I have talked endlessly about the fakes that have plagued this industry. ENDLESSLY. Every time a set like Exquisite, SP Authentic or National Treasures is released, the lurking douchebags crawl out of their caves and start destroying the cards. It has now become easier for them to pass off their wares because so many of the high end products use premium patches so frequently. Despite this recent

As much as I absolutely love what Upper Deck does in terms of design and production, they continue to surprise me with the way they approach their business dealings. Yesterday TMZ reported that HOFer Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is suing Upper Deck in an amount GREATER than 1 million dollars in regards to the use of his name, picture and autograph in one of their latest releases. According...

We all love free ****. Its part of human nature. If you bought any Topps Football over the last few days, you know all about the Gridiron Giveaway, the sister program to its immensely successful baseball counterpart. If you havent heard about it, things are pretty simple. Redemption codes are inserted into most of the Topps Flagship products, both retail and hobby, for collectors...

If you havent heard about Strasburg, you have probably been marooned in the Swiss Alps with no internet or have been held against your will in a bunker somewhere. Im not going to discuss the merits of his injury, but I do want to touch on how this lesson factors into the buying habits of the general collecting public. See, the hype machine has become a ridiculous tornado of cash...

Stopped by Sports Cards Plus here in San Antonio to pick up my pre-ordered box, and I must say that I got pretty lucky with the results of my break. Not the GREATEST players, but still pretty nice to pull a 1/1 or 1/4 depending on how you look at it. Here are the results...Autos:Mike Kafka RPA Auto 6/90Dexter McClusterJames DavisOther Hits:Frank Gore 1/1 Magenta Printing PlateCJ...

Now that Topps is out, I think its time to go over a few observations I have had, especially in regards to the rarity of a few different cards. Topps notoriously sells well the first few weeks when all the set collectors bounce off the walls trying to complete a master set, but after that it’s a crap shoot. One part of the product's slate that always sells well is the rare...

When I first started to get into football cards, I could never understand why anyone would buy regular Topps when Chrome was SOOOOO much better. Well, Topps took this type of feeling to heart when they started to build on their flagship set, and this year is one of the most ridiculous Topps sets ever to be produced. Like with 2010 Allen and Ginter baseball, Topps incorporated well...

Topps is live on eBay, even though many of the cards are base offerings from the retail version of the product. However, this Sam Bradford auto/jersey just showed up on ebay, and it looks to be of the hobby variety. So far, I think that the "Peak Performance" autos look pretty good for a low end subset, and I will definitely appreciate them much more than the "Career...

This season is very important for a lot of reasons, some more than others. One of the most important implications of the 2010 year is the labor negotiations that are looming over the games like a dark cloud. 2010 is the last year of play that can happen under the current NFL collective bargaining agreement, and 2011 may be headed for a lockout due to how far apart the sides are on...

When we look at the problems facing the hobby, one could easily cite Beckett, collecting tendencies, or lack of visual appeal in recent card designs as main problems. However, fakes and the prevelance of the fake patches in cards is definitely at or near the top of this list, without question. I have championed different ideas of how to combat fakes in this hobby, whether it’s...

When I saw that 2010 Topps Football had hit retail shelves, I was extremely excited to have the chance to see what the rookie cards looked like before the hobby boxes hit shelves later this week. When I actually sat down and looked at some of the cards that were showing up on eBay, some looked to be everything I didn’t want in a card. Others, on the other hand, were great, but...

Today was an interesting day. My wife got a tip from a friend that we needed to check out the Texas flea market scene if we want to walk around somewhere and get outside. Naturally, she wanted to go on one of the hottest days of the year, but I relented under the fact that I figured there wasnt much else to do. We ended up at two different places that were close together, and I ended...

There is one question I have been asking lately, and that is in regards where the Panini design team has been hiding. They obviously havent been designing good looking cards, so I was curious if they even actually existed. Well, I think I found the answer. They have been holed up trying to complete the design for Crown Royale football, a new product in the Panini line. Not that the...

To me, Famous Fabrics is completely out of left field. No player pictures, no team names, no license, nothing. I think it stands for everything that is wrong with cards today, focusing more on the relics and the memorabilia parts of a card than the design of the card itelf. Honestly, its a little different in this situation because the cards are forced into this predicament, so they...

I hated Topps Magic in 2008, mainly due to the fact that it was a complete sticker dump. Aside from being all college jerseys, the cards themselves featured weird painted artwork, and it looked like it was just another retro product for retro product's sake. Obviously, a set composed of college jerseys isnt possible this year, but that doesnt mean Topps doesnt have a ace or two...

A few weeks ago, I posted my first two volumes of Ruminations on Hobby Life, an exercise in observation that was pretty fun for me. It took me a while to get some other ideas of what to do, so this has been a long time in the works. For those of you unfamiliar, I took this idea from a funny site (Ruminations.com) where people post their observations on daily life. Although mine are...

The upcoming Panini release calendar is packed with products. Threads, Absolute, Certified, Limited, they are all on the way, and are all sets that are not new additions to the slate. Panini uses this part of the calendar to bank on previous years' success, mostly with a tried and true formula of a mid range price point and 3-4 hits per box. Rookies & Stars is beginning of...

I get criticized a lot for being overly negative, especially when it comes to upcoming products. However, with two of my favorite sets of the year on the horizon, I can tell you my level of excitement is unparalleled. With the two products that now compose the low end part of Topps' football calendar, Chrome and Flagship, its like they are playing on a different level. Topps...

Leaf Certified Materials, now Panini Certified has been around forever. The Fabric of the Game subset has produced some amazing cards across the span of the product's existence, and it is usually a celebrated part of the football calendar. Over the last few years, Certified has gone from a celebrated product to "meh" to absolutely terrible, and this year's set may...

When 2009 Ultimate Football came out, I was very excited for a number of the cards in the set. None more so than the Ultimate Patch Auto cards, which were beyond awesome. The Adrian Peterson from the set was one of the cards I HAD to have from the product and I set out to buy one as soon as I could. The first one that was posted was a blurry picture but still good enough to bid on...

Just when you think Topps has finally started to put the right foot forward, they take three steps back. I really don’t get what it is that Topps cannot see about their high end products, but the stuff is just horrible. I cant even tell you how tired I am of seeing the same stupid ideas product after product, year after year. Seriously, I am wondering if one group of people designs...

Fake patches have become sort of a good/bad situation these days. Obvious ones rarely generate much money, and the less obvious ones generate tons. Because of the way fake patches have been covered on the message boards, blogs and other non-mainstream hobby media, collectors have been able to avoid some of the pitfalls that once plagued them. However, based upon recent auction completions...

Im excited that football is back. It was a practical barren wasteland of summer for me without it, and I must admit that I even watched part of the Hall of Fame game to get myself hyped up for the season. Fantasy is getting going too, and the SCU league is back with many of the same people who played last year. The one thing I see, is that with the start of the preseason, comes unnecessary...

The golden rule of Topps is that you don’t buy their products that cost more than 100 bucks a box. That’s bottom line, and I RARELY break that rule. The new Topps Prime cards fall just within reason, and to tell you all the truth, they don’t look that horrible. It looks like Topps may have finally pulled their designer's heads out of their asses when creating new products...

With each new rookie class, a new opportunity arises for them to become NFL superstars. They could end up like Adrian Peterson or Chris Johnson, widely considered to be the best at their position in the league, or they could end up washed out like failure Jamarcus Russel. Although there is definitely a middle ground, the rookie year production for most of the 2010 class will boost...