Andrei Markov Signed Card in the Mail!

Woot! Just when I thought I wouldn't be receiving any more fan packs or signed cards in the mail comes a thunderous envelope! Encased inside were two cards autographed by the legendary Andrei Markov of the Montreal Canadiens. One card for myself and the other for my friend who's a big (understatement there) Habs fan. Below is the image of the Markov card that he sent back to me: if you noticed from the other two cards I received earlier, all three of these were from the beautiful SP Authentic UD product from 10/11. Loved the designs on the cards and thought that there would be enough white area for an auto to stand out -I was right about that one!

[Name of person]
c/o The Montreal Canadiens
1909, avenue des Canadiens-de-Montréal
Montreal, QC, CANADA
H3C 5L2

UD Series 2 11/12: 2 Box Breaks

Over the past month I picked up 2 boxes of UD srs II. It is a weaker product from last year's srs II in respect to it not short-printed and hence loaded with big hits in each box; last year I was pulling parallel young guns in almost every box, not to mention auto and buy backs. Compared to other years of srs II, besides the 10/11 edition, the 11/12 product stands as one of the better years. The card design is very attractive, with bar-none the best photography found in any sport card product, much like this year's srs I UD. In continuation from previous year's UD srs II, each box reveals one rookie jersey, one regular player's jersey, and of course the rest of the year's crop of young guns cards. I'm not sure about who exactly is included in this product's young guns list, but I do know (from pulling the card) that Zack Kassian is one of the rookies. In addition to the young guns rookies, srs II again delivers an update to the Victory product. While I do not buy the Victory product, I do enjoy pulling the update cards from the srs II product because it adds some diversity to the box. The addition of Victory cards adds more rookie cards to each box than found in the srs I product which does not include update cards. New to this year's srs II are update cards for OPC and MVP. I really like the idea of adding these other update cards as it adds that much more diversity to what is being pulled and multiplies the number of rookies one finds in a box. Despite this year's srs II not being as loaded as last year's, UD still put out a solid product that is very fun to break and provides a decent bang for your buck.

Young Guns: The box wrapper suggests you will find 6 Young Guns per box, and upon opening my two boxes I found exactly that in each. I also did not pull any duplicate rookies from the two boxes, which is always a relief when trying to build a set! I didn't find any huge names, but it is pretty common that the bigger rookies are seeded in the first UD series.

Canvas Parallel Set: I pulled 6 canvas base cards, 1 young guns card, and 1 retired stars sp card. The base and rookie canvas cards all have the same look as those released through the srs I product. I really like this parallel set and is something unique to the UD srs product. Last year UD had retro parallel sets and it would seem that the addition of parallel sets will continue. My only complaint is that the words 'young guns' on the canvas cards blends too much into the background and I would prefer to see the words stand out more with the usage of a lighter or brighter color or with the use of some foil. As a side note, the retired star card I pulled (from a separate box than the young guns) was of Gretzky. I knew this was a sp card and wasn't something I particularly collect. I after pulling the card I quickly sold it on ebay for a nice little sum that greatly offset the price of the box. The selling of this card demonstrates that the srs II product does produce cards of value! *on a side note, I only received one UD Exclusives serial numbered parallel card. I realize on the box that they only fall 1 per 2 boxes, but I think that they should up it to every box as it does add a little bit more of excitement to opening the product.

Gretzky Canvas sp that I sold.

Subsets: The srs I UD products introduced a new, 1950's theme for the Hockey Heroes cards. This was used instead of highlighting one particular player and UD will continue this theme of highlighting decades in chronological order until at least next year with the 70's and 80's. The srs II, logically, gives us the 1960's theme set and again the cards look great; there are on average 2 cards inserted per box. UD wrote that inserted into packs will be hard-signed Hockey Heroes but it would seem that these will be incredibly scarce; maybe on 10 or so of each signed card. The Hockey Heroes set had become quite bland and overused for the past two decades. It is very refreshing to see a new take on this subset instead of taking the easy way out of not producing them at all.

