Drew's Hot Corner: Curtis Martin

Showing posts with label Curtis Martin. Show all posts

Sunday, February 5, 2017

America vs. The Patriots

Okay, so I took a couple days off, but don't worry I'm still here! It is Super Bowl Sunday, America's most widely celebrated holiday as far as I can tell. A year ago, I spent my Super Bowl at a bar in Florence explaining the rules of the game to a kid from South Korea. I was out until 4:30 in the morning because of the time difference, and had up to be up by 8:00 for class. Good times.

Since the topic of the day is football, I figured I would catch you up on a few really sweet Jets cards I've picked up in recent months. Now, I know, the words "sweet" and "Jets" shouldn't usually be used in the same sentence, but take my word for this please.

2013 Topps Five Star Curtis Martin Auto 15/25

First, I was able to finally add my all time favorite football player, Curtis Martin, to my autograph collection. Martin was the star of the first Jets team I payed any attention to, and I immediately gravitated towards him. Thomas Jones, Leon Washington, new Hall of Famer LaDainian Tomlinson, the late Joe McKnight, Chris Ivory, Bilal Powell, and Matt Forte have since shared the backfield, but nobody has done it for me quite like Curtis did.

Last summer at a card show I debated whether to buy myself a full sized signed helmet of his, and ended up coming up just short on the funds necessary to do that. Several months later, I bought this beautiful card for a fraction of the price.

2015 Topps Chrome Leonard Williams Auto /99

There was something really appealing about this camo parallel rookie autograph of our lone Pro Bowler, Leonard Williams. The "Big Cat" delivered on his 6th overall draft selection this year and picked up the slack left behind by Muhammad Wilkerson and Sheldon Richardson. The defense this year was so disappointing, with Williams being the only true exception.

2014 Panini Flawless Eric Decker Auto 14/25

Ryan Fitzpatrick really missed Eric Decker this year. He only played in 3 games in 2016 before being placed on IR for hip and shoulder injuries that both required surgery. It sounds like he should be ready to go by the start of next season, which hopefully can help regain some of the magic he and Brandon Marshall shared the season prior.

Regardless of how the rest of his Jets career plays out, I'll never forget him for my all time favorite in person memory. Dad and I finally got to see a Jets vs. Patriots game in 2015, and Decker hauled in the game winning touchdown reception in the corner of the end zone that kept us in the playoff hunt. While I don't like talking about what happened in Buffalo the next week, in that moment I was so proud to be a Jets fan.

2015 Panini Luxe Darrelle Revis Patch Auto 4/5

We'll close this up with the man famous for shutting down this generation's best wide receivers in the game, Darrelle Revis. It was not a good year for "Revis Island". But, as a Jet fan I've gotten used to trying to find some form of a silver lining for everything so I keep from losing my sanity. We only have 3 more years to go!

Now I don't mean to sound like a downer, but man has this guy put us through a lot over the years. I feel like his entire career has been a contract negotiation. He left us and went to the Bucs, and then won a Super Bowl with the devil! It was extremely painful seeing him hoist the Lombardi Trophy with Tom Brady by his side, but I guess in a weird way I'm glad he got the chance to win after quite possibly being the greatest defensive player in franchise history.

So while he may continue to bug me for 3 more years as he gets old and wears down, he'll always be a Jet legend and down the road I'll be even happier to own this card. Also, I'm starting to grow very fond of these framed autographs. They're very aesthetically pleasing.

Alright, so that'll have it. No Joe Namath auto yet, apologies.

Go Falcons!

Saturday, February 4, 2012

Congratulations, Curtis Martin!

Hey guys, Drew back here. Today was the announcement of the 2012 Pro Football Hall of Fame induction class, and I was extremely pleased to see one of my all time favorite football players get a well deserved honor, in former Jets running back Curtis Martin. This is the first time that somebody I got to watch play quite often has been elected into any Hall of Fame, for that matter. I know it will be the first of many, but it is going to be truly special to watch Curtis officially become one of football's elite.

I began watching sports in 2004, starting in the fall when the Jets were contending in the playoffs. Unfortunately, the one highlight I remember most was Doug Brien missing a field goal that would have brought them into the AFC Championship game, and going on to lose to the young Ben Roethlisberger and his Steelers team. Somehow, as crushed as I was from that game, I continued to watch sports more and more. I guess it was love at first sight! Another part of that season I remember was when Curtis Martin won the rushing title over Shaun Alexander by a mere yard. So, to say Curtis Martin helped me grow interest in sports in general is a very fair statement.

Now, over 7 years later, I sit home all day writing about sports and collecting cards and memorabilia. Seeing the headline "Curtis Martin leads 6 HOF Enshrinees" on ESPN.com made me revert back to those days, before the collection, before the hobby entered my mind, and way before this blog was started.

