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Slap-Shot City: Upper Deck Releases

2010-11 Victory Hockey with Rookie Cards Galore

Budding superstars in the making like Nazem Kadri, PK Subban,

Zach Hamill and Jared Cowan headline the rookie card chase!

Carlsbad, CA (August 4, 2010) – Although it‘s been only eight weeks since the Chicago Blackhawks recorded the franchise’s first Stanley Cup championship in 50 years, a new NHL season is nearly upon us and Upper Deck has gone back to work with the release of its first 2010-11 trading card set: Victory Hockey. A 250-card collection, Victory Hockey hits store shelves this week and provides collectors with the very first rookie cards of any players who made their debuts at the end of the 2009-10 NHL campaign and guarantees at least one rookie card or superstar insert card in every pack!

“Victory Hockey represents the perfect way to start off the new season,” said Josh Zusman, Upper Deck’s hockey brand manager. “We were thrilled with last year’s outstanding rookie crop and there were several first-year players who made it up to their team’s roster and even made an impact in the postseason. This set gets the new NHL season started off in style.”

The insert chase begins with “Victory Rookies” falling at an average of one in every two packs. Standouts like Toronto’s sizzling forward Nazem Kadri, Montreal’s versatile defenseman PK Subban and Ottawa’s stellar blue-liner Jared Cowan are just some of the upstarts from last season who made their presence felt. Next, superstar inserts like “Game Breakers” and “Stars of the Game,” both falling at a rate of 1:4 packs, combine to deliver a 1:2 packs average hit. Proven players like Alexander Ovechkin, Ilya Kovalchuk, Sidney Crosby and Dany Heatley, along with top-notch rookies like John Tavares and James van Riemsdyk from last season, are part of the “Game Breakers” lineup, while tested veterans like Martin Brodeur, Jarome Iginla, Roberto Luongo and Joe Thornton are all spotlighted in “Stars of the Game.”

There is also a pair of set parallels to collect: the rare Gold version (base cards, 1:36 packs; and rookie cards, 1:144 packs) and the scarcer Black variation. Both levels will no doubt keep set collectors cracking packs in search of completing their overall collections.

Upper Deck’s 2010-11 Victory Hockey includes six cards per pack and 36 packs per box, and is currently available on hobby and retail store shelves.

About Upper Deck

Upper Deck is the leading sports and entertainment trading card and collectibles company. For more information on Upper Deck and its products please visit www.upperdeck.com.

Upper Deck Releases 2009-10 SP Game-Used Hockey!

When it comes to securing top-notch jersey, patch and gear cards,

this lamp-lighting collection represents the NHL’s one-stop shop for collectors

Carlsbad, CA (April 14, 2010) – With this season’s NHL playoffs set to begin tonight with four first-round matchups, the Upper Deck Company is proud to announce the release of its latest NHL-licensed trading card set: 2009-10 SP Game-Used Hockey. A 100-card regular set, SP Game-Used provides all the thrills and chills for hockey card aficionados looking to get as close to the game as possible with at least one memorabilia or autographed card in every pack, on average.

“Our SP Game-Used set truly does have something for everyone,” said Josh Zusman, Upper Deck’s hockey brand manager. “The signed manufactured patch cards are now an annual offering, as are last year’s debut of the ‘Fight Strap’ cards. And with two rookie cards per box, as well as our various autographed cards sprinkled throughout, collectors really can’t go wrong with buying a box.”

The hits just keep on coming as Upper Deck’s lineup of insert cards leaves no puck unturned. In addition to the likelihood of landing either a memorabilia or autographed card in every pack, SP Game-Used Hockey boasts an incredible assortment of inserts starting with the readily available “Authentic Fabrics.” Moving right along, collectors will seek out “Inked Sweaters” autographed jersey cards (numbered to 50), featuring the likes of John Tavares, Matt Duchene and Patrick Kane, as well as “Legends Classic Patches” (numbered to 25), including past hockey standouts like Bryan Trottier, Butch Goring, Billy Smith and Dale Hawerchuk. And let’s not forget about the red-hot “Letters of Distinction” inserts with varied numbering, which sport the actual “A’s” and “C’s” right off of players’ game-worn jerseys!

The depth of autographed cards inside the set is especially significant as rookies, current stars and retired legends abound. The two levels of the “SIGnificance” offerings (numbered to 50 and numbered to 25) are jam-packed with talent young and old as names like Jonathan Toews, Steven Stamkos, Steve Yzerman, Brian Leetch and even Johnny Bucyk jump off the checklist. The dual-signed “Extra SIGnificance” (numbered to 25) and thrice-signed “Triple SIGnificance” (numbered to 10) cards will no doubt have collectors screaming with excitement upon cracking lucky packs.

