2019 COMC purchases: falling for football inserts

Well, I wanted a win and a win is what I got!  The offense stalled--for both teams, really--but Michigan's defense came up huge time after time in a vintage performance.  The team's detractors, many of whom think of themselves as fans somehow, will have to move the goalposts elsewhere, which I don't think they'll have a problem doing.  As for me, I'll enjoy another big win and celebrate with some cards.

Today's gonna be another short one before a big finish.  I picked up a small number of football inserts, and I think a decent number of you will enjoy these as much as I do since some were made during the height of cardboard creativity.

That's not me booing over here, I'm yelling "Duuuuuuuuuuuufex!"  Pinnacle's signature insert effect is on full display when it comes to this '95 Zenith Rookie Roll Call of former #1 WR Derrick Alexander.  It sure is nice to look at, and don't think I didn't catch that little "NO MORE THAN 1,200 SETS PRODUCED" notice on the bottom.  That's 42 cards of Alexander, almost as many as his 48 receptions that indeed led rookie wideouts in '94, as the back mentions.

Sticking with Pinnacle, we'll jump forward one year to the '96 version's Die Cut Jerseys insert.  This one, starring PC guy Tim Biakabutuka, isn't Dufexed, but the jersey-shaped die-cutting is very cool and instantly caught my eye while I was browsing his cards on COMC.  Bonus points for the back serving as a reminder for the way he demolished Ohio State's defense in 1995!

Now let's go with a more recent player, one that keeps up the theme of offense and brings a Michigan uni photo to the table as well.  What you see here is Devin Funchess' 2015 Prestige Extra Points Gold parallel (#16/50) of his RC from that product.  This was yet another design that I enjoyed from Prestige, with the front offering a nice bonus of showing Funch's draft position and the back providing some stats in a non-traditional format.  Add in some gold and serial-numbering and I'm on board!

By most measures, Jeff Garcia had a better career than former Michigan QB Elvis Grbac, but that doesn't quite Settle the Score, like this insert of the same name from 2001 Select (#437/550).  Elvis did leave the building in 1994 with a Super Bowl ring after getting a bit of playing time during his rookie season with the Niners, who'd go on to win it all.  Sure, it amounted to all of 50 pass attempts, including an incompletion plus a fumble (which he didn't lose) on a rush in the big game in garbage time, but that's more than Garcia can say!

Speaking of former QBs, Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh has been a lightning rod for criticism for many reasons, often due to his X's and O's.  I hope he and OC Josh Gattis figure things out because despite the way he's come up short in his four-plus seasons, I still root for him and want to see him succeed, if only to shut up the media and fans that build him up so they can call him overrated.  He definitely needs to improve, but fans should be getting behind him and the team.  Consider this shiny 1999 Playoff Momentum SSD X's insert (#182/300) a show of support from TMV.

Everybody else in today's post played offense but given the Iowa game's result, the defense has more than earned the honor of closing things out, just as they did against the Hawkeyes.  Tackling machine David Harris was one of my favorite Michigan defenders, and he carried over that performance to the NFL, making the program proud once again.  He must have been a great pro because it's relatively rare to see defenders on cardboard, such as this 2017 Donruss Jersey Number parallel (#28/52).  I count myself as a fan of parallels like this and the Stat Line cards which are numbered to something specific instead of a generic 100, 1000, etc.  Speaking of that other insert, Harris does indeed have a season Stat Line parallel in the 2017 product which offers his sunset cards.

With one more post in this series I'll try to get the last one--which, again, is a doozy--up soon so I can move on to a trade package, eBay loot, and another big-ass Sportlots haul.  Until then, GO BLUE!