Chopped or Not Chopped 🔪 | The Crossover 7.24.26

Welcome, everybody, back to the crossover. Today is Friday, July 24, 2026. Good to be back. Have a great show for you tonight here with Josh and Christina. So we always kick it off with mail days. And Christina, do you have a mail day? No, no, my mail days were all shipped directly to the national. Josh, do you. Oh, Josh, I can't hear you. You're muted. Yeah, Christina's mail day is much heavier than ours and in many boxes, apparently. Chris, let me get this card. So thank you, Chris, but this is the only one I've gotten in the last month. 2023 Donner's Optic Gold vinyl. One of one, Christian McCaffrey. Yep, that's actually my card, but I let you have it. That's. I probably got 10, like 90 of my DMS were along those lines. Oh, he let you have that. Wait, can you show it again? Sorry, I just blew you up big on the screen. There we go. Yeah, let's go. McCaffrey Optical Vinyl. That's sweet. Very nice, Very nice. That it? That's it. All right, I've got one as well. This is the. There we go. This is the 2015 Tops Field Access Tom Brady Base Set 1 of 1. Tops Field Access is a one off football set that was sort of Topps football's answer to basketball stadium club showing intense up close photography and they only made it for one year. And this is Brady's one base card. And this is the one one of one to it. And I've got it handy because I'll be bringing it to the national because I want to put that thing into a PSA holder because I think it'll look nicer with the red. Is that the ultra rare one of one of one of one? Yeah, it kind of is. Did I get that right? Kind of is because it's a one of one. It's the only one of one, and it's a one of the one off product. Yeah, yeah. So we're cooking right now. All right. That's a 500k card says that's a low ball. That is. Congrats. Thank you. But 5 million and up. All right. Dude, I'm gonna laugh when, like, they use this clip as like the upcharge. Right. Don't look up the comp and believe everything I tell you. Did that not even have sub grades? No subgrades. So the guy who had that card thought so low of that card that he thought, this isn't even worth getting subgrades. It's such trash. Exactly, exactly. That's how you know, you're cooking nice BGS8 silver label. You know, I thought eventually I'd get used to below 85 being silver labels, but I never have. I really do still wish that they had the three label colors. Agreed. I never got used to it. It's weird. Bring back the paper flip. Yeah, bring back the paper flip with the tiled Beckett logo. You should be ashamed of getting an 8. And visually ashamed, right? Exactly. Yeah, that should be my scarlet letter. Yes. All right, you're gonna get a PSA4, and I'll like it too. And I'll pay a big fat upcharge for it. All right, let's warm up, since this is our first show in over a month with some softballs, some LeBron to the 76ers balls. So the first question comes from Strong Cards 88, who says, wow, what a day. First little LeBron news, and now we get the return of the crossover JD9 cards writes, in what inning are we in in the hobby now that Tops did a Post collaboration with LeBron to announce his decision to go to Philly. Did you notice that, Josh? That. That graphic? Yeah, that's it. Is it Tops now card that he signed and inscribed? Something like that? Yeah, or like a mock up of it or something. I saw it floating around. I assume that's real. Yeah, yeah, but how do they. How do they already have their card ready to go, like. Or do they have a template? Or just, like, it could be one of these four teams. Let's make a mock up for each of the four teams, and then whichever one it is, we'll release it. Well, isn't Reuben, like, associated with the 76ers in some way? He wants. He used to be part owner. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So there is some kind of connection to, like, LeBron signing with tops now and going to the Sixers? I've seen some of those rumors. I wouldn't be surprised. Like, the Hobby is. Everyone's, like, forced to kind of pay attention to it, I think at this point, at least from what I've seen and from the fan fest. Yeah, yeah. Yep. Indeed. Okay. Ali's EPC says thoughts on LeBron prices short term and long term after this move and Andrew Laina SC, let's discuss LeBron to Philly and the market impact. Yeah, I can take this one to start, given the LeBron stuff. I was always one of those guys that, you know, when he went from Cleveland to Miami, I was like, I'm a Heat fan now. And then he went back to Cleveland. I'm A Cleveland fan now. You know, kind of like you guys following Luca to LA, I was that way with LeBron, and now I just find myself, like, not caring that much about this move because this is. Feels more like it's. You know, he's like, maybe just trying to maximize winning and he's going to be, like, the third wheel or whatever, which is fine, but I'm just not as interested in it anymore. And I also don't think it has much of an effect on his, like, legacy, because if he wins, let's say they win the championship or they make the Finals or something, no one's going to give him credit for it. You know, he's not gonna. He probably won't win Finals mvp. And so it's not like it'll boost his resume and he's not going to win Finals mvp. So I'm not that interested in the move. As far as the market, again, I just don't think, like, one year out of 24 is really going to affect anything. I think everything's kind of already priced in. Agreed. And one more question on this topic from the Jordan exchange. If LeBron wins a championship with a team that has been a loser for 43 years, I love how now we just trashed the 76ers. So to make. If it does become a championship, then that makes it that much better, right? Is. Is this. Is this additive to LeBron's legacy? Four different teams, four championships. Lakers, one of the NBA's worst teams, when LeBron joined the Cavs, never won prior to LeBron, and the 76ers haven't done it since 1983. So you kind of preempted this in your answer to previous questions. Is there anything else you'd like to add? No, because, I mean, like, what it does, did, like, cat prices double because the Knicks had such a drought or something? You know, I don't know. Actually. Maybe they kind of did. Maybe they kind of did, actually. I just don't think that, like, people in the hobby care as much about, like, the team like, the Knicks and this kind of stuff. Like, everyone wants to make that a story, like the King of New York and all this stuff, but I think the hobby really does value, like, the individual accolades and, like, how much. How much credit they get for ultimately, like, winning the championship and being successful as a team. Like, we all clearly know let, like, Luca