Night Owl Cards

I freaked out a bit prematurely last week. My local Target did not do away with cards as I had feared when I saw that the aisle on the far end of the registers had been transformed into gift card heaven (by the way, the previous gift card station near the greeting cards is still there, which leads me to believe this is a temporary set-up). No, I followed my online friends' advice and traveled to the back of the store near the electronics section. To the right of electronics sits books and CDs and other obsolete ways of consuming media. Directly behind those shelves are Funkos and Disney stuff and what appears to be a now-smaller section of cards. It reminds me a bit of my local Walmart set-up. The picture above includes most of what was displayed in the card section. There are a couple more boxes off camera to the left. One thing I noticed right away is many of the loosies are up very high, definitely out of reach of pint-sized collectors. I can't help but think there...

I'm taking another break from the 10th Anniversary Giveaway. In terms of picks, it's Henry Blanchette's turn to select (followed by gcrl). He may pick by commenting on my last post, but I won't set another selecting deadline until tomorrow's contest post. OK, as you know, baseball season is over and it was another garbage finish from my perspective. No offense to the Red Sox, who I am well-aware are not the Yankees, but really, I'm in no mood to discuss the close of the season. This is my mini-mourning period (though not as severe as last year). So the next Match the Song title post is appropriate. This famous album was created as the band mourned the death of their great singer Bon Scott. The first time I heard AC/DC on the radio was probably when many people did, when the band released "You Shook Me All Night Long" off their "Back in Black" album in the late summer of 1980. Produced by Mutt Lange, "Back in Black" was a bi...

It's 2:40 in the afternoon, it feels like 7 in the morning and the job says I have a lot of work to do tonight. These are the days I wish I drank coffee. Or anything caffeinated. I watched all of Game 3 last night. As a Dodger fan and a night owl with a reputation, it was my duty. But I'd do it all over again because it was phenomenal. Last year's postseason seemed gut-wrenching and also left a bit of a nasty taste in my mouth. This year's postseason is still gut-wrenching, but I'm enjoying it more. Last night's 18-inning game (I saw all but the first inning) was storybook baseball at its best. Perhaps it wasn't the greatest-played game, but it featured all the elements you need: home runs; game-winning home runs; players thrown out at the plate; TOOTBLANs, an exquisite pitching performance by a youngster who was taken out one inning too soon; bizarre, tumbling plays; Little League squibs; an ex-Dodger throwing 100 pitches in relief for the Red Sox ...

I have more than 30 different Walker Buehler cards. That's a lot for someone who hadn't pitched a game in the major leagues before 2017 and had appeared in just eight games before 2018. In fact, 30 cards is more than what I have for some notable players of the 1970s, cherished and well-known stars with established careers. But that's just the way it is in modern card collecting. I was informed earlier today that Buehler has been in each edition of Topps' Throwback Thursday online issues for the last five weeks!! Rookies get all the love, all the overkill, whether some of us collectors are interested or not. Here is how stupid it gets for rookies (and modern cards in general): These two pink parallels of Buehler were sent to me by madding at Cards on Cards , along with the regular Panini Optic Buehler card. The two pink parallels are not only parallels, but they are variations of each other. How do I know that when each card appears to be exactly the same...

I'm still waiting for Shoebox Legends to make his pick in the 10th anniversary giveaway (he's on the clock until 1 p.m. Friday). But I just can't sit and do nothing on this blog! NOC is about content, dammit! Here is some content! I wanted to check out what people had told me after my horrific discovery at Target the other day. They said that Target actually hadn't destroyed the entire card aisle and put all the unopened packs in the trash compacter, but likely had moved them to another part of the store -- most likely the electronics section. However, Target's hours don't match up with mine. By the time I could go to a store, it was 10:30 p.m. and Target is too weenie to open that late. So, Walmart it was. I needed printer ink anyway. I thought I'd grab a rack pack or two of Update. That's usually all it's worth. But Walmart didn't have anything smaller than a blaster. Ugh. Do I want a whole blaster of this stuff? I pondered and waffl...

Welp, the Dodgers are down 0-2 just as I figured they would be as the Red Sox continue to mow over the rest of baseball. While Dodger fans continue to lament manager Dave Roberts' pitching moves, I can see the writing on the Green Monster. Does it really matter? Did you see how the Red Sox handled the Astros? The Yankees? The rest of baseball all season? A pitching move won't change that. We all have a day off to process the World Series so far, but the 10th anniversary giveaway continues!!! And, what do you know, it's time for a Red Sox fan to select! Jason T. Carter picked the shiny Willie Mays insert card above so Shoebox Legends is next in line. Shoebox can make his choice now, so someone go dig Shane out from under his "WE'RE UP 2-0 IN THE WORLD SERIES" revelry and make sure he picks before 1 p.m. Friday. That's how long he's got. Here is what's left on the picking board: Once Shane picks, Fred Pike is up next, followed by...