The long and the short of it

It's sad, but I still have trade packages that I received from a few weeks back that I have not put away yet.  I tend to try and wait until I've completed a trade post (or 3) on these packages before I am satisfied enough to put the cards into the appropriate box/binder/storage facility.

One of those such packages was from Max over at the Starting Nine blog.  Max sent me a package of various card goodness, especially a dose of Maple Leafs which I hadn't expected. 

This is the long of it.  The cards were a selection of early 90's and early 00's Leafs, two eras where the team was pretty successful.  Some of the names just brought back memories for me, especially how long their last names were.

It's almost as if the team had imposed a 10-letter minimum on last names, and the more difficult to pronounce and spell, the better.

Great if Scrabble allowed proper name usage

2004 Joe Nieuwendyk Titanium, a nice looking card of a hall of famer who made a one season pit stop in Toronto. 

Three players who were on the Leafs just before they cleaned house with the Doug Gilmour trade in January of 1992. 

Franceschetti...12 letters.  Krushelnyski...12 letters...Damphousse...10 letters  Imagine being the equipment guy who had to get those names right on jerseys?  All great players in their own right who had varying degrees of success while they were in the Blue and White.

The short of it comes from the Night Owl.  Greg always sends me some great stuff, and this envelope was no different.  On the top of the pile was a stack of Blue Jays (naturally), and a lot of the cards in the pile had names that were very short, easy to pronounce and type.

Ward, Lyon, Rios, Witt.  Typing those four out took about as much space as typing Franceschetti did up above.  4 letters not enough for you?  How about five...

I like those Future Stars cards....may have to put together that set

Glaus, Rolen, Green.  Just as easy to pronounce and type. 

Carter, Alomar, Drabek, Molitor....sorry guys, you don't fit in here.

Now you're probably wondering why/how this post came to being?  Why I would combine trades of two bloggers that root for teams on different coasts.  Why I would do a two sport post?  Why I would even include hockey in a post that involves the Night Owl? 

I'll tell you tonight...

Oh, and by the way...happy 4th of July.  Have fun, but be safe while doing so!!

Thanks for reading, Robert