2016-17 Donruss Basketball Cards

The 2016-2017 Donruss Basketball cards have been out a while and with the playoffs starting today it is a perfect day to post some basketball cards.  I do like these cards.  Not as much as the Prestige cards from this year which I really love but as an overall set I'm very happy.  The design is a typical Donruss style that I'm good with.  I will say I think the photos are better than Prestige which seemed to be nothing but players dribbling.  More diversity here.   

The backs are colored in the team's primary colors and are fine with me.  They have the standard write-up, player info, last year's stats and career totals.  I will say I don't need total points as a stat.  Who really uses that stat anymore?  Plus steals and blocks were totals as well - no per game averages.  Fail.  Again it is all about per game averages.  This isn't the sixties.  It's not that I need them doing math for me.  It is all about putting the stats in a relevant form.  Plenty of inserts and parallels with the Champ cards sticking out to me. These cards highlight some of the all-time greats and their championship(s).  There are only 15 players in this set and I wish there were more. 

I really like the "Kings" cards across the Donruss sets and these are no different.  I pulled one Court Kings and one Hall Kings.  Great looking cards that have current and former players highlighted.  I'm also a huge fan of All-Star cards in general and these are pretty cool.  I received a Kobe Bryant that looks to be from an All-Star game of the past.  I like it.  Overall I'm very happy with these cards.  I'll probably pursue the insert sets more than I will the base cards but I think they were worth picking up.     

2017 Donruss Baseball Cards

These are the 2017 Donruss baseball cards.  I like the base designs.  These harken back to past sets put out with this one actually reminding me of the 1988 Fleer baseball cards.  Not important as these are nice looking cards.  As always with Donruss nowadays there is the distraction of not having the license for the teams.  That stinks but I've learned to get past it.   

The designs on the back aren't bad but I really think just a bit of color could have made them sooo much better.  So they get the ole neck shrug from me.  I was pretty happy with my pull as well.  Baseball sets can be pretty huge so you never know what you might get.   

Some of the cards featured retired players on the current design as well as on cards with the 1983 Donruss look.  Current players also were featured on the 1983 designs.  That set isn't one of my favorites but I'm as nostalgic as the next guy and enjoyed these cards too.  I also pulled a relic card.  Not bad looking and Reed is a rookie this year.  Nice cards.  I won't go looking for these cards but if they happen to be there for me I will definitely consider picking up more.   

A.J. Reed Diamond Collection Relics Card

2016-2017 Panini Prestige Basketball Cards

I love these cards.  It isn't often that I get to say that but I really enjoy this set.  The 2016-2017 Panini Prestige basketball cards hit my local Wal-Mart not too long ago.  I was hesitant to pick up a pack but I'm so glad I did.  Pretty simple design but it really pops for me.  I don't normally gravitate towards cards where the background is muted/faded but this seems to be a case where the other players in the card are muted/faded into the background while the player featured on the card and the rest of the photo still pops with color.  The backs are also fun for me.  I like the color tones for each team.   

They come 30 to a pack and these photos are from the first pack of the four I've now purchased.  The pulls have been great and I only have a handful of doubles from the 120 total cards I now have.  I've gotten most of the big stars and I can't name an NBA "Superstar" I haven't gotten already.    

 The inserts in this pack were a Franchise Favorites, Rookie Class and rainbow parallel.  Nothing too special but I do like the Jimmy Butler card.  If I had to pick out a negative it would be the foil on the player and team names.  I don't like anything where I have to look at it at the right angle to read it.   

I'll probably grab more of these as my budget allows.  Besides the Rogue One Series One cards it has been a while since cards have really wowed me.  I like the simple design and the format choices Panini put out here.  Love to hear what others are saying about these cards.  I'll also post a few cards from the other packs later.  Mostly other inserts but I'll also show off some of the stars. 

Baseball Repack Box

The baseball repack box I picked up had 100 cards as well as an unopened pack.  I don't remember what the pack was but I believe there were six cards in it.

While the pack had cards from sets I'd rather forget - '87 Topps or '89 Donruss - I was happy with the variety.  There were plenty of cards and sets I had not seen or collected.

Probably 20-25 of the cards I pulled will end up in my personal collection. 

I'm thinking I'll take another shot on these some day.  I won't rush out to get them but I definitely won't shy away from them either. 

Football Card Repack

A while back I purchased my first repack boxes - a baseball and football at a Walgreens for $4.95 each.  This is the football box.  With the football cards I did get many cards from sets I've never actually had before so that was definitely a bonus. 

There were 75 cards in the box as well as one unopened pack.  I'd never opened repacks before but had a good idea of what I was in for.  Not a ton of stars but I won't complain.

I probably knew 95 % of the players and there were plenty of names to make it fun.  The Jadaveon Clouney card was definitely a nice surprise but unless you are O.K. with just opening these for the fun of it, I would move along. 

Is it worth the money?  No.  But I enjoyedit and pulled probably 10 cards I'll add to my personal collection.  My next post will look at the baseball repack box.       

 

 

 





Atlanta Falcons NFC Championship Swag

I displayed my old sweatshirt at work in the two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl.

I am, for the most part, over the Super Bowl loss hangover dished out on my Falcons.  As you never know what the future holds for Atlanta or any team I picked up some new swag.  Above left  is a sweatshirt I purchased back in 2000 after the Falcons lost to Denver in the Super Bowl.  To the right is my new hoodie that showed up today commemorating last year's NFC Championship.

I also grabbed a t-shirt as well.  Again you just never know when these things will happen.  I waited almost 20 years for this one and it may never happen again.  Hard to believe that I know but there are plenty of teams who have waited longer.  Anyway I just wanted to show off some of my new, and old, gear. 

 

Yaz in honor of Opening Day

2005 Topps All-Time Fan Favorites #78 Carl Yastrzemski

Found a nice Yaz card today at a local Flea Market.  He's my favorite all-time player so it was a fun find.  It is from the 2005 Topps All-Time Favorites set.  Thought I'd post today in honor of opening.  Hope every has a great first day of baseball.