Retro Blog Bat Around: Who Do You Think Of First? - NFL Edition

Was just perusing my old posts (as I did quite often...at work.  LOL) and realized that I had done the Bat Around for the MLB on which player comes to mind when each team is mentioned.  I said I would do the NFL version soon, but apparently never did.

Well, here goes.... 

Of course, most of the time, I think of the great quarterbacks and HOF'ers by default - unless I have a major player collection from the same team.  I'll try to go beyond the QB's for this (survey).  And even though I still watch NFL football (and UFL) and know the current players well, I think there's a good argument to add a vintage or all-time player too, though that may put the choices right back to the classic QB's, which are the boring answers.  I'm probably overthinking all of this.  I guess the number one thing to keep in mind is that this is not "who's the greatest player of that team", but just "Who do you think of first?"

Now, what order do I go in? 😜  Since I had to cut each one from the group shot above, they appear in alphabetic order, so let's go with that:

Arizona Cardinals
default answer: Kyler Murray or Jim Hart
all-time answer: Larry Fitzgerald
quirky answer: Dan Dierdorf

Atlanta Falcons
default answer: Bijan Robinson or Matt Ryan
all-time answer: Michael Vick
quirky answer: Tommy Nobis

 

Baltimore Ravens
default answer: Lamar Jackson or Joe Flacco
all-time answer: Ray Lewis
quirky answer: Obafemi (Femi) Ayanbadejo

Buffalo Bills
default answer: Josh Allen or Damar Hamlin
all-time answer: OJ Simpson or Jim Kelly
quirky answer: Marshawn Lynch

Carolina Panthers
default answer: Cam Newton
all-time answer: Steve Smith, Jr.
quirky answer: Stephen Davis

Chicago Bears
default answer: Caleb Williams
all-time answer: Walter Payton or Dick Butkus
quirky answer: Peanut Tillman

Cincinnati Bengals
default answer: Joe Burrow or Jamar Chase
all-time answer: Anthony Muñoz or Ken Anderson
quirky answer: Ickey Woods

Cleveland Browns
default answer: Shadeur Sanders or Deshaun Watson
all-time answer: Jim Brown
quirky answer: Ozzie Newsome

Dallas Cowboys
default answer: Dak Prescott or CeeDee Lamb
all-time answer: Roger Staubach or Troy Aikman
quirky answer: Ed "Too Tall" Jones

 

Denver Broncos
default answer: Bo Nix
all-time answer: Peyton Manning or Shannon Sharpe
quirky answer: Tom Jackson (from? Looivul)

Detroit Lions
default answer: Matthew Stafford or Calvin Johnson
all-time answer: Barry Sanders
quirky answer: Charlie Batch or Rodney Peete

Green Bay Packers
default answer: Aaron Rodgers
all-time answer: Brett Favre or Reggie White
quirky answer: Bubba Franks

Houston Texans
default answer: CJ Stroud
all-time answer: J.J. Watt
quirky answer: Demeco Ryans

Indianapolis Colts
default answer: Peyton Manning
all-time answer: Johnny Unitas
quirky answer: Bert Jones

Jacksonville Jaguars
default answer: Trevor Lawrence
all-time answer: Tony Boselli or Mark Brunell
quirky answer: David Garrard

Chiefs
default answer: Patrick Mahomes
all-time answer: Derrick Thomas or Tony Gonzalez
quirky answer: Priest Holmes or Emmitt Thomas

 

Chargers
default answer: Justin Herbert
all-time answer: Junior Seau or Dan Fouts
quirky answer: Charlie Joiner

Rams
default answer: Puka Nacua or Aaron Donald
all-time answer: Torry Holt or Isaac Bruce
quirky answer: James Harris

Raiders
default answer: Maxx Crosby
all-time answer: Ken Stabler or Jack Tatum
quirky answer: Lyle Alzado

Dolphins
default answer: Tua Tagovailoa
all-time answer: Larry Csonka or Dan Marino
quirky answer: Louis Oliver

Vikings
default answer: Justin Jefferson
all-time answer: Randy Moss or Fran Tarkenton
quirky answer: Tommy Kramer

Patriots
default answer: Drake Maye
all-time answer: Tom Brady
quirky answer: Sam "Bam" Cunningham

Saints
default answer: Alvin Kamara or Chris Olave
all-time answer: Archie Manning
quirky answer: Sam Mills

Giants
default answer: Cam Skattebo or Jaxson Dart
all-time answer: Lawrence Taylor or Eli Manning
quirky answer: Plaxico Burress or Amani Toomer

Jets
default answer: Garrett Wilson
all-time answer: Joe Namath or Curtis Martin
quirky answer: Richard Todd

Eagles
default answer: Jalen Hurts or Saquon Barkley
all-time answer: Donovan McNabb or Randall Cunningham
quirky answer: Wilbert Montgomery

Steelers
default answer: T.J. Watt or Aaron Rodgers
all-time answer: Terry Bradshaw or Ben Roethlisberger
quirky answer: Willie Parker

