The rookies continued to impress.  Andy Dalton is slowly moving closer to Cam for the #1 spot.  Cam will hold onto it for at least another few weeks with Dalton having his bye this week.  We saw our first action from Christian Ponder this week.  While he wasn’t amazing, he certainly wasn’t terrible.  And he could be the starter here soon.  DeMarco Murray also saw his first major action with Felix Jones getting hurt.  I never like to see injuries, but they can make a big difference to rookies as that’s often how they get their chances.

Rookies continue to produce on a whole.  I can’t say how impressed I am overall.  Please remember all of this next year when we have 1 or 2 guys performing well.  It really is something special. Onto the rankings.

1. Cam Newton QB Carolina Panthers (Last week #1)

Newton had an okay game.  He absolutely has to cut down on his turnovers.  His completion percentage was okay at 60%.  And he did throw for 237 yards.  But, he threw 3 interceptions.  He did run well with 50 yards and a very nice TD run.  However, his team continues to lose.  He’s now towards the bottom of the league in QB Rating.  Newton does still have a ton of yards.  And there is no doubt, he’s made his team a lot better.  But, if he wants to become elite, he has to cut down on turnovers and start winning.

2. Andy Dalton QB Cincinnati Bengals (Last week #2)

As I said earlier, Dalton is slowly catching up with Newton.  Dalton had a GREAT week.  He completed 78.% of his passes and finished with a QB rating of 111.5.  He has now passed Newton on the year in QB Rating and completion percentage.  He also has four less turnovers than Newton.  The biggest stat is record though.  The Bengals are 4-2 and are showing a ton of promise.  And with the trade they just made to secure more 1st round picks, the Bengals finally have a promising future.  Which leads us to #3 on the list.

3. A.J. Green WR Cincinnati Begals (Last week #3)

The top 3 appear to be a permanent fixture in the rookie rankings.  Green had another solid week.  He caught 5 balls for 51 yards and a TD.  He’s 11th in the league in receiving yards, 17th in receptions and tied for 4th in TD receptions.  Quite a start to a career.  Green continues to be the go-to guy on a winning team.  Pretty amazing when you consider he’s only played 6 games in his career.

4. Blaine Gabbert QB Jacksonville Jaguars (Last week #4)

Gabbert didn’t have a phenominally great week.  However, he was facing a tough road game against a great defense.  He kept his team in the game and didn’t make any costly turnovers.  His completion percentage was terrible and he did take 5 sacks.  However, he doesn’t have much in terms of weapons outside of Jones-Drew.  Gabbert, like Newton, needs to help his team win more.  It’s still not a bad start to his career though.  His schedule definitely gets easier too with 2 games against Indianapolis, 2 games against Houston and a game against Cleveland.

5. Daniel Thomas RB Miami Dolphins (Last week #7)

Thomas had a solid week against an elite defense.  He ran for 47 yards on 15 carries and caught 1 ball for 12 yards.  Thomas showed nice vision this week.  There wasn’t a lot of room to work with on most of his carries.  If Matt Moore stays the QB, it’s going to be hard for Thomas to have a ton of success.  The defenses are going to load the box and stop Thomas and Bush.  Perhaps the only stat you need to hear about Thomas is that he’s leading all rookie running backs in yards and he’s only played 3 games in 6 weeks.  He missed 2 games with his hamstring injury and the Dolphins had their bye last week.  That’s a pretty impressive stat if you ask me.

6. Greg Little WR Cleveland Browns (Last week #11)

I moved him up last week on speculation after I heard he was going to be the starter.  Well, he didn’t disappoint leading his team in receptions and yards.  It’s obvious that he is going to be a focal point of the offense going forward.  And with Peyton Hillis potentially out, this could become a pass happy team.  Little has the potential to become a very solid #1 wide receiver.

7. Julio Jones WR Atlanta Falcons (Last week #5)

It was hard for me to drop him below Little.  However, Little is healthy and is playing well.  Julio missed last week with an injury and is questionable leading into this weekend’s game.  It was apparent that he was missed as Harry Douglas didn’t show the same explosiveness as Julio does.  However, you’re not going to move up any rookie rankings by being injured.  Don’t get me wrong, if he comes back this week and blows up, he’ll be right back near the top.

8. Doug Baldwin WR Seattle Seahawks (Last week #6)

I kind of feel bad for dropping a player 2 spots because he was on bye.  However, it doesn’t help your ranking to not play, even if it’s not your fault.  Baldwin appears to be heading in the right direction after his last few games.  However, with the new bye week rules (players are required to be given 4 days off in a row), it’s possible to see some regression in younger players.  Baldwin has a nice matchup against the Browns this weekend to show us if he’s rusty.  

