Saints Win the Super Bowl With Gutsy Plays
By · CommentsThe 2009 NFL season has been a wild joyride, and I am happy that I got to be in the passenger seat these past five months. It ended in historic fashion on Sunday, with the Saints winning handily, thus cementing the comeback of a disaster laden city. Not only have the Saints won the franchise’s first title, they did it as underdogs against one of the NFL’s most dominant teams from the regular season. Drew Brees has entered an exclusive club of Super Bowl winning QBs, adding to his growing and lengthy resume as one of the best around today. Congrats Saints fans, you guys deserve it!
Before the game started, I couldn’t help but notice that most of the pre-game buzz was focusing on the positive side of the Saints’ epic run and the negative side of the Colts’ lagging injuries. As if that weren’t a sign enough, many of the commentators were picking the Saints to win in a close game, something that I was not expecting to see. As the pre-game started ramping up, I started to think that this was going to be a tighter game than I had once predicted. Although I wasn’t rooting for either team, I believed the Colts had the better team on the field, though I was expecting the Saints to make it interesting.
After the Colts went up ten points in the first quarter, I couldn’t help but think that it wasn’t going to be a very good game. The Saints-happy crowd wasn’t feeling it either, and after a graphic was put on the screen showing that no team had come back from more than ten points in a Super Bowl, it became essential for the Saints to get back on their horse. That’s when Brees picked it up, driving the Saints to field goal and a 1st down inside the 10. When Pierre Thomas was stopped inside the 1 on third down, Coach Sean Payton had the biggest decision of his life, and the first half wasn’t even done. They called the same play again on fourth down, and the Colts defense held for a miracle stop. At that point, I didn’t think New Orleans had it in them to come back. I was wrong.
Coming out in the beginning of the second half, Payton made one of the gutsiest calls in Super Bowl history, going for a trick on-side kick to get the Saints back in the game. The Saints recovered the ball in a massive rugby scrum, saving New Orleans from giving the ball back to Indianapolis with amazing field position. From there, Brees took the team down with quick passes and scored on a screen to Thomas that looked eerily like the one he scored on the Vikings with.
Although the Colts marched right back and scored on a Joseph Addai rumble for six, Brees wasn’t done yet. He knew that a touchdown to answer would be demoralizing to the Colts’ defense, and with a short pass to Shockey, all was within reach. The problem is, because of field goals, the Saints needed a two point conversion to set them up ahead by 7 points, and again, it came down to a wonderful coaching decision made by Sean Payton on a Lance Moore catch. Payton successfully challenged and won, giving the Saints a lead by seven, sending the team’s fans into a craze.
Here is where it gets even more interesting.
For the second game in a row, the Saints defense needed a stop to put them in a good position to win, and just like the previous game, Tracy Porter played like a god. Against the Vikings in the NFC Championship, Porter had intercepted a Brett Favre pass to prevent a game ending field goal try late in the fourth (this time, he took a wayward Manning pass all the way for six). It put the Saints further ahead, and I could almost hear Bourbon Street erupt from my family room in Los Angeles. Manning tried his best for some late game heroics, but it was too far to come back, and the Saints were champs.
Even though the commercials were sub par, and the half time show was surprisingly bland, the game did not disappoint one bit. Collectors have already started jumping on Tracy Porter’s 2008 rookies, as well as MVP Drew Brees’ many autographs. Luckily for all of Who Dat Nation, Brees will be featured prominently in the final three sets of 2009, with unprecedented inscription cards in both Ultimate Collection and Exquisite. Brees has solidified his reputation as a premiere elite quarterback, although Saints fans have been on board since 2006. Brees’ 2001 SPX rookies have been going nuts over the last few weeks, and I would expect that to continue from now on.
On that note, be sure to check out some of the great cards coming up in SP Authentic, Ultimate Collection, and Exquisite, even if you are not on the New Orleans party train. These sets will be filled with all sorts of amazing cards that highlight the run of the 2009 NFL season, including those of both the Champs and the Colts. This is also a great opportunity to start your collections if you haven’t already, because I have a feeling that there won’t be many teams who can beat ‘dem Saints next year either.
