Wade Wilson

My friend drafted Wade Wilson in the first round for his 1992 fantasy team. We all laughed at him. Wade Wilson....hahahaha. Back then fantasy was on paper and we looked at the morning paper to tally the score.

Emmitt Smith

Emmitt Smith Upperdeck Game Breakers Hologram insert. I almost didn't show this card to friends..it was that good back in the day.

Andre Reed

Fleer's cards were generally pretty weak but these illustrated pieces really psyched me up as a kid. The art was really good. Reed played one year as a Redskin...that looked weird.

Mark Higgs

Remember this little guy? 5'7", 195lbs. Look how high he is in that photo. I always thought he jumped off someone's back during that play.

Jennifer Montana

One day I opened a pack to find Joe Montana's wife Jennifer had her own card. Damn! I had trouble finding a place to file her. The more I thought about it, this woman probably had more of an effect on the game than some guys at the end of the bench.

Roman Phifer

Roman was a great LB with a great name. He won a Super Bowl with the Patriots in 2001, now coaches with the Broncos and is the Executive Producer of a feature documentary titled Blood Equity. But his ex-wife Alexis may be even more prolific, being engaged to Kanye West after splitting with Phifer. An NFL player and a platinum selling rapper. Girl's doing her thing.

Trailer from Roman's film about why the NFL is not doing more to help many of it's older players. It looks really interesting.

Steve Largent

Why is this guy rarely mentioned in talks about great receivers? He was drafted by the Oilers but they were going to cut him. After being traded to the expansion Seahwaks he went on to break every career receiving record in the league from catches (819) to yards (13,089) to TD's (100). Sure they've since been broken but this guy was great.

He then spent 8 years in Oklahomas House of Representatives. Doin' thangs!

James Brooks

Last seen at the Greater Cincinnati Airport as a DHL employee. No lie. Thanks wiki.

Michael Irvin

Michael Irvin special insert by Action Packed with the braille back. No idea what it says. For two weeks I asked my father and each of his friends if they knew any blind people that could decipher the secret message for me. No luck. I gave up.

Jeff George

This is what Jeff George does when he's not playing QB. He leans up against the wall, watches the sunset and waits for women. The funniest thing about this card is that the back quotes Jeff saying that his best asset is his calm, cool demeanor. Has Jeff George ever watched Jeff George play? This guy was a hot head always capable of a mental breakdown during any game.

He played for 7 teams. C'mon.

Art Shell

HAHA....the Raiders.

Bryan Cox

This guy came off as generally a jerk all around. Whether he was giving the middle finger to fans or hitting somebody late. He was a good LB though and will never touch Bill Romanowski for the all time jerk award.

Dave Meggett

I was a fan of any little guy that got the job done and Dave Meggett was the real deal. Unfortunately he also has a laundry list of arrests for sexual assault and other crimes. Most notably owing almost $200K in back child support and robbing a prostitute in a hotel room in Toronto. Why these guys always letting us down?

Deion Sanders

This was the platinum insert version of Deion Sanders card. I had the Deion Nike sneakers with the big strap in 8th grade. Overpriced pieces of crap.

Jim Kelly

Yeah I scored me a Jim Kelly Skybox hologram card...what!

Bernie Kosar

Bernie has from Ohio and boy did they love them some Bernie Kosar side arm release out in Cleveland. Bernie didn't throw many interceptions but he could fumble with the best of them.

Bo Knows Tecmo

Why is this so great to watch? It's like I'm 12 again. This guy burns a whole quarter on one Bo Jackson run. Tecmo!

Morten Andersen

When I thought about kickers as a kid (I really didn't but when I did) I thought about Morten Andersen. He was always around. The guy was born in 1960 and played as recently as 2007. Since retiring, Mort started his own kicking school. He even has a nice little website: http://www.mortenandersen.com/main/

He scored the most points ever in the NFL (2,544) and played the most games ever (382). Think about your favorite player ever, Bo Jackson, Dan Marino, Jerry Rice....none of them scored as much at Morty.

Cornelius Bennett

Nicknamed Biscuit, Cornelius was a force for the Buffalo Bills. Notice the blood on his pants. Real Man.

Barry Foster

Foster blew it up in 1992 with almost 1,700 rushing yards. You couldn't touch the guy. Then of course, the next few years he fell victim to injury. He also coached the Rhein Fire in NFL Europe (now defunct.)

But most amazingly of all his wiki states: He announced that he had saved his money and had enough to retire.

Harvey Williams

This guy sure had one long neck.

Bryce Paup

This guy exploded in 1995 for the Buffalo Bills with 17.5 sacks, 70 tackles, 3 Forced Fumbles and a couple of pics. Defensive Player of the Year and Paup mania in Buff Town.

Wendell Davis

You don't have to be a superstar to get listed on my blog. You just had to make it into one of the packs of cards I opened as a kid. Big shouts to former Bears WR Wendell Davis, now operating a string of barber shops outside of Chicago called Big League Barbers.

Lawrence Taylor

You could not stop LT. He was a monster. Then years later when I found out he was enjoying a pile of coke and a few hookers until 2am the night before the game...his statistics become that much more impressive.