9. Torrey Smith WR Baltimore Ravens (Last week unranked)

Torrey is like a pogo stick in the rankings.  One week he’s high and the next week he’s gone.  He had a good week with 84 yards on 3 receptions.  He certainly appears to be a legit deep threat.  The problem he’s going to run into is consistency.  The Ravens run the ball a lot and that’s a problem for a deep threat WR.  The good news is that play action should work really well for them.  I like his potential, but he’s not going to be a #1 WR on a team with Anquan Boldin.  

10. Mark Ingram RB New Orleans Saints (Last week #8)

I really don’t know what to think about Ingram.  He averaged only 2.4 yards per carry on 9 rushes.  He’s sitting at 3.4 yards per carry on the year.  He does have 3 TDs and appears to be the short yardage back.  I just wish he’d show some explosiveness.  His longest run on the season is 17 yards.  Not very good.  I know he’s probably not a back who is going to average 5.5 yards per carry, but I expected more than this so far.  

11. Kendall Hunter RB San Francisco 49ers (Last week #9)

Hunter had another solid game.  He finished with 33 yards rushing on 8 carries.  That’s the good news.  The bad news is that Frank Gore is starting to look awesome.  He’s had 2 monster games in a row.  Hunter still has some value as a back-up and in case Gore gets hurt.  However, he is limited until he gets more touches.

12. Stevan Ridley WR New England Patriots (Last week #10)

Ridley didn’t do a whole lot this week.  He only had 3 touches, but he did have a nice 16-yard run.  The problem with Ridley is that the Patriots have too many weapons.  And now Kevin Faulk is coming back from his injury, so it’s only going to get worse.  I do still like his explosiveness though.  

13. Dane Sanzenbacher WR Chicago Bears (Last week #13)

Dane didn’t due much.  He only caught one pass, but it was at least a touchdown.  The Bears were winning so badly, they didn’t throw the ball much in the 2nd half.  I think they could have downed the ball every time in the 2nd half and still won.  However, Dane is still a part of the offense and that doesn’t appear to be changing anytime soon.

14. Jake Ballard TE New York Giants (Last week #14)

Ballard had a great game.  He had 5 catches for 81 yards.  He has 273 yards and 2 TDs on the season.  Honestly, if he wasn’t a TE he would be much higher.  Tight ends just aren’t ever going to be heavily collected.  He’s a huge part of the offense on a New York team though.  So, we have to give him some credit.

15. DeMarco Murray RB Dallas Cowboys (Last week unranked)

Like I did with Little last week, I am ranking Murray solely on what he could do in the future.  With Felix Jones out injured, Murray is going to get his chance.  He has done next to nothing this year so far.  But as the starting running back on the Dallas Cowboys, he could make some hobby noise if he’s productive.  Murray has a good match-up against the Rams.  

16. Greg Salas WR St. Louis Rams (Last week unranked)

Salas had a slow start to the year.  However, he had a great game this week with 77 yards on 8 receptions.  Could this be a start of something for him?  Bringing in Brandon Lloyd probably doesn’t help his chances.  However, if he can continue to develop, he might end up being a productive slot receiver.  Or he could fade back into oblivion.  Time will tell.

17. Randall Cobb WR Green Bay Packers (Last week #12)

Cobb did a whole lot of nothing this week.  However, he’s still on the Packers and still plays a lot.  This team spreads the ball around so much that he’s going to have good and bad games.  He remains their primary return man and will retain value as long as he is healthy and somewhat productive.  Plus he’s bound to have a big game again soon.

As I said, we have a very impressive group of rookies.  A lot of guys get left off that are having decent years.  Have a great week everyone.

Josh

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So, last week I just listed the rookies that had an impact in no particular order.  This week we are upgrading it to include a ranking.  The ranking is not a top 10 list.  It’s a top however-many-I-feel-like it list.  I don’t want to limit it to 10 because if 11 guys are balling, we need to discuss them all.  I will cap it at 20 though so that I don’t bore you to tears with some WR who caught 1 ball for 2 yards.  Also, I’m sticking to offensive players only.  This is not just about who is playing well, but also who will sell the most cards.  Defensive players just don’t sell cards.  If that changes, I’ll change my rankings.  These rankings are not just based on this past week either.  They will be weighted in favor of the most recent games, but the overall season means a lot too.  

This week was a very strong week for rookies.  We have two quarterbacks who are both performing at very high levels.  What we lacked last week in rushing, we made up for this week.  There were also some insane performances from receivers.  Overall, a very good week and a nice start to the season.  By the way, last week I showcased some of my favorite cards from the rookies.  This week I’m showing you the highest priced card for each player on eBay.  You can click the picture to take you to all the autographs they currently have listed.  Anyway, on to the rankings.

