Recap Of Saints Packers Game And The Start Of Our Panini NFL Sticker Collection

What a way to start the season.  Football is most definitely back. 

Last night the New Orleans Saints, Super Bowl Winners two years ago, took on the Green Bay Packers, the returning Super Bowl Champs.  In a hard fought battle all the way through to the final play of the game, the Packers beat the Saints, 42 to 34.

The Packers came out of the gate, looking strong, quickly marching down the field, 76 yards in 9 plays for a TD on the first possession of the game.

Two plays into their first series of downs, the Saints lost the ball on a fumble caused by Nick Collins, the only turnover of the game.

After the recovery, playing in his first regular season game since his injury in game 5 of last year, Jermichael Finley caught his first pass, on his way to a 53-yard evening.

After a see-saw battle that saw only 6 total punts for the game, it all came down the final play of the game.  From the one yard line with no time on the clock, the Saints had the opportunity to bring the game to a tie with a touchdown and two-point conversion.  They handed the ball to their rookie running back.

Mark Ingram, who had the most touches and yards of the Saints running back committee with 40 yards on 13 carries, was about to leap into the endzone just as the Packer defense...

lead by Clay Matthews surged forward and clipped Ingram’s legs out from under him.

 It was a classic goal line stance and a great way to get the win.

So all of these stickers are going into our album.  Please link back to our post on Panini’s Cars 2 Stickers for a detailed description of placing stickers in your album.  Here is the short version.

Find the number on the back of your sticker.

Find the corresponding number in you album.

 Peel and stick.

Couldn’t be easier.  

Here is how our Packers page is shaping up now that we have a few stickers.

We will announce the winners of our Panini NFL Sticker Starter Kits soon.  More Sticker fun on Sunday.

The Topps Prime 9 Redemption Card For Week 8 is Ichiro!

This is week 8 of the Topps Prime 9 Redemption Program.  Using cards found in 2011 Topps Baseball Series 2 hobby and jumbo boxes, collectors have been able to obtain the following players. 

Week 1 was Johnny Bench. 

Week 2 was Albert Pujols. 

Week 3 was Jackie Robinson.

Week 4 was Derek Jeter. 

Week 5 was Mike Schmidt. 

Week 6 was Hank Aaron. 

Week 7 was Mickey Mantle. 

Now for Week 8 if you have one of these...

...its time to go visit your HTA Local Hobby Shop and redeem those cards.  Here is what you will get.

An Ichiro Prime 9 limited edition Chrome Refractor card.  Ichiro’s “Prime 9 Moments” include at age seven, practiced by hitting 500 balls per day, only player with 10 consecutive 200-hit seasons, and Gold Glove winner in every season of career.  So get to your participating LCS and redeem those cards.  And don’t forget to fill out the back of your redemption card to be entered into a sweepstakes.  You could win a trip to the 2012 World Series.

Check in next week to find out who is on the card for week 9, the last week in the promotion.

Sidney Crosby Press Conference Reveals There Is No Timetable For His Return

Sidney Crosby will not be rushed when it comes to his health.  With his doctor's by his side, Crosby held a press conference to answer questions about his recovery from a concussion that has put his future in the NHL on hold.

According to his doctors, Crosby is the model patient, compliant, heeding their advice and working tremendously hard to get to a full recovery.  They seem to feel he has made huge strides towards getting better, but with a quality player like Crosby, with so many potentially good years ahead of him, nothing less than a 100 percent recovery will do and Sidney agrees.  All of this means there is no timetable for Crosby's return.

Crosby suffered hits to the head during several games in early January and started to show signs of a concussion, foggy head, blurred vision.  He removed himself from the line up and did not return for the remainder of 2010-11 season.

Crosby was straight forward about his health in this press conference, admitting it was hard to watch video for too long and that currently skating at 80 to 90 percent exertion causes his headaches to return.  But he never considered this injury cause for retirement.  When asked if he thought he would have to sit out the 2011-12 season, Crosby said there was a slim chance, but he wouldn't bet on it.  He feels it is more likely he will be on the ice at some point before the season is over.

When It Comes To Fantasy Football and Picks, No Site Does It Better Than The NFL

In Fantasy Football it seems like everyone one who has an opinion considers themselves an expert.  Every site that hosts Fantasy Leagues services has a few "experts" who will let you know who you should start on any given week.  I've played in leagues on almost every hosting site out there and the only "experts" that I've found that seem to get things right on a consistent basis are on the NFL Fantasy Football site.  The best of them is is Michael Fabiano.

Without having to resort to cliched one-liners or loud, boisterous predictions, he provides solid advice that everyone can use, whether your style is high risk/high reward or conservative.  Rarely is his advice is off.  Fabiano is a master at picking 'em.

And speaking of great picks, this morning I went to the NFL Fantasy Site to adjust one of my teams and I was struck by this photo on the opening page.

Of course that is Sam Bradford getting some sideline advice.  But like the curious case of Adam Gandolfo and the Gypsy Queens, my attention is drawn over Bradford's shoulder to the teammate behind him, A. J. Feely.  Talk about picking a winner!

So if you are still looking for a place to play Fantasy Football this season, make sure you check out the NFL's site using this link.