and Jokic are more impactful for winning games than Carl Anthony was for helping the Knicks win the championship. We can see it in the stats. We can See it in the games. And, like, that's why their card prices are higher. Yeah, I'm gonna. I'm gonna do. I'm just gonna give the straight take. Like, I felt like everywhere I looked today when people were discussing this, it was kind of like a weird left field take. Like, warriors fans are now, like, destitute because they were banking on this. And Lakers fans are like, you took a pay cut to join Philly, but you couldn't take a pay cut for us. And it's like, well, he was worth 50 million when he signed with you, and now he's worth this, and that's why he's signing for that. Everybody has these, like, weird takes. Or like. Or I heard it. There's some take like, well, this means he can never catch Jordan now. Like, because. Because playing another season somehow subtracts from what he's done. I don't get it. So instead of, like, all these, like, left field, right field takes, I'm gonna just send a fastball down a slow lane. Here's the simple take. The 76ers after LeBron announced that he's going to them, became virtually tied with the Knicks in FanDuel to win the Eastern Conference. He picked a good landing spot. He picked a good conference. He picked a good team to join, and now they're essentially the favorites to win their conference and go to the finals. It's a fine choice. That's my take. All right. I wish you would have just stayed in la, but, yeah, it's fine. I wish he would have, too. And there's a whole rabbit hole there to go down that we don't need to. But LA wouldn't have given him $4 million a year. And. And the one position, the one starting position they still need is power forward. It doesn't make a lot of sense to me. The most shocking thing of all of it was the two years. Eight million, right? Because he went from. What did you say, like 50 million a year or whatever down to four. It's obviously like maybe taking. He's not worth 50 million in a year anymore, but he's to go to 4 million is like, he's clearly taking a little bit less. For sure. For sure. All right, let's go. All right, let's go to another softball set of questions here. Fanatics Fest and the national from Raw Cards. Pre National Hype. How is the card letter team feeling this year? Christina, let's. Christina, jump in. Let's. You have to take stressed. I'm feeling stressed. I'm feeling Actually, like, let me just say shout out to our team, like, you guys and Nick and our other teammates, like, they are all on top of their shit. So that I am able to focus on what is the craziness of the biggest show of the year and our biggest event. So first off, thank you to my amazing team, our team, for going extra during this time when my attention is on, like, the larger national stage. Can I jump in here and ask you to make a queen Queen. A clean, quick pitch for where our booth is, how to find us, and why you should come there. Yep. So our booth is 2326. So think card ladder. It's you think 23 and it is 2026. So our booth is 2326. Like, easy peasy. Where it is, is if you go in near the Starbucks and then you go all the way, like, back to the right. Keep going until you get to the emergency doors. We're outside. No, I'm kidding. We're right in front of the emergency doors. So come hang out. We will have chargers. We will have candy. We will have snacks. We will have good conversations. Bring cool cards. We'll have cool cards to show you as well. Come talk to us about cards. Like, have fun. We will have swag. We have a swag schedule. And every day is a different drop. So make sure you stop by at least once every day. I will say that there will be. There will be hoodies. I haven't gotten the shipping confirmation yet, but I'm sure it'll be fine. And I'm sure that Mike. Shout out. Mike has them all shipped and already at the warehouse. And he just forgot to add me to the shipping confirmation. But they're already there. I'm not stressing at all about it. And we will have hoodies. There will be a code phrase just like every year to get your hoodie. Come early, we run out. And like I said, we'll have a different swag or giveaway item every day besides the hoodie. So make sure you come to our booth. I have some really cool things to give you and I'm really. Can we talk? Can we. Can we, can. Can you give details about the hats or not? Yeah. Yeah. So I. I went a little overboard. Like you guys remember, the hats were a big hit. The hoodies are always well received. The hats were a big hit at the west coast card show earlier this year. Yeah. So same process as last year for the national and then for west coast card show. I. I have the hats in blind bags. So, like, mailers that have the print run of the colorways on it. And then except for the base which is like a cool base for 2026. And that's all I'm going to say. It's a cool base for 2026. Except for the base hat. Every hat this year is numbered like 1 out of 5, 2 out of 5. So like we have hats one on one. We have out of 23. We have out of 5 out of 99. Like there's like a plethora of hats. But again, we ran out both at national last year and at west coast card show. I have a bigger print run. But like make sure you stop by. Hat day is Friday, so I will say that. So if you're at the national on Friday, make sure you come and get a hat early because there is a one of one. And at west coast card show, the one of one was sold twice at our booth for a hundred dollars and then a hundred dollars and something that like someone got, like someone purchased it from the person who bought it. Yeah. If you hit that one of one hat and you don't want to keep it, you can get some nice pocket change selling that thing probably to walk around the show. Yeah, yeah. So yeah. Okay. Yeah, Perfect. A lot of things happening. Yep. And that's all. That's all I got. Good. Okay. Moving on here from WWE Gelman. I can't wait to see you all at the national next week. I'm sure you will get a ton of fanatics fest questions here. Were you as overwhelmed by it as I was? I had an awesome time and I thought it was amazing, but maybe next time I will have a better understanding of just how crazy it will be. It was a very big show. It's a bit like my brother said, it's a bit like walking into an airport. That's just how enormous. Like an international, a major international airport. That's just how enormous the. The Javits center can feel when it's just filled with a hundred thousand people and so many different booths and so many different things. But it's also a pretty easy show to navigate. It's well laid out. You definitely find the places you want to get to and the stages you want to get to for whatever you want to check out. So it was