Card shop finds - a random quartet

I don’t want to get crazy with impulsive non-baseball card quarter box digs if I ever stop at a card shop - so I grabbed a few that caught my eye for a moment and added them to my other purchases of supplies, some other loose cards and several loose packs.

2018 Panini Contenders Draft Picks football Patrick Mahomes II #79 - though he threw two interceptions in his team's 30-14 win last Sunday, he's probably been one of the hyped up NFL players this season; if nothing else, in my bloodlines collection, I wanted to pair this card up with a card of his father Pat Mahomes, who was a former MLB pitcher.

2018 Panini Donruss football Christian McCaffrey #22 - I had a random card of his father Ed, who played in the NFL during the 1990s, so I grabbed a card of Christian's to tie things up [for now] in my bloodlines collection.

2018 Panini Contenders Draft Picks football Adrian Peterson #4 - this card of longtime star running back can go to my beyond the glory collection or my infamous collection.

I would probably inclined to go ‘beyond the glory’ since he has been through a lot in his football life, as well as personal life - in my world of mini-collection cards, there is no need to glorify the mistakes this pro athlete has made.

2018 Panini Player of the Day football Russell Wilson #36 - as the Seattle Seahawks teams around him as been torn down and rebuilt over the years, maybe the narrative surrounding his career has lost its luster.

While Wilson has been singled out as a divisive figure in the locker room for any number of reasons - I still like the guy enough to pick up a card of his.

Card shop finds - a pair of quarterbacks

Drew Brees is sort of the gold standard in my book as far as active NFL quarterbacks are concerned - he seems like an accessible, down to earth superstar who is a pro all the way.

Maybe it's the idea that he doesn't necessarily tower over people or maybe the commercials he's been in that shows him mostly as a regular guy and father - maybe it's because of a 'cool story bro' moment I had with him at a golf tournament in Lake Tahoe back in 2006.

I was getting him to sign a card inside my autograph book - after signing my card, he took an extra moment to look at my other cards and I thought it was a little odd for whatever reason, he was interested in looking at the Vince Coleman card I had affixed on there.

As far as Russell Wilson, I've finally found one, lousy common card of his in the quarter box - I don't have an NFL fantasy team but for whatever reason, I randomly end up checking NFL box scores on ESPN to see how certain players like Wilson have performed.

He's become a little more established in his second season - but he is still a tiny guy having to scrap through and prove himself from week to week.

I don't collect football cards at all

But I had to rescue this 2013 Topps gold parallel card of Max Unger out of the quarter box - maybe football cards like this are a dime a dozen, but I love the shot of Unger in pass protection as star quarterback Russell Wilson looks to throw a pass to one of his receivers.

Cardboard curiosity - Russell Wilson

I didn't know much about this guy - I might have pulled one or two 2010 Bowman Draft cards picturing the one-time minor leaguer and put them away in my 'two-sports star' collection, since he apparently played college football too.

It's not too hard to label him a baseball bust since he isn't playing professional baseball anymore - but apparently he has enjoyed a breakout season as a rookie NFL quarterback [not named Luck or RGIII] and his one-time baseball playing career is in the rearview mirror.

Drafted by the Seattle Seahawks, he ended up outplaying the team's key free agent signing at quarterback - he threw up a controversial Hail Mary 'non-touchdown, TD pass' that sealed the replacement officials' fate and then has managed to throw 25 touchdowns and lead his team to a playoff berth in 2012.