2021 Mosaic Football:  Found some new football on the shelves which was a nice surprise. I didn't find any last year which was the first year Mosaic football was offered.  The Price point is higher than other brands and these are no longer on my shelves so this is probably my last pack.  We'll kick it off with Zeke.  He's now sharing the rushing load with Tony Pollard but he still hit 1000 yards while averaging just over four yards per carry.

The design isn't too bad for a shiny card.  It pretty much mirrors the 2020-2021 basketball offering.  The cards labeled NFC, AFC, NFL Debut, and Super Bowl MVPs are subsets within the base set.  The NFC and AFC subsets are labeled as variations.  The rookies are also a subset making up the last 100 cards.

You'll see a few rookies in the packs and I pulled some who had good first seasons.  Bateman had a good year with 46 receptions and over 500 yards for the Ravens while Smith had 64 receptions and over 900 yards for Philadelphia.

The backs are okay.  You get a portion of the front photo in full color.  It is a colorful back which is good.  Love seeing retired greats in this brand.

Not 100% sure what parallel this green actually is as there is no plain green parallel and the only green I found was numbered which this is not.  Mosaic always gives me issues trying to figure out at least one parallel.  Nice Barry Sanders appearance.

Camo Pink parallels.  Not sure why pink is so popular as a parallel but it actually works here.  Not a bad pack and I'm glad I picked it up.

 McFarlane Dr. Fate: I enjoy action figures and Dr. Fate has always been a guy whose look I've liked.  When the figure came out I grabbed one for the grandsons.  Got some quick picks before he became too used to photograph.  Looking back these might not have been some of the greatest photos I've taken.

I'm not an expert on his character's background but I always like him in the JSA comics which I read when Geoff Johns was the writer.  Really good read.  Just recently we got a look at his character in the DC teaser trailer which surprised me in a good way.  He'll be played by Pierce Bronan.  Black Adam was a part of that JSA comic run so I'm glad JSA will have some part in the movie.

The figure really does look good in hand.  McFarlane's line of seven inch figures is really good.  DC was smart to go with them.   That blue and gold works well.  Like the helmet and armor too.  I know this was pretty quick but just wanted to show this guy off.

 2018 Donruss NASCAR: The 2022 NASCAR season starts today so this blaster seems like a great way to celebrate.  Not sure where I picked this up last March but I'm glad I did.  This is always a fun product and my 2022 hobby box is on order.  This blaster yielded a nice Cracked Ice Kevin Harvick #/999.  The Daytona 500 starts today at 2:30 Eastern.

I like this design pretty well.  I wouldn't mind the driver's car number in a corner of the card though.

These '85 Retro cards show off the base Kevin Harvick and his nickname variation.  Not a fan of the design but I do like the nickname variations.

I like car photos.  This is how we see these guys most of the time and it's also part of why we root for some of these guys.  The sponsor or make of the car go a long ways for some when it comes to jumping on a driver's bandwagon.  Or you may just buy the diecast because of one of those reasons.

To veterans, to legends to young drivers the set does a good job getting all the drivers we love in the set.  Jeff Gordon is back in sets and one reason I'm looking forward to this year's set.

Does that Derrike Cope scream 80s or what?  That Newman was the relic in my blaster.  Newman was in a horrible crash at Daytona last year but somehow was out of hospital within a few days.  It really was a scary watch especially when it was obvious there was a problem.  I always like the Race Kings/Queens set and this design was a good offering. 

BREAKDOWN:
60 – Total Cards
13 – Retro 1985
8 – Race Kings/Queens
7 – Cars
7 - Legends
4 – Nickname
2 – Studio
1 - Classics
1 – Racing Relic
1 – Rated Rookie
1 – Cracked Ice #/999

 2017-2018 Hoops: The NBA All-Star Game is tonight so I'll show off this Hoops NBA Super Stars set I picked up off Amazon last March.  For just under $10 you got 10 NBA stars.  This came in a bubble hanger?  Not sure how to explain it but one of those where you can see the top card.  You can never go wrong with guy.

$10 for this checklist you can't go wrong.  These guys were all stars in 2017-2018 and still are today though maybe on different teams.  Man those Warriors were good with KD on them.  I truly believe KD is the best player in the league today when healthy.

Back then who woulda thunk the Bucks would have won a championship with this guy or that Kawhi would win another one...with the Toronto Raptors.

Harden is still a stud in the league while Westbrook is the one guy out of this group whose star power has taken a hit.

Great set.  I'm so glad I picked it up.  Even though it's base cards the star power here makes it a no brainer. I will admit it took me probably two months from the time I first found this on Amazon that I pulled the trigger.  Never said I was the smart one in the room.

10 – Total Cards

 2020-2021 Contenders Basketball: I resorted to eBay last July to find me a box of 12 retail packs of Contenders basketball which I really like.  At ~$7 a pack I thought I did pretty good.  Been slowly showing off the packs and this one is up next.  Steph Curry is having another great year albeit not MVP worthy.  Still this 33 year-old, yeah 33, has helped the Warriors to a 40-13 record at the time I'm writing this.  He's always fun to watch and a great of the game.

