Heisman Highlight: Tom Harmon

Name: Tom Harmon
Position: Halfback
College: Michigan Wolverines
Class: Senior
Winning Year: 1940 – 6th Award
Official Heisman Profile: Click Here

Interesting Notes: Harmon was considered the greatest ball carrier in his day…was a prolific rusher, passer, kicker, and defender…served for four years as WWII pilot…played for L.A. Rams for two years…enjoyed a very successful broadcasting career…was elected to the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame in 1954.

Featured Card: 1955 Topps All American #35. Similar to most other college greats of the pre-war era, the legendary Topps All American set serves as Harmon’s rookie and only major card release. Prices on eBay range from $9 to $100 and are mostly dependent upon condition and grade. An average copy will fall into a $50-$70 range.

NOTE: You can find all of my Heisman Highlight Features by clicking the post banner above.

Fantasy Focus: Week 11

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: Matthew Stafford, Detroit Lions — Detroit and Cleveland in a shoot out?!? Detroit and Cleveland giving us one of the best games of the season?!? Holy crap! In a surprising game of breakouts for highly touted college QBs Matthew Stafford and Brady Quinn, Stafford ended the day on top. His 422 passing yards and rookie record-tying 5 TDs (something that hadn’t been done since 1937) helped lead the Lions to an exciting last minute victory. Despite his 2 interceptions, Stafford amassed 34 fantasy points, a dominate performance for any player, let alone a rookie quarterback. The most impressive part of his outing? Staying on the field and throwing the game winning touchdown with a separated shoulder. The kid’s got guts, that’s all I’m saying.

RB: Ricky Williams, Miami Dolphins — When the Dolphins announced Ronnie Brown was out for the season, many thought the whole team was out for the season. Ricky Williams set out to prove them wrong. Rushing for 119 and 2 touchdowns, as well as picking up 19 receiving yards and another touchdown, Williams accumulated 30 fantasy points, best in the league amongst running backs in Week 11.

WR: Terrell Owens, Buffalo Bills — Trying to quiet some of his critics, Owens had a respectable performance in Week 11. Hauling in 9 receptions for 197 yards, including a team-record setting 98-yard touchdown, Owens picked up 25 fantasy points. While he may have helped some fantasy teams to victory, he still cannot find a way to lead Buffalo to a win. The Bills have now lost 3 straight and 6 of their last 8 games. Hopefully Owens will shut up and put up for a little while longer.

TE: Kevin Boss, New York Giants — A relative unknown in many circles, Boss has now been the league’s top fantasy tight end twice this season. By pulling in a personal-best 5 passing for 76 yards and 2 touchdowns, Boss scored 19 fantasy points in Week 11. He still may not be a consistent threat, but he is proving that he certainly deserves more attention moving forward.

K: Billy Cundiff, Baltimore Ravens — In his first game as a Raven, Cundiff did what none of his teammates were able to do in Week 11: score points. In the 17-15 loss to the Colts, Cundiff’s 5 field goals amounted to all of Baltimore’s offense. In fantasy leagues, he actually put up 17 points. Too bad the NFL doesn’t award bonus points for 40+ yard field goals like fantasy leagues do.

D/ST: New England Patriots — As a team that usually embarasses its opponents on the offensive side, this week the Patriots turned out a solid defensive performance. While only allowing 14 points and racking up 2 sacks, 4 interceptions, 1 fumble recovery, and 1 touchdown, the Patriots D scored 19 fantasy points, best in the league amongst defensive units.

ROOKIE: Matthew Stafford, Detroit Lions — See Above. This is the first time this season that a rookie topped his class and position. But Staford didn’t stop there. He also topped all fantasy performers and earned best rookie, best QB, AND Fantasy Stud of the Week.

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!

Heisman Highlight: Nile Kinnick

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.

Topps Not Dead Yet

On the heels of the Players, Inc. announcement that it would not be renewing Topps’ football card licensing contract after its February 2010 expiration, Topps has made an announcement of it own: product information for 2009 Topps Platinum.

Either Topps saw the downfall of their football releases coming and planned ahead, or they are quickly throwing together a last ditch effort to show everyone what a tragic mistake Players, Inc. has made. In a nut shell, 2009 Topps Platinum looks sweet. Each 24-pack box essentially guarantees 2 autographed refractor rookie cards and 1 autographed refractor patch card. Proving they dominated card inserts with refractor technology, every autograph card will be a refractor and will include the usual list of parallels we have come to expect from Topps. I have uploaded the official (and preliminary) sell sheet and checklist for you to review. I apologize for the last few items of each page of the checklist being weird, my pdf converter is acting up tonight. Topps has also released some preliminary card images, which you can see below (hover over image to see details):

 

Each tiny thumbnail leads to a full sized image

On obvious rookie-focused set, 2009 Topps Platinum is scheduled for release the first week in February, just weeks before its NFL license expires, and could be the final Topps football product for quite a while. The price per 24-pack box (each packs contains 5 cards) will run in the $80 range, obviously depending where you buy it.

What do you guys think? Is this a sorry attempt to dump the entire NFL sticker auto and jersey patch inventory Topps currently has, or is this a valiant effort to go out with a bang?

h/t to Mario for passing this information on to someone who is not important enough to receive these sort of emails directly.

Heisman Highlight: Davey O’Brien

Name: Davey O’Brien
Position: Quarterback
College: Texas Christian Horned Frogs
Class: Senior
Winning Year: 1938 – 4th Award
Official Heisman Profile: Click Here

Interesting Notes: O’Brien played backup to legendary QB Slingin’ Sammy Baugh to begin career at TCU…holds all time college record for rushing and passing plays in one season (400)…was first Heisman winner not to sweep every major region (he placed second in the Far West to Vic Bottari)…first player to win Heisman, Maxwell, and Walter Camp awards in one season…retired from NFL after two seasons to become an FBI agent…is namesake for the Davey O’Brien Award, given annually to the nation’s top quarterback…was elected to the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame in 1955.

Featured Card: 1955 Topps All American #34. O’Brien joins the ranks of many legendary college players to have a rookie card in the Topps All American set. Of the early Heisman winners, O’Brien is one of the most recognizable names, due in part to the annual award now given in his honor, and his rookie card value reflects this. Most copies available on eBay fall within a $30-$40 range while one PSA 9 Mint copy is listed at $675.

NOTE: You can find all of my Heisman Highlight Features by clicking the post banner above.

Bon Voyage, Topps

I tell you what, fall asleep at the wheel (or take a night off to spend quiet time with the wife), and you miss out on some big news. By now, I’m sure you’ve already heard about the tragic news from other, more reliable sources (even a shady one).

After all of the drama that unfolded early in 2009 with the NBA awarding Panini an exclusive license and then MLB following suit over the summer with Topps, I tried to convince myself that the NFL and Players, Inc., the official licensing body for the NFL Players Association, would not be dumb enough to do the same thing. Yesterday, it was announced that while they were not quite as dumb, they are trying awfully hard. Players, Inc. has announced that Topps will not receive a renewed license for football cards when its current contract expires in February.

We are not just losing amazing Chrome and Refractor technology (unless someone else figures out a way to step up to the plate). We are losing the longest running base set in the football Hobby. We are losing the most sought after rookie cards (Bowman). We are losing quality products at reasonable prices. We are losing choice. We are losing variety. We are losing Topps.

Topps.

The single most recognizable brand in sports cards.

Gone from football.

WTF.