Thursday, March 13, 2014

The old "I never expected to move these cards" sale

Music to my ears every time.  Someone comes to me with some cards, asks if I'm interested, and says "Man, I never expected to move these cards."  Well that's just life for me collecting weird stuff that other people don't...works out very nicely for me!
In this deal I picked up a quad for my set and a quad gold parallel /45 for my Blowout buddies set.  He's gonna grab me a few two+ color jerseys for my base set and then we'll trade...so this is sort of the deal that keeps on giving!
For now though, all I have to show is this quad, which is the #13 Packers one.  One of the higher end cards because...well...you'll see:
Guy #1 is Antonio Freeman, who I always really respected as a WR.  After 106 yards and a touchdown in 11 games as a rookie, he went on to start 90 of 96 games over the next 6 seasons in Green Bay, with highs of 84 receptions (1998), 1,424 yards (1998), and 14 touchdowns (also 1998, which was his only Pro Bowl nod over a solid career).  He then spent a 16 game 1 start season with the 2002 Eagles before finishing his career with a final 15 games in Green Bay.  He's best remembered for two plays, an 81 yard touchdown that sealed the Packers Super Bowl win over the Patriots, and the weird catch vs. the Vikings that basically fell on an untouched Freeman, who then got up and walked in for a touchdown.

Brett Favre is...Brett Favre.  There's not a lot I could say about him that you don't already know.  But he's the biggest name on this card, and he'll make another appearance in this set.
Ahman Green was already seen once on this blog, on the quad he shares with Emmitt Smith/Ricky Williams/Curtis Martin.  So I already wrote a bunch about him and won't bore you with the same.  One cool thing about him and Antonio Freeman though.  Freeman's final game in Green Bay was the "4th and 26 game," the one where Freddie Mitchell made the play of his life and Philly sent Green Bay packing before heading on to lose to the Patriots in the Super Bowl.  Freeman didn't make an impact in that game, but Green did - he actually had 156 yards rushing on 25 carries, good for 6.24 yards per carry.  Can't ask for much more from a back, so it's unfortunate that the passing offense couldn't match the rushing offense.

David Martin had one of the quieter 10 year careers you'll ever see after being drafted in the 6th round in 2001 by the Pack.  He was a WR in college, but the Packers wanted to convert him to TE to see what he could do there.  The Packers, however, already had a really good TE named Bubba Franks.  So from his rookie year of 2001 to 2006, Martin played backup to Franks and only received spot starts or injury replacement starts, totaling 21 starts over 6 years.  In that limited action Martin could only do so much, and he finished his Packer career with 87 catches for 766 yards and 9 touchdowns.  The Miami Dolphins liked what they saw and signed Martin away from Green Bay in 2007 to be their starter.  But in 15 starts he managed just 34 catches for 303 yards, and though he followed that up with 450 yards a year later, Miami fell in love with Anthony Fasano, and Martin ended up on the way out.  After a year out of football, Martin signed with Buffalo in 2010 and had 9 starts, but this was very much a WR team (Stevie Johnson, Lee Evans, Roscoe Parrish, David Nelson) so Martin only caught 7 passes for 43 yards.  He hung around for a few games in 2011 and then called it a career.

Who wins the card?  Career + accolades-wise, it's gotta be Brett Favre, but it's my blog as always so I give the win to Ahman Green.  I just always loved the way he played and he didn't get to win the quad RB card, so here's his chance!

4 comments:

  1. Awesome card! I'm definitely gonna have to add one to my Packers PC. Here's my rankings:

    1. Brett Favre
    2. Antonio Freeman
    3. Ahman Green
    4. David Martin

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  2. 1. Antonio Freeman
    Nobody else matters because they aren't Hokies.

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  3. I was real tempted to give it to Freeman haha, I've always had an affinity for him. But I cut Green out on the RB quad so I gave it to him.

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  4. Antonio Freeman hands down for me. He's my favorite.

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