We all have frustrations and stresses. We aren’t unique in that way but some of the frustrations and stresses can be unique. Some people are built to handle more than others. Some people can carry the weight of the world on their shoulders and never feel pressure while some can be asked to sit alone in an empty room and feel like they are somehow failing at doing that. That makes the world around us a little volatile at times. Emotions, personalities, and egos can clash as each one of us is having our own type of day or week or month and the people around us are not only oblivious at times; when they do know what we are going through, they sometimes just don’t understand.
We all think, on some level, that we have the most stressful job, the most obstacles or the most challenging path during the day. It’s not conceit that gives us those thoughts either. This isn’t an “I work harder than you” feeling that I’m talking about, although that certainly exists. The truth is that we can only truly understand the weight we carry around for ourselves. We only know what our jobs are like. We only know what our “dawn to dusk” looks like. And we are almost always focused on ourselves in that respect. Again, I don’t think that is a selfish thing either. I think that is how some of us have found to be the best way to survive each day that we are given.
When I am sitting at my desk thinking about whether or not a customer is happy or whether or not the next loan will be approved or what the month end past dues are going to be, I don’t have time to think about someone else’s job and how they are meeting their requirements therein. If we lose sight of the road in front of us, we can veer off into the ditch without much warning. This discussion I am having with myself, and in turn you, is not meant to describe us all as self-centered. No, this is meant to give some meaning and understanding as to why we never know what the person in the car next to us is going through.
There is a saying that I find myself using all the time. You’ve heard it a hundred times but this is how it goes:
Stranger: “Hey, how are you doing today?”
Me: “I can’t complain. But even when I do, no one listens.”
It is meant as a throwaway comment to be polite or entertain a chuckle with a passerby. However, there is some truth in it for all of us. But its not that “no one listens”; its that other people have their own stuff going on and its easy to want to compare negativity and complaints to prove to the next person that we have it just a little bit tougher than they do. This results in two things. First, it minimizes what they have going on in their lives while making the conversation more about us. Secondly, it helps us to convince ourselves that we in fact do have a tough road and we do work hard and we do deserve breaks from time to time. By God, we should be commended for how we persevere!
We’ve actually come to expect that from one another too. If we were to unload one of our burdens on someone and they were to respond with, “I’m sorry. That’s too bad for you. I don’t have any problems and I couldn’t imagine my life being any more perfect”, we would lose our minds. But what we need from each other more often than not is a crutch to lean on or an ear to bend. Sometimes instead of comparing problems and saying, “I know what you mean”, the words I want to hear are, “Tell me what’s on your mind.” It’s that simple. And I am more guilty of this than anyone reading this.
I’m guilty of thinking about how I have been treated and the hoops I’ve had to jump through to make it through the day. I’m guilty of thinking that no one could possibly understand the strain I’ve felt at various moments throughout the day. I’m guilty of thinking that only what I’m doing matters. It’s not hard to do when you are living in your own skin but it certainly detaches you from other people’s problems at certain times when they need a shoulder to cry on.
There are people that don’t have this problem. There are people that can drop everything they are doing and give you their full attention. The issue is that there aren’t enough of those people. I have some that are close friends and they amaze me every time it happens. They can have something that I am fully aware of that is a heavier burden than the one I am carrying but they will put theirs down and come pick up mine for a few minutes to give me a chance to catch my breath. And for those people, you don’t even have to ask; they can just feel it.
I want to be a better person when it comes to this specific human trait. I want to learn how to avoid my problems and help others focus on theirs. I want the strength to carry my baggage and someone else’s at the same time if it means they’ll have an easier couple of moments. I guess, in a way, this IS about selfishness. This is about being self centered but it’s not an intentional act. It is more of a learned behavior or self preservation mechanism. I don’t know what it really is, I just know that I don’t walk around “not caring about other people and their problems.” I walk around too burdened by my own to find the compassion sometimes. Does any of this make sense?
I know that what I am describing is explained in the Bible and religious songs like “Come All You Weary”, and I’m not pretending that any of us can be God and carry the burdens of our fellow man. What I am saying is that we could have a little more compassion for each other. We could have a little more understanding of what someone else may be going through. We can think before we respond in judgment or retaliation to what feels like a personal attack but otherwise could be someone having a really shitty day. Even the saintliest of my friends have shitty days from time to time so it is always a possibility.
