The Football Collector

Here's a new one on me!

I sent a news clipping to Tom Brady (Patriots) and requested that he autograph it and return it to me in the enclosed SASE.

I just received a letter back with my clipping unsigned. The letter said that Tom could not autograph my clipping but he would like me to have the enclosed fan pack. It had an 8x10 picture of the Patriots, a picture of Tom Brady, a Patriots button and pencil, plus some Patriot stickers.

Nice fan pack but he must have tossed my SASE and paid the higher postage on the "fan Pack" himself.

While I still would like his autograph on my clipping, I appreciate the rest of the stuff and can't imagine how sending all of this stuff could have been easier than just signing the clipping.

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There are quite a few sites and a few magazines that give you lists of players who sign autographs. These "lists" can be a great way to add autographs to your collection but they are also making it harder to get players to autograph something for you.

Think about it! Bill Smith posts a new list that he has recently received autographs through the mail from these ten baseball players. Ten thousand people see this list and eight thousand of them hurry to send for autographs from these ten players.

Maybe the first ten or twenty will get an autograph returned to them but when the players are overwhelmed with so many requests, they decide "that's it"! No more autographs through the mail!

Now there are ten more players who refuse to return your SASE and who can blame them?

My advice? Search out your own autographs and when you get them back, keep it to yourself!

Sounds selfish but at least that player who did you the favor of returning his autograph is not suddenly deluged with request and turned off on giving his autograph out any more.

I've complained about never hearing from players who I've sent my cards and SASE but at the same time, I can understand that if they get 8000 requests in one week, they are going to have a tough time answering them all.

I can also understand that it's going to piss someone off if they send you an autograph today, then see their name on a list of "easy to get" autographs tomorrow.

That's why you won't see a list of "autograph signers" here. I might picture a great autograph that I've received, but I won't make a list. Besides, there are too many lists out there already.

And yes, you'll still hear me gripping about sending out a card and never getting an answer back! But I'll keep doing it and hoping that I'm not sending to a player who is on somebodies "sure thing" list.

Like every other kid, I wanted to play as a pro when I grew up. But as we all know, that's just a dream. Very few kids grow up to be professional football players so most of us are content plopping down on the sofa and watching the "big game" on tv.

For those days when there is no game on tv, we keep the excitement going with
The Plug And Play Football Game.
It's not the same as being in the bleachers, but it can get pretty exciting.

It's an interactive football video game system that plugs directly into a television and translates players' running movements to control game play allowing two players to compete against each other or play on the same team. Players stand on the control pad and step on left and right direction indicators to avoid tacklers and collect power-ups such as invincibility earthquake speed and more. The football-shaped game paddle controls play selection executes hand-offs for running plays and allows you to throw passes.

I'm afraid I got hooked on the game but that's kinda good in a way. I'm loosing some of that "spare tire" that comes from sitting on the couch watching the game and stuffing my mouth.

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It appears that eBay is in the news once more. The hobby's most valuable football card sold on eBay recently for $10,101.51.

With all of the emphasis on the grading of cards these days, it does my heart good to see a card in less than excellent shape bring so much.

Beckett says that although the condition of the card appears to be poor with at least one major crease, the overall appearance is clean, but the scarcity is what elevated the final bidding to more than $10,000.

Most collectors have never heard of this rare card but you can read all about it here!

Michael Vick's cards have been pulled from Donruss's 2007 products, beginning with the October release of 2007 Donruss Gridiron Gear, and Upper Deck removed Vick from its 2007 card releases and pulled all Vick items from its UD Authenticated memorabilia product line.

With Vick being in the center of a dog-fighting controversy, the rest of his career is dramatically threatened along with the collectibility of his cards.

You can read more about the effect of this dog-fighting controversy on Vick's cards at this link on Becketts!



Super Bowl XLII Tickets - Feb. 3, Arizona

University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona is the host to Super Bowl XLII on Feb. 3. Don t wait to secure great seats to see the most watched sporting event of the year, or go the whole ten yards and snag one of our special Super Bowl XLII All-Inclusive Packages.

American football is played on a rectangular field 120 yards (109.7 m) long by 160 feet (48.8 m) wide. The longer boundary lines are sidelines, while the shorter boundary lines are end lines. Near each end of the field is a goal line; they are 100 yards (91.4 m) apart. A scoring area called an end zone extends 10 yards (9.1 m) beyond each goal line to each end line.

