Review Panini Contenders Basketball 12-13

Love the football version of this product and wanted to give the basketball a go. Here are the results!

Box Break Down:

• 20 Packs Per Box,
• Find 4 Autograph Cards per Box!
• Boxes will run ya $100

 BASE CARDS: I like the simplicity to the Contenders base cards. Though most of the base card is white, the splash of color is great on the eyes. The white background is kinda scratchy while the player and the color parts are in full gloss. Really helps the card standout. Something you can't see from a picture and only in person.

  

INSERTS: As you can tell from the pictures, most of the inserts are opposite of the base cards, most are very dark. I think a little bit of color may have helped these and separate them from each other since most of them look the same. I also wouldn't mind seeing some numbering to these either. I am a fan though of the Rookie of The Year Contenders die cuts. They look nice, they are die cut and who doesn't like those and they just have a different feel.

AUTOGRAPHS: With four autographs per box, the possibilities are endless when you could possibly hit that top rookie. We didn't, but the one reason this product is always so popular is for these rookie autos some of which are rarer than others and some you may not see everyday. But someday, those are the players to watch out for. Example..Jeremy Lin.

JERSEY/PATCH CARDS: I really like the addition of memorabilia cards to this product and wished they did the same for football. Some are extremely sick pieces and some are even autographed. I don't believe you get one of these in every box but they look nice and are numbered to 49 when you do stumble upon one like we did. In this case, this one is numbered to 49.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Once again, if you are a fan of rookie autographs, this is the product for you. This product is not for everyone though. You can have those great boxes with some top rookie autos or you could have those ones that you never heard of. But for the price it might be worth the risk since the top rookies would go for the big bucks.And now with the inclusion of memorabilia this product might be more appealing to all. Other than some needed work on the inserts, I would recommend this product.

RATINGS:  Bloggers Note: Our ratings are based specifically on the blaster, box or packs we opened and do not express what the overall product could bring. Ratings based on a 1-5. 1 Being the lowest and 5 being the highest.
                Packaging: 3
                Base Design: 3
                Insert Design: 2
                Memorablila/Autographs: 5
                Blaster, Hobby Box, or Pack Value: 4

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Random Card Of The Day: Panini Threads Triple Threads jersey card of Cousins, Griffin and Lee

I really like this card. I like finding more than one player on a jersey card and having more than one swatch. Makes discovering a plain old jersey card a bit more exciting. The players on it make it exciting as well. Griffin is one of the young talents in the game. David Lee has his moments and we all know about Demarcus Cousins.

What do you think about this card?

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Preview: 2012-2013 Panini Past And Present Basketball

Going off from success from last years exciting product Panini is bringing back Past And Present for 12-13. A product in 11-12 that brought us some of the greatest inserts since the late 90's

 

Due out in early May, 2012-13 Past & Present Basketball will have a 250-card base set that includes 50 short-printed variations and this year unlike last they will have Rookie Cards!! Each box will also deliver three autographs.

Texture feel inserts...big love to them!

Inserts for this years product as supposed to be just as impressive. I truly recommend if you like throwback products, with great appeal and if you are a hoops fan you have got to give this one a try!

To see more and to find out more.. you have got to visit the Knights Lance official blog of Panini!
http://paniniamerica.wordpress.com/2013/01/11/panini-america-offers-an-extended-preview-of-2012-13-past-present-basketball/

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Preview: Panini Gold Standard Basketball 12-13

Panini released images of Gold Standard Basketball and I can say once again I am impressed by another Panini NBA release.

This product is due out in April and from the gallery (and more info) on the Knights Lance: http://paniniamerica.wordpress.com/2012/12/28/panini-america-provides-detailed-first-look-at-2012-13-gold-standard-basketball/

It appears this years version will surpass all others.

 

A break should deliver four autographs, one memorabilia card and one metal card in every 10-card box

  

There is also a 305-card base set featuring 80 autographed memorabilia RCs, five base inserts, three memorabilia inserts and four autograph inserts. Makes quite a thing to chase after.

There is also 25 base-set SPs featuring selected stars wearing the jerseys of every team they have ever played for.

What are your thoughts on this NBA product?

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REVIEW: PANINI TOTALLY CERTIFIED 2012-2013

One of my favorite football products I got to try this time in basketball form. And it did not disappoint and even came with an extra hit.

 First off, I would like to say thanks to the WONDERFUL people at Panini America for providing us with this box to review. Here are many places you can find Panini America: official site, blog, Twitter, and Facebook.Make sure you do too! Best in the Biz!

Box Break Down:

• 6 Packs Per Box, 5 Cards Per Pack
• (3) Autographs and (3) Memorabilia Cards Per Box!
• Boxes run $120.

 

 

BASE CARDS:A micro-etched pattern that is stunning and almost makes the players jump off from the cardboard. One of my Top 3 base card designs. One that you want to put a set together of. But that might take you awhile since you don't get many cards per box.