crazy, but it was manageable and it was a great show. And I think the national is going to be just as crazy too. So, Christina, do you want to add any thoughts about your fanatics experience? The one thing, yeah, I kind of touched on this last night on Jake's podcast. Like, the one thing about Fanatics Fest that I like is the corporate activations. Like the big companies, the not hobby companies, like really show up and show out for Fanatics Fest. Like you have the leagues doing really cool things for kids. Starbucks made the gift cards with the frame of the Gretzky mantle and Jordan rookies. And I just think that Christina's on her corporate slop this week. They really, they really like tailor it to the attendee. They do. Like, it's not like you have to do this to get that. Like it's literally like just come do it. These companies take it very seriously. Starbucks had celebrities serving coffee to people. It was the real. Yeah, yeah. So I really thought that was cool. The one thing I didn't like, and I know Chris will agree with me, like I don't care about the celebrities. Like I don't care about the athletes. Like when I had to, like when I got stuck because like they had the walk of fame like blocked off so celebrities could get from like point A to point B. I was like annoyed. I was like, God, this is so annoying. Like I don't care, like walk faster. Like don't shut this down for so long. And I just, I am ready. Like that one is like more sports fan based and I'm ready to geek out and nerd out with my card collecting friends and really like do the national card show experience. It's like that Burbank card show where when they split the corporate and the booths, the card booths onto different levels. That's almost like Fanatics Fest versus the national. Yeah, like partitioning here. The corporate activations are big. The big poll for fanatics and they do a great job. And then the card nerding commences the week of the national. Okay, great recaps there. Let's keep it going here. By the way, I want to enshrine the hobby with Cage's bounty. He's placed a tour. He's placed a 250 bounty for the one of one card letter hat. So there you go, ball. That's a low ball, folks. He'll pay more than that. The one of one card letter hat this year is green. Oh, nice. The one of the first one of one had was black, right? Yeah. Somebody that, that guy who got that hat really wanted that hat at the West. There's two guys who really wanted it. Yeah, yeah. All right, that's great. Thank you Cage for that. This is like in those DND groups when it's like no deal, but thanks for getting it started right. All right, let's go to LSU. Tiger65. Many content creators now describe their experience at a card show as a, quote, movie. Keeping with this theme, how do you think your experience at the national will be? Will it be a movie? Will it be a prestige TV show? Will it be a miniseries or a network TV show? Curious for your thoughts? I mean, I don't really. I don't really do moving picture entertainment. Wrong answers only. It'll be like the Bachelor, but the Bachelors are cards. It's gonna be like a Taylor Swift concert documentary. You didn't even watch that. So it's Chris dancing around in a skirt. Oh, yeah, Josh. If there's cameras involved, I'm out. So all of those have cameras. That's the problem. Then I can't say what I want. I can't actually hang out. I've been watching the Quarterback Netflix documentary. I just feel like it's so staged, you know? Like, the cameras are there, so everyone's, like, on their best behavior at the house, and that's not my vibe. Josh's is a candid camera prank show where you don't know the camera's there. There you go. That's. That'll get us in trouble. Great question from LSU Tiger. I was laughing at the next question. The next question is from Roundtree 13 cards. Who says, I've got a hypothetical for the card letter crew. Let's say I walk up to the card letter booth at the national and I grab one piece of candy, which is totally normal. Five minutes later, I swing back and take two pieces of candy. Josh notices, but he's trying to politely nod along while someone is explaining code or whatever software wizardry he's pretending to care about? 15 minutes after that, I casually stroll by again. And now I grab a handful of candy. At what point should I start stretching my hamstrings and preparing to sprint from Josh and his candy security enforcements while Chris just shrugs and says, it's just candy. That's the zag. Is that. I was like, what is happening? This is ridiculous. Screw these guys. And you were like, let them do. Was like, it wasn't about the candy, though. Like, they were making, like, weird noises as they were, like, fishing through. Do you remember? Like, they were like. Like talking to each other and, like, grunts and, like, I just wanted to see if I would blow up on them. They were just like, please, yeah, go nuts, guy. They were like. They were like the toddler who's like, pay attention to me. Like, I'll act poorly. So you can like reprimand me because I just want your attention. It's like. I was like, don't do it. And he's like, don't do it. It's a Pyrrhic victory. If you take more than a moderate serving of candy, it's a Pyrrhic victory. Sure, you get the short term win of getting a bunch of candy, but in the long run, you get cavities and a gut and diabetes. The hobby with Cage says last minute question. Josh, how do you feel about Cage joining your national run and then vomiting after the first 100 yards? I would pay to see that. Yes, please. Maybe there's a one of one hat trade we can work out here. I could get him to go farther than 100 yards. How about that? Let's go. By the way, splendid. Steve says that Roundtree deserves prison if he actually executes that stunt. Prison. Prison, dude. Finally. PT Prison time. Yes. All right, that'll do it. Let's get to the. Let's get to some card questions. What inning are we in, actually? Was there already an inning question or. I don't know. Okay, all right. I swear. Did I skip over the inning question? I thought the inning ending. Oh, yeah, yeah. What inning are we in? Okay, all right. Well, whatever. Maybe we'll get to the ending a little bit. All right, so this question comes in from the Currency Project. George Kondo is one of the contemporary art's top artists. How do you feel about his painted cards? This is the highest profile artist I'm aware of that's ever made a one of one. Murakami did things with cards, but all graphic design prints. These Condos are original paintings. And for maximum value, please share images of these paintings. So for a little more context, at Fanatics Fest, there was a panel. It was actually my favorite part of the entire show. There's a panel with Michael Rubin, Tom