We’ve recently emerged from a week or so of extremely cold weather, as has a good part of the country. Temperatures were in the single digits with wind chills in the negatives, very rare for South Carolina. We had several days of highs below freezing, and it was tough to feel good about doing anything… Read More Ice in the Veins
Shining Stars first appeared as an insert set, to my knowledge, in 1998-99 Fleer Brilliants, and what an awesome insert set it is. The Brilliants brand in general is a favorite of mine, a one-year wonder, and the Shining Stars set is a standout. The set resurfaced again in 2003-04 Fleer Mystique, another set I… Read More Shining Stars Iterations, Opening a 12-card pack of 2021-22 Illusions
It’s always good to start off the week with a nice mailday. Today I gladly opened two plain white envelopes with a total of 9 cards, packaged very well. One package was from a stack sale on Twitter, the other was a separate purchase. I’m in several different lanes right now collecting-wise, but that is… Read More Monday Mailday Mashup
What elements make a great insert set? It’s a question with many answers that come down to personal preference. My collecting focus might shift every so often as players move from team to team, new eras of cards emerge, new brands debut, etc… but my preferences in general stay the same. Let’s go through design… Read More What Elements Make a Great Insert?
I find myself over and over again being drawn to card designs that look like older cards, the Heritage products, the Retros, the current players on throwback designs, so it’s no surprise that I am a fan of the 1997-98 Fleer Goudey Greats insert set. These are inserted in 1:4 series 2 packs, they are… Read More Nate Tiny Archibald says… 1997-98 Fleer Goudey Greats
I have two clear memories of watching film strips, and although I likely viewed them during school growing up, but can I only recall two specific times. The first is being at my grandmother’s house seeing pictures of my dad’s family growing up. I treasure what I remember from that afternoon, and I snapped some… Read More Filmstrips on Cards Not Going Out of Style
Looking at cards not only brings back memories of specific seasons, games, or plays, it can also remind us of different times in our lives. Three cards made their way to my mailbox recently, each from different eras in my collecting history, and also three different eras in my life. Arena Vision is a set… Read More Three Cards, Three Eras
In the ‘ultra-modern’ collecting period we’re in now, as it’s being called, most products, even the lower end products, have a seemingly endless number of parallels, along with numerous insert sets that usually have several parallel versions of those inserts. It can be overwhelming to keep up with, at times, for the team and player,… Read More Keeping It Simple
The 1996-97 rookie class was completely loaded with talent, and rates among the best of all-time. Iverson, Marbury, Allen, Kobe, Nash, O’Neal, Abdur-Rahim, Stojakovic, Camby, Walker, the list goes on and on. You’ve got players who made big impacts on contending and championship teams, Derek Fisher, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Kerry Kittles, Shandon Anderson, Erick Dampier, Malik… Read More Best Rookie Class Ever? 1996-97 Ultra All-Rookie
I started collecting cards in the mid-90s with my dad, traded cards with friends in the late 90s, and really solidified my NBA fandom during that time as well. I know there are folks who agree that the 90s have the best inserts, and while I like to think I have pretty good knowledge about… Read More Grape Jelly Never Looked this Good: That’s Jam Pickup
Hoops Hobby 