Jersey Cards: The regular jersey cards have the same design as the srs I product, which is sharp looking with the usage of a geometric pattern and medium-sized photo of the player. The jersey swatch is of an average size for a product of this price range -thumb nail size- and features some strong players; I pulled a Tanguay and Dadonov card. The Rookie Materials cards have perhaps the best design out of any of the previous year's UD srs II products. The jersey swatch is thumb-nail size and put into a 'R' shaped window. The design is simple and has a small player photo on the left with an additional close-up on his face in the right corner. The cards look really great and as per usual, fun to pull.

Red card is the OPC Update parallel.

Update Sets: As I mentioned above, this year's srs II product offers three different update sets! You have the MVP, OPC, and Victory update sets included. The Victory cards pull more frequently than the OPC, which pull more frequently than the MVP. The differences in pull rates provides another level of depth to this product that I really enjoyed. I also enjoyed pulling big name rookies that were featured in the srs I product, and hence not available in the srs II young guns list. Most notably of these rookies is Nugent-Hopkins, whom I pulled a rookie of from the OPC and MVP sets! In addition to the Update cards are the parallels of them, which are featured for the Victory and OPC but I am unsure of for the MVP.

2011/12 UD SRS II is another strong product that sits well with its previous year's releases. The cards look very sharp and I greatly enjoy the additions and change ups from the previous year's releases. On the downside, it seems that the boxes are not as loaded or short-printed as the 2010/11 release, meaning that the 11/12 product will not be as collectible, however, also easier to collect because it won't sell out as fast. Another difference is that two boxes of the 11/12 product gave me a full set of the base cards, unlike the 10/11 product that took almost or over 4 boxes to complete. Base cards are not usually worth much, but to me it is nice to be able to complete a set with only a few boxes purchased.

In comparison to what else has come out for the 11/12 hockey market, UD srs II is one of the best products. You get a reasonable bang for your buck and it will leave you with a few bucks left to buy a new box to store your cards in! Much like the 11/12 srs I product, this product deserves a solid and fresh pickle!

Artifacts 11/12: Last Packs

Artifacts 11/12 is the best product yet of the 11/12 products. Bar none! This product is loaded with patches and low numbered cards. It also has some new inserts such as rookie redemptions for the top draft picks where the cards are numbered out of 99 and will be hard signed. The patches, autos, and low-numbered cards also feature solid players and as a collector you know that buying a few packs or a box will yield great cards that are worth the price you paid. This cannot be said for many products and is why Artifacts for the 11/12 product season is now sold out at my local store and at pretty much every other local store! Last year, Ultimate and Upper-Deck series II were the same way; loaded with excellent cards that gave back a reasonable investment in purchasing the product. I'm not saying that every pack one buys should have a Gretzky auto or something of a similar ilk. All I'm saying is that if companies continue to produce a product of high quality like Artifacts 11/12 where you know that in a box you will find an excellent patch card or a low numbered auto, then the product will sell out! Quality over quantity please!

On my most recent adventure to the card store I was told that there were only 5 packs left of the Artifacts 11/12 product. I scooped these up and have no regrets. Below is what I pulled from these 5 packs and from a previous group of 3 packs that I bought last February.

From the previous group of packs I pulled (most notably), a Kruger rookie emerald card numbered out of 99 and a Doughty jersey/patch card numbered out of 35! The Doughty patch is very nice with a 4 colour break and total of 3 colors from (presumably) the team emblem located on his shoulder. I love that out of only a few packs I pulled a low numbered parallel rookie and a beauty of a patch. Great cards!

The most recent, and unhappily final packs I bought revealed one of the best cards I have pulled in a long time. This was a jersey auto base parallel numbered 10 of 10 of Taylor Hall. The card is amazing and features one of the biggest rookies of last year, not to mention that it is super limited with only 10 made. One feature I really enjoy is that the card is numbered 4 in the series, which is his jersey number. I had not noticed this before, but all the jersey, patch, and auto variants of the base set are numbered according to that particular player's jersey number. A very nice touch.

