Pointed in the right direction

I received an unsolicited PWE in the mail recently from Steve of Tridents and Trading Cards.

It was a welcome surprise with a handful of cards that I needed.

The most interesting part for me, though, is that the envelope came with its own want list. Steve sent a few set-building lists just in case I could fill any.

That's a sharp idea. Might I even say "genius".

You don't know how many times I have stood in my card room, paralyzed by indecision about what to look for in regards to a particular collector. Some of you have very specific collections. To get a point in the right direction is very helpful. Even if collectors have want lists on their own blogs -- and most of them do -- a want list sent directly to my door even cuts out the process of looking up the want list!

I'm not sure if I can help Steve. But with a list in hand I'm pretty confident at this very moment.

So in that frame of mind, let's show the cards he sent that I need:

Still chasing these colored border parallels from 2012-14. I don't mind doing it. One day when I ease up on set-building quests (yeah, like that'll happen), I'm going to go colored-border-parallel hunting.

These, however, are dumb. Does Topps not remember it made a '92 Bowman Mike Piazza tribute in chrome form in Bowman not even three years ago? Not to mention the other '92 Bowman Piazza tributes from Topps over the years that are in my collection.

As someone who has owned the actual '92 Bowman Piazza for some time, I don't know why I add these to my collection. Well, yeah, I do know, I need help. But honestly, when I get better, cards like this will be the first to leave my collection.

Steve hoped that the 1980 Topps Bills cards he sent would fit into my collection. Three of the four actually did.

That's pretty good considering I don't have a single football want list posted, except for 1977 Topps.

I just love football cards from around 1973-83. Even though I wasn't collecting football all of those years, the cards have that look that I simply adore. Cards that look like this -- whether football, baseball or whatever -- make sense to me in terms of "this is a trading card."

And that's where I'll leave off, some football cards heading into Super Bowl Sunday.

This Super Bowl happens to be the first Super Bowl that I will be able to view at my leisure, in my reclining chair, with snacks at my side, since the late 1990s.

All those other Super Bowls since, I've been working, half viewing the game on the TV in the office and half keeping my eye on my work. Super Bowl Sunday is one of the easier -- and actually more festive -- days to work in the newspaper business. But I am happy I get to see this one from start to finish, with no deadlines in mind, no catchy headlines to think of, no wire stories to track down.

And if I want -- probably during the halftime show -- I can check out Steve's want lists.