1. Cam Newton QB Carolina Panthers

I don’t even know where to begin with this guy.  Sure he made some mistakes against Green Bay.  He has to learn to not force the ball.  However, he has 854 passing yards through 2 games.  854 YARDS!  That’s crazy.  His QB rating is 89.1.  He has 3 passing TDs and 2 rushing TDs.  These numbers are just plain crazy.  Take a look at some quality quarterback’s QB ratings form their rookie year (only listing guys who played a lot):

Stafford- 61.0

Roethlisberger- 98.1

Bradford- 76.5

Sanchez- 63.0

Ryan- 87.7

Freeman- 59.9

E. Manning- 55.4

P. Manning- 71.2

So, as you can see Newton would rank 2nd behind Roethlisberger.  However, the amazing thing is that none of these guys other than Peyton & Stafford threw the ball nearly as much as Newton is so far.  If he continues to throw the ball like this, he’ll go down as the best rookie QB ever.  I never thought I’d even think those words, much less type them in a blog.  I could go on and on about Newton, but I’ll save you all the trouble.  Simply put, this kid looks great.

2. A.J. Green WR Cincinnati Bengals

This was a super tough decision for me between Green and his teammate Dalton.  They are both off to a great start and seem to have great chemistry so far.  I’m giving the nod to Green because Dalton got hurt in game 1 and because Green scored a TD in both of his games.  Green finished this week with 10 catches for 124 yards and a TD.  That gives him over 150 yards and 2 TDs in 2 games. Aren’t wide receivers supposed to develop more slowly?  Isn’t their third year supposed to be the break out year?  If so, look out Jerry Rice because here comes A.J.  

3. Andy Dalton QB Cincinnati Bengals

As I just said above, I had a tough time on this one.  Dalton has played so well.  He did get hurt in the 1st game and made a few mistakes on the last drive that cost the Bengals a chance in week 2.  However, no one saw this coming.  Carson who?  Dalton has 413 yards and 3 TDs in 1 and a half games.  He also has a QB rating of 105.7.  As crazy as that is, Newton has more passing yards in both games than Dalton has in the season.  Just food for thought to show you how amazing Newton has been.  Dalton has been insanely good though.  And the Bengals are 1-1 and could easily be 2-0.  If you’re a Cincy fan, you have to like the idea of Dalton to Green for years to come.  Throw in Jerome Simpson and Jermaine Gresham and you have a very fine, young passing attack.  

4. Daniel Thomas RB Miami Dolphins

It got a little tougher here.  There were quite a few guys who I could have thrown in the #4 slot.  However, Thomas was absolutely awesome.  He ran for 107 yards on 18 carries for an average of 5.9 yards.  He also caught a pass on a screen and picked up 10 yards.  He made the Dolphins fans say “Reggie who?”  I know he was hurt in week 1, but I can’t fault a guy for that when he performed so well in week 2.  He did lose a fumble, but it was a perfect helmet hit right on the ball.  9 out of 10 running backs in the league lose the ball on that play.  As long as he continues to get the touches and snaps, he’ll be a force.  

5. Roy Helu RB Washington Redskins

Wow, did this come out of nowhere.  Helu had a monster game against Arizona.  He ran for 74 yards on 10 carries and caught 3 passes for 38 yards.  Quite a game for a rookie running back who had 1 carry in the previous game.  Washington is a run first offense, so he’s going to get his chances.  And if Hightower gets hurt (or remembers that it’s in his nature to fumble every other game), Helu could be in for big numbers.  Then again, he could go back to 1 carry next week and his stint on the rankings could be short lived.

6. Denarius Moore WR Oakland Raiders

Another guy who came out of nowhere.  Caught zero balls on Monday night against the Broncos.  How did he respond?  With 5 catches for 146 yards and a crazy good TD catch  And he even had 1 run for 25 yards.  The Raiders have been looking for a #1 WR for quite some time.  Could this be the guy?  He flourished with Jacoby Ford and Louis Murphy out and has serious speed.  Time will tell if this was just a random occurrence for Moore or a recurring theme.

7. Blaine Gabbert QB Jacksonville Jaguars

This ranking is based more on potential than anything.  He completed 5 of 6 passes for 52 yards this past week.  However, the score was totally out of hand by the time he came in.  So, the Jets weren’t exactly buckling down on defense.  But, I think he showed enough to warrant a start next week.  Luke McCown has been downright awful and Gabbert can’t be that bad.  We’ll see if he actually starts this week, but I like his chances.  

