Canadian Football Cards

      I am still going through my bag of souvenirs from Toronto. I finally looked at the trading cards I got at the Hockey Hall of Fame, and the Blue Jays stadium. I got one pack from the former, and two packs from the latter. One of the packs was Canadian football cards, so I like having them. Most of my collection is baseball cards, but I did have some football cards already. There are ten, with a blue border and a helmet with the CFL logo in one corner. I recognize the names of many of the colleges these players attended, but not the player names. I know the CFL is considered to be a 'Minor league' of sorts, those who still want to play in the pros somewhere but couldn't get signed by an NFL team. Five of these players are from the Winnipeg team, and two from Toronto. One has a cartoon rat in a football uniform on the back, called 'Jogo'. The card serves as a public service announcement, making mention that 30 percent of Canada's young people drop out of high school. Just three of these ten are listed as non-import players, the other seven  appear to be from American colleges. One of the stickers I got out of a vending machine at the Blue Jays stadium, which says 'Just saying', reminded me of my first visit to Canada, for two Montreal Expos games in 2002. The way it was packaged, one card protected by cardboard. I liked how these packs didn't cost much at the stadium, as I recall a dollar coin apiece. There is mention made of the now-defunct USFL on the back of some of the cards, and it appears these cards are not new by any means, from 1991. It is likely why I got them for real cheap, if they weren't selling in other outlets. I don't think I have seen this setup much in American sports arenas, I am used to buying these kinds of cards in stores instead of vending machines.
   I had a date tonight, first time in over four months. I had a BLT sandwich and fries, my date had a short stack of pancakes. I liked how the conversations flowed well, I said it as been hard to find somebody who likes me for me and can keep up with me intellectually.