2018 COMC purchases: PC potpourri

It's almost time for me to say goodbye to 2018 and the purchases I made last year on this fine evening in...MAY?!  Yeah, it's taken me far too long to post these, but what else is new?  Ignore my procrastination and enjoy some very cool cardboard starring some of my football PC guys:

Touchdown Tim is the first of eight different players today, and I was quite happy with this little haul:  three numbered inserts and a hit.  '96 Leaf's Grass Roots has a grassy felt feel to it, '99 Score Showcase was celebrating 10 years of the football product, and 2000 Topps Gallery's Player's Private Issue parallel (#d /250) is a nice example of how Topps could get it so right before they firmly planted their heads up their collective ass towards the end of the 2000s.  Meanwhile, a Panthers blue 2001 Pacific Invincible jersey is hit #10 of the Wolverines RB legend.

I didn't have many cards of this duo so I thought it made sense to pair up 2007 Cardinals draft picks Alan Br--

dude that kills QBs dead, and speedy WR Steve Breaston when showing off this 2007 trio.  Branch appears on a Donruss Gridiron Gear Gold Holofoil X's (#010/100) parallel as well as his Upper Deck Trilogy RC (#111/399), a card from a product that looks great with its acetate-ness, but can be annoying to track down (and scan!).  Breaston joins in the rookie fun with his Select first-year (#203/599).  I now need just three of Branch's RCs and five of Breaston's.  Progress!

We're closing in on two months since I started this latest series with Jason Avant's haul--10 cards--and now I'm showing off nine more of his former position- and team-mate, Braylon Edwards.  The first two are parallels from 2006 Score (Gold) and 2010 Contenders (Playoff Ticket) and are numbered to 600 and 99, respectively.

The next seven are all relics I grabbed at low, low prices, a.k.a. my COMC wheelhouse.  A few of these are even dubbed "Prime" by Panini meaning their swatches are above average.  2007, '08, '09, and 2011 are all represented here and there's a mix of numbering between 50 and 299, not to mention designs and swatches.

This hit parade launches Bray-Bray into third place in my football collection with 81 hits, ahead of Jake Long and behind only Chad Henne and Mario Manningham.  His new PC total of 285 also equals Henne's, though that tie will be broken in this run's final post.

Here's a quartet I wasn't expecting to score when I was buying up cards on COMC last year:  a RC and three great parallels of tackling machine David Harris!  His beautiful Michigan uniformed first-year from '07 Elite leaves me just one shy of Harris' RC run, plus it just flat-out looks nice.  The other three are numbered parallels from 2016 Donruss.  In order:  Press Proofs Silver (#032/100), Press Proofs Silver Die Cut (#27/75), and Stat Line Season (#088/108).  The die-cut card scanned the best and really does look terrific, but the Stat Line insert remains a favorite of mine.  David did indeed compile 108 tackles in 2015, the sixth and final time he crossed the century mark in that category over his 11 NFL campaigns.

I don't really have anything that goes with this Marlin Jackson auto RC from 2005 SP Authentic (#746/850) so it gets the spotlight to itself for a minute.  This is a fairly textbook SPA look (if not one of its best) and comes with a cool camp action photo, plus Jackson's interesting signature (a.k.a. hit #22 in his collection).

The final three cards today represent a pair of Giants notables.  Amani Toomer appears on an insert you've seen before this series:  2000 Fleer Focus's Draft Position parallel.  His card's numbered /204 because he was the fourth selection in the second round of the '96 draft (a round after Carolina took Biakabutuka).

RB (running beast) Tyrone Wheatley stars on the other two inserts:  '95 Sportflix's Rolling Thunder and a '96 Leaf Press Proof.  The former is another example of my love for 90s inserts while the latter is a fun die-cut version of one of the decade's hotter parallel types.

After I put these away I'll have just one post left before I can get back to 2019 fodder.  Stay tuned!

2018 Sportlots purchases: it's so cold in the D

In what has to be a first in my combined time at the University as a student and then staff member, the school closed up shop for two days (today and tomorrow) due to the ridiculous wind chill courtesy of the globally climate-changed polar vortex.  That's almost as rare as the number of honest bones in Urban Meyer's body!

This evening's post's title refers both to an infamously bad song that can be viewed on YouTube (NSFW language warning) plus the side of the ball on which has been the traditional strength at Michigan.

Let's have a look at six of the team's defensive greats in the form of Sportlots pickups!

Hey!  It's Ala--

#alanbranchkillsQBs

-n Branch!  I was able to target and score a nice number of Michigan uni cards throughout this purchase and was extremely successful when it came to the monster DT--a 100% hit rate!  Everything you see is from 2007 with the first four made by Press Pass and the last by SAGE.  They're all quite nice to look at, if you ask me, but the numbered Reflector parallel and base SAGE are my favorites.  In fact that's likely my favorite design in the latter's run, though I should try comparing them all side-by-side at some point.

