Press Pass Does Something Right

I have never put any stock into anything that is released from Press Pass or SAGE. They are unlicensed products focused on players in their college uniforms that rarely hold any value once the real sets come out. This year things are going to be a little different with Upper Deck's lack of a football license, and after seeing this, I think Press Pass is doing something I have wanted to see ever since Fleer went under.

In my Topps roundtable discussion, I talked about using redemptions for full sized items as the next logical step in the game, and here is Press Pass doing the exact thing I said was a great idea. If Panini or Topps were able to get some of the player worn jerseys at the premiere signed instead of cut up, those redemptions for the full sized items would go for much, much higher than stuff out of Press Pass.

Either way, I hope more companies latch on to this idea, maybe even paving the way for some of the coolest inscribed items ever made.

A (Non) Comment On The Worthless Press Pass Exclusive

So far today, Press Pass has made a huge hulabaloo about an inconsequential detail that will affect no one but impatient Florida fans who buy SAGE. Sooooo, not many people. Right. Press Pass announced through a release that they had signed Tim Tebow to an "exclusive contract," but that the contract is only exclusive to their competitor. For those of you who actually like Tim Tebow for some god forsaken reason, you will still be able to get him in every single NFL licensed set this year regardless of press pass' news. Don’t worry your little Christian heads, Tebow will still be able to walk on water through your personal collections.

Really, since the NFLPA has a no exclusives rule, as soon as a set is licensed by the NFL, Tebow is fair game post NFL draft. Although I am sad that I will have to put up with this glorified fourth round pick all freaking year, there is no reason to get your panties in a bunch unless you are a SAGE collector who loves him. Tracy Hackler may have tried to over-hype Tebow's potential like putting lipstick on a pig, but most of us still know he could end up being the biggest draft reach in NFL history. He may be able to run and jump, but that means absolutely nothing when he has to work in a pro offense he has never seen before. Oh, and try and get that long ridiculous motion all the way through with Jared Allen or Dwight Freeney coming at you. Yeah, its not going to work.

Being a winner in college means dog shit when you cant play with the big boys.

Also, the press pass exclusive pretty much becomes a moot discussion when Upper Deck gets the exclusive CLC license starting in a month or two. So really, Press Pass may be out of football cards all together.

In other words, move along, nothing to see here.

Entellajince, Something Is Missing...

Thank you to the people who sent me this auction, I love it.

In other news, Boston College just fell 10 spots in the rankings for US News' list of best colleges.




H/T - Jeff, Matt, Gary

Press Pass Hype Has Reached A Level Of Absurdity

So, I was doing my usual eBay digging that I do when I get bored, and I stumbled across two separate phenomena that I deem absolutely fucking ridonkulous. 

#1 - Matthew Stafford Press Poop autos are going for in upwards of 100 dollars. Are you fucking kidding me? First off, Stafford wont even be worth a purchase until 2011, and even then he will still probably be on the Lions. Secondly, if you look at past trends, Matt Ryan Press Poop autos from 2008 are holding steady at 45 and below, unless low numbered. Adrian Peterson Press Poop autos from 2007 are below what stafford is going for. What the fuck people? This is fucking nuts. Do your fucking homework and stop making "im sad about no football" purchases. Hell, UD draft comes out in a few weeks, calm the fuck down.

#2 - Knowshon Moreno Press Poop Autos are cracking $50 on a regular basis. Holy fucking fuck, I dont even know what to say. Its pre draft and there is no guarantee the guy will even be drafted in the top 20, and you are paying 50 fucking dollars? Are you mental? Jesus. Go buy yourself an auto'ed mini helmet and have something nice until the real stuff comes out, or have a little patience. 

My name is Adam and I think Press Pass is a waste of space. 

This Is What Boredom Does To A Football Collector

Last week, we had the first product of 2009 hit the shelves, which usually would be a happy day. However, this product is PRE draft and is only put out to cash in on something that many football collectors can identify with - BOREDOM.

