. I'm going to try and complete as much of 2010 Bowman Sterling Football for under $2 a card, I so realised how difficult it would be if my limit was only a dollar. Here's what I've managed to get hold of so far.

Base Cards

Vladimir Ducasse, Gold Refractor /50

I know he's a O-lineman (who may not even be starting any more), but I got this card for less than $0.10

Antonio Brown, Refractor /299

Jersey Cards, Unnumbered

Anthony McCoy

Jermaine Gresham

Demaryius Thomas

Armanti Edwards

Jersey Card Refractors /299

Santana Moss

Steve Slaton

Andre Roberts

Blue Rafractor Jersey Cards /99

Ben Tate

Mardy Gilyard

Dexter McCluster

Unnumbered Auto

Anthony McCoy

Panini Responds

2011-02-01T11:24:00.000-08:00

So Panini has finally put out a statement about the Bradford 1/1 card, and while it makes, I still find my self not completely satisfied. The full statement can be found here, but the short of it is that the card was pulled for a box opened for quality control purposes, and then found it's way to customer services instead of being repackaged. While the reason it turned up makes sense, the fact that Panini would be doing quality control to late to have it repackaged doesn't. I think we are also forgetting that the person who posted this also claims that he was sent other cards with really low serial number, and if I remember correctly another 1/1. Did these come the same way? If so how come Panini seems to have a lot more luck ripping boxes than you or I?

Bradford-Gate

2011-02-01T04:32:00.000-08:00

Looks like the whole mess of why the Black 1/1 auto patch of Sam Bradford wasn't inserted into packs may finally be cleared up today. Panini's head marketing manager (and former Beckett employee) Tracy Heckler tweeted this late last night.

@TracyHacklerTracy Hackler

Official "Bradford-Gate" statement coming Tuesday. #collect

9 hours ago via TweetDeck Favorite Retweet Reply

So hopefully it will all be cleared up tonight, though I imagine it will be nothing more than the overrun explanation, which can be found here. Whatever the explanation is it's taken over 5 days for Panini to issue a statement, which is quite a while considering the uproar it's caused. In the meantime I'll leave you with the image of the beautiful card at the centre of all this.

Sick Days Roundup

2011-02-01T04:18:00.000-08:00

I'm finally feeling better so I thought I'd catch you all up with what's been happening with my collecting while I've been ill.

I busted a few hobby packs at the beginning of last week. Including a pack of 2010 Topps platinum baseball, which I was really disappointed with, for some reason I can't explain I'm really not a fan of the design. The highlights of the packs was

DeMarcus Ware, Topps Chrome 2010, Blue refratcor /250

And if I understand the Topps Magic checklist correctly

Ahmad Bradshaw, 2010 Topps Magic, Base short print

Bradshaw is a strange choice for a short print if you ask me, but not according to Topps.

I also got in on $5 pack break of Panini Certified over at the sports card radio forums. If your not a member I'd highly recommend signing up, a great little community with some great contests. The highlight of the pack

Anquan Boldin, Mirror Red /250

Today I also got a package from BA Benny (Check his blogs out here and here). Inside was a couple of cards to help with my 2010 Topps Chrome Football Rookie collection.

Thanks again Mike.

Until next time (which hopefully won't be so long!) happy collecting.

Around the blogroll

2011-01-29T09:44:00.000-08:00

The end of this week I've really been struck hard by the flu, I'm currently writing this while being bed bound and running a fever. One of the plus points of being bed bound, is the fact I've had a lot of time to catch up on the latest updates to my blogroll. With plenty of my time on my hands I though I'd share some of the highlights with you.

One of the big releases of the past week was Topps supreme, while supreme is a bit out of my price range I've found a couple of great reviews both at A Cardboard Problem and Enough already. It however doesn't appear to be all rosey with Topps supreme, it looks as though they're using slightly different card designs to give cards lower numberings again.

