Checking out the Super Bowl Boulevard! Great Success!

Hey guys, Drew back here. I've been in the midst of a break from the hobby, with most of my time dedicated towards cleaning my desks up, sorting cards, and devoting time towards my girlfriend. However, once in a while I still like to do a thing or two involved with my favorite hobby, and I was shocked the other day when my Dad told me we were going to check out the Super Bowl Boulevard! We headed down to Manhattan on Friday for the day after I wrapped up all of my midterms, and we didn't realize that we were in for quite the treat!

In case you didn't know, the Super Bowl Boulevard was held throughout the past week between 34th Street and 47th Street, taking up Broadway and much more. While it was a huge event, most of the features were all crammed together, leaving a few other parts of the experience far away. It was a great day for the NFL to host such a large event, supplying fans with great opportunities for all ages, but it certainly had its glitches along the way. The spacing was the biggest problem, with so many people crammed together, some in line to get to see the Lombardi Trophy up close; some to slide on the large toboggan float; and others to get autographs from the players announced on the lineup. On Friday, we expected to see Redskins WR Pierre Garcon, Panthers LB Luke Kuechly, Colts WR Reggie Wayne, Eagles QB Nick Foles, and legendary Rams RB Marshall Faulk. All five of these stars were scheduled to sign outside at the Autograph stage at different times throughout the day, so originally we planned to keep going through the same line all day long.

However, there were rumors that it would be smart to see what was going on at some of the other local stores, many of which hosted players as well that may have went under the radar. Unfortunately in the Big Apple, nothing goes under the radar, but we did end up finding out about a signing at 3:00 at Macy's! When we got to Macy's, which is on 34th street and was considered at one of the ends of the Boulevard, we were pleased to see FOX Sports reporter Erin Andrews posing with fans. The cost to meet Andrews was $50 spent at the NFL Shop which was occupying the entire 4th floor of the building. It wasn't worth $50 to me to meet Andrews, but it was easily worth $50 to meet the 3:00 guest!

In order to meet the 3:00 guest, we had to hang around Macy's, because he was only to sign for the first 100 people in line and a crowd was already gathering. It was noon when we got there. So yes, we had to wait 3 hours to meet this player, but even for the very short amount of time with him, it was still easily worth the time and money! We bought a special edition mini helmet for this year's Super Bowl in hopes to get it signed at some point during the day, along with a rack pack of Panini Rookies & Stars and a commemorative Super Bowl card set. We were 9th in line to meet this legend, and we took our 3 hours in line to get to know the people around us who were also patiently waiting for the event to begin. Eventually he arrived, and I swear it felt like the President of the United States had just entered Macy's. Fans gathered around the sides hoping for a free autograph (which they didn't get much to my approval), and he was chock full of security surrounding him during the whole event.

Dad and I approached the man and shook his hand and told him how much of a pleasure it was to meet him, and he signed an 8x10 for us that contained the NFL Shop and Macy's logos. I wasn't crazy about the picture at first because of that reason but then I remembered I didn't want to meet him to make a profit, and the logos will remind me of the time I spent 3 hours at Macy's on a cold winter day with my Dad. I think if you add up all the time I've spent in my life in Macy's, it still wouldn't equal three hours! It wasn't an easy wait, but to come home knowing I met Emmitt Smith and got his autograph was enough to make my year!

Emmitt Smith has been regarded by many people as the greatest running back of all time, or at least in the conversation with Walter Payton and Barry Sanders! He owns the NFL record for most career rushing yards and rushing touchdowns, and was part of the Dallas Cowboys dynasty throughout the 1990's! I barely missed the boat on Emmitt's career, as he was just wrapping his career up with the Arizona Cardinals. I went back and watched a lot of highlights of his career after I met him and began to understand why he left such a large mark on the game.

Nothing about this photo really stands out other than it being of Emmitt Smith and featuring his autograph. The picture isn't incredible and the logos certainly get in the way, but it's still a Smith autograph and it comes with a story I think I'm going to love telling in the future! When it comes down to it, this is a hobby of mine after all, and although it can get expensive, moments like these will always be in my possession and I could never try to sell something that carries a personal value like this.

