General Forum

I'm curious what the general consensus regarding some of the cards with no team/league licensing that are only licensed by the player. I have no issue with them existing, but the team collector in me finds it somewhat disingenuous to have them link to teams when there is no mention of a team (either pro or college) on them, only a photoshopped image that shows a player in a jersey with all the recognizable features airbrushed over. Cards like 2012 Press Pass Sports Town are one thing, since they at least show the city they're referencing in the background of the card (Although I would probably still argue that a city skyline does not make it a team card). But cards like 2023 Wild Card Automania Pro-Look just feel weird to me. I find it totally possible that I might be in the minority on this, but I figured i would ask the masses to see what other people thought.

I don't see how they're any different from the Goodwin sets that have no teams assigned.

The Goodwin sets are another good example of the non team licensed sets. Those ones differ from the sets that I listed though in the fact that the Goodwin sets do not have teams assigned, while the Press Pass and Wild Card have teams linked for whatever reason.

Crowd-sourcing. Some people that enter these sets don't follow the rules and ignore guidance when being assisted. It's why we still get insert sets with hyphens and update sets with every insert dumped into one checklist.

I'm not as intimately involved in fixing screw ups as you guys are, but the lack of following rules and guidance just drives me crazy. I should have some time over the next week or two, so I can probably start working on removing teams from some of these sets. 

Except for Goodwin sets, please do not start removing other people's work. In some of these cases, the guidelines are a bit flexible, and removing others' work is not what we've ultimately after here.

I am not one of them, but there are people here who are adept at identifying the teams from the uniforms, and despite our personal opinions about some of these sets, the idea of having those teams listed is appealing to others, and since it's not against the rules and guidelines, it would be best to leave them be. 

You asked about the general consensus, not the site's guidelines. These are two different things, especially on certain topics. Mass edits shouldn't happen just because three people stated a shared opinion in a forum post. I'm not sure how the guidelines are being misinterpreted here. They seem pretty easy to follow. From the FAQ:

Cards of players in professional uniforms

• 1. Use team in any "Traded to, Signed with, Now with, etc." statement printed on the card N/A
  2. Use team printed on the front of the card N/A
  3. Use team logo printed on the front of the card N/A
  4. Use team name printed prominently on back of card (not in biographical write-up) N/A
  5. Use team logo printed on back of card N/A
  6. Use team uniform shown on front of card 

Cards of players in college uniforms

• 1. Use professional team printed on the front of the card N/A
  2. Use professional team logo printed on the front of the card N/A
  3. Use professional team name printed prominently on back of card (not in "Drafted by" line nor biographical write-up) N/A
  4. Use professional team logo printed on back of card N/A
  5. Use college team printed on the front of the card N/A
  6. Use college team logo printed on the front of the card N/A
  7. Use college team name printed prominently on back of card (not in biographical write-up) N/A
  8. Use college team logo printed on back of card N/A
  9. Use team uniform shown on front of card and professional team (draft cards only) N/A
  10. Use team uniform shown on front of card

Personally, I'm not seeing any way that these should be No Team. Players are pictured wearing uniforms. Saying someone who uploaded the checklists isn't following guidelines is not fair to that individual, because it sure as heck looks to me like they are, and I'm not sure how someone can make the claim that these are not clear. You might be able to say that not all uniforms are obviously one team or another, but that doesn't change the guideline.

Admittedly, I can see some inconsistencies arising, and not all cases are black and white. This forum post actually spurred me to start a discussion with a few other members to kick around some thoughts about how we may be able to present some clearer wording and suggestions to Admin regarding these types of cards. But pretending that rules don't currently exist and that they aren't clear isn't right, and the liberal interpretations of various "site policies" to fit personal collecting habits is getting very tiresome.

Probably not my best idea to look at the forum immediately after waking up, as it can lead to me misreading/misinterpreting what was said. While I would probably still make the case that a jersey with all recognizable features removed would no longer make it a team uniform, I don't see a point in messing with what other people have done unless it is actively harmful to the site as a whole, which in this case it is not.

Without any images in that linked Wild Card set, I don't know if they're airbrushed or just training camp outfits like that Press Pass one, but looking at the checklist, I see a mix of college and NFL team assignments with college players mixed in with NFL ones, and it's tough to say if those assignments are right. My comment last night was in reference to those that take a checklist from B*ckett or CC or one of the other sources and re-upload it here without confirming what's actually pictured on the card itself or checking how we do assignments here, or those that continue to assign teams to cut signatures even though no city or team is mentioned on them. Leaf is another recent brand with similar team assignment issues and it depends on the photos.

My post above links to Mavin for an example of a professional team (Bryce Young is clearly in a Panthers uniform), and for an example of a college team (Caleb Williams is in a white jersey with red accents, but the bottom of the photo shows yellow pants - a classic USC road uniform combo). There's certainly no denying that there are sets out there where discerning the team is borderline impossible, but the few I've seen here are pretty easy to pick out and should be addressed as such on the checklist.

And yes, Leaf is also part of the discussion with ideas I was kicking around. I am of the opinion that the FAQ was not set up to handle situations like modern Leaf and Wild Card, and it could use some updating to address these specific instances.