2009 Sage is basically the brother of press poop, and this unlicensed product is the first in the brown wave of ugly cards with ugly foil stickers. For college collectors, this product is a wet dream because many of those people couldnt care less about which pro team they are on. For other people, this is a boring attempt to cure the boredom of a lack of affordable products since SPA in December. I hate these cards, and I cant understand the people who bust this shit because they want autos of the 2009 players before the draft even happens. Why couldnt you wait? No, instead, lets pay 30+ dollars for an auto of Mark Sanchez who may not even be a first rounder. Fucking ridiculous. Add in the fact that they will be paying triple to quadruple the value for cards that will bottom out as soon as a real product hits the shelves, and you see what I mean. Hell, even the college collectors, whom this product SHOULD be made for, wont even buy yet on the big guys. Why should they?

I know, I know, people will never learn. Its like they think this year's products will be different. They think that SAGE will hold its value for the first time EVER, and they will be able to cash in. Sure, why not.

This is pretty fucking easy: Dont be stupid, dont be that guy, dont buy this crap, and wait for the draft. There are a lot of question marks this year, and you could easily get screwed by buying this early. Its like having a baseball fantasy draft in february, you can only get hurt by not waiting.

Why is Change In This Hobby Always For The Worse?

In lue of a review for Icons FB and after seeing the abortion that is the product, I want to revisit a few things I have talked about before. It seems that these things are getting to the point where I can no longer look at a product like Icons or most of the other new additions to the wax lineup and not laugh at its stupidity. Now, creating card sets is NOT rocket science and I would think that its something one could become a professional at. So, with all of these professional designers, why is EPIC FAIL attached to just about every release that these people have come up with in the last two years?

Lets run down the list:

Premier: Same stuff over and over and over, no new innovations, value DID NOT HOLD
SP Chirography FB: Price point was the worst in history, autos worth less than the cardboard
SP RC Threads FB and BKB: Could be the ugliest set ever, value did not hold, no one cares about letters when they look like that.
Icons FB: Don’t get me started
SP RC Edition FB and BB: Retro themed sets suck, especially when you can only go back 15 years.
Exquisite Baseball RCs BB: Every second world collector is screaming for exquisite baseball, and this is what we get? Crap.
Topps Triple Threads FB, BB, BKB: could not be more boring, price point is terrible for an auto and a jersey, cards havent changed in 3 years. Easiest way to blow $170 and not even break 5 bucks on the box.
Topps Paradigm FB: The only cool thing about this awful ugly set is the box can be used as a candy dish.
UD Draft Edition FB: Why do we need another set that is just like fucking press poop? Find a better way to get a prospect set out.
Topps Sterling BB: So now I have to pay 350 dollars for one hit and it could be a jersey card?
Topps Letterman BKB and FB: Sticker autos on manufactured letters, nuff said.
Topps Stadium Club BKB, FB, and BB: You take a fan favorite set from back in the day and you uglify it, make it 15 times more expensive, and fill it with worthless autos and jerseys. Good job.
Fleer Ultra FB BKB and BB: So you take once cool product from 10 years ago and add worthless jerseys and autos to hike the price.
Topps Performance FB: Made Adrian Peterson autos that no one cared about, awful looking cards, worthless subsets, and horrible price point. More like paradigm jr. than a new set.
Topps TX fooball: Sticker autos on super bowl ticket stubs? Was it really that hard to get hard signed tickets? Wait, this product costs 200+ per box? Oh my god, the humanity!
UD Elements BB: So, you have three mini boxes per box and we know where the jersey auto is? Stupid. The cards are ugly? Stupid. The checklist is the worst of the worst? Stupid.
UD Spectrum BB: Spectrum of the stars? No. Spectrum of the 80s hair metal back up singers. This added to an awful checklist on ALL rainbow foil cards makes for headaches.
Topps CoSigners BB FB and BKB: Ugly cards, the most worthless dual autos ever, parallels that are unnecessary and hard to understand, this would be the fail of fails except for below.
Topps Moments and Milestones: The dumbest idea since non-autoed manufactured patch and letter cards. 10,000 cards that killed millions of trees for no reason, ugly everything, horrible price point, and single handedly made the 1/1 worthless.

Wow, that is a long fucking list, and I didn’t even think that hard about it!

So, what are we going to do about it? That part is pretty simple to break down, as it is pretty obvious what needs to happen (in no particular order):

1. All second world products need to be tinned. Drop the price and the packs full of base, we don’t care about the crap so forget it. Give us the hits and one other card so we can get our fix and be done with it.

