NBA Luxury Box

Sports Cards collecting is a very confusing hobby. In no other niche are there too many choices. While most of our options are glossed over or nit picked to death prior to their release, people still buy the product. Is it stupid to criticize anything for having too many options? Of course it is.

But let me try and explain myself in the best way possible. Sports cards are like beer. You have your cheap options, PBR (holy grail), Gennessee Cream Ale, Keystone, Ice House, and so on. Followed by that are your mid range run of the mill options, Budweisers, Coors, Millers, followed up by your high end craft brews. Sports cards are very similar in offering cheap options (Opening Day), mid range (flagship brands), and high end stuff (Exquisite).

If I were to give a college aged kid who has drank Ice House for the last 2 years $30 and tell them to buy some nice beer, they'd have no idea where to start. I'd venture to guess they'd come out with 2 cases of Budweiser***. I highly doubt they'd pick any craft beer simply because they do not know their preferred taste and have no idea what each beer is like.

the same is with card collecting. You give someone who just jumped back into the hobby $30 and put them into a shop, they will most likely walk out with flagship packs, simply because they do not know what is good.

Case in point, myself. When (fully) getting back into the hobby in 2005/06 I wanted basketball cards. the Cavs were in the playoffs and I was in full basketball mode similar to how I had been when I was younger in the mid 90's.

I walked into hobby shops and just stared at the boxes. Shop owners would try and sell me on products I had no idea about. try this, try that. this pack can get you this swatch serialed to 10...the pack is only $50!! Look buddy, I might not know much about the direction the hobby took in the last 8 years, but I'm not buying a pack for $50.

Eventually, I settled on something called Luxury Box. One pack was I think $20. My first venture into higher end cards. What I didn't realize is that the owner did not give me a pack, he gave me the box topper. I'm going to assume he knew what he was doing and hustled me pretty hard. At least that's what my buddy said when I told him what I bought.

Regardless, the lesson everyone (and myself) can learn from this is when you are getting back into the hobby, do some research. We have so much information available for us that there really shouldn't be much of an issue when it comes to buying or trading for cards.

If you want my input on trying different types of beer though, just buy PBR or cool colored labels. Never have I been steered wrong with that principle.




If you were even curious as to what I pulled in my pack, the D Wade above is it. He's serialed to 279. Depressing pull.


***I would hope that the person would also buy at least 1 FourLoko.

Lebron James for MVP

Yeah, why not? Should I hate the dude for what he did to my Cavs? Sure. A player of his caliber doesn't come around that often and when they do, you must watch. Lebron even said with joining the Heat his MVP votes would take a hit due to playing with Wade and Bosh. Honestly though, who else should win it? Dirk? Dwight Howard? Kobe? Rose? If you need any confirmation on why Lebron should be MVP watch these clips:

Petrovic

The majority of my posts are about cards from either the late 80's or early 90's. This is when my foundation of card collecting started. I didn't care what sport it was, packs were being opened.

After learning about Drazen Petrovic years ago I took big interest in Petro. I really wasn't into cards much during that time. After coming back to the card world 3 or so years ago I just assumed that since I collected like crazy back when Drazen played, I would surely have some of his cards. In all the time I've searched, I've come across zero. How could I see his arguably best performance ever (dropping 40 on the Cavs in a playoff game) and never have a basketball card of his?

This wasn't right and I was about to make sure I had some Petrovic cards. I made the situation right last weekend.

Drazen Petrovic collection is up to 2.



Upper Deck 93. Pretty wild to think this would have been his last card. Cutting in the lane against Dallas.



Score 91. His first year with New Jersey. So far, this is my favorite card I own, depicting his great jump shot.

One day, I intend on visiting Croatia to see Sibenik (where he grew up) and Zagreb where his memorial center is located.

RAZZLE DAZZLE

Yesterday was awesome in terms of purchasing shirts. Again, fellow non blogger James and myself went to some thrift stores to see what we could find. First store, had two Brett Favre jerseys, both of which were with the Packers. I don't collect NFL jerseys, money saved. A few shirts down was an unreal find.



