More of the Trade with Baseball Cards Come to Life (The 2000s)

In my last post I mentioned that Bo at Baseball Cards Come to Life sent me way more than I expected from our trade. 

Today's post has a distinct New Millennium flavor, as I will highlight the All-2000s NFL team.  Many of these cards came from the years before I picked up collecting again, so some of them are actually the first I've own from their respective sets.  We'll start with the defense and special teams today.

Some great defensive backs here.  I love the diversity I see in the safeties here.  Polamalu will be remembered for his hitting, while Ed Reed built his career on creating turnovers.  Charles Woodson was just a jack-of-all-trades, but he was good at it all--run support, coverage, playing outside, slot, or safety--Woodson could do it all.  Devin Hester did start his career as a DB before attempting the other side of the ball, but he made the team as a returner, of course.  He gave me some heartburn, as I am a Packers fan, but in my mind, he's the most dangerous returner of all-time.  No disrespect to "White Shoes" or Mel Gray or anybody like that, but no other return was a threat to score every time he got his hands on the ball.

I was never really a big fan of this pair of linebackers, for different reasons.  But there is no denying that they were nightmares for opposing offenses.  Brian Urlacher's career still boggles my mind.  I still remember how he terrorized the Mountain West Conference as a safety at New Mexico.  His combination of speed and size is hard to beat.

I love cards of sackmasters actually sacking the quarterback, like the Demarcus Ware pictured above.  The Zach Thomas on the far right is actually a rookie, and I'm not sure what the set is.  The brand is Score Board and it seems to be from the "Autographed Collection," but I can't find any other information on the set.  Still, it's a nice rookie of a player who never got the love he deserved, in my opinion.

And here is our defensive line.  I really like the Ultra Dream Team insert set.  This was the first time I had ever seen it, and Bo sent me a few.  I've added the rest to my want list on Zistle because I really like the card.

Now for the offense.

I love this collection of Tony Gonzalez.  First, it features him as a Chief, and most of my cards have a Falcons uniform.  Second, there is a wide variety of sets that had no representation in my collection before.  The first three on the bottom row are my favorites: Upper Deck Artifact, Fleer Platinum, and Topps Reserve.  Am I alone when I say that I miss Fleer?  I feel like Fleer put out some of my favorite sets every year.

I'm not a Randy Moss fan at all.  Here he is representing four different teams in one trade package.

Some more wide receivers, and another of that Topps Reserve set I'm liking so much.

My running back collection for this decade is seriously lacking.  Running backs have such short careers that some of these guys started and ended their careers while I was not collecting.  As a result, this is just the fourth Edgerrin James card I own.  Also a travesty is the fact that before I got this package, I owned more cards of LaDainian Tomlinson as a Jet than a Charger.  Here is Upper Deck Ovation making a football appearance.  I never even knew Upper Deck made an Ovation football, but like its baseball counterpart, I really like what I'm seeing.

We'll end with a bang.  Brady and Manning are GOAT 1.a and GOAT 1.b, in my opinion.  I don't say that lightly; I am well aware of the quarterbacks of yesteryear and their achievements.  I'm not biased toward these players because of my generation.  I feel these two have earned it.  I may take up this issue again in another post someday, but right now this display of cards from Baseball Cards Come to Life has gone on long enough.  Though I still haven't finished with this trade yet.  You'll see more later.