25 Years as an NBA fan

 25 years ago today, I became an NBA fan. My fandom would define my life for the next decade. More than one half of my card collection is NBA cards, despite the fact that I didn't collect them between 2007 and 2012. (and again in 2021 until ?, but for different reasons) 

It all started on Valentine's Day in 1996. My mom, who worked in my school, saw that none of my friends collected NASCAR or comic based cards, which I already did at that point for 8 years. Not wanting me to be left out, she got me a pack of 1995-96 Fleer Series 2. I loved the wild and wacky designs of that set, and later that night I found a basketball game on TV. It was the Knicks vs. the Hornets, and you can see the Game Log here if you so choose. It was a 20 point blowout, with the Knicks losing badly. It didn't matter...I was hooked. Basketball would then become a part of my daily life for the next 10 years. I would spend hours and hours sorting, resorting, looking at, etc. my cards. I watched as many games as I possibly could, for quite a while. 

After I lost my dad, 19 years ago last week, the only thing that brought me anything resembling happiness was getting cards. And I did...a lot of them. The vast majority of my collection was built from 2002 to 2006...I built up a collection of more than 72 thousand different cards. 

But then, things changed. I was no longer really enjoying the game, or the cards. In 2005 and 2006, I even let my paper listings lapse...which as you may recall from previous posts is the backbone of my collection. I've carted those listings as far afield as Indiana to Massachusetts. To not work on them...it's unconscionable...yet I did. It stems from a lot of things. The collection file on Excel corrupting, which I've discussed before played a bigger role than I realized at the time. Mostly, it was my own depression and burnout that did me in. I don't know when exactly, but sometime between September 2006 and Christmas of that year, I decided I didn't want to collect the NBA anymore, so much so that I even made an "LP", for Last Pack, notation in my card listing, although I didn't list them in time to remember the date, so that is lost to history. The Second Era, aka NBA Era of my collecting journey had come to an end. 

I really thought I was done. I stopped collecting, I stopped watching- I don't think I saw a single minute of the 2007-08 season. 

I now regret that of course. 

I didn't touch my NBA cards again un 2011. And only then because I moved them to keep them from getting wet from a possible hurricane. 

But in 2011 I started to get back into it. I really enjoyed watching the Mavericks win the Championship, which I watched with Mom as her favorite player of all time, Jason Kidd, got his championship. I picked up a few cards for the first time in years, but I wasn't fully back into it. 

Then, in October 2012, I joined the Trading Card Database and discovered they provided stats for your collection. I pulled out my paper listing- relegated to my basement, the only time it's been out of my sight since I created it at Christmas 1998!- and entered my entire collection. It brought back a lot of memories, memories I hadn't thought about in so long. (Well, it seemed like so long, even if it was only 6 years) It brought back to me how much I enjoyed my listing. Then I discovered 44 card packs of Hoops at my local Target for about $5. That was it, all those things combined brought me back to the NBA. I was enjoying watching the game again, the 2012-13 season cards were great, and the NBA had soon regained it's top spot in my collection, which it held until 2017.   

It has changed again now. I am still an NBA fan...I always will be, to some extent...but hockey has overtaken the NBA for me. It's more fun to watch, it's more fun to listen to, (the NBA broadcasts rarely ever actually talk about the game when a national TV broadcast is involved. I've seen games where they spent the entire fourth quarter talking about nothing and not mentioning the teams playing even once). The current NBA cards are terrible. Panini did so well in 2012-13, but has steadily gotten worse ever year. I no longer enjoy the cards...and this time it's actually the cards, not just me being depressed. Now I basically only watch NBA if there is no hockey on, although I still try to watch the highlight show every night, and I still keep up with what's happening in the sport, but it's not #1 for me anymore. I am done collecting the NBA for now, because the hobby has gotten stupidly insane. A box of Hoops that is overpriced at $85 is now pre-selling for $450. 

I don't know what the future holds for me and the NBA. I have gone from a diehard fan to a casual fan, and I'm ok with that. Trying to be 100% into everything simply can't work. I would still like to collect, even if it's not my favorite anymore, but right now that's not really possible. I'd like to fill in the missing holes in the 1990s sets as well...the 1995-96 through 1997-98 sets specifically. But I am not sure how much effort I will put into it...out of sight, out of mind is a real possibility. I've got my collection down to just under 20 thousand cards still needing scans...which is a lot. But I've got 76,000 scanned already, pretty much all of which I've scanned since 2012. So, I do see "the light at the end of the tunnel", which is the break even point. Of course, lately I've been spending a lot more time scanning my hockey cards, I really should focus more on the NBA. I have more left than I could scan this year but since it is a big anniversary year I should refocus. I'm at the point I get to in any project where when I start to get near the end, I start getting antsy to bring it to completion and see the end result...which is bad in a project that still has a couple of years worth of work required to complete it. 

While each pack of 1995-96 Fleer 2 was 10 cards, 8 base cards, 1 subset and 1 insert, I only remember two cards- this was the first one.

#220, Sam Cassell, was the very first NBA card to enter my collection. 

Hakeem Olajuwon's card is the other one I remember. I wish I could remember what the first insert was...the first one I remember is actually from Hoops, which was likely the second NBA pack I ever opened. (Anfernee Hardaway Top 10)

I guess, if I ever want to get to the break even point, I should stop typing and get back to scanning...however, today is the Daytona 500, so I likely won't get a whole lot accomplished scanning wise today! Or tomorrow, since I actually wrote this post at 4:30 AM on Saturday and scheduled it...