89 cents, 94 cents paid (Tax included). I've never seen an authentic Champion jersey in my life. In all honesty, I didn't know they existed prior to a few weeks ago due to an Ebay search. Not only was the shirt dirt cheap, it is in great condition, and to make it worth more, the NBA logo is gold, signifying the NBA @ 50 Anniversary. Dayyyyuummmmmmmm!!!!

Next up was to meet a guy off Craigslist who was selling Champion jerseys for $10 a piece. Seeing as how the majority of the jerseys sell for around $20 on Ebay, I was going to purchase at least 1.

Instead, I purchased three.



I can now finally fit in with all my friends back in 1992-1994. 7-9 year old me is very excited. Good condition, great color, dead team. I'd rather have 'Zo than LJ. Now only need to get a Vancouver jersey to complete the dead team tri-fecta.



Next up had to be Mighty Mouse. I've had this exact jersey for about 3 years now, just in the larger size. Ever since that purchase, I've told myself that I needed to find the same shirt in my size. Excited to have this in my collection, but the jersey itself isn't in the best condition, no big deal. Sorry for the dark photo quality, don't really know what happened.

Finally, I purchased this jersey:



Yep, Champion made Jim Jackson jerseys. I always liked the Dallas uni's in this color scheme. Usually non star players shirts sell for a decent amount on Ebay, so I picked this one up hoping to flip it. The jersey itself is a size 48, and doesn't fit me, so hopefully I can flip it, or trade it for a jersey in my size.

I'm still patiently waiting to find that Drazen Petrovic Nets jersey in a 44 size. If anyone reads these posts and has jerseys to trade, shoot me a message or post a comment.

Eventually I'll have all the 1990's NBA in my closet.

HE'S ON FIRE!!!

I haven't had a post in about a week due to work being real busy. However, after I was done yesterday, I took some time to browse around the city to a few stores and came to find this:



HORACE. GRANT. How could anyone give this shirt up, ever? Two things can top this shirt, the first would be that it's size was 44, the other would be a Bulls version. I'm not going to complain though since it was $4.00.

Back when my family went on vacation to Orlando when I was 10, the Orlando Magic had a team store in the Orlando airport. The walls were full of jerseys, and I wasn't sure if I wanted a Penny Hardaway reversible jersey, or a Horace Grant. I was wayyyy more a fan of Penny so that was an easy decision. Penny it was. I don't even know why I wanted a Grant jersey, but now 13 years later, my 10 year old self is at ease.

Hopefully I can continue the streak of solid jerseys.

Not all is lost....

As everyone knows by now, Lebron left my hometown of Cleveland. Dan Gilbert then sent out a memo (in Comic Sans!) that made him sound like a 14 year old boy who just lost his girlfriend. However, yesterday overall wasn't a complete waste. Ghost writer Jim and I played 4 games of MLB Showdown 2001. Then hit up some thrift stores where he purchased a Nick Markakis and Steve Nash jersey shirt. Why were these in Ohio...I don't know.

The news in the basketball world happened for me...around 5:15 PM. One year ago I was about to go on vacation down south and wanted to bring an NBA jersey. Unfortunately the seller on Ebay didn't want to end the auction early and take my $25.00. Fast forward to now and $2.14 later and I am now the proud owner of this jersey:



Probably my favorite thrift store jersey purchase to date. Another guy there had a Sonics jersey in his cart, but it was the mid 90's one, not the one pictured above. Maybe it wasn't his size...I don't really know, nor do I care. Totally bad ass shirt to have. Now hope my luck keeps on the upswing and I can somehow grab Petrovic, Kukoc, and Radja.

Dunk Contest Equals Lame

Rudy Fernandez was screwed. His first dunk was incredible. Behind the back pass off the backboard and slammed into the net. That received a 42. Dwight Howard bounces a basketball on the court and receives a 100 score. Sure Sprite and the NBA are going to cater towards the bigger NBA star in Howard, but the voters seriously cannot sit there and say Fernandez's dunk was worse than Howard's. Oh, wait, that won't happen because Dwight still has their heads around his waist.

