Night Owl Cards

  (Special note to View From The Skybox : Never fear. I'm OK now. My soul was possessed by college basketball for a few too many stressful hours, but I conducted an exorcism and I'm back! Here is the post that was meant to appear on Sunday night):   I go on quite a bit about the modern hobby's neglect of the base card. It's pretty infuriating for someone who knew almost nothing except base cards for the first decade of his collecting life. But there is one time -- and it's repeated over and over -- when I dismiss the base card, too. It happens when I open trade packages. Often, but not all the time mind you because there is that period in time when a set first hits the shelves, the base cards that fall out are mere dupes. Just something to shuffle through before you get to the good stuff. It's at that time that I feel like a case breaker. And, if I think about it too much, I almost feel guilt and that I am a hypocrite. For example, there is...