The second card I pulled is sweet but nowhere near the level of excitement as the Hall. Thankfully I pulled this card first so it was not overshadowed by the Hall! This card was a Tundra Trios of Backstrom, Ovechkin, and Semin, numbered out of 149. This is in the same subset series as the Trios card I mentioned in an earlier post about Artifacts that featured three Canadiens. The Capitals' Trios card looks brilliant and made all the better by each jersey swatch being of a different colour: white, red, and navy. Also making this card even more attractive is that it features a jersey swatch from Ovechkin, which is something rarely pulled.

The final 5 packs I opened also featured a few weaker cards, such as a Legends, Star, and one Rookie card, each being serial numbered and considered the hit of the other three packs. While these cards would not set your world afire if they had been all that you had pulled, the Trios and Hall make up for it in spades. Also is the fact that the Trois and Hall had come from the same box, which either card would have made earlier products seem like the box or perhaps case hit. As I said before, I don't expect to find an amazing card in every pack, but I do expect at least one pack to have that amazing hit which makes the box or handful of packs worthwhile. I truly hope that companies like UD continue loading up their products to make collectors like myself feel that buying their products is a worthwhile investment. If they do so, then I believe the card market will continue to increase and be a thriving marketplace.

Old School: Upper-Deck 99/00 Gold Reserve

A few weekends ago I went in search of different card stores in the Calgary area. It happened to be the Free Card Day where participating card stores were giving away packs of the Canadian National Card series, which prompted the search for more card stores in order to acquire the full set. In this quest I came across a small shop that had boxes of older Upper-Deck cards for about $20 each. From their selection I decided on a box of 99/00 Upper-Deck Gold Reserve which I had never purchased before. The cards look OK and I pulled the entire set including sp's from the one box. The drawback was that I was left with numerous doubles, off cut cards, and zero subset or chase cards. Then again, the box was only $20.

Base Cards: From the one box I pulled all 135 of the base cards. The cards have a shiny foil design on the front with the player taking up the vast majority of the photo. The photos are fairly generic of action shots and often have the player's image slightly bleeding off the side of the card. Some of the shots are also off-center and the overall composition is uninspiring. The backs of the card are incredibly dark with a dark blue back ground and tiny, sometimes blurry white lettering. The cards are often off cut and the information is fills up the majority of the card whereby an off cut becomes more pronounced because the text is frequently cut away. This is probably one of the worst card designs I've seen but the product is cheap and it is fun to see older players when they were still actively playing.

Star Power: This is a short-printed set that continues the base card numbering. The design is very similar to the base cards and suffers from all of the same problems. The redeeming feature of the set is how it highlights older players such as Shanahan and Sakic.

Young Guns: Again the design is the same as the other cards and suffers all the same problems. What is special about these young guns, however, is that the Sedin twins and Luongo are featured in the set. It is great pulling their young guns but it is odd that their rookie cards were actually produced a few years earlier in other products. It's also annoying that the cards were over produced so while these are three of the biggest stars in hockey, these particular cards are virtually worthless. Nonetheless, it is fun to pull a young gun of these top players in today's hockey.

Upper-Deck Gold 99/00 is a somewhat fun product to break as a box provides you the full set of cards, including the sp's. The overall design is too dark and pretty bland, with numerous off-cut and damaged cards; it also doesn't help that the card stick together when opening the packs. Regardless of over production, damages, and dark designs, it is still fun to pull some classic players and suedo rookies of the Sedin twins and Luongo.

Orioles Fan Pack

An Orioles fan pack arrived in the mail the other day. Everything arrived in a legal sized envelope which included an informational card about taking tours of their ball park, a pocket 2012 schedule, an Adam Jones player card, a large sticker sheet, a promotional schedule sheet, and a short generic letter thanking me for contacting them. Overall a pretty nice little fan pack!

