After flipping through my trade bait, I came across several cards that made me reflect on my purchases & trades over the years. The first card I came across was my 1998 Pinnacle Ryan Leaf autographed numbered to 500. I don't remember what I traded for it, but I do know that I gave up a lot. While playing for Washington St., Mr. Leaf had a crazy game against CAL where he threw 4 or 5 TD's as they dominated the Bears. It was that game that made me think that Ryan Leaf was going to be a superstar in the NFL. His career stats include a 4-17 record as a starter, 14 TD passes, 36 interceptions, and a career passer rating of 50.0.Well, there's no way I could pick lemons in back to back drafts.
Right? Next up, Tim Couch. I'm not sure exactly why or how I decided to invest in Mr. Couch. My guess is that I jumped on the #1 draft pick bandwagon and rode it into bankruptcy. Okay, well not exactly... but I sure threw away hundreds of dollars picking up his autographs, inserts, and rookies. Something I had blocked out of my memory for the past 10 years. That's until I strolled across my mint 1999 Encore "UD Authentics" Tim Couch autograph. Thankfully, I have no clue how much I spent on this gem.
Last, but not least is the Kandi Man, aka Michael Olowokandi. Mr. O was drafted #1 in the 1998 NBA draft, ahead of Vince Carter, Dirk Nowitzki, Paul Pierce, and Antawn Jamison. Unfortunately for me, none of these guys (except the Kandi Man) went to UOP... which along with the fact that he was drafted #1 was the reason I invested some dinero into this fella as well. My loss was someone's gain... as I bring to you this pristine 1998 SP Authentic "SOTT" auto of Mr. Olowokandi. Thankfully, Mr. Carter started going off with his crazy dunks, because this caused me to jump ship and dive head first into Vinsanity.Anyways... this is only the beginning... because you see, I've decided to start a new PC. I know I'm not the first person to come up with this idea, but I figure I might as well make the most out of a bad situation. In fact, I already have another autograph from a football legend(ary bust) on the way. Anyone remember Steve Emtman? By the way, I'm looking for a Brien Taylor auto, an Alexandre Daigle auto, and anymore autographs of huge sports busts. To be continued...
Awesome post. I love collecting bust and even better, players that were drafted by a team and then traded a year or two later, only to become good players (e.g. Chauncey Billups Celtics).
ReplyDeleteFun post to read. Everyone make mistakes if they collect long enough, but looking back on those cards is part of the fun. So maybe they aren't mistakes.