I do like many collectors out there find myself becoming very critical of Panini, they do seem have a habit of flooding the market with similar products (the fact plates and patches started life as an insert in a different product is a great example of this), and having somewhat questionable design choices sometimes. However I do think they are leaps and bounds ahead of the competition when it comes to digital marketing and being in touch with customers, something fleshed out a lot more in this post from collectors crack.

Talking of Panini being under fire, a member of blowout cards forum recently claimed to have received a 1/1 Sam Bradford auto (and other amazing cards) as a replacement for redemptions. If you haven't heard about it this is a great place to start. Steven at sports card file put up a really interesting post about how something like this could happen.

Colby at cardboard collections is putting together a great group break which is definitely worth checking out .
As always Colin and Ryan at the sports card radio forum a putting together some awesome contests.

Hopefully service will resume as normal next week, as I have quite a few packs to break and some maildays to post about.

Thanks for reading

Bang for my buck

2011-01-27T10:08:00.000-08:00

This is another post of cards that I've managed to find for less than a $ on eBay. There's aren't quite as good as my last pick ups, or the ones that should be in the post.

Arrelious Benn. Topps 2010, Jersey

Lee Evans, Topps 2010, Jersey

Jason Pierre-Paul, Topps 2010, Black Rookie

Pat White, Sage, Autograph 196/400

Derek Anderson, Sage red

Ronnie Brown, Sage Silver

Jonathan Dwyer, Press Pass 2010, Auto 26/199

Eric Decker, Press Pass 2010, Auto

Zac Robinson. Press Pass 2010, Auto

Zac Robinson, Press Pass 2010, Auto 16/99

Freddie Barnes, Press Pass 2010, Auto

Dorin Dickerson, Press Pass 2010, Auto

A lot of rookies that are yet to prove themselves, and some pro's that are yet to really prove themselves either. While my collecting is yet to really focus itself I'm happy to pick up bundles of 'Hits' for less than a dollar each.

Contest alert!

2011-01-23T05:18:00.000-08:00

Tebow fever is still with us, and apparently one man can have too many Tebows!
http://cardboardcollections.blogspot.com/2011/01/super-duper-easy-contest-win-tim-tebow.html

State of frustration

2011-01-22T04:13:00.000-08:00

As a collector from the UK a lot of the cards and packs I buy will come through eBay. This means I have to put a lot of trust in sellers, whether this trust comes in the form of actually shipping my goods or not searching the packs that I buy from them. I try to buy from those who have hobby shops, which would hopefully mean they would take this seriously and not see it as an opportunity to put one over on a customer. However I sometimes get tempted into buying packs/boxes from those who seem to do it as a one off not as a business. I always make sure I buy from people with a good rating, and mostly positive comments, but I have recently discovered that this doesn't guarantee an honest seller. Two sellers I bought packs/boxes off just before Christmas have deactivated their eBay accounts and won't reply to any emails I have sent them. eBay do seem to be on top of the situation, having refunded some of the disagreements at the time of posting this. I just don't understand why people would do this, I can't see them getting away with the money, and it just causes a lot of unnecessary hassle and me feeling even more suspicious of those I buy from. I will never know whether the packs I buy have been searched, this is blind trust that I will never be able to know is being lived up to.

Whilst this has been going on I have started to discover that collecting isn't merely about the acquisition of cards, it's also a community. A community that I'm more and more starting to feel part of, so I'd like to round off a post about negative experiences with a thank you to those who have made me feel welcome into the collecting community, not just on here but on the sports card radio forum as well.

Contest alert!

2011-01-21T08:11:00.000-08:00

This is a competition you've probably already heard, but if you haven't you definitely need to head over to all about cards. The grand prize is all of the card boxes you see below.

eBay on the cheap

2011-01-19T04:11:00.000-08:00

These are some cards I found for around $1 on eBay. I really wanted the Marshall Faulk patch, and the seller did really good shipping, so I thought I might as well pick up some of their other lots at a really cheap price.

