I Am Back....With A Contest!

Hey there, remember me?  It has been a while since I have posted, and for that, I am sorry. I have been a bit depressed about collecting lately for several reasons: the products, the price points, the time, the budget, the space, the junk, blah blah blah...

Well in the past few weeks I have done some thinking and have come to some conclusions. 

The first of which is to accept that I just do not have as much time to dedicate to collecting as I want to.  This sucks, but working two jobs with a 3.5 hours daily commute, having a family, and just needing time veg out for a half hour a day leaves less time than I would like for collecting. 

Conclusion number two is that the budget just isn't there like it used to be.  The products worth collecting are usually the mid to high price range and with two cars north of 10 years old (still cheaper than car payments), a seven year old who is involved in everything, gas prices, etc and so forth, most of the budget is is unwillingly being redirected to life expenses versus collecting expenses.

The third conclusion is that I am collecting all wrong...I am not and can not be a set builder, I just don't have the space.  I am a fool to collect every team set, from every year, from every company for the O's, Cowboys, and Ravens.  There are way too many sets to do this and lets face it, the O's...they suck, they've sucked for 15 years!  Why would I want every card of every player for a team that can't even play .400 ball?  That said, I will still collect the players I like, but I will get  more into that later.

And finally, conclusion number 4...I got too much crap.  Now, what is crap to me certainly may not be crap to you, but I really have no reason to have a ton of cards that I don't want.  Which leads me to my new rules of collecting:

1.  I will not buy crap, just to buy crap.  It always results in crap
2.  I will collect what I want.  Not what I think I want.  This means MAJOR revisions to my want lists, and new player specific want lists.

3.  I will trade, but I will keep better track of my trades and complete them quickly.  Thanks to BA Benny on this one, who has been extra patient in our current trade (btw Benny, emailed you about it).  The way I see it, the longer a trade lingers, the better chance it has of falling apart, and I think we are all a bit guilty on that one.
4.  I will organize my collection better to help accommodate rule #3, as well as to make it easier to put stuff away so my wife does not kill me for stacks of cards on the dining room table for several days in a row!
5. Start blogging again.  I fell into the trap of only posting whatever new stuff I got.  Then I fell out of blogging altogether for a bit (poor time management).  I am sworn to get back into posting about my collection, trading, events, my opinions, contests, and anything else that is relevant and worth having you guys read about.

I plan to post about once a week going forward, and I do hope that you plan to read once a week too. 

Just as a little show of good faith, A little contest! 

The first person who can tell me who my favorite football player was when I was growing up I will win 50 cards from the team of their choice (baseball or football).  These 50 cards will include inserts, serial #'d, and short prints.

To enter, just comment.  Here are a few hints.  I will be 37 this Sunday, the player is a Dallas Cowboy, and he is not in the HOF.  If no one has guessed by this Sunday 9/25, my birthday, then I will have a random drawing.  Get an extra entry by pimpin this on your blog (provide a link)-this is only applicable if no one guesses it right.

Its good to be back!