Lastly, the sought-after rookie cards that are available – “Authentic Rookies” (numbed to 999) and “Authentic Rookies SP” (numbed to 99) – will round out one’s collection very nicely. And the “Rookie Exclusives” autograph cards are all numbered to 100. With names like Tavares, Duchene and Victor Hedman waiting to be discovered, excessive crack-packing will be at an all-time high.

The product, currently on store shelves, includes three cards per pack, six packs per box.

About Upper Deck

Upper Deck is the leading sports and entertainment trading card and collectibles company. For more information on Upper Deck and its products please visit www.upperdeck.com.

###

Media Contact:

Terry Melia

Public Relations Manager, Upper Deck

760-929-3055; or terry_melia [at] upperdeck [dot] com

ARLINGTON, Texas – Panini America, Inc. is thrilled to announce an exclusive, multi-year marketing and licensing agreement with the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Panini is already the exclusive trading-card licensee for the NBA and this new relationship with the Hall of Fame expands its global basketball presence.

“We’re excited to have the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame join the Panini family,” Panini America CEO Michael Eisenstein said. “This partnership is yet another building block within Panini’s strategy to encompass all aspects of basketball. It’s an honor to have this opportunity.”

The timing of this partnership coincides with the historic induction of the 50th anniversary Hall of Fame Class of 2009, featuring Michael Jordan, David Robinson, Jerry Sloan, John Stockton and C. Vivian Stringer.

“We are pleased Panini has partnered with the Basketball Hall of Fame to showcase an extraordinary collection of trading cards and the unique and exclusive items of historical significance for the sport of basketball, the world’s most popular and storied game,” said John Doleva, President and CEO of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.

Highlights of the agreement include:

• Panini becomes the “Official Marketing and Licensing Partner of the Basketball Hall of Fame,” as well as the Hall of Fame’s exclusive trading-card partner.

• Panini gains the rights to produce Hall of Fame-specific products (memorabilia, trading cards, trading-card games and sticker album collections) and to use the Hall of Fame’s brand and logo in advertising and marketing materials.

• A cooperative effort between Panini and the Hall of Fame on such key events as the annual class announcement, college basketball’s Hall of Fame Showcase and the Spalding Basketball Hall of Fame Hoophall Classic.

In January 2009, the NBA announced that the Panini Group was to become the exclusive trading card partner of the NBA beginning with the 2009-10 season. The Panini Group purchased the industry’s second-oldest trading card company, Donruss, in March and formed the new subsidiary, Panini America, Inc. Since that time, Panini has taken significant steps to fortify its basketball landscape, including exclusive deals with recent No. 1 overall pick Blake Griffin and former NCAA Player of the Year Tyler Hansbrough.

“This agreement with the Basketball Hall of Fame presents another opportunity for Panini to expand its global vision, one that is rapidly becoming synonymous with the game of basketball,” Peter Warsop, Panini’s Group Licensing Director said. “This is another step toward Panini enhancing its reach around the world, one that already includes offices and or partners in more than 100 countries. We are already in the process of taking basketball into many of those markets which will now potentially include Hall of Fame content.  Given this and other, shortly to be announced, initiatives Panini are significantly on course to make a significant enhancement to Basketball Trading Card content, marketing and sales development”

About Panini S.p.A.

The Panini Group established almost 50 years ago in Modena, Italy with subsidiaries throughout Europe and Latin America as well as in Arlington Texas, is the world leader in the published collectable sector and the leading multi-national publisher of comics, children’s magazines and manga in Europe and Latin America.  In 2008, the Panini Group had sales of over 900 million US$. The company has distribution channels in more than 100 countries and employs a staff of over 800.

Panini America announced today that the company stopped the presses this weekend in order to include the FIRST trading card of Minnesota Viking’s quarterback, Brett Favre, in its August, 2009 retail release of Donruss Threads Football. Favre pulled on the purple #4 jersey for the first time last Friday night in the Vikings preseason victory against the Kansas City Chiefs. Panini America dispatched a photographer to the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome with the sole intention of creating this historical card.

“We wanted Favre’s FIRST official Vikings trading card to be an in-game action shot of him wearing the purple #4,” said Panini America Marketing Manager Scott Prusha. “We were able to send a photographer to the game Friday night, print cards Saturday and have them ready for product insertion first thing Monday morning.”

