General Forum

While I agree with the general ridiculousness of all the parallels and inserts and parallels of inserts I don’t think the blame lies wholly at the feet of the card companies. They’re a buisness and they produce what people buy. So if most people were clamoring for a simple comprehensive set that’s what they would make. I blame the general card buying public for having s&$&t taste in cards. It’s the same in the auto industry. I love cars and wagons with manual transmissions and low centers of gravity. What do we have? A bunch of tall soulless blobs known as crossovers. Why? Because that’s what people want and buy. 

I don't mind them, but I'm not a player collector so I can see how that would then nuts.  I think if you resign yourself to the fact that you'll never get every card of a player the aggravation will lessen.

As for parallels, for me it depends on how they look. I absolutely loathe red back parallels - as for good cards, I like the sparkly ones (like 2015-16 Hoops) but not the ones that look like someone smeared the contents of a diaper on them (see 2013-14 Hoops and Score).  The old downside is that it makes it very tempting to keep buying product even after finishing the base set. 

Oh there's parallels I dont mind too.  I like the shiny stuff, and refractors are great.  But it still let's the manufacturers become lazy.  Of the original Bears player that brought up the conversation, I wonder how many of those cards actually look different from each other, other than color of border.  If theres going to be 25 different Yadier Molina cards in a product release, I prefer 25 different designs and photos.  Not six, repeated over and over.

I think everyone has already said what I agree with.

The now only handful of companies: Topps, Panini, Upper Deck? (or is it now part of Panini?) manking hundreds of sets and each set has dozens of inserts and dozens of parallels, even parallels of the inserts. Each sport only has one company with a license.Topps doesn't bother to make unlicensed products and Panini makes a ton extra sets for the sports they do have a liscense for. As much as modern cards tick me off I have been wondering for the last 2 or 3 years why I am still trying to collect some of the current stuff.

I COMPLETELY DON"T WANT TO RANT ABOUT THIS AGAIN!!! It bugs the heck out of me. So I'll keep it short:

* I like inserts, but not 10 parallels of that insert card OR 50+ insert sets in each product.

* I like base parallels, but no more than 3-5 of them for each card.

* Topps started this current 2008+ mess and Panini is just following their lead.

* I've hated the industry focus on rookies/draft-picks since 2007 and still do. Give me veteran cards for the "hits"!

* If I had a choice in the 3 sports I collect (NASCAR, NFL, MLB), I'd prefer UD over Topps & Panini. I really wanted UD to get licenses for NASCAR after Press Pass closed. But UD had done it before and knew what it takes to make NASCAR products. It's not as easy as MLB, NFL, NBA, NHL or any of the soccer leagues. There is no single license for the sport.

Lastly, Upper Deck is still it's own company. No one else owns them, unless something happened very recently that I don't know about. But they mostly do NHL cards, entertainment cards and unlicensed cards in other sports. Panini has gone shell on everyone b/c of the licenses they do have. Their NCAA and Cooperstown licenses are the reason they can flood the market with cards that aren't really wanted by collectors! The end for now...

I blame Topps for starting the nonsense with sparkle cards.

NBA teams have a 15-player roster limit, of which at most 13 can dress for any game. So at any given moment in time there are a maximum of 450 active players on NBA rosters. (Well, arguably only 390 could truly be considered "active", with the other 60 on "taxi squads".) But with trades, injury replacements, G-League callups, and 10-day contracts most teams will employ more than 15 teams over the course of the season. The Cleveland Cavaliers led the way with 27 players appearing in at least one game this season - and that doesn't include John Henson, who was acquired in December but spent the whole year on injured reserve.

The rosters can be 17 players. 15 regular and 2 two-way players. Some teams don't use all the spots. 

My turn? LOL I love shiney, material, autos and sparkles. A base set is just that and I only buy OPC for that the rest is the thrrill of the hunt. As my American middle men can see pretty much everything I buy is NOT a common. I just have to hunt hard to get them for a great price. That is the key. I miss Panini hockey issues actually and UD does not sell enough low/mid end (IMO) for the masses. I like to pay under 100 for a hobby box and OPC and Panini were my only optiions. Thats why I just buy what I like, with the majority of it Canadian hockey and a touch of other sports. I'm like a cat I hunt for sport and like the sparkly shiney stuff!! LOL

I just bought a blaster of 2019 Panini Prizm.....and this is what I find...27 Parallel sets    I pulled a Rookie Auto Parralel to /50, but at least 3 sets are SN50???? Oh great googly moogly.