Card Madness 2022: Pt. 9 (The Finals)

Tonight we find out our NCAA basketball champions. Right now on this blog, we find out our Bump and Run football card champions. In typical March Madness fashion, we have a Card Madness bracket that took some turns I would not have predicted. It has led us to a finals matchup between the Minnesota Vikings and the Philadelphia Eagles. 

Some notable outcomes are the Packers going down hard and Richard Sherman winning a shiny showdown with Kurt Warner to push the Seahawks ahead in Round 1 and the Vikings just squeezing past a strong Giants challenger. Now we are down to two. Let the final bout begin!

Round 5 Championship: Minnesota Vikings vs. Philadelphia Eagles

1992 Ultra #233 Cris Carter vs. 1991 Bowman #401 Fred Barnett

We're throwing it back to the early '90s in this battle of receivers. At this time in their careers, these were two similar players. In fact, both were Eagles, but not together. Philly traded Carter to Minnesota in 1990--the same year they drafted Barnett. Was Barnett taken to replace Carter? Barnett made his first Pro Bowl in 1991 after a 1,000-yard receiving campaign. Carter followed suit in 1992. Interestingly, they are both depicted on the year of their first Pro Bowl appearance on these cards. Carter went on to vastly superior career, however. As for the cards themselves, Barnett has an interesting photo that is one that I tend to gravitate toward: the non-quarterback throwing the ball (albeit in warm-ups in this case). But 1992 Ultra is so much better than 1991 Bowman. It's glossy. It's colorful. There are two more pictures on the back. There may only be one year of stats on the back, but it's still more than Bowman put on the back of their cards then. Actually, I just have a strong dislike for 1991 Bowman all the way around and Fred Barnett is not going to overcome that and a Hall of Famer to win this matchup.

Winner: Vikings

And we have a champion! Congratulations to the Minnesota Vikings, who have taken the card crown for the year. Coming from a Packers fan, this just goes to show the unpredictability of March tournament brackets. Let's recap how they got here.

That's a pretty solid lineup of both players and cards. The strength of the Vikings through the 1990s always seemed to be receiver, and that is shown here in the progression of Anthony Carter to Cris Carter to Randy Moss as the team's WR1 through the decade. 

If we do this again next year, I'm thinking it will be time for baseball. So it looks like the Vikings will remain football card champs for a while on this blog. I hope you enjoyed the series. Let me know your thoughts in the comments.