The Routing Table This Week: Contenders Hockey, National Treasures Football
I began trembling at my desk in the middle of the afternoon on Thursday. For the life of me, I couldn't understand why. In fact, it wasn't until I walked to the far end of the building later that evening that I figured out what was causing my sweaty tremors. A serious case of Routing Table withdrawal. (more…)
The Routing Table This Week: Contenders Hockey, National Treasures Football
I began trembling at my desk in the middle of the afternoon on Thursday. For the life of me, I couldn't understand why. In fact, it wasn't until I walked to the far end of the building later that evening that I figured out what was causing my sweaty tremors. A serious case of Routing Table withdrawal. (more…)
Panini Peek: 2010-11 Contenders Hockey
In this history-making season of hockey firsts for Panini America, perhaps no other product on the release calendar has received as much pre-release anticipation as 2010-11 Contenders. It's a product with a proud, universally embraced lineage in the other sports that most hockey collectors hoped -- with crossed fingers -- would make its way to the ice. In late March, it will. (more…)
Panini America On Location Video: The Taylor Hall Signing Session
Taylor Hall, the Edmonton Oilers' sensational rookie winger, came through town earlier this week for Tuesday's game against the Dallas Stars, providing Panini America with a can't-miss Monday night meeting with the first overall pick of the 2010 NHL Entry Draft. Equipped with a Flip camera and some of the sweetest hockey cards you've ever seen, Panini America acquisitions specialist Alex Carbajal ventured downtown to the posh team hotel for a quick…
Panini Peek: Crown Royale Hockey’s Unparalleled Rookie Card Parallels
I'm among the fortuitous few who happened to be present earlier today when five unsigned Rookie Silhouettes inserts from the forthcoming 2010-11 Crown Royale Hockey set arrived in the building, hot off the printing press. What I saw left me knee-weak and borderline breathless. (more…)
Panini Unwrapped: 2010-11 Limited Hockey
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LiPg9mwt4lY&fs=1&hl=en_US] Clint Hall and Scott Prusha have their way with two early boxes of 2010-11 Limited Hockey, in which they pull one of the sweetest oversized Sidney Crosby swatches you'll ever see. Watch to find out more, including who Hall spent time with last night.
Panini Peek: 2010-11 Pinnacle Hockey
Three months from now, at a time when most young hipsters are smack dab in the middle of spring break, Panini America will be giving hockey purists the real reason to party with the serendipitous return of Pinnacle Hockey after 12 seasons away. The March 16 release of 2010-11 Pinnacle Hockey will mark the celebrated reemergence to the market of…
On the Routing Table: Contenders Football, Crown Royale Hockey, Century Collection
I went snooping near the back of the building late Wednesday afternoon to see what I could find that could tide us over during the Thanksgiving holiday. Well, I found a most bountiful harbinger harvest at the trusty routing table, a veritable cornucopia of product-previewing goodness. On this particular afternoon, I was treated to pre-production paperwork for premier Panini America…
Promotions Add Pop to Panini’s Official NFL, NHL Sticker & Album Collections
It's one thing to have the launch of Panini America's official NFL Sticker & Album Collection announced in the middle of Times Square for everyone to see. It's something else altogether grass-rootsy and different -- yet perhaps every bit as effective -- to have almost 600,000 albums and more than 1.5 million sheets of stickers (covering both the NFL and NHL collections) distributed absolutely free inside market-leading newspapers…
The Week That Was: Baseball Hall of Famers, Hockey Nameplates, Hoops Legends and NFL Rookie Inscriptions
Fabled philosopher Forrest Gump was fond of saying that "life was like a box of chocolates." Frankly, he could have just as easily said the same thing about life at Panini America. After all, from one week to the next you never know what you're going to get -- literally. Last week alone, we received signatures -- on cards, on…