My first Certified Imports are here

I posted earlier that I caught a glimpse of 09/10 Panini Certified on youtube and one of the insert sets caught my eye.  I'm a foreign player honk.  And when I saw the Certified Imports set, I knew that they would have to be mine.

So my rules for the set aren't as strict as they would be for a player collection.  There are many variations in the set as far as colors.  I'm just going to pick up a card of each player, regardless of color coding the thing.

Here are my first two:

I picked up a Yao and a Big Z card.  Both were had for about a buck before shipping.  But I got them before people really knew they were even being offered.  A couple of the next cards on the way took me into the 3-4 dollar range - still acceptable though.

The cards have a great passport look to them.  And I like the fact that the players action shots are in front of their flags.  A Chinese flag on a basketball card may not be a popular idea in theory, but here it looks pretty good. 

It's not overwhelming, nor does it have a 'propaganda' feel to it.  It just is what it is.  Yao's Chinese.  Simple.

I still wish Batum was in the set playing in front of a French flag, but that's another story.  Maybe next year.

The backs are also nice.  Sometimes backs of insert cards are pretty devoid of any personality.  These are pretty cool in fact.

Again, a Chinese flag.  But it works.  Not in the 'knock you over the head' WBC fashion.

Did anybody else know that Big Z was Lithuanian, by the way?  Completely didn't know that.

In any event.  The set is manageable (15 cards) and the prices so far on ebay aren't astronomical.  The trick is to find a seller that has a bunch for sale to combine shipping.

Either way, I'm happy with the purchase.  And I can't wait to put this set together.