Tag Archives: score 2009

NFL, University of Texas

Cosby, Quan

  

ud09 cosbymem cosby

Cards: Score 2009, Upper Deck 2009, Press Pass 2009, Press Pass 2009SE, Donruss Rookies & Stars 2009, Upper Deck Star Rookies 2009, Playoff Prestige 2009, Pacific 2009.

Acquired: 2/16/2013, Longhorn Neighborhood Foundation Bowling Tournament, GMC Texas NFL Tour 2013. 3/15/2014 Longhorn Neighborhood Foundation Bowling Tournament.
See Also: Quan Cosby (2)

dor&s09 cosbypp09 cosbyQuan Cosby had some great seasons for the Longhorns as one of Colt McCoy‘s go to targets at receiver. He also had a habit showing up when it counted, making the winning TD grab in the 2009 Fiesta Bowl.  He finished his career at UT with 212 catches for 2,598 yards and 19 touchdowns.

At 5’9″, 196 many teams felt he was a bit undersized and he went undrafted. He quickly found a home with the Cincinnati Bengals. The Bengals offensive system was predicated around their superstars, Carson Palmer, Cedric Benson, and Chad OchoCinco. He was able to pac09 cosbypp09 cosbygrab a roster spot as a return man for the franchise while he honed his receiving skills buried on the depth chart. Over two seasons he grabbed 6 receptions for 71 yards. Cosby was very valuable at punt returner. In his rookie season Quan had 40 punt returns, (2nd in team history at the time, since surpassed,) for 474 yards. Both numbers led the NFL. In 2010 Cosby had 30 punt returns for 225 yards, but the team had been building up the receiver depth chart with guys like former Longhorn teammate Jordan Shipley. Quan was simply caught in a numbers game and was made a free agent after the season. He split the 2011 seasonudstar089 cosby poff09pres cosbywith 2 franchises: the Colts and the Broncos, where Denver put him back to work again as a punt returner. He signed with the Jaguars in 2012, where he was reunited with Shipley.

Again, Cosby was another player I got from the LNF Bowling tourney. I was very lucky to get him as he was walking out the door at the end of the day and he was kind enough to sign these two cards for me. Of note, Cosby is apparently a talented Baseball player, and spent a few years in the Angels farm system before joining the Longhorns in Austin.

sco09 cosbycosbyI decided on a whim to go a bit early and try to get him at the GMC Texas NFL tour that was going on in November of that year. The prize of the day was VY but I thought a nice consolation would be another Quan card. Why not? With little or no line for Cosby’s early start time, this allowed for him to chat with each and every fan. He was very accommodating and took a photo with me. Much to my surprise he also asked me about my thermal, and asked me where I had gotten it, telling me that he, “Liked my style.” He also gave me this pretty nice autographed photo to boot.

Cosby was also just penciled in by the Texas Longhorns to replace Rod Babers on their sideline reporting. Quan told me he had originally found out through Twitter because he had started receiving congratulations about the job. He said he was nervous because his interview was going to happen the day after the event we were currently at! I told him not to worry and that he’d do a great job. When I asked him how badly the Sooners were going to beat Texas, Quan said that he, “Had ultimate confidence in Case and that the Oklahoma team was young. We’d stand a good chance at winning.” I brushed it off as homerism, but you know what- he was right. I look forward to seeing Quan at future events around town now that I have restocked on his cards.

Overall, the GMC event was fairly well run. I did get the autograph of every player that attended that I wanted and to boot, the quality of the photographs were outstanding and on good Kodak photo paper.

I went to the 2014 Longhorn Bowling Tournament, hoping to – well… sneak in, utilizing one of my contacts from the 2013 event, but unfortunately he wasn’t there, so I felt my time there was inappropriately spent. On the way out I decided to spam Quan with a bunch of cards. After patiently waiting for him, he signed all my cards, and told me he hadn’t seen many of them before. He also broadly smiled when I told him he was right about the Longhorns beating Oklahoma.

NFL

Williams, Ricky “Little Earl” (3)

adr11 rwilliamspoff01 rwilliamssco09 R williamsSP99 R Williams
Cards: Score 2009, Upper Deck 2006, SP 1999, Adrenalyn 2009, Playoff Contenders 2001, Power Deck 2006.
Acquired: 2/6/13, IP Legends Luncheon, 11/17/13 – GMC Texas Tour.
See Also: Ricky Williams, Ricky Williams (2)

Just when I thought I was going to write a post about how I’m running out of things to say about Ricky, he has a luncheon where he agrees to do an honest question and answer session with all the fans in the lunchroom audience. He discussed his foundation work (Ricky Williams Foundation), and a wide range of topics covering his life growing up as a latchkey kid. Ricky was very forthcoming about his travels, and that he had actually contemplated retirement as early as his second year in the NFL. Ultimately Williams made the decision in his last season in Baltimore to retire, after a brief conversation with Bill Parcells.

Ricky enjoyed playing the game because it was a game to him. It was fun. He talked about the growing problem of players confusing sportsmanship with competitiveness.  Williams also talked about how he was even keel when the team won or when the team lost. He really just didn’t let it get to him, and this made him sometimes
appear weird to his teammates.