I think KD is the best player in the game today.  He's gotta stay healthy but watching him on the court he's almost impossible to stop.  Somehow this guy has never been the MVP of the league.  

Wow how far Ben Simmons has fallen.  He and Philly are in a no win situation.  I'll be curious to see where James Harden is next year.  He is a free agent in a few months and Brooklyn just isn't that good.  Not saying he doesn't stick it out to see if things are better with everyone healthy but it could be fun to see how it plays out.

Maybe not my biggest pull of all my packs but there is so much star power in this smallish set that you almost never get cheated.

BREAKDOWN:
22 – Total Cards
2 – 2020 Draft Class
1 – Red Parallel
1 – International Ticket
1 – Green Game Ticket Parallel

2021 Chronicles Football: This guy, yeah this guy, will be front and center in the Super Bowl today.  I'm excited for him and the Bengals.  Burrow is definitely one of the top young quarterbacks in the league and Cincy fans have suffered for  a very long time.  I've always liked the Gridiron Kings vibe so pulling this card last June was fun.  Especially since I had been on a Joe Burrow dry spell in 2021 packs.

The base design is a bit blah.  Should have put the team logo in that helmet not the Chronicle "C".  I do like to see retired greats included in the set.

Young players always play a big part of this set and 10 of the 15 cards were rookies.  Taylor and Shenault are both good pulls.  There was a gold parallel somewhere in this pack.  Did I not scan it?  Can I not see it in the scan?  I'll never know.

Some acetate action with this Clear Vision insert. Swift has been a solid running back for the Lions.

Would like to see Jerry Jeudy with a quality starting quarterback to see what he can really do.  Even without a top notch QB in Denver he's been good for the Broncos.  Maybe this was the gold parallel?  I'd be guessing.

The variety of Chronicles makes it an easy like for me.  Fun pack of cards highlighted by a starting quarterback in the Super Bowl.  Can't beat that.  Go Bengals!

 BREAKDOWN: 
15 – Total Cards
10 – RC
4 – Gridiron Kings
2 – Panini
2 – Omega
2 – Retired Greats
1 – Luminance
1 – Clear Vision
1 – Gold Parallel

Some great first baseman.  This design has always been a favorite of mine.  That red border does it for me.  It is missing a logo though.

 

Saturday Night Fever:  I always wanted to like Saturday Night Fever more than I actually did.  I was eight when SNF was released which probably played into that.  Still it was a movie that many enjoyed and why not.  It had one of hottest stars at the time, disco, and fashion that wouldn't quit.

The design wasn't bad.  A large logo but there is still plenty of room for the photo.  

The pack only had six cards but it was still fun.  Fan or not the nostalgia of seeing the cards and going down memory lane is all the enjoyment I need.  

6 - Total Cards

 2021-2022 Hoops: I always look forward to Hoops basketball.  It's usually fun, has good photos and nice inserts.  I'll kick this off with Anthony Edwards whom I'm a big fan of.  He is a former Georgia Bulldog and at 20 years old still has a lot of his career ahead of him.  He's averaging 22, 5, and 3 this year while shooting 36% from long range for the Timberwolves.

I picked up four blasters and this one had my best pull.  With 88 cards per box your bound to get decent cards but some boxes stood out more than others. Price is up from last year.  These were almost $28 a piece.

Not a bad design.  It's simple.  Nice sized logo.  My only complaint is the foil used for the players name which makes it hard to read sometimes and you have to do the card tilt to see it well enough.

Lights Camera Action is always a favorite of mine. Pulling a Trae Young was a bonus.  He's an all-star game starter this year and it's well deserved.  He's shooting better from long range this year and a great scorer and creator.  He still takes those shots that make you yell "noooo" at the TV but then yell "wow" when it goes in.

You'll get one rookie per pack (11 packs per box).  Michigan alum Franz Wagner is tied with #1 pick Cade Cunningham in scoring amongst rookies at 15.8 ppg.

Some insert fun.  The jury is still out on the Skyview inserts.  Frequent flyers is okay but I'd be fine with that ticket being smaller.  I'm a big fan of the Slam inserts.  These are fun and also include retired greats.

A blue and purple parallel as well as an insert highlighting rookies which I like.

The base set is 270 cards and broken up into three subsets - Base, Rookies and Tribute.  I didn't pull any tribute cards from any of my blasters.  

Pulled this Rise N Shine relic of Usman Garuba who is only getting about seven minutes court time with the Rockets.  The base card backs are that generic black and white which is always boring but I will say I like the addition of the head and shoulders in the corner.  Not saying it makes it an outstanding card back but that with a few of the other design elements here make this one of the better Hoops backs we seen in years.

Really glad to have found these in the wild.  It can still be a little hit and miss finding new releases.  Especially with basketball cards but I'm seeing a lot more cards hanging around on shelves nowadays which is a breath of fresh air.  Fun cards and box.

BREAKDOWN:
88 – Total Cards
12 – RC
3 – Blue Parallel
2 – Frequent Flyers
2 – Lights Camera Action
1 - Slam
1 – Skyview
1 – Class of 2021
1 – Purple Parallel
1 – Rise N Shine Relic