This five-spot bumps Branch up to 60 cards.

Player #2 is CB Leon Hall.  It doesn't look like there's much to celebrate with just this pair but they ended up being significant as the put him at exactly the century mark, the 15th of my football PCs to reach 100.  On the left is SAGE's Aspire base from '07, and while I don't love the design as much as anything above I still appreciate the use of a nice home action photo.  The other is a 2011 Score Glossy parallel, which is not the most exciting of inserts, but is new to his collection and therefore useful.

Four of today's players came to the NFL in the ridiculously talented 2007 draft class that really should have won more but didn't for a variety of reasons.  The third of that quartet is tackling machine David Harris, a guy who enjoyed 11 productive seasons in the league (as much as anyone can "enjoy" spending most of their career with the Jets).  New to his collection today are Score Glossy parallels from 2008 and 2011 and base cards from 2008 Select and 2012 Prestige.  Again, nothing too exciting--and no college cards--but I'm always glad to add to his PC, which now stands at 75.  I have a few interesting additions from COMC that will follow soon!

Former DB Marlin Jackson (who's always fun to search for--"NO I didn't want Marlins players named Jackson!") breaks up the '07 party as a 2005 draftee.  I was glad to find a college-themed set offering of his, the '05 SAGE HIT you see first.  Then I dug up a couple second-year base cards:  2006 Select and Topps Heritage.  The scan makes it obvious that I need to try to clean up the Select card a bit if I can!  As usual Heritage looks quite nice.

Thanks to this trio Jackson one-upped Branch by reaching a new count of 61 items.

Break's over, we're back to 2007!  I split my finds of Steelers star DE/LB LaMarr Woodley between that year--his rookie season--and 2009.  To rep the former he brings back SAGE HIT once more with that fantastic base design plus a Blue parallel of the Playmakers insert.  A Bowman Draft Orange insert (yeah, it doesn't look "orange" in-person either) leads the cards made two years later, and then we get a throwback pair with UD's Philadelphia and Topps Mayo.  The group of five you see here bumps one of my smaller football PCs up to 55, and I'll keep adding to it as I can find new stuff.

And here we have every Michigan fan's dream:  11 Charles Woodsons!  The GOAT DB is the old man of this group but he continues to outpace everyone else in my football PCs because he's a rare defender that got lots of cardboard.

This first scan starts with his second year in the pros, 1999, in the form of one of his two Playoff Prestige EXP base issues plus the loud and proud Revolution by Pacific.  That brand's Omega kicks off a 2000 quintet that includes another Prestige base plus Topps Collection, and UD's Encore.

This scan opens with a familiar photo but this time it's from UD's Gold Reserve.  Then we jump ahead to 2002 and that manufacturer's Piece of History insert called National Honors, a card that notes Woodson's surprise '97 Heisman win.  Suck it, Peyton!  The last three are a bit of a grab bag:  '05 Prestige, 2010 Finest, and another 2011 Score Glossy appearance.

The guy with the biggest bunch of additions to the biggest of my football PCs also gets to celebrate the biggest milestone today, crossing the 300 mark to 307!

I have something like five posts left in this series, so keep an eye out for those, plus hopefully some card show pickups from this coming weekend.

2018 Michigan gameday #9: vs. Penn State

A fun thing that happened 16 years ago #AlanBranchKillsQBs

It's the biggest game of the year (this is not a repeat from Wisconsin and Michigan State) as the Michigan #revengetour continues during today's 3:45 matchup with #14 Penn State (6-2).

The #5 Wolverines (7-1) are still riding high on a nice hot streak and are coming off a 21-7 thrashing of Michigan State two weeks ago, plus a bye last week.  The defense was once again as advertised in dominating the Spartans, holding them to under 100 total yards, and the offense did enough to make things comfortable at the end.

Now Michigan gets a visit from coach James Franklin's Nittany Lions.  His team lost in consecutive weeks to Ohio State and Michigan State, a pair of defeats that are largely on his shoulders due to his increasingly incomprehensible calls.  They've played three decent opponents in OSU, MSU, and Iowa, with the latter being their lone win against a quality team.  Michigan will definitely be their toughest remaining test, one that they may struggle to pass without stud RB Saquon Barkley. 

Meanwhile, Michigan surely won't look past PSU as they anticipate easier games at Rutgers and vs. Indiana before heading to Columbus for The Game.  The offense will be tested by a good DL and group of DBs while the D will have to account for the legs of QB Trace McSorley.  The book on him this season has been to force him to throw, and that's likely what Don Brown's #1 defense will do.

