Name: Nile Kinnick Position: Halfback College: Iowa Hawkeyes Class: Senior Winning Year: 1939 – 5th Award Official Heisman Profile: Click Here
Interesting Notes: Kinnick is considered Iowa’s greatest player of all time…was a team leader in every facet of the game…gave an acceptance speech reflecting many Americans’ isolationist feelings regarding WWII…became a pilot in the Caribbean after graduating…crash landed his fighter in 1943 and disappeared forever…was elected to the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame in 1951.
Featured Card: 1955 Topps All American #6. Never having a professional football career, Kinnick’s only true rookie card is found in this legendary college set. An eBay search shows the card can sell for anywhere from $20 to $100, with a majority having a listed price at right around $50.
NOTE: You can find all of my Heisman Highlight Features by clicking the post banner above.
As you gear up for this weekend’s upcoming games by realigning your fantasy rosters to optimize matchups, let’s take a quick look back at last week’s studs. (Note: Points listed are directly from the First and Goal Fantasy League and may not represent point totals in your individual leagues)
QB: Peyton Manning, Indianapolis Colts — In a game in which many had high expectations of Manning, he delivered in a big way. Completing 28 of 44 passes, Manning amassed 327 yards, thrusting himself into the league leader position for yards and putting him on pace to break Dan Marino’s single season passing record. Tacking on 4 touchdown tosses, Manning finished the day with 26 fantasy points, despite two interceptions. After many near misses, Manning was finally the top QB in Week 10.
*Fantasy Stud of the Week* RB: Chris Johnson, Tennessee Titans — Another week, another ridiculous performance from Johnson. In Week 10, Johnson accumulated 132 yards rushing, 100 yards receiving, and 2 rushing touchdowns. His 35 fantasy points marks the third time he has totaled 35+ points this season, as well as the third time he has received Fantasy Stud of the Week honors. There is a very high probability that Johnson will be the season’s overal Fantasy Stud.
WR: Randy Moss, New England Patriots — Just like Peyton Manning, Moss lived up to his hype in one of the season’s most anticipated games. Moss reeled in 9 receptions for 179 yards and 2 touchdowns. The strong performance was Moss’s fifth 100+ yard game and he currently leads all receivers with 891 yards. His 29 fantasy points in Week 10 were tops amongst wide receivers.
TE: Brent Celek, Philadelphia Eagles — In an overall underwhelming week for tight ends, Celek provided a bit of spark. Catching 6 passes for 47 yards and 1 touchdown, Celek finished the day with 10 points. While technically in a tie with Kellen Winslow, we gave Celek the nod for his touchdown, a stat rewarded in any fantasy format.
K: Connor Barth, Tamba Bay Buccaneers — On paper, Barth had a pretty good day. Kicking three fields and adding on 2 PATs is a pretty solid performance. Until you consider one thing, all three of his field goals were 50+ yards out. While some PKs were struggling beyond 35 yards, this guy was nailing 50+ yarders. His 17 points were the best amongst kickers in Week 10.
D/ST: Baltimore Ravens — Traditionally a defensive powerhouse (at least in recent memory), the Ravens defense held true to form in Week 10. Pitching a shutout as well as recording 4 sacks, 2 interceptions, and a touchdown, the Ravens scored 24 fantasy points, better than most offensive players last week.
ROOKIE: Beanie Wells, Arizona Cardinals — In what may have been a breakout performance for Wells, he racked up 85 rushing yards and 32 receiving yards while finding paydirt twice (both from the ground attack). Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt refuses to name Wells the starter over Tim Hightower, but he has to be getting closer to making the call. Wells is slowly becoming a solid running back and, given improvements in the receiving and blocking game, could be a future fantasy stud.
Check back next week for another edition of Fantasy Focus as we recognize the week’s best fantasy performers. Best of luck to you in your respective fantasy football leagues!
Note: To quickly view all of my Fantasy Focus posts, simply click the Fantasy Focus banner at the top of any such post!
I have written in several posts about my return to the hobby in mid-2008 and the subsequent buying binge I went on, which reached an expensive climax right around Christmas. As my first run through the Hobby resulted in me buying lots of mid-to-late 90s retail wax and a few singles from my local hobby shops, I was blown away with the vast quantity of game used swatch cards and autographed cards available in every box. When I left the Hobby, jersey cards were just beginning to be inserted and autographs were extremely rare parallels. Every hobby box I ripped through contained more and more hits and I became more and more excited. The ultimate (pun intended) was the two boxes of 2007 Ultimate Collection football I purchased. Each box only contained 16 cards (4 per pack), but almost every card featured pieces of jersey and/or autographs. While opening my second box, carefully examining each card, I was completely dumbfounded when I flipped over this beauty:
Click image for a full sized scan
This gem is an autographed Adrian Peterson Ultimate Collection rookie card gold parallel #20/25. As a guy who once got really excited to pull a basic insert card of Michael Jordan or Emmitt Smith (like UD Choice Starquest), you can imagine the level of excitement this pull created. I immediatly dug out the 1″ Lucite screw down holder I had purchased years ago in case I ever pulled a really valuable card. I figured this card fit that bill. At the time, I still depended on Beckett’s online price guides. When I looked this card up, the excitement level kicked up a notch when I saw a $1,000 book value attached to the card. In my current knowledge, I realize how trivial book values are and know I probably could not actually get $1,000 for the card, but it is still an amazing pull.
