Tag Archives: cincinnati bengals

NFL

Shipley, Jordan (3)

ab11 jshipley st

sco10 shipleysco10 jshipley HRCards: Score 2010, Score 2010 Hot Rookies, Adrenalyn 2010, Donruss Rookies & Stars 2010 Studio Rookies, Photo Memorabilia, Donruss Rookies & Stars 2011, Score 2011, Donruss Rookies & Stars 2010 Dress for Success, Absolute Memorabilia 2010 Rookie Jersey Collection, Absolute 2011 Stargazing, Panini 2011 Plates.
Acquired: IP 12/19/2015, Bud Light Austin Tour. IP 6/25/2016, Jordan Shipley Camp
See Also: Jordan Shipley, Jordan Shipley (2)

Knocked out a few more Jordan Shipley cards at a signing I heard about through BAM in December. dor&s10 shipley SRadr10 jshipleyI got to the event location even before Shipley did and was a bit nervous to go in since it was such a random little corner store in Lakeway. Then I saw Jordan and his wife pull in, and right afterwards- a cop pulled in behind

them to issue a ticket. Pretty funny. When I brought it up with Jordan, I told him that I didn’t take a photo because I thought it would have been in bad taste, he and I had a small chuckle.

Jordan signed all these items in a really nice gold Sharpie. He was mightily impressed by the classy Donruss Rookies & Stars to which he dor&s11 jshipleysco11 jshipley jcstopped and looked at, and then remarked that he hadn’t seen the card before. It’s really nice that these events are taken care of the way they are. BAM runs a tight ship, and they are really getting this down to a science. The photo memorabilia is nice, but the logos are garishly
large.

I went to Jordan’s event in June the next year reloaded with a bunch of patch cards. The weather was seasonably humid, with a touch of evening showers. Thankfully the downpour cleared up before the event ended. Nathan hooked me up with this event, and initially I had dor&s10 jshipley dfspoff10ab jshipley jchoped that it would’ve been a crown event for a fellow collector who was going to visit- but that fell through. Still I managed to fly solo and scoop up Jordan on all the cards I had brought. Again he was in awe of some of the cards that he had never seen. We briefly talked about the patch cards, which surprisingly he questioned the authenticity of the Score and Donruss cards, because the threads were so tight.

That’s entirely possible, but since these were from the rookie premiere, the jerseys may have actually been made of other materials. These cards are very nice issues. I really like mem15 shipleythe Absolute Stargazing card. Lots of space for an autograph to take off on the card.

I ran into Gameday Sportstours while I was there. I was impressed by their staff and dedication to the hobby.  It renewed my faith in their operation and I will probably use them again in the future.  They are definitely a mom and pop type operation, but overall after talking to the owner I got a good feel for
him and his crew. It’s a shame he pretty much just specializes in Cowboys events. I’d love to see him put something together for the Texans or Oilers. The highlight of talking to his crew was them trying to sell me an autographed helmet, but thanks to my aversion to getting footballs and helmets signed, I was largely uninterested. It also helped that my collection is so deep, that I had already gotten many of the classic names in their collection.

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NFL, Pro Football HoF

LeBeau, Dick

Cards: TNT Signature Select, Topps 1971
Acquired: TTM 2017, C/o The Tennessee Titans
Sent: 1/19/17  Received: 1/27/17   (8 days)

To say that Dick LeBeau has a decorated football history would be an understatement. After playing both halfback and defensive back in college, LeBeau was moved to cornerback fulltime when he entered the NFL. Selected by the Cleveland Browns in 1959, LeBeau did not make the squad and was quickly snatched up by the Detroit Lions. The rest is history. The Lions already had an outstanding secondary. LeBeau was icing on the cake. He arguably became one of the best players in Detroit history (at least defensively) recording 62 interceptions for 762 yards and 3 TDs.  He earned 3 ProBowl trips from 1964-1966 and AP in 1964, 1965, and 1970.