Eric Metcalf

Metcalf was great on returns with all his little jukey moves.

Mark Carrier

This is what he did....snuck up...crept up....then BANG! You're on your back, pass incomplete.

Gerald Riggs

This guy just scored touchdowns. 69 total for the career. Two in the Super Bowl vs. Buffalo. One season he ran just 80 times, 11 of which were TD's.

Reggie Roby

One of the greatest punters of our lifetime. Reggie was so cool he almost made it hip to be a punter. This guy was named the punter for the 1980's All Decade Team. He punted for more than 40,000 yards. He was also drafted by the Cincinnati Reds to pitch. Unfortunately Reggie passed away February 22, 2005 of a suspected heart attack.

The great Dolphin's coach Don Shula praised Reggie Roby saying: "He was an outstanding punter for us and his booming kicks often helped us win the field position battle." C'mon Don, that's no way to eulogize a man. How about something like, "Damn that boy could kick. We actually had to tone him down for games because during practice he kicked the ball right out of the damn stadium. You know I once saw Reggie roll a Jeep with a swift roundhouse. He was angry after we cut his salary. Now that was a man!"

Ray Wersching

Not only did Ray Wersching look like my father's accountant Bill Zunner but check out the back of his card. Majored in Accounting! He was married as well. Dad was Mr. Zunner flying to the Bay Area every Sunday to kick for the 49ers?

Wild Card

I'm sure some of you are wondering what are these cheesy cards with numbers all over them. They were called Wild Cards and they fit in with my pre-teen price point. I think they were $1.25 a pack or 9 packs for $10 - A Great Savings! This insert enabled me to mail it in for a prize. Seems to have an open ended deadline. Maybe I'll send it in.

Dan Marino

Christian Okoye

This is what most Christian Okoye plays looked like, his hand extended and the defender on their back. I loved this guy. Nicknamed the Nigerian Nightmare he was a force to be wreckenned with. I was really into the Chiefs as a kid so watching him bull through the Raiders was a joy.

I'll always remember the hit Steve Atwater put on him. That was a doozy. Immediate respect for Atwater from that point on. When I made a big hit in the backyard I started shouting, "Atwater!"

Browning Nagle

Jets fans, you thought you'd forgotten didn't you? Browning Nagle was fairly hyped when he entered the league in 1991. Mostly because the Jets had Ken O'Brien at quarterback and the media was hoping ole Browning would save the day the following year. Didn't happen.

Browning had an eerie way of popping up in my waxpacks. It seemed as though every few packs I opened contained a Nagle card. I almost began liking the guy just because we saw each other so often. Whoever snapped that photo on the Edge card did a great job. That's how I'd want my card to look.

Craig "Ironhead" Heyward

Craig "Ironhead" Heyward (September 26, 1966-May 27, 2006) RIP.
I loved the Ironhead! This guy would buck and bull his way through defenses all day long. He was a beast. Plus he always seem to be having fun and even laughing during the game. Unfortunately he passed away from cancer. He's probably still bucking defenders in a big game up in the clouds.

Mark Super Duper

Why did Mark Duper wear a punters helmet? Was he nuts. Well shortly after retiring from the NFL he got busted for selling cocaine. He also played a couple games in the Arena League for a team called the Miami Hooters. Lastly he legally changed his name to Mark Super Duper. Something's up with Mark.

John Copeland

I used to buy these cards called, "Action Packed," which had an embossed surface so the card sort of popped up 3D a little. When you're 12, that is action! They also used a lot of shinny foil, also very appealing to a kid.

Then on the back they left a little autograph box, just in case I was flattening pennies down at the railroad tracks and John Copeland showed up to do the same thing. Fortunately I would have my Action Pack Copeland card in my back pocket with a sharpie for a quick autograph.

Don Majkowski

I'll admit I never really liked this guy. He was quick and squirrelly, always running around and tossing the ball to someone at the last second. He probably thought he was carving a little legacy out for himself up in Green Bay, that's until Brett Favre showed up and wiped all that away.

In case you've been looking for a Majkowski jersey since 1989 and still haven't been able to find one...well bad news. As reported on Don's Website (www.themagiknetwork.net - c'mon.) He can't even get anymore of his own jersey.

MAJIK JERSEYS SOLD OUT
Attention shoppers: we are now completely out of Majik jerseys and will unlikely be able to get any more. Thank you for your understanding!

Pat Leahy

Do you think Pat Leahy ever had trouble convincing women in a bar that he played NFL football? I do. Pro football player...eehh. Science teacher = definitely!

Darrell Green

I loved Darrell Green. Who didn't? Little guy with flames coming off his cleats. Man could he run. Check out this short film on him. Two favorite parts, "They didn't know me from a chicken." And when he jumps a guy on a punt return and takes it to the house for 6.

Vinny Testaverde

Vinny Testaverde was a veteran QB when I first started watching football almost two decades ago. The man threw a touchdown pass 21 years in a row! Most likely doing right this moment: Training for another comeback of course.