Random Singles Cassette of the Day: Reach by Gloria Estefan

It has occurred to me that the Hobby of Sports Card Collecting is officially DEAD. Why? Exclusive licenses, limited products, and too much product that is catered only to "adults" have made this Hobby no longer fun for kids. Without kids who will pick up the slack, the Hobby as we know it is on life support until the last "collector" goes to that great card show in the sky.

So at this point, why bother with writing about cards anymore? It seems that nobody cares anymore about them. Heck, my readership is way down, another sign that nobody reads the stuff I write anymore.

It is because of these reasons that I will stop writing about Topps Baseball Cards and begin writing about a passion that I enjoyed before getting married. That's right...I'm going back to my collecting roots and will from this day forward write about a Hobby that I really enjoy and would like to rediscover: Music Cassette Singles.

It seems that many of these bloggers write about the Hobby after "rediscovering" their passion for it. So why don't I give it a try. I have all these cassettes containing one or two songs, the popular songs of the day and they have been sitting inside a cd rack (one of those that opens up for more storage space) and I realized that nowadays, with everybody playing with iPods and music downloads, the thrill of putting a cassette into a tape player is long gone. Heck, they don't make them anymore, which is another reason why I stopped buying them (that and the fact that my then two-year-old daughter would get her fingers into the tape and just pull away...I think she's destroyed about two or three of my tapes).

I have overhauled the existing Topps Card Randomizer. What was done is that I have taken every cassette that I have, listed them onto a spreadsheet, and now the randomizer will pick a random number (from 1 to 5000...I have that many songs) and everyday I will have a random "single" to talk about. So without further ado, beginning tomorrow the Random Topps Cards of the Day will cease. And in their place will be something like this:

Thanks to the Singles Cassette Randomizer, introducing the Random Singles Cassette Song for Monday, April 1, 2013:

• Song: Reach.
• Artist: Gloria Estefan.
• Album, Studio: Rhythm of the Games, LeFace Records. Will also be included in the upcoming album Destiny from Epic.
• Written by: Gloria Estefan & Diane Warren.
• Produced by: Emilio Estefan, Jr. & Lawrence Dermer.
• Any special information the tape: Side 1: Album Version (3:50). Side 2: Gold Medal Single Edit (4:43).
• Commentary: This was one of two songs chosen as the theme for the 1996 Summer Olympic Games that were held in Atlanta, GA. The theme of the song is dreams and goals that if reached will be remembered in the fabric of time. It was the goal of every athlete to do their best, to "reach higher," "put their spirit to the test," "be stronger," so that they reach the ultimate goal, victory in whatever sport they trained so hard for just to get to this point in their lives. A Spanish version of this song was performed by Estefan featuring Julio Iglesias, Plácido Domingo, Jon Secada, Alejandro Fernández, Roberto Carlos, Ricky Martin, José Luis Rodríguez, Patricia Sosa and Carlos Vives on vocals as well. The song was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1997.

Lyrics (for those who can't see the video or are Deaf or Hard of Hearing):

Some dreams live on in time, forever
Those dreams, you want with all your heart
And I'll do whatever it takes
Follow through with the promise I made
Put it all on the line
What I hoped for at last would be mine

If I could reach, higher
Just for one moment touch the sky
From that one moment in my life
I'm gonna be stronger
Know that I've tried my very best
Put my spirit to the test
If I could reach

Some days are meant to be remembered
Those days we rise above the stars
So I'll go the distance this time
Seeing more the higher I climb
That the more I believe
All the more that this dream will be mine

If I could reach, higher
Just for one moment touch the sky
From that one moment in my life
I'm gonna be stronger
Know that I've tried my very best
I'd put my spirit to the test
If I could reach

If I could reach, higher
Just for one moment touch the sky
From that one moment in my life
I'm gonna be stronger
I'm gonna be so much stronger yes I am
I've tried my very best
I'd put my spirit to the test

If I could reach
If I could, If I could
If I could reach
Reach, I'd reach, I'd reach
I'd reach', I'd reach so much higher
Be stronger, higher, higher

Tomorrow's single will be: When We Dance by Sting. Post will arrive at 1:00 PM CST. Flash back with the blog tomorrow.

I just wanted to get the post in before 1:00 this afternoon. I will be making all the necessary changes to the blog to reflect the new theme tomorrow. For all of you (whoever is left) who still want to read about sports cards, I have left control of the Sports Card Blogroll over to Night Owl as he seems to have his fingers on the pulse of the Hobby and is able to find a lot of these blogs faster than mine. I have also surrendered all my posts over to The Topps Company as they have kept records of my activity since I started this blog back in May and they just want to make sure that I did not say anything incriminating about them that could get me into any legal trouble.

I am looking forward to this new venture, and hope to pick up a lot of new followers. I am also hoping to get a lot more music that I can write about after I am done with the 5000 tapes that I have in my collection. Maybe writing about music will get me more followers than writing about Topps Baseball Cards.

Before I go, I just want to say that I am eternally grateful for all Hobby Blogging Community that has supported me over the years. I have made a lot of new friends that shared my passion about collecting cards. I enjoyed reading your blogs, and I hope that you enjoyed mine. If you want to stick around as I dive into this new journey, please do. I have a lot to say about the music and my collection of singles. But if this is going to be the last time you come onto this humble, little blog, to read about baseball cards, I will just leave one last image for you...a token of my appreciation for all the support you've given to me over the years:


Happy April Fools' Day everybody!!!

Keep the pranks to a minimum, will you?

Sincerely,

JayBee Anama