Every day, I get a few emails with questions on fakes, products, cards, etc, and it always makes my day when I get to help a new collector with whatever they are looking for. The most frequent question I get always centers on which product someone should buy, and so I figured it was a good idea to handicap a few upcoming products to give people some answers on my opinions. Because I have very specific tastes, it is a VERY good idea to check things out yourselves, but at least this is a brief look at what sets I believe to be viable purchases. Please remember that these dates are all tentative and usually change quite frequently.

9/22 – Panini Epix Football

This is basically Gridiron Gear for 2010, changed to a different and much more terrible name. I personally havent bought a pack of Gridiron Gear since 2007’s banner year, but that never stops people from buying this stuff up. Epix is bringing back the autographs that havent changed since that 2007 set, mainly the plastic field sigs, the helmet sigs, as well as a few others, much to my chagrin. These things, like the letter autos in Threads, are completely boring and played out, and really have no redeeming value in terms of visual appeal either. Its going to be the typical 3-4 hits for 80-100 bucks a box, with many single color jersey hits and a bunch of scrub autos. I would avoid this one like the plague.

Verdict: Buy another box of 2010 Elite instead

9/23 – Topps Finest Football

Finest has really gone down hill since the format change to the three mini boxes back in 2005 or 2006. This year’s set looks almost identical to the Topps Platinum set that goes live tomorrow, and really, the boxes are interchangable. One patch auto per box, a few other autos, blah blah blah. I think if you are into the way Topps designs their cards, this one wont be a stretch for you, but you wont see me buying into it. The cards havent really held their value in past years, and I don’t expect that to change. You still have refractors, you still have typical topps parallels, but the way that Topps has put borders on every element of the card takes away from the visual appeal. Platinum looks to be a much better situation because it’s a newer product that collectors have bought out of lack of similar releases.

Verdict: Platinum looks to be much better of a set with more collectability

10/6 – Panini Absolute Football

If there is one set I despise every year from Panini, its Absolute. The product is 100% foil coated stock, and the design never changes year to year. On top of that, Panini tried last year to trick people into buying more of the product by inserting “pro bowl jersey” cards, that werent much more than the event used jerseys from a Panini hosted session during the game. In all reality, people love this product because they think the cards look shiny and the patches are jumbo sized, but I completely disagree. At 40 dollars a pack for what you get, I would much rather buy a box of something else when Panini refuses to update any parts of the product year to year. Plus, as if event used jerseys werent enough, they actually have the gall to continue to insert event used FOOTBALLS into the cards as well. I have no clue why this happens, as the jerseys themselves have little connection to the rookies in the first place. Save your money.

Verdict: Stay far away, unless you are mezmerized by all the foil

10/10 – Topps Chrome

If you want a product to buy, this is it. Its less than 60 bucks a box and you get a lot of fun for what you pay for. When you factor in how much content that Topps added to this product, it’s a no brainer. In addition to the on card rookie red zone signatures that were put into the normal Topps flagship set, they have added in dual signatures, a whole Bowman Chrome release, and a slew of other awesome elements. The one per case variations look to be on the return, and the design of the general product is one of the best in years. This is a no brainer, and should be a great box to rip if you have the chance. I look forward to Topps and Bowman Chrome every year, and because Bowman Chrome doesn’t exist anymore outside of this set, I will no doubt be ripping that much more of this stuff.

Verdict: One of the only products I would go into full on case buying mode

10/19 – Upper Deck SPX Football

This set may feature the best design work of the year, but I am not going to buy in because of the lack of an NFL License. If you like college jerseys, this is a great product to jump on. The cards look great, and the stickers are done right. The shadowboxes look to be back as well, and they were some of the coolest cards to be created all of last year. I would say that the switch in format will do collectors a lot of favors, but we still havent seen how a college product holds up long term.

