Night Owl Cards

When I first started attending college in Buffalo in the mid-1980s, I was charmed by a number of Buffalo-centric pastimes, one of which was watching television the way only someone from Buffalo can. Buffalo is close to Canada so there was plenty of Canadian programming available. But Buffalo also featured an independent station called WUTV-29. This station aired a variety of entertainment programming that mostly included cartoons, old television show reruns and old movies and science fiction shows. It was both wonderfully off the beaten path and comfortably familiar. Later in the '80s, WUTV became affiliated with Fox programming and, then, UPN. It's a Fox affiliate now, I believe. I haven't watched the channel since I moved away from Buffalo, but I think, while the station still offers some charm, it is not the independent wonder it once was. It was the little things on that channel that brought me back to watching Saturday morning cartoons in the 1970s. The fact...

This program will have to be mine at some point. I have tried to obtain a World Series program for each time the Dodgers have gone to the Series since I became aware of professional baseball. Obviously, I've been a bit out of practice, given the 29-year-gap between Series appearances by the Dodgers, and I had to look up whether MLB even made World Series programs anymore. Fortunately, they do. Because there is nothing more that I want to do when my team opens the World Series than have some reading material by my side. To mark tonight's start of the World Series, I pulled out the programs in my collection for the previous four World Series involving the Dodgers. To hammer home exactly how long it's been since I've been able to watch my team in the championship stage, here are the ads on the back cover of each of those programs: 1988 1981 1978 1977 What a wonderful wild world of wood paneling and nicotine. I was pleased to see that to...

One of the unconscious reasons that I decided to return to card collecting eight years ago was because it was a hobby I could keep under my thumb. When it comes to collecting, there are a lot of hobbies that can get away from you very quickly. I don't know how antique collectors do it. If I collected antiques, that would have to be my full-time job. There is no way I am going to fill the estate with giant objects and call it a "hobby." If I see it wherever I go, then it's officially a job. But with cards -- unless you're out of control -- you can put them in a binder, throw them in a box, close the door, and -- presto! -- people don't even have to know you have a collection. And this is very important if you happen to live with others who don't share your enthusiasm. So that's a minor reason why I collect cards and try to refrain from any other kind of memorabilia. To keep the peace. And to make sure I don't trip over anything. My hobby ...