2021 Panini Select Football Value Pack

Greetings!

Hope everyone had a fun New Year's celebration.  

I ended 2022 with a colonoscopy and then began 2023 with my second bout with The Virus (I first had it back in early June).  Symptoms weren't so bad, just like last time (headache, fever, sore throat at first, but then just a cough).  I spent the first week of the year quarantined in my basement, working from home, and spent the second week back in the office all masked up.  I did notice this go-around that I've been pretty wiped out when I got home from work, so maybe fatigue is a symptom for this strain (either that, or it's still the whole 3rd shift thing).

Panini released 2021 Select in August 2022.  Yet another set from last year released this year.  Seriously, there's has to be some catching up to do this year.

I picked up a pack last month after the vendor restocked the Target card aisle.  It was $15 bucks for the Value Pack, so a buck a card.  Probably not worth it, but here's what I got:

#40 - Charles Woodson

#97 - Jalen Camp (RC)

There are 400 cards in the set, divided into 4 "levels" (rarity).  There are apparently 25 additional XRC Prism cards tacked onto the end of the set.  Woodson and Camp belong to the Concourse Level (the first 100 cards).

#55 - Rashod Bateman

#13 - Jared Goff 

Quite a turnaround for the Lions this year.  Goff also led one of my Yahoo Fantasy Teams to a Public League title (he led my main Yahoo Fantasy Team to a 5th place finish after Kyler Murray got hurt).  

#70 - Anthony Schwartz

#27 - Quinnen Williams

Schwartz had an injury filled rookie season and his sophomore season wasn't much better.  Hopefully the third time's the charm for the guy.

#51 - Mac Jones (RC)

#264 - Kellen Mond (RC)

A lot of the same players pop up in the different "levels," like Kellen.  The different border means a different rarity, in this case the Club Level.

#1 - Tom Brady

Each pack comes with a "Silver Prizm Die Cut".  Not a bad pick up at all!

#SN-25 - A.J. Brown (Select Numbers)

#SCR-6 - Kellen Mond (RC) (Select Certified Rookies)

We've hit the inserts portion of the pack.  As we all know Panini never gives us the odds, so who knows how rare these are.  Also, Kellen Mond hot pack!

#TUR-13 - Stefon Diggs (Turbocharged)

#HT-19 - Warren Moon (Hidden Talents)

The Turbocharged insert is pretty nice looking.  The Bengals play the Bills this weekend; should be pretty emotional...maybe Damar Hamlin will make an appearance to pump up the crowd and his teammates.

#103 - J.J. Watt

#161 - Tutu Atwell (RC)

These two are part of the Premier Level.  J.J. Watt announced his retirement; he'll probably wind up in the Hall of Fame.

Here are the backs because football:

Anyway, that's the pack.  I don't think it was worth a dollar a card, but shiny cards are cool, so this was a one and done for me.  Enjoy the weekend, and thanks for reading!

2021-22 Panini Select NBA Hanger Pack

Here's another Panini release that came out in the latter part of their basketball release cycle. For the second straight year, Panini offered a retail version of their typically higher-end Select product, with the caveat that all of the base cards are blue instead of silver. Here's a hanger pack that I picked up recently.

17 - Jalen Johnson - This is the "Concourse" design that comprises the non-short printed portion of the set. Johnson has a regular bench role in his second season with Atlanta.

74 - Scottie Barnes - Here's last season's rookie of the year. If you're wondering how this can still be a RC when this was released recently, it's because Panini really is that far behind. (To be fair, the new 2022-23 Hoops set finally dropped this week.)

31 - Carmelo Anthony - Melo as a Laker? Still looks weird.

88 - Julius Randle - The backs are typical of late period Panini products. Boring, no stats... who cares about card backs, I guess?

46 - Trey Murphy III - Another rookie card, Murphy is a 3 point shooting machine, with a name that practically forced that to fruition.

4 - Patrick Williams - I tend to get Patrick Williams mixed up with Grant Williams of the Celtics.

62 - Moses Moody - Moody is another second year bench guy.

20 - Kawhi Leonard - Here's one of the oft-injured Clippers superstar.

77 - Jayson Tatum - Tatum is a St. Louis native and another one of the biggest stars in the game.

100 - LeBron James - Apparently this is the star portion of the pack.