8. Randall Cobb WR Green Bay Packers

Cobb didn’t have a great week.  Only caught 2 balls for 25 yards.  Lost a fumble on a kickoff return.  And he didn’t have any big returns.  However, we can’t drop him too far after what he did in week one.  He’s going to be a big part of the Packers all year.  And if they make another run like last year, he’ll get plenty of notice.  Plus an injury or two could make him a more important target for Rodgers.  The Panthers did a good job with time of possession against Green Bay, so there wasn’t as much offense for them.  Next week may be more of the same against Chicago, but Cobb will certainly have his moments throughout the year.

9. Mark Ingram RB New Orleans Saints

Ingram had another okay game.  He hasn’t broken many runs yet as his long on the season is only 12 yards.  With that said, he’s still averaging 3.4 yards per carry which means he’s not getting stuff a whole lot.  He did lose a fumble this past week as well.  However, he has shown some serious potential.  And this offense is so good, it’s only a matter of time until he breaks one.  The most important thing is that he has almost twice as many carries as the next guy.  So, he definitely seems to be “the guy” in New Orleans.  Now if he can just show us why he is “the guy”, it would be nice.

10. Julio Jones WR Atlanta Falcons

Julio had a bit of a tough time this week.  It’s hard to blame him with Namdi Asomugha, Asante Samuel and Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie all covering him.  With that said, he still had 2 catches for 29 yards.  He has 100 yards through 2 games and is only going to get better.  Perhaps the most encouraging news is that the Falcons tried to open up the field a little more.  If that continues, Jones should be in line for a few monster games.  Plus, how can a guy that can do this not be a star?

11. Titus Young WR Detroit Lions

Titus had a very nice first game of his career.  He ended up with 5 catches for 89 yards.  He’s a quick, little WR who could make some noise for the upstart Lions this year.  This offense looks very explosive so far and Titus should take advantage of that in the coming weeks.  I don’t expect him to be the top WR in the class with guys like Green and Jones.  But, there’s no reason he can’t be a solid #2 or #3 WR for a good team.

12. Delone Carter RB Indianapolis Colts

Carter didn’t have a huge game.  But, he did get 11 carries which means something.  He ended up with 46 yards and now has 71 on the year.  He hasn’t done anything major yet.  And with the pathetic offense in Indy, he may not all year.  However, if something were to happen to Addai or Peyton somehow comes back, Carter could make some noise.  He’s shown enough in 2 games not to get down on him.

13. Doug Baldwin WR Seattle Seahawks

Baldwin did almost nothing this week with only 1 catch for 4 yards.  Tough to be too critical since they played at Pittsburgh and had a total of 164 yards.  Even after this poor game, Baldwin still ranks in the top 5 in receiving yards and receptions for rookies.  Baldwin still has zero cards.  

14. Jesse Holley WR Dallas Cowboys

Okay, so this guy was a rookie last year.  However, he’s never had a card.  So, if they make one now it will be a RC.  He had a big game this past week against San Fran.  He caught 3 balls for 96 yards including the 77-yard catch that sealed the victory in OT.  With Miles Austin and Dez Bryant banged up, this guy could make a splash in the next few weeks.  Good news is that he plays for the Cowboys, so he can’t go un-noticed.

15. DeMarco Murray RB Dallas Cowboys

Speaking of Cowboys.  Murray didn’t have a great game.  6 carries or 21 yards and 1 catch for 4 yards.  However, Felix Jones hurt his shoulder and may or may not be able to play.  If Murray ends up starting, his cards could go boom.  Or he could show us that he’s really not very good.  One way or the other, Murray has a lot riding on the next few weeks.

16. Clyde Gates WR Miami Dolphins

This guy can flat out fly.  He has mostly been relegated to kickoffs and punts so far.  However, he did get a big pass interference call against the Texans this past week.  The DB had to just grab a hold of him so he didn’t catch the ball for a TD.  He’s averaging 22.9 yards per kickoff and 10.7 per punt.  The more he learns the offense, the more he will be involved in that too.

17. Greg Little WR Cleveland Browns

Little hasn’t done a whole lot yet.  But he does have 5 catches for 50 yards on the season.  Not terrible numbers for a team that is run first.  The best thing he has going for him is that there aren’t any big time WRs on this team.  He’ll get his chances at some point.

Well, that’s all for this week.  It was another enjoyable week of NFL action.  I don’t even like to think about how bad it would be right now if the NFL were still locked out.  Have a good week and let’s root for some more big rookie play for next week.

