Burrow Hunting

*the sun is out on this morning before the storm starts to creep its way in tonight. Coffee, cards and blogging is on the agenda for now. takes a sip and gets onto the post*

If 100 people were in a room just to simply guess who would be facing off in the Super Bowl this year, I would bet all 100 would be wrong. Not only be wrong, but not have a single one of them even breathe the word Bengals in the conversation. 

However, here we are. Rams vs Bengals.

With the NY Giants playing this year like the bad version of the Little Giants team if not worse, I had a pretty solid list of teams I didn't want to win in the playoff this year.

I had a reason for everyone of them.

• Cowboys-Division rival and can't stand their obnoxious fans
• Eagles-HATED division rival and once again, don't like their obnoxious fans
• Buccaneers- Who really wanted to see Tom Brady win again?? I mean really??
• Packers-Aaron Rodgers is a.........well..... you get the point. It was nice to see him struggle and lose
• Patriots-With or without Tom Brady, I just don't like them

I had a feeling I would have to deal with hating on one of these teams in the Super Bowl, but to my surprise and everyone elses, none of them even made it to the Divisional Championships. So then became the question of....who do I root on?

I chose the Chiefs. Despite how annoying Patrick Mahomes brother can be, Patrick is not. He is a humble Super Star who is fun to watch. He may also be a side PC, but we will talk about that another day. Sadly, the Chiefs didn't pull off the win and the Bengals did. That didn't really affect me too much though, as it's fun to see a team you wouldn't expect in a million lifetimes make it to the big game.

So, for the Super Bowl, I am a Bengals fan. It would be nice to see them finally take home the big one.

*takes a sip before continuing on with today's post*

I have been holding onto a couple of 2020 football boxes for the right moment and figured what moment is better than Super Bowl time that features rookie cards of the Bengals amazing Quarterback Joe Burrow.

  

The two boxes I had to open was a 2020 Chronicles NFL blaster box and a 2020 Prizm hanger box. I also wanted to point out the new background for these newer photos I will be doing on here. Needs a little tweaking, but they should look cool when I get it right.

The box that had my attention the most was the Prizm hanger, since everyone wants a Prizm rookie of top players. It's THE rookie card to have.

It was a good thought anyways as these were my two best and only rookie finds in the box,

 

Not that either of these guys are bad players, but the last thing you want to find in a "high end" box is two defensive guys.

With luck down on that break, I turned to the Chronicles where a very nice card was found in the first pack,

A Dynagon silver parallel of Joe Burrow.

Rest of the box wasn't to bad either, I found a couple Jalen Hurts, a couple Tua's, and then the other Top QB from 2020,

Justin Herbert.

The Chronicles break went pretty well I would say, and my Burrow hunt actually landed me one. That doesn't happen too often in a post like this.

*takes a sip before finishing up today's post*

I think this year's NFL postseason games were the best I have ever seen and here's hoping the biggest game of them all will be just as exciting. Say what you want about other sports and Game 7's etc, the NFL has the best playoff system. You only get one chance to win so you give it your all.

I also apologize to the fans of the teams above I hoped to lose if you are reading this, nothing against you...unless your an Eagles or Cowboys fan...even still....I had my reasons and I am sure you have yours as well for teams you despise.

In comments, let me know which team you are rooting on for the Super Bowl and what your favorite Joe Burrow card is? While you are at it, let me know which teams you didn't want to see win.

*Coffee Card Blogger Out*

It Only Took One

*caught a head cold so feeling very dreary today, and no, it's not Covid. Throats a little rough and nothing is better for a throat then some warm beverage. Wonders what warm beverage could sooth his throat....only one answer....*

Finding packs of basketball cards in retail outlets is impossible. I haven't seen a single pack of anything basketball since before Christmas and here we are almost a year later. Which in itself is hard to think about.

Why haven't I been able to find any retail basketball packs? Well, that's because of the "Wolf Pack."

The Wolf Pack isn't the fun one from The Hangover, this Wolf Pack comes to hunt down the vendor putting up stock to rip them apart for any sign of retail product they could flip.

 

This is what you will see from a distance if you time it right and arrive when the vendor is there.

When you get closer you will see them ripping ALL OF the retail out of the vendors hands and off the shelves like raw meat only to follow that same vendor to the next retail location to do it all over again. The Wolf Pack are relentless hunters.

Leaving only behind their death and destruction and a lot of Jack Links beef jerky.

