When I first started blogging about cards I was entirely focused on getting a LeBron James autograph card.  During that time I managed to land three autographs:  one I got as payment for making a website, one I pulled myself, and the third came in a group box break.

click to enlarge the photo

After reaching that goal I began to focus on product previews and reviews.  That was fun for a while but at this point I’m getting tired of getting burned by bad box breaks (don’t worry, I’ve been busting was for several years and I’m familiar with the ups and downs).  Couple that with all of the exclusive license agreements and redemption issues:  breaking boxes is loosing its luster.

I’ve got a review of 2009 Topps Mayo Football that I’ll be posting shortly, but that will probably be my last review for a while.  Instead, I’m going back to chasing autographs of specific players.  The chase is just more fun for me at the moment.  Here is the list of players I’m going after:

1. Michael Jordan – In Bulls uniform.
2. Magic Johnson – 2006 Ultimate autograph.
3. Jim Brown – Any good looking patch / autograph will do.
4. Lou Groza (cut auto) – 2008 National Treasures or any cut autograph featuring a picture of him (not like 2009 Donruss Limited).
5. Paul Brown (cut auto) – Not picky with this one.  I’d take what I can get.
6. Larry Bird – Most likely after a patch / auto card.
7. Joe Sewell (cut auto) – I’d like the card to feature a picture of him and I prefer the cut to be a piece of a signed photo.
8. Bob Lemon (cut auto) – Same as above, but I’m not as picky for Lemon

Let me know if you’ve got any of those guys.  I’m looking to buy, sell, and trade my way towards those cards.  With that said, feel free to take a look at my site (http://www.pivotalhorizon.com/mike/) and let me know if there is something you would like to buy or trade for (note:  the dollar amounts below the cards are book values for reference, not what I would expect to be able to sell the cards for)

This has been a big year as far as licensing goes and truthfully, it’s left a bad taste in my mouth.  I was angry when Panini took the NBA license away from Upper Deck and Topps (lets face it, Upper Deck made some mighty nice looking cards).  I wasn’t thrilled when Topps took baseball away from Upper Deck.  And now that the Players Inc. has decided to cut out Topps I’m feed up.

While Topps hasn’t released the most exciting NFL products over the past year, Chrome and the base Topps product are two staples of my collecting diet.  I’m in no way a fan of how the changes in licensing this year have severely limited out choice.  I am not a fan of where the hobby is going.

What can I say, I’m stunned.

With the Browns continuing to prove that they don’t really understand how the game of football works (points are a good thing) and the defensive coach getting a little testy I’ve got to find other games to watch this week.  Here’s what Ill be looking for this week:

Broncos vs. Ravens – I don’t care what the Broncos record is, I still think Orton looks more like a gas station attendant than an NFL quarterback… something about the face.  I’m also watching to see if Flacco or Ryan will turn out to have been the better 2008 investment.

Dolphins vs. Jets – When Leon Washington went down last week with an injury it opened the door for Shonn Greene to showcase what he could do, albeit against a shoddy Raiders defense.  While Miami’s defense isn’t the best in the league it should present both Greene and Sanchez with the opportunity to increase their collector value.

49ers vs. Colts – Jerry Rice / Joe Montana is to Michael Crabtree / Alex Smith as legendary is to ________ (you fill in the blank).

Eagles vs. Giants – Vick should be fun to watch for all three plays he’s in.  AS if that one incomplete pass and three yards rushing won’t be exciting enough for you, there’s always that rookie Hakeem Nicks to keep an eye on.

Vickings vs. Packers – I”m pretty sure Favre’s AARP card should be arriving in the mail any day now, but at this point I’d probably watch Favre put on his Velcro shoes.  Harvin for rookie of the year anyone?

Titians vs. Jaguars – I can’t believe it, the wack-job is getting another shot at starting.  If he actually manages to pull his head out I’m going to be deeply regretting some sales I made last year.