Send an e-mail to fanfeedback@orioles.mlb.com for your own Orioles fan pack.

Crown Royale 11/12: 2 Pack Break

Crown Royale was the most original product of last year. It was also one of the best selling products and it's prices quickly increased, with the result being that I picked up only a few packs before the prices flew out of my comfort range. This last week the 11/12 product was released and I decided to pick up 2 packs now. 

While I thought highly of last year's product I was left unimpressed by how long Panini (the manufacturer of Crown Royale) took to fulfill redemptions as I had requested a Henrik Karlsson rookie auto back in Sept of last year and have yet to see my redemption arrive! I figured that the redemptions would be the principle problem with the 11/12 product too but had seen that there were significant changes to other Panini products such as Limited. Checking the web for Crown Royale pulls I saw that many of the Scratching the Surface Signatures had blatant errors in that the team logo was incorrect or the image of the player showed a different team jersey than what was presented in the jersey or patch swatch (eg. player wearing a Blues uniform but the jersey /patch was from the Kings). As there were problems such as this and that there had been changes from the previous year's product, I thought I'd begin Crown Royale with only a couple of packs.

Commons: I pulled 6 commons from the 2 packs I bought. The card design is very similar to last years and has the unique die-cut crown with embossed foil motif. The base cards look very sharp and are worth collecting by themselves. Each pack is stated to contain 3 common cards, one subset or parallel, and one auto or memorabilia.

Parallel: I pulled one Ruby parallel from the two packs. This parallel stands out from the base by the foil being red colored and unlike last year the cards are not serial numbered. As a medium priced product I feel very strongly that these cards should be serial numbered, especially since lesser priced products such as Artifacts has serial numbers on everything but their common base cards!

Rookies: I pulled 2 rookies from my 2 packs, with one being autographed. Neither of the cards are serial numbered, which is a big mistake and I find it cheap and lazy by Panini. Nonetheless, the cards do look very sharp and have an almost identical design to the base cards except that the foil is a light blue and there's a block of text instead of stats on the back. A big bonus for these cards is that the auto is prominently displayed and is on the card instead of being a sticker. A big drawback, however, is that the word 'rookie' should be found somewhere on the card!

Memorabilia: I pulled one triple jersey card from the Royal Lineage set. The card features a swatch from Hall, Eberle, and Coffey. This is a nice looking card besides the overly dark design which is not helped by the three jersey swatches being dark in color, however, they are different colors themselves. Again the back does not include a serial number.

Crown Royale again delivers an outstanding product that delivers exactly what you expect for the money you invest in it. The design is wonderfully unique, although can be a little too dark on some cards. The usage of foil is a great touch and I love the on-card autos. The triple jersey card is great because it features three players that make sense together (all play or played for the Oilers). My only complaint is that NONE of the cards were serial numbered. This should never be the case for a medium to high priced product, especially when you are pulling autos, rookies, and memorabilia cards. From checking out other cards on the net it seems that only cards with patches were serial numbered, which is a big let down.

Atlanta Hawks & Minnesota Wild Fan Packs

Today I received two fan packs in the mail. One was from the NBA team, the Atlanta Hawks. Within this package was a series of team book marks and a programs from the Jan. 18th game against the Portland Trail Blazers. Nothing too special, but still pretty neat. The second fan pack was from the NHL team, the Minnesota Wild. This fan pack consisted of a rectangular player card. The card is pretty neat looking and features Niklas Backstrom (the auto is a facsimile).

You can contact the Atlanta Hawks by sending them an e-mail at hawks.fanmail@atlantaspirit.com. Contact the Minnesota Wild by e-mailing them at community@wild.com.

Washington DC Wizards Fan Pack

In the mail today was a fan pack from the Washington DC Wizards, which makes this the first NBA fan pack yet. In the large bubble package that had multiple 'air mail' stamps across it was a collection of items, including a stress ball shaped like a basketball, 5 pocket schedules, a pencil, a window decal, a magnetic schedule, and a large team card. The window decal and stress ball were definitely unique and are really great ideas to include in a fan pack. Overall, a pretty cool package to get in the mail!

