2009 Upper Deck Black Is Here!

Get your gambling shoes ready!  The gambling products are starting to come out, with 2009 UD Black football first, followed by Triple Threads, Ultimate Collection and presumably Topps Sterling, Exquisite and National Treasures down the line.  While the cards themselves look very nice, and there are some I want, I have some issues with some of the cards.

While this card came out in November, and still has a college uniform, it has been pointed out to me by Chris at Upper Deck that these are all ON CARD signatures.  Personally?  I’ll take a college uni on an on-card signature as opposed to a pro picture and sticker signatures.  So, someone might ask, why not have some in college, and some in pro?  Well, here it’s a lot simpler.  You want your set to have a theme.  If they can’t all be in pro uniforms, you don’t want a half and half.  So, in my mind, ‘all or nothing’ looks much better.  These cards look much better than I originally thought, with that in mind.

By the way, Brian Cushing?  I love your play and your attitude.  Your signature sucks balls, though.  It’s lazy, and uninspired.  Show some of the attitude in your signature that you show in your game.

This is a nice card.  It’s a Hall of FAmer, numberd to 5, with a beautiful autograph.  Which is then ruined by having 4 grey swatches.  I’ve said this before, and I’ll say this again.  NO CARD NUMBERED UNDER 25 SHOULD HAVE SINGLE COLOR SWATCHES.  If the card can’t stand alone on the basis of the autograph, then give it a patch.  Make the damn card stand out here.

These, on the other hand, are absolutely beautiful.  I know they’re manu’d patches.  It just doesn’t matter.  The card fits the patch perfectly, and these look gorgeous.  Well done, Upper Deck.

The only thing I can say in UD’s defense here is that they didn’t use a card from Donruss, Topps, or another company they’re in competition with.  Still, this is piss-poor planning.

This is as close as I’ll come to a review of this, or any other ‘gamble’ product as it simply isn’t worth buying in a box for anyone other than the gamblers.  That being said, it’s not a horrible product, just you need to be aware of what you’re getting into with it.

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