RIP: Jim Brown

Shortly after I finished my last post, I heard the news that Jim Brown had passed away the night before.

I wasn't as affected as much as I have been when other athletes that I had cheered for passed away, but I was still saddened at the loss of the greatest Browns player, and the argument can be made for the greatest NFL player, to play the game.

I'm too young to have seen Jim Brown play. I have seen many videos of his play, and have read many books and articles about him. I have heard and read so many stories.

The one thing that always struck me in any video that I saw of him was his presence. You could sense that he was the focus of the room, and the stories that I heard on the NFL Network the night his passing was announced helped confirm that feeling. One story said that as the Hall of Famers gathered every year for the new inductions, that all of the running backs would always gather towards Jim Brown, to talk to him, to be in his presence.

This presence can be seen on the screen in the movies and television shows that I saw him in, and I'm sure that this presence is what made people take him seriously in the social causes that he fought for.

Jim Brown attended Syracuse University, where he played football, basketball, lacrosse, and competed in the decathlon. He wasn't given a scholarship for his first year for his first year at Syracuse, but had a benefactor (a former Syracuse lacrosse star) that persuaded the college to admit him, and then financed his first year there.

Many stories and articles have said that Jim Brown was a better lacrosse player than football player. He is a member of the Lacrosse Hall of Fame, as well as the College Football Hall of Fame, and the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Looking at my Jim Brown card collection, I am pretty sure that this is the first Jim Brown card that I owned. I was so happy when I discovered a local convenience store selling the 1991 Enor Pro Football Hall of Fame cards. I always enjoyed reading about the legends of sports, and enjoyed being able to buy cards of football Hall of Famers.

When the 1992 All World football set came out, I was thrilled that there were a number of Jim Brown cards in it to collect. I remember buying quite a bit of it, hoping to pull one of the Jim Brown autograph cards, but had no success. I enjoyed the action shots of Jim Brown that they used on his cards.

Over the years, I've seen stories about Jim Brown either talking about various Browns running backs, or about Jim Brown talking with those running backs. One common item in these stories seemed to be Brown telling the running backs that they shouldn't be running out of bounds with the ball. From what I have heard, he didn't like doing that, he would always try for the extra yards. If one of his carries was going to end with him going out of bounds, it would be because he was pushed out by the defense. As I said, I I'll have to assume that is how he played.

This 1964 Philadelphia card is probably my favorite card from Jim Brown's playing career. There is a great article from Sports Collectors Digest that talks about Brown's pink Cadillac in the background of the card.

One common thing that I've read or heard about Jim Brown's career was about his durability. He didn't miss a game while playing for the Browns.

Many defensive players have told stories about how after they tackled Jim Brown hard, he would be slow to get up, and would limp back to the huddle. They thought they may have dinged him up, and that he might be slowed down from the tackle. Then they would tell how he would take the next carry, blow through the defense, and score a touchdown, not looking affected in the least by their tackle.

During the NFL Network's tributes, I believe it was Rich Eisen who related a story about Merlin Olsen, about asking him what player he hit the hardest during his career. To summarize the story, Olsen claims he hit Jim Brown the hardest during one of his carries, and was sure that he would get up to see Brown still down on the ground, only to get himself up and see that Brown had continued on with his rush and scored a touchdown.

Teammates said that they never saw Jim Brown in the training room being treated for anything. Stories came out after his career that he would show up really early in the day, and be treated before anyone else showed up for the day. He kept the mystique that he was never hurt. 

The only relic card I own of Jim Brown is a stadium seat card like this one. It is really a Municipal Stadium relic, not a Jim Brown one. I don't own any cards with his autograph either. Eventually I will have to add one to my collection.

As a kid, I had heard of Jim Brown, and knew that he was a football player, but I first saw him as an actor in The Dirty Dozen, watching it on tv with my dad. At the time, I didn't know that filming going into training camp, and Art Modell going to fine him for every day that he was late was what caused him to retire early from his football career.

I've always claimed that his role of Jefferson in The Dirty Dozen showed what a good actor that Jim Brown was. Jefferson was cut down by a hail of machine gun bullets. Jim Brown wouldn't have been.

To be serious though, I don't recall any Jim Brown acting roles that I disliked, although that could be because I haven't seen all his roles, and because I also enjoy cheezy guest spots on tv shows and the like.

Jim Brown had two roles in movies that I saw, and loved, during their release in the theaters. He was Fireball in The Running Man, and I knew that he wasn't going to beat Arnie, the protagonist of the movie. 

