1995 Topps Finest Refractors #188 Lamar Lathon

In my last post, I talked about one of the first premium card brands I liked, Fleer Ultra. Today I'm going to talk about one of the first premium brands that I really disliked, Topps Finest.

Today's card is the 1995 Finest Refractors #188 featuring Lamar Lathon.

So what don't I like about this?
1) Most obviously, the protective cover. OK, so you have a cover that keeps these more expensive in better shape, but the cover is ugly and detracts from the card. It's like putting a plastic seat cover over a nice couch. And of course you can't remove the cover to see how nice the card really looks because you'll ruin the value of the card.

2) The design. Just compare this to the Ultra card from the last post. The photograph quality is much worse. But that's OK. The picture isn't really the focus anyway. Instead you have lightning bolts and garish colors distracting you from the picture.

3) Refractors. There's nothing inherently wrong with refractors. I prefer a quality photograph over a tricked up picture, but I can see the appeal. The biggest negative of refractors is the later use of it. Instead of having just one refractor variation, today there's a whole rainbow of refractors. On top of the base refractor, you have blue, green, red, orange, purple, white, etc. Then you add the superfractor and xfractor which blurs and distracts from the picture even more.

But that's just my opinion. Some people love them and Finest was very popular. It's just not for me.

1990 Score #631 Lamar Lathon

Lamar Lathon was an absolute beast of a linebacker for the University of Houston playing from 1987 to 1989.

1988 was his best season. The Cougars went 9-3 and Lathon was an AP All American Honorable Mention and second team All Southwest Conference.

1989 was supposed to be a huge year. Unfortunately he was injured in a car wreck in the offseason. He played one game and then suffered a season ending knee injury.

He was granted a medical hardship, but decided to forego his final year of eligibility (along with Andre Ware) and entered the 1990 NFL draft. The Houston Oilers drafted him with the 15th pick of the first round.

He played for the Oilers from 1990-1994 and for the Carolina Panthers from 1995-1998. In 1996, he was selected for the Pro Bowl.

Today's card is the 1990 Score #631. There are several reasons I love this card. Reason #1 is because he's in his UH uniform. Cougars in their college uniform on cards always are higher on my list. Reason #2 is because of the picture. I don't know if he's in the middle of a play or running to the sidelines, but he looks so intimidating. The back of the card has descriptions of Lathon as a player and of his career at UH.

No, this is not an autographed card from a pack like you can get today. This autograph was obtained in person in 1990. Note to Donnie Avery and Anthony Alridge: This is what an autograph should look like, not just a few squiggles that resemble initials.