Josh

“Different Strokes for Different Folks”

HOBBY NEWS

A lull hangs over most of the Hobby, as many await the deluge of products to be released at the end of the month, straight through the end of the year.  Starting on the 20th of this month,  no less than 9 major releases, listed below, will be available across a 5-week period.  Upper Deck, who’s new distribution policy seems to be limiting supply on their wax throughout the Hobby, will release another CLC licensed football product as well, 2011 Sweet Spot Football.   One of the most grotesque breaks in 2010, UD can only hope to replicate the mild success of their 2011 mainstream football release:

The talk of the Hobby over the last week has been the release of 2011 Allen and Ginter.  Most of the buzz is on the autograph set; it’s checklist reads as one of the most diverse, interesting and possibly valuable sets ever produced.  Secondary autograph sales have been strong.  At the same time, the relic cards, with a few exceptions, are selling for scary-low prices.  So is Ginter ’11 a hit or miss?

Yesterday I took my chances on 3 boxes of Ginter, and was both intrigued and puzzled by the end of the break.  Visually, the set can be both breathtaking (the bleeding bordered animal drawings), and brutal (the dizzying amount of inserts in each pack provides no continuity within the set and the inclusion of non-sports subsets everywhere provide little value, and the cards read like a History textbook).

So is diversity a good thing or a bad thing?  In my opinion, Ginter, as well as the recently released Upper Deck Goodwin set, are two of the most ill-concieved concepts for a product in the Hobby today.  I see the attraction- mainstream, non-RC inclusion sets, mostly bore me as they often contain the 100th jersey swatch of the top players in the game, providing no excitement and horrific secondary sales on Ebay.  A prime example is the Jackie Robinson Framed Jersey card from the scarce Gypsy Queen set.  After pulling one in a Hobby box a few months ago, I put it on Ebay expecting a nice return.  The card finished at $19.  If one of  THE most legendary baseball players ever game used swatch doesnt bring $20, why would I be excited at pulling, lets say, an Albert Pujols game-used card?  The non-debatable fact is that non-multi colored premium swatches aren’t worth a wooden nickel these days.  Autographs don’t seem to get old, but single colored game used jerseys are in their twilight in the hobby.

Most dealers will pitch a product by telling us the number of “hits” the box will contain.  Panini skirts this Hobby norm by saying “This box will contain 4 Autographs OR Game-Used cards.”  How many Panini boxes have you opened under this pretense, and got 3 autos and 1 game-used, or, God forbid, 4 autographs and no game-used cards?  Panini uses this “either/or” auto or game used ad tag on just about every football product they release.  And while some of the game-used hits are “Prime,” low-numbered swatches (even these are sometimes just 1 color jerseys), I personally have yet to hit 3 or 4 autos in any of the 100+ Panini football boxes I’ve opened over the last 2 years.

Which brings me back to Allen and Ginter.  Topps says you will recieve 3 “hits” in each box.  Now, the saving-grace here is that:

1. Some (yet very few) of the relics are worth more than $5, and
2. The box prices, which barely cost $80, are affordable enough where you won’t lose your lunch when a box has 3 relics

Box 1 was a surprise in that it contained 4 hits.  Granted, 3 of them were bat chip relics (these command $1-$2 on Ebay, and are the worst possible game used material a company can use), but the 4th hit was a 1/1 Framed Printing Plate of Jon Lester, a huge local seller here in Boston.

One of ones are viewed differently depending on what the underlying set is.  Press Plates (which are actually one of fours, and lately, with plates from inserts being inserted, can be 1/8s or 1/12s) barely top $20 on Ebay unless they are auto’d.  They are the bat relics of 1/1s.  Compare this to a Bowman Superfractor, whose prices rarely drop below $100, and have exceeded 20k in the past, and the new Topps brand “Canary Diamond” 1/1′s, which are selling at huge prices for Topps Series 1+2 copies, and one can clearly feel a lot less excited about, lets say, a Jon Lester plate.

Box 2 had 3 relics, and at that point, I was $200 in, and had yet to pull one of those buzzworthy autographs.  I had 9 cemetary cards, but 0 autographs.  Luckily, I pulled one of the 3 mainstream relics selling in excess of $50:

Its a neat looking card, but did Stan Lee wear this at a Comicon?  I’m not into Marvel and, as a collector, am disenchanted by haphazard amount of strange subjects in the set.  There’s an expensive card of the USA Women’s World Cup goalie, but nothing of star Abbie Womback.  There’s a very cool Shawn Michaels card, a WWE Hall-of-Famer, but no other rare wrestling cards.  Jim Nantz and Keith Olbermann are in the set, but where’s golf’s best character commentator David Fehrety?  Where’s Michael Kay, the annoying-but-popular NY Yankee announcer? And while Presidential autos and DNA cards sound absolutely awesome, how many of us are acually going to hit one of these when they fall at a rate of 1 in 2000 boxes?

