Random Wax: 2019 Contenders Football

 2019 Contenders:  Patrick Mahomes needs no introduction.  The best quarterback in the NFL today, his accolades will go down in history when he's compared to the best ever to play the position.  He's a Texas Tech alum and I've always been a fan.

I'm a big fan of Luke Kuechly.  He was just such a good smart linebacker in the league.  Mike Evans is still a top receiver in the league and 2025 will be his 12th season in the NFL.  I really like this set and this base design in particular.

Rookie of the Year Contenders have a nice look to them as do the Legendary Contenders that give us retired greats.  The Legendary Contenders is an insert I really like.

The backs are really nice sans having no stats of course.  And wow it seems so long since Goff was a Ram.

Fun pack of cards that I purchased in 2023.  I rarely complain about Contenders.  We'll end it with a Winning Ticket A-A-Ron.

BREAKDOWN:
22 – Total Cards
2 – Rookie of the Year Contenders
1 – Retired Great
1 – Winning Ticket
1 – Legendary Contenders

Random Wax: 2024 Allen & Ginter

 2024 A&G: I was not happy when Max Fried signed with the Yankees in the offseason.  He's had another great season with them making the All-Star team.

I'm good with this base design.  It has the A&G design that works.  Gunnar Henderson is having another good season in Baltimore but hasn't had the pop he had last year when he hit 37 home runs.

This is a flat tailed gecko on this X-Ray’d insert.  Pretty cool cards actually.  They are plastic on the front and overall, a fun card from the Oregon Zoo.

The two minis I pulled including a Black Border Parallel Charlie Blackmon.

Here we get one of the non-baseball players in the set.  Tim Robinson is an actor and a comedian.

Sister, Sister inserts focus on sister cities in the United States and abroad.

I really enjoy retired greats and there were two in this pack.  I'm a big Paul Molitor fan so it was fun to pull him.  Nice pack of cards.  A&G isn't something I chase a lot but they are enjoyable when I do pick them up.

BREAKDOWN:
14 – Total Cards
2 - Mini
2 – Retired Greats
1 – X-Ray’d
1 - Sister, Sister
1 – Black Border Mini

Random Wax: 2022-2023 Hoops

22-23 Hoops:  With so many players out or gone from Boston, I'm curious to see what Jaylen Brown brings to the court this year.  He's really the Celtics star for the 2025-2026 season.  Tatum is out with injury and Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday were traded while Boston picked up Anfernee Simons.

What a pull in this pack.  That Donovan Mitchell is one of my favotie cards in the set.  The Giannis is also a really good photo.

Nice Paolo Banchero rookie.  He's become a star in Orlando.  He average 25, 7 and 4 last season.

Kind of boring Rookie Greetings inserts this season.

Mark Williams is a solid big in the league now and was traded to Phoenix this offseason.  Zion on a Hoops Tribute card.  We still don't know who he really is as a player.  That Harris card is a Teal Explosion Parallel.  This pack was one of a few I picked up at a reduced price in March of last year.

There is still a lot of drama around what happens with Jonathan Kuminga.  Myles Turner took his talents to Milwaukee while Harden is now a Clipper.  That's a nice Donovan Mitchell Frequent Flyers insert.  Really fun pack and great star power.

BREAKDOWN:

30 – Total Cards

5 – RC

2 – Hoops Tribute

1 – Purple Parallel

1 – Frequent Flyers

1 – Rookie Greetings

1 – Teal Explosion Parallel

  

2023 Absolute Football

2023 Absolute:   First full slate of Sunday games today.  Can't wait!  Joe Burrow was amazing last year but the Bengals' 9-8 record overshadowed the crazy season he had.

I really like David Montgomery.  This design feels like an Absolute design.  I like it with the large team logo in the background being my favorite element.

Puka Nacua had a great rookie season and is a favorite target of Matthew Stafford.  I miss the team logo on the rookie cards but I kind of still like this look.

Keenan Allen returns to the Chargers after one season in Chicago.  I like the Draft Diamonds concept, but I do think the design could be tweaked.  I like the look of the Star Gazing inserts though JuJu is an odd choice for this insert set.

The backs are good.  Yes, we want more stats but otherwise it has plenty of goodness to it.

Opening weekend is always fun.  We all have hopes and dreams of our teams doing well...for at least one week.

BREAKDOWN:

20 – Total Cards

6 – Rookie (RC)

3 – Blue Parallel

1 – Star Gazing

1 – Draft Diamonds

Random Wax: 1991 Fleer Baseball (4 Packs)

 '91 Fleer: These guys back in the day were amazing and to get them on one card is a win.  This is a SuperStar Special card for the set.

Am I a big fan of this set.  Why?  No idea but I dig it.  Wally Joyner, home run champion...who knew?

Love the stickers.  I get a nice big BoSox sticker pull here.  And the backs were amazing all-time stats leaders for the teams.  Perfect.

Some closer love.

And more...on another SuperStar Special.  Bobby Thigpen had 57 of his career 201 saves in one season.

Loved the speed of Vince Coleman.