Martin only played for 3 seasons during my football interest "era", but he to this day is one of my favorite players of all time. It's cool to think that I was able to see a Hall of Famer play in person, even though I know I've seen more future Hall of Famers play that just haven't been eligible for induction yet. I'm sure a majority of you all have seen players like this in your life, but I'll never forget the memories Curtis Martin left behind, and what he's helped me grow to love.

Thank you Curtis, and again, a huge congratulations on becoming a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame!

See Ya!

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

Mail from Around The Blogosphere!

Hey guys, Drew back here. This week's edition of my most recent maildays feature Coot Veal and the Vealtones, a future commodity in Canton, and a guy that could absolutely crush the ball! Let's get started!

First off, I got a package from my new trading buddy Dustin over at the new "Coot Veal and the Vealtones". The blog recently started, and so far, so good! Everyone please do me a favor and go check it out and give him a new subscriber, because he'd really appreciate new readers! Dustin asked if I was interested in a card and it picked up into a solid trade. He sent me a bunch of cards of my "PC" players, so check them out:

Nick Swisher

Four cards of Swisher arrived in the package, and 3 of them I needed! I really like the rookie card from Playoff Prestige, and I'm glad it was added to my collection.

Derek Jeter

I'm almost positive that I needed at least half of these cards, including the Victory Stat Leaders card with Bernie Williams. For some reason I really like that card.

Curtis Granderson

I recently decided to collect Curtis after I received stacks of his cards from Grand Cards. Now, I'm going to try to pick up a ton of his cards, because he's fairly affordable. I think I needed most of these ones here.

Reggie Jackson

You gotta love Reggie as a Yankees fan especially. Sure, he's cocky, but he enjoyed the game, and was just a real cool guy. Some nice additions to that collection for sure.

Don Mattingly

I got about 21 Mattingly cards in this package. I'm sure I have some of them, but it's weird to me since I have so many cards of him from his playing days yet new cards I didn't own previously are still being sent to me of his! Always nice to add some cards of a Yankee captain and one of my favorites to my collection.

Some mixed Yankees were also included, including a lot of nice cards I didn't have. I've never seen the Giambi ticket like card, it opens up and shows Giambi on the ticket, which is pretty cool. The two Phil Hughes cards in the second scan are sweet too, both very needed for the small Hughes collection.

Also he sent 9 cards I needed for the 2010 Topps Updates and Highlights set. I'm still trugging along with that set, thanks a lot Topps for providing me with a nice 200 doubles in my box. I'll remember that one.

The final card to show off for now from Dustin was this 2004 Fleer Platinum Jason Giambi relic card. I don't own an awful lot of Giambi cards, and I was always a fan of his in a way. I didn't like that he used steroids but I'm happy he admitted it and moved forward. He was pretty fun to watch back in his day though.

Thanks so much Dustin for all the nice cards! Next up is a package I got for absolutely nothing from a nice guy on the Blowout Cards Forum. I haven't done a whole lot on there lately, so I surfed around one day and found a card I was interested in. I PM'ed the guy, PackAttack419, and he told me that I could have it for $5. After he forgot to ship it out, he told me I could have it for free! Here is the card:

It's a 2010 Panini Certified Curtis Martin Mirror Red Immortals relic numbered to only 100! Curtis is one of my favorite Jets players of all time, and he does not have a whole lot in cards to chase. Whenever they put him in a new product, it's a great thing. The more and more I've seen from this product, the more I like it. One day I want to open a box of the stuff!

He also threw in this Jerricho Cotchery flag patch base card from 2009 Upper Deck Black, of Jerricho Cotchery. I haven't gotten a single card from this high end product yet, due to the price you pay for a grand total of 4 cards. I don't see the point in opening those products, but sometimes you can hit big I guess. This card is numbered to 250, of one of the more underrated wide receivers in my opinion right now.

Thanks so much to Mr. PackAttack419 if you're reading this, I really appreciated the kind gesture and it means a lot to me! Finally, the last card I have to show for the week was from eBay. I've been wanting an autograph of this guy for a while now, and finally I was able to pull the trigger on one, and I got a great price in the process!

For a little less than $10, I was able to buy this 2010 Topps Tribute Adam Dunn jersey autograph numbered to only 50! If you've been reading this blog long enough, you'd know I have a knack for picking up a lot of cards from this product, because I really like the design. For the pack price, no thank you, but when you can get a card like this for under $10, it's a great deal.

I think that Dunn is one of the most underrated players in baseball right now. Probably the reason for this is that he hasn't played for any contenders yet and hasn't gotten a chance to prove himself in October. He's only made 1 All Star team way back in 2002, but that's mainly because he only has 1 of the five tools, and that is power. And boy does he have that! He's only 31 years old right now, and he has hit 354 home runs! I bet he'll hit 500 at some point in his career, if he continues the consistent 40 home runs seasons. When I think of Adam Dunn, I think of Jim Thome. They seem to go hand in hand to me. Now he's on the White Sox, so we'll see how heading to the American League will do for him.

Thanks again to everyone that made this post possible, and See Ya!

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