Things That Go Bump in the Afternoon

As of yesterday, the calendar has officially turned to October.  You know what that means - it's time to wake up Billie Joe Armstrong, stock up on pumpkin spice flavored everything and slip into the Halloween "spirit."  The season of spooks, ghouls and goblins is officially upon us and all of the pop-up costume stores in what used to be Sports Authority's will attest to that fact.  Adam from Cardboard Clubhouse is showing us all up and certainly embracing his inner monster.

As you know, frights, haunts and scares are the name of the game when it comes to Halloween.  Scary movies populate the late night television listings, haunted houses make money hand over fist and even entire amusement parks fill out their grounds with actors in terrifying costumes.  Things that go bump in the night are lurking around each and every corner this time of year; one must always be attentive.

However, there is one bump that is decidedly not scary - Trevor's Bump and Run Football Card Blog. Of course, that's because he sends out PWE's full of free cards and mail is delivered in the middle of the afternoon and not in the middle of the night (the witching hour).

Trevor wanted to make some blogging patrons aware of his new address, so he sent out a round of PWE's.  I think we can all agree that the stationary he used for the explanatory note is decidedly not scary and only further disarming.  Hopefully this isn't all a trap to lull me into a sense of false security.

In his message, Trevor apologizes for using such "juvenile paper."  Don't worry Trev - I work at a school, so this just looks normal to me!

Anyway, the main attraction in this PWE was, of course, the cards - not the note.  Trevor's blog title might indicate that his forte is football; however, the man is also a noted Cubs fan and collects as such.  So, I can only assume that the card which lead off this mailing was a duplicate:

Don't get me wrong - this is a well-framed picture, a classic design and even features a bonus cameo from short-term Cubs skipper Rick Renteria (who appears to be set to take over the reigns for the other team in town - he deserved another shot at managing), all of which add up to being a nice card. However, Baez and Castro were never really the main double play combination on the North Side of Chicago.

In the spirit of the season, this card is masquerading as something it's not.  That said, it's a nice costume.

Now, the rest of this envelope was populated with new and new(ish) football cards.  Seeing as how I almost never buy modern gridiron product, this was a more than welcome sight for my Bears All-Time Roster Collection:

Here we have a pair of 23's.

First up is a new-to-me 2013 Prestige single of my favorite Bear from my lifetime in Devin "the Windy City Flyer" Hester.  While, he's been inconsistent, at best, as a wide receiver in Chicago and now in Atlanta, as a kick/punt returner, he was among the most explosive and exciting players in the game.  His return of the opening kickoff in Superbowl XLI is definitely one of my favorite sporting memories... as for the rest of that contest, that was far more terrifying than anything the Halloween season can produce.

Speaking of terrifying, the 2016 edition of the Bears makes me cringe worse than a low budget slasher flick.  It doesn't help that their roster is populated with the "walking dead," in that injuries have absolutely battered their ranks.  This unfortunately includes their young cornerback with star potential - Kyle Fuller - who is currently on injured reserve after arthroscopic knee surgery.  

As for the card, I absolutely love that Kyle appears to be staring straight at the camera, despite hauling in a pass in mid-air,  as this photo was taken.  That's some "scary" ability, right there.

Also, R.I.P. Topps Football.

This Topps Platinum single is totally in the Halloween spirit - just look at all that orange!

In total, this is only my second card of Kevin White as a Bear (told you I don't buy any current football) and easily becomes my favorite.  I'm a sucker for anything that's super shiny and makes heavy use of team colors in the background design.

And now it's time for Trevor's grand finale:

My first "Bears" cards of a couple of 2016 rooks from Panini's Prestige line - fifth rounder Jordan Howard and first rounder Leonard Floyd.   There were no tricks and all treats in this particular envelope!

Notably, the Howard is a shiny, foil Extra Points parallel, of which there are several variants. I'm assuming this is the red one, since the purple (#/100), gold (#/50), platinum (#/25) and black (#/10) versions are all numbered.  It sure is pretty!

Thank you Trevor for the excellent PWE - it was filled with more goodies than a bag of fun-size Milky Ways!  Let this be a lesson to us all, not everything that goes "Bump" is frightful.  I'll make sure to return the favor ASAP and stuff and envelope full of Cubs as well as some devilish Packers...

...those are the real ghouls after all.