The backs are good even if the color has been "dulled".  Never quite figured that out.  But still, tons of stats to enjoy.

Steve Avery made his debut in 1990 and would help get Atlanta to the World Series versus the Twins in 1991.

We end it with a cool Pro Visions Black insert.  Good looking card and art.

BREAKDOWN:
60 – Total Cards
4 – Stickers
4 – Superstar Specials
2 – Checklist
1 – Pro Visions Black

2025 Buffalo Bills Season Preview

The Buffalo Bills were 13-4 last season and won the AFC East.  But again, they didn't meet expectations.  The offense did really well while the defense struggled at times.  Things looked ripe for them to buck their playoff failures against KC but again lost again to the Chiefs in a heart breaking 32-29 loss in the Conference Championship.

While the team's ground game came to play last season with James Cook leading the league in rushing touchdowns, the receiving corps is struggling to find a true #1.  It's really something that has needed to be addressed since Stefon Diggs left the team.  Plenty of good receivers but I wouldn't say it's a group I have a ton of confidence in.  The defense just wasn't great, especially in pass defense, and it seemed like any close game late in a game was a nail biter.  And you really didn't want to see a great QB like Mahomes across the ball from the defense.  

Buffalo had minimal cap room to maneuver with so I'm not sure what kind of upgrades to expect this year.  I see 12 wins this year as a smart bet.  Josh Allen has been pretty consistent in his abilities, and the addition of a stable run game last year kept him in the pocket more which bodes well for his health.  I do think this team can get to a Super Bowl, but they have to learn to beat Kansas City in the playoffs while also assuming they may have to play teams like Baltimore or Cincy to get there.  Hope isn't a good plan but as good as this team has been for past six seasons I'm not sure what else fans can do.

2025 Atlanta Falcons Preview

The Atlanta Falcons came off a year filled with turmoil after taking Michael Pennix in the first round of the draft and alienating starter Kirk Cousins, whom they had just signed to a big contract.  Cousins went on to a horrible season and was benched.  Somehow Atlanta won 8 games and was very close to winning a very bad division.  But they were not good.  Let's make no mistake.

Their defense, in particular their rushers, were bad and they hopefully addressed that through their offseason free agent pickups and the draft.  Atlanta gave up a lot to draft James Pearce in the second round so a lot is riding on the moves.  It's a lot to ask for but they gave up the 23rd most points per game in the league (31st in touchdowns given up).  I do think they can make a leap forward but I'm not sure how much.

The offense now belongs to Michael Pennix.  We only saw him in three games as a starter and so far I haven't seen anything that makes me think he's the guy to take us to the next level.  I hope I'm wrong.  They still have a great running game, but the receiving corps isn't excellent.  I like Drake London but I'm not sure the rest of the receiving corps is consistent enough to help out the young QB.  The team has made the offensive line a priority which is always a good thing.

Atlanta has to beat bad teams which is something they didn't do consistently last season.  Maybe Pennix can get them to the next level.  That said I don't see them making the playoffs.  Too many teams better than them and I expect the Bucs don't falter this season like they did in 2024.  Looking at the schedule I see 7 wins.  That could really fluctuate based on the play at QB.  It all begins and ends at QB.  If that isn't figured out, they'll struggle.

Random Wax: 2022 Illusions Football

2022 Illusions Football:  Jalen Hurts and the Philadelphia Eagles are the reigning champions after easily defeating Kansas City in the Super Bowl.  Defense of their title starts tonight.  Hurts is only 26 but already has an outstanding 46-20 record as a quarterback.  I was happy for the Eagles and many of their players, and there's no reason to think Philly can't do it again.

This isn't my favorite Illusions design, but I really do like it.  Pretty good pull in this pack as well.

Jameson Williams has been a good receiver in Detroit.  Skyy Moore and Desmond Ridder haven't panned out.

These are both plastic acetate cards (I think that is the right way name for them) and you can see through them.  Not sure I'm a fan of either but I'm okay with thinking outside the box.  I wish Funkadelic really screamed Funkadelic.  As is, it's kinda meh.

This pack has been around since 2023 but finally getting to show it off.  Lots of fun players and I like seeing how things have changed in the interim.  Jones is the starting QB for Indy, Diggs is in New England, and Locket is a Titan.  Ja'Marr Chase is still a Bengal and there are high expectations for Cincy this year assuming their defense isn't a dumpster fire against this season.

BREAKDOWN:
20 – Total Cards
4 – RC
1 - Mystique
1 - Funkadelic

Frontier (2016-2018)

 The Jason Momoa Netflix series Frontier was one I'd wanted to watch for some time.  Momoa plays a half Irish, half native who is at odds with the Hudson Bay Company's fur trade in the late 18th century.  The supporting cast plays a very large part of the series, so Momoa doesn't consume the screen time.  While it falls under action adventure it really pulls at the different storylines and fleshes out the characters.  I enjoyed it but it wasn't quite what I expected.  It definitely feels like there are some plot holes or odd actions and/or decisions by the characters.  I don't want to take away from the series. Nothing is perfect and I was entertained by Frontier.