Fifth Blog Bat Around

Ok, it's that time again. The Fifth Blog Bat Around is ready to roll. If you aren't familiar with the Bat Arounds, here are links to the first four:

Inaugural Event

Bat Around Part Deux

Third Time's A Charm

Once... Twice... Four Times a Lady

Ok, look over those and read every single post because this material will be on your final exam. Once you're done with that, you can check out the topic for this go around:

What is the best experience you have had acquiring cards or memorabilia?

I've left this one purposely vague so you all can riff on it. I'm basically looking for those times and places where you've really enjoyed picking up some cards/a card/an autograph/memorabilia/whatever else you collect. You can focus on your most favoritest memory or write about a whole bunch of different times. Doesn't matter when or where or how, it could be any of these examples:

That junky hobby shop with the old dude who called you 'Skippy' and would give you a Coke to drink while poring over his common boxes

That time online where the dude from Taipei tried to snipe you but you totally sniped him back with 1.8 seconds to go

That TTM letter to your boyhood hero that came back 17 years later

That time you chased down your favorite player in the parking lot of a Dairy Queen and he traded you his jersey for a Peanut Buster Parfait

That time at the flea market where that dude was selling vintage stuff he cleaned out of his barn dirt cheap

That birthday gift from auntie Helga where she threw in uncle Shlomo's card collection along with the bushel of socks that she normally gave you

That amazing deal on a case you got at AmazingDealsOnCases.com that was even more amazing than normal

That one time where you slipped a pack into the jacket pocket of a pack searcher at Target and hung around so you could watch the security alarm go off

Or any other time where a prized collectible fell into your lap. This is more about the whole acquisition experience rather than just an individual part in the collection. Write as much as you want, post it on your blog and paste the link in this post. (or you could e-mail me instead if you're a brave soul) The more memories the better, feel free to rattle off a 20-pager like I normally do. And now the fine print:

Here are the rules established by Gellman, which Dave modified slightly, and then were subsequently cut and pasted by me:

• This is an open forum, and anyone can participate at any time. I will not discriminate, nor will I leave you out if we don’t agree. Heck, even the bloggers at Beckett can participate if they want to!
• Please make your post at least semi-relevant to the topic. You can be as creative as you want, but keep the general topic in mind. You don’t need to answer all of the questions in the topic, but your post should address what kinds of products you’d like to see the card companies produce.
• Keep your post PG or PG-13, I won’t censor it, but this is necessary since we’ll have a vast audience, which might include kids.
• Give us something to read, so don’t just write two sentences and call it a day. Make this a normal post, as you would want your readers to see it as a normal part of your blog. Given the great entries that we’ve seen in the past, I don’t think this will be a problem.
• Please give your post a title, and mark it so it’s easy to find when you give me the link. If you want your full name included and not just your blog title, put it in there somewhere.
• Please comment on this post or email me the link to your post so that I’ll know about it.

Ok, that's about it, write 'em up and make sure I get a link. Deadline is:

Midnight Tuesday, March 24th

I'll post 'em all on Wednesday. First one to give me a link gets on the top of the post, the rest will be listed in the order received. Above all, have fun kiddos!