UD09 R williamsWhen I got up to him he signed all three of my cards. At this point, he recognizes me when I come up, and I gave him his Starting Lineup figure as a humorous gift- which I think he got a kick out of. I asked him jokingly if he had ever used the deer antler spray, and he very candidly told me his answer… He clarified that the greater issue is that at some point we are talking about substances that people put in their body, much of it naturally that is already used or ingested in other cultures. He really didn’t tell me firmly if it worked, however Ricky pointed out the greatest problem that the NFL faces in drug testing is the use of HGH (Human Growth Hormone), and that the problem is rampant, since the league’s testing isn’t able to completely sniff it out.

ud98pd rwilliamsRicky lives in Austin and I pretty much stop whatever I am doing to go to his events. I heard about this event on 1300 The Zone (The Longhorn Station), about a week before and decided to take a crack at the event. I had previously met Ricky on two other occasions, and he had signed a total of 4 cards between the events for me. Still there seems to be a never ending supply of cards or items I’d love to get the former Heisman winner to sign for my collection including these gems. I very much enjoy his refreshing, incredibly intelligent, and unique view on the world and always look forward to the events he speaks at. If there was ever a player that I’d refer to as a shaman, I’d pretty much put Ricky in that category.

rickyagainIn November, Ricky once again appeared, this time at the GMC Texas Tour. I stocked up on autograph vouchers and then camped out in line. After asserting my spot as the first person in line over poachers who hovered near the gate or put their gear down and walked off, I waited patiently for Ricky to arrive. Williams had signed to work with Coach Larry Kennan at Incarnate Word out of San Antonio as a runningback coach, and he came in wearing their colors. As the only fan that recognized him, Ricky thought he was going to get away with his stunt, but I caught him when he walked by. When they finally opened up the queue for autographs we were limited to just one per person, so I walked up and got my autograph and just talked to Ricky about his experience at IW.  It was a rough start when I asked him to sign with the bronze colored marker, but because his face frowned, I immediately backpedaled and said that I’d be happy with whatever marker he’d like. His face lit up then when we talked about the WLAF and Kennan’s days with the Monarchs, but before you knew it, a handler came over and shooed me off. I then told Ricky I’d return and when I got to the front of the line, he’d know he had gone through the whole line at least once. I waited patiently and returned to the front. The pretty line keeper  (who comped me a Roy Williams autographed photo) helped me pass the time for a few minutes, and before I knew it, I was back at the table talking to Ricky. He enjoyed talking to me so much, he volunteered and literally grabbed my cards and signed all the extras I had with me before I left the table. He told me about Kennan’s coaching style and we joked about what the “Hook ‘Em” sign would be for Incarnate Word.

tnt13g rwilliamsAgain, like Priest Holmes, I created a custom card for Ricky based on the ‘Long Tom’ design of the GameDay cards more recently of the 90s. I was really happy with the results, but continue to struggle with the paper thickness as 20lb is not a universal weight. Still the ink absorbed well into the card and it does look legitimate enough that he did take pause to look impressively at it.

At the time of Ricky’s retirement he was the 26th member of the 10,000 yard club. While occasional rumblings talk about inducting him into the Pro Football HoF, his legacy will need to be redefined elsewhere, as old timers will look at Ricky’s rampant disregard of NFL policies as blemishes on his career. Also with guys like Ottis Anderson (slightly more yards and an MVP honor) still waiting in line, Williams getting in would be seen as a major coup. In the meantime Ricky is finding a new life in football coaching runningbacks for Incarnate Word and dabbling in recruiting.

NFL

Ware, DeMarcus “D Ware”

sco09 dwareCard: Score 2009
Acquired: IP 2013, GMC Texas Tour (November)

I was really pleased to see DeMarcus Ware on the list for the GMC Texas Tour for November, -but so was apparently everybody else. As a collector, I think it’s great to see other fans interested in meeting sports stars. It feels like a dying art when I am there all alone. However, the circus can be a bit much though, and I just wish a few of them would go away, especially when experienced autograph seekers get the blame for the inexperienced breaking all the unsaid rules. From bypassing lines to walk straight up to a player that isn’t even seated, to addressing a sensitive topic, players will always scoff at those who collect the most. I was a bit disappointed in my results from the tour in November and I had hoped to get Ware’s autograph on quite a few cards. I earned the right to do so by taking the required amount of drives, earning vouchers from each drive to do so, and with the mixup mash up mistiming by Roy Williams, I was then left holding 8 autograph vouchers just for DeMarcus Ware. The GMC people first attempted to clear us out of the tent, stating that we were notdware allowed to form a line behind the queue for Roy to DeMarcus until 3:30. Instead we could all go outside and form a new ‘unofficial’ line for Ware. A bunch of people, myself included, ignored the woman, since we had already felt jilted by the Williams signing. Finally they let us all into the queue at 2:30. Eventually they limited everybody there to just one item due to the amount of people waiting in line. Autographs were rushed, and with a very efficient handler in the middle, nobody was able to really speak to or approach Ware close enough to do anything else. It was a very artificial and disappointing event. Still, I can’t complain about free, and I did get this Score 2009 signed by him even though I did a custom for him that I wanted to get signed at the event.

A member of the 100 sack club, DeMarcus has already established himself as the Dallas Cowboys’ All-Time leader in sacks, passing up the late Harvey Martin. The Sun Belt defensive player of the year in 2006, Ware recorded 195 tackles, 27.5 sacks, and 10 forced fumbles over his career at Troy. A four time All Pro in the NFL, and the 2008 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, DeMarcus has led the league in sacks in both 2008 (20) and 2010 (15.5).