Confessions of a Reformed Collector

 Yes I said it! It needed to be said! I love Rookie cards before the hoopla that today's hobby community demands. No relics, no autos, no fuss! In the world of Social Media and Alternative Facts Allow me to provide you 3 examples of  1990's rookie cards I love more than any current rookie on the market. 1. The 1990 Hoops Gary Payton     If you listen to the Wax Museum Podcast you will hear Kyle say "Hoops Sucks"! However, cards like this one of Hall of Famer Gary Payton. It is clear that unlike todays Sticker Autos or "Relic" cards where the player several jerseys on in order to "authenticate" the card. This card and photo of "the Glove" is clearly organic as the photo clearly shows  Payton receiving the life changing call from the Sonics that made him the 1990 NBA Draft's 2nd Overall Pick. 2.1991 Skybox Kenny Anderson How can you not love Mr. Chibbs? After piloting Georgia Tech's Lethal Weapon 3 Offense to the Final Four Alongsid

" Why don't you just stick to collecting cards like a six-year old?" Was the comment some Social Media  user Tweeted me after I dared to disagree on a rather toxic take about the Carolina Hurricanes back before wins became common. While it is no secret that the majority of social media surrounding your favorite sports teams is inherently toxic, this comment directed at me was not taken in offense. Especially after fielding such well thought out questions such as "What does a nigger no about hockey?" (funny that question is never asked about my knowledge of basketball).      However "collecting cards like a 6 year-old " is exactly what I want to do/ Have you seen most 6 year olds? They do not care how they, look, what they eat, or what people think of them. They like what they like no questions asked. My daughter (yes someone procreated with me) used to wear hot orange leggings with a teal raincoat and earmuffs just to relax around the house, and the ti

      I recently attended my first card show since the world stopped in 2020. Having recently decided to sell off and refocus my collection I went with a different goal in mind. Rookie Cards of Hall of Famers Drafted in the 1990's., and of course cards of my beloved New York Knicks. Fortunately for me I knew that I could get out of there without breaking the bank.      There was definitely an eclectic crowd in attendance, along with a variety of dealers, and I was surprised to see a strong wrestling and Pokemon card presence at the show. I know there is and has always been an underlying tension between the trading card and gaming card community but its nice to know that coexistence is possible.      As I perused the show I realized that somethings in the Hobby in fact will never change. You will always have one dealer using Beckett for prices, insanely overpriced commons, and booths with no prices marked. The booths with unmarked inventory are usually a hard pass for me, because ti

  The following piece was originally written in 2019 while I was battling addiction. I am proud to say I am a recovering addict, and wanted to tell more of my backstory. The parts in italics serve as the added parts. Thanks. Don’t thank me for my service! I did not join for gratitude! I was a 23 year old single dad who had ran out of options to support his son. I was also coming from a background of abuse. I spent my childhood being mentally and physically abused by my mother and believed I was nothing but a failure. What else could one think after enduring a childhood that involved scalding hot scrambled eggs shoved in my face one morning when I was 8 years old. Or the time I was hit with a waffle iron because it was the closest thing my mom could reach. Let’s not talk about how she would find it funny to wrap her legs around our abdomen and squeeze so hard we struggled to breathe. Or How she used to deliberately slap me in the mouth when she was angry because she knew she would hit

    When I look at this picture I feel as if it should come with a voice over of me saying: "I know you are asking how it came to this?" This Article was from the Beckett Hockey Magazine from June 2019. I achieved a collectors dream when I was featured as a super collector of Former Carolina Hurricanes Defenseman Justin Faulk. On Social media I built a reputation as the Caniac Collector I even completed the elusive Nameplate set, and then it happened! Faulk was traded to the St. Louis Blues in September 2019, 2020 hit the hobby spiked and due to some personal issues I took a break. A combination of personal issues, growing prices due to predatory opportunists, and general lack of interest my collection stalled. I would pick up an occasional Faulk here and there but seeing him in the St. Louis Sweater just seemed odd and made my collection feel "different".      While I was not actively buying cards, I was in fact still looking at other collectors "hits" an