Night Owl Cards

  Back before a virus turned the world and the hobby upside down, I used to attend card shows at the state fairgrounds in Syracuse with my friend Angus of Dawg Day Cards . Even before that, the shows at the fairgrounds would be held at the Horticultural Building, which is a fairly large facility that I had gotten used to as The Place for my card shows as it's where I went when I first got back into collecting all the way into a few years into writing Night Owl Cards. But then the show was downsized into the Science and Industry Building, which is smaller (but still impressive, I'm sure, to those who only know hotel and mall shows). I muttered about it on this blog, but at least I still had a show to go to. Heck, Angus couldn't even get across the border. It had been almost four years since Angus and I went to a show together -- April of 2019. But on Sunday, he was back in town and the show was back in the Horticultural Building, too!  This show was billed as a "Mega Sh...

So, Angus and I peeled through the nickel boxes yesterday, as time and noise and even that guy who was too close to me faded into the background while those boxes yielded better and better cards. Then we heard the announcement: in 10 minutes dealers would start driving vehicles into the building and pack up their wares. I had no idea the show was that close to ending. And unlike other times when dealers packed up a full 45 minutes before the end of the show, it was really the end of the show. Four o'clock baby. That's what nickel boxes do to you, I've found, now that I'm a veteran of something I had never seen before last year. You lose all track of time. There's also something else nickel boxes do: they keep you from focusing on the cards you really want. I'm not complaining about anything I bought yesterday at the card show, certainly nothing from the nickel boxes. But I know some of the cards that were my heart's desire, I left out there somewher...