My favorite Jim Brown role, though, has to be as the retired boxer/casino greeter in Mars Attacks! I loved seeing him cracking the Martians helmets as he fought with them, and being swarmed by them during the movie.

I really don't know what to say about Jim Brown as a person. He had some incidents where he lost his temper that I don't know enough about to comment on. 

I also only really know the basics of his activism, and I am very grateful that he dedicated so much of himself to his beliefs.

I appreciate that he pulled together so many great black athletes to support Muhammad Ali. 

I'm happy to hear of the time he spent in the south letting Black business owners of the Black Economic Union that he had founded to help provide opportunities and aid to minority owned businesses.

There was also his founding of Amer-I-Can, which helped gang members and prisoners learn life skills, to try and turn them away from trouble in their lives. And his bringing gang leaders to his house, neutral territory, to figure out how to proceed without violence and trouble.

Jim Brown was not just a great football player, but a great man who lived by and acted on his own convictions. The world is a poorer place without him in it.

Rest in Peace.

Catching up with my collection - 1

Last year I made many purchases for my Browns collection, and they have mostly been sitting in a box, waiting for me to insert them into my collection.

I had pretty much added most of the base, insert and parallel cards to their binders, but various autograph and memorabilia cards still need to be dealt with.

I'm hopefully going to set up a series of posts showing these cards before I add them to their proper spots in the collection.

I really liked the first couple of years of Pro Line cards. I liked seeing photos of the players in licensed NFL gear. It was a nice change of pace for cards.

For the 1991 set, I loved the autographs. I didn't see many, and still haven't acquired most of the Browns, but I loved that they were out there.

The 1992 set caused a bit of a dislike to creep in. I loved the autographs in the Portraits part of the set, where people had just one card. I hated that the nine-card Profiles part of the set had nine different autographed cards of the players to find.

With this Van Waiters card, I only need the autographed Eric Metcalf card to complete my Browns Portraits part of the 1992 set. 

I still need way too many of the Bernie Kosar and Michael Dean Perry cards in the Profiles part.

In any case, I really enjoyed adding this autographed card from the original pre-move Browns to my collection.

The 2000 Impact - Hats Off insert set has 21 cards in it. Four are Browns cards, which seems weird, but only six teams are represented in the insert set. The Abdul-Jabbar card is the first I own of the Browns. And just because it is nice to get swatches that aren't from jerseys, I'll point out this one is a piece of a hat.

Also from 2000, from the Fleer Tradition set, is this Patchworks memorabilia card of Tim Couch. There will be many more Couch memorabilia cards to come in this post.

There are six Browns Sign of the Times cards in the 2000 SP Authentic set. This Dennis Northcutt card gives me four of them. I still need the Courtney Brown and Tim Couch cards.

Here are two Travis Prentice autographs from 2000. 

The Leaf Rookies & Stars - Rookie Autograph card is numbered out of 1000, and a base autograph card from the Playoff Contenders set.

The top and bottom left cards are from the 2001 Fleer Authority set. 

The top Tim Couch card, from the Goal Line Gear insert set, has a piece of hat in it. There is also a version of the card with a piece of pants as its relic.

The bottom left card is from the We're Number One Jerseys insert set. Tim Couch also has a card in the regular We're Number One insert set that I don't own.

The bottom right card is from a Classic Drafts Jerseys insert set in the 2001 Upper Deck set. According to the notes in the Trading Card Database, these cards were inserted into packs in a 1:288 pack ratio, and it is part of a ten card checklist.

It was fun to pick up the silver and gold versions of the 2001 Leaf Certified Materials - Fabric of the Game cards at the same time. The silver card is numbered out of 360, while the gold is numbered out of 77. Those numbers seem pretty random, and the serial numbers for different players in the insert sets were different, not a consistent number through the whole checklists.

These two cards are unusual for me. I remembered Curtis Enis being drafted high in the first round by the Bears. I didn't remember him ever signing with the Browns.

Before getting these two cards, years ago I acquired a Retail version of the base card from the 2001 Pacific Invincible set. (The top card here is a Red memorabilia version numbered out of 750 of that card. The base retail version has a headshot of Enis where the jersey piece is above.)

When I acquired my other Enis card, I looked to see how long he played with the Browns, and remember reading that he was forced to retire with a continuing knee injury, and never played with the Browns.

