One 1992 Pro Line football card’s story includes three Super Bowl rings & four NFL team employees

If you’re a long-time reader of The Buzz, then you’ve seen this card before, but with the Super Bowl last night in Minneapolis there was a reason for it to hit The Buzz’s Twitter Machine, too.

It’s a 1992 Pro Line Profiles card for Hall of Famer Howie Long, and it was among the few tweets in an 11-hour marathon for Super Bowl LII last night simply because of the tree-climbing kid on the right.

Why? That’s Eagles defensive end Chris Long, who was roughly six years old at the time of this family portrait that made its way to cardboard — and that’s far from the only piece of trivia here.

Buzz 12 in 12: Busting a 1993 Classic Pro Line Live NFL box (Hour 12)

Do you like Buzz Breaks? Today’s your day then as we launch 12 in 12 — a series of a dozen breaks of past wax boxes and wax packs in a dozen hours. We’ll post one every hour on the hour all day long today … this is our finale for today.

The box: 1993 Classic Pro Line Live NFL
The cost: $29

What’s inside this one? Keep reading …

Cortez Kennedy’s Hall of Fame career included very few autographs

Cortez Kennedy was a mainstay for the Seattle Seahawks for 11 seasons, starting 153 of 167 games every year beginning in 1990.

Along the way, Kennedy signed just two certified autograph cards for a trading card company and did just one more signing after he was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2012.

The 48-year-old died on Tuesday, according to the Orlando Police Department.

Has NFL Pro Line (sort of) returned inside 2016 Panini Absolute?

The feel of 1991 Pro Line is back in packs of 2016 Panini Absolute football cards — but with a modern-day twist.

This time, the NFL gear seen in players’ portraits on the cards is inside the cards as memorabilia swatches.

Buzz Break: 1996 Pro Line football cards

From time to time, Buzz will break a box of something and post the results here. Like this and want to see more? Or maybe there’s a box you’d want to see busted? Send Buzz an email at BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com.

The box: 1996 Pro Line football cards
Where to buy: Check eBay.

Packs per box: 28
Cards per pack: 10
Cards in this box: 280
Base set completion: 
252 of 350 (72 percent)
Duplicates: 18
Triplicates: 6

Notables on base cards — Joe Montana, Junior Seau, Dan Marino, Warren Moon,  Jerry Rice, Deion Sanders, Barry Sanders, John Elway, Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, Jerome Bettis, Reggie White, Steve Young, Marshall Faulk, Randall Cunningham, Jim Kelly.

Notable Rookie Cards — Keyshawn Johnson, Mike Alstott, Eddie George

Buzz Break: 1995 Pro Line football cards

From time to time, Buzz will break a box of something and post the results here. Like this and want to see more? Or maybe there’s a box you’d want to see busted? Send Buzz an email at BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com.

The box: 1995 Pro Line football cards
Where to buy: Check eBay on this one.

Packs per box: 36
Cards per pack: 10
Cards in this box: 360
Base set completion: 
319 of 400 (80 percent)
Duplicates: 0

Notables on base cards — Joe Montana, Drew Bledsoe, Junior Seau, Dan Marino, Warren Moon,  Jerry Rice, Deion Sanders, Barry Sanders, Andre Rison, John Elway, Sterling Sharpe, Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, Jerome Bettis, Reggie White, Steve Young, Marshall Faulk, Randall Cunningham, Jim Kelly.

Notable Rookie Cards — Steve McNair, Jeff Blake, Warren Sapp, Ki-Jana Carter, Kordell Stewart, Joey Galloway, Derrick Brooks.

Dennis Green is who we thought he was — a coach with very few cards

“They are who we thought they were” may be a sound bite he’s remembered for, but Dennis Green also will be remembered as being what many thought he was.

A pretty decent football coach.

The former Minnesota Vikings and Arizona Cardinals leader died from an apparent heart attack on Friday at age 67. He last coached a decade ago with the Cardinals, going 5-11 to cap his 13-year coaching resume with 113 wins and 94 losses.

Sunday Six: Memorable (and cheap) cards from 1992 Pro Line Portraits

There are many sports cards sets out there from the past that aren’t valuable in the financial way at all but they can carry some intrinsic quality that should just resonate with some collectors anyway.

Maybe it’s just because Buzz ripped these packs in the past — or maybe because they are just so much more different than anything made in the years since — but one set that feels that way for me is 1992 Pro Line Portraits. It’s a football card set that’s simple — portraits on the front — and oddly non-statistical with thoughts from the person on the back. Most are football players, but some are players’ wives and others are celebrities who have a fondness for the game. One of those people, for example, is Muhammad Ali and you can see his Team NFL insert card (No. 1 in the set) above. The biggest draw of these back then? There was an autographed card guaranteed in every box.

For a simple Sunday item — call it a Sunday Six — here’s a look at six fun cards from the product.

Sports world loses a legend — Muhammad Ali dies at 74

As he told us all, he floated like a butterfly and stung like a bee — he was the greatest of the great … his name was Muhammad Ali.

The legendary boxer, iconic athlete, activist and cultural figure died Friday night. He was 74.

“A true great has left us,” promotor Bob Arum told ESPN. “Muhammad Ali transformed this country and impacted the world with his spirit. His legacy will be part of our history for all time.”

Need a fun & affordable football card focus? Try collecting NFL sons

Admit it, you may have overdone things when it comes to buying football cards this year — maybe past years, too — and have a big ol’ stash of cards you don’t know what to do with. What do you keep? What do you jettison? That’s where having a collecting focus comes in. If you haven’t overdone it on wax, then maybe having a focus for your single-card buys is a need. (That’s one even Buzz has struggled with over decades of collecting.)

One potential niche that seems prevalent this year in NFL and college sets? Cards showing the kids of former NFL players who have now made their way onto cardboard.

They seem to be everywhere this year. Second-generation players aren’t anything new, of course, but they can be a fun way to revisit the past while also collecting the present. Buzz started his collecting days in the 1980s and, back then, a Joe Montana autograph wasn’t an easy find — plus, his handwriting didn’t justify the high cost on a small budget. Fast-forward to 2015 and Nick Montana has cardboard. He won’t be an NFL star — he wasn’t really even that good in college — and the handwriting also isn’t great, but he’s got a certified autograph card.

Buzz wanted it, Buzz got it. Can’t say the same thing for a Joe autograph, though, even all these years later.

Buzz List: Five top Santa Claus cards *serious* collectors need right now

With the holiday season here, cardboard is probably on the minds of many Buzz readers as they wonder what might await them soon.

Others, like Buzz, might be thinking of Cardboard of Christmas Past — you know, some of the Santa Claus trading cards we’ve seen throughout the years. Most of it’s trivial and not all that collectable — but they all stand out in a way compared to our traditional sports cards.

1989 Pro Set Promos #1989
When Dallas-based Pro Set created this card during its first season of making football cards in 1989, it sparked a trend that we saw in not just football cards but other areas in the years that followed. (Boy are there some bad Photoshop jobs there in the 1990s.) For all intents and purposes, though, Buzz would call this one a “Rookie Card.” Yes, there were previous non-sports cards — but this was the one that put cards like this on the minds of the sports-collecting masses after it was mailed out to dealers and selected NFL-related people.