Night Owl Cards

I have decided that I would make a terrible coach. I already knew that I would make a lousy teacher. Knew that a long time ago. I neither have the ability nor the patience. But even with the added benefit of teaching a topic I love -- sports -- coaching doesn't interest me. The worst part for me would be cutting players, or telling them that they have to sit the bench, and then watching them ... sit . I have some small inkling of the way that would feel every time I update my Allen & Ginter mini frankenset binder. There are cards I "cut" from the binder all the time, and it's very difficult to let some of them go. Recently, Adam from My Cardboard Mistress sent me a bunch of A&G minis along with some other cards that I'll show later. I couldn't wait to see which ones made the binder, and I full expected to engage in a little cardboard mourning for the ones who would hear "we're going to have to let you go." What I didn't ...

You probably think I am ecstatic over the news that Melky Cabrera has been caught using PEDs and is now suspended for 50 games. You're right. I am ecstatic. What could be more wonderful than a too-good-to-be-true player on my least favorite team being exposed for the lazy-ass that he is in the midst of a pennant race also involving my favorite team? Oh, and did I mention that he used to be a member of my runner-up least favorite team? I am elated. But ... I am also disgusted. I've been through this before , so I apologize if I'm repeating myself. It's just that news like this makes me sick. It doesn't have to do with "cheating" or the "integrity of the game" or money, or anything like that. Or maybe it does a little. But I know that no one can prove that PEDs affect performance the way they're insinuating that it did for Cabrera. The part that makes me ill is the reaction. The "yup, I KNEW he was doing something . Nobody...

I'm not dumb enough to consider "Work Hard, Get Cards" an insert, but think about it for a minute: It's not part of the base set. It's randomly inserted in packs; you don't get one in every pack. That's the definition of an insert, right? OK, enough foolishness. This is where I count down the inserts/subset cards I got in the various packs I purchased since November. Fourteen separate packs yielded what I'm about to show, and it's a pretty depressing lot. I like the last card, and that's about it. What follows pretty much sums up what you got in retail packs in 2008. Or at least what I got. These cards and the rest, listed along the sidebar, go to the winner of the contest. You can get the rules and enter here . Off we go: 11. Mickey Mantle, Home Run History, No. 430, Topps Chrome. This is a waste of valuable chrome. Get these out of the chrome set. 10. Dennis Kucinich, presidential campaign subset, Topps Series I. You see correctly; I ranke...