Everyone's prop dunk used a teammate or another player of some sort. Smith tried an awesome from the stands pass that didn't work out. Rudy got Gasol to pass off the back of the backboard for Rudy to slam it in, which took 9 tries. During the first 8 the voters talked all kinds of shit on Rudy about how they could make that dunk. Yeah, go for it you fat asses. I'll give a pass to Larry Nance because he isn't that kind of person to gloat or talk down on a player, at least not on National TV. The 9th time he nailed the dunk, which should have scored at least a 46, regardless of attempts.

I completely understand the dunk contest was rigged and geared towards Dwight Howard. C'mon, a phone booth and 12 foot hoop? The retarded analyst who would sound like Carlos Mencia (who is the worst human on the planet)? Was all of this necessary David Stern?

And that brings me to another point. David Stern looked completely bored during Rudy's dunks. You should be excited that Rudy was voted in this contest, not by the American/Canadian Contingent, rather everyone that voted from Spain.

Earth to the NBA and Sprite, if you want to become huge in the global market, it'd probably help to push Rudy during this contest. Not to say they aren't already huge globally, but it still wouldn't hurt to try.

It was a really nice touch by Rudy to wear the Fernando Martin jersey during his dunk last night. Fernando was the first Spanish player to play in the NBA, with Portland. Martin was also killed in a car accident at age 28, eerily similar to one of my favorite NBA players, Drazen Petrovic. Drazen was also brought into the league by Portland and is credited as starting the influx of European players into the league. Sadly enough, Drazen was killed in a car accident at age 28.

Hopefully I'll be able to see Rudy play in March when the come to Cleveland.

Panini takes over America

Yesterday it was announced that Panini will produce basketball cards here in America. No more Topps or Upper Deck. Tons of bloggers have already posted about this and the way they feel. Many of them feel it's great that Topps and UD are getting challenged by other companies. This challenged should have been happening years ago, not just with basketball, but in all the sports.

A lot of bloggers also feel that Panini will destroy the basketball card industry. Just exactly how will they destroy it? By not having autographed cards or jersey cards? Please. I'll give the fact that Panini doesn't have a few of the worldwide superstars to use (Lebron with UD), but they might already be in talks about getting Lebron, or even be working with UD to be allowed to produce Lebron cards. Panini is a business, they'll get it together.

Face it, sports cards have been ruined for at least a decade now, if not longer. The people cards used to be catered to (read: kids), can barely afford packs just because the older generation are trying to cash in on triple event used relics of Kevin McHale's jockstrap from the 1983 Photo-shoot. Topps is no longer the company they once were. They make some nice Products, but for the most part, their stuff isn't great. The company lives off name brand only. Hell, for my 21st birthday last year I received a retail box of 2007-2008 NBA Series 1 Basketball. The cards were nice, but very cookie cutter and boring. And don't get on me for getting a retail box, it was a gift from my parents. Upper Deck (at least to me) makes better basketball cards, but nothing special either. My favorite set has been Hardcourt, and that's a mediocre set at best.

Panini is going to ruin the basketball industry because they are European company. What? They will produce basketball cards and get the NBA name-brand out overseas. It's already out there now. Shit, Greece team Olympiacos wants to sign Kobe or Lebron. You tell me people don't know the NBA? Panini will not ruin the basketball card industry, you bloggers and collectors will ruin the b-ball card industry by talking it down and not buying the product because you aren't sure what Panini is about. Look at it this way, Panini might even help America. People buying these cards might be more inclined to buy NBA merchandise and travel here to see the teams.

I'm all for Panini to make cards. Will they make stickers, sure they probably will. Do you have to buy them, no. There's another company that specializes in Football (Soccer) cards in Europe called Futera. I've blogged about them before. Their high end set (Futera Unique Football) caters to overseas collectors (read: American), by adding 1/1 auto's and memorabilia on the cards. If you think these companies don't know that not having these kinds of inserts in their sets will be good, you are crazy.

I'm very excited for Panini to start making basketball cards, because frankly this industry sucks and could use any sort of fresh air it can get. And if they do fail miserably (as in, nobody buys the cards) then it wasn't their fault, they tried, it'd all just come down to the collector being just as stubborn as the manufacturer's they love to hate.