2. No more stupid reasons for parallels unless you are a chrome set made by Topps. "So the only reason for this parallel I just pulled is to put a different serial number on it?" No, not any more. If you are going to give us parallels, see LCM from baseball and FB. Each parallel had a different reason for being a parallel. One was base, one was jersey, one was bat/shoe, one was logo, one was auto jersey, etc. Enough with serial numbered parallels for no reason other than to fill out a set, they piss the fuck out of me.

3. Put the cards in cases for high end products when you pack it out. No more dinged edges and bad corners. Because you paid 500 bucks, they should provide the supplies. It would solve a ton of problems.

4. No more sticker autos when the card is irregular. If you have a sticker auto, it needs to be on cardboard and not a ticket, jersey, or something else. Signa cuts put stickers on blank note cards - that is lazy bullshit. If you cant get the cards made, its your own fault. Plan ahead, it works for more than college homework.

5. NO MORE PRINT PLATES! I hate these things more than anything. They dont matter. They arent 1/1s, im tired of idiots thinking they are rare, every product has them, they are ugly.
6. No more event used pieces of shit. If you cant the jerseys from the league fast enough, then don’t put them in the cards. They are worthless and presents the wrong expectations for new collectors. Its time to put autos on every event used card at the very least, or at least have the player wear the jersey for more than 8 seconds. This isnt bull riding.

7. No more ball cards. I don’t care about game used balls. I care even less about event used balls. I hate balls in general.

8. No more non-autoed manufactured letters. Just don’t. Its beyond stupid and makes you look lazy.

9. If you are going to make a celebrity set, make a celebrity set. Don’t put that crap in my sports stuff. I don’t care about an auto of the understudy from Rent.

10 (AND MOST IMPORTANTLY). Give us a reason to bust your product. Guarantee good hits. Guarantee more A List autos per case. Show us why wax is better than buying a lottery ticket. If you hand pack a product there is no excuse for 20 dollars worth of cards in a 500 per pack product, or even a 100 per box product.

Like I mentioned before, all of this stuff has been said in previous posts, but it needed to be done. With more than half of the football card season to go, I am praying that someone suprises me with greatness. So far, its not looking good.

Finally, Your Patience Has Paid Off

If you were stupid and bought a shitload of Press Poop, SAGE, or Draft edition, then I have nothing to say to you.

If you waited patiently for Donruss classics, where the NFL rookies are IN their NFL unis with NO AIRBRUSHED BULLSHIT, then your wait is finally over! THANK THE CARD GODS!




Full product review coming tomorrow.


Score.

Poll Results Discussion w/ Contest

After a long time, the poll about the axing of products is over. Ill make sure to shorten it next time so we dont have it sitting there for a long ass time.

Anyways, I agree mostly with what people selected. SAGE, as a brand, should be axed along with Press Poop - so I am not surprised that the overpriced and overhyped DECADEnce was the top vote getter. I hate printing plates in general, but to have a set based around print plates from fucking gross SAGE sets is fucking ludicrious at that price. Who cares if you pull a Reggie Bush, it aint going to look pretty, and it aint going to be worth shit.

I was suprised that Playoff NFL Playoffs set didnt get more votes, I think its a set that is pretty worthless. You get a bunch of cards that you will never need, and all you want is that bonus pack where you can try to make up the $70 cost of the box. Chances are, you wont.

As for Topps CoSigners, I was shocked that more people didnt vote for it. For 120 bucks you got three autos on two cards, one of which was guaranteed to be David Clowney, XCVIILX. It is a set built on awful parallels and I really hoped it would go away (it will be back for sure). Who thinks of plaid and says, "That is a great name for a parallel!" I guess thats what you get when you parallel the shit out of all your products.

Bowman Sterling was the one product I would support keeping if they lowered the price and took out three fourths of the players they featured. Jesus, with this set you get barely nothing for what you pay. I can only imagine what this shit fest will be like with 40 players at the RC Premiere.

New poll will be up soon, dont forget to vote.

Secondly, a little contest for everyone. Post your answer for the next poll and the percentage you think it will get. For the person who guesses the most popular answer and is closest to the percentage, they will win this Steve Smith 2 color patch card numbered to 50. If you are a baseball guy, ill find something comparable to give you. Your answer must be posted by Wednesday of this week at midnight. After that, you will not be eligible. Tell your buddies.