Yard lines cross the field every 5 yards, and are numbered from each goal line to the 50-yard line, or midfield (similar to a typical rugby league field). Two rows of lines, known as inbounds lines or hash marks, parallel the side lines near the middle of the field. All plays start with the ball on or between the hash marks.

At the back of each end zone are two goal posts (also called uprights) that are 18.5 feet (5.6 m) apart (24 feet (7.3 m) in high school). The posts are connected by a crossbar 10 feet (305 cm) from the ground.

Each team has 11 players on the field at a time. However, teams may substitute for any or all of their players, if time allows, during the break between plays. As a result, players have very specialized roles, and almost all of the 46 active players on an NFL team will play in any given game. Thus, teams are divided into three separate units: the offense, the defense and the special teams.

Offense
The offensive line consists of five players whose job is to protect the passer and clear the way for runners by blocking members of the defense. Except for the center, offensive linemen generally do not handle the ball.
The quarterback receives the snap on most plays. He then hands or tosses it to a running back, throws it to a receiver or runs with it himself. The quarterback is the leader of the offense and calls the plays that are signaled to him from the sidelines.
Running backs (RB) line up behind or beside the QB and specialize in running with the ball. They also block, catch passes and, on rare occasions, pass the ball to others. If a team has two running backs in the game, usually one will be a halfback (HB) or tailback (TB), who is more likely to run with the ball, and the other will usually be a fullback (FB), who is more likely to block.
Wide receivers (WR) line up near the sidelines. They specialize in catching passes.
Tight ends (TE) line up outside the offensive line. They can either play like wide receivers (catch passes) or like offensive linemen (protect the QB or create spaces for runners).
At least seven players must line up on the line of scrimmage on every offensive play. The other players may line up anywhere behind the line. The exact number of running backs, wide receivers and tight ends may differ on any given play. For example, if the team needs only 1 yard, it may use three tight ends, two running backs and no wide receivers. On the other hand, if it needs 20 yards, it may replace all of its running backs and tight ends with wide receivers.

Defense
The defensive line consists of three to six players who line up immediately across from the offensive line. They try to tackle the running back if he has the ball before he can gain yardage or the quarterback before he can throw or pass the ball.
In most situations, at least three players line up as defensive backs, which are either cornerbacks or safeties. They cover the receivers and try to stop pass completions. They occasionally rush the quarterback.
The other players on the defense are known as linebackers. They line up between the defensive line and defensive backs and may either rush the quarterback or cover potential receivers.

The units of players who handle kicking plays are known as "special teams". Two important special-teams players are the "punter", who handles punts, and the "placekicker", who kicks off and attempts field goals and extra points.

There's nothing more fun than a "garage sale" for the collector, and this one has over 36,000 football related items! Just click on this link to check them out: Football Collectables Garage Sale!

All of these items are from people just like you and me who have a shop on Bonanzle. The link above only gives you the "football related" items and their prices. Like a garage sale, if the shop owners happen to be on-line, you can dicker the price because each shop has it's own "chat board".

Who knows! You may enjoy checking out these items so much that you'll want to open your own shop. And why not! It's free!

Here's the link to My Bonanzle Store!

A team scores points by the following plays:

A touchdown (TD) is worth 6 points. It is scored when a player runs the ball into or catches a pass in his opponent's end zone. A touchdown is analogous to a try in rugby with the major difference being that a try requires the player to place the ball on the ground.
After a touchdown, the scoring team attempts a conversion (which is also analogous to the conversion in rugby). The ball is placed at the other team's 3-yard line (the 2-yard line in the NFL). The team can attempt to kick it over the crossbar and through the goal posts in the manner of a field goal for 1 point (an extra point or point after touchdown (PAT)), or run or pass it into the end zone in the manner of a touchdown for 2 points (a two-point conversion). In college football, if the defense intercepts or recovers a fumble during a two point conversion attempt and returns it to the opposing end zone, the defensive team is awarded the two points.
A field goal (FG) is worth 3 points, and it is scored by kicking the ball over the crossbar and through the goal posts. Field goals may be placekicked (kicked when the ball is held vertically against the ground by a teammate) or drop-kicked (extremely uncommon in the modern game, with only two successes in the last 60 years). A field goal is usually attempted on fourth down instead of a punt when the ball is close to the opponent's goal line, or, when there is little or no time left to otherwise score.
A safety is worth 2 points. A safety is scored by the defense when the offensive player in possession of the ball is forced back into his own end zone and is tackled there, fumbles the ball out of his end zone or has a kick blocked out of his end zone, or the offense commits certain penalties in his end zone.