The bottom card is from the Game Worn Gear insert set in the 2001 Pacific Private Stock set.

According to the Trading Card Database, Curtis Enis has 12 Browns cards. Eleven of them are from Pacific sets, with the last card being a base card that I need from the 2001 Upper Deck MVP set.

Here are three memorabilia cards from three different players.

The top card is a swatch of jersey from the 2001 NFL Rookie Premiere Photo Shoot of running back James Jackson. It is from the Rookie Gear insert set in the 2001 Upper Deck Ovation set.

The middle card is, like the Tim Couch card earlier, a swatch of hat from the Goal Line Gear insert set in the 2001 Fleer Authority set. This card of wide receiver Kevin Johnson joins the pants version of the card that I already owned.

The bottom card, of running back Travis Prentice, is from the Uniformity insert set in the 2001 Fleer Game Time set. Prentice was traded to the Vikings before the start of the 2001 season.

The top card is a Rookie Premiere Jersey insert card of Gerard Warren from the 2001 Fleer Focus set. Warren was the 3rd overall pick for the Browns in the 2001 NFL Draft.

The bottom card has Gerard Warren sharing a card with the 4th overall pick from the same draft, Justin Smith of the Cincinnati Bengals. This is from the Rookie Tandem Jerseys insert set in the 2001 Playoff Honors set. I don't necessarily mind multi-player cards like this, but I must say I prefer when a Browns player isn't teamed up with a division rival.

Time for more Tim Couch memorabilia cards.

The top card is from the Game Worn Jerseys of the 2002 Pacific Atomic set.

The middle card is a jersey swatch from the Materials insert set from the 2002 Playoff Piece of the Game set. There is also a version of this card with a football piece in it that I don't own.

The bottom card is from the San Diego Bound Memorabilia insert set in the 2002 Fleer Ultra set. The Super Bowl for the 2002 season was in San Diego, so I guess this insert set was to set up hope for all of the players to get to the Super Bowl. (Note: the Browns have still never made a Super Bowl.)

This top card here is a Jerseys insert card of James Jackson from the 2001 Pacific Private Stock Titanium Postseason Edition set. (The card has a 2002 copyright date on it, so I didn't organize it properly when setting up this post. I'll make sure to put it with the 2001s in my collection.)

The bottom Kevin Johnson card, like the Tim Couch card from the previous photos, is a swatch of jersey from the Materials insert of the 2002 Playoff Piece of the Game set. Again, like the Couch card, I also need the pants variant of this card.

I love helmet cards! In the top card, you can even feel the slight rounding of the helmet piece. Even though it says helmet on it, this Tim Couch card is listed as part of the Gridiron Heritage Jerseys insert set from the 2003 Playoff Prestige set on the Trading Card Database, and is numbered out of 100 like the card in the insert set. I don't know if this means there is a jersey card to look for from this set as well, but no matter, I think the helmet piece is much cooler than another jersey swatch.

The bottom card is interesting. It is from the Sunday Showdown insert set in the 2003 Flair set, and William Green shares the card with future Brown Jamal Lewis. You can see the arrow pointing to where Green's swatch is, and the same area on the other half is a grey circle that isn't cut out. There is a a dual memorabilia card that these two share, and there is a solo Lewis card that would have his swatch, but not Green's. You can see part of the grey circle around Green's swatch on this card. This card is numbered out of 100.

I'll finish this post with these last two cards.

The top Kevin Johnson card is from the UD Game Jerseys insert set from the 2003 Upper Deck set. It is numbered out of 99. I'm not really sure what the pattern on the card for the swatch is supposed to be.

I like the look of the on-card autograph on the bottom card. It was a redemption card for a Lee Suggs exchange card in the Sign of the Times insert set from the 2003 SP Authentic set.

It has been nice to see these Browns players from the early years of the expansion team.

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Edited to add: Just heard that Jim Brown has passed away. RIP.

Local card show - Great to have a dealer looking out for you

There was a local card show just over a week ago, and I arrived at it later in the show, actually seeing some dealers packing up when I got there.

No matter, a few of the dealers that I always check in with were still there, and it was nice to go over and say hi.

From one, that sells used books and CDs, along with some cards, I found a hardcover Brett Favre book for one friend, and a 3 CD Gordon Lightfoot collection to give to another friend, shortly after Lightfoot's passing.

