General Forum

Every now and then, I have a few thoughts bouncing in my head without a real common theme. I share some now. 

1. I just left a Cubs Facebook group that I had joined about three weeks ago. Sure, there was some nice talk about baseball and some friendly banter. But it was more than sprinkled with nasty, crude, just depressing comments. People insulting each other in rather vile ways. People insulting complete strangers for no good reason. Over a baseball team. It just depressed me, so I left. I had naively hoped that that group would be more...mature... than your average group of commenters. I thought it was a place to escape the cruelty of the world, not wallow in it. I was wrong. My point is, though, that this place IS more mature than your average group of commenters. Sure, there are some dust-ups and the occasional nasty comment. But, for the most part, people here are civil, generous with each other, and just trying to have some fun with a hobby. So thank you all for being a place I, and others, can go to just have a good time. 

2. I can't believe I got caught up in this, but now I seem to be collected traded sets. I always distained them as just another money grab by the companies. And they still are. But I bought a 1988 Topps Traded Baseball set a few months ago on a whim, because I craved a large number of cards to go through and was over budget. So I got 132 cards for, like, five bucks. Maybe it was the nostalgia factor, but I love going through them. Now I have 1986 though 1991, and I've loved every minute of going through them. Haven't even looked at 1990-91, yet. I might be more eager to do that than finish going through my 2019 set. I suspect I'll collect back to 1981. I doubt I'll try to get all the sets through 2019, but who knows what will happen when I blow most of my budget on a 1969 and 1968 Nolan Ryan. I'm gonna need more cards to look through...So I've gone down the rabbit hole and shan't return. Sigh. 

3. This will be a bit of a brag, but it's not really meant to be. I just picked up a 1938 Goudey Heads-Up Frank Demaree, the only Cub from that year. I've stalked that goofy card for about a year. I love it. And now I've noticed that I'm the ONLY person on this site to have that particular card listed in his or her collection. It's not the most valuable or rare card in the world, although it is a bit tough to find (hence, the guy who tried to sell a fake on eBay). I just think that it's cool that, with so many cards to collect and ways to collect, even though my collection isn't even the Top 250 of baseball card collections, I can have a couple cards that no one else here has. Every collection is unique. I like that. 

4. I never did get to go through all my cards this year, as I'd planned. Lots of life happening. And I kept getting more new cards -- including the 792 junk wax traded sets -- so I didn't have time to go back to look at all the old cards. I think I stalled out at 1963. But that's a good thing. 

Happy collecting, everyone. 

v3

I agree with #1 fully. Being a Brewers fan, I refuse to go to any Cubs game because of their extreme rudeness. It's only a game. Most Wisconsin sports fans will tease fans of other teams, then will lightly slap them on the back and toast with a beer.

I've found great, fun, fair Cubs fans at virtually every game I've ever gone to. I suspect any team's discussion group would wind up that way. Get 20,000+ sports fans together, on a group chat, with no consequences for your comments, there're bound to be some jerks. But I don't need to interact with them. 

Oh, and respectfully, I hope the Brewers completely fall apart for the rest of the season....Have a beer!

v3

concur about the debates, discussions, arguments or whatever you want to call them here. For the most part, everyone is on the same page - i hate going into other forums on other sites and see the bashing back and forth. Like any other media site, its easy to hide behind the screen, but at least here , state your point and move on. and for the most part we all have a couple things in common:

1. love for the game

2. love for collecting

3. we all dislike panini and thier stupidity on many things :-)

I know almost nothing of Panini, don't collect them. But I dislike them because everyone here says I should. 

Agree that anonimity lessens the inhibitions of some, and I try to avoid those as much as I can. 

I also love the game, and haven't had any bad interactions at ballgames with fans of other teams. Houston gets a lot of Cubs, Braves, and Cards fans at their games.

I enjoy collecting and do so wholeheartedly.

I like Panini, and don't allow others to determine my like or dislike of a product despite the many organizational issues that they cause us here at TCDB. (I've tried setting up checklists for their product and it was a pain!)

V3, that's the BEST thing about the Cubs/Cardinals rivalry. It's one of the longest running in the sports world, but it's still friendly amongst fans of both sides. I don't have a single problem with ANY Cubs fan I've ever met and I can talk to them about anything (including you and BenG). My best friend throughout high school was a Cubs fan! But you get to the Pirates and Brewers fans and they seem to have a bone to pick with any Cardinals or Cubs fan. I don't know why, especially with me being born and raised in NC. I have met a local Reds fan somewhat recently and even we get along. We talk baseball (mostly NL Central division) but nothing is said in a harsh way or even ill-toned. The last time I saw him (a couple of weeks ago), he immediately said "The Cardinals have been on a roll lately. They took the division lead from the Cubs." I said 'Yeah, they've been playing well the past few weeks." He said "They play the Reds this weekend. We'll have to see how that goes.". I'll probably see him again Monday evening, so I'll have to see what he says then.

The forums here are probably the best on the internet as far as the people's replies. Some stuff is getting on my nerves here. But it's nothing like the PO'd level I'd get to on other sites (especially the "social media" sites). I collect cards b/c I like it and I comment on them b/c I like to connect with others who also like to collect cards. I don't care what KIND of cards either.

And Joshua, Panini frustrates the heck out of me sometimes, but I still like the products they produce. What they make is nice, they just need to lower price points and/or parallel or insert amounts. I still like Panini more than Topps!

Try living in the NFC East>>>> NOBODY LIKES EACH OTHER !

Arguments and fights right on down to the family level. 

I'm on an EAGLES site and it's BAD, not so much EAGLES' fans but Cowgirls, G-men and Skins sneaking in with comments that would "BLEEP" the screen ! .....and a few SnowBall throwing Eagle fans get in a lick or 2 as well, LOL !

GO BIRDS !