Night Owl Cards

Out of the two main ways that I collect -- set collecting and team collecting -- the one that is suffering the most from the sudden surge in trading card popularity is team collecting. Not only am I not able to head down to the local big box and open some packs in search of my favorite teams -- this is still my favorite way to open cards, and it will always be that way -- but looking online for team sets is starting to get more difficult, too. This would be a good time to become a Marlins fan because searching for available 2020 Dodgers team sets is not always successful. So, that definitely sucks. Set collecting, I can get by. I don't want to collect any ugly ol' 2020 sets anyway. But team collecting, my objective is to get anything and everything. But I can't do it -- and it's less fun to do so -- if I have to turn it into a major project. I won't stand in lines and I won't get into bidding wars to get my Dodger cards. So, what's that leave? G...

I've decided to officially expand the Brush With Greatness series into non-baseball sports. This is going to be challenging, because I collect only baseball cards. I lack cards of several non-baseball people I have interviewed, including one glaring example. In fact, I'm shocked that I have this card. Out of the four major sports -- and several minor ones -- the NBA lags far, far behind in terms of interest. I have bought a pack of basketball cards, at most, four times in my life, and each time I couldn't tell you why I bought it. But I'm staring at the David Robinson-Sean Elliott 1992 Upper Deck card right now, so obviously I acquired it somehow. Given my lack of interest in basketball, it's kind of pathetic that I found myself in the situation of interviewing David Robinson. I was about three or four years into my sports journalism career and desperately trying to decipher the ins and outs of sports I rarely followed. When I was assigned to talk to Robins...