At a second dealer's table, I didn't see anything that I wanted at the time but talked with him and asked him to look for a few things for me that he thinks he might have in storage. Hopefully it will give me something to talk about after the next local show.

A third dealer's table was busy, so I really didn't look through much of his stuff but said hi, and said I'll chat with him more next show.

When I got to the fourth dealer's table, he was happy to see me. He is the biggest football fan/collector/dealer among them, and we often trade cards with each other.

He smiled, and told me that he had picked up some Browns cards for me at a show that he went to in Toronto. He passed me a small stack of cards and told me that he got them for a good deal, along with some other football cards for his collection.

Here is what was in that stack of cards.

Although the signature is fading a little, I'm thrilled with the Luke McCown 2004 Playoff Prime Signatures card numbered out of 99.

I knew I owned the regular (or silver) 2005 Donruss Zenith - Rookie Roll Call card of Braylon Edwards, but wasn't sure if I had this gold parallel, numbered out of 100. I didn't own it, and now I do. I like it when things are that simple.

The Jim Brown card is the bronze version of the 2006 Donruss Classics - Classic Singles card. It is numbered out of 1000, and is the first of the Jim Brown cards from these Classic Singles that I own.

The Brady Quinn card is the Timeless Tributes Bronze parallel from the 2007 Donruss Classics set, numbered out of 100.

I can't believe that the draft when Joe Thomas and Brady Quinn were drafted was 16 years ago.

Then there were these cards of the two Browns first round draft picks from the 2012 NFL Draft.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that I didn't have the 2012 Topps - Rookie Patch card of Trent Richardson. Frankly, it is a generic enough relic card that it looks like so many others that I own and I figured I might already have owned it.

The Autographics 1998 card of Brandon Weeden from the 2012 Fleer Retro Ultra set has now joined the Autographics 1999 card that I already owned.

In the last of the "older" cards that I needed from the stack were these two cards.

The Connor Shaw Courage parallel is from the 2014 Topps Valor set, while the Orange parallel Ozzie Newsome card, numbered out of 99, is from the 2017 Panini Phoenix set.

Following came four 2022 cards that I needed.

From the 2022 Panini Legacy set was this Red parallel of Nick Chubb, and this Premium Mini Silver parallel of Myles Garrett. Both are welcome additions to my collection.

After mentioning last post that the four David Bell cards that I picked up at the Syracuse show were the first of his cards into my collection, I found two more to join them.

The 2022 Panini Absolute card is nice, adding an autographed memorabilia card that has a piece of football in it, along with two generic uniform swatches. It gives a little bit of variation in the appearance of the card.

According to the Trading Card Database, the 2022 Leaf Metal Draft autographed card seems to have the description of being a Portrait Autographs Mojo Blue parallel. (Again, where do they come up with these parallel names?) It is numbered out of 15.

Along with all of these cards, I knew that one additional card in the stack was a double, but I decided to just grab the whole stack of cards that he bought for me so that he wouldn't be stuck with an autographed card of a former Browns quarterback that most people wouldn't be interested in - a 2005 SP Authentic - Sign of the Times card.

Seeing this stack of cards, and knowing that I wanted to buy them all, I was waiting to see what his price was going to be. He had always been very fair in the past so I wasn't too worried, even when the cards weren't broken down by individual prices.

I hesitated a little when he told me the price, only because I was actually expecting it to be a little more than it was. He wanted CDN$40 for the stack (just under US$30).  I thought it was very fair, told him so, thanked him and paid for it.

I'm just glad to have a friendly dealer that thinks of me while buying for himself at a big out of town show. These cards probably would have escaped me if it wasn't for him.

Last month's road trip card show with Night Owl

As seen in Night Owl's post from last month, I once again drove down to meet up with him in order to go to a Syracuse card show together.

It was a small hotel show but it had plenty of cards for me to spend my money on.

First, though, Night Owl gave me a few cards and an unopened pack of football cards for my enjoyment.

I love the Polar Bear insert card. Alonso became a favorite really early in his rookie season, and I can't imagine him playing on another team.

That brings us to the deGrom cards.

Although I didn't want to see deGrom leave the Mets, I understood them not wanting to spend as much (in money and term) as the Rangers signed him for. When he pitched, it was amazing but he was hurt quite a bit, and didn't give very long starts when he was pitching.

I'm very happy to have this year's Topps card that will act as a sunset card for his Mets career.

I was also given this pack to open, but sadly there were no Browns cards in there to enjoy.

I also picked up a few Mets cards at the show.

