April 12, 2025: The Cardboard Heroes

It was time.

As a kid, I built a legendary collection of baseball and basketball cards. All neatly organized in boxes, carefully sorted by team.

I had some limited editions and a few rookies with potential value. Giving them up would be hard, but the lure of money was strong. Could I really get anything for them?

So I chose five promising ones and took them to a local shop. The man behind the counter examined them as ancient artifacts. Then he paused, nodded, and offered me fifty bucks.

$50 sounded like $50 million. I said YES before he could blink, swapping my cardboard pictures for cold, hard cash.

Sports fans are passionate. They'll spend big moolah on things that baffle others.

Just this week, I read about the “most valuable” programs in college. Those worth the most if someone could buy them like a pro franchise.

UNC basketball topped the list at $378 million, followed closely by archrival Duke at $370 million. And still, that’s nothing compared to football. The Ohio State Buckeyes are valued at $1.96 billion.

Oh well. Maybe if I had held onto those cards, I could’ve bought the Tar Heels.