Arena, IFL

Thomas, Pete

sage15 pthomasCard: Sage 2015
Acquired: 2016, Hobby Box Breaker

Pete Thomas is an intriguing quarterback prospect with a history reminiscent of former pocket passer- Pitt QB Tom Savage. A rare 2 school transfer, Thomas’ long march originally started with the Colorado State in 2010.  He’d spend two years with the Rams and play in 21 games.  Pete put up a decent statline, going 414/652, for 9117 yards, with 36 TDs to 36 picks.  Sitting out a year, Thomas played in 9 games in 2013 for the NC State Wolfpack.  He’d throw 9 TDs, and complete 149 of 247 attempts.

Thomas again changed gears after the 2013 campaign, and transferred to Louisiana-Monroe.  Pete had a good year with the Warhawks, with 301 completions on 501 attempts, 3181 yards and 14 touchdowns. Going undrafted in 2015, Pete was an early mini-camp arm for the San Diego Chargers and New York Giants, but was unable to stick.

Eventually Pete signed with the Minnesota Havok of the Indoor Football League, but the team folded before it even took the field.  Released from his contract he was assigned by the Arena Football League in 2016 to the LA KISS.  Thomas came in during the first game of the 2016 season and didn’t relinquish the starting job all season, leading the team into the playoffs. Pete for the record completed 166 of 294 attempts for 2094 yards, 42 TDs and 8 INT. As the Arena Football League went through a massive reorganization the LA Kiss bowed out of the league. Thomas had his rookie option exercised  by the Tampa Bay Storm for 2017.

NFL

McDowell, Bubba (3)

scosup89 mcdowellpset92 mcdowellsky92-bmcdowellap90-bmcdowellpac91-bmcdowellgday93 mcdowellCards: ProSet 1992, Score Supplemental 1989, GameDay 1993. Pacific 1991, Skybox 1992, Action Packed 1990.
Acquired: In Person 9/13/2015, Houston Texans v. Kansas City Chiefs. 10/30/2016, Houston Texans v. Detroit Lions.
See Also: Leonard ‘Bubba’ McDowell, Bubba McDowell (2),

Bubba was at the Churrascos Pregame brunch with Curtis Duncan. It’d mark the first time that I’d meet him in person suprisingly- after all the School of the Legends (now defunct) discussions we had. I had quite a stack of cards and had hoped to get him at the Oilers 25th Anniversary Party but he had a last second commitment that prevented him from attending.  He’s even more engaging than I remember from the videos, and he was nice enough to take the time to sign a few cards for me from the stack.

Again it was a shame that ProSet made this switch mid-set to this design in 1992. Either look was okay with me for the time, but not in the same set. It’s a great full body photo of the hard hitting defensive back. His Score 1989 notwithstanding was one that I’ve tried getting autographed on numerous occasions but it got eaten by the mail gods. I never found this one until a few weeks ago and added it to the stack. It’s an oldie, with a purple frame and white marquee that leaves much to be desired. Still it’s his earliest rookie card. This GameDay 1993 card is a sizzling shot of Bubba. I mistakenly thought it was from the Bears game earlier that season when he took the ball to the house at the end of the half on Monday Night, but in reality it was one of the more grim days in Oilers history- a game referred to as ‘The Comeback’. Bubba intercepted this pass and returned it 58 yards for a score to make the game 35-7, before the Bills furious rally.

The next year, I went with my wife to the Texans v. Detroit Lions game. Bubba was among the selected players to appear in the fan zone, right inside the stadium gates, but outside of the stadium to give autographs. It was a long hike to the front of the stadium from our seats. The next problem I faced was that if you already have entered the stadium, you can not exit the stadium- even to go to the fan zone. It seemed asinine, but in this day and age of security I understood. After a brief conversation with the head of ticketing, they let me go through. Bubba was seated with former Oiler, Charlie ‘The Razor’ Frazier.

Unwilling to press my luck for more than three autographed cards, I selected the Pacific, Skybox, and Action Packed cards from my lot and let it rip. Bubba told me that he had a lot of great memories- fun memories- especially of former head coach Jerry Glanville.