Click here to find jewelry representing your favorite sports!

Know your dealer when buying football cards by the box or by the pk. That's probably the best advice that I can give you.

Have you bought numorous boxes of cards without ever finding any key cards?

It's very possible that all of the boxes or pks. with key cards are already gone before they ever make it to the store shelves.

It has been found that employees at some stores, weigh the boxes and single pks. before putting them out for sale. Most boxes or pks. weigh the same, but boxes or pks. with special cards usually weigh slightly more. So, by weighing them, the employees can buy the boxes and pks. that have the good cards themselves.

This doesn't happen at every store, but if you're tired of buying cards and never finding any of the key cards, you might try changing to another supplier.

Rule violations are punished with penalties against the offending team. Most penalties result in moving the football towards the offending team's end zone. If the penalty would move the ball more than half the distance to the defense's end zone, the penalty becomes half the distance to the goal instead of its normal value.

Most penalties result in replaying the down. Some defensive penalties give the offense an automatic first down. Conversely, some offensive penalties result in the automatic loss of a down. If a penalty gives the offensive team enough yardage to gain a first down, they get a first down, as usual.

If a penalty occurs during a play, an official throws a yellow flag near the spot of the foul. When the play ends, the team that did not commit the penalty has the option of accepting the penalty, or declining the penalty and accepting the result of the play.

A few of the most-common penalties include:

False start: An offensive player illegally moves after lining up for the snap. The play is dead immediately.
Offsides: A defensive player is on the wrong side of the ball at the start of a play. If play has started, the penalty is delayed pending the outcome of the play.
Holding: Illegally grasping or pulling an opponent other than the ball-carrier.
Pass interference: Illegally contacting an opponent to prevent him from catching a forward pass.
Delay of game: Failing to begin a new play after a certain time from the end of the last one.
Illegal block in the back: An offensive player pushing a defensive player in the back.
Face mask: Grasping or touching the face mask of another player while attempting to block or tackle him.
Clipping: A blocker hitting an opposing defender from below the waist.

It has been claimed that Rutgers University and Princeton University played the first game of college football on Nov. 6, 1869 in New Brunswick, New Jersey, won by Rutgers 6-4. However, the viewpoint that this particular game marks the beginning of American football is flawed. The English Football (i.e., Soccer) Association rules were followed in the Princeton/Rutgers contest; participants were only allowed to kick the ball; and each side had twenty five men. It is far more correct to state that the Princeton/Rutgers meeting of 1869 was the first intercollegiate game of "soccer" in America, but not American football. Dartmouth College students played a football-like game now known as "Old Division Football," to which they published rules in 1871. The first game of intercollegiate football in America that most resembles the game today was between Tufts University and Harvard University on June 4, 1875 at Jarvis Field in Cambridge, Mass., won by Tufts 1-0 (on May 14, 1874 Harvard and McGill University faced each other in a similar form of game which was won by Harvard 3-0). A report of the outcome of this game also appeared in the Boston Daily Globe of June 5, 1875. In the Tufts/Harvard game participants were allowed to pick up the ball and run with it, each side fielded eleven men, the ball carrier was stopped by knocking him down or 'tackling' him, and the inflated ball was egg-shaped - the combination of which far more closely resembled the modern American football game than the games of other 'firsts'. Thus, the Tufts/Harvard game may be regarded as the 'first' game of American football.

Fantasy Football is a fantasy sports game in which participants (called "owners"), arranged into a league, each draft or acquire via auction a team of real-life American football players and then score points based on those players' statistical performance on the field. A typical fantasy league will employ players from a single football league, such as the NFL or an NCAA division. Leagues can be arranged in which the winner is the team with the most total points at the end of the season, or in a head-to-head format (which mirrors the actual NFL) in which each team plays against a single opponent each week, and at the end of the year the team with the best win-loss record wins the league. Most leagues set aside the last weeks of the regular season for their own playoffs. One of Fantasy football's great qualities is that many internet sites offer it for free. While many companies try and profit off of their product, others such as Fox Sports offer the competition, excitement and entertainment at no cost.

For more on Fantasy Football!

If you've made it this far, I'd appreciate it if you would check out Dene's Place to see if there's anything that you might like for yourself or as a gift. It helps me pay the bills!

Thanks for stopping by! Be sure to check out my other lenses when you have time.

Much of the information used here has been researched from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.