After we ordered our 8x10 print of our photo taken with Emmitt, we rushed out of Macy's to see if we could catch Marshall Faulk in time for his signing. We arrived on time for the signing, but the line was already way down the block and Faulk wasn't even there yet. We later found out he was 35 minutes late to the signing and only could stay until the signing was scheduled to be over, so he only signed for about 25 minutes. We knew a lot of stars were out in the city that we could've hunted down, but we were exhausted and starving from our wait at Macy's so we took one last look through the crowds and then headed over to TGI Friday's for dinner. We went home after a great meal, and although I didn't come home with a mountain of autographs, I got one great one that I didn't previously have and am now so proud to own!

While last night's game wasn't the best Super Bowl by any means, it was really cool to have my home state partially host the big game! Tickets for the game were far too expensive for me, but getting to see and hear some of the Super Bowl atmosphere throughout the city all day was an experience I'll never forget! 

Thank you so much Dad for taking me and spoiling me to death as always! I can't thank you enough for everything you've given and done for me! 

See Ya!

TTM #103 - A Super Success!

Hey guys, Drew back here! Recently, I found some extra time in my schedule to write out a few TTM requests, and the first of those 5 came in on Friday! I sent each of the 5 people an 8x10 photo to sign, which costed a lot to ship, but could yield some great results. To go along with the shipping costs, this success below required a donation, so you can easily see how quickly the costs tend to add up. However, I think we can all agree that $20 + shipping fees was worth the price for this piece:

Bart Starr, the first and second Super Bowl MVP in NFL history, signed this beautiful black and white photo for my collection! I've been meaning to send to Mr. Starr for quite some time now, as this photo was sitting around collecting dust for about half a year! I feel a lot better about it with his large black, bold signature resting upon the tremendous photograph taken by Vernon J. Biever. I never noticed Biever's signature in the bottom left hand corner of the picture, and to be honest I had no idea who he was when I finally noticed it. I did a little research however; and it turns out that Biever worked as the staff photographer for Green Bay, and was even elected to the team's Hall of Fame for his achievements! You can check out a website commemorating his career here, if you're interested in seeing more of his pictures.

Mr. Starr certainly came through clutch with my photo, returning it within a week with a great "To Drew, With Best Wishes, Bart Starr 15, MVP SBI, II" inscription! I asked for the Super Bowl inscription in my letter, and he obliged. It's not every day as a collector that you get to go around showing off a nice new Hall of Fame QB piece in your collection, so this one will be on display around the house for a little while (until my mom gets sick of me laying it all over the place).

Starr played from 1956-1971, all for Green Bay, making one of the longest tenured quarterbacks with 1 team in football history. He made 4 Pro Bowl teams, and was the 1966 League MVP. NFL.com ranked him as the 51st best player to ever take the field.

What do you guys think of the highlight of my football collection? If you haven't gotten Starr yet, $20 is a steal, so I would certainly consider getting him while you can! See Ya!

Congrats to the 2010-11 Green Bay Packers!

Hey guys, Drew back here, and even though I'm a little late to the parade, I felt like I should talk about the Super Bowl. To be brutally honest, the Jets definitely should have been in that game and it really disappoints me, however, what's done is done and I settled down to watch the big Packers vs. Steelers game at my friend's house. You could not have possibly asked for a worse beginning to the game than Christina Aguilera's rendition of the National Anthem. Her incredible voice was fine, but she missed a line (the rampart one)!

As for the actual football part of the game, it was a great game! Aaron Rodgers was spot on throughout the entire game with his passes, and it seemed like nothing could have stopped him, even the injury by star receiver Donald Driver that put him out for the entire second half. His passing totals were 24/39 completions, 304 yards, 3 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions. Without multiple drops by his receivers, he could've pulled off one of the greatest Super Bowl performances of all time! Rodgers joined Bart Starr and Brett Favre to become one of 3 groups of at least 3 quarterbacks on one franchise to win a Super Bowl (Giants, Redskins).

After years of waiting and waiting, he finally got to lead his team to the Super Bowl, and the entire Packers squad played a tremendous game! Roethlisberger couldn't complete a pass when it mattered most, and was the final piece that ended the Steelers season.

But you can't talk about the Super Bowl without mentioning the commercials. They were much better than they have been in the last few years in my opinion, and I laughed at quite a few of them. The Doritos ones always crack me up, and the Pepsi Max ones were good too, but this was my favorite:

Eminem got into 2 commercials, 1 being more serious (Chrysler) but the best was certainly the Brisk one.

