2008-09 Upper Deck Sidney Crosby Hockey Heroes Painting Card

I picked up a card I have been eye-balling for quite some time. A Hockey Heroes Painting Card from 2008-09 Upper Deck. I already had cards 1-8, so me being the completionist that I am, I just had to get this one. It wasn't too bad, though, and it was quite the rarity. I couldn't find the exact odds, but the painting cards from 2012-13 Upper Deck hockey Heroes are 1:600 packs, which works out to 1 in every 25 boxes!

Damn.

The front of the card looks great, and features an image of Crosby in all three of Pittsburgh's uniforms, including him celebrating his game-winning shootout goal in the 2008 NHL Winter Classic.

One of my favorite things about this card, though comes from the back. The first line reads"Despite and almost unfair amount of hype..." Okay, Upper Deck released a special 20-card "Phenomenal Beginnings" set in 2006 and inserted a thirty card "Diary of a Phenom" insert set in packs of 2005-06 Upper Deck. Them calling out Crosby's "unfair amount of hype," would be like ESPN saying, "Maybe people are talking about Tim Tebow just a little too much." You can't criticize the hype that YOU help create and capitalize on, that's all I'm saying.