2011 Sweet Spot

When UD brought back Sweet Spot last year I was excited for the college helmets because I collect LSU players. It was hit and miss, but overall a success - so they brought it back in 2011. The main pitfall last year was the supplemental jersey hits were dollar bin bound no matter the player almost. The main hits were generally great and the NCAA variation was the only card I did not like.

Price Paid: $98.95
Sale Value (on ebay): $55.00 (week after release)

Design: The base are excellent and resemble a less desirable 2011 Upper Deck. Of course, we all know what to expect from the helmet cards and they do live up to the hype. I happen to enjoy these cards and the two I got were cleanly designed and highly desirable for a college collector. The variations this year are a success as well. Last year, the lower prints were a generic NCAA helmet, but now we have two versions of the same team's helmet which makes the collector have more options. Also, the base cards have auto variations that replace last year's swatches. This is a major upgrade as they provide four hits people will generally want. Booklet cards are also included which are aesthetically pleasing as well. The only complaint I have is that the one insert is awful. I would avoid the Scouting Report cards...really, who wants to see Mortensen or McShay on their card? 4.5/5

Checklist: As I stated before the base auto list helped the product tremendously. After seeing multiple breaks last year it was very predictable and the same players were coming out over and over. 2011 brings unpredictability because the checklist is very deep. The veteran helmet list is enormous and has rare names included. It really delivers for just about anyone and everyone. 5/5

Fun: Similarly to last year we get four tins with four packs with at least one hit in each. You can open them all and have the Sweet Spots for last or just break them in order. At the price, the risk is not incredibly high so you shouldn't be panicking if you have no huge hits. However, the huge hits are in there and that makes it more fun. 4/5

What I got:

Daniel Thomas Base Auto
Ryan Whalen Base Auto
Jonathan Baldwin Sweet Spot Auto
Kelvin Sheppard Sweet Spot Auto

Overall/Value: Unfortunately, the value is standard unless you get a big hit. Minus 20-40 is probably the norm, but one big hit could put you over the top as well. Singles are probably the way to go, but I would not discourage anyone from trying it out, either. 3.5/5

My Break/Tilt: The players I got all have potential and I got a PC hit. I love the look of the cards and I would probably give it another shot if I had the money. 4.5/5

Overall: 21.5/25 B

So here we go - Score did a very good job this year with their release. Topps is the main competition and in the past I have leaned towards Score if I wanted a cheap break. I am not going to be breaking a jumbo version of Topps so I can make a fair comparison between the two.

Price Paid: $52.95
Sale Value (on ebay): $37.00 (week of release)

Design: There are so many variations and inserts and different types of hits it is hard to keep track of everything able to be pulled from this product. This seems to be the most serious set of Topps I have ever seen. The base set is very clean as usual with white borders, a team logo and stripe with the player name included at the bottom. The photography is excellent and the set should be easy to complete even with 440 cards. However, the rookies are still looking like male models in their shots which make the base rookie cards undesirable for me. The 1950 Bowman mini's do not do it for me either with the posed, poorly done art work. The ToppsTown inserts are nice looking metallic cards similar to 2002 pristine cards and provide rookie inserts I would rather have than the base. The Faces of the Franchise inserts are better than average providing two players from each team on a card with a little bit too much photoshopping done for me. Unfortunately, the worst cards are the most common base relics and gameday auto cards. If the Game Day cards had the team name at the top rather than a giant font stating GAMEDAY, they would be great. Also, wasting the bottom half of the card with white is pointless unless you have on card autographs...and these have oddly placed stickers. Finally, I am always a hater of rookie premier photo shoots and the red zone photos. Again, for the reason of male modeling photography. If I pull one it would go straight to ebay no matter who the player is. With all of that being said, the chase cards are sketch cards and Super Bowl Legend relics all of which look amazing including super bowl ring replicas, stamps, autographs, sticket stubs etc. So if you are lucky enough to hit one of those, they have the potential to be a centerpiece of any collection. 3.5/5

