Well, I was over at the local retail giant this past weekend, getting a few things for the house, and noticed that they had some 2008 product in. And, even though I’m not going to make it a goal to review every product that comes out on TheFootballCardBlog.com, I thought I’d better at least do some blaster boxes.
So, I grabbed a box of 2008 Press Pass, and against my better judgment, a box of 2008 Upper Deck Draft Edition. Press Pass is something I’ve usually grabbed a box of later on in the season, after Topps Draft Picks & Prospects would disappear from the retailers, and before Bowman Chrome would come in (of course, that was before I had a local hobby shop to buy better boxes at). The Upper Deck is a first year product.
The Press Pass box was pretty impressive, I thought–I actually pulled three Darren McFadden cards (including a Power Pick insert, seeded 1:14 packs, a teammates card with Felix Jones, and and All Americans card), and a shiny Retailer exclusive card of Matt Ryan (I suppose that gives away which retailer I shop at–not sure if the other mega retailer has an exclusive with Press Pass).
Overall, I think Press Pass does a decent job at continuing to put out a decent quality product, with a nice handful of inserts, and some really good photography and nice designs. It’ll never be the cream of the crop, but it’s always been a decent pre-draft product.
Of course, Upper Deck was always left out of the early Football game wars–something they decided to remedy this year, with their Draft Edition. The box I got wasn’t so great–they certainly didn’t hand seed any 1/1 cards for me to review on my box break. In fact, the only two cards I actually pulled out and put in top loaders were two College Greats inserts, one of Matt Ryan and one of Brian Brohm. Although I have a feeling once the draft is done, and the pricing comes out, there may be a few more, and I did get my first card of Chris Long, who has been rumored to be the top pick in the draft, although lately most rumors have focused on Jake Long or Vernon Gholston–but it’s seeming very unlikely that a skill position player will go #1–and very possibly not even in the top 5–which could make for an interesting year in the card world.
Overall, though, the set seems very…plain. Ordinary. Rushed? I just don’t think it meets up with the type of image that Upper Deck seems to want. All cards are stamped with a 2008 Rookie Card logo–which was very shocking when I pulled a Steve McNair (who just retired). The design feels a bit clunky, the photography isn’t bad, but isn’t as exciting as the limited Upper Deck I’ve seen in the last year or two, and the inserts just feel boring. I guess time will tell on this set.
Yea, wordpress 2.5 is killing me on another one of my sites. I haven’t been able to figure out how to load up an image yet. I haven’t found any real help online either. Thank goodness I didn’t update my main blog yet.