Night Owl Cards

  October is one of the busiest months on the calendar. But unlike some of those other always-busy-months (*cough* "March"), October features fun busy stuff that interests me.   Last night, for example, both of my teams were playing: The Bills (yuck) and the Dodgers (yay!). It was a lot, and I saw almost none of it because I was working. Probably for the best. But then I got home and I wanted to see the Dodgers highlights and that "fly out into a double play" that everyone was discussing online. I waited and waited. It got to be 2 a.m. and still no youtube highlights. I went to bed. Fifteen minutes later the highlights were up.   It's just a lot this month and it's been that way for quite awhile. I do miss the younger days when I didn't have as much on my schedule -- or at least that's the way I remember it. I miss many of the elements of those days, which is why I want cards from back then.   Diamond Jesters' Time Travel Trading is a great way ...

It's a good thing that we're in a new golden age of giveaways and contests on the blogs, because trading through this medium has slowed to a dribble. I totally get it. With the post office out as an option the last couple of months, I've relied on PWEs and the mailbox for any transacting. It's actually been a productive alternative, but there are limits and because of them I haven't been able to send cards to certain people. Hopefully, life will be more receptive to trades through the mail in the coming weeks. In the meantime, we have crazy generous contest giveaways like the Cardpocalypse going on right now on the blog ... uh ... Cardpocalypse (do I have that right -- the contest and the blog names are the same?). Tim has been running weekly contest giveaways since his return to blogging. Each giveaway launches on Sunday and is themed. Each week's winner is unable to participate in future giveaways until the Free-For-All (my phrase, not his) in Week ...

A few minutes ago I finished researching a topic for a blog post. I was going to publish it this morning and it was going to be pretty good. I scanned all the appropriate cards and looked into the facts about each card and the individual pictured on each one. Then I did one final bit of research ... and the post fell apart. The premise to my post was false. It turns out the player that I thought was dead is actually alive . Oops. So here I sit, with a modest amount of work wasted and nothing to post. Fortunately, I have lots and lots of cards that people sent me, right? Cards From The Quarry operator hiflew sent me yet another package recently. In that package were these two needs: 1999 Skybox Thunder is such a terrific set because you can make fun of it all day. Unlike my aborted post, the good folks at Skybox didn't realize the error of their ways and actually went ahead and published their wrongness for everyone to read. So, let's read: On the...

A few weeks ago, I resolved to do something about my Bills collection. I have been a fan of the Buffalo Bills since the mid-1980s, back when the team was 2-14 and touted Vince Ferragamo as their starting quarterback. Even before that, I remember making trips to Buffalo and reading about Joe Ferguson, Jerry Butler, Joe Cribbs and Fred Smerlas. Later, during the late 1980s and the team's return to prominence, I covered the Bills as a sports reporter just starting out. The Bills have been my closest connection to professional sports for virtually my entire life, and I've basically ignored them when it comes to collecting cards. That ain't right. So I set out to acquire SOME Bills cards. I have no interest in full-blown football card collecting. I just want a modest amount so when the card police come to my door and say, "What's your favorite football team? May I see your cards, sir?", I will have something to show them. I was able to acquire some q...