Brady, Carl Anthony Towns, and the contemporary artist George Condo. And the reason why I like this panel was partially because I think art and cards is an interesting topic. And that was mainly the topic here. And they were all sort of talking about collecting cards. Collecting art, our cards, art. What are the overlaps or the differences? But the thing that I like the most was Michael Rubin was genuinely passionate about George Kondo, the artist. George Kondo is famous for painting some of the album covers for Kanye west, but also he's had multiple paintings sell for seven figures. Very much a highly esteemed artist with a very distinct visual style. And Michael, the thing that resonated with me the most was just that Michael Rubin was genuinely so excited to blend his world of collecting George Kondo paintings, which he does. He actually looked over at Condo at one point and said, I'm heavily invested in your paintings. And then blending that with the sports card world, which he's also heavily invested in. And there was a. There was an undeniable joy that he had to bring those two worlds together. That was infectious. And George condo actually painted 19, one of one cards that are going to be inserted in some forthcoming Tops project. I thought that was really cool. My favorite part of the show. So, Josh, do you by any chance could. Could you pull up a screen that has some of these? Just maybe just like, Google a Jord. Yeah. Okay. Can I. Can I share your screen? Yeah, I have, like, an Instagram slide of all of it. Perfect. All right, let's look at. Yeah, so here. These. Some of these were clearly taken from that panel. George Condo paints 101 trading cards. There he is painting some of them. There's Tom and Cat with theirs, but you can't really see them too closely. Okay, now we've got a close up here of the Aaron Judge, the Carl Anthony Towns, and the Tom Brady. This is Condo style is like some sort of, like, exaggerated surrealism where, like, he purposefully distorts and changes things around. That's his style. Like, that's the style that he used on Kanye's album designs. And there. Yep, there's the Brady. All the. Lots of stuff, like, distorted and stuff. And it's very tough to paint. Like, that's one of the things that. That he talked about on the panel. It's very difficult to paint a little two and a half by three and a half piece of cardboard. There's the Towns. All right, so does anybody want to add anything on top of this? I mean, the one thing that made me mad during the panel was that Michael Rubin said that with George Condo making these cards are now art. And that pissed me off because for the last, like, eight years, I've been kind of, like, trumpeting, cards are art already. Like, they are art. So, like, that annoyed me also. Like, I just. I like you find it difficult to paint at this scale. Like, I know people who are painting at this scale. They're called the Currency Project, who asked this question? And they don't seem to have it. Like, maybe they can better describe how difficult it is painting at that scale. But let me read some comments of people reacting to the visuals we've got. This is nuts. Yeah. Okay, so we've got. Am I crazy? We. We've got the cat. One of one gives me nightmares. I can't take this cat. One off. We've got. That's hideous. What the is this crap? This is worse than the Luber dolls. You can see him struggling to make these paintings in the video, which I loved. So here's the thing. Condo wouldn't necessarily take offense to somebody saying, these are not beautiful or these are, like, distorted or these are even ugly. Like, that's part of the style. That's part of what he's trying to do is challenge things and re present things and repackage things and jolt the viewer out of their comfort and so on and so forth. So he's not trying to make them the most beautiful visual representations. He's trying to create his style. But these are definitely not anybody's first idea of beauty or I don't think there. Go ahead, Joe. His. His, like, full scale paintings, I can bring some of them up are way more, like, refined and organized, and they look more legit. This. This. Maybe it's because of the scale, like you said, but it just kind of seems like it's. He struggled a bit to fit it properly. Right. Also, like, use. Like, there are ways that people, like, use, like, those big magnifying glasses and really thin brushes to make detail. Like, at that scale. Like, it just. It seemed like he just didn't, like, he was like. Like, almost like, told you have to make 19. Like, go do it. And he was like, okay, fine, here. Like, I'm not going to test how I want to, like, implement this. I'm not going to do a trial and error. I'm not going to get any additional tools. I'm just going to use the paintbrushes I have. And maybe I'm wrong, but it just. It seemed like a little shoddy. Like, it seemed a little put together. Like, last minute put together. Ragnar says no wonder wemby his pants in the finals if that's what Cat looks like in person. My nephew, who eat. Who eats his crayons and stick pencils in his ears can make better art than this. Sticks pencils in his ears? Oh, yeah. And sticks the pencils in his ears. Yeah. I mean, they are not for the faint of heart. Like, so when Cat saw it on stage, was he like, holy, what am I looking? He. He definitely had a clear reaction when it got handed to him, but he was prepared in advance. Like, they know that this is what Condo's art looks like. And Condo wasn't just Like, a totally random commission. He has interviews and stuff where he's spoken about being a fan of sports, trying to play sports, and then not being good at sports. So he went into the arts, right? So, like, Kat's publicist was like, dude, don't laugh, but it's gonna be insane. Like, he. I, like. I know. Like, he had sunglasses on. Smart. Yeah. And I noticed that. And I was like, it's not that bright in here. Like, what are you doing? No one else has sunglasses on. He was probably high, let's be honest. Like, and he had sunglasses on. And. And then after we saw the card, I was like, oh, I get it. Yeah. All right, let's get to the next question here from Sean J. Cards. I would love to hear Josh talk about his decision to move a few of his key LeBron cards. Just recalibrating slightly, or does this signal a shift in his collecting journey? No, thanks. Pass. When he says, would love to hear. And I. I say, I bet you would. Why don't I. Why don't I just tell you what to buy next? How about that? I love when somebody passes on a question. It's an option that people don't exercise enough. Dude. At that. Especially in politics. Like, you don't have to know the answer, buddy. Just move on. Pass. Okay, and then here's a different question from