Hoops Hobby

Anyone else grow up on Disney Channel original movies? Johnny Tsunami, Smart House, and Alley Cats Strike are a few of the more memorable ones for me.

And maybe the Disney Channel Original I watched the most? Brink! The exclamation point is part of the title, and it features Erik von Detten as Andy Brinker, a high schooler who is passionate about roller blading for fun with his group of friends, while also entering into the occasional local skating competition.

I can still hear the main song from the movie from the band ‘Fastball’, a band I listened to at that time (end of middle school/beginning of high school).

The premise of the movie is that Brink and his friends skate for the fun of it, and it’s not about the money. They self-label as ‘Soul Skaters’.

Their group’s rival is a sponsored skating team called Team X-Blade. They get free skating gear and are paid for performing well in local tournaments. In the movie, the leader of the X-Blade group of skaters is not particularly kind to the ‘Soul Skaters’.

I don’t want to spoil the movie for anyone who has a desire to watch it after reading this post (it’s available on Disney+), but I couldn’t help but think about the parallels between the skaters it in for the fun of it, the sponsored and ‘about the money’ team, and the parallels to the sports card hobby, which on many important fronts places a lot of importance on the money.

Prices of packs and boxes are at unprecedented levels. The return value of breaking and busting packs and boxes is unquestionably low, and must be gone into with that realization in mind. Competition for the main suppliers is limited. Mainstream hobby personalities (some, not all) are pushing agendas with making money in mind. It definitely seems like the primary card manufacturer does not prioritize the every day collector, but instead shows off the next chase of the day.

This isn’t the same hobby space from when I was a kid. It doesn’t mean my collecting approach is all that different, but it’s a different environment to operate in. While it does cost money to operate in this hobby, even on the low end of acquiring singles, I’m collecting for the same reasons I did when I was much younger. Collecting cards of my favorite players and teams adds to the enjoyment of being a fan of those players and teams. They remind me of my favorite moments from being a fan of those teams. It also reminds me of the fun that I had trading cards with my friends, and opening packs and boxes with my dad.

So what attributes would align with a soul skater in collecting?

They collect from the heart. They’re picking up cards and building a collection that brings back memories of their favorite players or helps them enjoy their teams or players more through collecting. They’re thoughtfully picking up cards for their collections rather than jumping on the latest trends or following the hype.

They collect in community. Soul skaters of the hobby are celebrating the successes of others while sharing their cards to inspire and add to the enjoyment for themselves and other hobbyists. They’re talking about their cards to help educate other collectors.

They’re collecting because it’s fun. There’s plenty of stress in life, and if your hobby, something you choose to do in spare time, is causing you stress, is it worth it?

I’m treating this hobby as just that, a hobby, and I’m routinely circling back to where I started. Where my interest in collecting really took off was the Pacers star of my childhood, Reggie Miller. His cards took up a sizeable part of my Pacers binder as a kid. And over time that collection is now in a dedicated box with over 600 unique cards, and plenty of duplicates that I should do something about. While this feels like a lot, somehow that’s only around 20% of his total number of available cards.

As a side-note of how many total cards are being produced these days, Tyrese Haliburton has over 5100 Pacers cards available per TCDB. He joined the Pacers during the 2021-22 season.

So I want to circle back to why I’m here, and it’s to share cards that mean something to me.

Reggie’s best cards aren’t in my budget, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of cards waiting for me to grab or trade for. I have a growing stack waiting for me on COMC down the line, including one insert I’ve had my eye on for quite some time. Until I request that shipment, though, the occasional Reggie comes to me via eBay or trade.

The thing about collecting Reggie Miller cards from the 90s in the year 2026 is that even the cards I don’t have look familiar. Most of them I’ve at least seen pictures of.

The earliest chronologically is from a 1994 Upper Deck USA Product. The Reggie Miller is a Follow Your Dreams Rebounding insert with 1:14 pack odds, as listed on the back of the card as part of the game rules. During the 1994 World Championships, the top Scorer, Rebounder, and Assist Leader for the duration of the games would be the winning card for that category and could be exchanged for a 14 card set for that respective category.

And so each player has 6 cards total, the unnumbered original redemption and the prize cards that each have a card number. These cards were new to me, and this is the first Reggie out of the 6 in my collection. And for anyone curious, Shaq was the leading scorer and leading rebounder, while Kevin Johnson was the assist leader.

I find it interesting that in case of a tie, the Tim Hardaway card was to be the winning card for that category. The meaningless knowledge that’s in my head due to cards!

Reggie Miller doesn’t have the same depth of an insert catalog as other stars from the 90s. When there’s an awesome design and the price is reasonable, it’s a good bet I’m going to grab it if it’s not already in my collection. I waited awhile to find a copy of this 1996 Fleer USA Heroes insert. I need to make a list of my top Reggie inserts, but this one would easily slot in the top 10. I just love the die-cut element on this one.

It’s refreshing to see a card back that carries over the design of the front via the acetate nature of the card, but adds another photo and a nice writeup about Reggie competing with his siblings.

