Resurrecting an Old Tradition

 

There was a time when the thought of missing a card show would be extinguished just as quickly as it had entered my mind. Heck, I even attended one on my way to the church on my wedding day (it really did help calm my nerves!). But with the population explosion in our valley and the increased interest in cards (resulting in larger crowds), it has been two or three years since I last attended one. Until this past weekend.

This resurrection of an old tradition was brought about by my son. He had a small football collection as a kid but didn’t stick with it very long. And like many of us, he started getting older and began looking back at what he enjoyed as a kid, and decided to get back into collecting…Pokémon. 

While his interest in TCG (Trading Card Game- I had to look it up) isn’t something we have in common, the very fact that he was going to be attending a card show did catch my attention. He’s busy with his own life and we don’t have many things that we do together, so the idea of attending a card show with him obviously changed my views about attending the show.

I had decided to take all the cash that I had ($40) and to not make a trip to the credit union before hand. Well, that cash was gone within the first 5 minutes, as I found an Elway upgrade for my '84 set. 

A few minutes later I came across a table that had some packs of 1988 Topps football. I've been wanting to add an unopened pack to the collection, so I asked the dealer if he accepted cards. He did, but he asked that I make at least a $10 purchase. I asked him if he'd throw in the empty box if I bought the remaining three packs. He happily obliged.

Why in the world would I want a beat-up empty box? For those box bottoms. As rough as I figured they would be, I still wanted whatever cards were on the bottom. Yes, they are rough- but they'll do until I can find replacements.

I also picked up an '88 Topps rack pack. Nothing too special showing but a nice addition, nonetheless.