Card of the Day: 2009 Topps National Chicle – Greatest Thrills Super Bowl XLII #2

Card of the Day: Tim Goad 1993 Topps Stadium Club Super Teams Super Bowl #251

Card of the Day: Tua Tagovailoa 2017 Leaf Metal U.S. Army All-American Bowl Auto

Card of the Day: Bart Starr 1990 Pro Set Super Bowl MVP’s #1

“Pin-Up” of the Week: 61st Lawry’s Beef Bowl – USC vs. Penn State – Rose Bowl 2017 Pin

Personally, I think there are way too many college bowl games.  It seems like more and more get added to the schedule every year.  They’re beginning to be overproduced like plain one-colored jersey cards.  I guess as long as companies keep throwing money at them two teams will find their way to a “big” game.

Penn State is scheduled to take on USC on Monday in the 103rd Rose Bowl Game.  Earlier this week, Penn State beat USC in another classic bowl game – Lawry’s Beef Bowl.  Lawry’s is an upscale restaurant in Beverly Hills that has been hosting the Beef Bowl for 61 years.  What is the Beef Bowl?  Before the Rose Bowl, each team is served a hefty meal of prime rib.  Whichever team eats the most, wins the Beef Bowl.  Penn State ate 536 lbs. compared to USC who came in at 502 lbs.  That’s a combined 1,038 lbs. of beef eaten.  Lawry’s Dallas, TX location also holds a Beef Bowl for the two Cotton Bowl participants.

You won’t find that much merchandise when it comes to the Beef Bowl.  Occasionally pins will show up.  I bought this pin for $12 last night.  This specific pin was given out to players, guests, and members of the media who attended the dinner.

“Pin-Up” of the Week: New Era Super Bowl 50 18k Gold Pin

New Era has created quite the expensive hat for Super Bowl 50.  This hat is made of black lambskin leather and comes with an 18k gold pin.  They only made 50 of them, and cost $2,500 per hat.

There are a lot of pins made for Super Bowl 50.  Many of them feature just the logo.  Someone could easily try and pass off a cheap widely produced pin for this one made of 18k gold.  Especially if you’re not buying it in person.

$2,500 for a hat is nuts.  The brim is completely flat too.  I hate hats with flat brims.

“Pin-Up” of the Week: TaxSlayer Bowl

On January 2, 2016 Penn State will take on Georgia in the TaxSlayer Bowl.  The last time Penn State played in this particular bowl game was in 1976 against Notre Dame.  At that time it was simply known as the Gator Bowl.

The TaxSlayer Bowl is one of the oldest bowl games.  Its been around since 1946.  Over the years its taken on different names.  It started out as the Gator Bowl.  From there it went on to be the Mazda Gator Bowl, Outback Gator Bowl, Toyota Gator Bowl, Konica Minolta Gator Bowl, Progressive Gator Bowl, and TaxSlayer.com Gator Bowl.  Now its just the TaxSlayer Bowl.  They dropped the “Gator Bowl” name off the official title when they renegotiated a new contract in 2014.

There isn’t a whole lot of TaxSlayer Bowl merchandise.  They have an official store, but most of the items don’t deal with the bowl game itself.  What you’ll find are team specific stuff.  I did see that they have 2016 TaxSlayer Bowl shirts.  I’d like to see more bowl merchandise.

This is about as basic of a pin you’ll find.  It has no dates and/or teams listed on it.  I’m guessing it was made after 2013 though because of the name.  They have been selling for $15.00.

“Pin-Up” of the Week: Bud Bowl I

Anyone remember the Bud Bowl?  This was a marketing campaign put on by Anheuser-Busch advertising it’s family of Budweiser beers.  The commercials featured Budweiser bottles playing against Bud Light bottles.  Bud Bowl I took place during Super Bowl XXIII in 1989.  This was an annual event to watch for up until 1997.  They skipped the normal Bud Bowl game in 1996, and only held a contest.  Game pieces with plays on them were probably distributed to fans in cases of beer.  The people with the winning play on their piece won.  By 1998, the Bud Bowl was removed from T.V.  The name was mainly used for in-store displays.  Today you don’t see it at all.

Bud Bowls were filmed using 3D computer graphics and stop-motion animation.  In some cases, it could take many hours to produce a few seconds of footage.  Throughout the years the Bud Bowl had a slew of famous announcers including Terry Bradshaw, Chris Berman, Marv Albert, Howie Long, and Ronnie Lott.  Bud Bowl I ended with Budweiser winning 27-24.  Budweiser won six of the eight Bud Bowls.

Anheuser-Busch slapped the Bud Bowl name on practically everything.  They made a few different pin sets.  These sets were mass produced and easy to find.

“Pin-Up” of the Week: Levi’s Stadium Super Bowl 50 Employee Pin

Super Bowl 50 merchandise has been out since the last Super Bowl.  There is no hiding the fact that the NFL is going to market the crap out of this one.  Probably more than any other Super Bowl in history.  Certain Super Bowl 50 merchandise has been bringing in lots of money, such as pins.

From what I’ve found, there are (4) different Super Bowl 50 pins you can find right now:

• WinCraft Super Bowl 50 “On the Fifty”
• WinCraft Super Bowl 50
• Super Bowl 50 CBS
• Levi’s Stadium Super Bowl 50 Employee

All of these pins look very similar, but come with a wide range of prices.  The Levi’s Stadium pin comes in at the highest.  The last one sold for $230.00.  I believe that these were given to employees, staff, and other high ranking people who work for the 49ers.  It has a 3D look to it, and isn’t flat on the surface.  The CBS pin has a similar 3D look, but isn’t worth near as much.  Those other two pins are what you’ll find for sale the most.

“Pin-Up” of the Week: Super Bowl 50 Logo Pin

Exactly one year from today, Super Bowl 50 will be taking place.  Super Bowl XLIX may have just ended, but its never too late to start thinking about the next one.  WinCraft sold and gave away a lot of specially made pins last week to those lucky people that attended the game.  One of those pins sets you up for next year’s Super Bowl already.  This is the only Super Bowl 50 pin I’ve seen surface and collectors jumped all over it.  With 35 bids this pin sold for $35.00.  They decided to go with the standard number 50 instead of using the Roman numeral “L”.  Their marketing people decided that the “L” wasn’t aesthetically pleasing.  The Roman numerals will return for Super Bowl LI.  I can’t imagine what they have in store for the 50th Super Bowl.  More pins for sure!