Panini NFL Stickers

While standing at the checkout counter at Party City buying Mardi Gras beads (don't ask) I spied a box of these 2014 Panini NFL stickers for a buck each so I grabbed two. I don't think I was aware that Panini did football stuff. I know about their soccer stickers. I have quite a few Man U. ones. 

I guess I'm always surprised when I see a major sport product is put out by someone other than Topps because I can never remember which sport Topps has a licence monopoly with. It's all hard to keep straight for me.

So there were seven stickers in each pack. I got about five 'base' stickers and the rest were variations or whatever they should be called. I got a chromey Aaron Rodgers. 

This is what the base stickers look like.

Obviously the stickers are aimed at kids. At least I think so given that both packs had a cartoonish mascot sticker.

Here's one I like. My Texans' helmet on a chrome sparkly background.

I haven't checked but the Hall of Fame stickers are probably only 2014 inductees. If not I'm pissed I got Derrick Brooks instead of John Unitas or maybe Lenny Moore.

Teddy Bridgewater rookie sticker. Investment value? LOL

I didn't know the NFL officially called the London games they play the 'International Series'. That's stupid. But the NFL does a lot of stupid things.

Base cards. Two guys I've had on my fantasy team in the past.

And finally another kiddy mascot.

Well, it's not a total waste of $2. Kids at my school like sports and sticking stuff on binders. These will make a few of them happy.

Monday Morning Quarterback #17 2010 Topps Platinum Tim Tebow

In this ongoing series of posts I am going to feature cards from my fantasy football player collection, specifically the 117 quarterbacks I've had on my team's roster since 1980. I have one selected card for each player in my All-Time Flyers binder. Through the years I've tried to use as many different card varieties as possible while holding on to my preference which is: a card issued in a year I owned the player showing him in the proper team uni in a vertical format. Card availability and my whims have had a big impact on that standard as we will see. 

NFL Info: As this card alludes to, Tim Tebow was one of the discussed players in recent memory. He was a controversial pick by the Broncos in 2010 (actually he was part of a deal with the Ravens that got him to Denver during the draft). He had a strong college resume coming out of Florida including a Heisman Trophy but many doubted his ability to play in the pros. That, and a propensity to rub people the wrong way all added up to headlines and his appearance as a topic on every ESPN talking head segments for months.

He started three games his rookie season in relief of Kyle Orton and nine games in 2011 as the Broncos made a wild card appearance with an 8-8 record. He threw a game winning OT touchdown to beat the Steelers in the WC game than the Broncos were dismantled by the Patriots. He played with the Jets in 2012, listed as a TE/FB and was with the Pats last year but was cut before the season started.

ESPN(!) has hired Tebow as a football analyst for 2014.

Fantasy Impact: I picked up Tebow on waivers during the 2011 season to back up Ben Roethlisberger and fill in during Big Ben's Week 11 bye. That week Tebow played on a Thursday night game against the Jets and I was with my wife at a Sting concert. I'm sure I was the only knucklehead in the place checking NFL updates on his phone while Sting played Every Breath You Take. Tebow had a respectable 17 points and I won my game by 10. I made the playoffs with an 8-5 record but was bounced out in the first round by my long time rival. And so it goes. I took some crap for picking up Tebow (just like the Broncos did) but I've said many times, I'd use a North Korean dictator if I thought he'd get me some points.

The Card: It's chrome-afied, so it doesn't scan well. I'm far from an authority on Topps modern football issues so I have no idea how the Platinum set was issued but it's a cool enough card. I like the rookie 'shield' on the front. The picture and design are fine, too. One quibble with the back. They list only one season of Tebow's college stats. Why bother if you are not going to list them all?

And thus ends what is likely the one and only Tim Tebow post you'll see on this blog.

Watching the Combine on TV.... really?!?

I got an email the other day extolling me to watch the last day of the NFL combine on the NFL Network. Now I'm as big an NFL fan as the next guy, but I simply can't find a single reason why that would be a fun way to spend a day or evening.

Watching guys in spandex shorts and tank tops get weighed, run 40s and take elevation tests is my idea of a slow death. Do they show dudes taking the Wunderlich test? That might be interesting.

Then again I don't understand how some people can spend days or weeks analyzing the upcoming draft in the first place. Now watching the draft, at least the first round, I can see that I guess. I took my boys to a Texans Draft Party once and it was sort of interesting. But I'm not a draft-nic.