Rex cards 24, Chris the buyback, 1993 ultra scoring kings, Michael Jordan autograph, one of one. Sold last night for over $500,000. If you haven't seen that, that's a result from the fanatics premiere. I can pull up the premiere if you. It helps. Sure. Yeah, that'd be. That'd be super helpful. Let's. Let's. Let's give people a view of that card while we analyze it. The question while he pulls it up, and then I'll. I'll make the switch. Okay, thank you. Okay, so the question continues with it being a buyback from a 2008 product, but with a 1993 insert. That's the underlying card that has been turned into a one of one. How do you think about this card in your larger categorization of 1990s Michael Jordan one of ones? Realizing that the one of one was created later, do you ignore it completely, or does it have some sort of asterisk or does it mess with your framework? So this is a buyback. This card is numbered 1 of 1. It does belong to the universe, broadly speaking of Michael Jordan one of ones. And it was issued in 2008. 2009 which the accompanying card that comes with it, the COA that comes with it states that it came from 2008. 09 FLIR. So it even belongs to the NBA licensed era of Michael Jordan one of ones, which ran through 2009-10. So it even belongs to that group of one of ones, albeit in the category of buybacks. But Is it a 90s Michael Jordan one of one? I find it hard personally to classify it as such. The underlying card is definitely a 90s card, but the one of one dimension to it wasn't added until 2008. 09 so where I stand, this is a 200809 one of one and a great one of one, but not one belonging to the 90s. But the things like this are up to interpretation. Somebody could certainly argue that the underlying card is from the 90s. So there, there is some level of 90sness to this card. And that's about all I wanted to say on it. And you can see the card there on the screen. Graded PSA, authentic autograph 10 sold for over half a million dollars. There it is. It's a buyback. So. All right, next question we have here is from the great shoebox legend Shane. Rarely miss a YouTube drop from him. He's one of my favorite content creators on YouTube. He asks, does the present thriving sports card market have any impact on your hobby approach or do you continue forward undeterred? Josh? So he's kind of saying like, prices are really high. Should I keep going? Is that. Or is it like the new products with fanatics, or is it like the sports themselves? What do you think? I think he's referring mostly to overall market prices being high and not what he should do. But what are you doing? How are you navigating that? Well, just trying to get stuff that I wouldn't be able to get right. You know, it's like, are some of the cards that we're after, are they going to come up when the prices are down? If not, this is your only shot to get a lot of stuff. So that's kind of the way we always operate. And in a market like this, if I can get something back or I don't feel like it's irreplaceable, now's the time to sell, you know. Absolutely. And, and he, he made a nice video about that where he sold a Ken Griffey thunderclap insert that had gotten quite high in a quite short amount of time. And he also is sort of saying when the market gets extremely pricey or feels quite high that he turns to other hobbies for a little while, takes a little break, doesn't completely go away. He's, he's putting out multiple videos a week still, like he's not going away. But he, you know, he's, he sketched a path of you can hobby from a distance for a little while or you can sell things that you think are high. And then he said you can flip the coin over and start moving forward from there, turn the coin over, maybe sell like the, sell like the overly popular brands of cards and, and try to like re. Distribute that money into lesser known brands that didn't triple in price just because nobody knows they exist, basically. Totally, totally. But that's one approach, you know, it's one approach. I don't know, I like, look, this is kind of a zag on a question like this or at least defies conventional wisdom. But it's really fun to participate in the hobby when everything's going up and everybody feels great. Yeah, no, I get that too. Yeah, we've tried to like fight that for years and be the ones that are the downers, but I totally get it, totally understand it. It's more fun when everyone's making money. It is. And like not just a little bit of money. People are, people who collected cards even two to three years ago, but especially nine, 10 years ago, are selling cards for really life changing amounts of money right now. It's extraordinary. We're almost numb to it, used to it, have been through a few cycles of this. We're all believers in this space on a personal level. We just love to collect and be a part of this thing. But sometimes you. I, sometimes I snap out of it and I step back a little bit and I just say this is not normal. This is extraordinary what this market is and how it works. The other zag here is like the collectors who have stuck with it through these ups and downs. You know, we had a down in 2022 and the people who stuck with it and either kept their cards or doubled down and bought more, those people are the ones being rewarded from the new flood of people coming back in. And those are the ones that can take advantage of selling at stuff that's really expensive and then they can kind of readjust and make decisions for them, their personal lives or they can redistribute into different types of cards. So those, it's nice to see those people get rewarded, you know? Yeah, it is. Yes, it is. All right, let's go to this next question here from Drake's PC who says I'm gonna take any? What's. What? What's that? Oh, he's gonna be right back. Okay. I'm gonna take a nap while you read this. Yeah, this is buckle in. This is going to take a little while. In a scorching hot market like we are in now, what types of cards are you still okay buying? Similarly, when thinking of your own collections, if you have to sell to fund a purchase, how do you decide what card you're going to move? I'm at a point in my collection where cards that I have would be impossible or nearly impossible to reacquire. For my topic tonight, I'm not asking about the easy answer of, oh, just sell your less rare cards. For example, I'm not going after it, but The Peyton Manning 1998 Metal Gem Masters, one of one rookie, is coming to auction Heritage next weekend. With the market as hot as it is, the card will likely do a crazy number. If I wanted that card, am I better off buying it now or waiting years from now? And maybe the market isn't so hot. And let's say I did go after it and won it with my collection already filled