Sure enough, a couple weeks back, as I was Christimas shopping at one of the local giant box stores, I took a quick peek at the card aisle, and while they had no blasters, they did have individual packs, so I grabbed a few (along with some Bowman Chrome--old habits die hard).

Sure enough, I was hooked--not a set I would ever expect to get rich busting, but great looking cards that mix classic football moments, icons, and modern day stars.  Some of my early "hits" included a couple decent rookies (Matt Forte & Kevin Smith), Brett Favre, Tom Brady and Joe Namath.

But my favorite card?  Brian Bosworth, sporting probably the best mullet in the NFL (until Jared Allen came along).

2008 Masterpieces YA Tittle

2008 Masterpieces Joe Namath

2008 Masterpieces Brian Bosworth

And when I stopped back tonight, they had a couple of blasters (and they must have been on sale, unless $15.99 is the normal price), so I've added to the collection--although I've already doubled (or tripled or quadrupled, in the case of Peyton Manning) up on some.

I'll try to get a list up of what I have and what I don't, in case I decide to go after a set--but I did get a kind of cool Favre/Paul Hornung card, a Bob Sanders tackling Lynn Swann card, and Scott Norwood Wide Right and multiple Eli Manning/David Tyree Helmet Catch cards (including a black bordered one)--but still now Slow Plow Game.

Check out my other football related blog, atZoneBlitz.com

Now Collecting: 2008 Upper Deck Masterpieces

So what did my first foray into 2008 baseball net? 

Lots of big sticks of gum.  Oh, and a Ryan Braun refractor, a handful of rookies (Armando Galarraga, Brandon Jones, Clint Sammons, Brons Sardinha or Seth Smith mean anything to anyone?), one Twin (two if you count Livan Hernandez in his Diamondbacks uniform), and one guy from my fantasy team (Jonathan Broxton). 

Kind of fun, but to be honest, I'm not real impressed by the cards--maybe it's what they were going for, but a lot of the pictures looked to me like I could have taken them with my digital camera.

Not a lot to report from the Bowman Football box either, other than I did pick up quite a few rookies that I needed.  I'm down to 16 low numbered cards for the first complete set, and 42 low numbered rookies (plus five base cards) for a second set.

I also had a few eBay wins come in for the refractor set today.  I picked up a Brady Quinn--the last of the "big dollar" cards I needed--for relatively cheap ($0.95 + $4.50 S&H), and a four card rookie lot that I needed three of (Aundrae Allison, Joe Thomas and Jeff Rowe, plus a Dwayne Jarrett that I thought I needed but didn't) for $3.75.  I'm down to 42 of the regular refractor set needed for completion, plus 54 of the 55 low numbered refractors.

I also picked up a couple of Adrian Peterson refractors for a reasonable price--I didn't really need them, but I figured being a local kid, I might be able to flip them.

Check out my other football related blog, atZoneBlitz.com

Busting Some Baseball & Refractor Update

In an effort to jump start my refractor set of 2007 Bowman Chrome Football, I've bid on a few auctions of refractor lots over the last week or so, and my first one arrived yesterday.  As it didn't seem as exciting as some of the individual cards I buy, I didn't crack into the team bag full of cards right away when I opened the envelope--so I didn't realize just what a deal I actually got.

At some point last night, I flipped the package over, and noticed that the card on back (Chris Leak) was numbered--and remembered that one of the auctions had included a few of the colored refractors as well.  So, I figured I better open them up, and remember what I got.

Flipping through the 18 regular refractors, there were 9 that I needed for my set--which was kind of making me wonder why I had bid on this particular auction.  When I got to the end, I remembered--there were four colored refractors at the bottom, including:

     * Blue Refractor Marques Colston (#066/150)
     * Blue Refractor John Broussard (#005/150)
     * Blue Refractor Chris Leak (#057/150)
     * Orange Refractor LaMarr Woodley (#17/25)

Now, none of those are super huge names--although I wonder if Chris Leak might not get a chance at the job in Chicago this year, with their QB situation (of course, he might get cut too).  But even without being star cards, those four alone book for about $44 according to Lord Beckett, which is over 3x what I paid for the lot.

Add in the regular refractors, and I got a lot that has a decent chance to turn a little profit (or maybe at least make back what I paid, while crossing 9 more regular refractors off the list).

That, or it's time to start thinking about a Blue Refractor set (let's see, I currently have about seven Blue Refractors, so only 213 to go...yeah, I think I'll pass).

Check out my other football related blog, atZoneBlitz.com

Bowman Chrome Refractors