We could get bogged down here in the current situation we are all in globally; with political strife, violence everywhere, differing opinions, hate speech, failure to accept differences in one another, discounting another person’s experiences with various aspects of our society, and the well documented (real or perceived) decaying of our civilization. We could even get into a heated debate over whether Jay Feely was being funny or out of line with the prom photo he shared on social media. We could do all of that but that is not what I’m about. That’s not what my blog has ever been intended for.
I am not here to tell you how to think, how to vote, who to believe in, or what to do with your life. You come here to read about sports cards, video games, old cheesy movies, the dumb things I did as a kid and the best snack foods from the 80’s. You come here to escape the stuff I’ve written about at the top of this post. I get that. But this time I want to challenge each and every one of you, as I am challenging myself, with a request. Open up your heart to the people around you. Don’t be ashamed of who you are or the problems you carry. Don’t judge the person next to you for those things either. Be an ear instead of a mouthpiece (says the mouthpiece). Be someone that others will come to when the walls are caving in. But also, don’t believe for one minute that if you are that person to others that you won’t need a person like that in your life too.
Know that you have a tougher life than some but accept that others have a tougher life than you. In the end, we all are trying to survive each day by stringing together moments of happiness, a fond memory here and there, a hug, a pat on the back, occasional tears, failure and success. But while you are looking for those things, so is the person next to you. You can be someone to create those things for that person. Hold the door open for a stranger, pay for someone’s value meal in the drive thru behind you, tell someone they look nice (in a non-creepy way Nate), thank people for things they do and represent for you, and lastly, stop talking and listen when someone needs it.
J-Dub
The other two cards that everyone will recognize from the set are the Tom Paciorek and Steve Kemp. No? Just me? Yeah, I’m a White Sox fan. OK, so maybe you will recognize the Ozzie Smith and Reggie Jackson cards, showing them in their new digs. Both deals actually happened prior to the 1982 season, but after Topps had already issued its single-series base set. The Topps Traded set was collectors’ first chance to see cards depicting these two future HOFers with their new teams, and they have been favorites for over 35 years.
But what if this set checklist were a tad bit different? What if the industry at the time had dictated a more prospect-driven product? What if this set had included subsets, like those following it eventually included? Ready to have some fun? Let’s have some fun…
When the 1983 sets came out, only one major brand picked up this next guy. He only played in 20 games in 1982, with 32 plate appearances. He batted .241 with one, yes ONE home run. Nobody knew that in 1983 he would play 145 games and hit 35 home runs, on his way to earning the AL Rookie of the Year Award, all while being a very important piece of the lineup during the White Sox run to a Divisional Championship. He’s a great guy, and those of you who have written to him also know him as a TTM legend. What if Topps had included Ron Kittle in their 1982 Traded set?
So, this next dude played 123 games in 1982 with 422 at bats, 125 hits, 24 stolen bases, and batted almost .300. He helped the new addition, Ozzie Smith, lead the Cardinals to a World Series victory with an absolutely sensational catch in Game 3 that robbed a home run. Why didn’t he get a card in the actual Traded set in 1982? No idea. Now he has one. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Willie McGee.
There was a particular “Big 3” of rookie cards when the 1983 sets came out. But things could have been very different had they all appeared in the 1982 Topps Traded set. This first guy actually played 13 games in 1981, so he could have easily appeared in the base 1982 set. Only problem? He wasn’t that good. By the beginning of 1982 he had already been traded to a new team, so there is actually a better chance that this first custom would have appeared in the base set rather than the Traded set. It would have been the only non-insert that pictured this future HOFer on his original team, and we missed out on it. Lucky for us, in 1982 he had almost 700 plate appearances and nearly 200 hits. And since he technically changed teams, I’m going to go ahead and put them both in here, because who knows how it really could have been handled? Maybe one in the base set and one in the Traded set? The Cubs kinda made up for the Lou Brock trade with this one, bringing Ryne Sandberg in as a utility infielder and a throw in on the Larry Bowa trade. Not a bad throw in.
Here’s another guy who should have definitely been included in the 1982 Topps Traded set. He played 104 games for his team that year with 381 plate appearances, batting a measly .349. He would finish his career 18 seasons later, with a lifetime .328 average, 3010 hits, and eventually a bust in the Hall of Fame. Unlike Sandberg, who started out as a utility infielder throw in to a trade, Wade Boggs started strong and finished strong, would have been nice to see him in this set. Now we get to!