These were found by Night Owl in fifty cent boxes that we were looking through. I was looking through football boxes.

There were two other Mets cards that I picked up.

I was happy to pick up a David Wright rookie card. It is weird seeing him in a number 2 uniform.

The last Mets card that I purchased may have been my favorite card that I left the show with.

How can you go wrong with a meal, umm, I mean a card like this!

I've now got an on-card autograph of the last member of the 1962 expansion Mets to play in the major leagues.

Ed Kranepool played three games, as a 17 year old, with the expansion Mets, and played with the franchise until his retirement after the 1979 season.

That's it for the baseball cards I added to my collection.

I did a pretty good job of not buying too many Browns at the show that I already owned. (That's always a danger going through monster boxes and just pulling cards with no want lists with me.)

I was happy to pull this 2008 Topps Chrome Beau Bell X-Fractor parallel. Sadly it was the oldest Browns card that I picked up at the show.

The Greg Little autographed relic card is from the 2011 Panini Absolute Memorabilia set, and is numbered out of 299.

I always enjoyed watching Travis Benjamin play, and miss his return ability on kicks. This card is the True Blue parallel from the 2012 Panini Rookies & Stars set.

I wouldn't have been surprised if I had previously owned a copy of the 2014 Topps Chrome - Rookie Relics X-Fractor card of Terrance West when I bought it, but it was cheap so I wasn't worried about whether I did or not.  

As it turned out, I needed it and owned his regular Rookie Relics card. This parallel is numbered out of 99.

Pierre Desir played the 2014 and 2015 seasons with the Browns after being drafted in the fourth round. This card is a Sapphire parallel from the 2014 Topps Strata set, and is numbered out of 50.

The die-cut Duke Johnson card is the gold parallel, numbered out of 199, of the 2015 Panini Contenders - Rookie of the Year Contenders insert set.

Chad Thomas, shown on this 2018 Panini Playbook card, played two seasons with the Browns, and released a rap album in December 2018. For his music, he is known as Major Nine. He was with the Browns for two seasons.

This 2019 Score - Epic Moment card commemorates Baker Mayfield's first points in the NFL, catching a 2 point conversion thrown by Jarvis Landry against the Jets in Week 3 of the 2018 season.

These two pink parallels of Anthony Schwartz confused me. They both looked to be from the 2021 Donruss Optic set, but I didn't that that Schwartz would be a big enough rookie to have a variant.

Seeing the backs, the one on the left had a different number, and I saw it was from the regular Donruss set. Turns out it was a pink parallel of  the Optic Rated Rookie Preview inserts into the regular Donruss set. 

I would say that I don't know what to think of getting a parallel of a preview card in a set, but I do know what I think. I don't like it. There are entirely too many parallels to collect.

Here are the other 2021 cards that I picked up.

I've always like the Panini Illusions cards like the Nick Chubb one above. I believe this is the Retail version as opposed to the Hobby version.

The Panini Chronicles card of Kareem Hunt is a pink parallel.

Three different autographs of Demetric Felton. None were very expensive to get. All are welcome in my collection. Felton has not had much of an impact in his two years with the Browns.

The three cards are the Black Autograph parallel from the SAGE Premier Draft set, the Bronze parallel from the SAGE Aspire set, and a Threads - Rookie Signatures card from the Panini Chronicles Draft Picks set.

Here are a couple of Myles Garrett parallels, the first being a red parallel of the Panini Absolute Memorabilia set, and the second being a Kickoff parallel of the Panini Playoff set.

Two players that weren't with the Browns last season. 

The Jarvis Landry card is a base card from the Panini Select set.

I like the Donruss Road to the Super Bowl Wildcard card of Baker Mayfield. It commemorates the playoff win against the Steelers. One tiny point of light since the Browns came back into the league in 1999.

I was happy when the Browns drafted Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoha. I just don't want to have to spell his name out all the time. I can see why he is referred to as JOK.

These cards are a Prizm Camo Pink parallel (where do they come up with these names?) from the Panini Mosaic set, the Kickoff parallel from Panini Playbook, and a card from the Wild Card Alumination football set.

Here are two more inexpensive autographs that I was able to find 

The Anthony Schwartz autograph is not actually from the Score set as it appears, but rather from the Panini Chronicles Draft Picks set - the same set as the Felton autograph from earlier.

Also from a same set of a Felton autograph, the Tommy Togiai card is a Black Autograph parallel from the SAGE Premier Draft set.