To order your own Wizards fan pack, visit: http://www.nba.com/wizards/contact/feedback.html

Second Box of Score 2011/12

A few days ago I picked up second box of Score 11/12. The first box revealed an autographed rookie and a short printed rookie, along with a stack of nice looking base, glossy parallel, and subset cards. Score is one of the most affordable products in the realm of hockey cards and offers some good value. This second box left me scratching my head and was the opposite of what the first box offered.

The biggest problem with the second box was that I was left with a mountain of doubles. The product's base set includes 500 cards and an additional 50 rookies. A second box for a product with such a big base set should never leave you with a mountain of duplicates, but Score 11/12 did. Additionally, the second box even had duplicates within it -roughly 6 duplicate base cards and 1 duplicate rookie card. I really do not like finding duplicates within one box, let alone finding a mountain of duplicates for cards I busted from just one box previously! In the case of the rookies, I found a total of 17 rookies in the second box. Sixteen of these cards were duplicates from what I had previously pulled! This demonstrates poor random placement of cards in Score boxes. Also, I found 2 duplicate rookies in the second box itself. You should never find duplicate rookies in the same box, and I had never had this happen in last year's Score product. Overall I am not impressed with Score after busting this box!

Word glossy not included around #.

Upon looking at the glossy cards I pulled from the second box I noticed that not all of the cards said glossy on the back. Glossy cards from the 11/12 Score product should have the word glossy above and below the card number on the back, along with the front actually being glossy. I noticed that all of the Boston Bruins cards had the glossy front but did not have the word glossy on the back. I searched various web sites to see if this was a known error or perhaps a variant short print, but thus far I have not come across anything about this, except for a message board on Beckett cards where people think it is a misprint and seems to have occurred to all the glossy Boston cards.. It would seem that this is an error that occurred on all the Bruins' glossy cards. To me, this is a sign of poor quality.

I picked up roughly the same number of subset cards in the second box, expect did not find any NHL Shield Die-Cuts or First Goal Cards. I believe the Shield cards are not found in every box, much like the snow-dome of last year's product. However, I did find a Score B subset card which I believe falls one per every other box like the Shield cards. Score B is a nice looking card with a black and white photo of Brodeur on the front and a small blurb about him on the back, however I have no idea why this subset is called Score B. It seems pretty random. It seems even more out of place considering that all the other subsets have themes that are logical to what is shown on the card, for instance Making an Entrance depicts how marquee players are shown coming onto the ice prior to a home game.

Sateri Front

Sateri Back: # should be at top left.

The best card from the second box of Score was a short-printed Harri Sateri rookie card. This short print appears exactly the same as the other rookie cards but the number on the back is missing. According to various web sites, this is a purposeful error by Panini and were short printed to somewhere under 100. While it's nice to pull a short printed rookie, I'd much rather have it be stamped with a serial number, marked with a higher number like the Landeskog I pulled earlier, or have a completely different look to it (foil trim or different graphics).

Despite pulling a short printed rookie I am very disappointed with this second box of Score. The only saving grace is that the product is so cheap that I can afford to take another chance on it.

Syracuse Crunch Fan Pack

Yesterday's mail included a fan pack from the AHL team, the Syracuse Crunch! Inside the large white envelope were two small felt pennants, two programs, and a large stitched patch from the Outdoor Classic game that was held back in February of 2010. I'm guessing these patches did not sell too well as they are giving them away in their fan packs, but to find one in the fan pack was quite the surprise for me! The patch looks really cool and is the first one I've seen included in a fan pack. The felt pennants were also a surprise and had not been found in previous fan packs. This was one of the better fan packs I've seen thus far.