This next player wasn’t too far away from having a custom NBA card instead of an MLB card. Lucky for us, he chose baseball. He played in 54 games in 1982 batting .289, the only season in his 20 year Hall of Fame career that would see him bat under .300. With over 3100 career hits and a lifetime average of .338 – all while playing for the same team – Tony Gwynn was a shoe-in HOFer that could have easily been included in this set.
I had no idea that this last player came up at the end of 1982. With only 7 games and 13 plate appearances, he definitely would not have been a candidate for the set. But it’s a good thing that I don’t have a lot of rules. Its also a good thing I really wanted to see an ’82 of this guy! He played 14 years and ended up with a lifetime average of .307. With just over 2100 hits, unfortunately he did not have the length to his career that the others did, or he would have undoubtedly ended up in Cooperstown along with them. And this card of Don Mattingly, would have turned the collecting universe upside down back in the day!
So, there you have it, my updated “What If” version of the 1982 Topps Traded set. Thank you for taking the trip with me and imagining what it would have been like to pull this group from that bright blue box!
5. Mick Foley/Mankind/Dude Love/ Cactus Jack – I really liked all of the incarnations of Mick Foley but Mankind was probably my favorite. He had Sock-o and his “Have a nice day!” was always creepy and got stuck in my head. Foley really abused his body over the years and some of his most memorable matches for me came later in his career. I remember one specific match with Terry Funk that had them wrestling all over the arena; landing on tacks, breaking tables, climbing fences. As solid a #5 as you’ll ever find.
4. Junkyard Dog – JYD was one of the first wrestling action figures I ever owned. I remember having him and Hulk to go with the toy wrestling ring. He was also one of the heroes on the 80’s WWF cartoon that I watched frequently. Dog was famous for his head butt but it wasn’t an ordinary head butt. He would charge around on all fours when his opponent was on the ground and head butt them to keep them flopping around on the mat. They really don’t make wrestling gimmicks like they used to.
3. Undertaker – Taker is really the only recent wrestler on my list. Foley is not too far in the past but Taker was active very recently. My love for horror movies and wrestling made Undertaker a natural favorite of mine. I loved the gimmicks in the cemetery and the coffin matches and buried alive stunts. His “sit up” was also the stuff of legends and I recently found out on the wrestling podcast that it was patterned after the sit-up by Michael Myers in Halloween. Just one more thing to like about Taker.
2. Ric Flair – I know after you saw 5-3 you were probably wondering, “didn’t he say he was a Crockett guy?” Well, the top 2 bring that home. Everybody loves Ric Flair now but I loved The Nature Boy in 1989 when it was more cool to not like him. For my money, nobody beat him on the microphone. He was so entertaining and such a showman (and flopper) in the ring. He was also the owner of the very best robes in the sport, hands down. Ric Flair was the man and there is no denying that!
1. Dusty Rhodes – As much as I liked Flair, and still “Woooo” to this day, my all time favorite wrestler was Dusty Rhodes. And I’m not talking about the Polka Dot Dusty Rhodes of the WWF. I’m talking about “The American Dream” Dusty Rhodes. I can still see those Ray-Ban sunglasses as he tells Tony Chiavone what’s about to happen to the Four Horsemen. I really loved me some Dusty Rhodes and he would have been on my short list of “athletes I have to meet before I die” if he were still with us. The American Dream was the cream of the crop for me!
5. Ted DiBiase – I hated The Million Dollar Man as a wrestler but I enjoyed him when he was managing Psycho Sid and NWO. I didn’t like him because he was the ultimate heel but he was very entertaining and did his job very well. Sometimes the more you despise a heel, the more you need them around.
4. Captain Lou Albano – Captain Lou was fun to watch. He was more visible in the mainstream by the time I started watching wrestling but he was still making managerial appearances in the ring. He was also starring in Cyndi Lauper videos and the WWF cartoon so he was very visible. I could never figure out the rubber band fetish though.
3. Jim Cornette – If you want a better example of what I said above when discussing DiBiase, here it is. I absolutely could not stand Jim Cornette! But here he is on my list at #3. He made me hate The Midnight Express and I so wanted Hawk or Animal to smash him with his own tennis racket. But again, that’s part of the allure of wrestling. There are baby faces and there are heels. It doesn’t work if you don’t have both. And Jim Cornette was the ultimate heel manager!
2. Paul Bearer – If Undertaker made the list, you knew that Paul Bearer would be here. I could actually include Brother Love here too for his time with Taker. But Bearer was the ultimate creepy mortician that made me relish every Undertaker promo that came on. I would go around mocking his high pitched voice and try to make all those faces he made. What a cool manager!