Review: 2008 Playoff Prestige

Well, our first licensed product of the 2008 season is here. Too bad its Playoff Prestige, which is basically the rookies in their college jerseys with their drafted team helmets below. I like this more than UD Draft which doesn’t display any of the NFL stuff we are craving, and focuses more on being UD Press Poop. Prestige does have a few redeeming factors which I will talk about below, but overall, its pretty much your standard pre-rookie premiere set.

The Good

In Prestige they took a page out of Leaf Rookies and Stars and brought back the signed manufactured patch cards which I think give this set a lot of credibility. The cards look great and make up for the fact that none of these players are listed or pictured in NFL gear. They have collegiate patch autos too, which are just as nice as last year, and overall, I think these are the highlight of the product.



Another good thing is the inclusion of the 2007 RCs on 2007 prestige cards IN THEIR NFL UNIs. I don’t know why, but I like the designs with the actual game pics. Some of the cards have jersey and patches on them, which ill get to in a sec. Either way, these cards are nice and the photography is great. As you can probably tell, I think a rookie without an NFL jersey is like a sitcom with no laughs, so its nice to have these cards to see what they would have looked like last year if the card companies had actually been patient enough to release a nice product.

The Bad

The card designs for some of the jersey/patch subsets are so bad that I don’t want to pull any of them. The swatch is WIDE RIGHT and it leaves way too much open space. Im guessing there is supposed to be room for an auto, but I havent seen many pop up on the world's greatest market place quite yet. They include both vet and RCs in these, college jerseys for the rooks I would guess, and it doesn’t make one bit of difference. These subsets bring the whole product down. At 4 hits/box you are definitely going to get some of these, and trust me, you will want to claw out your eyes as soon as you see.



The Ugly

Even though the cards above are the ugly ones, this space is reserved for one issue that plagues this set more than ugly cards. Based on some seller question research I have found out that all the jersey swatches included from the 2007 class are still EVENT FUCKING USED jersey cards from the 2007 premiere. Are you fucking kidding me? How many fucking jerseys did they wear? 500? Oh my lord get some game used stuff in these cards. Its only been a year for god's sake!

Overall grade B- (BRING ON CLASSICS!)

NOTE: How fucking hard is it to get the pictures taken AT THE DRAFT and put those on the cards. I would rather have a card like that than ANOTHER product with college jerseys.

Back in Black!

Well, its been a long fucking week, ill say that much. It was truly tough to say goodbye to someone you have looked up to your whole life, but it was also nice to see everyone and have a good time. I think it was Lyle Lovett who said something to the tune of how he went to a funeral and had a great time because he got to see everyone he hadn’t seen since the last time somebody died.

Either way, a lot has gone on since the last time I came on. First, Jake Long is the #1 pick, and I actually think that may work out for Miami. I still think you go for the Defensive anchor in Gholston or Long, but you gotta have some bun to protect your meat at QB. Also, in Minnesota homer related news, the Vikes got Jared Allen for 3 picks – BRAVO! I love this deal because there is no reason to take a risk on some unproven guy when you can have the top in the league. Its like having a 68 Ferrari that you COULD restore into the sweetest fucking car ever, or just using the money to get the 68 Ferrari without all the building and polishing. The only problem is he likes the booze. Eh, could be worse – looking at you Adam Jones. Why Jerry Jones took a chance on this DOUCHEBAG, I will never know.

The other thing that happened was the release of UD draft, which is just Press Poop with a UD logo on it. Why god, why would you release this set pre draft? I know there are people who collect college cards but I am fucking sick of seeing this crap. I want my players AT LEAST with the name of the team they were drafted by. Topps DP and P provides that at a minimum. I guess UD wanted to cash in on all the pre-draft “super hype” (or as I call it, buying crap cards to hold you over until something real comes out) by putting out a set to compete with the topps gig. The only thing they forgot is that after DLP’s first licensed set comes out, this stuff will be forgotten.


