1000th POST CONTEST! Lots to Give Away!

Hey everyone, Drew back here for now the 1000th time in the history of this blog! Before I get to what I promised in the title, I just wanted to say a few quick things. First and foremost, I want to thank each and every one of you out there who has taken some of their time out from their day to give this website a look! I grew up always being a numbers guy, and seeing some of the numbers of page views and followers and comments and what not is just astounding to me. While in the past year this blog has been wildly inconsistent (similar to AJ Burnett), it doesn't mean I'm losing my passion for the sports memorabilia hobby, it's just been that I've had a lot going on. These teenage years always offer a lot of excitement and memories and I don't want to spend those moments behind the screen of a computer the entire time. However, when I get a chance, I absolutely love to throw a post up about how my collection is coming along, as well as reading all of your blogs! You all have built me a certain amount of confidence that I can't thank you enough for. I feel like I have fans when I get on here, even though some times in my real world life it may not seem that way as much. So, not only do I do this for me, but I do this most definitely for all of you as well.

And it's about time I paid some of you back for all you've helped me through over the years! A while back, I promised to give away the contents of the Tri-Star OBAK football box I opened, and well, other plans got in the way. However, today, and for the next two weeks, you will all get an opportunity to win a piece of the break! I know my blog following is shifted much more towards baseball than football fans, however, some of these prizes are just too nice to pass up! I divided the contents of the box into five respective categories, each of which are fairly simple to enter. There are 3 autographs scattered within the groups they belong in, but the groups not containing autographs do have nice parallels and minis as well. So, without any further delay, I'll jump right into each group, one at a time, and I'll tell you how to enter for a chance to win the cards in the group! Let's Go!

GROUP A: The African American Innovator Collection
Throughout the past hundred years, exciting new talent has come along when professional sports opened the floodgates and let African American people play. Some of these athletes will go down as some of the most talented and best all around players of all time! To win the group of cards below, highlighted by a box topper numbered 1 of 25 featuring on one side, Emlen Tunnell, the first African American in the HOF, and on the other side Charles Follis, the first African American Pro Football player; as well as a green base parallel of Tunnell numbered 3 of 25, please name in the comments below your favorite African American Athlete of all time (any sport).

(click to enlarge photo)

GROUP B: Pioneers of the Game
For all of you history buffs out there, Tri-Star certainly hooked you up in this product! In it features so many cards of players/coaches/executives that don't often get much of a spotlight, although they may have had remarkable careers! In this lot of 23 cards plus a mini of the father of American football, you can not only take home some very nice cardboard but you can learn an awful lot about the game that you may not have known before. Since so many of these people were very smart, I would like to know, in order to win the lot below, what has been your smartest investment/purchase you have ever made (inside or outside of this hobby). 

Group C: Award Winners

Alright, here's where things start to kick it up a notch! I'm not saying not to put in for the first two groups, because A) they're easy to join and B) I'd love to read your answers, and C) you could win! Anyways, in this lot of 22, you will find cards with recipients of awards such as the Heisman Trophy, the Maxwell Award, the Bear Bryant Award, and the Doak Walker award, all of which are prestigious college football awards! Bo Jackson is featured twice in this lot, as well as 2 great autographs of former Heisman Trophy winners Charlie Ward (numbered out of 50) and Andre Ware (numbered out of 75)! Both had great college careers and would be nice additions to any fans collection! In order to take home this solid lot, please leave me a comment sharing one of your favorite stories having to do with this hobby! It can be anything, just make sure it's longer than a sentence as this is one of the better lots in the contest!

Group D: Legends of the Hall

Simply put, this lot is filled, and I mean filled with Hall of Famers- whether in the Pro Football Hall of Fame or the College Football Hall of Fame! How about 46 cards everyone, including an autograph numbered to 100 of Hall of Famer Jim Otto (famous for wearing #00), as well as 11 minis, one of which being a green parallel mini of legendary running back Earl Campbell, numbered only 23 of 25! For free? I would not pass this lot up if I were you guys, without a doubt. All you have to do to win this big chunk of cards is leave a comment stating one thing you love about the hobby today as well as one thing you hate about it. That's it. 

Group E: American Heroes/Best of the Rest

The final major group of cards you can take home is a bit of the miscellaneous stuff, but one big portion of this  43 card lot has to do with players who've been in the military during World War II and Vietnam, as well as 5 cards of former Presidents Reagan, Nixon, Kennedy, Ford, and Johnson (all of whom had a significant impact on the game at one point or another)! Besides those cards, you can find a green parallel of legendary kicker Morten Anderson numbered out of 25, and cards of many #1 Draft picks, NFL stars like Dante Hall, Kurt Warner, and Roger Craig, and many more! In order to take home this final lot, all you have to do is follow my blog and leave a comment saying that you did! 

 

A few quick extra notes for you guys:

- If you plug the contest and advertise it on your own respective blog or site, and put it in with your contest submission, you will receive TWO additional entries to each group you put in for! So instead of getting the one chance for entering, you can have 3 chances to win each group! (Note: You must enter at least one group to gain the additional 2 entries)

- If 50 or more people enter this contest, I will throw everyone's name into a hat and whoever I pull will win the big pull of the box, a 1/1 cut autograph of Pro Football Hall of Fame head coach Hank Stram! This card can sell anywhere between $100 and $200 from what I've seen, so if you really want a chance to win it, plug this contest up!

