Maybe Topps should change its flagship release date

There are no card pictures with this post because I did not get any cards today.

It's release day for 2019 Topps flagship, a notable day on the calendar for any collector, no matter how cynical. If you're going to get any cards, this is the day to do it -- at least that's what some people say.

"Release day" around here doesn't mean the same thing it does in a great big city like Topps' hometown of NYC. The chances of flagship showing up at the few choice stores around here on the first day of release are less than 50 percent. Sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn't.

However, I don't know whether my stores have the cards or not. I didn't bother to check.

The main reason? There was a blizzard warning.

There is no way I'm traveling a few miles down the road, even if it is the most traveled road in the county, to get to a Target or Walmart to look for cards in the middle of a blizzard.

So far, I haven't seen any blizzard. But the wind is fierce. And the roads are questionable. And there's blowing and drifting, a scary scenario to anyone who lives somewhere where "blowing and drifting" is uttered frequently. 2019 flagship can wait.

And it may have to wait until the next day and maybe the day after that. Who knows when the roads are back to normal?

I'm not the only one dealing with weather issues right now. It's frigid all across the upper Midwest, crazy, record, below-zero temps, and it's going to be single-digits to below zero in a lot of places in the Northeast. And it's not just the north either. The forecast for many places in the south has been snow and ice and slippery conditions.

I've heard the phrase "polar vortex" more times than I want to in the last couple of days. But this is what that looks like:

That's a lot of the country swathed in purple.

That's a lot of people staying the hell inside.

And into this Topps drops its release date.

This isn't the first time I've dealt with weather when Topps released its debut for the year. I've come up against all kinds of frigid issues. Sometimes I've braved it for cards, other times I haven't. But I've had to deal with the aggravation regularly because for at least as long as I've been running this blog, Topps has released its flagship set in late January or early February.

The weather where I live is absolute crap in late January and early February. I can think of several epic snow storms or other winter-related weather events and a shocking number have occurred right around the Super Bowl. (There is one Super Bowl I worked in which I had to put out the entire Super Bowl sports section by myself because no one else could get out of their house to come to work). Winter is probably at its worst at this very point in the season.

Maybe Topps should think about releasing flagship another time?

I know this probably isn't a realistic question. Topps has a business model to consider, money to make, it picks the time that is most profitable for them. But how profitable is flagship today when a number of collectors have to shovel two feet of snow out of their driveway or bundle in seven layers just to buy some cards?

Yes, half the country had no problem venturing to a store today. But that's not the whole country is it?

Back when I was collecting as a kid, I remember cards not being available for purchase until March. That's when you went out to the store to get cards. It's March! Time to get the new cards! And we didn't have to bundle up to do it.

Granted, that was long ago and Topps had one brand then and not 26 or however much it is. And Topps just needs to make sure the cases are delivered to dealers and not worry about us collecting peons. But speaking from my little tiny owl standpoint, I'd gladly wait until later in February or even March to buy the latest in flagship if it meant being able to see out the windshield in front of me.

Also, here's a thought: if the release date was later, we wouldn't have to pull cards of Paul Goldschmidt as a Diamondback or Billy Hamilton being a Red. Because Topps could get them with their current teams -- long before Series 2, or freaking Update in the freaking fall.

So, that's a little rant -- with no cards -- about wanting a change that will probably never happen ever.

But that's OK. Series 1 of 2019 flagship will still be on the shelves when it's 85 degrees and I don't care anymore. And that thought makes me sit back, inside, all warm and toasty with my hot chocolate, and appreciate that I don't have any 2019 flagship right this very moment.

You can wait 2019 flagship. Even on release date.