05-06 Sunkist

Sets this bad don't get released every day. I'd expect that most ideas that are as terrible as this get nixed long before they find themselves being bent and creased in five-pound bags of oranges. But somehow, this Sunkist/Upper Deck NHL alumni set managed to squeak through to production without anyone stopping and saying, "these cards blow."

I don't even know where to begin with this set. Maybe I'll start by pointing out that the ugly orange border on the front of the card is actually the outside of an orange, and the back of the card has the inside of an orange as the background; the logos are all photoshopped out (which is always lame), and in the case of the Richard Brodeur card, you can still see the outline of the 'V' from the Canucks 80's 'flying V' logo; only four of the six players featured in the set could really be called stars-- as good as Wendel Clark and Richard Brodeur were at times in their career, they are far from hall-of-fame quality; the back of the card has more information about fruits and vegetables than it does about the player on the card; the cards are included in a bag of oranges!

I'd have to say the one redeeming thing about this set is the sweet Sunkist logo in the bottom right corner. If Sunkist made a set that was just fruits and vegetables playing hockey I'd be so stoked I wouldn't know what to do with myself.

Here are the three remaining cards from the set that I haven't already posted:

#3 - Yvan Cournoyer
#4 - Doug Gilmour - The only player not shown in the colours of a Canadian hockey team.
#5 - Dale Hawerchuk

06-07 Sunkist

If I gave an award for most improved set, Upper Deck/Sunkist would get it for their follow-up to the worst set ever produced. The back of the cards still has that ugly orange background, and more information about fruits and vegetables than the players, and the cards are still horribly cut, but other than that, the cards look pretty good. Of course, it helps that for '07, Sunkist shelled out for licensing from both the NHL and NHLPA so they could show current players and not have to photoshop out the team's logo. It's also helps that they decided against putting the same orange border on the front of the cards that they did the previous year because the ice background is actually appropriate. Unfortunately, the cards are still included in five-pound bags of oranges, so the chances of finding one that isn't bent in six different directions are slim.

Here are all ten 06-07 Sunkist cards:

#1 - Alex Kovalev
#2 - Jason Spezza
#3 - Mats Sundin
#4 - Jarome Iginla
#5 - Ryan Smyth
#6 - Marcus Naslund
#7 - Alexander Ovechkin
#8 - Vincent Lecavalier
#9 - Joe Thornton
#10 - Miikka Kiprusoff