Imagine this if it isn’t already your reality. You’re a player collector, or worse in this case a team collector, and 2011 Topps Finest releases nearly simultaneously with 2011 Topps Platinum giving you the usual new excitement of a new set to chase every card your favorite player or team has in the latest packs of cardboard crack. So lets say you’re collecting a rookie as most player collector’s are at this point. Depending on the rookie you are chasing you could have up to 30 different cards to find in 2011 Topps Finest football which doesn’t include printing plates. Eliminate 1/1 Superfractors and your chase is slimmed to 23 but let’s be honest there aren’t many player collectors who would willingly cede Superfractors from their chase. Topps Platinum will give you another 21 or 18 if you leave 1/1′s out of the equation.

Two Topps Products and your search has boomed from whatever it was to 51 or possibly only 41. That is pure insanity for a player collector, not to mention redudnant. With so many parallels and then just as many parallels of the same card but with an autograph or an autographed patch Finest goes over the top.

Jerrel Jernigan is one of the rookies with the fewest parallels in this set. MADNESS!

Collectors everywhere aren’t begging for this many parallels or the added “value” which actually just heavily dilutes the market for a player. The value is so sporadic it’s tough to tell whether or not it really adds anything at all. The people who sell immediately after release to the people who have to have their player immediately are doing well with this added value but wait a month or two and see how the resell value on your precious green refractor numbered to 599 is. It’s a mess than can easily be cleaned up but the increase in parallels is purely a mask to increase production. We all love low numbering but it loses it’s luster quite easily when it has three or four counterparts that are nearly as “rare” Please stop. Collectors have been crying about too many parallels for quite some time. Certain sets have always been known as “parallel friendly” sets and Finest is one of them but this has gotten out of hand especially when you consider the new Topps products like Prime, Platinum and soon to be Chrome that have plenty of parallels already. They’ve infused the flagship base product with quite a few as well. Rare parallels are cool and should remain but ditch the seven layer bean dip style strategy and stick to a few solid traditions such as a base refractor (#’d would be awesome!), a black, a gold, a red and a superfractor. That’s a rainbow collector’s would love. We’re begging you.