By now we’ve all seen hundreds of box breaks and read numerous opinions of many products. At some point it occurred to me that it might be a good idea to do a video review. The best of both worlds; all of the information and none of the reading.

You can expect the normal written review to be posted in the coming days.  I’m not entirely sure if I’ll end up doing another video review or not.  Enjoy the review.

Hell yes… Bud Adams gets his way and Vince Young will be starting this week.  I’m not exactly a Vince Young fan and I don’t think he has much to bring to the table; however, I do have a nice rookie card of his I’d like to get a least $10 for.

While I don’t expect much out of Young, and this appears to be a move driven by management more so than the coaches, I do think its the right move to make. As it stands, Young has absolutely no trade value and hasn’t even proven himself to be a valuable backup quarterback.

Given that the Titians aren’t going to win anything this year (maybe not even a game), I think putting Young out there to try and establish some sort of value is a good idea. What do the Titians have to lose that they haven’t already lost?

Disclaimer:  I am a Browns fan and the Browns specialize is screwing up quarterback situations (sorry about that Quinn).  I probably don’t know what I’m talking about…

On Wednesday Topps announced that 2009 Triple Threads includes a 1/1 that very well may be one of the best autograph cards ever put together.  This card is absolutely stunning:  for once Topps got something right, very right.

Being a big Indians fan, I’ve been after a Tris Speaker card for a long time.  He is without question one of the Cleveland Indians all time greats (player / manager 1916 – 1926, lifetime .345 average).  Congratulations in advance to whomever is lucky enough to pull this gem.

Shaq’s first game as a Cavalier – 10 Rebounds, 1 Assist, 9 Points

The Cavaliers came out guns blazing in the first quarter only to have their ability to score from the floor end up in the lost and found for the remainder of the game.  Looking at the bright side of things, we don’t have an undefeated home streak to worry about.  Sadly, that’s the only big change I saw from last year’s team.  Sure, there are some new names sporting wearing the wine and gold, but the problems are still the same. 

The Cavaliers didn’t get as much help from the bench as they should have, their shooting percentage lacks the stamina to make it through the fourth quarter, and they still struggled to put a hand in the face of open shooters.  These are the same problems that caused us to match up poorly with Orlando last year.  If only the ball rolling off of the rim was worth one point instead of none…

I’m not going to panic yet:  it was the first game and the starting rotation has only been playing together for a short time.  LeBron still put up good numbers (4 rebounds, 8 assists, 38 points) and its clear that Shaq will open up some scoring opportunities for the other payers.  I just hope the Cavaliers can get rid of the needless turnovers, learn to shoot after the first quarter, and learn to do a better job defending the perimeter.

Having lived in the Cleveland area since I was born in ‘81 (with the exception of the college years) I’ve grown to accept that Cleveland teams just don’t win.  Sure, we’ve come close and we’ve won championships years go, but in my lifetime we just haven’t managed to seal the deal.

It looks like the Cavaliers are poised to make a run for the championship this year.  We did improve in the off season (something Cleveland teams don’t usually do… ); however, the Cleveland born and bread pessimist in me is still not convinced.  I’d love nothing more than to win it all for a change, but I have my concerns…

I don’t see the West issue as that much of a problem.  Sure, I like West, but I don’t think that he would be a loss we can’t recover from.  I think the Cavaliers management needs to just keep him away from the game for a while to let him work out his issues.  What does have me concerned is the LeBron situation.  I’m not going to try and guess what LeBron’s intentions are:  he’ll leave or he’ll stay… either way I’m still going to be a Cavaliers fan.  Unfortunately the media doesn’t have quite the same laissez faire attitude.

I don’t believe that the media buzz surrounding LeBron this year could keep them from getting to the finals.  If the Cavaliers don’t make it that far it’s their own damn fault.  However, I can see all of the LeBron discussion getting to the team.  LeBron may not have a problem handling the pressure, but I’m not so confident that all of the other plays will fair so well (i.e. Delonte West).

