Night Owl Cards

  I've been trying very hard to enjoy baseball this year, to ignore the tweaks and weird alterations to the game. I'm trying to be quiet about all of it, too -- or relatively so -- and just appreciate the game that I love. But I can't do it. I can't watch extra innings anymore. The moment a game moves to the 10th inning and that runner magically appears on second base, I have to turn the game off. It's suddenly become illegitimate to me. Sunday's Padres-Dodgers game ended that way and at the conclusion a whole bunch of people gushed over what a great series it was and OMG we get to do this 12 more times. But that last game wasn't great. It wasn't even baseball. And I stopped watching after the ninth. I hate -- hate -- that I'm saying this. I want to be one of those fans who likes it all because baseball is awesome. But I don't think I feel this way because I'm old and crotchety, although I am both of those things. I think the reason is becaus...

We like to think we know it all here in the year 2009, don't we? We know what looks good. We know what sounds good. We know what's best for the environment, for our country, for our fellow man. Those people in the '70s and the '80s and the '90s? They were idiots weren't they? And those people who lived in the '40s, '50s and '60s? What were they thinking? I already poked fun at the '70s this week. But it's easy to look back at the '80s and laugh, too. The bizarre stylings. The Sansabelt uniforms. What are Harold Baines and Jesse Barfield wearing in the photo on this card? The longer you stare at Baines the more he looks less like a ballplayer and more like a guy who found some knock-off MLB clothing at Kmart and snuck into the stadium to get his picture taken with Jesse Barfield. And Barfield? Well, he's wearing the very '80s blue, synthetic jersey top with the matching blue glove draped over Baines' shoulder. They both look...