 

Grrrrrrrr....

*takes a sip to calm the fueling anger I have for retail flippers, then is calm focusing on the main part of today's post*

Luckily for me, I got my hands onto my first basketball card pack via a contest on Instagram from welovesportcards. Otherwise, I probably would have gone the rest of the basketball season without any.

The pack, I won in a contest, was a 2019-2020 Chronicles basketball, which is one I was really hoping to open since I couldn't find any locally.

So what's next? Let's rip it!

*takes a sip, begins to rip*

 

Every hanger pack of 2019-2020 Chronicles basketball comes with 15 cards. I am not sure what the going price for these were when they came out. As I stated already, couldn't find any.

 

*another sip to soothe the throat*

 

The basis of Chronicles is a spread of different Panini products all into one. Most of the products included in the product do not have their own standalone product anymore but some are new specifically for it.

Each of the sets has it's own base set but fall in order of an overall base set that consists of close to 700 cards. Good luck chasing that down especially with this years rookie class.

My first four cards were not a bad start with the Beard and Chris Paul. 

 

Base Chronicles has 50 cards to collect and Panini Threads has 25 cards to collect.

Then came the league MVP Giannis in which Prestige has 25 cards to chase down .

Up next, Cam Reddish rookie. What little basketball I did open around Christmas it felt like Reddish was in every pack. 

 

Playbook has 25 cards to collect.

Wait...what's this? JA?! Yessssss! I didn't have any rookie cards of him, this years ROY. This pack was already worth the winning victory. 

 

Luminance itself has 30 cards to chase.

Trae Young is a beast. Base Panini has 35 cards to collect.

A Donruss Rated Rookie (Donruss has 5 cards to collect) and another Playbook rookie this time of Jarrett Culver

Wait...Tyler Herro in here? Man, nice! I didn't have any rookie cards of him either and he has been playing lights out in the playoffs. Great pack find. Also featured is his teammate Kendrick Nunn.

Kawhi Leonard  was found for Hometown Heroes Optic which has 20 cards to collect.

Shut the front door...Zion too?!!? Can this pack get any better? Top three rookies in this class all found in here. 

 

Essentials has 35 cards to collect.

And the good pack rip continues, we end with another Tyler Herro, this time a Bronze Parallel from Essentials.

*takes a sip before finishing up today's post and trying to decide how much Vitamin C to take today to help push this cold away*

Thanks to welovesportcards on Instagram for the fun pack rip and rookie card pulls for my PC. I had truly forgotten what it was like to open a basketball pack and I can see why the sport was so much fun this year.

 

As for the wolf packs, I do like how the hobby is booming right now, but at the same time its frustrating with them taking all of the retail in my area just to flip it. If only Zach Galifianakis led this wolf pack, instead of taking all of the retail the worse they would do is end up sleeping on the Walmart roof with someones baby and some pet of Mike Tysons.

Coffee Break:2020 Chronicles Draft Picks Football

*Sits down to type up this break that reminded him of The Soup Nazi episode on Seinfeld and creates The Card Nazi from it. Grabs a cup of coffee and begins to grind out this post*

2020 football card releases have been flowing out of Panini since some of the Covid restrictions have been lifted and it's been hard to keep up with whats out...or even able to find any....or even able to afford any as most hobby box prices have been insane this year so far.

I was finally able to land a box of a product I really wanted to break in 2020 Chronicles draft football. It features many of Panini's standalone products all packed into one offering. Though I am not a huge college football guy or one at all, it's what all of the early releases are so I have to deal with it knowing I need those rookie cards.

After breaking this, I was left surprised by the results to say the least. I don't remember complaining about the hobby or even bread for that matter before breaking this, but it appears The Card Nazi saw something. This box wasn't as expected.

*takes a sip of delicious coffee, drips butter from his freshly made bagel on the keyboard, wipes it up and continues on*

Every hobby box 2020 Chronicles Draft football comes with 6 packs of 8 cards each. There should be three autographs and one relic card per box and boxes are currently sitting at just under $230. It is completely a rookie laden product with no veteran content.

The basis of the product is 20+ products all into one from low end finds to high end products such as Spectra. I am reminded of the song 32 Flavors by Ani DiFranco and would put this product into perspective as, It is 20+ products and then some, seeing surprises as they come....it is 20+ products and then some, it's become real for some....

