Bill Goldberg’s WWE Hall of Fame career started long ago on cards

If you want the “rookie card” of the next member of the WWE Hall of Fame, you’ll have to look back to 1980s SEC football to get in on the action.

It’s Bill Goldberg, a former Georgia Bulldogs star, who’ll get WWE’s highest nod on April 7 in New Orleans on the eve of WrestleMania XXXIV.

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Alabama Coach Nick Saban’s historic title chase could spark new interest in already hot autographs

With a victory tonight, University of Alabama Head Football Coach Nick Saban would equal a giant not only in the history of college football but a giant in his school’s history.

His Crimson Tide plays in Bryant-Denny Stadium on Paul W. Bryant Drive down the road from the Paul W. Bryant Museum and the Bryant Conference Center — all reminders of Bear Bryant and his NCAA-record six national championships and 323 career victories. (Saban is at 285.)

Tonight’s College Football Playoff National Championship is Saban’s sixth title-game appearance in the last nine years and with a win he’ll have his sixth season title for his career. Saban had his chance at tying Bryant last season when his undefeated team lost in the final seconds on the final play of the game against Clemson, which Alabama knocked off in a rematch this year to advance to tonight’s game against the Georgia Bulldogs. Both of Alabama’s postseason foes this year are coached by former Tide assistants, Dabo Swinney at Clemson and Kirby Smart at Georgia, but neither has autographs and football card appearances as easily found as the legend of today, Saban.

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Some of Alabama & Georgia’s biggest stars already have football cards thanks to prep bowl games

The college football world got a pair of classic showdowns on Monday night and will get a third next week when the Alabama Crimson Tide and the Georgia Bulldogs face off for the College Football Playoff National Championship.

There were some dominating performances for these two squads in the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl and the good news for collectors who might not know is that a number of those stars now set to chase gridiron history already appear on fully licensed football cards thanks to card companies’ deals with prep spotlight games such as the U.S. Army All-American Bowl and the Under Armour All-America Game.

In the case of the Bulldogs and their game-winning star Sony Michel — as well as his fellow bruiser RB Nick Chubb and QB Jake Fromm — they can all be found on Army cards from Leaf Trading Cards. Michel’s first of more than 40 cards was made back in 2011 and nearly all of the are autographed. Chubb has around 30 cards from 2014 and beyond, while Fromm has more than both of them with nearly 50 signed. His are all from this year’s set — and this trio is likely not alone for Bulldog cameos as there have been plenty of cards made for the event in past years (some wax is still findable — there’s even a Vault release on the way).

The Crimson Tide guys? There’s a lot more mystery there …

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