Hopes and Dreams

The sports card market is one that is increasingly tricky to navigate. There is an overwhelming
amount of information available to anyone that is willing to put in the time. I have tried to put that time in over that last few weeks. I have found that at the moment my Magic the Gathering card collection is much larger and more valuable than my sports card collection is. I have started listing items for sale all over the web in hopes of making enough money to of course buy more cards.

I have started this entire process with my children, I have mentioned both of them in previous posts. My daughter Rylee and I recently opened a few blaster boxes of 2019-20 Optic Basketball. I thought the opening was pretty normal with no amazing cards to note. It was a fun time spent with my daughter and seemed to really enjoy it.

Then I started looking on eBay for a particular card that we opened and I was shocked to see asking prices in the hundreds of dollars. Had I really missed an amazing card? What I found out was that certain parallel cards carried big dollars, as long as it was the right player. Here is the card that we opened that day.

I know that Giannis is big, but I had no idea that this card could be worth hundreds of dollars. I have sent it off for grading via BGS and I am hopeful that it will come back as a 10. Maybe it will and maybe it won't, but the hopes and dreams of a father and daughter cannot wait to find out.

Thanks as always for Reading,

Bubba

The Fever is Back

So after about a 7 year absence from the sports card collecting world, I AM BACK!!

I have started collecting again with my kids and I have renewed my goal of opening my own card store in the future. Since I was a young boy I dreamed of opening a card store of my own. It is a dream that has never really left me, just been put on hold numerous times. I have been watching YouTube videos and reading countless articles about the hobby and I am motivated to work on this project. I am not sure if it will ever come to fruition or if it will fade away as the world we live in changes. Nonetheless, I am once again working towards this goal. One of the more exciting things about it has been that my kids are starting to get into card collecting and I am trying to include them in this project.

It seems that one of the first steps is establishing an online presence of some sort due to the technology available today, and also in part due to the issues we are seeing as a result of COVID-19.

I currently have an eBay store with no items for sale, but a store nonetheless. I have also started selling cards on COMC under the user name BubbaHuns. I am excited to see how this service works and how I can continue to increase my overall sales volume. One of the next steps is deciding on a name for the eventual store. I have several ideas and I will look for feedback when the time comes. 

One thing that I am very interested in are parallel sets. There are so many card variations these days, I really want to focus on building, collecting, and selling parallel cards. I hope to write several articles on this topic in the next few months. If anyone actually reads this blog and has any instight into the parallel set world please send me a message or hit me up on Twitter @BrianHuens. Well that is it for now, more things to come.

Thanks as always for reading

Bubba

Rykers Hockey Pulls

Well the box opening went really well in my opinion. We pulled some great cards and my son was so excited to open the packs and see what cards he was going to get. It was everything that I had hoped it would be. The only problem now is that he has the bug and wants to get more cards.

 I fondly remember every Saturday getting my allowance and walking to the Wal-Mart and buying the latest and greatest cards that were available. I usually had between $5-$10 and it was more than enough to get a few packs.

Here are the highlights from our box of cards.

Ryker Wants Hockey

    It is funny when you let your children pick things. In this journey or card collecting I wanted to share the joy and love with my children. So I decided that they should be the ones to pick something that they like or may be interested in. My daughter picked Basketball which is something that I used to collect and still enjoy. Ryker decided that he liked Hockey and I was shocked since I do not have a single hockey card in my collection. I even asked him multiple times are you sure you want hockey and he said yes every time. So I purchased a box of Upper Deck Hockey cards and it should be arriving today. I am excited to open a product that I am not very familiar with. I am also looking forward to opening the cards with my son for the first time. I am not expecting to pull anything crazy, but I am looking forward to cracking the packs and spending that quality time with my son. Who know where this will lead. He may not be interested in it at all and this could be a one and done or he could really enjoy it and this could be the start of our hockey collection. Time will tell what happens, but I am very much looking forward to the journey.

  Thanks as always

   

    Bubba

Group Break Excitement

    My goal has always been to share my love of card collecting with my children and have them enjoy it on some level. I don't expect them to have the same passion that I have, but it is something that I want to share with them.

    I decided that the best way to start would to let them pick a sport and go from there. My daughter decided she preferred Basketball. I must admit that my basketball following has fallen off from what it was in my youth. As a teenager I was a big fan of Penny Hardaway and Shaq as well as Larry Johnson. I have several older cards of these players and loved following their careers. Once I started college I drifted more towards Football and Baseball. I have watched and followed Basketball very little in recent years. I know that Zion is the man right now and that the Lakers and Clippers are both pretty good.

