Why are they called "do-it-yourself" kits when I've always needed assistance from someone to make any progress with them?
Wouldn't a better name be "find-a-skilled-friend-and-let-him-do-it-for-you" kits?
I'm sure I'm not the only one who falls into the all-thumbs category, especially when the quest is to complete a multi-step project. Even as a kid, for instance, I cringed whenever I received a model-building kit as a gift.
Unless my dad had time to devote to it, the would-be car or plane forever remained a set of unattached parts within a box.
The same ineptitude extends to home-repair endeavors, which are supposedly made simple through the use of fix-it-yourself books. Ever notice how those guides are written as if the people reading them understand technical jargon?
Come on -- treat me like the whack-my-hand-with-a-hammer idiot that I am when it comes to these sorts of things. If I knew as much as the fix-it books assume I do, I'd have no need for them in the first place.
So the last thing that would seem appealing to me is a make-your-own trading card. Isn't that why companies like Topps and Upper Deck exist -- to take the pressure off collectors?
But neither of those manufacturers veers beyond the mainstream very often, and when either one does, the creation is always devoted to another professional sport of some kind. That's understandable since the folks in charge of policing amateur athletics look unkindly upon profit-making intrusions by outsiders.
Seeing as how college football is my favorite sport, though, I'm always interested in unearthing card sets depicting teams in that sport. They're not easy to come by because of all the rules put in place to safeguard athletes' eligibility, but they're out there.
The key is finding them free of charge. And a website I recently discovered has gone a step further. Not only are the cards free, but you can make as many as you wish.
The Iowa City Press-Citizen has developed a site called "Hawk Central," which focuses on University of Iowa athletics. One of the links takes visitors to a place where they can download cards of the Hawkeyes' 2010 football team.
And we're not talking about just a dozen or so players. A total of 100 individuals -- including head coach Kirk Ferentz and his staff -- are included, and each card contains information about its profiled person.
The Hawk Central site explains in easy steps how to print the cards -- which are being counted down from 100 to 1, with a new one revealed each day until the start of the season -- and even tells of the best way to make them resemble big-company issues. It was simple enough to where I only needed three tries to get it right.
Does this represent a wave of the future in collectibles? Quite possibly. For sure, it seems a great promotional tool for whatever team is depicted on the cards -- and with the way the process is set up, no one can be accused of getting rich off them.
That likely includes collectors, too, but a lack of resale value shouldn't be a deterrent to checking out the website. Hey, if I can make cards, anybody can.
This column is solely the writer's opinion. Reach him at kenneth.karrson@nwi.com.
