News flash! I'm still buried

I'm in the middle of the Fourth Weekend of Hell on the work front. It should get slightly easier after the next couple of days. But the final weekend in March is always the wild card. My standard answer when people ask if I'm still insanely busy is to respond, "Is it still March?"

That's when I know that I can breath out: when I see that it's April Fool's Day. God, I love April Fool's Day.

I have only a few precious, sleep-deprived hours until I'm slogging away again, so I thought I'd show some cards that are appropriate for my hectic situation.

I received a number of 1976 Topps Traded cards from mr. haverkamp a week or two ago (the days all blend in during March, too). All of them have a newspaper theme, which is near and dear to my heart, but also causing me a great deal of exhaustion right now.

The highlight of the cards, of course, is the Oscar Gamble traded card. This is an upgrade of the Gamble card I already have.

Many people consider this the best card of the 1970s. But I can't help but wonder if there's a little bias in that belief. It's a Yankee card, and you know how Yankee fans like to claim that whatever they have is the best/highest/most/greatest. Nobody ever existed until they played for the Yankees, you know. It's an attractive trait of theirs that makes them so gosh darn lovable.

But it IS a fantastic card, with the most famous Afro of the decade, the head shot and pained stare, and the horrible airbrush job. And some day I will carry out on my latest threat to compile a list of the 100 best cards of the 1970s, and we will see if this one is the best of all.

Here are all the other cards mr. haverkamp sent:

Very good stuff there. Airbrushing and capless folks everywhere. Players contemplating the clouds. Don't you love it? And I can't get enough of the bad newspaper headlines.

Some are upgrades and some are cards that I didn't have. But I do know that I am down to needing three '76 Traded cards and 14 cards from the regular '76 series to complete the set.

That is manageable enough for me to knock off at the next card show. Unless I get distracted. And that is always a distinct possibility.

Finally, one last card. It is the last card I needed to finish off my 1974 Topps Dodger set:

A man known more for his broadcasting now. But he was a damn fine pitcher.

OK, I'm done. What should really come next is sleep. But instead it will be work. I'll sleep on Tuesday. Maybe.