Tag Archives: tnt ut 2014

NFL, University of Texas

Babers, Rod (4)

Card: TNT UT Legends
Acquired: IP, 2014
See Also: Rod Babers

Over the years I’ve pretty much tapped out the complete card collection of Rod Babers. He’s a great local radio personality, and a really big fan and student of sports. It seems that whenever I run into him- we pick up where we left off, promise to hang out, and never get around to it. I mean maybe its the unsaid rule I follow that is basically even if a person is a D-list celebrity you should give them a lot of space. We tried to network for a Texans game in 2017, but that fell through. In the meantime he had a fallout with 1300 the Zone, but thankfully picked up right where he was at with ESPN doing what he does best.

I decided to pop in and say hi in 2018- A year after the last time I saw him at the Texans draft party when I had accurately predicted the Texans would trade up to take Deshawn Watson. We again picked up where we left off, and just started talking sport. His team thanked me for coming by and hanging out and we chatted for a bit. It was good times. We talked briefly about the AAF and the Texans but really weren’t able to get into details since he was pretty busy.

We catch up from time to time and he’s always very personable and friendly and loves to sign autographs.

NFL, University of Texas

Kindle, Sergio

Cards: TNT UT, Score 2010, Topps Chrome 2010
Acquired: In Person 2018, MNF w/ the Horn

Sergio Kindle played collegially at the University of Texas from 2006-2010. A punishing, rangy player with a great motor who could line up at both defensive end and outside linebacker,  Kindle really started taking off in 2008, posting 53 tackles, 10 sacks, 14 tackles for loss, and 2 fumble recoveries.  Kindle moved primarily to defensive end for 2009, (replacing Brian Orapko in the lineup). Sergio had 47 tackles, 3 sacks, and 17 tackles for loss in his Senior campaign. He had solid combine numbers, and was the highest rated outside linebacker (3-4 defenses), but thanks to some questionable decisions during his time at UT, his draft stock slid. 

The Ravens swooped in during the second round of the 2010 draft and selected Sergio. Unfortunately a series of tragic incidents befell Kindle before he hit the field for Baltimore. He’d lose his entire rookie season to a serious head injury- after falling down 2 flights of stairs and cracking his skull.  He’d then be later arrested for DUI, and then run into some financial issues. Still Sergio managed to see action in 2011, and then in 2012 spent some of the season on the Ravens’ practice squad. He’d be waived in 2013, ending his playing career.

Sergio was very nice at the Monday Night Football event hosted by The Horn. I had been dying to go to an event all year and this one lined up perfectly. He signed all three cards, and I gave him a stack of the TNT UT card that I made for him to keep- which he really appreciated. Sergio explained to me that the Ravens card photos were taken very early in camp and that he switched from 49 to 94 later once he settled in. Serge stayed for the event and teamed up for an interview show with Rod Babers. I won a $25.00 gift certificate to the place where the event was taking place.  

Sergio is planning to move back to the Dallas area where he hopes to go into coaching. He was intrigued when I mentioned the XFL and the AAF as a possible training ground for him to get his feet wet coaching.

Sergio Kindle has been floating around Austin since he retired from the league abruptly. I knew he worked at a car dealership for a while there, and thought about hitting him up that way, but this event just came along nicely and fit into my schedule.  Kindle was a great linebacker for UT so I went ahead and made him a card since he was in none of the legends sets. (I’ve pretty much retired the look from that set, but I have thought about making more Longhorn Legends cards recently.) I really like his Score 2010 card. It frames up pretty nicely on him and I knew it’d look good autographed. Sergio apologized for accidentally putting his college number on the card. I didn’t see anything wrong with it- but it was classy of him to care enough to let me know. His chrome issue actually looks better than the Score card autographed. The blue picks up really nicely on the canvas.  

There are a few more cards of his I wouldn’t mind getting signed, and I’ll probably go ahead and pick those up so I am stocked for the next time I catch him around town.

CFL, NFL, University of Texas

Young, Vince VY (3)

do09 vyoung AH
utud11 vyouing icCards: UT UD 2011 NCAA, UT UD 2011 Icons, Donruss Threads 2009, TNT College, Leaf Rookies & Stars 2007, Playoff Contenders 2007.
Acquired: IP 10/25/2015, Tiff’s Treats Soft Opening. IP 11/6/2015 MVP Vodka Spec’s Bottle Signing and Tasting, IP 4/30/2016 Tiff’s Treats Soft Opening Cedar Park
See Also: Vince Young, VY (2)

doth08 vyoungVY was in relatively good spirits for the first event- a grand opening for Tiff’s Treats in the east part of town. While the weather had been pretty bad all weekend, the worst of it had passed allowing me to go into town for the event. I thought that by getting there roughly 30 minutes early I’d be good for a few autographs as the rain would keep away some of the fans, but I was completely wrong.

utud11 vyoung ncaaThere  was roughly 200 people
there I’d say for the soft opening of the store so I just got into line and prepared for one autograph. To hedge my bets I traded a card to a kid behind me in exchange for his father getting an autograph on a card for me- so I’d at least walk away with two.  On top of it, only one of the cards I had gotten off of EBay showed up before the event. Nothing really worked out the way I expected for this event, but in the end, it really did.  The rain wasn’t all that bad, and VY was in such good spirits he offered to sign 1,2,5 cards if I wanted to, so I was able to get two, plus the one that I had gotten as insurance through the trade earlier. Initially I didn’t really like the Donruss Threads card I got through EBay, but it grew on me a lot, especially with the football cut in there. Otherwise I probably wouldn’t have paid this card any mind.

A few days later- Nathan got
word of  MVP Vodka, who was slowly making the rounds about Texas having bottle signings. This would finally allow me to get the really nice Absolute Memorabilia card signed I picked up through EBay. The signing went well enough. As usual Vince showed up a bit late, but there was almost zero people waiting, despite the radio advertisement. He was nice enough to sign the Absolute card and the Top Notch custom I did of him. I asked him if he’d forgive my awkwardness from the poster debacle at the Sam’s Club event, but he told me that he didn’t remember it. I guess that’s good. Ah well,  I mean at least he signed another piece of my art- no matter how underwhelming the response was.

I had been holding out hope of getting VY again on a few cards in 2016. In fact I had volunteered to pick up a few autographs for
Deadhorse.  It took about 5 months for Young to pop up for another Tiff’s Treats grand opening. As usual Vince was fashionably late to the event.  The problem was it was a group event with Kasey Studdard, Justin Blaylock, and Quan Cosby. Thankfully with a bit of fast thinking, the promoters had fans line up behind VY’s chair so that when he did show up, everybody got a chance to get his autograph, and he was happy to sign multiples.  He had his son there with him, and after he signed each card, his son would inspect them to make sure that they were up to snuff. It was very cute. I told VY about how painful it was to watch him on the Titans, especially when he played the Texans, because he always made us pay.  I was surprised that he responded by telling me that he hated it too.

Vince played it low key for the past few years here in Austin, but in early 2017 made waves as he agreed to a free agent contract with the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the CFL. Saying the desire and want is still there, Young seemed primed to make an unlikely comeback.