Box 3 had 2 relics and yes, finally an autograph.  I couldn’t wait to see who I hit until I saw the card:

It’ll take anyone who broke this en masse weeks to sort through the base cards, the minis, and everything in between.  I love the creativity, but the theme is too haphazard to me.  I’ll take my chances with 2010 Elite Baseball boxes (a 10-box break I got from ASC last week at the lowest price I’ve ever seen produced 76 autographs, many of which are scorching hot on the secondary market).  This set has so many key exclusive auto rookies, like Matt Moore, Nick Castellanos, Jurickson Profar, Tyler Thornburg, Cody Buckel,  Justin Nicolino, Ronald Torreyes, Trey McNutt, Jean Segura, and plenty of bells-and-whistles like the 1/1 Buyback I pulled of Zach Britton ’07 and Yadier Molina ’04, Dual Autos you can actually hit, and even a Pam Anderson autograph, that one NOT buying this product is missing out on a price-increase almost across the board.

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BOWMAN WEEK ON THE BLOG!

MONDAY- EARLY RETURNS, IN-DEPTH PRODUCT PREVIEW

TUESDAY- SCOUTING REPORTS OF ALL ROOKIES

WEDNESDAY- CASE BREAK MANIA! CASE 1 WILL BE BROKEN AND VIDEO (LINK) ADDED!

THURSDAY- CASE BREAK MANIA! CASE 2 WILL BE RIPPED AND VIDEO LINK OR BLOG SUMMARY PROVIDED W/PICS

FRIDAY- EARLY PRICING, 2011 BOWMAN.  ALSO SHOWCASING BIGGEST HITS OF THE WEEK FROM THE PRODUCT ON EBAY!

DONT FORGET TO STOP IN EVERY DAY!

Topps confirms that two of the most coveted NFL Rookies, Cam Newton and Mark Ingram, are signing  autographs (including many on-card autographs) for its 2011 product lineup!

See attached released.

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I must say that I am more excited about this NBA All-Star weekend than I have been in quite some time.  It’s a combination of things, but it really boils down to the fact that there is TONS of talent in the NBA right now.  And it ranges from guys who have been around a long time like Kobe to guys in their prime like LeBron to newcomers like Mr. Griffin.  All-in-all it should be a very exciting weekend.

The Rookie/Sophomore game is up first.  I would have said that the Sophomores had a huge advantage, but Griffin is playing with the Rookies.  I think that gives the edge to them.  The game is always super high scoring, and I don’t see any reason why this year would be any different.  My only fear is that Griffin decides not to play in this game because he has too much else going on.  If he doesn’t play, I like the Sophomores.  It does hurt that Tyreke is out, but I still think with Curry, Jennings, Ibaka, DeRozan and others they have some serious talent.  I like the talent on the Rookie team even without Griffin.  However, only 2-3 of the Rookies are playing serious minutes for their teams.  Wall, Cousins and Fields are definitely playing well.  However, Eric Bledsoe, Derrick Favors, Wesley Johnson, Greg Monroe and Gary Neal are all role players at best right now.  I’m going to make 2 predictions for this one.  One assuming Blake plays and one assuming he does not.  Prediction: With Blake- Rookies 127, Sophomores 105.  Without Blake- Rookies 99, Sophomores 117.

Next up is the Skills Challenge.  This one is a little tougher since I don’t know exactly who is competing yet.  We will find out tonight.  I know the suspense is killing everyone.  We know Chris Paul will be there.  I’m guessing the other 4 will be Tony Parker, Derrick Rose, John Wall and Russell Westbrook.  I’m going to go out on a limb and pick John Wall.  He’s the fastest of anyone in this group.  And this is his big stage since he isn’t in the real game on Sunday.  Prediction: John Wall.

The Three Point Contest is up next.  This contest is intriguing considering there are big stars and small time guys.  Ray Allen is the guy who most would pick.  Paul Pierce is the defending champ.  Kevin Durant is a first time participant in this.  I’m going to go totally from left field and pick James Jones.  He’s a great shooter who is used to shooting the 3 ball.  Almost 85% of the shots he takes are 3-pointers.  I really wanted to pick Daniel Gibson.  I’m just worried that his injuries in the last few weeks will alter his timing.  Prediction: James Jones.

