Press Pass Encourages Collectors to Get a Rope

One of the many refreshing aspects permeating Press Pass’ new 8 Seconds Professional Bull Riders trading card set is the fact that you can, quite literally, get a bona fide, bull-ridden rope – or at least a piece of one – in randomly selected retail blaster boxes.

Collectors can also grab sizable chunks of such ride-used, bull-bucked accoutrements as flank straps that have also been used by the world’s top bull riders and bulls during sanctioned PBR events.

It’s an unmistakably authentic addition to a shining new entry in the sports cards arena, and one that’s certain to catch those folks lucky enough to find the memorabilia by complete surprise.

“We’re thrilled to be able to bring a little piece of exciting PBR action to diehard fans and collectors who otherwise might never get this close,” says Tonya Daneille Clarkston, Press Pass licensing coordinator. “These three-inch pieces of riding ropes and flank straps are pieces of bull-riding history, and it’s fitting that they find a home in a unique product like 8 Seconds.”

While most of 8 Seconds’ event-worn memorabilia (hats, shirts, jeans, riding gloves) is manageable enough to be incorporated into traditional memorabilia cards, there’s simply some equipment that couldn’t be easily reduced to 1-inch by 1-inch squares. They could, however, fit nicely inside the roomier confines of a retail blaster box.

For those wondering, a flank strap is a belt-like piece of padded rope and leather that’s wrapped around the bull, just in front of his flanks. The strap, pulled no tighter than a human’s belt, simply accentuates a bull’s innate bucking ability without harming him.

This isn’t the first time Press Pass has injected oversized memorabilia into boxes of its products. Last fall, company officials included actual race-used spark plugs from the cars of such luminaries as Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Mark Martin and Jimmie Johnson into hobby boxes of 2009 Wheels Main Event.

— Tracy Hackler