Night Owl Cards

(I've been out of the loop as the covid booster sent me for a loop. Outside of two naps and going to bed at 11:15 p.m. yesterday -- very unusual for this night owl -- I thought I was doing OK. Then I realized I have more than a day's worth of blog posts that I had ignored! It was worse than I thought! I have some catching up to do. But first it's time for Cardboard Appreciation. This is the 311th in a series):   I hope you don't mind the semi-rare detour into football this post, but the Buffalo Bills are trying to do something they haven't achieved in more than 30 years. If the Bills beat the Jets on Sunday, they will win the AFC East in back-to-back seasons. They haven't done that since they won four straight AFC East championships from 1988-91. That was back when I was covering the team! I am aware that was a long time ago, but it takes certain moments for it to hit you smack in the beak. For example, every time I see Frank Reich on the sidelines of an Indiana...

For those who are interested, the 1985 Topps blog is fully functional with its first post. Love the '80s? Then get over there. One of the best things about the '80s for me was living in a football-crazy city. As you know, I'm not a big football fan anymore, but I used to be totally absorbed in the sport. You couldn't help it, living in Buffalo. The entire city talked about absolutely nothing but the Bills during the fall. If you didn't like football or sports and lived in the city, then you faked it for four months in order to have something to say to the other people in your neighborhood/class/workplace. The Bills ensured that you would always have something to talk about no matter what the situation. It was so much better than talking about the weather. As a college student, I had plenty of friends who were Bills fans (fans of other teams in that city were just being jerks). Watching the Bills in a bar and discussing the highlights in a drunken haze was ...