LeBron needs to just come out and clearly state what his intentions.  Let the season be about basketball and not Sports Center’s favorite game show ‘Where Will LeBron Land?’.  I understand that LeBron has a lot to gain by not saying what he plans to do:  he might even think that that’s the “right” thing to do.  Unfortunately, it seems to me that keeping quite is the worst thing he could do if he really is a team-first kind of guy.  If he’s going to stay, great, then the team can relax and play ball.  If he’s going to leave fine, then the team needs to get their asses in gear and win a ring while LeBron is here.  You can twist it to either way.

Anyone care to guess how many times during tonight’s game the announcers will discuss where LeBron will be next year instead of the action on the court… you know, the stuff that actually IS happening?

Introduction

SP Signature has been out for some time now, so the fact that this product most likely isn’t a smart investment probably isn’t really news to you.  As far as I can tell, the last time Upper Deck did SP Signature Edition Basketball was back in 2006-07.  At that time the box guaranteed only one autograph.  With this iteration of the product Upper Deck as doubled it to two autographs per box.

My Box Break

This is a quick and to the point box break.  You get a total of five cards in the box:  two of which are most likely sticker autographs of guys you don’t know much about, one is a Michael Jordan Legacy Insert, and the other two are base cards.

My base cards were Devin Harris and Jamal Crawford.  My Jordan Insert featured a heart warming tale of a young Kidd taking on a legendary veteran.  In the end, Jordan put up 36 points against the Kidd and the young Mavericks…

big surprise.  They probably wouldn’t have made a card about it if Kidd had taken Jordan to school that day.

Base Cards

I do actually like the design of the base cards, but with only two base cards per $35.00 investment, this isn’t exactly a product you’re buying to build a base set.  The base cards do add value to this product, but I don’t think they should really play any role in your decision to gamble on this product.

The Inserts

I’ve never been a fan of insert sets featuring a single player.  Sure, Jordan is one of the greatest (if not the greatest), but it’s just not exciting to pull a Jordan Insert when you know it’s going to be there:  pulling a Jordan insert shouldn’t be a given.

It’s nice that you get two autographs, but the fact that this product uses sticker autographs and has a “deep checklist” means that you’re going to see a whole lot more scrubs than all-stars:  even if every autograph is numbered.  Even if you do manage to pull a LeBron or Jordan autograph, it’s going to be considered a low to mid level autograph at best.

As with the base cards, the autograph do have a decent design and some of the multi-player autographs are very impressive.  It also seems that the multi-signature cards seem to be relatively common.  It’s nice to pull a dual autograph even if you don’t have any idea who either player is.

Conclusion

If you’re really hoping to get a nice autograph out of this product, I would suggest you just save your money and buy an autograph you want off of eBay (or your local hobby shop if its still selling singles).  Sure, you have a shot at hitting the LeBron / Jordan dual auto if you buy a box, but then again you also have a chance at winning the lottery if you buy a ticket.

If you’re considering buying a blaster or two at Target or even one of those retail guaranteed hit things I’d suggest you just get one of these instead.  You’ll get your two autographs and you do have that ever so slim chance at hitting it big.

Finally, if you’ve managed to read this far, I’m going to be giving away the two autographs I pulled while busting this box for the review.  Not exactly something to get too excited about, but a free autograph is a free autograph.

To have a shot at winning one of the autographs just reply to this blog entry.  I will toss the names of the people that respond into a hat and draw a winner.  Given the amount of traffic I see on a daily bases, you have a pretty darn good chance of winning here.  There is one catch, the comment must have some sort of value.

In the coming days I’ll be posting my review of 2009 Topps Chrome Football and 2009-10 Upper Deck SP Signature Edition Basketball.  Both of these products have been out for a while now so you probably already have some idea as to what these product have to offer.  However, to keep things interesting I will be giving away some cards from the breaks. You may want to check out the reviews I’ll be posting over the next few days to see how you can win those cards.