The base breaks down as so 300-card base set with at least 75 Rookie Cards

 

 

 

INSERTS:Totally digging these. Yep..pun intended. Micro etched parallels galore!! Almost got one or two per pack. And I still like the Kobe Anthology pack thats included as well. Nice design showcasing his history in the league and a chance at Kobe memorabilia and autographs.

AUTOGRAPHS: Once again we find the micro etched technology again. This time with an autograph on it. I like the design of the micro etched rookie auto cards with the Star in the background as we know any of these can become stars someday. Harrison Barnes was a nice hit and a Totally Red parallel hit. The Glen Rice is our bonus hit of the box as each box guarantees 3 autos but we had already gotten all 6 hits when Rice was found stuck to the back of another card. No complaints here it was Totally awesome to find a bonus.

JERSEY/PATCH CARDS: This box didn't provide much for terms of explosive patch or more than one color jersey cards but believe me..they are out there and they are a thing of beauty. The memorabilia cards have parallels like rest of the product which makes for a Totally good time.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: This product is beautiful. I like the micro etched technology. My only complaint would be how easy they could chip. Other than that..wow. I like chasing the parallels and they sell well on the market too. A jersey card that would normally look plain with a one color swatch still stands out because of this technology. 6 hits in a box with half being autos. A decent price of $120 for the amount of hits. I would give it another shot for sure and recommend it to you as well. There is a lot of value to be found and you too will Totally dig this product.

RATINGS:  Bloggers Note: Our ratings are based specifically on the blaster, box or packs we opened and do not express what the overall product could bring. Ratings based on a 1-5. 1 Being the lowest and 5 being the highest.
                Packaging: 4
                Base Design: 5
                Insert Design: 5
                Memorablila/Autographs: 5
                Blaster, Hobby Box, or Pack Value: 4

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Sport Card Collectors 20 Days Of Christmas Promo!

As the title states..this is a 20 Days of Christmas promo!! We didn't want to do just a Christmas contest. Or a 12 days of Christmas one. We wanted to make this very challenging but very fun! This is a fun promo we are creating and instead of a daily entry of you typing in whatever and trying to enter to win a weekly prize...you need to do daily challenges and some will have deadlines so make sure you have your eyes open and keep checking in with this blog! We will post when a new challenge is up on Twitter and Facebook. The best way NOT to miss a beat and to post on time is to subscribe by email to our blog!! You will be updated every time we make a post. You can do so on the right hand side! If not, just keep checking in!! Because in this form of contest instead of being randomly chosen..you control your own destiny!!

So its the same thing as entering daily..you just need to put in comments an answer to the days question! And each has a deadline! And at the end of the 20 days a winner(s) will appear.

This will run similar to the Player Of The Day promo where we will have standings. The difference is, is that the scoring is very simple. You get 2 points for getting the challenge right. 1 point just for entering. Thats it. There shouldn't be any scoring issues. There might be a few double points days but nothing too serious or challenging. You can move up and down the leader board pretty easily. There could be a ton of ties and if it comes down to that..we will find a last day challenge to break it all up to have just one winner!

Here are the Rules:
*Contests open to U.S. RESIDENTS ONLY! (sorry) 
*Entering daily increases your odds..but does not mean you still can not win missing a few days
*You must leave your answer to the daily challenge in comments section for that day

Other than that....we hope you have fun and have a very, Merry Christmas!!

Here is what the prize consists of 3 different sports and some non sports!!

All Numbered to 2012. 6 in all.

Including Blake Griffin among others

Names like Matt Kalil, Shea McClelin, and more.

Only the Cal Bowdler (basketball auto) included in this lot

12 of these codes!

4 unopened non-sport packs. 1 pack of Upper Deck Comic Ball cards, 2 pack of Elvis Pro Set 91, 1 pack of  DC COMICS

1 pack of this

2 packs of this

1 pack of this

There are 25 (maybe more before I am done and not counting the 12 HOF codes and cards inside the packs) cards overall. One for each day til Christmas. Clever huh?? This prize has an estimated value of $80!!

If we can get a really good turnout which to us is at least 15 people on a daily basis for at least 10 days straight we will do a second place and maybe even a third place prize as well and who knows..maybe up to 5 place prizes if the turnout is HUGE meaning almost 20!!! We will wait to see how it goes and keep you informed if we decide to add more prizes. So spread the word now and we could give away more!

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Recent Findings: Our Sport Card Finds

Last week, we were given 2 boxes of random cards from a relative. The boxes contained opened and unopened cards mostly non-sport from a variety of years. We thought we would break down our findings and share them with our fans!!

We are almost to the end of our recent finds segment. One more after this one..and we saved what we believe was the best find for last!

Shaq's Mcdonalds rookie

Alonzo Mourning Rookie

2001 Topps baseball and gallery of cards with it

Tino Martinez Topps Gold Label

The infamous "Fat Toad" Hideki Irabu Topps Gold Label rookie

 Really liked the Mcdonalds set find...there was actually 2 of them. The Topps packs were still in there wrappers and opened. We were hoping for a Ichiro find but none was found. There were only four packs also.

What do you guys think?

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