Night Owl Cards

  Upon first opening 2025 Topps, I realized that this set was going to be a lot like the others from the last five, 10, 15, 20 years. Perhaps even farther back.   Topps still plays it numbingly safe with flagship. The pictures look mostly the same year-to-year. The backs look mostly the same. The inserts are a mindless excuse to utilize their legends licenses. The short-prints are "interesting photos we don't put in flagship." The league leader cards are a lineup of three action shots in a row (except 2016-21 when separate individual cards were made and not my idea of improvement).   If you get the feeling it's all been seen before, you are justified. I'm not one of those collectors shouting "where's the innovation?!" I don't think cards need bells and whistles, that's not why I collect. I just want to see things changed up a little bit.   Here's an example that's been going on in Topps flagship longer than everything I just mentioned...

  We're all dealing with our various life issues. I, for example, look at the stacks of cards in the card room and the separate pulled cards for half-finished blog posts and think "what can I blog quickly in the hour I have to spare?"   But I know I have it good. Other folks can blog maybe once a week (maybe I should try that), or even once a month. Nick, of the blog Dime Boxes , put his blog on hiatus a couple of months ago to tackle those real world demands.   We few survivors in the card blog community often wonder what those departed bloggers are doing. Do they still read blogs? Do they still collect? Have they turned away from the hobby for a life at the country club? Are they wandering the streets aimlessly? What has become of them?   Well, I can report that Nick is alive and well. He is still "lurking" he says and, from what I received from him about a week ago, he is still going to shows/collecting like he's always done. There is no sign that real l...