Checklist: The Super Bowl Legend cards alone make the checklist amazing for me. Topps certainly isn't just for kids anymore and seems to be more about chase cards. The checklist is loaded with potential that is unlikely, but not impossible to pull. I'd imagine every Jumbo case has 1-2 SB Legends card included. The potential for a huge hit is there even if you will most likely pull dollar bin jerseys and some cheap gameday auto cards. 5/5

Fun: Topps is always a fun product to break. You get 36 packs and 360 cards to sort through and a plethora of gem mint condition top rookies. Jumbo is probably even more fun as you have a better chance at a big pull. It's not perfect because there's no suspense, but it also has lasting value. 4.5/5

What I got:

Gameday Jersey Tony Gonzalez

Gold Parallel /2011 x4 (vets)

Black Parallel /55 Brandon Merriweather

10 minis

Dalton toppstown

Ponder toppstown

30 or so more inserts

Overall/Value: With one hit per box Topps had to make the set collectible and the base desirable. Based on the market it seems as if they have succeeded so far. There is enough going to here to keep collectors interested. I believe the box is about $10 overpriced and will hopefully come down after it's out for a while. The value at $52.95 will not last with this product. 3.5/5

My Break/Tilt: I had an average break and still didn't come out badly. I only pulled 5-6 cards I wanted to keep which is about average for this product. I'm not blown away, but it was fun and the price tag is about right for now. 4/5

Overall: 20.5/25 C+

2011 Panini Rookies and Stars

This product is about as consistent as it gets. Everyone knows just about what to expect and it came out right as the lockout ended making it hotter than normal. It's got much more hype than any other year I can remember.

Price Paid: $84.95
Sale Value (on ebay): $80.00 (week of release)

Design: The base is clean and white and resembles SP Authentic. Not collectible as a set, but decent enough to keep your team's players. The rookies beat the heck out of the Prestige design, but they generally use the same photographs from the combine. Weak photography makes the base rookies much less appealing. Everyone knows R&S is famous for the manufactured NFL team patch autographs. I personally like these cards and they are the same old thing with new players. They also brought back the same old jumbo jersey cards which I'm not a huge fan of because of the "event worn" deal. The Studio Rookies and Dress For Success and Freshman Orientation took a dive this year as the posed smiling pictures make it seem like they are male models and not athletes. The Rookie Revolution cards are somewhere in the middle, not great, but not poor. Finally, the veteran options are the Prime Cuts and Statistical Standouts both of which are very well put together and desirable for any collector. There's some hit and miss in here, but there's more hits. 3.5/5

Checklist: They boast a 130 rookies base list which is always fun for most collectors. There are also four different parallel levels which are fun to hunt for (no 1/1 base, woohoo!). You have a good shot at pulling at least two or three good rookie cards with the Dress For Success being the only dollar-bin type hit. The manufactured autographs are the feature here, so if you do not like them, AVOID this product. There are 50 different players to pull which gives a wide variety of nice hits there. It's always tough to break a box of this and not get at least one good hit. 4.5/5

Fun: About half of the packs will have an insert or hit making it a good ratio. The break will go by in about 5-10 minutes and will probably leave most feeling satisfied. There's very little suspense, but a decent shot at a one-card box savior. In the end, it's the standard 24 packs with 4 hits. 3/5

What I got:

24 base rookies

2 longevity parallel /249 (Jahvid Best, Aaron Rodgers)

1 longevity parallel /99 (DeSean Jackson)

1 longevity parallel /49 (Sidney Rice)

2 studio rookie /500 (Rudolph, Green)

2 rookie revolution /500 (Titus Young, Von Miller)

auto /300 (Cameron Jordan)

patch /50 (Donald Driver)

freshman orientation jersey /299 (Andy Dalton)

Freshman Orientation auto jersey /50 (jonathan baldwin)

Overall/Value: I think my break is a great example of this product. It had excellent value, but I must mention my other buys were weeks after the initial release and this one was on time (except Score). The values of these cards traditionally drop almost in half depending on the player after a month or so. There is really big hit potential though and it's hard to see not making at least half of your money back on a break (at least right now). 4.5/5

My Break/Tilt: The best looking card I got was the Driver and it is the least valuable. It is just a base card with a 2 color patch inserted. I missed hitting the manufactured patch auto and still came out pretty well. Anyone hitting those early on are making good cash off of this. 4/5

Overall: 19.5/25 C

New Products this week

Will be getting in Rookies and Stars and Topps this week. At least one will be reviewed this weekend. R&S should be the standard stuff and it will be fun to compare Topps and Score as usual. Can't wait!