The Dunk contest is the one I’m really looking forward to seeing.  There is one obvious pick here.  I don’t even have to say who it is and you all know already.  I don’t see any way that Griffin doesn’t win this.  If I had to pick someone other than him, it would be DeMar DeRozan.  But, I don’t have to pick someone other than him.  I don’t think this will even be close.  If DeRozan can’t beat Nate Robinson, he sure as heck can’t beat Blake Griffin.  And Serge Ibaka and JaVale McGee just don’t excite me in the least.  They are both good dunkers and can do some stuff, but I don’t see how they are in this thing.  I wish it were LeBron, Dwight Howard and Blake Griffin.  Let’s see who the real Dunk champ is.  Anyway, this one was easy to pick.  Prediction: Blake Griffin.

Now, on to the real game.  This game should be awesome.  So much talent will be there.  Both sides are absolutely loaded.  I do think the West is a little bit deeper, but they are also older.  Other than the 3 Boston guys, everyone on the east team is under 30.  I think the East will be able to run more than the West.  Nowitzki, Love, Gasol, Ginobili and Duncan aren’t much of runners.  Both teams are loaded with point guards.  The East has Rose and Rondo as true point guards, but certainly LeBron, Wade and possibly Joe Johnson can bring the ball up.  The West has Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook and Deron Williams are true PGs.  But, Kobe, Durant and Carmelo certainly could bring it up too.  I think the East can rebound a little better with Howard, Amare, Horford, Bosh, Garnett and LeBron.

Defensively I think the East has a slight advantage.  I think the East is better defensively with their starters for sure.  Amare is the only weak spot on defense among the East starters.  Whereas Durant, Carmelo and Paul are not as known for their defense.  The East has 3 First Team All-NBA Defensive Team from last year.  The West only has 1.  The East also has Horford, Garnett, Allen and Pierce who are no slouches on D.

Offensively I give the East the advantage as well.  The East definitely has more shooters in Allen, Johnson and Pierce.  The West really doesn’t have a spot up shooter like those guys.  Durant and Nowitzki are both great shooters, but they aren’t used to sitting at the three point line waiting for the ball.  They are more used to creating on their own and “settling” for the 3-ball.

As I said before, I do think the West is a little deeper.  If we have a second quarter of Allen, Bosh, Horford, Johnson and Pierce vs. Manu, Nowitzki, Gasol, Griffin and Deron Williams I don’t like the East’s chances.  So, I think the East will get out to a little bit of a lead and then the West will dwindle it down with their bench.  When it comes down to it, I like the East because I think their starters will make the difference.  Prediction: East 141, West 135.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.  Look for a Spring Cleaning sale coming in the next few days.

Topps announces for every 18 wrappers (HOBBY ONLY) of 2010 Bowman Chrome Baseball sent to the company, collectors will receive an exclusive 5-card pack of exclusive BLACK-BORDERED PARALLELS of 2010 BOWMAN BASEBALL cards . All 110 prospect subjects from 2010 Bowman Baseball will be included.

In addition, randomly inserted into these packs will be:

· 37-card USA Baseball Bowman Chrome Black Bordered Autographs #’d to 25…featuring the 2010 Collegiate National Team and the 2010 18U National Team.
· 5-card Bowman Chrome Rookies & Prospects Autographs #’d to 100… Featuring Buster Posey, Mike Stanton, Mike Moustakas, Miguel Sano and Dustin Ackley.
· And because of a production error, the previously announced Autographed 2010 Bowman Chrome USA BUYBACK program will now be included as part of this wrapper redemption. Cards will be sequentially numbered with foil stamping to 100 and will include Bryce Harper, James Taillon, Yasmani Grandal, Drew Pomeranz, Michael Choice, Christian Colon, Manny Machado and Bryce Brentz.

The deadline for the promotion is 3/31/11

Wrappers should be sent to:
PO BOX 2230
Duryea, PA 18642
ATTN: Bowman Chrome Promotion

Incoming search terms:

• bowman chrome wrapper redemption
• 2011 bowman wrapper redemption
• topps bowman chrome wrapper redemption
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• 2011 bowman chrome wrapper redemption

Topps has made a significant addition to its recently-announced 2010 Topps Chrome Baseball Wrapper Redemption Program.

The company will be seeding autographs of National League Rookie of The Year contenders Buster Posey and Jason Heyward into its 3-card Topps Chrome Wrapper Redemption packs.  There will be 100 autograph versions of both Posey and Heyward available with Refractor versions foil stamped to 90 and Green Refractor versions foil stamped to 10.

