Impressions of The National

It's a big card show.

That is really what it boils down to. There are a million vendors there, selling everything and anything that you could ever want. Helmets, jerseys, supplies, old cards, new cards, singles, boxes, team sets, autos and relics. Upper Deck, Panini and Razor were there. Topps was not. Big disappointment.

Blowoutcards, Dave & Adam's and Atlanta Sports cards were all there. However, their prices were really not all that great for boxes. You could do nearly as well buying through the website, without paying for tickets, parking or food.

Dave & Adams had a few of the exclusive cards in conjunction with Freedom Cardboard. Panini had wrapper redemptions, as did UD. Buy five packs, bust 'em in front of their rep, and get an exclusive pack that could have an auto or relic in it. Joshua bought five packs of A Piece of History, then got his UD exclusive. Six cards, but no auto or relic. One guy we saw got a Michael Jordan auto #'d out of 5. Pretty cool.

Atlanta Sports cards was giving away hats. Bright yellow. Blowoutcards had t-shirts, but also had a big raffle with seven or eight prizes. The big prize was a box of National Treasures, which the first winner passed on for some reason! Kiss autos, Browns helmet, signed jersey, Ozzie Osbourne auto. But the big surprise to me was that Joshua won a box of Press Pass Football, with five autos and a relic. One of the autos was Pat White! Very cool!

I spent my money on some autos of Kaline, Killebrew, Guerrero, Palmer and a few others, plus some commons to fill in a few holes in the wantlist. Not a bad haul, all in all. However, when you add it all up, including the $15 ticket (luckily, Joshua was free - under 12 is free) and the $8 parking, it is no better than going to the flea market or local card show, except bigger. I've been, now I can say I've seen it, but I don't think I need to travel to it any more.