Byron Leftwich, Patch from 2007 Ultimate Collection, 67/99
I have a bit of a soft spot for Byron Leftwich, he's always been a solid backup when the Steelers have needed him, and this is just a great looking four colour patch (almost five, there's a tiny bit of white in the right hand corner)

Dunta Robinson, Rookie Auto from 2004 SP Authentic, 252/990

Still one of the highest paid CB's in the league. His absence in the Texan's secondary has been obvious this season. A very nice on card auto of a NFL starter.

Mohamed Massaquoi, Patch and ball from 2009 Gridiron gear 47/50

Massaquoi has become a starter in the Browns offense, and despite having a couple of unspectacular seasons is still expected to become a solid starter in the league.

Marshall Faulk, Patch from 2005 Ultimate Collection 02/50

And the card that started it all off. I couldn't resist a low numbered patch card from a future hall of famer.

Over all I'm happy with the cards and what I paid for them. I do think in future I need to be slightly more focussed in my collecting, but for now am happy picking up nice cards at even better prices.

Pack Busting

2011-01-17T09:48:00.000-08:00

I'm going to round up the packs I busted at the end of last week in one post, otherwise I can see myself getting behind with the blog again. All of these are hobby packs bought through ebay. I've also decided to start rating the packs, at the moment I'm buying packs of a lot of different sets to get a feel for which sets I want to collect, so I'm going to be making very snap judgements on just one pack.

Pack One; Upper Deck 2006 NFL Legends

Joe Cribbs,
Johnny Rodgers,
Antonio Freeman,
Steve Smith,
Marshall Faulk

I'd never heard of this product before, and I love cards with legendary players on them, so this product seemed perfect for me. I really like clean classy design of the cards, very fitting with the theme of the set and not to in your face (looking at you panini). The checklist looks really solid and for the price I paid this may be a set I try and complete.
Verdict
Nice base design and good checklist.
3/5

Pack Two; Rookies and Stars 2006

Rudi Johnson,
Eric Moulds,
Larry Fitzgerald,
Jabar Gaffeny,
Roy Williams

I'm not too sure why I bought this pack as I wasn't too impressed with 09 version, and the 06 outing did nothing to change my mind. I'm not a huge fan of the players being put against a background instead of using the full shot, and the background here is just a bit too busy for me. I also pulled another Rudi Johnson who haunts me.
Verdict
Not a fan of the base design. I can only see 2 stars in this pack and no rookies, so it doesn't really live up to it's name.
1/5

Pack Three; 2008 Topps Chrome

Braylon Edwards,
Dan Connor (Rc),
Reggie Wayne (Pro Bowl),
Brett Favre flight to 420 insert (398)

I really like the design of these cards, the chrome affect makes what I thought was a poor design on the normal Topps chrome set look really great here. Not a massive Favre fan, but it would have improved the insert card if the photo was a shot of the TD pass, not favre stepping back.

Verdict
I love the way the Chrome effect is used to enhance the design. Nice selection of cards/inserts for a four card pack. 4/5

Pack Four; Topps NFL 2009

Chad Pennington, Joey Porter,
Roy Williams, Sean Smith (Rc),
Keith Bullock, Johnny Knox (Rc),
Michael Turner (Pro Bowl),
Tony Gonzalez (Pro Bowl)

The design is very stripped back and lets the (mostly) top class photography take centre stage. I liked the amount of variety given in a pack with not all base, though I did only get 8 instead of the promised 10 cards which left me a bit miffed.

Verdict
Cheap. Simple design. Reasonable selection. Odds even in a hobby pack are a bit high. Great for people new to collecting. 3/5

Pack Five; Bowman Chrome 2009

Darrius Heyward-Bey (Rc)

Eddie Royal

DeSean Jackson

Bernard Berrian

The base design is striking, and enhanced by the chrome effect. I like the idea of putting green around the rookies, I would like it even more if I pulled a better rookie. I'm also not to sure why the back talks about their draft and their career.

Verdict

Solid design. Ok pack. The cards are very bowed.

3.5/5