Pack Sampling: 1995 Pinnacle Zenith Series 2

It's funny how quickly things go by when you're not paying attention to them. I've heard through the grapevine (Twitter) that the NFL regular season is almost over, how did this happen? Didn't it just start-up a couple of weeks ago? If not, it sure feels like it did. I wonder if it's gone that fast for the folks who do actually care about the current happenings as well? So many questions, none of which need answering!

I've stated many times that I don't really follow sports anymore, the only games I watch are old one's, which reminds me, was I the last one to find out that there's a couple of channels on YouTube that have a sh*t ton of older NFL games to watch? I'm guessing that's a yes. Oh well though, at least I found them. Some pretty solid stuff on those channels as well, it's mostly mid-70's through the early 80's, which is great because they're all new to me, and their complete broadcasts (minus the commercials) which is even better. I don't generally like watching things via YouTube, but this has been one instance where an exception was an order, as I've watched quite a few games since finding them, and there's still a whole bunch more that are waiting for me.

Anyways, I may not be all that interested in what's happening now, but I was back in 1995, the only problem is that I wasn't collecting football cards at the time -- which means that I missed out on a whole mess of great products, including Pinnacle Zenith. Zenith is a brand that I almost never see singles from, and packs or boxes are basically non-existent in the wild, so when I came across this pack at September's show, I knew that I had to try and get it. Thankfully it was only $1, so it didn't require much thought as to whether it was worth it or not... because it was indeed worth it!

I don't know this to be true or not, but I'm assuming that all of the rookies were in series 2, in which case, series 1 probably would've been more desirable for me, but beggars can't be choosers, so I wasn't about to turn down the pack just because it might have rookies in it.

Oh, and as a quick aside, I tried to scan, and photograph, the pack odds, but I just couldn't get a decent image of the back, so hopefully no one had their hearts set on seeing those.

Brent Jones may not be a household name, but he spent almost a decade as the starting TE for some really good 49ers teams, which included three Super Bowl appearances, and... three rings! Given his numbers, and his importance to the team, we might even see his name in the HOF at some point.

The cards in this set are absolutely gorgeous, none more so than the rookies. The gold/yellow background really pops on these, it's just too bad that the scanner can't pick that up. As for Ryan Yarborough, I don't remember him at all! A quick search tells me that he had a very successful career at the University of Wyoming, apparently Ryan was considered to be one of the most prolific receivers in the history of college football, unfortunately for him, that success never carried over to the NFL. He spent a couple of seasons with a couple of different teams, and that was about the extent of his professional career.

If it weren't for one poorly chosen comment, Ricky probably would've been elected to the HOF many years ago, as such, he's still waiting, and I suspect that the powers that be are gonna make him wait for awhile. His numbers are certainly hall worthy, but you know what they, perception is 9/10 of the law.

Does anyone else have black hole teams? You know, the teams that you just don't seem to know very much about, and couldn't name a handful of current or former players to save your life -- I do, and the Jets are one of them! You could put a gun to my head, and I'd still only be able to name three players: Joe Namath, Curtis Martin, and Wayne Chrebet... that's it! Looks like he didn't do anything overly special during his nine seasons, I do see that he was a Mountaineer though, so I'll have to see if either Kin or Matt wants this card.

Speaking of HOFer's who had wait a lot longer than they should've to be enshrined! It's embarrassing to think how long it took the voter's to let him in. When I was a kid, Andre Reed was a big name, and if you got one of his cards in a pack, you treated it like it was something special... because it was!

Stan Humphries is a name that you never hear mentioned anymore, at least not on the pro level. He's another guy who was kind of big deal when I was a kid, as he turned a garbage Chargers squad into a playoff team, and then two years later led the team to it's first, and still only, Super Bowl appearance. Even though he hasn't really accomplished much, people still go gaga over Philip Rivers, but if I had my choice of Chargers quarterbacks in their prime, I'd give the ball to Stan, well, unless Dan Fouts was available, then I'd go with Dan :)

I think that this was a pretty solid pack overall, no "sick hitz", but plenty of decent names. No regrets on the $1 price tag either, which is good, because a couple of the other packs that I got that day have been absolute duds. Normally I'd be offering up most of the pack to whoever wants it, but I don't know quite yet who the keepers will be, although I do know that I don't need Murrell, so I guess he's available, but as mentioned, I will be checking on that one with the two WVU collectors first.


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