Product Review: 2008 Exquisite Football

Well, this product means the end of the 2008 football season, and most of the time UD saves the best for last. I think that is still true this year with the revamp of the product and the "added value", though it is still the biggest lottery ticket you will ever buy in your life. With the economy in the crapper, I think this year's exquisite will be a tough sell. However, there are still many collectors out there who save all year for their exquisite case. I think they may be happy with the latest offering of one of the most expensive products ever.

The Good

There is no other place to start with this product than with the RC Patch Auto. It is the focus of every year, and I love them this year. Someone said they looked like King Louis XVI designed them, and I agree. However, they should be ridiculously ornate, especially with the price tag. I like the design, because when it comes to high end, this product IS KING.

Thank the fucking lord that UD switched the super swatch cards this year. Holy shit, after seeing the same goddamn set for two straight years, this new set is amazingly done in my opinion. Im glad they went to the horizontal orientation, and of course, the white background. I know on a lot of the cards they used great action shots, and my favorite part: NO MORE PLAYERS WITH HELMETS OFF!!!

I also really liked added addition of Tiger Woods to this set, as I think he needs some more cards. Its a huge chase at a low print run, and looks amazing. I hope that we get one in our box, because then we might be able to buy a few cases for the people involved and truly have a rip party, RIGHT PEOPLE? 

I want to give my usual props here for the use of an entire set with on card autos. Hey, even flacco is in this one without a redemption, so that is great for the ravens fans who wouldnt like to pay 1000 for a Flacco redemption and end up with a 1 color patch.

Lastly, I want to discuss the good part of the gold packs, the bad I will save. I really like a lot of these cards. They look like they were done in the spirit of UD black, and the use of a lot of auto subjects means that you should get something good out of this pack. Now, it also is an out for people, because you could sell this pack for $150 and make some money back on a box you just took a bath on. After all, it is another auto that isnt a scrub, and it can replace cards like your super swatch or something similar. It really adds value to me.

The Bad

Last year, my favorite part of Exquisite was the jersey number auto cards. It was the most well put together subset of the year, and I made it a point to get one of the Petersons (now the centerpiece of my collection).  This year, the cards are like sushi from the grocery store. The design is blah, the auto space doesnt look right, and they even made some of them dual autos - yuck. 

I mentioned the good thing about the gold packs, but there is one serious bad thing too. The marker they used has a gold or silver paint in it, and they look like they will fade very quickly. I saw someone mention that the type of paint pen they used turns brown over time. GREAT. WONDERFUL. FANTASTIC.

Of course, I want to talk about the use of event used swatches here, because I missed it on my SPA review. We are now almost 2 full months after the Super Bowl, and they are still using the crap pieces. On a product this late and this expensive, that is unacceptable to me. 

The Ugly

I want to come down hard on the guy who created the Exquisite jersey auto set. I swear to god this had better have been the new guy, because these cards are so beyond boring that I fall asleep looking at them. They look like a subset from a product like Gridiron Gear or something. Wow. Oh wait, there are duals too that look worse? Of course there are. Why not? 

 

Fuck me, we better not pull one of them in our box, because I feel bad for that person that gets it as their card from the break.

 

Another awful decision was to parallel the fuck out of the Rare Materials cards. Who's bright fucking idea was that? Since the inception of Exquisite, the rare materials were the 1/1s with all the logos and the autos. Now they are numbered to 10, 35 and god knows what else, and there is no auto to be seen. It was the one card each year that every high end player collector looked forward to, and its gone. Thanks a shitload.

For those of us who only buy one box of Exquisite all year, or maybe two, there is a really ugly side to this product. In my mind, you either hit a home run or you get kicked in the nuts with these breaks. I know they are packed for value, but still, there are still a bunch of watery crap in your mouth boxes. We understand that not every box can be a winner, but hopefully those are part of the minority.

Overall, I really like the look of Exquisite, and I hope that it can help keep UD Football on the map. You may disagree with the concept of the product, but its tough to argue with the content. Considering that this is the last good product for around six months is pretty hardcore, but hopefully we can last on old boxes of SPA and Limited.