Night Owl Cards

   The main reason I have collected cards as an adult for the last 20 years is for that nostalgic rush.   That's what I've been chasing all these years -- that feeling of collecting cards when I was a kid, pulling pictures of the players from that time and storing them in my collection. Collecting modern cards of modern players is fine, but if that's all I was doing, I would've given up by now.   But I have been collecting those original sets from my younger days -- and sometimes even before I started collecting -- for the last 20 years, too. And I've just about run out of the major sets to chase. I've almost run out of "new" cards of my guys.   1983 Donruss is the last stop as far as major sets that came out during my formative years as a fan, which I consider 1975-83 (1975-85 if I want to be a little more casual about it). It's the only major release from this time period that I have not completed.   The other day I received around 40 cards from ...

  Today is release day for 2022 Topps and true to form I am going to work, not the store or hobby shop. I'll wander out to Target or Walmart eventually, maybe Friday, maybe Sunday, more likely Monday, to see if there's anything left (or if it's even arrived). There are lots of folks on Twitter who have grabbed boxes or packs or whatever. And there are even more people advertising their breaks or trying to get you to join breaks. Getting through all of those pitches is kind of a chore. It hasn't reached one of the "must-avoid" Twitter days like Election Day or when some major world event happens (Twitter: the world is ending! THE WORLD IS ENDING!). But it gets a little annoying. Then there's this: This story came out in The Sporting News on the occasion of 2022 Topps being released. This isn't anything I find annoying really, just something that is interesting to me, as someone who isn't nostalgic about 1987 Topps at all.   I've never met Ryan F...

Like or not, someday you will be 40. Living in your 40s isn't as bad as younger folks think. As much as I thought, back when I was a teenager, how ancient I would be when I reached 40 many millenniums into the future, you spend a lot of time in your 40s marveling over how young you still are. Unfortunately, you spend the other portion moping over how old you are. The reminders are everywhere. It's not only your own body -- which keeps breaking down in ever surprising new ways and requires constant attention the likes of which you had never dreamed -- but it's everything around you. From the TV shows, to the advertisements, to the clothes to the gadgets to the activities to the music to the attitudes and opinions on every issue available, all of it shouts: YOU'RE NOT YOUNG ANYMORE. It's almost hurtful. But us folks in our 40s have a way of coping with this. It's called nostalgia. Boy do I ever get nostalgic. Half the time this blog is an ode to eve...

You've probably heard the saying "nostalgia is a drug" before. It's often used in a negative way by forward-thinking types or people who fear that others are stuck in the past and won't progress. Perhaps I'm one of those people who is stuck in the past -- after all I am currently playing Billboard charts from the '80s on Spotify and having a wicked good time of doing it -- but I don't necessarily consider that a bad thing. Forward-thinking is necessary if you run a business. But I can't relate to people who look forward ALL THE TIME. They're annoying. It's like they're afraid of what they've been through or what's behind them or what actually is . Yes, tomorrow is another day. But sometimes yesterday is worth talking about, too, because it actually happened. Looking fondly at the past -- as long as you are fully functioning in the present with somewhat of an eye on the future -- is a nice little exercise. And, yeah, nos...