I have this card!!!!

This is one crazy hobby. In the middle of January I posted a card I was in need of for my fantasy football player collection. I'm very, very anal about that collection. I've been known to pass up on a waiver claim because the guy didn't have a readily available card. Yes, I'm that dumb. But whatever.

While researching something else I discovered that I lacked a card for kicker Jose Cortez, a guy I'd had for a few weeks in 2001 and had slipped under my (once thought to be impenetrable) card radar. Googling found me this NFL Showdown card from 2002 (or 2003, there is some debate there). It also showed me that the card was ridiculously difficult to find. I'm still not sure why. I figured I'd spent a ton of time in search of it. Probably even longer than my continuing search for the elusive Randy Burke Colts "card". In the meantime I printed out a internet shot of the card and stuck it in my binder as a placeholder.

Soooo...just four hours after my whining post is published Raz, from the Raz Card Blog lets me know that he JUST BOUGHT THAT VERY CARD! Are you serious? And if it showed up (he said it was a 'sketchy website') he would ship it my way.

To fully appreciate how great that made me feel you'd have to understand my obsession with my fantasy player collection. I usually snag a card of anyone I pick up on our Wednesday waivers before I go to bed or else risk the chance of losing sleep by thinking about picking up a card of that player.

But our long national nightmare is over*. Raz' package arrived Saturday and I've got my NFL Showdown Cortez card. I still am not really sure what they were all about other than the fact that they were part of a game.

The front of the card is about what you'd expect from a card that is part of a dice roll game. If you removed that part you would have a fairly nice looking card. The backs of all the NFL Showdown cards are generic.

But the Cortez card wasn't all Raz included in the envelope. He included some modern Japanese cards including some of current MLB guys. I didn't realize that those existed. I'm fascinated by all the Japanese baseball culture and I like puzzling over the backs of these things.  One of my Japanese card guides has a translation section that helps me figure out the player info and stat categories on older cards. The new ones are easier.

These are the two MLB players of some sort of Topps/Japanese/Sega cards. Like a lot of the modern Japanese cards these have very 'busy' backs.

Last but not least Raz included A&G minis of Manny Machado, Adam Jones and Crush Davis. The Machados are different colors. Never seen that before.

And what's this? A Bob Dylan A&G mini which I've blown up. I only began to appreciate Dylan in the last ten years but in that time I think I've acquired about 75% of his non-bootleg discography.

Now that I've got a Jose Cortez card I'm no longer a worried man with a worried mind. Thanks again, Raz. I'm very very grateful for your generosity.

*=tip of the cap to former President Gerald R. Ford

I Need This Card!!

Yes, whatever it is, I need it. And I'm willing to pay dearly for it!

While researching one of my Monday Morning Quarterback posts I was looking through old transaction logs for my fantasy team and the name Jose Cortez popped at me. He was a 49ers kicker in 2001 when I made a trade that included him as a throw in. I actually started the guy a couple of times.

The problem was I didn't recall seeing a card on him in my fantasy football binder. I checked and sure enough, no Cortez card. For years I've been under the assumption that I had some sort of card for every player I've ever rostered. Some of those cards are homebrews for guys who never had a real one, some are unlicensed custom cards made for suckers like me. But if a guy had a card, even if it was a college card, I had him in my binder.

But I have no Jose Cortex card. This is unacceptable. I did a quick check and didn't find any card for him so I figured I'd just throw one together. But a second search found the card you see up top. It's a 2003 NFL Showdown card, whatever that is. Now the Showdown Card site apparently sells these things and the Cortez is listed for $2. But it's also listed as 'sold out'!?! {See EDIT below} But you can sign up to be on the waiting list. So I did, for whatever that's worth.

It would actually be much better if there was no legit Jose Cortez card as then I could make one and feel like my binder is complete. But with an actual card out there, obscure though it might be, I have an obligation to track it down.

It's a new white whale! The Billy Pierce '59 Bazooka will just have to wait. I won't rest until the 2003 NFL Showdown #281 Jose Cortez card is in my fantasy football binder in the placekicker section. I will have this card some day. Count on it.

EDIT: After writing this post on Saturday I found this page. It seem Jose Cortez went on to a career in law enforcement after his football days but got himself canned for improper conduct on the job. Could that be why his card has 'dried up'? 

OMG... EDIT #2: Apparently I'm not the only blogger who had this card in their sights! I found this post from Spastik Mooss detailing his quest for the same card. And he had more info which might help me. The Showdown cards were made by a game card company. And maybe 2002, not 2003. Live and learn.