A Small TCDB Trade--With Shared Interests

I've never come across another card collector online that I could share any personal connection with--besides the love of cards, of course.  I've really never come across one that was all that close to me geographically, for that matter.  But a couple of months ago, a new member of the Trading Card Database sent me a small trade proposal that had some cards I really couldn't resist.  His screen name is twprkj, and I have no idea what it means.  But I did like the deal he was proposing.

First up were some great Pro-Vision art cards from early 90s Fleer.  When I was a kid, these were the coolest cards ever.  It was like comic book meets sports card and I loved them.  All four of these fit nicely into binders for me.

It was this Ammon Olsen card that helped forge the personal connection with twprkj.  Out of curiosity, he asked me what my interest in the Olsen autograph was.  He assumed I was a BYU fan, and he was correct.  I knew I was dealing with another collector who was quite familiar with BYU himself because Olsen never played for the Cougs.  I explained that I was, in fact, a BYU fan, but my true interest lay in the school Olsen attended after transferring.  Ammon Olsen became a Southern Utah Thunderbird after realizing he wasn't going to get much playing time at BYU.  As SUU is my Alma Mater, I will chase any player coming from there.  In our exchanges, I learned that he had graduated from an extension of BYU, BYU-Idaho.  Well, there you have it.  BYU-Idaho is where my wife's parents met back in the 80s and shortly thereafter brought a beautiful little girl into the world.  I would say her existence has impacted my life a little bit, right?  I don't know if twprkj is a BYU fan or not, but he did send the Jimmer Fredette card above as an extra in the trade.

The Ammon Olsen autograph was cool.  I now have autographs of all of the former T-Birds who played in the NFL and have had cards made of them.  There are two SUU players who have never had a card made of them and one more who has no certified autos.  But the star attraction of this trade was this:

That is a 2005 Topps Heritage Aaron Rodgers rookie SP!  It's only my second Rodgers rookie.  I couldn't believe it when I got the trade proposal.  I needed this card so badly that when I learned I was missing one of the cards twprkj wanted, I started pulling cards from my PCs of other players to keep the trade alive.  It was all worth it.  I have plenty of Cal Ripkens, after all.  But I never dreamed this would come available in a trade.  I enjoy basking in the giant tube television glow of this card's beauty.

It was a great trade, card-wise.  But it also helped me find a trading partner who understands my world on a little more of a first-hand basis, no matter how small the connection.  After all, the intermountain west just doesn't seem to have too much of an online card presence.