When the schedule was first announced, Chicago Bears at Minnesota Vikings looked like it could be a battle of two rookie quarterbacks.
J.J. McCarthy – 10th pick in the draft for the Vikings – against number one pick Caleb Williams for the Bears.
McCarthy was a national champion for the Michigan Wolverines, battling Sam Darnold for a starting position in his first season at the Vikings. A season-ending injury in a pre-season game against Las Vegas Raiders put pay to that.
This past month, I’ve discovered the intoxicating world of NFL sports cards. This happened after stumbling across a YouTube video of an American streamer ‘ripping open a few blasters’. It must have been thrust into my algorithm thanks to my son watching Pokémon card videos on my account.
It evoked memories of opening Panini stickers as a kid, and my first purchase was soon in the post.
I have found there is something very calming about opening a pack of sports cards. There is an added dopamine rush when you hit a favourite player, rare rookie or ‘holo’ — that’s a holographic card for the uninitiated.
If having a stressful day at the office, reach for a pack of sports cards and feel the trials and tribulations ebbing away from your body as you rip open the foil wrapper.
Maybe the wife will come home from work on a particularly stressful day and find me collapsed on the floor amongst a sea of discarded cellophane.
Buy low, sell high
Anyway, I digress. To come full circle, the cards you need to find are the rare rookie cards of future stars. After all, you are only a rookie once.
A quick web search tells me that Tom Brady rookie cards can resell for four or five figures. It is like a stock exchange. Buy low, sell high.
This led me to investing the princely sum of £4 to purchase a J.J. McCarthy rookie card last week. We are only seven Super Bowl wins away from the jackpot here. I mean, how many games did Brady actually play in his first year?
McCarthy will not feature in Sunday’s game, whereas Williams will. Hopefully Williams will go some way to adding another zero to the price tag for owners of his own rookie card. Although, the way things are going so far this season, his cards may soon be found in the bargain bin.
Despite the agony of last Sunday’s loss to Green Bay, we did at least see some green shoots of recovery.
Williams’ legs propelled him to 70 yards on the ground, re-established connections with D.J. Moore and Cole Kmet led to some big gains, and the last drive of the game should have been hailed as a game-winning one.
We are back to renewed hope for the coming Sunday. Until then, you will find me watching videos of grown men touring flea markets in the US, looking for rare William Perry autograph cards.
