Hoops Hobby

We all have our collecting lanes where we feel most comfortable. The sets we can picture in our head because we’ve looked at them so many times, held those cards in our hands, can tell you the odds of the insert sets, the print runs for serial numbered cards, we know them.

Over the years I’ve been in tune with the hobby more at certain times than others. I collected heavy when I was a kid, the mid-90s into the mid-2000s, and then a little less so in the late 2000s and early 2010s, and then mostly took a pause on collecting around mid-2012. I occasionally picked up a pack of cards from the local retail store, but I was mostly just away during that time. I kept my cards, of course, but wasn’t actively buying or trading.

When I came back in 2017, I picked up some packs and boxes from some lower end products, but still wasn’t in full tune with the modern sets at the time. Not like before. And then I went away again after about a year of collecting and blogging.

And when I resumed blogging again in 2020, I had mostly missed a lot. Certain sets were familiar. I had picked up occasional packs and on a few rare occasions, a box, of Donruss, Prizm, and others over the 2010s. But many sets were unfamiliar, and certainly didn’t, and still don’t, bring back a rush of nostalgia like looking at 2000-01 Topps Finals jerseys from the 2000 Eastern Conference Champion Pacers, or flipping through my Jamaal Tinsley and Fred Jones rookie cards that I relentlessly collected in the early 2000s.

Many sets I’ve still never seen in person or held in my hand. And I’ve mostly gone back to what is familiar and continued picking up the same types of cards I did before. I’ve added to and even finished some Pacers insert and parallel team sets. I’ve moved rookie cards from toploaders and into binders to be able to enjoy the cards I picked up back then, and I’ve filled in some gaps.

The reason I’ve mostly gone back to what is familiar is because I don’t know what I don’t know, when it comes to the more modern sets. Instagram has helped me get ‘up-to-speed’ on the era of cards I missed, but I’m just now starting to find my collecting lanes for this era. I’m finding what I like, what jumped out at me during my brief collecting periods in the 2010s, and finding inserts and parallels I’d never seen before.

Which brings me to some of my recent collection adds. I’ve seen lots of buzz recently around 2014-15 Totally Certified Mirrors. I collected and even opened a box of Totally Certified from 2010-11, but didn’t open anything from the brand after that. While I’ve seen color mirrors, the blue die-cuts are the ones that stood out to me from a team collecting perspective. Pacers uniforms go well with many blue parallels, and these blue mirrors out of 74 are no exception. The Pacers are all priced pretty reasonably and I’m pleased to have the Paul George, the most difficult to find, and the David West. They’re great looking parallels with a print run of less than 100, and they’re die-cut. What’s not to like? These are right up my alley. And I would have picked them up sooner, but I didn’t know what I didn’t know.

Silvers, Holos, Artist proofs, what’s the difference? It seems to depend on the brand and the year, but I’ve started adding certain Hoops parallels to my want list. They’re affordable and they look great. The George Hill instantly becomes one of my favorite Hill cards.

Road to the Finals is perfect for a brand like Hoops. It was more exciting when the Pacers were actually in the playoffs, but those days feel like they are coming back soon. What better way to remember playoff battles than through adding cards of my favorite 2010s players? The Hawks sure did make Pacer fans sweat by taking round 1 to 7 games. Gracious, I still have nightmares about the Pacers struggling to defend the 3 point shot, Mike Scott in particular. Would have loved a set like this in the 90s and 2000s that was consistent year in and year out.

Excalibur and Crusade I’ve been a fan of since the 2016-17 cycle of cards when I opened a loose retail pack of Excalibur on a whim one day. I’d never picked any Crusade cards until a few months ago, and the Pacers uniform of course looks great with the blue parallels. These are from 2013-14.

Another parallel set I’ve been adding over the last year is ‘Status’, which has floated between brands over the years. Sometimes in Donruss, other times in Donruss Elite or the Status product itself, the die-cut cards look great and definitely fit in my lane. They are limited of course and have a shine that the scanner doesn’t really pick up. I know I’ll never get every Pacer. Some are 1/1, being serial numbered to the jersey number of the player, but I’ve accepted that going in. Card collecting is a race without a finish line. I’m pleased to have the Turner from his rookie season. Can’t ask for much more than a limited die-cut rookie year card.

Now this is a great looking card and the scan does it justice. And it’s clearly labeled as a Status parallel. I appreciate when parallels are labeled, preferably on the back of the card but I’ll take it. The 2020-21 Status parallel was in the Donruss Elite product.

What’s else is next? Maybe another yet to be discovered gem of a set? I don’t know what I don’t know.