Week 1 of the 2012 NFL Season And Our Panini Sticker Album

Before I start writing about this weeks NFL games and Panini stickers I want to congratulate everyone who entered the “early adopters” phase of our 2012 Panini America NFL Player of the Day promotion, getting bonus entries for prizes and a chance to win some Panini exclusive cards and an autograph from this year’s National in Baltimore.  Not sure what I am talking about?  Well use this link and read the ENTIRE post to find out. 

In the past I have formatted these posts that accompanied the week in Panini NFL stickers with players to watch.  I will be returning to that format next week, tying it in with an All About Cards mini version

Quality Control Of Panini 2010 Certified Football Cards Instills Confidence.

Panini has released a video on its blog, The Knight's Lance, that just may be the smartest move ever made by a card company, and might be one of the most reassuring videos about a company you'll ever watch.  Sounds like hyperbole, but this is no exaggeration.

The video is straight forward and simple in its concept.   Tracy Hackler walks into a Quality Control session for Panini 2010 Certified Football cards, being conducted by Panini America's Football brand manager, Carlos Torrez and Product Development Director, Ben Ecklar.  But this is not just the two of them going over card designs, or checking individual cards, sent from the factory, for manufacturing defects.  They are sitting in a conference room busting open a case of product AFTER its already been fully packaged and is ready to go to market.

If you've been collecting long enough, odds dictate that you will open a box that is short a hit or contains dinged cards.  For some of us lately, it happens a little too often.  To point where you start to think "Is anyone checking these boxes?  Do they even care?"

As a customer, you expect a company to do Quality Control checks all the way through the manufacturing process, but to see that Quality Control is still being conducted right at the point of customer delivery, essentially role playing the experience of a collector busting open a box, really gives you the sense that for Panini, ensuring their cards arrive to the customer in good condition and with the correct number of hits is AS important as the design of the cards.

Do I think that every box coming from Panini will now be perfect?  Of course not.  Mistakes will happen even when a company is diligent.  But it is clear from this video that Panini does care and they are putting forth as much effort as can be reasonably expected of a company, if not more, to ensure that we receive a quality product. To witness this on video, instead of being given the standard company PR line that they care about their customers, makes you feel completely confident in your purchase and that Panini truly stands behind what they sell.  That's the brilliance of this simple and straight forward video.  As with all things, transparency leads to confidence.

To see this video for yourself, use this link to visit their blog.  The video is just after the gallery.

NFL Network announces their picks for the top 10 NFL players of All-Time

The NFL Network just announced there picks for the top ten NFL players of All-Time.   Here they are;

10. Dick Butkus

9. Don Hutson

8. Peyton Manning

7. Reggie White

6. Johnny Unitas

5. Walter Payton

4. Joe Montana

3. Lawrence Taylor

2. Jim Brown

and at Number One,  Jerry Rice

So the question is... do you think they got it right?

The Minnesota Vikings waive Randy Moss or Moss' Weekend in New England

 

I wrote in my post "Randy Moss and Tom Brady in a girl fight" that the New England Patriots traded Randy Moss to the Minnesota Vikings for about a pack of gum.  Well...  it looks like the Patriots got the better end of the deal.


Less than a month after the trade, the Vikings have waived Randy Moss.


Fitting that I chose to feature Moss' 1999 Donruss Rookies and Stars "Slide Show" Football card.  The only thing that could have been better is if there where a line of inserts called "Downward spirals."


Could it have anything to do with his weird press conference after yesterday's game?  Randy might as well have been singing Barry Manilow's "Weekend In New England."   Please play this video as you read quotes from Moss' conference, it will help you understand the true feelings behind his words.


On his former coach, "Bill Belichick is the best coach in football history"


About how good the Patriots are as a team, "Man, I miss them guys, man.  I miss the team" and "It was hard for me to come here and play."


Questioning Brad Childress's decision to go for it on four and goal instead of kicking a field goal, "I wish we could have had that three at the end of the half.  Maybe could have been different, maybe not..."


Slamming the entire coaching staff for not listening to him during the week of prep for the game "The bad part about it -- you have six days to prepare for a team, and on the seventh day, that Sunday, meaning today, I guess they come over to me and say, 'Dag, Moss, you was right about a couple plays and a couple schemes they were going to run.' It hurts as a player that you put a lot of hard work in all week, and toward the end of the week, Sunday, when you get on the field, that's when they acknowledge about the hard work you put in throughout the week. That's actually a disappointment."  


His love letter to New England and the Patriots at the end of the conference, "I don't know how many more times I'll be in New England again.  But I leave coach Belichick and those guys with a salute; "I love you guys.  I miss you.  I'm out." 


Do you think this is the kind of stuff the coaching staff of the Vikings and its players want to hear after a loss, let alone from a guy who's been with them for less than 4 weeks?


Well... Randy Moss has no need to pine for New England anymore.  The Vikings left him there, literally.  Didn't even bother to fly him back to get his stuff in Minnesota.  Being put on waivers can affect free agency for Moss next year, so, for now, Randy Moss is in complete limbo.  To quote the song "We've started a story who's end must now wait."

Randy Moss on the trading block. Might become a Viking. Again.

This is what Randy Moss looked like as a Viking.  You might have to get used to it all over again.

The New England Patriots are working on a trade with the Minnesota Vikings that would send Moss back to the Vikings, where he started his career.  The deal will hinge on working out the terms of a new contract with Moss, who's present contract expires this year.

More details as they come in.

Are You Ready For Some Football?

I usually rummage through my old cards whenever a new season starts and it’s finally here.  No more pre-season games, watching guys trying to make the team.  Now it counts.  And incase I forget that, I'll have Terry Bradshaw and Howie Long to remind me, repeatedly, how much it counts. 

They do this because they are no longer football players.  No… they are “analysts.”  Go ahead, look it up.  They get paid to “analyze” which, in their case, means laugh a lot and point out the obvious.   And sure, there is a whole crop of recent retirees who have traded their jerseys and pads for suits and microphones, but even the old timers gave it a try.   Like Johnny Unitas and Joe Namath who stuck around for a bit, but eventually quit. 

But there are those who stuck it out like Dan Dierdorf and Bob Griese and are still behind the microphone to this day.  

Some even went into acting like Merlin Olsen (Little House on the Prairie), Alex Karras (Blazing Saddles, Webster), Dick Butkus (Any Given Sunday, Hang Time)  and John Matuszak (Goonies).

All of this makes me think about what will happen to Kurt Warner?  Will he be in the next Will Ferrel movie?

And what about Greg Jennings and Derrick Mason?  Will they become "analysts" in 2020?

Will Darrelle Revis become the perfect replacement for Drew Carey on "The Price is Right?"

Its a lot to think about, but I don't have the time for that because Football is on and now it counts.