So Long Black Mamba

The NBA regular season ended yesterday with a passing of an era with the retirement of Kobe Bryant. While most fans were focused on the Warriors-Grizzlies game watching to see if the Warriors would hit 73-wins, they did, plenty were watching the Lakers-Jazz game to see Kobe play one last time and he left on a high note scoring 60 points after what seemed like he was taking every shot for the Lakers. I am not joking either, he took 50 shots while the rest of the team took 35 shots.  

Percentage wise this wasn’t his best game, it wasn’t his highest scoring game and the win didn’t put the Lakers in the playoffs, actually it knocked the Jazz out of the playoffs, but it will be memorable none the less. After 20 seasons, 5 NBA Championships and 18 All-Star selections he has decided to call it a career, and a Hall of Fame career to boot.

I am not a Kobe fan, as a Suns fan I am programmed to automatically dislike anyone wearing purple and gold but I will acknowledge he had amazing talent. Now had he been drafted by the Suns with the 15^th pick in the 1996 NBA Draft, as was initially predicted in mock drafts, I would be telling a different story today.  

 

Happy trails Kobe, enjoy your retirement...you earned it.

Encyclopedia Brown And The Case Of The Missing Signatures

If you are looking for a Kevin Durant autograph that isn’t an autograph as well as being an eBay 1/1 then I have found the auction for you. This 2007-08 Sweet Spot Signatures Durant autograph card, where the autograph has almost completely disappeared, can be had for only $3,535.35

 

If Kevin Durant isn’t your cup of tea than how about a 2007-08 Sweet Spot Signature Kobe Bryant autograph card where Kobe’s signature is also pulling a disappearing act? This eBay 1/1 can be yours for a discounted $2,424.24

 

The seller, from China, suggests that if you purchase these cards you should contact Upper Deck so you can request of an exchange for an equal value card. I am pretty sure Upper Deck would tell you to forget about it if you tried asking for a replacement of a 7 year old card.

 

Sadly the 2007-08 Sweet Spot Signature cards are notorious for disappearing ink. I couldn’t even imagine dropping hundreds, if not thousands, when these came out only have to a blank card within 5-7 years. It is odd too that the 2006-07 and the 2008-09 releases do not have the same problems, does anyone know what was different in the 2007-08 version?

It's Got To Be The Patches!

Yesterday I came across a Panini tweet where they previewed a Kobe Bryant patch card that I believe will be included in this year’s Father’s Day promotion. What caught my attention was not the large Nike swoosh patch but how horrible the card looks as a cracked ice parallel. This card is the epitome of the appalling direction that some designs are going. Instead of just designing a good looking card it is moving towards making the cards with the S!CK..MOJO!!! patches and parallels upon parallels. The next step is removing the athlete image from the card all together and just making a card with a patch and 10 different parallels. The companies have already begun to list relics as “Not from any specific game or event” why not just make it “This patch is not from any specific athlete, event or game”. Panini has already set the precedent with their Triple Play Real Feel relics.

Panini's Coup

While it has not been announced officially, Panini is broadcasting loud and clear that Kobe Bryant has signed with the company. This is a huge coup for a company that less then a year ago had almost no market shares within the United States.

Since Panini purchased Donruss in March they have signed exclusive deals with the NBA, the NFL Draft, a number of NBA Lottery picks, the NBA Hall Of Fame and most recently stole Kobe Bryant away from Upper Deck. Apparently Panini has come to America with no intent on sitting in third place behind Topps and UD.

Signing Kobe Bryant was no small feat and you wonder what else may be up their sleeves in the near future, only time will tell. How will this affect the upcoming Panini basketball sets?