March madness

People always look at me askance when I root against local sports teams. They behave as if I just insulted their heritage or told them they bore ugly children.

I tell them not to take it so personally. There is a very simple reason why I do this, and others will never understand unless they are in my profession. Here is the most recent example of that reason:

No. 1-seeded Syracuse was just upset in the first-round of the Big East Conference tournament. That pleases me immensely. That's because SU's loss means I might get a shot at a second day off this week. If they had won, I would have no idea when I would get another day off. I'm serious. Not a clue when my next day off would occur. It'd probably land in the middle of next week sometime.

When I was a youngster out of college this didn't bother me. It do now.

So, yeah. March Madness sucks. It always has and it always will. The month has a defect. Send it back to the factory and try again.

This madness has an effect on the blog, too. Not only do I not have time to do everything I need to do at work, perform basic at-home tasks, run errands, or even just say hello to the family, but I haven't purchased any cards in two weeks, haven't seen the inside of a big-box store in just as long, and have been diliquent in my duties as a collector.

I packaged up six or seven envelopes to go out to fellow bloggers a week ago. They're still sitting in the same place I put them way back then. I hope to actually take them out of the house and bring them to a postal facility today. Or tomorrow.

Creative blog posts? Really hurting in that area. No time. But I make sure I post, because I need at least something to look forward to each day.

Soon, April will be here, and things will return to normal. But in the meantime, here are some cards I got from COMC. Yes, I know I said I'd try Sportlots next. But I've got no time to get out of my comfort zone.

Here they are:

I focused on a few junk-era wax cards of Orel Hershiser that I didn't have. The card at the top of the post is a 1986 Topps all-star glossy. As for the two here, I've totally forgotten what the "Superstars" card is. I'm sure someone will refresh my memory.

The other is a fantastic Wonder Bread issue from 1990. If I ever make a list of my top 100 favorite cards, this will be in it.

I've had my eye on this Ted Williams "Memories" card of Maury Wills for a while. It's Wills galloping over the basepaths in living color. What's not to like?

This is one of the few Ron Cey cards that's on COMC that I don't already have. I've pretty much cleared out the Penguins. But the 1977 cloth sticker card is one that eluded me. In fact this is my first cloth sticker card. These never made it to my neighborhood in '77.

A 2007 Bowman numbered orange refractor of one of my favorite current Dodgers. Orange and red do not go well together. But Bowman always had weird taste in color.

There's nothing like an inexpensive Sandy Koufax card. This is from the 1979 TCMA set, The '50s. Koufax's performance in the '50s was rather frustrating, but he did have some good moments in the decade.

Ooooh, super shiny. Kershaw really needs to have a decent season this year. I'm not demanding spectacular greatness, just something that makes me proud. I fear that if he backslides, I'll go into a great depression.

The only non-Dodger that I picked up. People don't mind sending me 2006 A&G, but I notice the Finch card is never in the package. Nobody likes sending the short-print Danica Patrick either. I wonder why? Anyway, I got off my lazy ass and nabbed it myself. I still WANT/NEED the Donruss card in which Finch proclaims her love for the Dodgers.

The final card is a great 1961 Fleer card of Zach/Zack Wheat, one of the best Dodgers in the history of time. Actually, today is the 38th anniversary of his death, at age 82.

I actually received two more cards in this lot, but I haven't scanned them in yet.

Something about not having enough time.