Something to snack on

This is a big day for a lot of people. They'll be watching the Steelers and Cardinals, chuckling at the commercials and singing along with The Boss.

It's not a big day for me. It hasn't been for some time. The Super Bowl means I'll be at work, trying to come up with some extravagant layout and clever headline to salute the winner of Super Bowl Cuarenta Y Tres (I think that looks better than XLIII. It sounds better, too). The game will be on at work, but I'll be focused on the five blank pages in front of me.

Given that everyone's mind is on the game or on the fact that 2009 Topps has officially hit the streets (that is, if you live in the Southeast), I'll spare everyone a long, pensive post. Instead, here are a bunch of short, unrelated items that I've been sitting on for a little bit. Something to snack on during one of the biggest food-fest days of the year.

I'll start with the Dodgers' agonizingly long quest for another starting pitcher. It's looking like they're in a race with the Mets to add Randy Wolf to the rotation. It wouldn't break my heart if the Mets end up with him. Wolf was serviceable with the Dodgers two years ago until he got hurt, but he's really not much more than a No. 5 guy. The problem is, if the Dodgers don't sign Wolf, there is next to nothing out there.

More Dodger "news." Apparently, Russell Martin is adding a "J" in front of his last name on his jersey in honor of his mother, whose maiden name is Jeanson. I'm a bit confused as to what this means. I'm assuming he's not really changing his name, because his full name already is Russell Nathan Jeanson Coltrane Martin.

My fear is Topps will do something wacky and start issuing his cards with the name J. Martin (it's bad enough they call him "Russ"). I'm still trying to recover from "Rock Raines."

My mother's name starts with a "J". I guess I should start calling myself "J. Night Owl."

This is a close-up of a piece of burlap. The consensus on this post was that the 1968 Topps card design indeed looks like burlap. Dave at Goose Joak went so far as to send me a link to a burlap swatch. (ain't the Internet grand?). So it's official, the 1968 Topps set is the burlap set.

It is my mission to label all of the major card sets (baseball only), and I'm going to call on you folks to help me name them. Because some of them are almost undefineable and I'll need the assistance. I'll be starting a "Define the Design" list along the sidebar after each "Define the Design" post. Maybe I'll even start some sort of card contest to go along with the DTD posts.

Last week, Sean Casey announced his retirement and joined the jock-u-larity crew at the MLB Network (they need to get at least a couple more journalistic types on that network). It's sad to see The Mayor leave the game. I've mentioned a couple of times what a great guy he is. Here is another snippet from the story I wrote on him. It's the last quote in the story.

"My dad always said, "Treat people the way you want to be treated, and say 'Hi' to your friends' parents.' My friends were always afraid of my parents. (But) nobody really intimidates me. I think you should have a good conversation if you can. Maybe that's naive of me. I don't know."

I'm wondering if this card will be Casey's last Topps card. I don't know if he's on the checklist for '09 Topps.

Speaking of "last Topps cards," a big thanks goes out to JayBee at bdj610's Baseball Card Blog. He read about my need for the only Topps regular issue card of Henderson in a Dodger uniform, and he sent the card along! This is from the 2003 Topps Traded set. Now I can add Rickey the Dodger to my collection of Rickey the Red Sox, Rickey the A, Rickey the Yankee, Rickey the Padre, Rickey the Blue Jay, and Rickey the Met (I don't think I have any Rickey cards of him as an Angel or Mariner).

And speaking of generous bloggers. Mario at Wax Heaven is having a Karma-thon. If you have a player you collect and he pulls it during one of his 2009 Topps or UD box breaks, then you get the cards of that player! (you have to let him know ahead of time on this post, though). It's a wonderful gesture by Mario, and it's beyond great that he's recognizing his fellow collectors.

Hands off the Clayton Kershaws. They're already spoken for.

Finally, I sent off my Ron Cey cards to Mr. Cey's address in hopes they will return to me with his signature on them. I mailed them on Friday, and I decided to add one more to the other two I showed. I sent along the 1982 Donruss card pictured here. I'm hoping he won't mind signing three.

I know some of you are curious as to whether this will hook me on autograph hunting. I doubt it. But this may not be my last TTM attempt. Thanks again to Brian at 30-Year-Old-Cardboard.

Lastly, a minor confession. I said yesterday that I'd have no time to go to Target in an attempt to find '09 cards until next week.

Well, the mere appearance of 2009 Topps on Peter's Dropped Third Strike blog sent me into a frenzy. Two hours later, I was in the car driving in a minor snowstorm on my way to Target. It turns out they didn't have any, which is a good thing because I didn't have any money to buy them (I'm not sure what I would have done if they had some '09s. Offered to pay them with my watch, I guess).

But that little demonstration of what happens when obsession and self-restraint meet signals that I WILL be buying 2009 Topps this year. How long the thrill will last is another matter.

Thanks for reading on Super Bowl Sunday. Now wipe the chicken wing sauce off the keyboard. That's just gross.