Oh, and other than the cool display, the Black Eyed Peas.. sucked.

Congrats Green Bay! See Ya!

Congrats to the Who Dat Nation + New Trivia

courtesy: ESPN.com

Hey guys, Drew back here, I want to congratulate all the Saints fans for an awesome win yesterday, I'm sure if you're in New Orleans that you haven't been inside your house for a day now so the game will be not the 1st thing on your minds when you guys get done partying a few weeks from now! It was a great game, and I enjoyed watching it! Peyton & Brees just went back and forth until Peyton threw that big pick, one of the biggest plays in Saints history, by Tracy Porter. I was very happy to see the Saints win, especially because of Hurricane Katrina a few years ago and the fact that they've never played in a Super Bowl in franchise history.

The bad parts about the Super Bowl were everything outside of the game itself. The commercials sucked and they've gotten worse every year. The only ones that I thought were decent (but still didn't get a laugh out of me) were the one with the sleepwalking guy and the Brett Favre Hyundai commercial. He very well could be the MVP of the 2020 NFL season, if the NFL exists. The Who also looked plain old old out there, and they certainly put me to sleep.

Getting back to the highlights of the night, Grandpa Roy and I just talked on the phone and we have our first trivia question of the new year for you today, relating to the Super Bowl last night, here is your question:

The New Orleans Saints won the Super Bowl last night as you all know in a miraculous fashion. After a long 44 year drought of no Super Bowl appearances, the 'Aints came out and beat the Colts, 31-17. They became the 9th NFL team to win their 1st Super Bowl game they've appeared in. What are the other 8 teams?

1. Green Bay Packers, 1966 Super Bowl Champions
2. New York Jets, 1968 Super Bowl Champions
3. Pittsburgh Steelers, 1974 Super Bowl Champions
4. San Fransisco 49ers, 1981 Super Bowl Champions
5. Chicago Bears, 1985 Super Bowl Champions
6. New York Giants, 1986 Super Bowl Champions
7. Baltimore Ravens, 2000 Super Bowl Champions
8. Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 2002 Super Bowl Champions
9. New Orleans Saints, 2009 Super Bowl Champions

UPDATE: Got them all! Post coming soon! Good job

You guys know the deal, but I'll explain it again for you. Please comment with your guess, only 1 guess per day for each person. Please try your hardest to think of these off the top of your heads, there will be no prize this year, and after a really busy last few months, I'm not sure prizes will be provided to the other 4 people in the Top 5 from last year, which I will need to ask them. Have fun with the question and Good luck!

Super Bowl Sunday- Take Your Pick!

Hey guys, Drew back here. Today I am going to an airsoft party, and I'm getting back at around 7:30 I think. So, I'll miss the 1st hour of the Super Bowl, which isn't a huge deal but it does stink a little. The past 2 Super Bowls both had horrible 1st halves, until James Harrison returned that touchdown last year. This year, we have the Saints vs. the Colts, and it's gonna be a heck of a game. It's going to be exciting to see who wins it, and I can't wait to watch it.

I am honestly rooting for the Saints, because I really want to see them win. The Colts are a good team and I respect Manning & Reggie Wayne quite a bit, and I won't mind seeing them win, but they just won and I'd like to see the 'aints go all the way. It's going to come down to defense I think, and the Saints have a pretty bad one at that. The Colts have a pretty balanced attack so they will be tough to beat, so that means one of my former faves Jonathan Vilma, needs to step it up and have a big game. Both defenses aren't anything special, but the Colts have the edge at that point.

The Saints have the edge on offense for one reason and one reason only, the rushing attack. I think Reggie Bush is one of the best clutch running backs in the NFL now, especially in the playoffs. He does absolutely nothing in the regular season but he is a lethal weapon in the postseason. Add in Pierre Thomas and you have a good running game. Addai won't be able to match this in any way, shape, or form.

Overall, I think the Saints have enough offense to prevail, but it's gonna be a close game. It could definitely go either way, and we have never seen Drew Brees in such a big game before, so we'll have to see how he handles it. I think he will very well.

Prediction: Saints 30, Colts 27

I'm leaving a poll up now, take your pick, Go Saints, and See Ya!