 

NFL

Cousins, Kirk ‘Captain Kirk’

Cards: Leaf Draft 2014, Sage HIT 2014, Upper Deck Star Rookies 2014
Acquired: TTM 2015, C/o The Washington Redskins
Sent:  11/16/15     Received: 6/7/16     (204 Days)

Kirk Cousins gets no respect.  While at Michigan State, Cousins played in 45 games, completing 723 passes for 9131 yards and 66 TDs.  He had solid measurables and the stats to back it up as a solid, traditional dropback passer.

The 2012 Draft is shaping up to be one of the best quarterback crops in recent memory.  Among the 11 quarterbacks selected, Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III went off the board 1 and 2 overall respectively.  Next was: Ryan Tannehill at #8, Brandon Weeden at #22, Brock Osweiler at #57, Russell Wilson at #75, Nick Foles at #88,  and Kirk Cousins at #102. All of these players saw significant starting playing time or have been named to the Pro Bowl/ AP at their position.  The problem with Cousins, was, he was selected by… The Washington Redskins- who had already selected Robert Griffin III at #2 overall.  Critics were aghast at why the Redskins selected 2 quarterbacks in the 2014 draft.  It turns out that it was a shrewd move by then coach Mike Shanahan.

Unlike Griffin, Cousins was afforded the luxury of honing his skills while sitting on the bench. Griffin was thrust into the fire immediately. Kirk saw mainly scrub duty in 3 games while starting only one game his rookie year.  He’d finish with a 101.6 QB rating, throwing for 466 yards and 4 TDs.  Because of Griffin’s aggressive style of play, (which consequently got him injured,) Cousins saw more starting duty over the next few seasons.

Cousins eventually eclipsed Griffin as the starting quarterback entering the 2015 season. During a memorable game against the Buccaneers, Cousins led the Redskins to the largest comeback in franchise history. After the team came back from a 24-0 deficit to win 31-30, Cousins was caught on camera screaming, “YOU LIKE THAT!”, multiple times. It became a rallying cry for the franchise as they pulled off a division title with a 9-7 record. His 69.8 completion percentage led the NFL and his 29 passing TDs rank second as a single season franchise mark.

Washington in the meantime opted to kick the can down the road on Cousins, opting neither to trade him or to give him a franchise QB contract.  Kirk responded by upping the ante, throwing for almost 5,000 yards- shattering the single season mark he set for the Redskins in the previous year.  When he led the Redskins a tie against the Bengals, he addressed his general manager by saying, “How do you like me now?” – an apparent dig at the team for their current growing contract brouhaha.  To cap things off after the 2016 season, Kirk was named to his first Pro Bowl.

Although teams have again asked the Redskins what price they’d be willing to part from Cousins with, Washington used the franchise tag on him to keep him with the team for the long term.

As it became apparent that Kirk was the man in Washington, and he was responding at a decent click, I went ahead took a shot out to the ‘Skins in 2015. Knowing that I might have missed the bus on this one, I didn’t hold out much hope, especially after watching a lot of successes come back. It wasn’t until about 6 months later I got a response from Kirk. Checking responses on sportscollectors.net in early 2017, it looks as though I was lucky and got in on the last group to get him, as the requests are piling up. Much like some other pros, Kirk started off as a great signer TTM, but as the requests pile up, it’s no surprise that he’d have a hard time responding now.

Really some great photos here from ‘the big 3’ of college cards. While I liked the photos on both the Upper Deck and the Leaf entries both are plagued by annoying design decisions. The Leaf card is original in its execution, almost audacious in the placement of the Leaf Draft logo in the bottom middle of the frame, but the jaggies on the left and right are distracting from the type. I also am not the biggest fan of the typeface used.  The Upper Deck is as usual, full of a lot of bling. The silver is nice and the typeface is grandiose, but it is just too small. His first name, college, and position just basically disappear off the canvas. The silver is nice, and credit should be given to making the STAR ROOKIES label legible in metallic silver.  I like the design of the Sage the best. It’s clean and simple and communicates the player’s name efficiently without any frills.

Celebrating the game, the players, the cards, and the autographs for over 25 years.