Ten packs, five cards each. As mentioned previously, these were contest winnings from Panini!
Let's get into this, shall we? How about Allen & Ginter Gint-a-Cuffs scoring style (completely arbitrary scoring, of course), hmm? One of these days I'll be able to buy a box of Ginter and participate in the real contest.
Pack 1
I didn't know who DJ Kool is until relatively recently, when I heard this song:
Awesome. +3 for being a great song. (3)
I've known who Shannon Elizabeth is since American Pie, but being a Kevin Smith fan, her role in Jay & Silent Bob Strike Back is better. +5 for shiny catsuit-wearing criminals. (8)
I really dislike the blue parallels (but still, limited, so +2). And I don't know anything about Tony Orlando. -4 for being a Yankee (seriously, he's from New York). (6)
We saw Jenkins before, and I still don't know anything about him. -2 for being a talento, +2 for the insert. (6)
Cody Simpson is much more modern than Tony Orlando up there, but I don't know anything about him. Skimming his Wikipedia page, he isn't exactly talented as a musician. -1 for lack of talent. (5)
A strong start, but some weak pulls at the end.
Pack 2
Erkel! This card makes this pack great from the start. +2 for high pants. (7)
I like comedians, and Kevin Hart isn't that bad. +2 for being funny. (9)
Another one of those blue parallels (+2). Joan Collins has been seen before, though, and I don't really care much for her movies. (11)
Ginger Rogers has appeared in a lot of Americana sets, but they thankfully seem to change up the pictures pretty often. +2 for the insert, +4 for timeless beauty. (17)
Sure, Roger Moore isn't the best James Bond out there, but he isn't the worst. I like a lot of the Bond movies he was in. +007 (24).
That's a better pack.
Pack 3
I think I've seen more parodies of Sly than actual Stallone film time. +1 for mumbling. (25)
This is a sweet autograph! Autographs are +7, and with the Erkel multiplier it's +14! (39)
As I mentioned before, Bernsen played Roger Dorn in Major League. So +3 for being a third baseman. And this is a blue, so +2, for a total of +5. (44)
Common is a rapper. That's all I know. I don't know any of his music, and I haven't seen any of the movies he's been in. Well, I saw Dave Chappelle's Block Party, but he didn't act in that. +2 for being an insert. (46)
A common Common. -5 for being meta. (41)
Pack 4
Spy Kids was so freakin' cool! +3 for being involved in childhood espionage. (44)
Pacino may be a legend, but he's a Yankee. -4 for being a Yankee, and -2 for shouting. (38)
We saw Lakshmi yesterday. Another talento. +2 for blue, -2 for being pointless. (38)
When you have only about 50 cards in a box, you'd expect to not see the same subject twice. But after two boxes there are some people who have now appeared three times! +2 for being an insert. (40)
I'm torn on Rourke. Sure, he's been in good movies, but look at that picture - I feel like he's trying too hard to be cool now. -2 for trying too hard to be like Robert Downey Jr. (38)
We took a hit on that pack..
Pack 5
No clue, no points. (38)
+3 for working with the Fresh Prince. (41)
-2 for an insert not belonging in this release. (43)
+2 for being an insert, +2 for Lillian Gish, +1 for having Bette Davis's eyes. (48)
-5 for being from Jersey - it's worse than being a Yankee. And -1 for being on a dumb reality show. (42)
Pack 6
My scanner didn't like this card. +2 for not being married to Mariah Carey anymore. (44)
+2 for the insert, and +2 for being a classic beauty. (48)
+2 for blue. (50)
+2 for being an insert, and +1 for having Bette Davis eyes. (53)
Biz Markie was in that music video I posted near the top. +1 for that. (54)
Pack 7
+1 for being a guest voice on The Cleveland Show. (55)
-4 for being a Yankee. (51)
-2. Stupid horses. (49)
+2 for being an insert, +2 for Lana Turner being a classic beauty, and +5 for Ingrid Bergman being in Casablanca, a Hitchcock film, and more. (58)
+10 for being a rgular on a TV show I watched religiously. (68)
Pack 8
+3 for being in a great TV show that had lots of baseball in it. (71)
+3 for the "hit" insert, +3 for being (Ms.) Tasty, and +3 for defeating evil. (80)
+2 for the blue. +6 for having six number one singles. (88)
+2 for the insert, +10 because 10 Fast and the Furious movies are supposed to be made, and +3 for playing a lesbian spy in a good movie. (103)
+5 for being a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and +10 because there are at least that many songs Run DMC has made that I like. (118)
Pack 9
-2 for being talentless on a pointless reality show. (116)
+3 for being a part of the three-lady group Destiny's Child. And surviving Beyonce's departure. (119)
+2 for blue. +2 for an actual action shot. +6.66 for shouting at the devil. (129.66)
+2 for the insert, +5 for being such a cool song, -5 for ripping off Queen and David Bowie, and +1 for coming clean. (122.66)
+2 for being in Teachers, and +5 for sticking her arm elbow deep in dino doodoo in the original Jurassic Park. (129.66)
Pack 10
+2 for breaking up with Ryan Phillippe (131.66)
+15 for being Rev Run, +7 for the autograph (153.66)
+2 for the blue (155.66)
+2 for insert, +2 for being a really fun song, -1 for not being that song about the cat (158.66)
+2 for making a career as a female athlete (160.66)
The Relics
As before, the relic cards won't fit through my scanner so I had to photograph them. So what were my two hits?
This is a nice Hope Solo dual relic numbered out of 99! +2 for being a successful female athlete, +8 for being a better-than-normal relic, and +10 for being a hit I want to keep (180.66)
And this Mickey Rooney relic just takes the cake! It's numbered out of 49 and it has three relics! +25 for the relic, +5 for being someone I met in person, and +10 for being a hit I want to keep. (220.66)
The Score
Well, I didn't score points on the first box, but I'm sure it would have had, at best, half of the points of this box! And with a score of 220.66 I'd win Gint-A-Cuffs. But I wasn't playing that game. I was playing my own game.
The Thoughts
I will repeat what I said before - opening Americana is lots of fun. But like pretty much every box out there today, it's not worth buying because any hit singles I want will be much cheaper just hunting for on the secondary market. If I were a case buster, and could put together sets and have good shots at the big money hits to pay for the case, that'd be another thing.
I do want to say thank you to Panini. I like a lot of what they do - sometimes more so than Topps. And like I said in my last post, the inserts here are great.
