Cards: Star Pics 1992, Gameday 1992, Gameday 1993, ProSet 1992, Fleer 1995, Classic 1992, Photo Memorabilia.
Acquired: In Person, Bud Light Signing San Antonio
See Also: Robert Jones
I braved a monsoonal torrent down I-35 in traffic for a hour to HEB only to discover after an hour of milling around that store that Gameday Sports Tours had moved the event to another location without notifying anybody. It was literally the perfect storm, as Gameday had become fed up with behavior of other members on a message board and just decided not to update things anymore. While I understand why they did it, overall it strikes me as unprofessional and immature to check out like that. Left in the lurch, the manager at the HEB was able to eventually direct me via the phone to the correct location approximately 5 miles away for the event. With Robert running slightly late (- maybe due to the weather or the driver who also took him to the wrong location,) he expressed a need to leave early due to wanting to watch his son’s football game; However, he heartily signed anything and everything fans had. Robert also is on Twitter and is very vocal about his Alma Mater’s current state of affairs in college football.
Some great cards here of Robert, it was difficult to choose which ones to get autographed. Luckily he hit all these cards for me and penned this garish photo of himself. I had always wanted to get his college cards autographed. Both Star Pics and Classic have fallen by the wayside in the garbage of dead companies over the years but I enjoyed their issues very much at the time. The Gameday and ProSet were all exceptional photoshots of Robert, while the Fleer was just a set grab. There’s probably just one or two more of Jones I’d like to get signed at this point, but otherwise, the event and the haul turned out to balance out a poorly set up event.
Cards: ProSet 1992, Gameday 1992, Gameday 1993. Fleer 1995, Playoff 1993, business card.
Birden was drafted in the 8th round of the 1988 draft by the Cleveland Browns. JJ was shocked to be drafted because he was known primarily as a track man at Oregon. He’d be injured in camp and spend his entire rookie season on IR. In 1989, he spent time on the Browns, and later the Cowboys practice squads.
JJ is a fighter through and through. Displaying toughness, grit, and heart, Birden fought uphill to make it on NFL rosters throughout much of his early career. He was also frequently tasked with taking on players that were sometimes 100 lbs or more to block. Since football he has continued to demonstrate this through his commitment to his family and in business. He specializes in Network Marketing
Returning in 1998 he played Spring ball with the Rhein Fire of the NFLE, before heading back to the United States to join the Seahawks for that year.