Tag Archives: Panini UT 2016

NFL, University of Texas

Thomas III, Earl

Cards: Panini UT 2016, Panini Contenders 2016, Topps Valor 2016
Acquired: IP 2019, Kickin It
Failure: 2017, C/o The Seattle Seahawks

Earl Thomas is from a long line of outstanding defensive backs that have come out of the University of Texas. After Michael Huff and Aaron Ross won the Jim Thorpe Awards back to back- it seemed like the best had already passed, but Earl Thomas had a year for the ages at UT in 2009, posting 65 total tackles, 4.5 tackles for loss, and 8 interceptions for 149 and 2 TDs. He’d declare for the NFL draft and be selected by the Seattle Seahawks in the first round (14th overall) of 2010.

Immediately settling into the secondary at free safety, Earl formed a key component of the Seahawks legendary secondary, “The Legion of Boom”. His rookie season, Thomas posted 5 interceptions, 7 pass breakups, 1 forced fumble, and 76 combined tackles. He’d earn his first of 7 Pro Bowl appearances the following year in 2011, and his first of 3 straight AP nominations in 2012, notching a career high 122 tackles in 2014. That year the Seahawks won the Super Bowl. The love affair seemed as though it would never end, but in 2017 rumblings began to emerge that Earl was wanting a new contract. This manifested into a full blown brouhaha in 2018 as he held out of camp, expressing the desire to have the contract renegotiated or traded to another team that’d pay him. A few teams stepped forward and tried to kick off negotiations- namely the Cowboys and Chiefs. Neither were able to get a deal done with Seattle brass due to the Seahawks’ high asking price. He’d report to camp for the first game and play well through week 4- when his season ended abruptly with a broken leg. As he was carted off the field he gave the Seahawks brass the single finger salute. In 2019, Earl signed a free agent contract with the Baltimore Ravens where he quickly returned to his intercepting ways.

Earl has a shoe store in Austin called Kickin’ It in The Domain area. A bourgeois section of town, the shoe store wants to stand out from the competition as being a place for avid shoe fans to hang out. From time to time to promote the store and keep with the vibe, they will bring guests in for signings. Earl originally was supposed to be there with the store opening, but with his broken leg and all, he couldn’t fly (see Scott Erney). Eventually Earl was able to make it and boy did it turn into a circus quickly.

I planned to get there about 3 to 4 hours before the event began, thinking that I’d be at the front of the line, but I was beaten there by 4-6 people. I stood out in the freezing cold then until the event began, as the line began to swell while waiting for my new cohort, Jeff, to arrive. Once he arrived, we chatted and waited. The line by that point was easily 200 deep. When Earl arrived, he emerged from his car with his family, with his young baby was clad in Cowboys paraphernalia.

Earl to be honest wasn’t happy. I think he had already figured out there were some resellers in the crowd and people weren’t spending money, and while I tried to be friendly with him, his disposition was notably sour. He signed 2 cards for me. A woman in front of me, loved how I was chit chatting with her family and gave them a card, so she got two more cards signed for me. As you can see there are just 3 cards up here. That is because I gave Jeff the 4th so we both ended up with 3 autographs.

We got back in line, but it was a madhouse, and new rules were coming down from above. Anybody who wanted anymore than 1 autograph from Earl would have to spend 45 bucks in the store. This then changed to 30 bucks- but with fans still murmuring about the change of policy so suddenly, this then finally changed to a custom Earl Kickin It t-shirt. At that point Jeff and I decided we had enough and called it a day.

A few nitpicks of how the event was run by Kickin It. First, they should’ve issued wristbands. This would’ve fixed quite a few things. It would’ve allowed fans to not have to stay in line for hours, perhaps encouraging us to look around the store. It also would’ve discouraged SHILs. Look I was doing it to some degree waiting for Jeff, but the guy at the front of the line- who is a reseller, held the line for his entire family that showed up 15-20 minutes before the event- much to the chagrin of everybody behind him.

Secondly, Kickin It actually discouraged fans from walking around the store by telling them they’d lose their place in line if they decided to come in and browse around or try to warm up. I mean that just made no sense. Again, probably the wristbands would’ve nipped this in the bud.

Third and finally, there was no rules in place before the event posted. Autographs- yes. Great. Now tell people exactly what the rules are. Don’t tell people after its started you have to spend xx amount of money. That should’ve been decided on beforehand.

I really like the Panini Contenders 2016 card he signed. That was the top top of my list. The Panini UT card wasn’t bad either. It’s a fine shot of him with great shadows. I am not a super fan of the Valor card, it was a distant 4th, but I decided to keep it anyway as a vanity piece. A lot of people really like Valor and year I am OK with it in general, but it is not the default I go to get signed. Anyway, overall, I somehow managed to get Earl on a few items, which I am happy about- despite the circus.