As usual a two-score spread belies what I think will be a fairly close game unless the Wolverines find a way to blow things wide open.  Regardless, a win today would put the Wolverines in the driver's seat for some interesting postseason play, pending the result on November 24.  I hope to see my guys grind them into paste Alan Branch-style.

LET'S GO BLUE

2018 COMC purchases: plates in batches

Just this post stands between you and my big finish to this latest COMC series, in which you'll see all the great stuff I found for my various football PCs.  That'll take me a while to put together because of the sheer volume of cards, but I think you'll enjoy today's stuff in the meantime.  Let's have a look at some football hits!:

Houston's Amobi Okoye was the higher selection of these two early 2007 draftees (#10 overall vs. #33) but I think he wouldn't mind changing careers with the other guy whose NFL tenure has lasted longer

I AM BECOME BRANCH, KILLER OF QBs

Both guys experienced some success in the league, though, so this 2007 Bowman Sterling Dual Autograph Gold Refractor dual auto (#347/400) is a nice addition to my Branch collection, now 17 cards strong.

Swiggity swooty, I got that J-Booty!  Butt is no stranger to my hits collection as I previously found him on a plate (shared with fellow 2017 draftee Taco Charlton) plus an autograph, and I hope he continues to be a more familiar face in these posts.  Here I found him on an signature card from Panini's perennially awesome Prestige product, one that features an excellent full-bleed design with great college action.  If you'd like you can misconstrue his John Hancock to look like "A Butt" if you have the same sense of humor I do.

And now it's time for:  na na na na na na na na PLATE RUN!

Plate #1 stars former Michigan RB Thomas Rawls, making his hits collection debut as player #213 thanks to this 2017 Elite Cyan Plate that was inserted into the same year's Plates & Patches product.  Rawls is one of those guys who transferred away from Michigan but still finds a place in my collection because I tend to stay flexible about things like that.  After three years in Ann Arbor he moved on to Central Michigan, had a very nice 2014 season there, then was picked up by Seattle.  Some Michigan fans were surprised by his success with the Chips and the 'Hawks and that's generally been attributed to misuse and poor coaching by the previous staff.  Hopefully he's now over some injuries and can again excite fans from two Michigan schools in the pros.

Our next player is a two-fer who's not making his hits debut since I was able to track down a signature of his.  Recent RB De'Veon Smith put up some good numbers--more than 2000 yards and 22 TDs--while in Ann Arbor, then was picked up by the Dolphins after last year's draft.  His NFL odds are long--he was let go after limited game action last year--but he made some big plays for the Maize and Blue and his cards are plenty cheap--I believe these two set me back under $6 apiece.  Smith joins Rawls with a plate from 2017 Elite (Yellow) and adds one from 2017 Unparalleled (Cyan) as well.  Once again these were inserted into 2017 Plates & Patches.

The 11th card in my LaMarr Woodley collection of hits is one of the best yet, a 2009 Topps Yellow plate.  What better color to find for a guy who enjoyed lots and lots of success with the Steelers?  I absolutely love the shot of him heading for one of his 11.5 sacks in 2008, a number he'd top during a Pro Bowl campaign the following year.

These new additions up my total to 109 1/1s!

Last up today is Ravens DE Chris Wormley on his 2017 Panini Contenders rookie auto.  Contenders is another design I can almost always get behind thanks to its ticket motif.  I'm fortunate to add this as my second Wormley auto since Jeff previously sent me an even better one back in February from Contenders' Draft Picks version, one that stars a great college photo.  Hopefully he'll see more game action this fall.

That's it for this post but as I mentioned, stay tuned for a big finish soonish!

2018 COMC purchases: Certainly Awesome Inserts

I'm sending out the Matt Signal for my collecting buddy at Sport Card Collectors as he's sure to love this post that's chock full of 90s and 2000s football inserts!  There's a lot to see today so let's get down to it:

This group of Touchdown Tims starts with a fun pair of '96s:  Donruss's Elite (#07384/10000) and Pinnacle Summit's Inspirations (#4526/8000).  I love me some numbered Donruss/Leaf/Panini/Pinnacle/Playoff/Score cards!  Elite is especially a favorite for me.  For those of you who are curious, don't be too surprised that he named Emmitt Smith his inspiration.

Moving up a few years I grabbed two more numbered cards.  First is a '99 Bowman's Best Refractor (#028/400) back when the brand and design were still relevant to me.  And last up is a 2000 Quantum Leaf Double Team insert (#1038/1500), the first of a few you'll see in today's post (with one more you'll get to catch in this series' finale).  This one pairs up the talented RB with former Panthers QB Steve Beuerlein:

Of the four cards I grabbed from this insert, Biakabutuka is the only Wolverine that appears on the front part of the card, but that's fine since I usually scan both sides of such multiplayer issues.

