One Last Impassioned Plea for Topps Platinum

I'm not exaggerating when I say that this is the most loaded retail product ever. Out of two blasters and a handful of packs I've pulled two rookie autographed patch cards (including one of ROY Percy Harvin), tons of big name rookies (Stafford, Sanchez, Maclin, McCoy, Harvin, Cushing, Curry, Orakpo, etc), and this gorgeous Javon Ringer Red Refractor RC #10/25 that I scored yesterday. If I were looking to flip these cards (I'm not), I would easily make my money back. How often can you say that about blasters? I'm not getting compensated by Topps for this advertisement (although it sure seems like it), but rather just trying to help fellow collectors find a fun (and valuable) alternative to their usual card purchases.

I know that not everyone who reads this blog collects football cards (and that's okay), but if you do, you'd have to be crazy to pass up the chance to buy one of these blasters. The base cards are well designed and shiny, there's at least one rookie card per pack and you've got a great chance to walk away with an autograph or patch card from a diverse and talented group of players (Dan Marino, Adrian Peterson, Dwayne Bowe, etc.) I'm not saying you need to rush out and buy one, but if you find yourself at Target sometime soon, why not try something new and exciting rather than another ho-hum blaster of Heritage? Just my two cents...

Pack Attack: 2009 Topps National Chicle Football

I stopped by Target after work in hopes that I might find a blaster or a few packs of 2010 Upper Deck. Alas, it seems these things take a while to make their way to Central Washington and there was no UD in sight. Well obviously I couldn't leave empty handed (I had to spend money!) so I grabbed a 2010 Topps Rak-Pak (pulled a Ken Griffey Jr., Ichiro and Josh Johnson--quite happy with that pack) and a single pack of 2009 Topps National Chicle Football from a fresh box. The preview images from the baseball set had caused quite a stir and I wondered if the football set would be met with the same response. Well, here's what I got (not including a Mahamed Massaquoi mini rookie and a Caroline Mikkelson "Era Icons"):

Adrian Peterson base card

Tom Brady base card

Amelia Earhart Era Icons Relics: What! Well, not having any idea what was in this set, I was quite shocked to pull a card of the first lady of flight, especially one embedded with a 1935 stamp. Era Icons relics fall 1 in 177 packs and, oddly enough, packs with those relics are only supposed to contain one card (this one certainly had a few more than that). I don't think I will buy any more packs of this set but I'm certainly happy with the one I got; this card has been selling for around $30 on eBay (new Griffeys ahoy!)