This card looks worse than this guy's dad's haircut

Funny enough, I stopped in at the UD store in Huntington Beach on my way back from the funeral. The store was nice looking, but I would never pay 120 bucks for Sweet Spot anything. I felt dirty going in there, but felt I needed to check out the new product. After seeing their displays for the above mentioned junk, I will be continuing my ban on all UD products without batting an eye. Not only does UD Draft looked rushed and lacking in meaty goodness, but the cards look awful. If you take out the fact that there is not one single mention of NFL teams, it would still be junk. Spend your money elsewhere. Only 3 months until DLP Classics – patience grasshopper!

My grade: C-

The NFL Draft - Expecting the Expected

Who doesn’t love the draft? Huh? I believe it has to be the best fucking day on the planet for football fans, other than the super bowl, of course. You’ve done your reading, you’ve looked over three million mock drafts, you’ve bought your awful box of SAGE low series (ill get to that in a second), and you have finally settled on that one guy you want to collect.

The funny thing is that if I had more than 3 readers, I would say that 90% of my readership doesn’t follow even one step of the above. Most people just collect the guy that suits up for their favorite team. I do most of the above until I realize that the Vikings guy is really the only one I will follow. Then, after resigning myself to the cruel fate of following a draft pick that most likely wont amount to anything, I finally jump ship and wind up on the bandwagon of the most popular guy of the year.

I know you are asking yourself after this amazing lead in, “WHO DO YOU THINK I SHOULD COLLECT?”

Well, since you asked, here is who I think are good bets for the BEGINNING OF THE YEAR:

Mcfadden, Ryan, and Mendenhall are all DUHs, but I wouldn’t put it past DeSean Jackson, Brian Brohm, or one of the other receivers to make a significant push for the collector’s heart. Just a word to the wise though: McFadden wont have the O-Line that All Day had with the Vikings, as the Raiders or whoever drafts him probably didn’t acquire the talent there to make a first year guy a huge deal. The Vikings had just ridiculously overpaid for Hutchinson, gotten Tony Richardson, and already had Chester Taylor and Bryant McKinnie, so there wasn’t as much pressure on Peterson to make a splash because we already had the pieces in place for a good running game. With the other teams, that probably isn’t there.

As for Ryan, he will probably either start for a god awful Dolphins team, or he will ride the pine while he learns the NFL style offense. This means we are looking at a Brady Quinn or JaMarcus Russell type of year for him as well as most of the QBs. Remember, its going to be at least 3 years before anyone’s investment pays off, so be cautious about keeping your stash of pulls when you could sell them for serious coin at the beginning of the year. Also remember: ALL JERSEY CARDS ARE EVENT FUCKING USED!


Go ahead, buy a few, or you can just send your money to me - its pretty much same thing.

If you are looking for a guy who will make a difference in his team right away, you are stuck with middle first round backs and receivers (Jackson and Sweed), O-line top draft picks (Long), or the same for defense (Long). The reason for the first mention is because teams that draft in the mid to late first round have more of a team in place to establish a rookie guy with little knowledge (see Addai and Maroney). Jackson has been know to have a typical me-first attitude, and should end up with a good team - maybe the Vikings - so maybe he would be the best person to throw 50 bucks at. With the Longs, stay away from the OT and focus more on the DT guy. Some defensive guys carry a big stick in the hobby, and the defensive Long may be a good bet to be the defensive star of the draft much like Willis was last year.

To the lovers of Press Poop and SAGE:

Obviously, the first few series of cards like SAGE and Press Pass are some of the worst possible cards to invest in because they never hold any value once actual cards come out. If you find yourself itching for wax to bust of the new guys, wait for DLP’s Prestige, Elite or even Classics, because they are the first licensed cards and may actually hold some value. I heart Classics very much because they are usually the first mid end product with the draft picks in their team jerseys. Of course the pics were taken at the Rookie Premiere piece of shit, but they don’t include relics in the cards – so im cool. The good thing is that the designs for DLP look better and better every year while Topps and UD fight each other for who can create the worst looking cards on the planet. Both Topps and UD have a new draft product coming out right after the big day, so the collectors will most likely salivate over them (I think they both look awful). What collectors don’t realize is that both companies now have to lose a later product to cover it. Topps already had draft picks and prospects, but UD will have to dump one of the later issues because they never had stuff out after the draft before.


This card looks better than Jessica Simpson at a Cowboys game

Either way, this year seems to be a little less star-studded, but more balanced in terms of players for the first rounders. We can expect a lot of middle of the road rookies with not many that truly have what Peterson had last year.