Where Heather and the Zistle Grow

Where do I put this card?  This card fits in several places of my collection.  First, it's a Packers card, so it could go in my Packers binder.  But Charles Woodson is also an All-Decade guy from the 2000s team.  So does he go with that PC?  Or, do I keep the 2012 Rookies & Stars set together because I'm building that?  I have a love/hate relationship with the organization aspect of my collection.  On one hand, I love to try new ways to organize.  On the other hand, that is time consuming for me.

So I was browsing around good card sites about a month ago, I and came across this thing called Zistle.  I bet that almost everyone out there who may reading this, and I know there are few of you, has heard of or used Zistle.  But to me, this was a revelation.  I'm not great at staying organized, but I do love to know exactly what I have.  Since I got back into the hobby a few years ago, I've been creating a spreadsheet to catalog every card I own.  Since I usually end up with sets or teams or players being split up by my endless quest for defining my collection, I needed to be able to sort quickly through the cards I owned to find my needs.  It has been laborious, but it's something I enjoy about the hobby.  Don't judge.

And now, suddenly, I no longer have to type out the year, set, subset, card number, player, and team and then indicate rookies, serial numbers, autograph, or memorabilia on my own spreadsheet.  Yes, I did that.  Stop judging!  Now it's just a matter of clicking on boxes and I have instant inventory.  One complaint I've heard about Zistle is how users have to upload checklists and cards, but on those occasions when it falls to me, well, I was already doing it anyway.  At least now it can help someone else, too. 

But my favorite feature of Zistle is the trading lists.  As I'm adding my cards, I can mark them for trade as I go.  I've created several want lists and in my month on the site, have already completed several trades.  I'm loving it!

Here is a rundown from my first few trades.  My first trade was a biggie.  Big thanks to Zistle user mikeyj for throwing together a little something awesome.  (I apologize for my scanner being stupid.  It has a hard time recognizing what to scan sometimes.)

First, Mikey gave me some great cards to add to my Packers binder.  I love this card.  C'mon, what Green Bay fan doesn't love all four guys on this card?  They actually did a good job of fitting all the players without making it seem too overcrowded, but the Score logo kind of big down at the bottom, and it could be shrunken down so as not to cut off Aaron's and Eddie's heads.

Jordy Nelson is a new PC guy for me, and it's all because he didn't play at all this year.  It's the old adage that you don't know what you have 'til it's gone.  Without Jordy, the offense looked lost.  Aaron Rodgers dropped a few rungs on the quarterback ranking list.  I never realized how good Jordy Nelson was until he wasn't on the field.  So now I have a new collecting focus.

For some reason, I really like this year's Topps 60th Anniversary inserts.  It's got the feel of baseball's archives, which I also like.  Plus, the 1989 and 1986 designs shown here are great.  I like the clean look of the 1989 set, while the 1986 set has that busy diagonal gridiron border that for some reason works for me.

This design, however, I don't like as much.  The coolest thing about these cards is the pairing of current superstars with legends from the past.  I would like some blurb on the card about the two players, but I suppose it would take away from the pictures of one of the players.  The concept is okay, I guess, but the cards feel weird to me.  I won't argue with a pairing of Aaron Rodgers/Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers/Paul Hornung, though.

Here are the backs.

We also swapped 2015 rookies, with me sending a Marcus Mariota in exchange for this Jameis Winston.

The big part of the trade, though, was Mikey knocking off almost all of my 2014 Topps needs.  This is just a sampling of the set he sent me, and now I only have two cards left: the Philadelphia Eagles team card #130 and Janoris Jenkins #199.

There were some others there as well, but I don't want to get too long-winded on just one trade.  Suffice it to say that I added some to my All-Decade teams, my BYU collection, and a couple of cards to my 2008 Topps set.

In all, I am thoroughly enjoying my Zistle collection.  If you have the chance, check out my profile and tradelist there.  If you see something you like, hit me up for a trade.  Even if you're not on Zistle, you can email me about a trade.

And I'll keep adding to my collection on Zistle.  Because my OCD needs an easy outlet.