with one of ones, how do I go about deciding which ones to sell to help pay for my new purchase? So I. We always appreciate when Drake gives an example. The example is given. Christina, what do you advise Drake to do here? I mean, we've at this point, like, does he want to just give us money and we'll like, collect his PC for him? Like, take it easy on the guy. Like, I just like, every time it's like, hey, guys, I'm like struggling with this big decision and it's like he's in an existential collecting crisis. Every time, though. Like, every. Have you seen his Instagram lately? Go look at his Instagram. He has like 31 of 1 patents and that's like all he has. Now let's go. Okay, but like, he's taking our advice to the max, dude. Drake is in the kitchen cooking. The chef's hat is puffed up, the spatula is flipping. So, like, to me it's just like, okay, make do, like occasion. Make a hierarchy of your one of ones. Then, like, and then like, don't think about, oh, are we showing this or no? Oh, like, go through what you own and the other one of ones. Do research, Figure out which one speaks to you the most, which one, which design you love the most. Are you sticking with playing years? Do you want to look for rookies? Like, make your. Make your own Hierarchy. And then go after the top ones that you find the most appealing. Like the ones like, someone talked about Marie Kondo earlier as a joke with like. But like, which ones spark the joy? Like, are there ones that you're like, I like it because it's a one of one, but I love this design. Like, then go after the love. Like, stop. Yeah, I don't know. That's the only advice I have for him. Love the idea of making a list and then like, making that list before you know what's available. And then it can guide you when the emotion strikes and the FOMO strikes of like a big card coming out. Like, well, where did you rank that card before you knew it was available compared to all the other ones? And that can be a decent compass. What do you say, Josh? He wants to know if he should sell his credentials rookie in exchange for this gem master. Yeah, he's like. Because he's sold a lot of other. His other stuff that's not one of ones. In order to consolidate down to the 101s and what else is left to get the gym master, you got to decide, do you want the one that the hobby deems as the better card and the credentials out of seven in the. I think he has the PSA nine highest graded, or do you value the one that is the one of one and this is your only shot at getting. Because in the down market, there's no guarantee that that gem master is coming back. But that credential will come back. There's seven of them. You'll eventually be able to get that back. I feel like he's had that shot at the credentials twice. If he could trade the credentials straight up for the gem masters. Correct. That's the question. That's. That's not a question. We're dancing around that question, though, is what I'm saying. That is the question. That's a crazy question. I know, but that's what it. Because, you know, like, there's just this sort of underlying unspoken thing in the hobby that's like, well, that's, you know, the one on one thing is cool. Chris, nice job. Bravo. But, like, not the credentials. You don't actually think that, like the credentials now out of seven or whatever, that's where you draw the line. The PMG green. You draw the line there. Right? You're not. You don't actually think the 101 is better than that one. And that's kind of where people are. They're like, walking all the way up to that line right now. And they're trying to decide. Okay, the PMGs, you've got me convinced. Right. 50 is too much, but 9 and 7 and that this is like the rookie and he's wearing the practice jersey versus the college jersey. So we're like inching closer and closer. College jersey is a consideration, don't you think? Yes, I like the, the other masterpiece he had before as well because he was wearing the pro jersey more than this one. But I mean, it's still NFL licensed, right? Or no. Oh, yeah. He's just wearing it because of the photo choice. Like, it says Colts on the card. Yeah. Yep, that's a full blown NFL card. But. And I'm pretty sure he has the PMG championship, right? He could just sell that one. Yeah. I also don't like the hypothesis that, like, oh, I'll just buy it later. Like, what happens if someone who is going to be a black hole of a collector or is a black hole collector buys it? You're never seeing that card again. Like, I just, I don't like the idea that, oh, it's a one of one. But, like, I don't want to pay hot market prices. I'll just wait for it to come to sale again. It's like, it's a. It's a one of one. Like, what do you mean? What do you like, for the guy to die? Like, I don't know. Anyway, best of luck, Drake. I have his showcase up. I don't think he's like, fully updated on this because I see some. I know he's sold, but like, I see a lot of candidates that can get the chop. Get that chop. These guys are. These cards are chopped. Ragnar says that the 98 Gem Masters is the greatest football card ever and paid Manny is the best player in the set and he's a rookie, bro. There's your. There's your. There's your elevator pitch. What can. Dude, can we pull up Drake's Instagram for a second and just like, no, I have a chop. No, no, I have his, like, actual showcase and it's like more organized. Instagram is all over the place. I love Instagram, but please, let's look at it. Let's go through and play a game of Chop or Not Chop. This is a new. This is a new segment sponsored by whatever and it's called Chopped or Not. I think he sold this one. I'm like 99 sure he sold this. To pay. He needs Chop Chop that right now, buddy. So we're saying Chop Chop is Get rid of it. Not chop is keep it y. Right. Like chop cut it off. Holy larp with the Tennessee jersey. Yep. Chop. What's that? Out of 25 in football too. I think it's out of 25 billion. Might as well be. No, it definitely says out of 25 on his. Whenever a non one of one shows up on my screen, it actually. It actually blurs out. I can't even see it. Like, if someone. If someone at the national brings you a card, hit the recycling bin handy, you're gonna be like, Whoa, what's this? 2000 Leaf certified two star Miracle Chop. 25. 