Adam Gellman runs the collecting blog Sports Cards Uncensored, and has been a collector of all things sports for over 15 years. To see more of his work, visit www.sportscardsuncensored.com (warning: strong language!)
Popularity: 6% [?]
Brag Photo of the Week: Michael Jordan Breaking Through
By · CommentsSince last week’s Jordan Art piece got such a good response, I figured I’d share another prime UDA Jordan piece with you. I doubt the photos can do this one justice after seeing it in person, but I’ll try.
This is an autographed “Breaking Through” piece featuring Michael Jordan. The ball you see here actually busts through the frame.
And a better look at the autograph while I’m at it.
You may have seen similar pieces from UDA in the past, but this one seriously stands out. It’s big, the design is sleek, and it really has a lifelike feel that dominates a room.
If you’re a big fan of the Bulls, Jordan or basketball in general, it’s definitely a great centerpiece for your home. Click here to check it out in the online store!
Popularity: 22% [?]
The past few days have brought three very large trades involving some of the biggest hockey markets in the league (not to mention some of the largest hobby markets).
If you are a fan of NHL hockey and you have not heard about the Toronto Maple Leafs/Calgary Flames, Anaheim Ducks/Toronto Maple Leafs and Calgary Flames/New York Ranger trades by now, you are probably living under a rock.
Let’s take a look at the three trades, both in a hockey sense, as well as a hobby sense.
Toronto Maple Leafs and Calgary Flames make a 7 player deal:
To Toronto: To Calgary:
D Dion Phaneuf D Ian White
F Fredric Sjostrom F Jamal Mayers
D Keith Aullie F Matt Stajan
F Niklas Hagman
Hagman and Stajan should be able to provide some secondary scoring to the Calgary lineup. This appears to be a trade by both teams to help shake things up more then anything else. The hope has to be that a guy like Stajan can win some faceoffs, and feed the puck to a guy like Jarome Iginla on a consistent basis. I think that Ian White is the key to the deal for Calgary. He can move the puck, is a bit of a disturber, and can log big minutes if/when needed. He proved his versatility last year by jumping up front and playing some good minutes at forward before working his way back into the lineup as a defenseman, and arguably one of the Leafs top two.
For Toronto, Dion Phaneuf provides another key face of the franchise. Phil Kessel will no longer have to be the only face that people turn to. This gives the Leafs another marketable player in town. He will look to play his game of dishing out big hits and unloading bombs on the power play from the point. If he can clean up his defensive game in his own end and become a more responsible player, he should be able to return to the form that left him as Norris Trophy candidate year in and year out. Sjostrom will be counted on primarily to help out an abysmal penalty kill and play some quality minutes going forward. Aullie is currently playing in the minors, but can having a six foot six inch guy learning to play the game be a bad thing? Honestly what is the worst that could happen to him? Pretty safe throw in to the deal.
Hobby wise, this deal should most impact Phaneuf. Over the next few weeks there will probably be a flood of his stuff available on the market as Calgary fans look to offload some of the items that they have of his, and Toronto fans should be looking for some of his key rookie cards. Young Guns, SPA Future Watch Auto, Ultimate and The Cup (short printed to just 99 copies), can expect to see a lot of buying and selling. In the end, I think once we start to see some items that feature Dion in a Maple Leaf jersey, we will truly see what kind of effect his presence in Toronto will really have on his trading card market.
Outside of Phaneuf, I can’t see a lot of movement going on. Maybe Leaf collectors look to move White and Stajan items, but I don’t see them getting any kind of investment on them. They will continue to move at their current levels and potentially even lower. This could be a great opportunity for player collectors of any of these players involved in the trade to grab some of the lower print run stuff that might be sitting in other people’s collections. If nothing else, it should be interesting to watch how the market goes with these guys.
To Toronto: To Anaheim:
G Jean-Sebastien Giguere G Vesa Toskala
F Jason Blake
On the surface, this trade seems to be a swap of unmovable contracts in Blake and Giguere. Anaheim has re-upped with Jonas Hillier who supplanted the former Conn Smythe trophy and Stanley Cup winning goaltender with a great season last year. It was a great playoff where he was able to lead the Ducks past the number one seeded San Jose Sharks, and he’s followed with overall solid play this year. Giguere wanted nothing to do with being a back up. Blake has big money and term left on his free agent deal that he signed with the Maple Leafs following a career year, and has never lived up to the contract. Toskala got himself buried behind a rookie goaltender playing in his first season in North America because of his poor play. Lots of movable parts here that all ended up getting moved for each other.