- If 75 or more people enter, I will do the same as I can do with the cut, and the winner will receive a mystery group of cards from my collection. You can bet that there will be some pretty nice stuff in there! I don't know if we can get this many entries, especially for a football contest, but keep in mind the more you plug this contest on your own blog the better chance you have to win some nice prizes!

Also, please put all of your entries in one comment, just to make things easier. So, this is my gift to you guys, and I really hope you take advantage of some of these prizes! I don't care what you do with them if you win, because you guys deserve every bit of this! Thank you once again to the good folks at Tri-Star for providing my blog the opportunity to review this product, and well, best of luck to every person who enters!

CONTEST CLOSES: SATURDAY, JULY 21ST AT 8:00 PM! DON'T MISS OUT! 

Thank you for every moment, and here's to another thousand! 

See Ya!

2011 TriStar OBAK Football Box Break! Future Contest Coming Soon?

Hey guys, Drew back here! So, just recently I got an email from my good old friends at TriStar asking if I was interested in reviewing their newest football product, Obak! I gladly accepted the offer and Dad and I broke open a fresh box of the product two weeks ago or so. As promised, here is my review:

Base Cards: 103 (7 Doubles)

Well, in case any of you didn't realize, this Obak product offers a ton of variety. You can find cards of people involved in any way with football. First off are the players. Going back as far as Sammy Baugh and going as modern as the all time NFL points leader Morten Anderson, it offers a vast timeline of football history. But not only that, but the set also features a card of Vince Lombardi in his playing days, and even cards of the people who invented certain plays and equipment, as well as famous team owners and Hall of Famers. One thing I also love about the set is the inclusion of former US Presidents, majority of them even in their football uniforms back before their presidencies. Pretty cool!

The design is simple, but I like how the photo is cut out and put on a random design in the background. It offers a neat look back at some of footballs greatest memories. By the way, I also pulled 3 cards with a gray back variation: Jack Chevigny, Johnny Poe, and Eddie Lebaron. I'm not sure what the distinction of those are, but I guess they're kind of cool. 

Box Topper: Emlen Tunnell/Charles Follis /25

The connection between these 2 players is that Tunnell was the 1st African American inducted into Canton, while Follis was the 1st African American to ever play football. I'm not sure how much of a fan I am of this design, as it is kind of boring to be honest, but it still serves as a cool part of the set. Plus, it's very limited, numbered only out of 25!

 
Minis: 23

I feel like minis have came a long way the past years. They started off as a cool concept, and at this point they serve as a "ughhhh another pointless parallel". Some people love them. I don't love them but I don't hate them either. I really think it would be cool if they did an Obak set in just mini form, like the original Obak cards. I feel like a product should be either all standard sized or all mini sized, because it just adds a lot to chase after. 

One thing I do like about the minis here is that the mini set is much smaller than the base set. At only 25 cards, I'm only 2 cards away from the entire set already! When you buy multiple boxes, it gives you plenty of duplicates, but if you're doing a one box break it's nice to knock off a lot of the cards without having to chase them around.

Green Base Parallel: 2 (Tunnell/Anderson)

TriStar did a much better job with the overwhelming amounts of parallels in this product. Last time I reviewed a box for them, it was a box of Obak baseball, there are an extreme amount of parallels in the box. This time around, I pulled about 6 in total, 2 being these green cards numbered out of 25 each! Not too bad at all. 

The last parallel was again a green parallel, this being a mini numbered to 25 of Earl Campbell! Not bad to have a card of one of the top running backs of all time with a low serial number and a nice design. 

On to the autographs! The first of the four promised autos was one of Charlie Ward, numbered 22 out of 50. Ward was a very skilled athlete, and was drafted by the Brewers in the 1993 MLB draft, followed by the Yankees in 1994. Also, he was a great tennis player, having played in the Arthur Ashe Amateur Tournament in 1994. But, his two sports he'll be remembered for most were basketball and football. While he went on to have a decent NBA career with the Knicks, Spurs, and Rockets, he shined in college football, winning the 1993 Heisman trophy. Definitely a neat autograph to own of a very good athlete!

Autographer number 2 was of another former Heisman Trophy winner, Andre Ware. Ware, along with Ward, is in the College Football Hall of Fame after his successful college career with Houston. He had a very rough NFL career, but will be widely remembered for his successful college career. He currently works for the Houston Texans radio broadcast team. 

The third ottograph just happened to be of the legendary number "00", Hall of Famer Jim Otto! Otto was one of the best centers of all time, making 9 AFL All Star selections and 3 Pro Bowls! He played his entire career with Oakland, and he was one of only 20 players to play every season the AFL league existed. The Sporting News ranked him as the 78th greatest football player of all time! 

And well, the last autograph was a bit of a surprise!

It was a 1/1 cut autograph of former Chiefs head coach and Hall of Famer Hank Stram! Stram led Kansas City (which was also the Dallas Texans at one point during the period) to 3 AFL Championship wins, as well as a Super Bowl victory in Super Bowl IV! His career coaching record put him at a 57.5% percentage, and he is considered one of the best coaches in football history!

This is my 1st cut autograph in my collection, and while I know I'm going to give away a majority of the content from the box in a contest coming very soon, this one very well may stay here with me. All in all, I'm a big fan of this product! I think it has a very neat checklist and perception, and for that I give TriStar a strong A on this product!

Thank you so much to my good friends that work with TriStar and allowed me this opportunity! Stay tuned for a chance to win many of the cards from this box!

See Ya!