For once yesterday afternoon, the commotion emanating from the Panini America Acquisitions department had nothing to do with me performing a cross-body splash onto a prone Joe White from atop his cubicle walls. On this particular Tuesday afternoon, the hum of activity audible throughout the building was the furor of seemingly half of Acquisitions and Product Development preparing a stunning and massive arrival of just-printed cards for their next destinations.
Ultimately, many of these cards will be highlight discoveries — signed on-card — for lucky collectors who discover them in upcoming Panini America products such as 2011-12 Elite Hockey, 2011-12 Contenders Hockey and 2011 Totally Certified Football. But first they needed to be counted, cataloged and quality controlled before being expedited to the respective players on them for signing.
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