Thursday, November 4, 2010

When Did Upper Deck Become Panini?

I ran across these packs of 2010 Upper Deck Greats of the Game and decided to check them out. I'm not sure when they were released exactly, but I hadn't seen them so I grabbed 2 packs.

Here's the wrapper. It's got Michael Jordan pre-Hitler 'stache on it. I didn't know what to expect of the cards inside. Upper Deck stuff in the past has pretty much always been well designed and I miss them not putting out any professionally licensed stuff any more. I was hoping for something pretty cool, but was rather surprised when this is what I found inside...

a Panini product! Check them out, all the classic signs! Dull, monochromatic, non-team colored border, check! Closeup of single player, no teammates or opposition in site, check! Annoying, white gradient just waiting for an auto sticker, check! Cut Off At The Junk, check! What the heck! All that's missing is the actual Panini logo in the corner.

The backs of the cards and the 1 insert I got were equally bland. (And I got Adrian Dantley. I hate Adrian Dantley. The Mavs traded Mark Aguirre away for him right when I moved to Dallas. That pissed me off.) I think someone from Panini has flown the coop and ended up at UD. What do you think? Later.

2 comments:

  1. Greats of the Game came out several months ago, to little fan fair. I was def one of the worst releases of the year. All the auto's are sticker too.

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  2. Greats of the Game was a Fleer brand and it definitely has the feel of a Fleer brand not a UD brand.

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