Donruss Sends Collector To AFC Championship Game
January 15, 2008

Loyal Beckett reader and Donruss collector Ryan Schear had trouble believing what he was hearing Monday morning. In fact, with all the commotion he was causing, it's a wonder that Schear could hear at all.

But eventually, between all the whooping and hollering, the 28-year-old Maryland resident settled down long enough to get the point being made on the other end of the line: As the grand prize winner of Beckett's Playoff Hunt for the NFL Playoffs contest, Schear and a guest are headed to Foxborough, Mass., this weekend for the AFC Championship Game between the New England Patriots and the San Diego Chargers.

"What? No, no, no. Come on, that's gotta be a joke. Are you kidding me? No way," Schear exclaimed. "There's no way. My gosh. I guess I got some plans this weekend. Oh . . . my . . . gosh. I'll start walking now. That's so awesome. I can't even handle this right now. I'm freakin' out."

Luckily for Schear, Donruss is providing transportation to the game (as well as two tickets and lodging), so trekking by foot won't be necessary.

It's worth noting that Schear, a Ravens fan, had tickets for Baltimore's Week 13 Monday Night thriller against New England earlier this season but had to give them up to work as a server at The Chart House restaurant.

That won't happen this time around.

"My GM, Rodney, is a Steelers fan," Schear notes. "Hey, Rodney, I'm not coming to work this weekend."

Instead, he'll be attending in person just the fifth football game of his life and rooting for the Patriots to continue their perfect season.

Schear, who says he's been reading Beckett since Beckett Baseball #1 and has been collecting Donruss Playoff products since 1996, entered the Playoff Hunt for the NFL Playoffs contest in the December issue of Beckett Football by finding all 13 "Playoff NFL Playoff" logos hidden throughout the magazine. His name was drawn from all eligible entries received.

"It's a contest," Schear says. "I figured 'what the heck.' All I'm gonna spend is 41 cents and about 20 minutes of my time. The [logos] that were in the crack of the magazine were tough. And there were one or two that were behind little blurbs ... I definitely had to go through it like five or six times."

In hindsight, that seems like a small price to pay.

0