2018 Bowman Mania is an Utterly Boring Mania... and Represents Perfectly the Modern Day Hobby

Card collectors are a bit testy these days. At least according to card twitter. The source of all this antagonism seems to be the new Bowman product. Normally a non-controversial release, this year's product features the coveted Ohtnai signed flashy whatever card. The initial offering of product at retail outlets sold very quickly, leading to a new "mega box" release that seems to be driving everyone involved in this thing we do a little crazy. 

People complain that they can't find the mega boxes. They trash Topps for this weird, unannounced release. They hoard the boxes to open or resell. They trash other collectors for hoarding the boxes to open or resell. They mock collectors for wanting the stuff so badly. They ooh and aah over "hits" from the product. Bowman Mega Box opinions have become a big part of daily life on the card twitter stream. 

I've been doing some casual reading in old issues of Baseball Card and Tuff Stuff mags while watching the Brewers the past few nights. Issues from the early 1990s, when there were dozens of releases every year from a half dozen different card makers, each of them trying to catch the collecting world's fancy... it was a weird and wild time. And then I check twitter and read all of this about retail Bowman. And something dawned on me...

The modern hobby is an utter bore. 

The Topps monopoly has drained all of the creativity out of the business. Even innovative products like Topps Now or the Living Set are executed in a cripplingly dull way. The Now set is an idea I've ripped off for my own custom set, so it's a good idea, but they take no risks with the set. It's largely the same teams and players as in the base product with a few terribly-written sentences on the back. The living set is more substantial, but the idea is less interesting. And the 1953 design again? AGAIN? 

Topps flagship is as devoid of new ideas as it has ever been. Heritage feels lifeless and lazy. Stadium Club has some stunning photos, but little else. I was just paging through my Update 2017 binder and - my god - it was so boring. 

And so this is what we are left with... arguing about Bowman. BOWMAN. When was the last time anyone gave a shit about Bowman? 

I've tried to get excited about new product, and dutifully buy my flagship boxes each year, but looking back at this stuff, I'm left with such an empty feeling. What do these cards mean to me? Not much. They're just not any... fun. 

FUN! O lord, remember FUN??? Collectors, we have been deprived of fun for so long, we've devolved. Paging through my 1991 Topps binder is a BLAST. Remember Upper Deck SP inserts? Prime Times Two? Man, that was awesome. Ted Williams Card Co? Hell, it was a new take. Pacific? It sucked, mostly, but it sucked it its own weird way. Topps MBossed? What a big, bumpy, wacky try at something new. 

2018 Bowman Rookie of the Year favorites? (crickets)

Now, I don't want to make this seem like I'm putting anyone down who is buying Bowman, or having fun ripping it. I actually tried to pick some up this past month and would have had some fun opening it up. But I feel like the furor over this far outpaces the actual enthusiasm anyone feels for this product as a whole. We have so little to get excited about, so it's a rather middling product like this that starts a firestorm. 

I have almost no interest in buying in a box of Topps series 2 this year. Sure, the completist in me WANTS one... for no good reason other than to fill another binder that will depress me some afternoon this winter. Maybe I'm done with new stuff for now. Maybe until someone issues a set that is actually worth collecting.