Basketball cards, football cards, baseball cards, and all manner of sports cards have been available since the middle of the 20th century. The early 90's was a great period in basketball and other sports, with athletes like Michael Jordan, Scotty Pippen and Reggie Miller doing amazing things on the basketball court. The trend of collecting basketball cards was never greater at this time, with a number of successful companies vying to be the most valuable.

It was always young children, of course, who would think these cards were valuable. One of the easiest ways to tell which card was worth the most was by the popularity of the athlete on the card. A Michael Jordan card would be worth far more than a Luc Longley, for instance. But also available were special cards, which included gimmicks like holograms and shiny paper to be worth more, and make the image more attractive.

The companies that created these cards saw a great deal of money in this time. Fleer cards were usually considered to be of high quality, while Topps cards could at this time never seem to be quite as stylish as the others. The most popular, however, were those from the Upper Deck style. With each card presented in smooth, crisp detail and a small hologram declaring it to be official Upper Deck merchandise on the back, these cards were the one most looked for by children in the schoolyard.

The question is often put forth: Why do kids place so much value on these little pieces of card? At first, it seems like a fair question. The material used by the manufacturers cannot possibly be worth anywhere near what the maker has paid to create them, or what any of the materials are worth. It's only the fact that many different people agree on a card being valuable or not valuable that makes any value. As strange as it sounds, the perception of something being real makes it real. When one individual says a piece of cardboard is worth a heap, he's delusional. But if many people say it, the people who don't agree are missing out.

Now, this all seems to be a strange thing to think of as true, yet think about this: Why is their value to money? Do the materials of cash have any real value? Of course not, greenbacks are worth something simply because everyone agrees that they are valuable. So as strange as we think the kids getting the basketball cards are, we would think someone who didn't care about money would be crazy, too. Basketball cards have these days become highly unfashionable among youngsters. While there was a short craze for Pokemon, the fads of today tend to be computerized, with many kids using mobile phones instead of cards, or pogs or yo-yos. It's simple for us to look at them and think of how silly they are, but were we really any better? Now here's a worrying thought: When these children are our age, what will their kids be collecting?