Night Owl Cards

Tonight, 19-year-old Julio Urias is making another start for the Dodgers. I really have no expectations on how he will do. He could pitch two innings and give up 6 runs, he could pitch six innings of no-hit ball. It's all possible for someone that age and with that kind of potential (well, not ALL possible, because they'll never let him pitch a full nine). But you get the feeling that not everyone thinks like that. There are always expectations with players like this. If Urias lasts three innings, as he did against the Mets, no one will come right out and say, "well he's a bust," but it is implied in so many ways. You see it from the usual dopey fan message boards and Twitter and sports-talk radio, the usual knee-jerk reaction outlets. But it's also implied in accounts of the game from writers who are supposed to know better. Managers and coaches respect the process. And they'll tell you that. But we don't believe them. We want to WIN and we wa...

I have become rather proud of my ability to be late. I admit it's "acting out" on my part. I have a job that revolves around being obsessively "on time" and "on top of things." I also was raised by a mother who I am convinced would forgive every last wrong as long as I was punctual. "You say you ran five cars off the road and crippled the mailman? That's OK, honey. You made it here on time." So when I want to ride on the wild side, I whip the alarm clock out the window, dash outside and do a party dance on its shattered remnants. For a little bit in college, I lived 25 minutes away from campus. I would wake up 30 minutes before my first class began and walk into class five minutes after the professor began his lesson. I probably didn't smell very fresh, but I was fashionably late. That was the important thing. But, lately, I think someone has me beat in the "notably late" department. About two weeks ago, I received ...

I am in the midst of questioning my modern card-purchasing habits, as you may have gathered by some of my recent posts. What I would like to do is adopt a hit-and-run policy for next year's product. That is, buy a few packs of base, Heritage, A&G, etc., to get an idea of what is involved and to satisfy the occasional pack-opening urge. But that's it. I'm reasonably sure that is what I'm going to do. What I would also like to do is prevent myself from wasting gas in order to buy cards. As you may know, current cards are basically available now only at large department stores, unless you're the lucky sort surrounded by card shops. While there are two Wal-Marts and a Target within 7 miles of me, they're not conveniently placed. The closest Wal-Mart and Target each sit at the end of a long strip of road filled with fast food places, grocery stores and chain outlets. They are at the end of this road. Not the beginning. That means if I want cards (and I w...

I believe my anguish over trade posts has officially reached the final stage in "The Five Stages of Grief." You don't believe me? OK, I'll map it out for you: 1. Denial: "Everything's cool. So what if I have eight trades waiting to post? I'll just combine three or four in one post and everything will be fine." 2. Anger: "People don't realize what I have to deal with here! I have so many trades to post! I HAVE to combine them! Screw them. I don't care." 3. Bargaining: "If I make the card packages that I send in return really, really wonderful, then they won't be able to complain about me combining trade posts. All right, now, how much is that rookie Pujols card going for these days ..." 4. Depression: "I just can't deal with posting these trades one post at a time. Why go on? Maybe I'll just scrap trade posts altogether. Thorzul will be happy." 5. Acceptance: OK, I'll make an attem...