1. Miss Elizabeth – I’m just going to let the photo speak for itself. She also deserves the #1 spot in the next category too!
5. Stephanie McMahon – I find myself in the minority when I bring up Steph to other wrestling fans as one of my favorites. She played the ultimate heel in the late 90’s with Triple H and from what I do see today, she is still pretty good at that. I don’t care what you say though, I like Stephanie McMahon a lot!
4. Sable – Between the evening gown matches and bikini contests, what’s not to love about Sable? Although I don’t think she would ever beat Luna Vachon in a legitimate match. Who could really?
3. Trish Stratus – There was a time when Trish would be #1 on this list but at this point, she’s settled in at #3. She was a bit of a heel so I had my ups and downs with her but there was no denying her “talent.” Not a fan of the Val Venis days though.
2. Beulah McGillicutty – It’s not often that you’ll find a name like Beulah McGillicutty on one of my lists but this one is an exception. She didn’t do a ton in WWE and was more known for her work in ECW but she was top notch. An absolute knockout!
1. Lita – I fell in love with Lita the first time I saw her and I really didn’t care about her being a heel one bit. Even at her heeliest, I wanted her to win. Maybe I just wanted her on the screen, I don’t really remember. Lita will be hard to unseat as my favorite. The hair, the rocker look, the flips…..a wrestling 10!
That box was the stunning 1991 WCW set. I was 14 years old in 1991 and I watched every match that came on TV back then. It was a great time to be a wrestling fan. The cards themselves are, surprisingly, of very good quality for a non “Big 4” trading card. The stock is pretty good, the gloss is not too much but not too dull and the border just screams WCW in 1991. The box holds 36 packs of 15 cards and one puzzle card. Let’s see what was waiting inside!
The fronts of the cards were very nice but the backs could have been better. I’m sure they were going for gold but it almost looks mustardy. I do like the info on the backs though.
Jim Ross had a bigger wrestling career but Tony Schiavone was the voice of wrestling in my youth!
Missy Hyatt could have easily slid into the top 5 in the valet or ladies section but that means I’d have to take someone out. Maybe DiBiasi.
Michael “P.S.” Hayes and The Fabulous Freebirds!
Geez, I did not like Paul Heyman…..
Butch Reed and Ron Simmons were absolute BEASTS! Teddy Long on the other hand…..
I really loved the Steiner Brothers before Scott Steiner became “Big Poppa Pump” or whatever he called himself. Rick was very entertaining and was almost a poor mans Mick Foley.
Barry Windham was a heel that I couldn’t stand. As a member of The Four Horsemen, he made me want to tag into the match myself!
Sid was just plain scary. I would not have wanted to bump into him in a dark alley. Or a well lit church for that matter.
The dirtiest wrestler of all-time; Arn Anderson! He was ruthless in the ring and was the heart and soul of The Four Horsemen for many years. He kinda looked like a country singer too.
Here they are as a group!
How about Luger? He had the perfect wrestler body, very similar to that of the Ultimate Warrior.
I could’ve put Sting in my Top 6 if I had extended it one more spot. I loved him back during these days but the days where he was dressed like “The Crow” and carried a baseball bat weren’t as fun. He was a stud though!
And here he is! The Nature Boy himself! I know he was a hell and I know he was a part of The Four Horsemen. But damn, Flair was an icon even then! Wrestling was entertainment and there was no one more entertaining in 1991.
As an added bonus, I had to grab one of these Merlin WWF packs when I saw it too. These are a little more rare than most of the wrestling cards out there and are about $10 per pack shipped. These are some great looking cards though. This set is also the home of the Undertaker RC. I may be seeking out more of these!
No Undertaker in this pack but look who I did find! Miss Elizabeth in all her glory!
And then the opposite of Liz, the ever brutal Sensational Sherri. Tremendous heel!
Here are the other 6 I pulled with one being the incomparable Virgil. And who doesn’t remember good ole Irwin R. Schyster? I really like the design of these cards!
I’ll have to give 1991 WCW cards a 4 on the Dub-O-Meter. The design is good, stock is good, the photography is solid. But the collation is really bad. The set is not very big so when you get a box of 540, there are A TON of dupes. It felt like there were dupes in each pack! The price, $39, was a little higher than I think it should be. But those are really the only issues and it still comes in at a solid 4. I need to open more of the Merlin cards but they feel like a 5 to me at the moment. What say you about these old wrestling cards?