Blake will be able to provide some veteran leadership to a team that is on the verge of becoming real young, real fast. He has good skating abilities, but is predicable with his moves. If he gets in the right situation, he might be an effective player for that team. Toskala heads back out west where he will not be the starting goaltender, but will be in a much more friendly market that should allow him to walk the streets freely (unlike the microscope that is Toronto). Let’s not forget that Toskala’s best years were with San Jose, outside the pressure cooker. I for one hope he can find his game again; I never like to see a guy run out of town to the point where he is no longer a functional player.
J-S Giguere has been given a chance. He is joining a manager that he has had previous success with, his most influential goalie coach, and a situation where he is not expected to win immediately. The interesting component will be how the duties are handed out between Jonas Gustavsson and Giguere. The plan had been to see what the Leafs had with Gustavsson, but with Giguere still having a year remaining on his agreement past this year, the reigns might be more tempered going forward. This might allow the Maple Leafs to bring The Monster along a bit slower, and maybe get him signed to a more manageable contract going forward.
Hobby wise, I am not sure how to read into Giguere’s arrival to the Leafs. Logic says that he should do well, and see a bump up in his items, but he has a very loyal following to begin with. I don’t see a lot of people off loading their collections because of the move, but there might be more competition for some of his lower numbered items. As for the hobby impact of the former Leafs, Blake and Toskala? They have yet to make a significant impact, but we’ll see what happens in their new environment.
To Calgary: To New York Rangers:
F Christopher Higgins F Olli Jokinen
F Ales Kotalik F Brandon Prust
This might go down as one of the weirdest trades in a long time. It turns out there was a snag in the deal, which put it on the backburner after all things seemed to be agreed upon. Jokinen was needed to play in the game on February 1 against the Flyers before the trade would be officially announced.
When you look at the final pieces of this deal, it seems as though the teams were trading for the other team’s problems, in hopes of being able to infuse energy into struggling squads. The Rangers have to hope that Jokinen can play some minutes with sniper Marian Gaborik, but with Jokinen being a horse himself and liking the puck on his stick and shooting, I am not sold that it will happen. Calgary tried, and at times forced Jarome Iginla and Jokinen together with little success, and I see the same happening in the Big Apple. Depending on his play, I can see Jokinen possibly taking on some local hobby love if he can find a way to return to the form that saw him be a regular offensive contributor (back when he averaged 90 points/season between the first two seasons post lockout).
Prust, on the other hand, will offer some much needed sandpaper to a lineup that seems to have no faith in what off-season acquisition Donald Brashear brings to the table each night (he’s been a healthy scratch more often then not recently). Prust should be a player that the Big Apple fans really take to; it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see him gain a bit of a local following there.
When it comes to Kotalik and Higgins going to Calgary, I see a situation involving two guys with high expectations simply not working. Both have talent and a pedigree to work from. Coach Brent Sutter in Calgary has to hope that these guys combined with the four new acquisitions will somehow work to form the core of the four forward lines on his team. This is the first time I can remember a team in a situation where they feel they have a legitimate chance at advancing in the Stanley Cup playoffs go through a turnover of half of their top twelve forwards. It will be interesting to see how this situation plays out.
The pre-Olympic deals have begun. This is probably just the start of what should be a very intriguing next month as the trade deadline is only days after the freeze. Mark March 3, 2010 on your calendar now if you have not yet done so already.
Oh, and in case you haven’t seen it yet, check out for the newest rookie to win “Rookie of the Month” honors, and don’t forget to enter in all your rookie card codes from the Upper Deck products you have collected so far. Not only can you win prizes, but the site has some great features that allow you to track rookies and their cards all season long!
