Cards

Many of the kids in LilKat1's class collect Pokemon and Yugioh cards. He wanted some too, so that he could have his own collection. He started out with a few cards that some friends gave him. I went to go buy him some more, but then found out how ridiculously expensive they are. Instead, I went to ebay and sought out auctions that sold only the common (cheap) cards and not the rare (expensive cards). It worked pretty good. I got a nice stack of 150 cards for about $10. It was nice because I was able to use the cards as rewards, and they didn't cost too much. Been a good listener for your mom today? Here's a Pokemon card. Get ready for school by yourself without wasting time? Here's a Yugioh card.

But you know what the problem was? I don't really like Pokemon or Yugioh. Now, I don't have anything against LilKat1 collecting the cards, just to collect the cards. He likes the pictures and likes that he and his friends can show them to each other. But as a boardgamer and someone who is thrifty (cheap) by nature, I just really don't like Collectable Card Games.

Well, for LilKat1's birthday, I decided to try something new. I knew that he wanted more Pokemon cards. Instead, I got him some basketball cards. I loved collecting basketball and football cards when I was a boy. Basketball cards were a bit better than football cards because there was a better chance that you actually knew the person that was on the card. But I still loved them both. I still remember getting an Ahmad Rashad card and being so impressed with him because it was one of my only cards that said 'All Pro' on it (Wow, he must really be good!). I also had a Jack Lambert card that was very cool. Back then, pretty much having a card for any member of the Steelers defense was pretty cool.

Anyhow, I got LilKat1 just a $1 pack of basketball cards to start him out. And you know what? It worked! He loved them. He got a Brandon Roy card (which is cool because he lives near us). He also got a Kevin Durant rookie card (which I thought was cool, but he didn't care for very much). But he also got his favorite card...Mehmet Okur (not sure why it's his favorite, but it is).

Since I knew he liked the sports cards, I decided to get some more that I could use for rewards later on. I went to Target and looked for some cheaper sets. But everything was at least $10. Then I finally found a couple of sets (1 basketball, 1 football) that were $4 a piece with 75 cards in them. Not too bad! I grabbed them both and brought them home.

When I opened them up, I found out why they were so cheap. They were a bunch of old cards! They had maybe one or two new cards in them, but the rest were all old cards. But you know what? It was actually a really great thing. Let me give you a few reasons why...

 

From the football cards:

Barry Word...Pepper Johnson...Jesse Tuggle...Lionel Manuel...Gary Anderson (the RB, not the kicker)...Mark Clayton...Mel Gray...Mosi Tatupu...Tony Eason...Tom Rathman...Eric Dickerson and Curt Warner (on the same card!)...Richard Dent...Marcus Allen...Albert Lewis...Michael Irvin...Brent Jones...Ernest Givens...Jumbo Elliot...Nick Lowry...Wes Chandler...Jim Kelly...Pat Swilling...Elvis Grbac...Rich Camarillo...

 

From the basketball cards:

Sedale Threatt...James Worthy...Derrick McKey...Horace Grant blocking Kevin Johnson in the NBA finals...Mookie Blaylock...Cliff Robinson with the Blazers...Stanley Roberts...Kevin Willis...Nate McMillan...Craig Ehlo...Terry Dehere...Dan Majerle...Olden Polynice...Eddie Johnson...Michael Adams...Dominique...a young Sam Cassell...John Paxson...YINKA DARE!...Sarunas Marciulionis (I actually cheered out lout when I saw this card)...Jason Kidd, in college, with a fade!...Rex Chapman...Steve Smith...Kenny Anderson...Isaiah Rider...Vin Baker...Walt Williams...Karl Malone...Grant Hill with the Pistons (and healthy!)...Mugsy Bogues...SAM BOWIE!...Dale Ellis...Adam Keefe...Scottie Pippen...BJ Armstrong...and my favorite, Avery Johnson!

 

All cards that no one would buy now, but that I thought were fantastic. Some of these are guys that I watched when I was a boy. A lot of them were guys that me and my friends watch through high school and college. I love it that when I give one of these cards to LilKat1, I'll be able to share my memories of them with him at the same time.

Sure there were a few clunkers in the decks. The football pack had several 'rookie' cards of guys that I don't believe ever made the league (the cards are just pictures of them in training camp with no pads. One guy even had his name in tape on his helmet). But even the clunkers can be kind of fun. After all, I did get a really fancy looking Akili Smith card!

LilKat1 still likes his Pokemon cards (he actually likes the a lot more than the Yugioh ones now). But he really likes it that we can both have fun looking at our sports cards together. I don't know, card collecting may be a little bit silly. But LilKat1 enjoys it. And apparently I do too.