For your own Syracuse Crunch fan pack, e-mail the organization at info@syracusecrunch.com

Bowman Platinum 2011 Redemption

I had previously opened a few packs of Bowman Platinum 2011 and discussed it here. In the box was a redemption for a Relic Auto card that I had contacted Topps about in early January. About 3 weeks later the redemption arrived in the mail. This was the first redemption I have ever had through Topps and I have to admit I am pretty happy with the process. Ideally you never want to find a redemption because they are time sensitive (can expire), can take months or longer to arrive in the mail, and because when you buy a box of cards you should expect all the cards promised on the package to be in the box and not contingent on you contacting the company. Redemptions can be an especially painful process because they are often auto or memorabilia cards, where it is that card that holds all the value in the box of cards you just bought. Thus far, the Topps redemption was painless much like my experiences with Uppder-Deck. Panini, however, is horrible. I have been waiting months for a redemption to be fulfilled and am annoyed that I see that some collectors had received their redemptions (for the same card I am requesting) months ago! Furthermore, my e-mails about the redemption have never been asnwered by Panini. Boo Panini! Yay Topps!

back

front

OK, so back to the Bowman Platinum 2011 redemption. The card I received was an autographed memorabilia card from Angels' pitcher, Trevor Bell. The card features a sticker auto signed in blue with a moderate sized memorabilia swatch. The fabric is all white, but that's common for baseball jersey swatches. The card has a great gloss /shiny design that matches with the rest of the base cards. The card is serial numbered out of 1166, which is really high for a card of this sort. 

Overall, the card looks fantastic but the drawbacks are in that it has a sticker auto and the print run is exceptionally high. I greatly appreciated how quickly the card was shipped and that it was nicely /securely packaged. Any concerns I had over Topps' redemptions are now gone, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to be over the moon when I find one because I'd rather have the card inserted in the pack rather than contacting the company for it.

Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Widevision Movie Cards

A week ago I went to a liquidation sale that featured comic books, comic book related statues, and sport cards. While I found some excellent sales on comics and statues, there wasn't too much there for cards. This was kind of expected since most comic book collectors /sellers tend to offer early 90's sport cards and random /bizarre collectors cards such as Desert Storm cards; cards from the early 90's were vastly over manufactured so their worth is negligible and their rarity is non-existent. However, I did come across one box of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Widevision Movie Cards. The vendor sold me the box for about $10 and I knew that one out of every 2 boxes included a signature card from someone that had appeared in the movie. Most of the signatures feature a very minor actor, but regardless this would be pretty neat since I am a massive Star Wars fan.

Example auto card, which I did not find :(

I did not find an autograph in my box. However, I did pull 4 chrome subset cards and compiled the entire base set. An average auto from this product (manufactured by Topps by-the-way) goes for between $5 and $20. The average chrome subset card goes for between $1 and $8, and the base set is under $10. Considering all this, I wouldn't pay much more than $20 for another box of this product. I am also less inclined to purchase this product again since I would be left with a mountain of double base cards and run a 50/50 chance of finding an auto card. The most expensive of the auto cards is Samuel L. Jackson's signature, which averages 1 in almost 3,000 packs, which would be about 1 in every 1,500 boxes! Not exactly great odds for finding a valuable auto.

Chrome cards

From what I pulled, the chrome cards are exceptionally sharp looking. Each card features production art from a particular scene from the movie. The chrome is nicely added so that the card does not bend too much and it does add a nice affect to the image. The back of the card does not have chrome, but instead a blurb explaining the front image. To the side of the back text is another production illustration, this time of a sketch instead of a fully rendered painting as is shown on the card's front.

Base cards

The base set consists of 80 2.5x4.75" cards. Busting a box will provide you with the full 80 card set, plus another 40 or so duplicates. The design is pretty generic in comparison to other movie trading card sets, but still looks sharp. The back of the card has text explaining a scene in the movie and includes a small photo from that scene. The front of the card has a crystal clear, widescreen photo from the scene in question. The resolution on the cards is fantastic and each side has a nice, almost semi-gloss to it. The front of the cards also have a tasteful amount of silver foil, used for the set's name. Overall, the base set is very nice looking.

