We have all done this as kids. At least the boys did. Collect sports cards. As a 10 year old during the 1990 World Cup the value of a Diego Maradona card I managed to get with a 50 paisa bubble gum was nothing short of the excitement of lets say winning a million dollars as an adult. Not that I know how that feels! If I remember correctly I probably hadn’t even seen a full football game by then. Maybe some clippings of this madman making his way through five Englishmen. But the card was, in Mastercard speak, priceless.

20 years on I don’t know where that card is. Maybe Mom threw it away as rubbish. In fact I had forgotten all about the card until I saw the football card craze at work recently. Apparently it is still a big deal in Brazil. My Brazilian friend told me he has all the cards (which includes cards of players from all teams, team pics, national flags, stadiums etc etc...numbering close to 600 cards for each World Cup) from the last 8 World Cups!!!  Every afternoon (actually all day round) you’ll see 30 somethings trading cards at work.  In fact the cards are numbered and an excel spreadsheet is used to keep track of which ones individuals already have and which one they don’t. It’s almost competitive. Who’s gonna complete the official World Cup album first. Apparently some of the folks from work show up at Ibirapuera park over the weekend to trade cards with strangers from all parts of Sao Paulo. Super fricking cool, I thought. I in fact went out and bought 10 packs (0.75 reals each per pack.) of 5 cards each. Enough for me to trade and get 7 English players. I gave the rest to my friend who last I checked is short of only 25 cards to complete his album. That is before his weekend trip to the park!!