They're different (No, really, they are)

I have a passing interest in the Super Bowl this year, at best. I don't have any bets or anything on it, either.

I did my best to zone out that horrendous spectacle they called a halftime show by doing some scanning for this post. I was unsuccessful, and I actually had to hear Madonna "sing" (we all know she was lip-synching). Meanwhile, I wish "LMFAO" would go the "F" away, because they're not at all clever.

Anyways, enough about that. Let's talk about some baseball cards, shall we?

Topps puts out special hometown team sets of their product each year. I always see the Cubs and White Sox ones hanging next to the rack packs at my local Target, but I never really had any interest in buying them.

One of the regular card vendors at the local flea market must've bought one of each, because he had singles from both of the sets available for a quarter a piece. I bought the ones of the guys I collect. Since I was a regular "customer" of his, the cards came out to more like a dime a piece because he always cut me a deal.

My favorite part about the team sets are the stadium shots. You can't get them anywhere else besides the team sets. I've seen a few from the other teams and they're great. The Comiskey Park one you see at the top of the post is no exception. (I refuse to call it "U.S. Cellular Field".)

Here are some of the team set cards paired with the player's regular 2011 Topps issue.

Can't tell which is which? That's because the fronts are exactly the same on these. The only thing that differentiates the two is the "CWS" prefix on the card number on the back. (Ex. Matt Thornton is #622 in the regular Topps set, his team set card is #CWS-8.)

More of the same.

Fukudome was the only Cub left in the team set singles box by the time I got to it. Someone else must've picked through it. That says something, but I'm not sure what.

If there's even the smallest difference between two cards, I want to get one of each of them. I'm a stickler for that, and these are a great example. That would be hard to explain to a non-collector. (Try explaining the '08 Topps Heritage Black Backs concept to someone who doesn't collect. Or the '08 Topps Gold Foils.)

However, a few of the team cards (seen on the left in each of the scans) have different photos than the regular Topps issues.

The pictures taken for the Juan Pierre cards (both are fantastic shots) were probably taken from the same game. Same with Chris Sale.

The Adam Dunn team set card features the same photoshopped shot as his 2011 Topps Opening Day issue. But it's way different from his 2011 Topps Update card.

What was stopping Topps from putting different images on all the team set cards, like these three? They'd definitely make the sets more desirable.

But I'll still be on the lookout for the team sets at the flea market this year. Only two more months till it opens. It'll be like blogging paradise. Can't wait!

For now, I'll go watch the Super Bowl.

Then I'm going to go back to counting the days until spring training.