Do you ever wonder WHY you collect or follow sports?
Skinpinch
Posts: 1,531
After spending waay to much time posting on here the last few days, it brought to think again about WHY?
I go through times where I say, WHY am I even bothering to collect? Shouldn't I spend my time and money in a more meaningful way?
Then there are times where I want to go further with collecting. I sometimes go back and forth.
Has anybody just up and sold their collections, only to regret it later? Anybody ever thought about doing that?
The same for following sports in general. Do you sometimes wonder WHY do I even bother to think about this? I do. That is why I stopped debating sports for a while, until the last few days. Now I need to slow down again.
I go through times where I say, WHY am I even bothering to collect? Shouldn't I spend my time and money in a more meaningful way?
Then there are times where I want to go further with collecting. I sometimes go back and forth.
Has anybody just up and sold their collections, only to regret it later? Anybody ever thought about doing that?
The same for following sports in general. Do you sometimes wonder WHY do I even bother to think about this? I do. That is why I stopped debating sports for a while, until the last few days. Now I need to slow down again.
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If it starts interfering with the quality of your life (i.e. can't pay the water bill because you just GOTTA have that latest insert set), then maybe you've got a problem, lol.
It's also a good way to learn about business. Cards were my first entrepreneurial endeavor.
I would miss sports more than card collecting.
I even have unopened McDonald hamburger trasformers from the 80s that my son had no use for.
I hope there are others out there like me...would hate to think I'm the only monkey who is always grabbing for somethings that shines!
I collect because I like baseball and sports in general. And it's a pretty safe "vice" since often cards appreciate in value. The "thrill of the hunt" is a big part of it - tracking down those high end cards on a budget.
It's all relative - the guys who spend hundreds of thousands on cards make millions. If you take the ratio of the worth of your card collection over your total worth, I guess you could figure out how deep you're really in the hobby.
Brian
I love the sportscards. I also dabble a little in historical newspapers, both sports and landmark U.S. events. I got a great Lou Gehrig Newspaper of when the news first broke of his disease. It has a huge back page picture of him pointing to his bat in his rec room at home.
Everytime I think maybe it is time to sell and point the money towards other things, I always think of things like those that would be very hard to replace. I actually did sell a lot of 70's basketball within the last two years and got some good prices for them as they were in very nice shape. I didn't mind selling those because i know I can replace them down the line rather easily if the desire is there.
I'm not hurting my lifestyle at all with collecting, I just sometimes wonder why am I holding this valuable piece of cardboard when my cousin has to miss two months of work with a broken leg and will stuggle to pay the house bill.
I'm selling my collection in bits and pieces because;
1. I still enjoying collecting cards and it reminds me of my youth but ultimately I am going to sell it all
2. It keeps me entertained even though I spend a lot of time doing this, which I'm sure I can make more money spending my time elsewhere
3. Yes, I need the money, life changes-divorce, kids, etc
4. I continue to monitor it to see if I can still buy and sell cards and make a little extra change but that's becoming too hard to accomplish
Do I sometimes want to start again? Yes, of course but I've determined that it's best that I sell off everything. I do stay involved because I now have my 2 boys buying cards and I need to remember it's a hobby to them versus an investment.
Will I regret it? I doubt it, I can always start all over again... ha ha
"I fall into the category of Collectors with no choice - we are born to collect - pack rats - people who love to see displays of things - an urge to complete something - this is an innate urge - like an itch that you can't scratch - if it wasn't sports then it would've been something else.
I even have unopened McDonald hamburger trasformers from the 80s that my son had no use for.
I hope there are others out there like me...would hate to think I'm the only monkey who is always grabbing for somethings that shines!"
(end quote)
Dang, you just wrote my life's summary! I got the "Pack Rat-itis" from my Dad. For years he had old Reader Digests stuffed in the beams down in the basement, every tax return he ever filed, etc. Every time we moved my wife complained about my "Collection of Collections". I've got old Rolling Stone magazines (which I did downsize from 3 huge boxes to 1 box before one move), I have my 4 brothers and my old worn out comic books, from the '60s, my old coin collection, a stamp collection, an LP collection (and now CDs), a box of the Minneapolis Tribune's 1985 Sports sections (with Kirby of kourse!), etc. etc. You mentioned the McDonald prizes -- I have a printer-paper box stuffed full of the food inserts/giveaways that my 3 kids had doubles of (which I never opened) and items I found laying around that they seemed to be tired of.
I think being a pack rat is a curse sometimes, but when I bring out a box of something the family really gets a big hoot out of going through it.
I just plan on running with it until I fundamentally change...which will probably be a long, long time from now if it ever happens at all...
hh