Video: Panini Golden Ticket Winner Meets Kobe

From the insert-heavy ’90s to the game-worn-crazed ’00s, card collecting has never gotten this real. Ohio collector Nick Gauder pulled a Golden Ticket—literally—from ’10-11 Panini Gold Standard that earned him the opportunity to meet Kobe Bryant. Gauder admitted that he passed on a $20,000 offer to spend a whirlwind five days in L.A. that included his first airplane ride and first NBA game. Shouts to Panini Basketball for making this collector’s dream become a reality: “But even after exchanging hugs and handshakes with the five-time NBA Champion, the Gauders still had more history to make. Later Sunday night, Nick met his grandfather—for the first time. And Lani saw her sister for the first time in 42 years. It was an incomprehensibly blissful end to a surreal day. ‘What a great way to end one of the greatest days of my life,’ Nick said. ‘I will never forget it. The greatest weekend ever.'”