For one thing there is a lot more to what makes up a player than those 'measurables'. Take Case Keenam up there at the top. He's one of those guys who probably will never be an NFL star. Likely he'll never be a starter. But he has a ton of heart and desire and a boatload of 'smarts'. He is currently the #3 QB for the Texans (as an an undrafted free agent last spring) after a record setting college career at the University of Houston.

He had to overcome 'too small', 'weak arm' and 'system QB' labels and did well in NFL scouting days on campus. And he's an A-1 totally great kid. Texans' coach Gary Kubiak loves the guy. I think Kubiak sees a lot of himself in Keenam. Case can be seen, home and away, just steps from Coach Kubiak with a clipboard and headset. I know he has designs on being a coach himself one day.

I have a bunch of cards showing Keenam in a UH uni. This is my only one in Texans' gear. It's a sticker auto job but I think the card is terrific. Maybe one day Keenam will defy the odds and get a starters job in the NFL. I hope it's for my Texans and that I'm there so see it.

I miss my BALTIMORE Colts

Don't get me wrong. I love the Texans. I got in on the ground floor with them, I've had season tickets since the first day they were available. But I grew up a Baltimore Colt fan. Not just a fan. More of a religious follower. I say that because I spent my Sunday mornings during the football season in prayer for Johnny Unitas, John Mackey and all the rest.

The day they left for that other city was one of the worst days of my life. Oh, I know the franchise had already been run into the ground by their drunk owner but they were still my team. After they left I tried rooting for the Oilers since I was here in Houston. I was a very lukewarm Oiler follower. And when the Ravens arrived in Charm City I just couldn't make myself root for a club that arrived in the same underhanded way the Baltimore Colts had left. 

So I wandered around until the NFL birthed the Texans. Meanwhile I've continued to collect Baltimore Colt memorabilia. Press guides, cards, pictures, all sorts of things. Which brings me to this item. It's an NFL publication which is essentially an 8x10 magazine-style yearbook covering the whole league. I can't remember where I picked it up but I used to buy a lot of publications from a couple of dealers who regularly showed up at Houston card shows.

The covers are comprised of an illustration by George Bartell. He has an unmistakable style seen in all sorts of ways back in the 60s and 70s. He did the illustrations for some great NFL posters and tons of program covers. He's best known for his automotive illustrations. He also did album covers and book illustrations. A great blog, the Fleer Sticker Project featured those NFL posters Bartell awhile back.

The inside features a four page spread on each team. There is a write-up and a head shot of almost the whole roster. I'd have loved this back in the day. 

And the inside front cover just screams late 60s.

Case Keenum

I'll be at the Texans preseason game tonight. I hate preseason games and resent having to pay full price as part of the package but not enough to quit being a season ticket holder. I only go because I want to keep my seats filled as they have been for every game the team has played. But nothing good usually comes of NFL preseason games. Usually nothing, but not always nothing.

In a preseason game in 2010 Arian Foster ran all over the Cowboys. I mean he looked super. At the time he wasn't a lock to play over Steve Slaton. He had finished the '09 season before with a 100 yard game against New England but that was a game the Pats seemed to sleepwalk through on their way to the playoffs. But that night against the Cowboys I decided that I'd grab Foster for my fantasy team as early as possible. Lots of eyebrows were raised when I drafted him in the third round.

Tonight Case Keenum, like myself a University of Houston alum, is supposed to get significant work at the qb spot. He's in a battle with John Beck for the #3 slot. I suspect he'll end up on the practice squad (just like Foster did in 2009) but I've seen enough of Keenum to never sell him short. He has a lot of heart and desire.

This will be one of the few exhibition games that I don't doze through from my seat upstairs.

Here Comes Football

I'm sure I'll lose a few people right here. Now that NFL camps are active and the preseason games are rolling it becomes tougher for me to keep the posting momentum going, particularly on the '59 Topps blog.

Last fall my posts over there died out because I was, as usual, wrapped up with running my fantasy league, the Texans games and the NFL in general. My goal right now is to not let that happen this year. I'd like to continue to post three to four cards a week over there. Some posts may be short but I know that if I stop posting with the intention to just let a few days pass I'll fall behind.

Meanwhile over here I'll continue to throw stuff against the wall and hope something sticks.

Here is one of my rare shiny football cards. This recent eBay claim is a meaningful one for me. I took a chance and drafted Kurt Warner with the last pick of the '99 draft. Took a lot of crap for it, too.

Warner got me two of my league titles. Thanks, Kurt.