Football Week 1: Praise Breesus.

       My autumn Sundays are a marvelous blur of pajamas, fried food, and football.  This morning, practically on cue, the morning was crisp and leaves were on the ground.  It was beautiful.  I have a pot of homemade chili all ready to go and a sixer of Sam Adams Octoberfest to wash it down.  My last post about football was a little, um, harsh, so I will try and keep it a little more positive this time around.  As most of you who read this blog may know, I am a New Orleans Saints fan - if you did not know that or are wondering how someone from New Jersey who lived in Boston for a dozen years becomes a Saints fan, click here.  The player that makes the Saints go is a man by the name of Drew Brees.


       I have a hard time throwing the word "hero" around when talking about sports stars.  Not to sound overly cliche here, but people who run into burning buildings are heroes, not quarterbacks.  But some men ingrain themselves into the community with such altruism and grace that you could consider them at least good role models and one of those rare players is Drew Brees.  The Saints took a chance on him in 2005 when no other team did and Brees has returned the favor by not only doing so much for the city after Hurricane Katrina but also leading the team to a Super Bowl title when most people never thought the team would return to New Orleans, much less succeed. Plus he is a decent fellow, a family man, and even my mom has a crush on him.



I thought about doing 11 cards for football, rather than nine, but it didn't look right, so at least for now, I am doing eight to break it up a little.  This also might be because I haven't organized all my football cards yet and put them into pages.  I'll let you sort that out for yourselves.  These last two scans feature all my shiny inserts and such of Drew Brees.  I especially like the 2007 X-fractor up top, the run of three different 2009 Topps cards, and the mini Allen and Ginter mini with his son.  If you're gonna have your infant on a card, it makes sense to have it on a mini.



And finally, to cover the concept of "team" let's look at one of my favorite Saints cards.  It features the aforementioned Mr. Brees with two of his favorite weapons, the gone-but-not-forgotten Reggie Bush and the velcro-handed Marques Colston. (and just for Night Owl, look at how crooked the back is scanned - the horror!) I do like cards that incorporate different players and game used jerseys, which explains why I love this card so much, but also, take a good look at those jersey pieces.  I think they were going for the shape of a fleur de lis.  I think.  I do like cards that make me laugh, too.