25. It's only 24. Too many. Oh. 2013 tops Chrome super fracture. This is the first one that I have to think about. Well, of course. Come on. We're skipping that one. This. I think he's sold this one too. Maybe the breeze finest 2011. I would keep all this breeze one on ones. I don't know why he's selling those. I would keep all those. Those are sick. Those are cool. What is breeze gonna throw less yards. The guy has like 7 trillion passing yards and a Super Bowl. I don't get it. Splendid says to chop anything. Denver. Our 2012 finest Super Peyton Denver PSA 8. I think all of his favorite cards are Denver. Yeah. He has some of the prison blacks for Denver and select. Look at this chop. He's gonna watch this and be like, God damn you guys are. You can chop that. Prison brilliance. I don't know anything about this wrestling stuff. Gold chop. Yeah. 10. I don't think that's moved the needle either way, folks. Look at this card. 22nd finest Super Peyton Colts. Not. Not chop. That's like a super fractor. If a super fractor had a baby. Look at that thing. That looks more like a super fractor than a super fractor does. It's a super fracture. If the super fracture had a baby with another super squared. Look at that thing. That's card rules. All right, what do we have here? That one's out of ten, I think. Chop. Chop. This is the one. I'm telling you. Like, he's just asking but not asking about this card. And I get why people like this one. Yeah. Yep. There's seven. Chop. Chop. Jinx. That's. I would even keep this kind of stuff, too. Like, everyone in the world is going to say, sell this one over or something like this. Get to the chopper. But that card's sick. I would keep this one. That's cool. That shield, if that's game used, even. Yeah, I bet it Is this card's out of a hundred. I love. I love how those look. I really love that effect. Yeah, but it'll like collector's choice. But yeah, you know, chop. I'm just. I'm just saying it'll come back. Like, that's the one you buy in the down market. I'm a big fan of the young Peyton Manning photos. He's so. Look at this, dude. 1998. These are crazy vibrant. Chop. A ruby's chop, please. These are the ones out of 25, too. These are the rare ones. Okay. Better than out of 50, but still. Dude, look at that comb over. He looks. His mom did his hair that morning. Straight off the set of Dawson's Creek. Let's go. He was blues or Friday Night Lights. Like. Like some kind of football movie. You're like, no, the teen drama. It's all the same genre. What do you think about this one? Shield autograph Colts. One of one exquisite. No, we're not shot. We're only chopping that if we really need to. We're keeping that. This one's out of 50. Chop, chop. Again, like, these are things that, like, people will sell all the time. He's like, definitely whittling down his PSA 10s that are. This one's at 101 and the pop is probably really low on this one. But yeah, he's definitely coming up against, like, do I care about having a PSA 10 of this? I'll just get a PSA 6. I hear that. What's this? Stadium Club out of 25? I love the photo. I love how they left so much negative space above him. That is a really sick, sick looking card. Yeah, it's a great photo. But that could. Look at this one. Gold label. You got to keep that one, buddy. Got a good feeling about those. Gold label. One of ones. We make this real easy. Yeah, yeah. It's a 101. Keep that one. Top scroll. That's the 08. Super. This card is nuts. You can keep that one. That one's last out. You let him? Yeah, I let him. Why is it in here twice? He likes it that much? I would not sell this one either. I think he sold this. Breeze. I wouldn't have sold this one. Breeze 2012 Top Scrum. Super. The card's nuts. Yeah, Supers look great with the Saints colors. Sheesh. Look at this one. Shield. That's sick. That's game used game day jerseys. Let's go. I like how they have the picture of the actual, like, what I assume is the actual jersey. Right? Yep. That's really cool. That was a thing. They should bring that back. They should. They definitely should. Okay. These platinum medallions and prism golds are all in the chopping block. Drake. I don't even know if he has any of these anymore. Yeah, he might not. He should really update his. The collection that's stolen valor Drake. He's got a lot of. He's got a lot of pictures of a Hulk Hogan taking his shirt off. I'm just gonna say it. Keep all those. So it's this card, right? Someone. Yeah. It's the gem masters of that. So it's kind of. Let me just say this without everyone freaking out. It's like the copper brown looking one. Yes. Okay. Yep. How dare you say that? Because the basketball gym masters clearly look better. You know, they got like the silver shimmer. The. The football ones are kind of football got that gem master's design too. But in the second year. Right. But this would be the rookie and it says Colts. It's NFL license. It's fine. Yep. All right. Too much of this. I'm done. I'm out. Cool. PC man. He's got a lot of awesome cards. Can't wait to see him sell them all. I'm a big fan of just having a trimming down. Just get down to like the only paid Manning 101s. Then you're really frying. All roads lead. All right. Weekends for cards said. Are there any cards you would consider owning if they were Franken Wagner reconstructed. Do you know what that means? I absolutely know what that means. Let's go. All right, so. No, no. Yes. Go on. 20. 20 prism neon green out of five. Maxi cleaver. I will take a corner of that card like and then count this rainbow. Done. That's a good one. A lot of vintage and pre war collectors feel very strongly and have deep, complicated, nuanced thoughts on this topic. And I don't think it's our lane. But do we want to provide any perspective as like late 90s, 2000s and Panini era collectors on how we feel about the fact that Keith Olbermann owned T206 Hannes Wagner that had Wagner cut out in a silhouette and the background of the card removed and then that card was later fused together by very skilled conservators I think they're called, who fused that Wagner with the background from a different T206 card and seamlessly integrated them to make a new whole and complete card that was subsequently authenticated and encapsulated. I believe by cgc. And now it's coming up for auction and raises all sorts of questions about how much restoration is permissible and what do you do with the fact that it actually looks quite beautiful and it has great eye appeal for a card from that set after it had been worked on. What do you say to any of that, Josh? Nope. No thank you. No alteration restoration stuff as is. All natural, baby. I agree. All natural. Oh, the hair plugs Wagner, the steroids Wagner. Go ahead, Christina, what do you say? I agree. Like I, I just, I don't, I'm not a fan of this. Like I think that art restoration makes sense because those are one of a kind hand created pieces of artwork. Cards are printed like artwork and I think that when it comes to printed artwork, you don't get to restore it, reprint it. All right, there you have it. Sports cards PhD weighs in with this question. Can you speak on the similarities of the exponential rise of goat cards to the similar trend of COVID I'm seeing similar