Christopher Carmichael has been hockey fan of over 20 years. He has been an active member on various hobby related sites, most notably www.hobbyinsider.net, and www.cloutsnchara.com. Christopher is also a long time collector, with a focus on a few select player collections, and the occasional set projects.
Popularity: 26% [?]
An Exquisite Football Retrospective
By · CommentsI have always referred to Exquisite Collection as “the granddaddy of them all,” when it comes to super-premium products. It is often imitated, never duplicated despite many tries. Exquisite Collection is one of the only products in its price bracket to feature completely hard-signed signatures for all of its autograph cards, and this coming year’s set looks to be no exception.
Because Exquisite Collection has become such a favorite among collectors, I wanted to take a look back at its run from 2005-2009 and put together a retrospective. You don’t know where you are going until you know where you have been, right?
2005 Exquisite Collection
Key Rookies: Larry Fitzgerald, Frank Gore, Aaron Rodgers, Ronnie Brown
This set is widely remembered for being the first of its kind in football. The rookie cards are rare and tough to come by, and with so many rookie cards featuring elite players, it is a very valuable beginning to the Exquisite Football brand. The staples of Exquisite, the rookie auto-patch cards, are here featured with dual swatches for the only time in the brand’s history. In tother subsets of the product, signed memorabilia was a focus and are some of the most sought after modern cards in history. My personal favorite was the signed helmet-and-shoulder-pad cards, a concept that has yet to be repeated anywhere in the hobby.
2006 Exquisite Collection
Key Rookies: Reggie Bush, Vince Young, Maurice Jones-Drew
2006 had the help of one of the biggest hype clouds of any draft class I have ever experienced. Each player drafted in the first round was destined to be hall of fame bound, and the prices of the Exquisite cards upon release reflected that completely. The rookie auto-patches started using humongous patch swatches while still maintaining a great design and look, while the rest of the set became more indicative of the cards we are accustomed to now. For the first time, Exquisite collectors hunted for “gold boxes,” where each card in the 7-card pack was a 1-of-1. There was also the introduction of single-, dual-, and quad-NFL logo cards, which are still heralded today as some of the best ever produced. Though some of the rookies may not have filled the shoes they were supposed to have, the values on this set remain very high regardless.
2007 Exquisite Collection
Key Rookies: Adrian Peterson, Calvin Johnson, Brady Quinn, Patrick Willis
When March of 2008 rolled around and Exquisite hit shelves, people clamored for their shot at a big hit in a draft class that had been one of the best in years. Adrian Peterson had put up monster numbers in his first season, and his Exquisite cards were expected to be some of the most expensive non-1-of-1 cards in a long time. All of the favorite features of the 2006 cards were back, including the dual- and quad-logo cards that were the chases of the previous set. My favorite cards in this set were probably the newly designed, rare-materials cards, which featured up to three NFL logo patches coupled with a hard-signed autograph. These cards were part of the gold boxes that again made their appearance, and many collectors broke double-digits worth of cases to pull one. Even today, the Adrian Peterson Rookie auto patch sells for over $1,200, and I don’t see the price coming down any time soon.
2008 Exquisite Collection
Key Rookies: Matt Ryan, Joe Flacco, Ray Rice, Chris Johnson
If I had one word to describe 2008 Exquisite, it would be “regal.” An ornate design graced the cards of a great draft class, which featured some of the biggest and craziest patches of all time. This time, it wasn’t just 7 cards per box, as a new “gold pack” was created to bring extra value to each box. This new pack was filled with all kinds of amazing cards, including hard-signed autographs on each card. There were also new concepts from favorite sets like rare materials, which turned into a subset that many collectors tried to complete. Instead of just one card per player, these cards now were numbered to 50 and 10, creating a feeding frenzy for the people who were going for the set. There were still single- and dual-logo cards for people to chase, and many of them are still out there. The biggest addition to Exquisite was Tiger Woods, who had his first Exquisite card inserted into the packs. These cards were expected to top $10K in value, and some garnered even more.