2011 Upper Deck

Finally caught up with all of the 2011 released products. So far, a little underwhelming. There are only 2-3 products I would buy again in 2011 with 11 of the low/mid-end products released. I wanted to open Upper Deck when it came out, but I knew I was getting a box as a gift - so let's see what they have to offer up this year!

Price Paid: $83.95
Sale Value (on ebay): $70.00

Design: Right off the bat I loved the photography used in this product. Upper Deck has the NCAA license and used it to it's full potential with awesome action shots and logos. The basic autographed cards are basically the same as the base with a sticker included. The letterman autos are significantly better than most as well due to the clean design and clear picture of the player. The Ultimate Collection autos look just like the Ultimate rookie base autos from last year and leave a good amount of space for the auto with a simple design that focuses on the college logo and uniform. The inserts are not highly collectible, but I loved the Saturday in Action, Historical Programs and Class Of cards. The Saturday in action have the best photography I have ever seen on a card and the other two just have original designs. The ones I did not like are Conference Clashes and Dream Tandems - it's just hard to pull off a nice card featuring two players. A big part of the marketing was about the UD Evolution cards. I did not pull one so it is hard to comment, but based on what I saw the design is very impressive as well if you like mid 90's inserts. 5/5

Checklist: The base checklist goes on and on and on with basically every rookie you will want for colleges or pros. They make the SP list very clear as almost any card #51-132 are SP rookies minus about 15. The old Wild Card stripe makes another appearance as well and makes for an interesting parallel. Also impressive was the fact that #51-200 all have auto variations as well. While some of them are less desirable, a specific team collector will be all over some of these guys because they will not appear in other products. The letterman cards are nice, but the numbering on them was a bit high and they are overproduced. Overall, one has to be happy looking at the checklist full of SPs, collectible parallels, and a plethora of rookies. 5/5

Fun: You will get 20 packs with 6 cards per pack and two base autographs and one letterman. Additionally, you should get a couple of SP cards, striped parallels, and rookie variations of the early 90's UD sets. That gives the customer a LOT to look forward to other than the hits. This is truly a set I would like to put together (and I generally just collect autographs). 5/5

What I got:

Lawrence Wilson Auto

Troy Aikman Printing Plate 1/1

Chykie Brown Auto

Austin Pettis Letterman Auto

7 1992 Variations

1 SP Rookie

Overall/Value: Even though I did not quite break even, anything that comes close is not a bad value because it can easily be a little bit less or a little bit more. That just means they got the pricing about right on the product. $80 seems steep for base Upper Deck, but they delivered this year and it is the most collectible set so far this year. 4.5/5

My Break/Tilt: I'm happy with my break. I could easily get my money back and try it again, but with the extra 1/1 I think I got a little bit lucky. There will be some breaks that get you about $50 worth and some that will get you $100. That just means the price tag is just about right. I highly recommend this product and if you want base cards to grade of the next great rookie - this is the set to get them from. 4.5/5

Overall: 24/25 A+

2011 Press Pass Legends

It looks like Sage and Press Pass are taking a dive after losing their licensing. Legends in the past has been an above average product. I am skeptical this year for obvious reasons if you look at my previous reviews.

