A Little Bracketology

With March Madness upon us, and spring training winding down, what better time to show off a few other aspects of my collection.


One team you won't be seeing in the tourney are my alma mater, the Duquesne Dukes.  In fact the Dukes haven't been seen in an NCAA bracket since 1977.  Not a lot of hobby love for the Dukes (and rightfully so), though former wide receiver Bruce Hocker found his way into HIT, featured on two cards in photos from the Senior Bowl.  Hocker was viewed as a potential late round pick/rookie free agent, but never surfaced in pro football to my knowledge.

This year I'll be rooting for Pitt.  I was a big Pitt fan growing up, and spent my grad school days at West Virginia, where I had the chance to teach a couple of the current men's basketball team members,  I can definitely say that the idea that college athletes don't at major schools don't work hard in class is a myth, but a down season means I won't get to see them in action during March Madness.  

Even though my shared fandom of two rival schools causes the occasional conflict of interest, I've amassed nice little collections of each school.  Both universities have been far from prolific at producing pro players.  The shift from using college photos to combine/training camp photos on NFL cards has definitely been a blow to college uniform only collectors, but hopefully there will continue to be more cards produced for this niche market.

And in case you were wondering, yes I'm aware there are nothing but football cards in this post.  My NCAA basketball cards are in a box...somewhere...to be scanned down the road.