I failed on Earl back in 2017 when he signed a spate of TTM requests. I may have cast too much shade unknowingly because I joked about how he always had his best games against the Cowboys- which I later found out has been his favorite team since he was growing up.

NFL, University of Texas

Huff, Mike ‘Huffy’ (3)

Cards: UT Upper Deck 2011, UT Panini 2015
Acquired: IP 2018, Gigi’s Back to Camp Event
See Also: Mike Huff, Mike Huff (2)

I went to Brian Orapko’s Back to Camp event at Gigi’s Cupcakes with a treasure trove of cards in hand and not much time in my pocket. With a two hour window to work in, I was happy to get Brian, but miffed to not see any other former NFLers make an appearance yet. About 30 minutes before I left, Mike Huff walked in. I did not have any cards left of Huffy and thought that I’d get him on two blanks that I’d never get signed otherwise. Sure it’s a Bevo card from the UT set, so the best I could hope for is some chud smeared on my card from the Longhorn itself. This made more sense, especially with the fact that Huffy doesn’t make an appearance at all in the set- which I considered a snub. He signed both of these, no problem and talked to fans for a few minutes before sauntering out with his family. Mike now lives in the Austin area and as of 2018 is a member of the University of Texas’ Football Strength and Conditioning Program.

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118/944465.5311756.9024
NFL, University of Texas

McCoy, Colt (3) ‘The Real McCoy’

Cards: Donruss Rookies & Stars 2010 Dressed for Success, Donruss Rookies & Stars 2010 Freshman Orientation, Score 2010, Score 2011, Playoff Contenders 2011*, Panini UT 2016.
Acquired: IP 2/10/18, Texas Meet Eat & Greet Bastrop, Tx
See Also: Colt McCoy, Colt McCoy (2)

About two weeks before the event Colt put up a flyer on his Facebook feed for the Texas Meet Eat & Greet, taking place at Texas Boot Company in Bastrop, Tx. This was literally 15 minutes from me so it made a lot of sense to go to. I arranged for time off from the wife and baby. (It was occurring on the same day we were celebrating our baby’s first birthday, but honestly I had earned the time off after taking care of both of them when they came down with sickness the previous week.) I got there at about 15 minutes late, because the party ran a little long, but that’s okay. I was able to find a spot on the grass and got a place in line inside.

I had a lot of cards I wanted Colt to sign, and as we know, in person events can be pretty dicey with making multiple requests, so instead of being greedy and asking for 10 or 12 autographs, I cherry picked out my favorite 6 and just rolled the dice. Previous experience had led me to believe that Colt wouldn’t have a problem and luckily I was correct. While the line was long, the event was pretty informal once you got to the front. Fans were taking their time talking to the players so I figured I had a good shot. It couldn’t have worked out better.

I opened with talking about Dunkin’ Donuts. I knew he owned a couple of shops. I was just shocked he owned the one right next door to us! I told him that I got donuts there on a pretty regular basis and they did a good job. He just wished that the could raise the sign a bit or get it above the Factory Mattress Warehouse they shared the lot with. It was a good chuckle. I told him that I knew 6 cards was a tall order, but did he mind signing them for me? He pawed through them and said sure. It was then that I almost blew it.

My friend Deadhorse, was a big old fan of McCoy’s. In fact he owned his jersey. When he found out that I was going to the event, he asked me if there was anyway I could get Colt for him. I said sure and I’d give it a shot. When I was talking to Colt I told him that my friend up in Ohio was a really big fan of his, and I wanted to get one for him. Colt looked at me and sarcastically responded, “Man, I don’t have any fans left in Cleveland.” It was actually a good laugh. I steered the conversation quickly, reminding him that, “Dude you beat New England, with the BROWNS. That amounts to something. I thought you got a bad wrap there in Cleveland.” He laughed and said true, and then we talked about the continuing failures of the franchise since then.

Later in the conversation we talked about how I had hoped that when he was a free agent that he signed with the Texans, but I was happy for him nonetheless in Washington.

Colt’s time in Washington has been pretty quiet since Kirk Cousins cemented the starting role at QB for the Redskins. He got in briefly during one game in 2015, going 7 for 11 for 128 yards and a TD, but outside of that he hasn’t seen any playing time whatsoever.

Cousins’ continuing contract debacle though will have a rippling effect through the league however. The Redskins started making moves in the off-season immediately trading for Chiefs QB Alex Smith and then sat on Cousins. Speculation arose as to if the Redskins were going to franchise Cousins an unheard of third time and then trade him away. In the end Washington went ahead and let him walk. Cousins signed with the Vikings, and McCoy continues to back up new incumbent starter Alex Smith.