132 - James Harden - Ugh, this guy? This is a Premier Level card, which means it gets a different design and is more rare than the rest.

18 - Joe Wieskamp Blue Prizm - Wieskamp was a second round pick who didn't make it back to the Spurs this season. This is a Blue Prizm parallel, although when scanned it nearly looks the same as the base cards.

3 - Josh Christopher Rookie Revolution - This insert set has a weird design that reminds me of the '90s.

79 - Bones Hyland Blue Shimmer - Each hanger pack promises four cards that are either inserts and parallels, including the hanger pack exclusive Blue Shimmer cards like this one. Bones has one of the cooler nicknames in the league.

22 - Luka Garza Blue Shimmer - Garza was a big star in college but is still trying to find a foothold in the NBA. He's with the Timberwolves these days.

2022 Topps Update Baseball

Finally found a pack of 2022 Topps Update. Max Scherzer and Pete Alonso on the cover of this set. Reason why its difficult to find right now? It have to do with Jeremy Pena, Julio Rodriguez, and Bobby Witt, Jr. rookie cards in this set along with Spencer Torkelson and Jose Miranda. Then there's five ultra short print cards featuring mascot cards. Let's see who are the 16 cards in this pack.

US324 - Avisail Garcia

US277 - Jhoan Duran - solid rookie season

US251 - Andrew McCutchen - still a free agent as of this posting

US317 - Bryan Lavastida - got in 6 games last season

US39 - Carlos Correa - bet on himself opting out of Twins contract for a big payday and losing badly. Astros fans don't miss him at all.

US228 - J.P. Feyereisen - 0.00 ERA in 22 games of relief til shoulder surgery ended his season. Now a member of the Dodgers.

US282 - Alek Thomas - one of players I'm looking forward in the future

US82 - Taylor Hearn

US234 - Joe Perez - its no Jeremy Pena but still an Astros player. He bounced all over the place playing in four levels including a 1 game stint early in the season.

US197 - Jesus Sanchez

US171 - Manny Pina - now a member of the A's via 3-team trade and defacto starting catcher unless A's quickly hotshot Tyler Soderstrom (still not ready) up there while they have William Simoneit and Kyle McCann in the minors.

US164 - Blake Treinen - shoulder injury derailed his season and likely be out for remainder of 2023 season. Double whammy.

US143 - Daniel Norris - got released during middle of the season and signed with the Tigers for remainder of the season. Still currently a free agent.

US93 - Bradley Zimmer - got DFA'd twice in the season including re-joining the Blue Jays 11 days after Phillies signed then DFA'd him. Now a member of the Dodgers.

SMLB-6 - Ryan Mountcastle

Didn't get Pena, JRod, and Witt Jr.

2022 SAGE Football High Series

 

I can never figure out if it's supposed to be SAGE or Sage. And what happened to "HIT"? Also, why are the letters in "SAGE" printed in two different colors? I have so many questions. Here's what I do know. I ended up with this pack inside of a repack football box from a Walgreen's somewhat recently. It seems that Fairfield, the company that puts these out, must have run out of their supply of buy-back football cards, because pretty much everything in the box was a recent Sage (sorry, SAGE) card, and the bonus pack inside was... this. I actually didn't totally mind this, as I don't collect a ton of football and am much more interested in the college game than the NFL, but I can't see myself ever buying packs of SAGE on my own.

186 - Brandon Peters - You can see that this design is... busy. Peters started off at Michigan before transferring to Illinois, but ended up going undrafted and doesn't appear to have caught on with anyone this season after failing to make it with the Chargers.

119 - Mike Rose - Instead of a "fun fact" on the back, the blurb is titled "Here's Something". Well, here's something about Mike Rose: he was drafted by an XFL team recently. I guess that means he's going to play in the XFL, if there is such a thing.

118 - Mykael Wright - As far as football cards go, Oregon Ducks cards are kind of my thing, so I was happy to get this one. Wright was a 3-year starter at cornerback and will also apparently be some sort of XFL player whenever that league does its thing, if it hasn't folded yet.

130 - Khalil Shaker - Here's a an actual factual NFL player. Now we're talking!

87 - Rachaad White - This Next Level subset has a different color scheme, but it's still pretty wild and out there. White went to Arizona State and plays for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers these days.