Hey folks, and welcome to my blog. From here, I plan on writing stories of my collecting days, how my collection has grown, and why I collect in the first place. So, hope you enjoy what I have to say.

For the first entry, I'll give a little intro and background. My name is Bryan...yes, that's with a Y! I live in Northern VA, one of the most congested traffic areas in the country. I work as a programmer for the enterprise wing of an aerospace defense company, a company I've been with since 2000. It's decent work, and the hours are nice. The pay could be better, but I won't complain too loudly.

My collecting days go back to 1990, when I was a strapping young lad of 10. My family lived in Jacksonville, FL, at the time. One weekend, we went down to visit my paternal grandmother in Ocoee, which is just outside of Orlando.

On the way, we stopped at a gas station/convenience store and, as always, I got out to take a look at what was inside the store. I happened across a couple boxes of cards called NBA Hoops. I had just gotten into the NBA recently, you see, and thought it was pretty cool that there were trading cards of the players. So, I got my folks to buy me a pack. I remember the first card I saw was Isiah Thomas, which I thought was cool since the Pistons had just won back-to-back trophies.

Little did I know that, from that first pack, it would start a lifetime addiction to card collecting. I continued to collect basketball cards through the mid-90s, with no real favorite team other then the Bulls. I liked them simply because they were the best...I was such a bandwagon fan Even after my family moved to Virginia in 1992, I continued the collection.

Then came October 30th, 1994...the NFL was announcing which city would receive the league's 30th franchise. It was Jacksonville, my hometown. I was so excited by it, that I almost instantly went from basketball to football in terms of collecting. With the little funds I had those days, I had to choose...I didn't have enough to really spread amongst multiple sports and teams. So, football it was...and still is.