Price Paid: $120.99
Sale Value (on ebay): $43.00

Design: The base design is off. It's hard to say what went wrong here. The photoshopped picture has a high brightness and the photograph is in a weird shape with the football field yard marks on the sides. This is pure throwaway base. Really, all of the autographed cards look about the same. They cut off directly halfway through the card and have a giant space for a signature. If the player has a nice autograph these aren't so bad, but if the player has a small autograph or a boring one - these cards look terrible. There's very little to distinguish from All Americans to Saturday Signatures to Legends of the Fall to Past and Present to the base. The Saturday Swatches are a set I always enjoy and they continue to be decent in this set. 2/5

Checklist: Extremely weak for something called "legends". The legends chosen are simply a weak list. There's numbers of guys who rarely sign cards that could make legends products amazing. We get a list of a few guys many people have not heard of and about 8 desirable names of real legends. So basically, we have another rookie product. About 70% of the checklist is made up of a rookies in a product calling itself Legends. WHAT!? 1/5

Fun: I've always liked the mini box format. You get 3 mini boxes with 6 packs each and two hits per mini box. There's also a slew of parallels, but the six hits are the main attraction. At the price you are paying $20 per hit in a Press Pass product full of mostly rookies. I just can't get over that, but this was still a decently fun break. 3/5

What I got:
Paul Krause Auto /99
Greg Salas base auto
Ryan Williams base auto
Terrence Toliver Jersey

Willie Brown base auto

Mikel LeShoure base auto

Overall/Value: I am rarely at a loss. The longer this product sits on the shelf, the more the value will decrease unless the rookie class is great. Even then you will need two HUGE hits to get your money back. I rarely feel robbed because I know collecting is a gamble, but I truly feel like this product is a joke. 1/5

My Break/Tilt: No tilt this time because my break was very poor. I looked at other people's breaks and they generally weren't a whole lot better. This is a shame because I have many Press Pass products in my PC and love the mid/late 2000 cards they were releasing. Heck, I even liked the Bowl Edition from 2008 many people hate. They are going in the wrong direction. 1/5

Overall: 8/25 F- (one of the worst modern products I have opened)

2011 Sage Autographed

After opening Sage high/low 2011 I am not looking forward to this break. Honestly, I considered not reviewing it at all. That would defeat the purpose of this blog, though. I am trying to go into this break with an open mind hoping this is superior to what Sage released earlier.

Price Paid: $120.99
Sale Value (on ebay): $78

Design: There's not a lot to discuss here because you get base cards and 5 levels of autographed cards. The base have posed photography and a busy background that I don't hate, but don't like either. In fact, I got rid of all of the base immediately after the break. No one buys this product for base cards, though. With 3 cards per pack you just go straight to the autographed card anyways. They definitely look a little bit better than the Sage product from earlier this year, but are still just a smidge over terrible due to the photography choices. 2.5/5

Checklist: Since Sage combined their two products from earlier and made this one, there are fewer commons and a better chance to hit a good player. Other than the five levels of auto cards - there is nothing to the checklist. One great thing about Sage is that they never EVER have redemptions. 3/5

Fun: Whether they are ugly or not, getting 14 autographs out of a break is fun. The price is scary when you're paying about $8 a hit. Each one that comes out poorly is a bit gut-wrenching. Overall, the busting experience is fun, but there just isn't much to this product. 4/5

What I got:
Curtis Brown Red
Jerrel Jernigan Red
Adam Weber Silver
TJ Yates Silver
Taiwan Jones Gold /200
Stephen Paea Gold /200
Casey Matthews Gold /200
Ryan Kerrigan Gold /200
Mikel LeShoure Gold /200
Jacquizz Rodgers Gold /200
Allen Bradford Gold /200
Nate Solder Gold /200
Curtis Brown Platinum /50
Christian Ponder Platinum /50



Overall/Value: 10 of the 14 cards I got were numbered to 200 or less, so that's a good sign right away. I hit a lot of guys who have potential, but don't sell well right now (and that's ok with me). It's virtually impossible to open this stuff and not get one of the top players. I was lucky and hit a decent QB with my platinum auto. The value is there - it would be easier to recommend at an even $100 price tag. For $120 you can't just get much higher quality products. 3.5/5

My Break/Tilt: I am happy with my break. I don't feel nearly as empty as I did after the other Sage products. They took a step back overall this year, but they at least ended up with a decent product here. I can;t fully recommend it because of the price tag and I can't totally bash it because I got decent stuff. 3.5/5

Overall: 16.5/25 F