Verdict: A must have for college collectors

10/27 – Panini Certified Football

Last year’s certified wasn’t horrible because they figured out how to do the freshman fabric cards correctly at the lowest parallel. However, this year’s design is one of the worst I have ever seen. The cards look like a broken mirror, and some of the cards are so busy that I don’t know where to train my eye. Because this is a set with a lot of history, I would expect that people will buy off the bat, but as with many Panini products this year, the cards have cooled off because so many of their products blend together. Again, if you have some weird affinity for a completely foil covered set, this is the one for you, but I can tell you that you are buying into something other than cards with actual design worth praising.

Verdict: A foil lover’s paradise, otherwise not worth anyone’s time.

10/27 – Panini Crown Royale

This product has flown completely under the radar because it looks as terrible as it does. Its like Panini HAS to make Crown Royale for each of their sports because of bet they lost or something, and the set looks like that bet may have been in a card game. I seriously started looking for clubs and spades in the cards, and I think this one will be another add to their list of fails for 2010. Blechhh.

Verdict: Don’t support Panini’s lack of a design team by buying this junk

10/29 – Topps Magic Football

I hated this product before because it was an unabashed sticker dump to clear out the closet for Topps. This year’s offering looks tremendous, both in look and content. If you like retro sets, Magic will be that much more of a must buy for you, and I think it may end up being one of the best sets of the year. Its simplicity, combined with the pairings of HOF stars and the current players will go miles with collectors, and I think for the price it will be a fun rip for everyone. Im not going to say this is the Allen and Ginter of football, but that’s pretty much what Topps is shooting for. Expect big things out of this set, even though they opted to go with stickers again.

Verdict: Another low end Topps huge success. Panini should take note.

11/3 – Topps Triple Threads Football

I HATE TRIPLE THREADS. The design sucks, the concept sucks, the price sucks, its all terrible. There are a lot of people that like it because of how many relics Topps manages to pack into the cards, but I care more about how the cards look. The people who pay attention to visual appeal usually despise this set as much as I do, where many others love it because they don’t care about look when they have 49 1/2 relics packed into a card. When you also consider that the 170 dollar price tag only gets you one auto and one crap jersey card, it shows even more why people should pass on this shit. How many of you paid the price of admission and got a scrub auto and a junk jersey? Yeah, that’s what I thought. Ditch this for good.

Verdict: My above explanation should tell you everything

12/15 – Bowman Sterling Football

Where all Topps low end succeeds, this set fails miserably. Terrible design, terrible price point, terrible content. Stay as far away from this set as any this year, as the price alone should dictate a necessity to pass on the boxes. On top of that, the cards are probably the worst looking of any this year, especially the box hits with the relics covering up the players. If any Topps set needs to be destroyed completely, its Bowman sterling.

Verdict: Don’t even touch the singles from this crapfest

1/11 – Upper Deck Ultimate Football

Again, the issue of a lack of an NFL license rings true here. The cards look great, but it doesn’t have widespread appeal for people that don’t collect college stuff. I wish I did, because I would be all over this stuff. It will also feature some of the only on card veteran signatures this year, as Panini and Topps both have avoided pursuing current stars for their autos. If you collect college stuff, this product will be awesome for you. Its not all that expensive either, but there are definitely going to be some dud boxes. Last year’s product was one of the best singles buyer products during the whole year, and this one shouldn’t be much different.

Verdict: Buy all the singles you want, see the breaks before you buy wax

NOT ON THE CALENDAR YET:

Panini Limited – Going to be the same as every other product they release this year, and even the main rookie patch auto hits are a major downgrade from last year. Buy singles.

Playoff National Treasures – last year’s set was a ridiculously overpriced version of Threads, and I warned people before buying into it. This year’s preview should be coming soon, and hopefully they are not going to repeat the basketball junk that they released earlier. I havent bought NT singles since 2007, and im guessing that will continue this year.

Upper Deck SP Authentic – from what I have heard, the cards are epic in design, and should be amazing. This may be the one product I buy despite the use of college jerseys. Always a crowd pleaser because it will be 100% on card. Tell me again why the other companies don’t do this? Laziness is my guess.

Upper Deck Exquisite – we got confirmation that they were going to try an exquisite product for football, though we are not sure if it will happen when all is said and done.