Overall, a box of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith, Widevision Movie Cards, delivers a nice looking base set and a handful of chrome subset cards. An auto would've been nice to have been included in each box and the lack of an auto in each box is what would keep me from spending a lot on the product. At $10 though I really can't complain with what I got. A lot of fun to break too!

Roughriders Fan Pack

Hands down the heaviest and largest fan pack yet arrived in the mail today. This fan pack came from the Saskatchewan Roughriders, a CFL team who I don't exactly cheer for (as in not at all) but am now very impressed with how they treat their fans. Within the fan pack was a photo card, a tattoo, a bookmark, and a 256 page media guide. That's right, they sent me a frigging BOOK that features stats about all the players, staff, former players, HOF inductees, what the team does for the community, and a brief history about the team itself. The shipping itself was over $3 to mail this hefty tome and it has left me very impressed with their organization. In contrast, the Edmonton Eskimos sent me a mitt full of pocket schedules and a few stickers, while my hometown team (Stampeders) has yet to send me anything!

To request your own Saskatchewan Roughriders' fan pack, e-mail them at stevem@saskriders.com

Originally posted Jan 20th, 2012

Signed Plekanec Card in the Mail!

The other day I received two autographed cards in the mail from Tomas Plekanec of the Montreal Canadiens! On November 26th, 2011, I had mailed out cards to various Canadian hockey teams such as the Canadiens. I had previously received an autographed card from Rene Bourque, of the Calgary Flames. This time, about one and a half months later, Plekanec mailed me back the two cards I sent him but with his signature on them. As a collector of sport cards, and virtually everything else, I am definitely encouraged to keep mailing cards in the hopes of having them signed!

To try having your own cards signed by a Montreal Canadiens player send a small note, a self-addressed envelope, and the card of your choice to the address below.

[Name of person]
c/o The Montreal Canadiens
1909, avenue des Canadiens-de-Montréal
Montreal, QC, CANADA
H3C 5L2

Originally posted Jan 19th, 2012

No Fan Packs from Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment?

The major sport franchises in Toronto, consisting of the Marlies, Raptors, Leafs, and the Toronto FC are all adjoined in a conglomerate called Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE). Bell and Rogers are the key stakeholders in this group, following their recent buyout from the Toronto Teacher's Pension Plan (Toronto Sun article about this deal). Since these teams are all linked, it means that they all share the same policies. One of these policies is to not offer fan packs.

For the past few months I have been contacting numerous sport franchises in regards to fan packs. This has been met with varied success as one can see from the posts I've created on this blog. For the most part, each team I looked into had a way in which fans could connect to their team. The vast majority of teams contacted me electronically and the greatest barrier to receiving mailed items was that they did not send materials internationally (I live in Canada while the team is located in the United States). 

The MLSE do not offer a way to electronically contact their franchises. Each of their franchises have a website that includes a 'contact us' portal, but this portal brings you to a general MLSE page that lists all their teams. For each of their franchises, they list three contact methods: Twitter, Facebook, website, or phone. There is no information provided for e-mailing and some of their franchises outright refuse to offer fan packs (Leafs). While I realize that a fan pack represents free stuff, and one cannot be upset over not receiving free stuff, the concept of a fan pack represents (to me) the thoughtfulness a team has for their fans. To outright discourage fans from asking for fan packs is a sign of over-confidence and a disregard for one's fan base. Every team I have looked into while on my quest for fan packs had a way to contact them electronically, whether it was a web portal or an e-mail address. In contrast to other franchises, this omission makes the MLSE look even more out-of-touch with their fan base and the way in which sport franchises interact with their fans!

