I’ve been battling computer problems and stomach ailments, but I managed to run out and grab a box of 2009 Bowman Draft Picks Football with the 49ers Michael Crabtree (wearing his TTU uni) on the box. Rather than grabbing a jumbo box which includes two patches and one auto, I settled for a Hobby Box. Hobby Boxes of Bowman Prospects Football contain 24 packs at 10 cards per pack, and one patch auto rather than two. Jumbo Boxes on the other hand will net you 12 packs of 32 cards.
Prior to tearing this product a new asshole, I’ll present it’s single redeeming feature: The Checklist contains a good amount of solid autos and patch autos. A few of the autos that caught my eye were:
Matthew Stafford, Brian Orakpo, Michael Crabtree, Knowshon Moreno, Aaron Curry, James Laurinaitis, Chris Wells, Rey Maulaluga, Michael Johnson, Brian Cushing, Brandon Pettigrew, Jeremy Maclin, Chase Coffman, Percy Harvin, Rashad Jennings, Darrius Heyward Bey, Pat White, LeSean McCoy, James Davis, Juaquin Iglesias, Kenny Britt, Mark Sanchez, Hakeem Nicks.
Basically, Topps managed to get every respectable draftee to sign for their set. The Base Autos are thankfully ON CARD, but the patch autos are either on patch or on a sticker like the Coffee to the left that I pulled.
Now onto the awful, the real awful. First off, the college patches look like garbage compared to the images beckett posted a few weeks ago. The cards as a whole just look really cheap. The patch is simply glued onto the card and while the stream-lined design looks good from a far, viewing them up close will reveal umpteen million flaws.
Here are the scans of all of the base cards and inserts that I pulled.
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Design and Such:
First off, the cards are made of incredibly cheap card stock. They just feel flimsy to the touch, and definitely do not match the autograph list that Topps managed to procure. The cards themselves actually have a pretty solid design, and I’m quite a fan of the basecards for both rookies and veterans. The NFL’s Rookie Card logo is absolutely painful to look at, and the autograph cards continue in Bowman’s tradition of having that stupid white box.
As you can probably tell, I was less than pleased with this pull: James Casey from RICE!
How To Ruin A Product…
I literally cannot stand when a company like Topps asks you to fork over 80 dollars for a box, and literally fills it with shit. No less than half of the veteran cards were both printed and cut incorrectly. The black background for the word ‘Bowman’ and the foil highlights, were sometimes almost a full inch off. Much like Upper Deck First Edition Baseball, cards were missing names alltogether.
Oh Lovely, It's Adrian Peterson's name on the bottom
Hrm, I wonder where Peterson's name went?
Is there any excuse for this?
Once again, about three-quarters of the Veteran cards ended up following this little ‘woopsie.’
As you can see with Matt Ryan, the printing and cutting process wasn’t just a little bit off but rather a “fuck you and thanks for your cash money, hopefully you enjoy the James Casey Auto” -type off.
Bowman and Topps did manage to do some half decent Photoshopping putting Terrell Owens in a Bills unfirom, Fred Taylor in a Pats uni, Matt Cassell in a Chiefs uni, and Coles as a Bengal. Jay Cutler is unfortunately still a Bronco, however.
The photos aren’t great, and it’s pretty clear that they’re photoshopped but they’re neat enough for such an early product.
Final Review:
All and all, the hits are pretty decent and all of the big names have ink in this product but I really can’t get over just how cheap these cards look and feel. There’s nothing overly ugly about any of the cards, they just look so damn cheap. If you’re just going to throw the base into the garbage, then I guess this is a decent product.
The Patches and Autos are selling like Hot-Cakes on eBay, going for as high as 500 bucks. If you’re the kind of guy that likes Patch-Autos and On-Card Autos, maybe this is a nice start to the football season.