2009 Exquisite Collection
Key Rookies: Mark Sanchez, Percy Harvin, Knowshon Moreno, Matt Stafford
Over the last few weeks, we have gotten our first taste of what 2009 Exquisite is going to be all about. All the favorite cards are back including the dual- and quad-logos, as well as some new ones that should be utterly ridiculous. Now, there is a possibility of pulling hinged cards out of this year’s product, some with multiple autos from multiple players. Signed swatches are making their return, as well as the gold packs that people loved so much in the last set. A new focus of this set is the inscription cards which are looking to make a big splash. Instead of a plain auto, many of the cards will feature any number of inscriptions from both rookies and veteran stars. With Mark Sanchez and Percy Harvin making it all the way to the conference championship games this season, it may be one of the most valuable draft classes ever. Look for Exquisite Collection soon!
I’m beyond excited for one of my favorite products of the year, and I can definitely say that it looks more packed with content than ever. The design looks great this time around, and we haven’t even seen the full extent.
Adam Gellman runs the collecting blog Sports Cards Uncensored, and has been a collector of all things sports for over 15 years. To see more of his work, visit www.sportscardsuncensored.com (warning: strong language!)
Popularity: 25% [?]
Collector of the Month: Paul Boleska
By · CommentsEvery month, Upper Deck will spotlight one of our valued collectors to showcase their collection. The great thing about sports collectors is that they are all very different in what they collect, how they collect items and what they do once they have them. One common trait is the passion they share that is seldom found in any other group. This month, we head north of the border to spend some time with Paul Boleska of Edmonton, AB.
Paul is retired from the law enforcement sector in Edmonton, but he stays active with hobbies like archery, board games and collecting trading cards. Paul has amassed over 700,000 trading cards in his collection, primarily consisting of baseball cards. He had been out of the hobby for awhile however, until he heard about Upper Deck’s massive 20th Anniversary Set consisting of 2,500 cards inserted into a variety of baseball products last year.
Paul Boleska holding one of the binders in his enormous 20th Anniversary Set.
The set commemorates the first twenty years of Upper Deck’s existence with cards from all major sports including golf while also paying tribute to world history, pop culture, politics and technology. Upper Deck also included some very rare game-used memorabilia cards of players from a variety of sports that were typically only available one per case or 1:288 packs on average.
“I was so impressed with the whole concept and look of the Upper Deck 20th Anniversary Collection, that I decided I was going to collect the entire set, including the memorabilia cards,” said Boleska.
Although Paul Boleska had amassed a tremendous amount of cards since he got bitten by the card collecting bug, when he stated this project, he still considered himself a novice. Putting together a set this large would be a considerable challenge for even the most seasoned collector. Even now Boleska admits, “With my limited knowledge of collecting cards, I did not realize the true depth I was getting myself into.”
Paul was opening up a lot of product to get the cards he needed, but that would not be enough: he needed to reach out to other collectors, other shops, and get online to find the cards he needed to complete this monster set. “There were countless hours searching numerous websites for cards, hundreds of e-mails to fellow collectors from around the world requesting card lists, and then the purchasing of cards from as far away as Australia, China, Europe and throughout North America,” said Boleska.
Even though he was officially retired, this pursuit became almost like a job for Paul. “I was always asking local collectors to look for cards that I still needed, and constantly updating Wayne Wagner, owner of Wayne’s Sports Cards here in Edmonton with lists of cards still outstanding,” said Boleska.
Wayne Wagner of Wayne’s Sportscards congratulates Boleska on putting together the entire 20th Anniversary set.
The most important person in Boleska’s hunt however was the mailman who would on occasions bring him close to twenty packages a day with cards he needed from collectors around the world. Boleska shared that each day was almost like Christmas when the mailman came by with the latest additions to his collection. And then came the day when the last card arrived and Boleska’s collection was finally complete: a special day for sure!
I asked him if he has plans to sell the collection. Boleska said, “Being a true collector, I have no plans on selling it at this time. This set took a whole year to build, taking around 2000 hours of opening of product, searching the web and sending hundreds of e-mails back and forth with collectors. I now spend the time going through the two binders looking and reading all the information on each card. I loved this product from the moment I first saw it.”
Congratulations Paul, it truly is a remarkable achievement and a very special set! If you are looking to put the set together yourself and would like some pointers, feel free to contact Paul Boleska at paulboleska@shaw.ca.
Popularity: 46% [?]
