Night Owl Cards

  I don't know what the weather is like in your area but around here, it's pretty warm pretty early. It's 85 today and that's not typical in May in the north country. I quite like it but I know if it's like this nonstop through the end of September there is going to be a whole lot of whining around here. And speaking of whining, what a weird time to still be playing hockey. I know that the Stanley Cup playoffs have been stretching into June for decades now. It's played some portion of the final series in June since the early 1990s. Not the first time this Gen-Xer looked at some new occurrence from the early '90s with puzzlement (although nothing will ever top Color Me Badd). When I was in high school, the NHL was done by mid-May. Part of that is because the Islanders were sweeping everyone out in four games, but it seemed in sync with the calendar and the season. It's so hot to be playing hockey in June. It's probably nice for people in Florida, Dall...

  I took a sick day from work Wednesday. If I'm remembering correctly, it's the first sick day I've taken in 11 years. The previous sick day before that one was in 1995.   Then I forced myself into work yesterday. It went OK. But after four hours, I could feel my body shutting down and left. Whatever time-bomb head cold I acquired started slowly days ago until exploding into action Tuesday. Wednesday I could barely lift my head.   I'm feeling a little better today, but thinking long and leisurely about sports cards is not in me right now. This is why I trade with people: so I can have new card content queued up for when I am inevitably detained.   A new send from Doug of Sportscards From The Dollar Store arrived a week or two ago. I always look forward to these. He finds some fancy stuff that I'll never track down, and also delves into other sports ... so I don't have to.   There you go. Like some Sabres. Doug very nicely stuck to my interests in the non-Dodger...

  Everyone seems to love Buffalo these days, at least from a football perspective (unless you're a weird Jets, Dolphins or Patriots fan). I'm not used to it, most long-time Bills fans aren't. Just about all of my life, the Bills have been ridiculed for either being lousy, losing four straight Super Bowls or just playing in a location that gets a crazy amount of snow. "None of those people ever lived in Buffalo," I'd tell myself.   But now that doesn't matter, even people who never set foot in that city are riveted by Josh Allen and the Bills and celebrating the team. Even if I don't get some aspects of the current fan base -- the "Bills mafia" was never a thing back in the '80s and '90s and -- I smile inside when my city, the one I wish I could live in again, is praised. It's all over all the social medias, and it feels good to root for a team so loved, to be in this very odd era of good feeling, after having to explain myself for...

  As you know, the Buffalo Bills are pretty good. That's my team. Has been since the mid-1980s, when they were really bad. I mean really, really, really bad. It's fun now. A bit stressful, maybe (especially for the significant other), but mostly fun. It's also fun to see those guys on sports cards, even though I don't really collect football, especially modern football cards. But, still, over the years I've welcomed Bills and Sabres cards into my home because of my affection for Buffalo and memories of those times covering both of those teams. However, I'm taking this blog space to say I've had enough. Or, more accurately, my binders have had enough. I dedicate a single binder each to the Bills and the Sabres. That's all I have room for with baseball dominating the conversation. Each binder contains every card I own (dupes excluded) for each team. Both of those binders have reached maximum occupancy. There ain't no more room. And I'm not buying ...

I've been eagerly awaiting the binders that Kenny from Torren' Up Cards had promised me a couple of months ago. I know that sounds sad. What has my life become? Waiting by the mail box for something I can pick up down the street for a couple of bucks? But ever since I've gotten my card room in order, with everything in their place on their respective shelves, I've come to terms with exactly how many binders I need and that I don't have enough of them. I counted the total amount of binders with cards in them. I have 91. Yeah, that sounds like a lot. It's not enough. I believe I need about 100 to have everything worth storing in a binder stored in a binder. I could probably comfortably store all that without having overflow issues. But nine more binders amounts to money I don't want to spend (the bargain-basement binders at the dollar store or wherever fall apart too easily for my liking). So free binders in the mail? Yes, please! Kenny sent me...