With production of hobby boxes in their final distribution stages, 4,444 Favre cards were inserted exclusively into Wal-mart blaster boxes and packs.

For more information about Panini America, please visit www.paniniamerica.net.

2009 Rookie & Stars Basketball from Panini (HOBBY)

Was bored, so thought WTH! (what the heck!) ~ created a new Bumper Sticker (go buy one now!) I <3 Winter Bumper Sticker (or feel free to buy one of my other creations!)

Mt. Vernon; Auburn, CA: Packed, as usual, nothing new from the last visit.  The ‘father’ winemaker was un-inviting (everyone was referred to as `kids`), making it seem like he only cared about the ‘wine writer’, opening new bottles for him to try, while ‘wine club’ members got to drink the end of the opened bottles.  Tried to ask him what he thought about other regional wineries, but he was unfamiliar with atleast one (Solune, Nevada County).  Didn’t buy anything, just picked up our ‘wine club’ which consisted of three bottles.

Viña Castellano; Auburn, CA: Hadn’t been to this winery, but had seen some local advertising on 49@Bell Road about this winery.  Their tasting room is in the ‘Cave’, which also houses most (from what we saw) of their barrels.  They have netting over their grapes (assumed to keep the birds off).  We started off with Red’s, and Viña Castellano’s 2004 Tempranillo, a nice wine with a smooth finish.  We went through their offering of the day, and decided to become a ‘wine club’ member (which was free to join), then our glasses were ‘upgraded’, and we could ‘resample’ any of the wines, so we retried the ’04 Tempranillo and the ’05 Syrah ~ yummy stuff.  (bought 3 bottles, an ’04 and ’05 Tempranillo, and ’05 Syrah)

Sierra Knolls Winery; Grass Valley; The owners were there today, we’d met two of them at the Nevada County Fair yesterday.  Some very good wines, very friendly people, a nice propert and warm and wonderful setting.  Gathered up a case of Sangiovese for $99 (+tax) and 5 other bottles (3 of which were my favorite Barbera which I tried at the Fair).

Now I’m sitting here enjoying a bottle (with help) of the Sangiovese, and enjoying writing this review.

On a bitter note, the grain we picked up to feed our cattle from ‘Echo Valley Ranch’ has bugs.  We’ve cut back (thousands of dollars) on our feed from this retailer, obviously because of the bugs, but also because 15 minutes down the hill we can save HUNDREDS of dollars on price for BETTER quality feed.  Speaking of which I can hear them bah’ing and moo’ing for dinner, so until next time!  Peace.

Ranch – Baby cow (hiefer) born 7/31/09 ~ yet to be named.

• Recently, I was asked if I wanted one of my pictures of a sheep published in a book to be released soon, and I jumped at the chance as they’re good books on relevant topics.  Will be signing the release and sending it back when I receive it, and will let you all know what the book is, when it is published.  The previous book where my image is published is “Storey’s Illustrated Breed Guide to Sheep, Goats, Cattle and Pigs: 163 Breeds from Common to Rare (Storeys Illustrated Breed Guide)” and you can buy one by clicking the title above.

Cards – Nothing new cardboard wise busted from us in a few weeks.

• Press Pass Legends:  6 hits in every 18-Pack box including 3 autographs per box.  Cases begin shipping October 21st, 2009.

Website: Been trying to add some more content, will post which games I own for Xbox360 and PS3 this month, as well as putting some of the old CS Reviews on this site as well.  Going to post random card images regularly, if you have any that you own you can send the image, or send the card (LOL).

Games – Have been playing Mafia Wars (now level 170) and  Farmville (level 26) on Facebook alot lately, their well put together free games you can play with friends.

• FFXI – Recently hit 69 Beastmaster, Going to revive Black Mage as can solo that as well, and Puppetmaster at 33 will be another one to move up the ranks.  Soloing is great because you don’t need to rely on others, but you can duo or party as well.
• Xbox360 – Most recent game added was Tiger Woods 10, it’s a great game, even if you’re not very good.  You might learn something about golf while playing it.  Waiting for NHL10 demo to be released (Aug18?), have already pre-ordered it.
• PS3 – Turned it on for the first time in 3 months to get some info on an upcoming Beta test I applied for.  Will post when/if I get accepted or not.  One of the questions was do you own/post to a blog with regards to games/gaming, so I said yes, but I’ve been in many Beta Tests (good and bad) and not said anything.

Until next time ~