OMG! OMG! An 09/10 Insert set that I will most definetely want.

So, Panini Certified just went live, and I watched a box break on youtube.  For the most part, I though it was kind of the same ho-hum interchangeable, shiny, cut-off at the junk, metallic, foil release that Panini has given us this year.  In fact, the only set that wasn't more chromed out than a cholo's El Camino from Panini was their flagship set.  I wonder why that is?  But that's beside the point.

Either way, I'm watching a box break on youtube and the Elite/Certified/Presitge interchangeable base cards are rolling by when an Omri Caspi card comes up that looks like a passport.  And they're called Certified Imports.  What the hell?  I must investigate.  To the Google machine!  And well, here's what I found.

The list of the subjects in the insert set is a bit lacking, but it's a start.  Here's who's on the list:

Andrea Bargnani
Andrew Bogut
Boris Diaw
Dirk Nowitzki
Hasheem Thabeet
Hedo Turkoglu
Kelenna Azubuike
Manu Ginobili
Nene
Omri Casspi
Pau Gasol 
Steve Nash
Yao Ming
Zydrunas Ilgauskas
Andrei Kirilenko

Now, not all of these are in the GU list and auto list.  At least according to Panini's website.  And I admit, I'm a bit abashed that two of the more popular international stars in Portland got snubbed from the list (Azubuike?  Really?)

The truth is that this list could've been 30 or 40 members deep and it would've been popular all the same.  I'm definetely going to be looking for the base of the list.  I'm not going to plunk down a ton for the auto list (I've got enough autos to buy with the Murad set coming up).

But I really feel that this is an affirmation of what a group of collector's has been waiting for.  And leave it to Panini who's been covering international soccer to deliver it.  Well done Panini.  It's not enough to get me to shell out 70 bucks for a box, but it's enough to get me to scour the secondary market.  So that's a start.