So, is the AFL on yet? Because I found this doozy of a tweet yesterday.

Suddenly regretting I didn't collect Australian rules football cards in the 80s. Did all the players look like Neil Young tripping balls? pic.twitter.com/sBljXd71nN

— Super 70s Sports (@Super70sSports) March 5, 2021

I am willing to bet that gentleman engaged in some recreational psychedelics from time to time. But it did get my hockey card collecting brain wondering – are there AFL trading cards?

Turns out – yes.

And they are just as garishly banal as you’d expect.

So shiny.

In fact, the first AFL card dates to 1894, and much like the US Honus Wagner card (c. 1909) it was also made by the American Tobacco Company.

Unlike the Honus Wagner, the Will Crebbins card was only worth $10,100 dollars in 2018. The most expensive Honus Wagner ever sold was worth $3.12 million.

Still – look at these. Aside from the sport they look exactly like the cards from those eras I collected in hockey.

Magnificent. That’s what a collectible card should look like.

Tonight’s sports:

• NHL:
  • Toronto vs Vancouver – 7:00pm | CBC / Sportsnet / NHLN
  • Winnipeg vs Montreal – 7:00pm | Sportsnet360 / City TV
  • Calgary vs Edmonton 10:00pm | CBC / Sportsnet / NHLN
• NBA:
• NCAA:
  • Duke at North Carolina – 6:00pm | ESPN / TSN2
  • Seton Hall at St. John’s – 7:00pm | FS1
  • Ohio Valley Conf. Championship – 8:00pm | ESPN2 / TSN2
  • Xavier at Marquette – 9:00pm | FS1
  • WCC Quarterfinal – 9:00pm | ESPNU
  • Utah State at Fresno State – 11:00pm | FS1
  • WCC Quarterfinal – 11:59pm | ESPN2
• Fisticuffs:
  • UFC 259 Prelims – 8:00pm | ESPN+ / TSN5
• Curling:
  • 2021 Tim Hortons Brier: Pool Play – 8:30pm | TSN

I also used to collect stamps – and now that I look back, an awful lot of nerd beatings too. Much like my weights, those are somewhere in the garage collecting dust.