So now, just like a lot of the other cards occupying space in my home office, I have to ask myself what I should do with it. Should I list it on eBay to capitalize on Peterson’s currently very high popularity and to help recapture a good chunk of change I dropped on wax last year? Do I try to track down a die-hard Peterson collector and negotiate a sales price or high profile trade? Or do I simply hold onto it and either hope his stock only continues to soar higher or tuck it away to always remind myself of the greatest pull of my life (so far)?
If you had pulled this card, what would you do with it? If you wanted this card, how much would you pay for it?
As you gear up for this weekend’s upcoming games by realigning your fantasy rosters to optimize matchups, let’s take a quick look back at last week’s studs. (Note: Points listed are directly from the First and Goal Fantasy League and may not represent point totals in your individual leagues)
*Fantasy Stud of the Week* QB: Kurt Warner, Arizona Cardinals — After a miserable Week 8 in which he threw 5 interceptions and lost a fumble, Warner righted the ship in Week 9. Against a normally stiff Chicago defense, Warner racked up 261 yards and tied his career best 5 touchdown tosses. More importantly to his actual team, he did not committ any turnovers and proved once again to be a reliable starter. With 35 points, Warner is awarded Fantasy Stud of the Week honors.
RB: Michael Turner, Atlanta Falcons — Showing why he was one of the most highly touted running backs in the pre-season, Turner ripped off 166 rushing yards, including 2 long touchdown scampers. Adding 14 yards receiving, Turner ended the day with an impressive 29 fantasy points, the highest amongst rushers in Week 9. Turner is now is position for a 1,500-yard/20 touchdown season – a solid starter in any league format.
WR: Larry Fitzgerald, Arizona Cardinals — An obvious benefactor to teammate Kurt Warner’s bounce back performance, Fitzgerald reminded fantasy owners why he is so dangerous. He reeled in 9 receptions for 123 yards and 2 touchdowns en route to 24 fantasy points. Despite a fairly rocky season thus far, Fitzgerald is still an elite receive and was best in the league in Week 9.
TE: Greg Olsen, Chicago Bears — In a tough game against Arizona, Olsen was a bright spots for the Bears. He only pulled down 5 receptions for 71 yards, but that includes 3 touchdowns, a ridiculous 60% touchdown per reception ratio. He real team may not have won, but his 25 points, best in the league amongst tight ends, surely helped many fantasy teams to victory in Week 9.
K: David Akers, Philadelphia Eagles — Technically a three-way tie, we gave the nod to Akers for one reason. He booted a 50+ yard field goal. Granted, it’s not the rarest feat, but it does deserve recognition. Akers also booted 2 more 40+ yard field goal and tacked on a PAT for 14 fantasy points on the day. Sorry Olindo Mare and Stephen Gostkowski, you’ll have to convince your coaches to drop back a few more yards next time.
D/ST: Tamba Bay Buccaneers — Along with rookie Josh Freeman, the Bucs defense helped pave the way for their first victory of the season. They gave up 28 points to the Packers, but also recorded 6 sacks, 3 interceptions, a blocked kick and an unprecedented 2 defensive touchdowns. Their 25 fantasy points place the unit as the sixth highest scorer of all positions in Week 9.
ROOKIE: Josh Freeman, Tamba Bay Buccaneers — For the second week in a row, a young QB was the best rookie performer. This week, less-than-top-prospect Freeman was the knight in shining armour. In his first career start, he completed just 14 of 31 passes, but amassed 205 yards and 3 touchdowns and his lone interception was off set by 20 rushing yards and a 2-point conversion in what would be the Bucs first victory of the season. With 24 fantasy points, Freeman was the top rookie performer and tied for seventh best overall performer in Week 9.
Check back next week for another edition of Fantasy Focus as we recognize the week’s best fantasy performers. Best of luck to you in your respective fantasy football leagues!
Note: To quickly view all of my Fantasy Focus posts, simply click the Fantasy Focus banner at the top of any such post!
Before I get flooded with requests for bat barrel autographs, two-color patches, and tri-fold relic cards, let me clarify the title of this post:
Some of you may know that my wife and I bought our first house and moved this past summer. While it was overall a decent experience (I will not bore you with details of the negotiations from hell), the most dreaded portion of the entire process (other than acquiring a splendid 30-year mortgage) was packing and moving all of our stuff. Granted, we were only a few months over a year removed from college, so we did not have mountains of things and were still in the mindset of packing as efficiently as possible. However, it was still a pain.