There is no correlation though with the products. Meaning, it's not all one base set. Each product has it's own base set which to me is lame. I would prefer a multi layered product. Make it a 400 card base set and the higher end products Sp's towards the the end of the product.

Instead, I bring to you the following breakdown of how many base are in each set along with corresponding parallels for each.

There are 25 cards to the Chronicles base set.
Parallels include, Blue, Green, Red, Black /5, Platinum 1/1,and Printing Plates 1/1.

There are 25 cards in the Donruss Rated Rookie set
Parallels include, Blue, Green, Red, Black /5, Platinum 1/1, and Printing Plates 1/1.

25 to put together for Playoff
Parallels include, Goal Line, Kickoff, Red Zone, Touchdown /5, Platinum 1/1, and Printing Plates 1/1.

Elite which usually has it's own draft product has 20 cards to find
Parallels include,  Aspirations, Status Blue, Blue, Red, Purple /25, Orange /20, Gold /10, Green /5, Black 1/1, and Printing Plates 1/1.

20 in XR
Parallels include, Blue, Red, Purple /25, Orange /20, Gold /10, Green /5, Black 1/1, and Printing Plates 1/1.

Absolute has 20 cards in it's base set
Parallels include, Blue, Red, Purple /25, Orange /20, Gold /10, Green /5, Black 1/1, and Printing Plates 1/1.

Prestige has 25 cards
Parallels include,  Blue, Green, Red, Black /5, Platinum 1/1, and Printing Plates 1/1.

25 in Spectra
Parallels include, Blue, Red, White Sparkle, Purple /99, Hyper /49, Mojo /25, Ice /15, Gold /10, Black /7, Green /5, and Gold Vinyl 1/1.

Donruss Optic has 25 cards to chase
Parallels include, Blue, Red, White Sparkle, Purple /99, Hyper /49, Mojo /25, Ice /15, Gold /10, Black /7, Green /5, and Gold Vinyl 1/1.

Limited has 20 cards as well
Parallels include, Blue, Red, Purple /25, Orange /20, Gold /10, Green /5, Black 1/1, and Printing Plates 1/1.

Phoenix has 25 cards to collect
Parallels include, Blue, Red, White Sparkle, Purple /99, Hyper /49, Mojo /25, Ice /15, Gold /10, Black /7, Green /5, and Gold Vinyl 1/1.

25 in Select.
Parallels include, Blue, Red, White Sparkle, Purple /99, Hyper /49, Mojo /25, Ice /15, Gold /10, Black /7, Green /5, and Gold Vinyl 1/1.

Certified has 20 cards in its base set
Parallels include, Blue, Red, Purple /25, Orange /20, Gold /10, Green /5, Black 1/1, and Printing Plates 1/1.

Crown Royale is the biggest set in the product, yes I know what you are thinking that the Chronicles should be and I think that to, but I love the look of these. By far my favorite of the product. There are 100 cards to collect.

Parallels include, Blue, Red, Holo /149, Purple /25, Orange /20, Gold /10, Green /5, and Platinum 1/1.

*finishes up bagel, takes a chug of coffee, moves on to the next part*

My box came with one parallel, when most are supposed to come with two. Mine was a purple from Spectra of Zack Moss numbered to 99.

*takes a deep breath, steps into the hobby shop in his mind which is run by The Card Nazi*

"Hey, I like Panini Chronicles Draft Picks so far! The combination of different products really makes it pop," I said as I got closer to the counter.

"Good for you," The Card Nazi replies.

"I just wished this was an NFL version and not college football."

I could see him begin glare at me, shake his head in disapproval as he pointed his finger directing me out the door.

NO

HITS

FOR 

YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He yelled as I exited.

*gets back to reality to finish up this post*

You read that right. Not a single hit in this box. What should have been three autographs and one relic turned out none. I have never had this happen before. One hit missing sure. Relic card from a retail box yes. But, the entire box without a hit and shorted a parallel, yikes.

So in my mind I just picture a Joe Burrow autograph being hit out of this.

Overall, this is a fun product to open and to see all of the fun variety of products. It was just tough being left wondering what hits may had been in here. So it's hard to rate and judge this product overall without that piece.


Ratings (ratings based on 1-5 🍵)

Design 🍵🍵🍵
Photography 🍵🍵🍵
Inserts (not applicable)
Hits (not applicable)
Price 🍵🍵
Value (not applicable without the hits)