Based on the Browns off-season acquisitions, I think both Schwartz and Togiai may be in for a fight for a roster spot this upcoming season.

Finally, I picked up a bunch of 2022 Browns cards that I needed. Most were from the fifty cent box that one dealer had. The others really weren't that expensive. I guess that is one good thing about being a Browns fan, they don't have too many premium players to chase since 1999.

Although I think there are too many inserts and parallels out there, I do like the Huddle Up insert that acts as a team card.

These are the first four cards of David Bell that I've added to my collection. He was a third round pick that caught 24 passes during his rookie season.

The top-left card is a green parallel of the Panini Absolute set, while the bottom right card Score card is a Blue Explosion parallel numbered out of 20. 

I'm always happy to see a Joel Bitonio card.

Jadeveon Clowney made some critical comments towards the organization and coaching staff near the end of the season. He was released and won't be back with the team.

Some Nick Chubb base cards from the Donruss Elite and Panini Illusions sets.

Two inserts from the Panini Mosaic set. One of my friends that was looking through my cards liked the bobblehead look to the Touchdown Masters card.

I'm glad to find the promo cards like the Panini Player of the Day card because I really don't find them in local card stores.

The second card is a Blue parallel from the Panini Select Draft Picks set, and show Chubb in his Georgia days.

We have a bunch of Amari Cooper cards with one being the purple parallel, numbered out of 50, of the Panini Classics - Timeless Tributes insert set.

This is the first Jerome Ford card in my collection. He was a fifth round pick for the Browns in 2022.

I like Austin Hooper, but for whatever reason he didn't live up to the contract he signed as a free agent in 2020. After playing with Tennessee last year, he signed with the Raiders as a free agent in the off-season. I hope he does well.

Some more Myles Garrett cards. I'm looking forward to seeing if the change of defensive coordinator and the other additions to the defensive line help free him up more this year and allow him to play at an even higher level than he has played at.

Don't you like it when they use the same photo in different sets? Oh, wait, looking at Hunt's left arm, they are different. But they must have been snapped pretty close to each other.

It's nice when you find the base card and a parallel at the same time. I'm not a big fan of owning a parallel without having its base card.

Some more Baker Mayfield cards for my collection. He may be gone from the team but there are still thousands of his cards for me to look for.

I always like adding new Eric Metcalf cards to my collection. He was one of my favorites during his playing days.

David Njoku had a good season last year, but I keep expecting a breakout season from him. 

There were five Browns cards that I bought that I'm not going to show.

More often than not, a team's quarterback is the face of the franchise. However, I don't want the current quarterback to be seen as any sort of representative for the team. I won't deny his physical talent, but I don't care for the actions in Houston that led to his suspension. His cards are still Browns cards, so I'll collect them, but I'm not going to show them.

After that, I'll end my Browns cards from the show with a couple of cards of a player that I'm happy was a Brown.

I don't think I'll ever be disappointed to add more Joe Thomas cards to my collection. I look forward to seeing the Hall of Fame ceremony this year and his induction to the Hall.

I did get a few other odds and ends football cards out of the fifty cent box.

I wasn't going to pass up this insert of the late Steve Sabol. 

The card on the left is a business card, not what I would expect to see in a box of football cards, but interesting enough for me to pick it up.

For more information on the camp, I'll show the back of the business card.

I wonder if they made other cards for the other camps listed on the back.

A couple of Hall of Fame division rivals.

I think I primarily bought the Bradshaw card because of the 50 year patch on the jersey.

The Munoz Starting Lineup card is just pretty cool, and he is someone that I always respected during his career.

This may have been my favorite football card that I picked up at the show. An autographed card, numbered out of 99, of probably the most versatile offensive lineman in the Pro Football Hall of Fame for $3.00.

During Bruce Matthews' career, the Oilers were division rivals of the Browns and their games were highlighted by Bruce playing against his brother Clay. 

I've read articles where Bruce has said that Clay should be in the Hall of Fame with him, and that the Oilers knew they always had to account for where he was on the field.

Looking back at this, I probably should have broken this up into two posts. 

Thank you for anyone that has made it to the end of this post, and a big THANK YOU to Night Owl for still wanting to go to card shows with me, for doing the driving between Watertown and Syracuse, for buying me a drink at the show's hotel when they wouldn't take cash, for spending time having dinner with me, and for just being an all-round good guy! I look forward to doing it again.