super bowl sunday made for a meaningful card

one of my favorite super bowls took place in 2010 - twelve years ago tomorrow. while i have been to an nfl playoff game, i've never been to a super bowl, and the first team i actively rooted for (the los angeles rams) lost in their only super bowl appearance during my tenure as a fan. by the time that same franchise won the big game, i had become a viking fan which apparently means no super bowl happiness ever.

still, i will usually watch the game and have enjoyed the company of family and friends while doing so. the 2010 super bowl featured the saints and colts, with the saints winning the game and drew brees being featured on a 2010 topps allen & ginter card

that used a memorable scene from the postgame celebration.

i was really happy that the saints beat the colts in that game. the reason i added this card to my "meaningful and just because" mini-collection stems from the run up to the super bowl and how closely i was following the saints at the time. i had been to new orleans earlier in the football season to see a game in the superdome and had followed the saint's exploits closely all year. in fact, i had the pleasure of meeting and talking with brees a couple of times that year - first at a restaurant when he stopped at our table to talk with us (i was dining with a mutual friend) and second after the game i saw in nola. he had arranged for me and some friends to have field passes prior to the game and then he later stopped over to chat in the player/family tent after the game. he is a difficult guy not to root for.

as far as this year's game goes, i failed at collector crack's contest by picking a repeat of last year's results. i guess it's safe to bet against tom brady now. i think i will root for the bengals even though i began my football fandom cheering for the rams. it would be nice to see the bengals win the big game for the first time and give me a bengal super bowl memory other than tim krumrie's ankle.

king of the north

i figured i would celebrate my canadian heritage with a card, and so here it is:

it is, quite obviously, a 2010 topps allen & ginter's national animals mini insert of the beaver, the national animal of the great white north.  here's the back:

growing up in southern california, the beaver was a mythical creature. actually, outside of zoos, most non-domesticated animals were, save for rattlesnakes, mountain lions, and sea dwelling fare such as otters, sea lions, and regular old seals. however, given my canadian ties, i've always had a respect for the rodent.

when i moved to minnesota, i was able to see beaver huts in the rivers and bald eagles (the national animal of the us of a, also included in this set but not pictured here) flying overhead. it was weird, and i still get enthralled by seeing baldys in the wild even though it was an almost daily occurrence for me before the shelter-in-place order took effect in the spring of 2020.

i once considered starting a maple leaf mini-collection that would consist of cards like this that feature the canadian flag in the background. i wound up not pursuing that idea, but this card is a member of my "meaningful or just because" mini-collection of cards, and it straddles the line between those two criteria.