Check out my personal photos

I have taken up a new hobby for the recent months; Photography. I bought a Canon 300D camera and two lenses at a garage sale and the rest is history. I've been trying to shoot sports with what I have recently found out is far from ideal equipment, even for an amateur like myself.

Anyway check out some of what I got from the Bleachers, not too bad. Leave me advice if you can help me! http://cameronclow.blogspot.com

Only two photos up right now, but when I have time I'll put up some more.

"Relic" Cards Not Always Great Pulls

Companies try to sell us on a $20 retail blaster box by giving a "one game-used memorbilia card per box" guarantee. In two 2009 Upperdeck (football) boxes with this guarantee I've gotten a Jordy Nelson game used jersey (twice!). The best jersey card I've ever received out of one of these was a 2008 Stadium Club Beam Team relic of Jonathan Stewart (great for me because he is one of my favorite players, but card could have been purchased for about $5).

The best parrallel card I've received from a retail pack is a 2007 Topps Chrome X-fractor of Adrian Peterson (RC). This card has around eight times of the value that the relic card of Stewart has. Overall the most valuable cards received from retail packs have been parrallel cards. I've noticed that topps chrome retail includes way more refractors than their hobby version. Here's an example:

2008 Hobby Box (football): 1 Bronze refractor, 2 refractors, 1 rookie auto (James Hardy refractor/50) 1 gold refractor.

Misc 2008 Chrome Retail packs: Chris Johnson refractor, Joe Flacco X-fractor, Matt Forte X-fractor, tons of other refractors. Also, I would estimate about equal number of packs, or maybe even less retail.

Although the chances of an auto are severly weakened going the retail route, I think that I got about the same value. Maybe I got lucky, but don't completely disregard the value of retail packs. Just because they're at WalMart doesn't mean they aren't good cards. Also, don't be distracted by a relic guarantee when infact it is better to buy some packs of a better set.

Overall don't be tricked into thinking that you can be the one that gets the Adrian Peterson game used jersey or the rookie auto from a retail blaster box. I'd say you're better off going topps chrome and hoping for a parrallel of a good rookie. That's just my take.