How to Impress a Lady

Dealing Blackjack the other night the discussion at the table centered around drinking, vacations, couples, dating, marriage, divorce and the rules of the road surrounding each.  Being newly single again (after 23 years of marriage) one of the guys at my table had some sound advice for me that I am going to pass on to all of you.

During one of the moments as I was shuffling the eight decks of cards, this kind gentleman reached in his pocket and gave me a 3" x 5" card which was titled "How to Impress a Lady", in an easy to read block style font, it read:

"Wine her, Dine her, Call her, Hug her, Support her, Hold her, Surprise her, Compliment her, Smile at her,  Listen to her, Laugh with her, Cry with her, Romance her, Encourage her, Believe in her, Pray with her, Cuddle with her, Shop with her, Give her jewelry, Buy her flowers, Hold her hand, Write love letters to her, Go to the end of the Earth and back again for her."  (I now know where I went wrong, haha)

He then said to turn the card over, I did such and it was titled "How to Impress a Man" and printed in a fancy script font it read:  "Show up naked . . . Bring food . . . Don't block the TV".

Thanks to this kind stranger, I have learned so much and am happy to pass these words of wisdom along to all of you.  You never know where or when you may learn something important as I did the other night while dealing Blackjack.   

For those of you who may not know, my nighttime life is as a Las Vegas theme party planner / Casino dealer for Casino Nights .  

I was on the radio today

I will try to make this short story long (or is it the other way around ?).

For starters, I dealt blackjack (yes I am a "professional" blackjack dealer) at a charity event this past weekend and on Monday I sent an email to the party planner / guy who hired me to say how well I thought the event was run and that I appreciated being involved. On the bottom of my email, as some of you may have noticed, is a tag line (signature) that promotes my blog (this blog that you are reading).

Unbeknownst to me this guy also does a sports talk radio show on AM 1490 in the Sarasota, Bradenton area from 5 - 7 pm on Wednesday called "Out of Bounds". He noticed my signature and called me to see what my blog was all about and then asked me if I wanted to be on the radio as a guest to talk about my collection and the Cubs. Naturally I said yes. This might be a good time to say that I have been told I have a face for radio - sorry for that old joke.

So this evening at 6:30 pm I called as instructed and was his guest for about ten minutes talking baseball, the 1969 Chicago Cubs and baseball cards. For me, this was exciting.

I think I did well (that is according to the two people who listened to me, my wife and daughter) since he did call me after his show was done and thanked me for being on. He also invited me back to talk "anytime". That only means he likes me or is desperate for guests. I would like to think that I did ok for my first time on the air.

The bulk of our conversation was about the cornerstone of my collection; the Cubs of 1969 pennant and the cards from 1970 that are framed, but he also asked me about the "Bartman" incident and our hopes for this year. He even plugged my blog on air !

I hardly doubt this will turn into anything regular but it was fun to be on the radio today.

Playing with cards

Back in the day of buying baseball cards to "play with" I remember many an afternoon or early evening (always before the dinner bell rang) playing the traditional games of flipping, tossing or even colors (variation of war) until the parents would break "us kids" up and hop on my bicycle to ride home. Invariably the cards I "won" were strategically placed in my bike spots to "show off" to anyone who noticed.

As we got older, early teens, the game of poker came into our lives and many of us "invented" other games to play with our baseball cards and then the real playing cards came out. One of the first poker games we played with these new cards (of the 52 suited card) was indeed a game called "baseball". A variation of seven card stud with all cards face down had three's (outs) and nine's (innings) wild and if you get a four (walks) you have the option of getting a additional card.

Baseball cards were now stored away in the traditional shoe box of the day, rubber banded for security and shoved in the closet . . . poker and "real" card games took over our lives.

Today "playing with cards" involves sorting, placing in plastic (pages or holders), logging them into a catalog (or want list spreadsheet) and storing them carefully among many other rituals of collecting.

Interesting to note is that Topps began in 1951 issuing two 52 card sets, red and blue backs as they were called; simulating a deck of playing cards. The connection between baseball cards and playing cards has a long history.

For me, as some of you may know, I "play" with both. I still collect and now store properly the baseball cards of my youth (and now some "modern" cards) but I also am a blackjack and texas hold'em "dealer".

Every once in a while I get nostalgic and think of those days when both hobby's were taken less serious and "playing with cards" meant something very different.

More from David

I have a long day (Saturday) ahead of me away from home - I am dealing in a (non-cash) poker tournament (yes I am a qualified texas hold'em and blackjack dealer) and there is this "big" event today in Sarasota. I know what you are saying, what is a guy in Florida dealing cards for (being indoors all day) when every day is sunshine . . . truth be told, beacuse everyday is sunshine it is ok . . . I still prefer cardboard to plastic.

So, I wanted to share a few more cards that came in the "goliath" of a package from David of Indian Baseball Cards and then some . . .

So generous was he that along with the many Cubs cards he sent he also sent about 20 Tampa Rays (Devil Rays) cards. Living in Sarasota gives me a "close" AL team to cheer for at times.

I like the 2007 A & G !

Is this a homerun swing or . . . is that ball speeding right over Crawford bat for strike three ? Nice Devil Ray card, 2006 Fleer Ultra # 50.

Two more favorites are:



a swell Rogers Hornsby(#137)




and a sliding Mickey Morandini (1999 Fleer Tradition)

Thank you again David !