Retiring from play after the 72 season, LeBeau immediately jumped into coaching, working as a special teams coach for the Eagles from 1973-1975.  From there he honed his skills as a positional coach with the defensive backs for the Packers (1976-1979) and Bengals (1980-1983). Dick was promoted to defensive coordinator for Cincinnati in 1984- a position he held until 1991.  In 1992 he joined the Steelers as a defensive backs coach, and in 1995 was elevated to defensive coordinator.  LeBeau returned to the Bengals in 1997 and was head coach for the franchise from 2000-2002.  After a brief stay on the Bills in 2003 LeBeau returned to the Steelers as their defensive coordinator from 2004-2014, and then off to the Tennessee Titans as their coordinator where he coaches to this day (2017).  LeBeau was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame and the Pride of the Lions in 2010.

Dick LeBeau is one of the most reliable high profile TTM signers in the hobby today. I think I had taken it for granted for a long time, but I finally decided to take a shot at him in 2017. Part of the reason for my delay was the lack of decent cards of him. Frankly most of the cards that were on the market were quite bad looking, or were just plain expensive. LeBeau’s turnaround was quite quick signing this old beat up Topps card and my custom in about a week flat.

G/GS  N/a    Tac N/a         Sac N/a          Fum N/a
Int   62       Yds   762          Avg  12.2      TD  3     Lg   70t

NFL

Joseph, Johnathan ‘J Jo’

ud06 jjosephCard: Upper Deck 2006
Acquired: In Person 12/15/2015, Whataburger Community Player of the Year

A burner at the University of South Carolina, Johnathan Joseph was reputed to run the 40 in some 4.3 seconds. He was only a starter as a Senior, notching 55 tackles and 4 interceptions. It was still enough to entice the Bengals who needed a defensive back in the ever increasing arms race occurring in the AFC North, who selected him with the 24th pick of the 2006 draft. While he didn’t make his first interception until 2007, J Jo was a pass defensed monster, raking in 20 PD in 2006.  In 2009, Joseph had a career high 6 interceptions for 92 yards, 20 PD, and a TD. He continued to play for the Bengals through the 2010 season.

After a disastrous defensive campaign in 2010 that resulted in the release of defensive coordinator Frank Bush, the Texans decided to beef up their defense. New coordinator Wade Philips needed to sorely retool the secondary for 2011.  They courted former Raider Nnamdi Asomugha who was considered the most complete man to man defensive back in the Free Agent pool, but he was too much for the team to afford. As Asomugha signed with the Eagles and the Texans’ fanbase groaned, GM Rick Smith decided to go with what they had characterized as ‘their plan all along’. Going for value, Houston was able to get both Johnathan Joseph at corner and Danieal Manning at safety- and they made it work.  The Texans defense went from 30th to 2nd in yards allowed over that one season, and captured the AFC South title for the first time in the franchise’s history.  They’d repeat again in 2012 posting a 12-4 record.  In both seasons Joseph earned Pro Bowl nominations. The franchise went into meltdown in 2013, but recovered nicely under the tutelage of new defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel in 2014.  Joseph remained entrenched at right cornerback and despite some injuries here and there is well respected around the league as one of the best defensive backs. He has 6 career touchdowns in 10 seasons.

Johnathan Joseph quickly established himself as one of my favorite players on the retooled Texans defense, always around the ball making plays- something not seen in the Texans secondary since the dying days of Aaron Glenn and the early years of Dunta Robinson. As the Texans have made it clear that they want him to retire a Texan, it has made sense to me that I needed to get his autograph on at least something.

The Whataburger Community Player of the Year Event provided that perfect excuse.  He’d appear alongside Kareem Jackson, Garrett Graham, and Cecil Shorts as winners of the annual event provided by the burger eatery. The crowd was quiet but as Joseph approached I cheered him on, which elicited a fist bump from him when he got to me at the front.  When I got to him for his autograph I told him my favorite game of him was when he blew up the Baltimore Ravens a few years ago, intercepting Joe Flacco for a TD. While I was tempted to go for two, I resisted the greed and was happy with my one and done with Joseph. Worthless fact only interesting to me: The Texans love their South Carolina connection. Since the franchise’s inception the team has had 4 starters at corner who have played for the Gamecocks: Dunta Robinson, Fred Bennett, DJ Swearinger, and Johnathan Joseph.