Was It Worth It? An Introduction

Every year, my wife and other family members get me a lot of cards to open for Christmas. I love opening new packs, but I don't do it very much anymore. I've become very jaded about the direction of the hobby and in 2010, rather than buy my usual Jumbo boxes for Topps Series 1, Topps Series 2, and Topps Update and my usual three hobby boxes of Heritage and Allen & Ginter, I decided to just buy the sets. No doubt, this has saved me money. More importantly, I'm not paying extra for a bunch of phantom hits I'll never get. (Besides, there are enough group breaks online for me to get my "gambling fix".)

So, since I'm not opening more than a few stray packs and a random blaster throughout the year, the packs I get a Christmas have added significance for me. The day after Christmas, I was looking at the cards and I decided that to make the fun last, I would open one pack a day until there were no more packs left to open. I then proceeded to open every single packs within a one hour time period.

What did I open?

- One Blaster of Bowman Platinum (Thanks Nicole!)
- One Blaster of Bowman Chrome (Thanks Nicole!)
- One Blaster of Topps Chrome (Thanks Nicole!)
- One Box of Target 2010 Topps Best of Chrome (Thanks Nicole!)
- Another Box of Target 2010 Topps Best of Chrome (Thanks Nicole!)
- One retail box of 2009 Topps Update (Thanks Mom!)
- One box of various unopened junk wax!!!! (Thanks Nicole!)

I was left with a very specific taste in my mouth after opening my packs. After I was done, I had to ask myself: was worth it? I certainly could have handed my wife my want list and have her hit a card shop up for a bunch of cards I know I need. Still, there's the thrill of opening a pack and discovering that amazing card that you want.

Each of these boxes cost someone real money. Was worth it? Tune in and see.