Hey, it's Ala--

ALAN BRANCH KILLS QBs

Alan Branch.  Yep, that Alan Branch!  I found five new inserts of the slayer of signal-callers, all numbered parallels from his draft/rookie year of 2007.  The first four are all Donruss-related brands:  Threads Bronze Holofoil (#115/250), Leaf Certified Materials Mirror Red (#082/100), Playoff NFL Playoffs Gold Metalized (#021/149), and Playoff Prestige Draft Picks Light Blue (#342/999).  I love the look of that year's Prestige set as usual, and the foil parallels just knock it out of the park!

The last Branch today is the first of three 2007 Topps Chrome White Refractors you'll see in this series.  The base version looks good as usual, and of course I'm partial to the Blue offerings, but the white cards have a cool style of their own.  This one is #691/869.  Why 869?  I dunno.

One QB that Branch didn't get to kill was Elvis Grbac, who was long out of the league by the time Branch debuted.  Still, Grbac had a pretty nice career for being chosen near the end of the eighth and final round in the '93 draft--better than that of #2 overall pick Rick Mirer, at least!

The first two of a quartet of his cards I found are Refractors from 1999 Topps Chrome and 2000 Bowman Chrome.  Once again these were made during an era where I appreciated Topps' yearly efforts.  That's a great photo on the Bowman Chrome card!

Next is another 2000 Quantum Leaf Double Team card:

Front an center is Elvis' teammate Donnell Bennett, a RB who'd just had a career season in '99, though he too would be out of the league after the 2001 season.

And before Elvis leaves the building I turned up one more insert of his, a 2001 Playoff Honors parallel called X's and O's (#182/219).  These are very similar to Donruss' Stat Line insert that debuted in the baseball product that year as the cards are numbered to an interesting career stat for each player (making some of them super rare).  It took me a bit of searching to deduce that the "219" refers to Grbac's overall draft position in 1993!

The guy with the most new cards this time is Jim Harbaugh as I turned up seven interesting new inserts of the current coach, all from 1996-2000.

The 1996 contingent is led by Refractors from Bowman's Best and Finest (his Bronze version).  Again, great examples of design from that era of Topps.  Those are joined by another appearance from Summit's Inspirations insert (#6780/8000).  Harbaugh names his dad as a major inspiration which is no surprise given their positive relationship over the years.  But interestingly he mentions that "My hero growing up was Bobby Orr.  That's why I wear no. 4."  You learn something new every day!

Another fun Refractor design from 1999 Bowman Chrome joins the fray, then we get today's final 2000 Quantum Leaf Double team pairing:

Natrone Means' second stint in San Diego wasn't quite as successful as his first in terms of the numbers he put up, but he was still the biggest name on the Chargers for this insert that highlighted each team's backfield.

Last up is a very interesting pair that I wasn't aware of until this latest COMC sale.  Those two die-cut full-motion hologram cards are from 1997 Pinnacle inserts called V2 from Zenith and Inscriptions (meaning I scanned them backwards).  The Zenith card appears to show Jim celebrating running in a score himself while the Inscriptions card depicts him throwing a pass.  These cards are extremely cool but relatively small in size and mostly limited to QBs and a few RBs.  They sure don't make 'em like they used to!

The well-traveled Dhani Jones is today's final solo subject before I get to the one-offs.  I don't usually have much luck finding new stuff of him so this numbered parallel trio was pretty cool to find.  A 2008 Score Scorecard is first, numbered 117/649.  Then we have a pair of 2011s:  Certified Platinum Blue (#070/100) and Panini Gridiron Gear Silver X's (#209/250).  Go on, take a wild guess which is my favorite, I'm sure you'll get it on the first try!

And the rest.  QB Todd Collins heads up this group with a 1997 Collector's Edge Extreme Forerunners (#1262/1500) acetate-style card.  That highlights a 95-yard TD pass Collins tossed to Bills WR Quinn Early on December 1, 1996.

The next three are Refractors.  CB Marlin Jackson's name doesn't appear on the front of that 2007 Topps Chrome White Refractor (#193/869) but he's the clear star of this one which celebrates his interception of a Tom Brady pass late in the 2006 AFC Championship, preserving the lead for the eventual champs.  More than a decade later Brady would be victimized by another former Michigan star, Brandon Graham, to lose out on a comeback attempt in this year's Super Bowl.

The other two Refractors WR Tai Streets from 2001 Topps Chrome (#915/999) and RB Tyrone Wheatley from the previously-seen 2000 Bowman Chrome.  And to close out this post we have one more ridiculously cool die-cut card, a 2015 Panini Prizm Draft Picks Helmet Die Cuts of WR Devin Funchess.  Why shouldn't the best helmet in all of college football get a starring role on an insert in a college-themed set?

With these posted and put away look forward to two more posts in this series, one covering some cool hits, then the big finish featuring new stuff for my PCs.