Carolina Hurricanes Fan Pack

Earlier this week I received a fan pack from the Carolina Hurricanes. In the regular sized envelope were two stock photo cards, a 2011-12 schedule, a waterless tattoo, and a sticker. Both the sticker and tattoo featured the team's logo. Tattoos are not something I have found before in fan packs but it is a neat idea, and it seems every team sends out logo stickers which I quite like. The schedule, again, is something virtually every team sends out, but the two photo cards were pretty weak as they were bent in half (leaving a sizable crease down the middle). One of the cards features an unknown player with his head cropped out of the photo and the plain text 'Carolina Hurricanes' at the bottom; I don't really understand how such a generic photo card would get someone excited about a team, especially when it looks like garbage after being sent through the mail. The second card was worse as it again looked like garbage with a massive crease down the middle from being folded to fit inside the envelope. The worst part is that it features a minor player from the 2006-07 Hurricanes roster -Chad LaRose. I suppose the Canes want their fans to be excited about what they had accomplished in the past and not what they are attempting to do this year? Perhaps even more puzzling is why they wouldn't feature their big star, Jeff Skinner, who started his first year in the NHL with the Canes last year and finished the season off by winning the Calder trophy? Bizarre.

While I appreciate receiving a fan pack, this is one of the poorest fan packs I have received thus far. The Hurricanes would be much better off sticking to the tattoo, sticker, and schedule.

Send an e-mail to communityrelations@carolinahurricanes.com to request your own Carolina Hurricanes fan pack.

Originally posted Jan 15th, 2011

Vancouver Canucks Fan Pack Has Arrived!

It took a little while, but the other day I found a Vancouver Canucks fan pack in the mail! The fan pack consisted of a typed (stock) letter, a very sharp looking window decal, and 5 unique 'we are all canucks' 9.5x14 cm player cards that are dated to the 2011/12 season. This is also the first non-electronic fan pack I have received from a NHL team.

You can contact the Vancouver Canucks on their website for a fan pack of your own.

Originally posted Jan 6th, 2012

Boston Red Sox Fan Pack

Along with the White Sox fan pack was a package from the Boston Red Sox! This is hands-down the coolest fan pack yet! Inside the package was a hand written letter of thanks, a Red Sox wrist band, a logo sticker, two photo cards, and A BAG OF FENWAY PARK DIRT! The bag of dirt blew me away with its originality and thoughtfulness. It only makes sense that if you are asking for a fan pack, chances are you do not live anywhere near that team, so why bring a piece of the park to them! Truly awesome!

For your own Boston Red Sox fan pack, and bag of Fenway Dirt!, e-mail them at: fanfeedback@RedSox.mlb.com

Originally posted Dec 19th, 2011

Chicago White Sox Fan Pack

In the mail today was a fan pack from the Chicago White Sox! Included was a publication order form, a very cool White Sox logo sticker, and two 2011 season schedules. Pretty darn cool!

You can order your own White Sox fan pack by e-mailing them at: fanfeedback@WhiteSox.mlb.com

Originally posted Dec19th, 2011

Houston Astros Fan Pack Arrived

Earlier this week a fan pack from the Houston Astros arrived in my mail box. The fan pack was sealed in a legal size envelope, and within it was a 3.5x5.5" photo of their catcher, J.R. Towles. In addition, there was a 3x4 sticker of their team logos. Unlike the Athletics and other organizations, there was no letter included with the fan pack. Pretty cool that they sent this!

For your own Houston Astros fan pack, e-mail their organization at fanfeedback@astros.mlb.com

Originally posted Dec  18th, 2011

Rene Bourque Signed Card in the Mail!

As part of my attempt at receiving fan packs, I also mailed out a few NHL cards to particular players. I picked one player from each Canadian hockey team (except for the Leafs since they do not do this), and mailed the card to there team's address with the envelope saying 'attention: player's name'.

The first of these cards came in the mail today. I had originally sent a Rene Bourque off to the Calgary Flames on November 26th, and today the 15th of December, I received the card signed by him! I am really encouraged by this and will be sending off a few more cards to different players!

 

Originally posted Dec 15th, 2011