Pigskin & Pucks

A delivery from North of the Border recently signaled the influx of new football and hockey cards to my collection. Fellow Buffalo Bills fan, Douglas of Buck Store Cards, hooked me up with a heaping pile of 2015 cards featuring players from our favorite NFL team.  Additionally, a hearty serving of New York Rangers cards!  Between Douglas and Shane's generous contributions of late, my hockey collection is taking shape in a hurry!

But, let's begin with the football cards from my Canadian pal.

I couldn't even tell you the last time I purchased a pack of football cards.  Back when I was 11 and 12 years old, I was obsessed with them.  Nowadays, I'm not very impressed with the output from Topps. Way, way too much photoshopping and the designs are generally uninspired, in my opinion.

However, a Bills card is still a Bills card.  Thus, I'm anxious to receive them and subsequently catalog them into the on-the-verge-of-being-overloaded Buffalo Bills binder.

I will give Topps credit for trying a lil' something different with this year's design.  I'm much more open to base card experimentation when it comes to football than I am with baseball.  Therefore, I'm all for the lack of white border on these cards.

And even though he's no longer a Bill, I still have to admire Fred Jackson's horizontal beauty.

Here's a sampling of some of the other '15 Topps base cards that I got from Douglas.  The Harvin is the best photo of the lot, despite that fact that it's a photoshop job.  Not a fan of the image they used of Sammy in his card, on the other hand.

Panini, meanwhile, has managed to split the uprights, so to speak, with their '15 Prestige offering.  Boy are these handsome!  How fantastic is this card of Sammy?!

A very classy design is complimented by solid photography and appropriately framed images.  They also employ some digital air-brushing, but have managed to do a much better, neater job than Topps somehow. A couple of random Panini cards from the past couple years (slots 8 and 9) complete this page.

Call me crazy, or feel free to disagree, but Panini is crushing Topps with the look and quality of their football products.

Okay, onto the pucks.  After all, the regular season drops next week!

Ya gotta start things off with a card of King Henrik.  Nice to see Upper Deck upkeepingn the SPx brand.

I think Kreids is primed for a breakout campaign this year.  One of the fastest skaters in the league and a guy who is a real star on the power play.

Rick Nash wearing the alternate home jersey in this Panini Contenders card.  Nasher is coming off a tremendous 2014-15 campaign in terms of goal scoring.  Although, he tapered off dramatically over the season's final month and once again (unfortunately) was conspicuously quiet in the playoffs.

Like your favorite hits FM radio station, this page features a great assortment of '80, '90s and today.  I especially dig the Nemchinov Donruss card in the top left.

Thanks a million for keeping me in mind, Douglas!  Really enjoyed all these great cards!

May our Bills keep on winning!  And may the hockey season be frosty and full of Rangers (and Leafs) victories!

MK