There are certain things that remind me of my father. And plenty of them involve sports. Yesterday’s passing of NFL Hall-of-Famer George Blanda was another one that made me think of my dear, departed dad. He and Blanda were contemporaries; Blanda was born in 1927, my father a year later. We were never Oakland Raider […]

C.J. Spiller, the rookie running back of the Buffalo Bills, is still finding his way through NFL defenses this season. But already Upper Deck has a pretty nifty collectible with C.J.’s signature right on it. At the Upper Deck online store, collectors can find their very own C.J. Spiller autographed Buffalo Bills mini-helmets for the […]

As a serious sports fan, nothing disappoints me more than a professional athlete showing poor judgment. I don’t know about anyone else, but if someone offered me the chance to be rich and famous with the only requirements being play sports and don’t do anything stupid, I would probably end up locking myself in my […]

Growing up in the hobby and now doing it as my profession, I’ve noticed an interesting trend when it comes to collectors. The vast majority have two groups of friends, those who collect and those who don’t. I’ve always found it curious as to why it is that collectors will keep the hobby they love […]

As a sports fan, there’s nothing quite like the excitement that goes along with the opening weekend of college and pro football. It is kind of like a hug from an old friend. Given I am a huge sports fan, please take a moment to imagine my frustration when I found out that I would […]

At Upper Deck, one of the things we have always worked hard to do is provide our customers with hard-signed autograph cards packed out live in the product. Unfortunately with athletes’ busy schedules, that doesn’t always happen. When we can’t get an athlete to sign in time, we have to use redemption cards that customers […]

I was nervous on my flight last night, not because it was turbulent, but because there was a problem at home. The problem was simple, but troubling: I wasn’t going to be there in time to watch the start of the USC vs. Hawaii game. The first thing I checked upon landing wasn’t my voicemails […]