If you’ve read some of articles on this site concerning cards from around the year 2000, you’re aware that I stopped collecting heavily at this point in time. There were just too many sets and the hobby was fragmenting. In 1999-00 Upper Deck had its regular set in addition to Black Diamond, Encore, Gold Reserve, Hardcourt, HoloGrFx, Ionix, Legends, MVP, Ovation, Retro, Victory and Ultimate Victory…and that doesn’t include some pre-season and boxed sets. But let’s just look at the regular 1999-00 Upper Deck. In that set there are over a dozen insert sets not including parallel versions of them. I like to have samples of the whole hobby in my collection, so this was just too much!
One of the insert sets from 1999-00 Upper Deck is the “Now Showing” set with a design theme that presents a star player and their team in the context of a movie. There is one player per team plus an extra Michael Jordan card to make it an even thirty. Kevin Garnett is the Minnesota Timberwolves representative and the card is titled “The Kevin Garnett Show,” which I’m sure would thrill the other members of the team. This is followed by some generic quotes and, if the other team members aren’t upset yet, “Starring Kevin Garnett and the Minnesota Timberwolves.” Honestly, this feels like an interesting concept that was rushed and not fully thought out. There isn’t a lot of subtlety with integrating the player and team into the concept. Fortunately, the back is a little more interesting. A couple more players are mentioned as “secondary actors” in the “credits” on the back. The coach is given the “role” of the “producer” of the film. And the first game of the Timberwolves’ 1999-2000 season is used as the premiere date, so there’s some thought there. But there’s a lot more thoughtless rush-jobs as well, “Story by Kevin Garnett,” “Moves by Kevin Garnett,” “You are likely to experience serious excitement…”
This is one of the most common insert sets in 1999-2000 Upper Deck at 1:4 Series I packs. The concept is interesting, the foil is attractive, the players are great. But this idea should’ve been pushed a lot further with these cards. Other than a few thoughtful ideas, it feels a little bit like someone didn’t finish filling in the template. There’s also parallel versions, Quantum Levels 1 and 2, but these are so limited and scattered throughout so many insert sets that they’re not on the radar of most collectors.
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