If I wasn’t going by year here I would have saved these two USA cards for last. This is the 1996 Skybox USA Gold insert. I’ve been on the hunt for the full set of six Reggie inserts- the Bronze, Bronze Sparkle, and the more elusive Silver, Silver Sparkle, Gold, and Gold Sparkle. I was tempted to purchase a full box of this product to hunt for some of these Sparkle inserts but I ultimately passed, with the chance of pulling a Reggie I need being so small. I am tempted to at least purchase a few packs which aren’t too expensive.

Simple card back with no text blurb but I really like the image, the USA text and Olympic rings.

I picked up a 1996-97 Topps Mystery Finest Borderless Super Team exchange card, along with the 1996-97 Topps Mystery Borderless card with odds of 1:72 Series 2 packs.

I’m making an exception by showing a COMC image of the regular insert even though it’s still in my COMC inventory. The only difference visually between the two is the Super Team logo on the exchange card.

I owned the 1996-97 Mystery Finest Bordered Refractor, but no other iterations of Mystery Finest from that year. The Borderless and Bordered cards have a different look not only because of the border, but the Borderless cards have a visual game photo background, while the Bordered have a Silver background with diagonal lines.

This is an example of one of those cards that was familiar to me despite never having owned it. These cards that stand alone as great cards but also potentially offer something more, a la Crash the Game or Topps MVP Promotion, added more fun to products of the 90s and early 2000s.

These Predictors II were 1:25 1996-97 Upper Deck Series 2 packs. Winning cards could be redeemed for TV Cel exchange card of that player. For Reggie’s card, if he scored 35 points or more in any regular season game, it would be a winning card.

Yes, I’m adding Collector’s Choice Star Quest inserts in 2026, and these aren’t the extra rare 1998-99 Star Quest Golds you see floating around for huge sums. Not that I don’t want to own one of those, but I’m happy to add a new to me 1997-98 version. They remind me of opening Collector’s Choice packs as a kid, and I would have been thrilled to open one of these. The Miller and other triple stars are 1:71 packs of series 1.

Up next, an insert from one of my favorite products, 1998-99 Upper Deck. The base Reggie and all the associated parallels show Reggie shooting over Patrick Ewing in game 4 of the 1998 Eastern Conference Semi-Finals, a game and series that the Pacers won.

The Aerodynamics Tier 1 Bronze insert, though, is one of my earliest serial numbered cards, and that in combination with the die-cut element make this a must own for me. The pattern for most all of the insert sets are the ‘base insert’ with blue foil without the die-cut element, the Bronze /2000 (1500 or 1000 for other inserts) die-cut, the Silver /100 (or 75 or 50 for other inserts) die-cut, Gold /25 (or 75 or 50) die-cut. The Reggie Silver and Gold don’t show up often and are more than I want to pay so for now I am happy with the Bronze.

I really need to make a comprehensive list of my favorite sets. 1999-00 was a pretty formative time for my collecting, and these Forcefield parallels from 1999-00 Fleer Force have always stood out to me. I’m working a team set, but have a lot remaining. Anytime I can knock the Reggie off my team set want lists, it’s a big deal. Just love the shine on these Forcefields. Not serial numbered for the veterans, they are 1:12 packs, or about 2 per box.

The Fleer Authentix brand of the early 2000s is such a cool idea for a set, and it started with 2001-02. The 2002-03 base set is my favorite for nostalgia reasons (I opened a box back at that time), but I do like the border and clean design of the 2001-02 set as well.

The rookie cards are really the standouts of the base set, but I recently added the Second Row parallel out of 200 for Reggie. Added a Jamaal Tinsley Front Row parallel I shared semi-recently for reference. The Second Row have gold text in certain spots while Front Row have silver. Look at cards for other teams that have a team color background to see how beautiful of a set this really is. I’m still on the lookout for the First Row /100 for Reggie. Those two are the only base set parallels.

All the way up to 2002-03 now with a set I am desperate for a return of in the new Fanatics landscape, and it’s Stadium Club.

The 2002-03 set, released for the 10th anniversary of the first basketball Stadium Club set in 1992-93, stands out for its beautiful Beam Team set /500, Co-Signers and Lone Star Signatures, along with its short printed rookies at 1:4 packs. It also includes several relic sets including All-Star relics.

Going back to the base set, just look at the photography on this Reggie. It really doesn’t get much better. This is the Photographer’s Proof out of 500. The 10th Anniversary parallel, not pictured here, is on a thicker card stock, if I remember correctly.

It’s been a blast to share cards spanning the course of a decade, the final card being a UD Exclusives parallel /100 from 2003-04 Upper Deck. It’s so tough to track down these parallels for Reggie, and when they do appear, to be able to get them at a good price. The 2003-04 set seems to be pretty condition sensitive as far as base sets go. The card stock is a bit thinner on 2003-04 compared to 2002-03 and I think I was able to get this one because the edges aren’t the best. Adding it to the collection helps a lot with knocking out a team set. The Reggie cards are always the toughest.

One thing all of these cards have in common? They’re in my collection to stay. They remind me of prior eras of collecting, times when I looked through boxes of cards with my friends, times I went to shows with my Dad, Pacers games I watched, packs I opened, trades I made on hobby message boards. They encourage me to check in with my current hobby friends and community, and they energize me to look out for what’s next for my collection.

Are you a Soul Skater of sports cards?