Night Owl Cards

While all this 2016 Topps opening is going on, I've been getting some pretty sweet packages in the mail. They're so nice that some of them feature cards you've never seen before -- so think of that when you're pulling that card of Rougned Odor for the third time. One of the packages of never-before-seen goodies that arrived recently was actually a tiny little white envelope. It was from Baseball Card Breakdown . And Gavin was so bold to advertise it ahead of time as "the best PWE ever." He even suggested I should title this post that. Well, that certainly draws your attention. And the cards were pretty cool. But dude . We're probably in second-best PWE territory. Without doing any further research, of course. But let's not get hung up on labels. Let's address what was stuffed in that PWE. For starters, there was a Nebulous 9 card that you see up above. That rather pedestrian 2014 Opening Day Adrian Gonzalez card completes the Do...

This is your public service announcement reminding you that there are two 2014 blog contests in process and a whole bunch of people who could use your votes. The first 2014 Bip Awards (notice I didn't say "first annual" because that is a crime against the human language) are taking place at A Cardboard Problem . The awards cover "best blog" "best rookie blog" and a host of other categories, stretching into other social media outlets like Twitter. People can make nominations through the end of next week. There's an official entry form and everything. I believe there are prizes, too, which I don't know if I like because people do all kinds of questionable things when prizes are involved. But the more my blog readers nominate and vote the better chance there is for the right bloggers to get mentioned. There is also a 2nd Best Blog Of The Year Award, which is being run by 2 by 3 Heroes . The reason it's the "2nd Best Blog" aw...

Down in the dumps. That's late August for me. The dumps. Everywhere I turn is a reminder that good times are ending. The state fair began today. The last fair of the summer. There's a big concert (well, big for this area) on Saturday. The last big concert of the summer. The U.S. Open begins next week. The last big sports event of the summer. Then there are those reminders of what's coming. Preseason football talk won't let you forget. Neither will preparations for high school sports. Nor will -- wait a minute -- are those ... are THOSE colored leaves on my LAWN???? Summer's ending. Fall's beginning. And winter, which just ended in late April around these parts, is planning an early start, according to those freakin' farmers and their damn precious almanac. The dumps. Baseball helps a little, but not much because at this time of year either your team is out of it or you're so stressed out over your team's offense/bullpen/injury-prone rot...

(Greetings. Today is National Memo Day. The older I get, the more I celebrate this day. Right now, there are about four or five memos to myself at work, the same number to myself at home, and a couple more in my pocket. I suppose I could put all this stuff in my phone, but without having crinkly paper everywhere to see or touch, I'd probably forget half the reminders I put in the phone. Anyway, you didn't come to see old man ramblings. It's Cardboard Appreciation time! This is the 205th in a series): I saw this card on Cervin' Up Cards and I had to have it. Good ol' Zippy Zappy was great enough to send it to me. This card recognizes Yasiel Puig's walk-off home run in the 11th inning against the Reds to end what was a scoreless game last July. Puig, in his usual oversized zeal for everything, slid into home plate at the end of his trot. This set off outrage among the "play the game the right way" crowd, and I'll always remember it because ...