    After looking at current Basketball card sets, I decided to try a group break with a random team as a way to start. When I told my daughter that we could hit it big or we could get nothing she seemed very excited at the prospect and she is very optimistic that we will get the Pelicans. Our break is tomorrow night through Dave and Adams Card World. (This small blog is not affiliated with any store or company)

    I am happy to return to a sport that I really enjoyed when I was younger and I thought that we at least get a few cards by which to start our shared collection. It will at least give us something to do on a Friday night during this crazy Pandemic. Wish us luck, I will post an update after the break.

As always thanks for reading,

Bubba

Collect what you love, don't chase the money!

    Card collecting is a hobby and an obsession for many throughout the world. The idea that you can own part of a game that you love, brings joy to people of all ages and all backgrounds. It goes back to the days of getting your favorite player just so that you can brag to the neighborhood. It goes back to a time when that Mickey Mantle card made the sweetest sound in the spokes of your bicycle. No one was looking to preserve that piece of cardboard for future monetary gain, it was about the enjoyment of trading with friends and enjoying the successes of your heroes on that piece of cardboard.

    Card collecting today is a funny combination of chasing the next thousand dollar hit and trying to predict the next unknown player that will become Tom Brady. This is of course just my observation, based on the types of products being sold today. I am sure there are still many in the hobby that enjoy the thrill of opening packs and are content to settle for a 19.99 blaster box from Target or Wal-Mart. I struggle with the new generation of products that provide 3 cards per box at a rate of $500 per box. While this is my attempt at an exaggeration, it is not far from the truth. I am not against these types of products or the people that purchase them. I just know they are not for me. I want to open packs, sort cards, and build sets. I want to have a collection that includes a variety of types and doesn't require the need to handle with white gloves. I want to have doubles of cards that my kids can trade, destroy, and enjoy without fear of losing thousands of dollars.

    My wife and I were talking the other day and we decided that we would start using our wedding china for regular meals. The idea came to after watching little house on the prairie. Why have something that has a useful purpose and not use it. I want my collecting of cards to be used similarly. I want my kids to thumb through the books of cards looking for their favorite player, I want to display cards that are different or rare. I want my collection to be out in the open instead of in closet or safe hoping that some day I will have a small fortune in cardboard. That is not why I enjoy the hobby.

    Again these are just one man's thoughts on the matter and I don't have any expectations for my views. I just want to share my opinion and encourage anyone else that loves the hobby to, Collect what you love, don't chase the money.

Thank you for reading

Bubba

Bubba is looking for a new groove

Where to begin...

I was so eager to share my card collecting adventure with anyone that would listen a short 7 years ago. Now I find myself trying to remember all of the things that have happened in the past 7 years.

Mini Recap

    We welcomed our second child into the world (Ryker), Today, he is an amazing 7 year old, full of energy and curiosity. Our daughter (Rylee 9 1/2) is turning into a beautiful young woman before our very eyes. They are both very active in various activities and keep us on our toes.

    I spent the past 7 years being a high school athletic director as well as a short stint as an activities director. The job was wonderful, but took a toll on my health and my ability to find time for everything else happening in my life. I am now just a high school science teacher and enjoy a little less stress in my life.

    My wife's father past away suddenly in early 2019. He had been a farmer all of his life and my family is helping my mother in law continue the legacy of farming. So in addition to teaching I am doing what I can to maintain the families Almond farm.

    There are many more things that of course have happened in the past 7 years, but these 3 stood out as the most impactful on my life currently.

New Beginnings

    The other day was looking at the current state of cardboard collecting and I must say that I was quite shocked by what I found. It seems that the days of buying a pack of cards for 2.99 or a hobby box for under $100 are long gone. Today's hobby looks so different than it did in my childhood and so different than even 7 years ago. I find myself trying to get back into the hobby that I once was so passionate about. There are so many challenges in today's collecting scene and most seem to be driven by $$$$. I wrote a little note to myself the other day with the hope that it would guide me back into to collecting. I wrote to myself "Collect what you love, don't chase the money. Collecting should be fun."

This is the motto that I intend to use as I get back into the card collecting world. I have not given up on my set building as I really do enjoy that side of the hobby more than the chase for the next big money card.

    I hope that I can find my way back into the hobby that meant so much to me for so many years, while also sharing it with my family and any of you that may be out there reading my journey. Here is to a new day and a renewed commitment to joy.

Thanks as always for reading

Bubba