It's easy season

Like many guys, I refuse to grow up. I put on a good front, but really, I'm about 14 years old.

There are just some things that never change no matter how old you get. Baseball is always fun to watch. Girls are always fun to watch. Bugs are always fun to watch. Pretty much in that order.

And because of my profession, the worst day of the entire year is always in September and the best day of the year is always in June.

For 40-something years, I have rooted for the last day of school. A lot of people have long since given up that wonderful feeling of childish anticipation. Those poor, poor people. June is just another month to them. But like I did as a kid, counting down the seconds on the last day of school, I still count down the hours until the high school sports season is no more.

That last day this year was Saturday. And one of my co-workers said, "we should have a party." And so we did. It didn't last long. September-to-June was a long slog. But we were smiling.

The easy season has arrived.

That doesn't mean I go on vacation for two months. There's still work to do. It's just taken care of at a more leisurely pace. It involves sports that interest me. And, best of all, there are fewer parents involved.

The next two months also means more card collecting. Card season always ramps up for me during the summer. I have more time to collect. I have more money to collect. So I associate the summer with collecting cards. Just another reason to love it.

Here are some cards I received from Spankee at My Cardboard Mistress. He gets the honor of kicking off Easy Season.

The Gypsy Queen bordered Kemp card was what touched off the transactioning, but I also won a contest over at MCM and landed a few more cards, including a pair of A&G minis of some former Dodgers.

I'm starting to get a little excited about A&G's arrival. Still don't know if I'm collecting it, but at least I haven't ruled it out yet, which hasn't been the case with every other set this year.

Ah, Jayson Werth. The pre-Sesame Street monster years.

Ack. More 2005 Dodgers. I'm trying to erase memories of this season.

Hope!

Only the silver and gold parallels to go. This card reminds me that the Olympics will keep us hopping at work during the summer. But at least there will be dreamy photos of Hope to put in the paper -- not that I really do that.

The most glorious card in the package. And another summer reminder. You might see this card again on the 4th of July.

I'll be in full summer mode by then. Watching baseball, girls and bugs. Sometimes watching all three at the same time.

I love easy season.