The Program:

For every 24 wrappers (HOBBY ONLY) of 2010 Topps Chrome Baseball sent to the company, collectors will receive an exclusive 3-card pack of Topps Chrome Rookies & Legends Refractor variation cards.  In addition, every tenth 3-card pack will feature special Green Refractors.  The deadline for the promotion is 2/28/11.

Wrappers should be sent to:
PO BOX 2230
Duryea, PA  18642
ATTN: Chrome Promotion
 
The 15-card set includes:
 
Jason Heyward                        Rookie
Austin Jackson                        Rookie
Stephen Strasburg                    Rookie
Mike Leake                              Rookie
Buster Posey                            Rookie
Starlin Castro                           Rookie
Ike Davis                                 Rookie
Carlos Santana                         Rookie
Mike Stanton                           Rookie
Tyler Colvin                            Rookie
Babe Ruth                               Legend
Lou Gehrig                              Legend
Jackie Robinson                      Legend
Ty Cobb                                  Legend
Mickey Mantle                        Legend

Incoming search terms:

• buster posey wrapper topps chrome
• wrapper redemption posey auto buy

NFL AND NFL PLAYERS ANNOUNCE NEW MULTI-YEAR DEAL WITH TOPPS

Multi-Year Deal Begins with the 2010 NFL Season and the Release of
Topps Football

New York, April 29, 2010 – The Topps Company, a leading creator and marketer of sports cards, today announced a multi-year trading card licensing agreement with the National Football League and NFL PLAYERS (the marketing and licensing arm of the NFLPA). This deal will allow Topps to continue its strong history of offering collectors the industry’s most sought-after football cards.

“We are excited to continue our deep, long standing partnership with the NFL and the NFLPA,” said Ryan O’Hara, CEO of The Topps Company. “Topps will bring innovative, exciting and fun products to the marketplace to serve consumers and customers well.”

“For more than a half century, football fans have been able to connect with the NFL and their favorite players through Topps football cards,” said Leo Kane VP of consumer products at the NFL. “We look forward to continuing our partnership with Topps, bringing our fans collectibles for many years to come.”

“Topps has been instrumental in establishing the player-fan connection for more than 50 years,” said Keith Gordon, President of NFL PLAYERS. “We’re excited about the direction Topps is headed and are eager to see new products that will further enable football collectors to connect with our players.”

Topps is set to unveil its first product of the season, Topps Football, just prior to the start of the 2010 NFL season. “This year’s Topps Football will be our best ever as it will be loaded with amazing content and truly deliver NFL rookies and stars,“ said Warren Friss, Topps’ GM of Sports and Entertainment. “It will also include a special Gridiron Giveaway promotion, which will allow collectors to unlock vintage Topps football cards and win various football prizes.”

Sorry for the little break in the blogging.  I was out of town for a few days on vacation.  While I was gone several new products came in.  I’ll review them below.

2010 Topps Heritage BB appears to be a solid product.  Its content and breakdown hasn’t changed much over the years, but it continues to perform regardless.  It has some nice stuff in there, but is much more of a set building type of product than a high end, chase type of product.

2009 Upper Deck Ultimate Collection FB has been up and down.  There are definitely some awesome hits.  However, I’m not sure about some of the “legends” that they threw into the Legends Autograph Set.  And I wish the Autograph RCs would only include the best guys.  I’m not a fan of seeing people pay close to $100 for a pack and getting a Brandon Pettigrew or Hakeem Nicks Auto as their hit card.  That’s pretty bogus.  With that said, I still think it’s a decent product to open because there are some very cool inscriptions and patches.

The 09/10 Certified BK has looked solid so far.  It amazes me how much some of the numbered inserts sell for out of the Panini BK products.  The hits in Certified don’t overly excite me, but getting 4 hits for the price isn’t bad.  I do miss the multi-swatch Mirror RCs like you have in football.  Those are some of my favorite cards.  The low end stuff sells really well though.

March appears to be a relatively slow month release wise.  Because of this, we’re planning some great specials to keep the interest up.  2007 UD Exquisite Rookies continues to be our best selling product whenever we put it on sale.  We are getting a little low on this one, so don’t miss out on this product.  Once it’s gone, we won’t be able to get any more of it in.  Also, we got some 2009 Topps Sterling back in stock.

On a sports note, congrats to Canada for winning the Hockey Gold Medal.  It was a great game.  I couldn’t believe when the U.S. tied it with about a minute remaining.  The Canadian team looked possessed once the OT started as Ryan Miller was under attack.  I was happy to see Crosby score the winning goal.  I’ll miss not watching the Olympics every night.  They were pretty exciting this year.

Well, I hope everyone is off to a great week.  Look for tons of specials this month as we have a bit of a spring cleaning.

Josh