Night Owl Cards

  I made it to the monthly show across town today. It was the first time I was able to get there since January, having missed the last two because of poorly-timed weather.   This is good because the big Syracuse show is in a week and I'm probably not going to be there due to the lack of a vehicle.     The monthly show is definitely not the Syracuse show. I was reminded again by the ever-pervasive fantasy card tables that you can ignore at the Syracuse show because there is so much regular card show goodness. Today's show featured two tables that got my money. There were probably four tables total that offered the cards that interest me -- i.e. sports cards not encased in plastic.   But all things considered in the hobby (*waves hands at everything*), I'll take it.   This show will not be long for my world if one particular dealer decides it's not worth it (two of his seller buddies who used to accompany him at the monthly show have ditched it for Syrac...

  Ever since the local monthly show (and many other shows throughout the country) has become overrun with TCG cards I've debated skipping or at least not automatically attending every month. It's become less and less productive over the past 9 months to a year.   But like they say in the majors, "that's why you play the game." I was pretty surprised when I walked into the usual hall Saturday.   First, it was packed. I normally attend closer to 1 p.m. when typically the crowd has thinned out. But I could tell driving into the parking lot that there were still many people there. Second, the show was overwhelmingly sports cards. Any Pokemon, Magic, etc. seemed limited to a handful of tables. I don't know what caused the sudden shift back to sports cards but I was glad I got up off my recliner.   The change affected my mood more than my shopping. The tables were still overrun with graded football and basketball and I'm sure I heard "PSA" uttered 25-5...

   One thing that has become very clear to me over the last year is that my way of collecting cards -- the way that was the established primary way of collecting for as long as I've been alive -- is being phased out.   There are a variety of reasons -- and forces at work -- for this. I am reminded of one of them every time I attend the monthly card show.   In the past year, the show has moved from primarily sports cards to primarily RPG/TCG cards. I have less than zero interest in these. When I paid my entrance fee at the table, the guy there asked if I wanted to enter the raffle and gestured toward a gift basket filled with TCG stuff -- don't ask me what it was, I couldn't tell you. I gave the guy a flat "no" that sounded like "of course not."   But I'd say more than half of the tables was Pokemon, Magic and whatever else there is in that fantasy realm. Just about the rest was graded football and basketball of mostly modern cards. But I've writt...

  I've been going to the card shows at the New York State Fairgrounds since before I started this blog. My guess on the year I first went is possibly 2007, maybe 2006. I wasn't seriously back into the hobby until then.   For many of the years that I attended, the shows were in the Horticultural Building, which I think is the biggest building at the fairgrounds (I only go to the fairgrounds for card shows, have never been to the state fair).   That building can fill a whole bunch of tables and it feels like home to me. But for a number of years now -- I'd say a good decade, it's been in the smaller Science & Industry Building -- which is around the corner. I sound like I know what I'm talking about here, but I don't have a good handle on the names of these buildings, as Angus of Dawg Day Cards found out Saturday when we drove to the show.   We got an earlier start than we usually do. The show was closing an hour earlier, at 3 p.m., because the building was h...