Seahawks
default answer: Jaxon Smith-Njigba
all-time answer: Steve Largent or Russell Wilson
quirky answer: Marshawn Lynch

 

49ers
default answer: Christian McCaffrey
all-time answer: Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, or Steve Young
quirky answer: Colin Kaepernick or Terrell Owens

Buccaneers
default answer: Mike Evans or Jameis Winston
all-time answer: Derrick Brooks or Tom Brady
quirky answer: Cadillac Williams

Titans
default answer: Cam Ward (and not many others)
all-time answer: Steve McNair or Eddie George
quirky answer: Jevon Kearse

Commanders
default answer: Jayden Daniels
all-time answer: John Riggins or Darrell Green
quirky answer: Billy Kilmer or Taylor Heinicke

That was pretty much right off the top of my head, so I'm not sure how much it made you think of players you haven't heard about in a long time.  Let me know in the comments if there were glaring omissions, or more ridiculous players to consider.
 

Retired Players

Retirement is nice.

Though we've regressed to the point of staying up really late and consequently waking up close to 11AM most days.  We'll have to get back to responsible adulting in August when Angela goes back to work.

But there has been progress. The card room is shaping up nicely.  I'll do a post on it when the floor is completely cleared.  I've got all the boxes and binders pretty much in their place, and most of the extra stuff is within reach.  There are still piles to put away and cards in the spare bedroom to sort and move.

This past Tuesday, we even went to Kevin's Cards in Greencastle and spent four hours digging out singles.  She found several of her PC guys and I got some SPs and Jayden Daniels.  I haven't taken pictures of those yet, so hopefully I don't forget and you can see them.

But this post is for an eBay purchase I made in May.  (This is how far behind I am with certain things.)  The seller, andmalts, had all kinds of inserts, reprints, parallels, obscure issues, etc.  Everything from '60's Topps stamps, 80's TCMA and Fritsch sets, 90's base and insert singles, to last year's hockey parallels, and more.

I loaded up on my PC guys things that I didn't have and haven't seen very often.

Starting off with a reprint of Charlie Keller's Tip Top Bread from 1947.  I have a decent condition original, but sprung for the rerun anyway. 

Here's the back.

Another Charlie Keller original that I didn't have.  I don't think postcards are usually 3½" tall, but I might be wrong.  Bud is a standard size card for scale.  

The back doesn't feel like it matches the size, but it's real.

Bud is also paired with these two postcard size 1986 Big Apple 3x5 cards.  It's a 12 card set of Mets and Yankees.  They are blank backed.

More Mets, this time from Kahn's in '91.  These are well made.

Manny Sanguillen in the other of two TCMA All-Time Pirates sets.  This one has the front in red.  I think the backs on the other set are white too.

Julio Franco from the Starting Lineup figures.  I would chase the actual figures, but I don't have space to display things like that.  I took down most of the stuff I had on the baseball cabinet and boxed it up and sent it all to the basement. Trying to keep it simple in this version of the card room.

A pair of Carlton Fisk additions to his PC.  Starting lineup from the same set (1988), and a Mr. Turkey Superstar.  Hadn't heard of those until I saw this listing.  Tempted to get the whole set just for the goofy name.

 

And finally, two more from the humongous Target Dodgers set.  Ron Fairly (RIP) and a very young Pete Richert.

That's it for today.  I hope to get in a few more posts this month.  Have a couple in the works, but there's so much to do around here, we'll see.

Like Miggy, 'Melo, and Gronk...

I'm on leave from work on the 29th and 30th of June.  (It's the 29th as I write this.)  Two ten-hour days uses up my Personal leave exactly.  I've still got vacation and sick leave left.  This is intentional...

Because on Wednesday, July 1, I become officially retired from the FCPS school system after 22 years, 7 months.

I would have stayed a couple more years to reach 25.  I enjoyed the people I worked with, and liked fixing chromebooks, laptops, desktops and the occasional 3D printer, moving freight around in the basement, managing the repair parts inventory, installing new equipment in the school lab rooms, and to a lesser degree, taking Help Desk phone calls.  Unfortunately, the big boss decided to move half of our staff to another group, and restrict the five of us who would be left to Help Desk phones ONLY.  I said, "no thank you."  And here we are.

No more early mornings unless it's something special.  No more long days without snacks or naps.  No more commute.  No more fast food lunches.  (Well, OK, less of them at least.) 

More time for whatever I want, including projects and maintenance around the house, organizing the card room (better), putting away all the stuff I've brought in for the last two years, consolidating my lists from this site and the TCDB, working on my classic cars, arranging everything in the garage and basement, and finding more card shops!

Angela has July off too, so we will be filling the days with fun stuff.  After that, my blogging, sorting, trading and maybe even selling will leap to new heights!  Not sure I'll be a Hall Of Famer like the guys in the title, but if there's one for the card world, I might be closer soon. Stay Tuned!