One of the biggest surprises for me in the moving process was just how much my card collection had exploded in the year we were in our apartment. I went from having a single computer monitor box somewhat full of cards, boxes, binders, etc. to having the same monitor box completely stuffed, along with 3 other medium sized boxes stuffed with cards. Realizing that I only planned to continue collecting cards, I knew I needed a solution. Part one involved my fear of becoming a hoarder and the consequential decision to throw away all of my empty boxes and wrappers (except maybe one from each set I have hand collated). I have not done this yet as I am still trying to reorganize and catalog my entire collection, but I have made the definitive decision to some day soon throw it all out.
Step two involves my old baseball cards. As any other American boy, I collected baseball cards when I was a kid. As a result, I have a slew of cards from the “junk wax” era simply occupying space in my home office. I have tried to come up with alternative uses for my cards, but quite frankly, there are just too many. As I now know my interest in baseball cards is dead, it is time to rid myself of my entire baseball card collection. But how should I do this? I figure I have a few options:
1) Break the entire collection into teams, regardless the count of each team. Hold a giveaway on this blog that simply asks readers to tell me which is their favorite baseball team to collect. The first person to respond for each team would get every card I own for that team. Obviously this would be geared towards helping out team builders and would be the simplest method of handing out the entire stash. It does, however, fall directly into a first-come first-served basis, so perhaps a die-hard Yankees fan is snuffed simply because he responded after a casual Yankees fan hoping for some priceless Don Mattingly or Babe Ruth reprint cards.
2) Create sample “grab bags” containing 50-100 random cards. Hold some sort of contest allowing all readers an equal chance to win. The winners would be awarded a hierachy of prizes where the 1st person might get 10 “packs,” the 2nd person gets 7 “packs,” the 3rd 5, and so on and so forth. I could also hold several contests to help add an interaction element to the blog, get several groupings of readers involved, and I wouldn’t have as many large packages to ship. This would be geared more towards “priceless” cardboard fans.
3) Break entire collection into team sets, but this time further break teams into groups of 50. Either hold contests that are a mix of options 1 and 2 above, or try to sell them on eBay for a few dollars. I could also try selling the random “grab bags” from option 2. This would open up to the much wider audience of eBay, as well as help me to cover shipping and supply expenses.
4) Throw the whole darn thing away at the same time the empty boxes and packs go. They aren’t worth anything more than simple kindling and I sorta doubt any one wants me to mail them my garbage (sorry, Joe, I did say “garbage”).
The only problem with all of this is that when I take a few fleeting glimpses inside the boxes, I am reminded of the hours upon hours I spent on the living room floor or my bed organizing, sorting, reorganizing, and studying each of those cards. I can remember the sheer excitement I had they day I thought I had a pristine T206 Honus Wagner card (which I quickly learned was actually a very cheap reproduction of the legendary card). I vividly remember giggling every time I flipped over a Mookie Wilson card, because his name was so close to Cookie and started with a “Moo”, like a cow, which produces milk, which is great with Cookies. I recall being so proud of my late 80s Donruss cards of Darren Daulton and Lenny Dykstra, my two favorite players of my youth. But in the end, they do not mean anything to me at this point in my life and really are a waste of space.
Wow. Writing that, I just a great idea. As I sort through the whole mess of cardboard into team or random groups, I should scan all the cards that remind me of specific things. It will make for great rainy day posts and will serve as a reminder of those simpler times, even AFTER I give them all away (or burn them to make Rob happy).
Anywho, now that this post is absurdly long, please answer the following poll and leave any comments you feel necessary.
A little while ago, I wrote a post about the massive failure that was the 2008 Upper Deck Icons Immortal Letterman Brett Favre redemption program. At the time I wrote it, I was excited that after almost a year of waiting (and only because I had waited to buy Icons until the Christmas shopping season), I would soon be receiving my final outstanding redemption card. Last, I was taking a look around eBay and saw several of these cards listed. Suddenly, it dawned on me that I never checked my mail when I got home from work. I ran out into the dark night (I live in a very rural area and it was cloudy), opened my mailbox, and sure enough, there was a brown envelope from Carlsbad, CA (on a completely different side note, I am convinced the Upper Deck redemption envelopes contain copious amounts of asbestos in the padding). Inside was my long awaited prize, and bonus prize:
Click each image for a full sized scan
Maybe it is too little, too late. Maybe the bonus card is a laughable attempt to assuage the angry public. Maybe Upper Deck just sucks at redemptions. Whatever the case, I’m just glad I finally got the card and wasn’t told “We cannot fulfill this redemption, here is a crappy card in its place”. You do have to wonder what took so long to get manu-patch letters into cards. It’s not like they were waiting for Brett to set aside time from his eternal retirement saga to hard sign the cards.
Oh, and if you check, there is now one more Favre letterman listed on eBay…
Posted by CPAdave 
Posted by CPAdave 
Posted by CPAdave 
