Tag Archives: top notch 2011

NFL, ufl

Rhodes, Dominic (2)

sco09 rhodesCards: Score 2009, TNT UFL 2011
Acquired: TTM 2014, C/o Home
Sent:  4/11        Received: 4/17   (6 days)
Failure: TTM 2013, C/o Home
See Also: Dominic Rhodes

Dominic had signed previously TTM for me, and asked for a copy of the UFL customs I had done. It took me a while to get around to printing them out and I sent to Rhodes back in June of last year. The problem was Dominic had moved and the UFL had gone on indefinite ‘hiatus’. I tried contacting him both through Twitter and his foundation, but had no luck. It finally took me getting a new Meiselman list to track down Dom’s latest address in North Texas. Since I was having to go a bit out of my way to find him, I enclosed an extra or two to get signed. He responded in about a week personalizing the cards and wishing that the cards found me well, and quoted Bible scripture to me:

Phil 4:13 – I can do all things through Christ which strengthens me.

tntufl10 rhodesPretty cool, I just wish that the inscrpition was underneath his autograph. -Instead he wrote it on the card sleeve. While not the most pious or religious person, I do like it when players put scripture on their autograph. It tells me a bit about what they are thinking or what is going on in their lives.

Dominic returned to the UFL for the league’s swan song in 2012.
With the league imploading after 4 games, Dominic finished as the unquestioned career leading rusher of the UFL. He completed the season with 63 carries for 219 yards and a TD. Rhodes has been working out agressively and staying in shape, hoping for another shot with another team, but the odds of him getting the chance, at the age of 35 are now are slim.  It’s a shame because there is little wear and tear on the former Super Bowl Champion’s legs at all.

Unfortunately the UFL didn’t do a good job of tracking the numbers of their 2011 and 2012 seasons, however here are both Dominic’s NFL and UFL statistics I was able to cobble together:

NFL:  G/Gs 99/33   Rush 814     Yds 3286    Avg 4.0    Td 26    Lg 77   |
Rec 147    Yds 1027   Avg 7.0    Td  4   Lg  29
Kr 147     Yds 3374   Avg 23.0  Td 2    Lg  88t
UFL:  G/Gs 18/18    Rush 269     Yds 1180    Avg 4.4    Td  16 Lg  65t
Rec 12          Yds  115           Avg 9.6         Td  1      Lg 22
Kr 12            Yds  260         Avg 21.6        Td 0      Lg N/a

 

 

NFL, ufl

Rhodes, Dominic

Card: Top Notch UFL  2011
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o The Virginia Destroyers
Sent: 10/25/11   Received 2/2/12 ( 100 days)

A seemingly ageless runningback, Dominic Rhodes has seen stints with the Colts, Raiders, and Bills, since going undrafted in 2001 out of tiny Midwestern State. In his first season he ran 1104 yards, setting an NFL record for undrafted rookie runningbacks. Dominic also played in Superbowl XLI for the Colts, rushing for 113 yards and a touchdown against the Chicago Bears. After 6 seasons, Rhodes would play one season for the Raiders, and a preseason with the Bills.

In 2010 Rhodes signed with the Florida Tuskers of the UFL. He responded by leading the league in rushing with 547 yards, 10 touchdowns, and 919 net yards. His 260 yards on 12 kick returns were second in the league as well.  After the season he’d play for the Colts again briefly in 2010, before returning to the Tuskers in 2011, (who had moved to Virginia and been rechristened the Destroyers,) under the leadership of Marty Schottenheimer. Playing in his famous ‘Marty-Ball’ offense, Dominic ran for a league record 217 yards and 3 touchdowns, against the Sacramento Mountain Lions. After the 5 game season in which Dominic ran for 410 yards, he’d be named league MVP and also rush for 96 yards and a touchdown on 27 carries in UFL Championship Game III. At this time in 2012 he is the career leading rusher for the UFL.

I wrote Dominic courtesy of the Virginia Destroyers late last season. He responded in a flat 100 days and said that, “He’d love a copy of this card I designed.” I’ll shoot him out another high quality copy of the card in a few weeks when I have a bit more time.

ufl

Bond, Jy


Card: TNT Cards 2011
Acquired: TTM 2011, C/o Home
Sent: 8/15   Received: 8/25 (10 days)

So I created a whole set of trading cards and put them under the Top Notch banner. A few United Football League players of late have taken notice of what I had been doing and wanted copies of their cards. I decided to handle this as a chance to explore a novel way to approach TTM autographs. In exchange for the file or the card, I ask that they send me an autographed copy of that card I created for my collection. Jy was the first of those experiments and successes at this. It solves a lot of things for me by allowing me to get some exposure and spread positive word for little cost, practice my trade, get an autograph, and do a small thing that counts a lot more for these players than people think.

It all started with a small set of UFL cards that I worked on in March. I didn’t put much thought to it as I was passing the time. With the days getting longer I posted a few up on the team Facebook sites. I really didn’t consider that  players might contact me for their card. Within a few days though, Jy contacted me and asked why I hadn’t made one of him yet, so I felt obliged and set to work on the second series of UFL cards, which brought the set up to over 100 profiles.

I sent him a small set of his card through ProShooterDirect that I created, and for 24 of them, it was quite a fair price.  He got it by the weekend and mailed me out the 2 cards, since I had no use for 22 more cards floating around my apartment, it would allow me to inspect the quality of the print and see how well the autograph took to their paper.
His autograph has a nice strength and loop to the signature, and looks very impressive in silver. Along with the two cards, he also sent me a nice thank-you note in Aussie offering to meet up whenever we get the chance and refer more players to me if I’d like.

I’ve sent out a set to the Mountain Lions, and also have been in contact with a few other players so far. I hope to be able to put together a comprehensive collection of UFL players autographs before the end of season 3. Unabashedly when coming up with the concept for this card, I wanted to aim for something that would be a card that would introduce fans to the teams and the league.  I framed the front of the card with a nice, classy, white border. I did some tweaks later to the cards after receiving the prints on the back where the type came out a bit small, but overall I was quite pleased with how these turned out.

Disclaimer: The photos and logos remain the properties of their respective parties. The designs, bios, and presentations, I do claim ownership over. I am not affiliated with the United Football League or any of its member teams and these are classified as ‘mock up’ demonstration fan art cards.