I have collected Tim Duncan since he was a rookie. But until 2007 I just got cards from packs I bought here in Germany or during my vacations when I was in the US, which was in avarage all 4 years. So I just had about 30 cards until that point of time. It was the time before boards on the internet and ebay. So my best card was a jersey card from sweet shot 03/04 which I pulled by myself.
I have been a Spurs Fan since I was interested in Basketball in 1994. During that time I was 10 years old and I liked David Robinson. Beside him I also liked Shawn Kemp. When my aunt was on holidays in the US in '94, she bought a jersey for me which was of Robinson. So that was the moment, when the Spurs became my favorite team. I tried to get as many information about the spurs as possible via a weekly nba show on the german tv and some basketball mags. That was all.
In 1997 I had read a lot about Tim Duncan before he was drafted by the Spurs. I have always liked Big Men basketball and Timmy seemed to be the next big thing. Beside his abilities as a basketball player, I liked his way of life. He was so different to players like Kobe, Iverson or Shaq. He was no gangster or a wannabe movie star. He seemed to be a guy who was just focused on basketball. I liked that. And he played very well during his first season. The best future big man on my favorite team? Perfect.
During the first years of collecting till 2007, I collected everything of him I could get. Jerseys (The first one I got here in Germany in a footlocker store) and all of his articles from newspapers.
I have collected his cards for over 18 years and I will go on. He has become the best Power Forwad ever and in my mind, he is a top 5 player ever. He dominated games, the nba finals and in contrast to other superstars he was able to step aside to make room for a new generation to stay succesfull as a team and as a player. That is so special. And still today, he can dominate a game ( but no season or a 7 game series anymore, but no big deal).
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