SOM Hoops Articles

This year, Stephen Craw and myself decided to make a trip to Strat headquarters for opening day of the basketball cards.  We got word that the cards would be available on Monday, September 25th.  So right after work on Monday, I packed up the family and we departed for Detroit.  We arrived about 3:30 AM just across the border in Windsor and met up with Stephen.  My wife and daughter then stayed at her sister's house (who lives about 30 miles across the border).  Stephen and I then departed in his minivan for Buffalo.  We re-entered the US around 7:30 AM and made a quick pit stop to gas up and change drivers.  Stephen took the all night shift as he had gotten 4 hours of sleep while he waited for me to drive from Milwaukee to Detroit, so I slept in the back as we drove through Canada.  I then drove through New York, into Pennsylvania, across New Jersey, and back into New York City.  We arrived at Strat headquarters around 2:30 PM, hoping to get our cards and get back on the road before traffic got too bad.  It was great to finally see Strat's multi-million dollar, state-of-the-art facility and to meet the staff.  We were told that if we had gotten there before noon, we could have met Hal and had our picture taken with him.  Instead we had to settle for meeting the rest of the staff, and taking pictures on our own.  They were amazed we drove all the way from Detroit/Milwaukee just to get our cards!  We purchased 5 sets: one for me, one for Stephen, one for Ron Karbo (which Stephen was taking back to him), and two for Bebo & Ed (that we dropped off at the Fedex station for overnight shipping before we left town).  We were also pleasantly surprised to be informed that we were the first two people on the planet to receive the 2005-06 Strat basketball card set!  We even beat a guy who lived in NYC, who had called and was coming to pick up his set later the same day.  Originally, I had hoped to head down to Atlantic City to stay overnight for one night, and return the next day, but Stephen had other commitments that required him to be home by the next morning.  So instead, we turned right around and headed back home.  The ride back was fun as we were able to oh and ah over the cardboard.  To brag about the pleasant surprises and to complain bitterly over the shocking disappointments.  We spent a lot of time receiving calls on our cell phones from various APBA ballers, eager to know what their cardboard looked like.  The journey home was long and tiring, but we eventually got back to Detroit around 3:30 AM the next day.  So we basically drove almost 2,000 miles in a 24 hour period.  You can add in another 1,000 miles for me, for my round trip to and from Milwaukee to Detroit.  However, we both felt the trip was worth it since we had never been to Strat to get our cards in person and since we managed to be the first ones to get our cards this year!  We might go again next year, but only if we can coordinate our trip so we stay for the weekend and can go down to Atlantic City.