movement as that time and although it's not unestablished players or base PSA 10s this time, some of the base and the non rare goad cards are rising out of control. I believe the 1997 base metal universe Michael Jordan has gone from 300 to 600 in less than two weeks. Everyone keeps saying it's different this time, but I'm seeing unsustainable growth in non rare cards of these goat players. Is it truly different this time or can you see a correction of maybe not all, but at least non rare Go karts. What do you say to that, Josh? I mean what would cause a card like that to organically grow 2x in a week when once that happens a ton of them are going to come out and we'll see if it actually sustains at that point. It probably won't just because supply is going to jump. I mean this is just the same as as the first time. It's like the, that's when you know that the peak of the craziness is happening when it starts trickling down to base PSA 10s and people are talking about Zion coming back and stuff like that. It's just we'll tuck ourselves into anything. Yep, yep, definitely there are similarities and it's the rate of growth, which sports cards PhD points out that is one of the similarities. And the rate of growth is a real issue. If people are coming in continuing, expecting that rate of growth to continue. And the constraint is very simply, it's not that people are going to stop liking cards or anything like that. I think people almost have infinite demand for cards or people have the aspiration to just infinitely add cards to their collection and infinitely scale them up to the very best cards that they can identify that they like. The constraint is not desire, the constraint is not demand. The constraint is budget. The constraint is price. The constraint is how high can a card get price wise before the people who currently are in the hobby no longer have any more money to spend. And the new people coming in, bringing new money into the hobby exhaust their reserves as well. That's sort of a ticking time bomb. And then once those reserves are exhausted, the reservoir has gotten larger in terms of the total market cap or the total amount of capital that's allocated to cards. But then at that point it has to start rotating. There's no more new capital to come in now. It just moves like now. You know somebody who is, who owns a base metal universe, Michael Jordan, that's 600 bucks says, yeah, I don't like this card at this price because I'm out of new money. So I need to get money from the cards that I already have and I could certainly find better ways to spend it. And so that can start the cascading effect of prices trickling back down. That's the capital ecosystem of this, of this broader discussion is that without a continuous replenishment of more and more money coming in, this won't be sustainable, not at the current rates of growth. And every time prices go up, the new people who come in need to bring in even more capital just to even try to make the rate of growth sustainable. That's the big picture topic that I think about constantly when I think about prices. I, I, there's nothing intrinsic to a car. People love cards. People, if people had infinite money, they would continuously compete and drive up the price of cards. The constraints is that people don't have infinite money, they have limited budgets. What do you think about that, Josh? Yeah, it's great. I mean people are now having to like sell what they bought in the, in this current run to try to continue the push forward with replenishing cash and buying different cards. And so to your point, the, the current constraint is going to be the cash. The funny thing though is that I do feel like we have more cash this time around because we're not, we have none of that cash going to crypto and NFT this time. It's all coming our way. No, I haven't seen anyone talk about the fact that we've got this massive Run up in cards right now and everyone's so excited and all that stuff is just completely set aside and trashed and we're just supposed to be like, oh, okay, well that, you know, NFTs went down because everything went down. It was too hype. But then cards came back. So what's the excuse now? It's that nobody actually ever gave a about that stuff. So. Victory lap and enhanced, dude. Hashtag victory lap enhanced. Can I get a stiff arm wax comment on that, Christine? There is more cash than. Than last time. I will say that though. Yeah, Chris. And plus, like those of us who stuck around and there's plenty of us, we kept making more cash every month. We kept getting a little more money to put into cards. It can be a growing pool. But the question is the rate of growth, like our disposable income isn't doubling in two weeks, but the price of cards is doubling every two weeks. That is really the sustainability concern. Christina, go ahead. What was the. Oh, there he is. Never mind. I was gonna ask. I don't have anything to add. Okay. Because we're coming up on the hour here. So we're about to wrap. We're about to see everybody in a few days at the National. Hopefully not everybody. Well, some buddies. That would be crazy. Yeah, we're gonna see somebody's. We're definitely gonna see Drake. I hope so. He better come and show us something. Bring your PC Drake with a bunch of sticky notes and we'll do chop not chopped dude. Drake. I will bring the post its, you bring the cards and we will all vote. Look, I have three different colors for us. We will vote on what cards get shopped live at the card letter booth. We didn't do our obligatory advice for national wear comfy shoes, chargers, etc, etc. But I do have one request. If you come to our booth, bring cards. Let us look at some dang cards, please. Yes. We love looking at it. Even though it's like the card ladder booth. It's corporate, it's business. You can always outsmart us by showing us cards. That's so true. That's really true. And then it's like, oh, what's my password? Help me reset it. Oh, God, you got me. Do the old bait and switch. Josh, look at this cool card. I need to reset my password. Works every time. Or steal the candy and get me to scream at you. Good luck, midlife. Greg says you'll see me. I know that. Good. Can't wait to see you, buddy. All right, that's gonna do it. Let's. He'll see us there. It's title picking time. Who said that? Josh Adams. Let's go, Josh with the bagels, dude. Everything bagel buddy with cream cheese bagel, please, please. All right, Christina, let's read some titles. All right, we have. Everybody is forced to pay attention. Fastball down a slow lane. I like that one. It's good. Our booth is 2326. Don't let that hat hit the flippers. Vort text. Let me just assume that. I think that's just a comment he made, but it's a good. Oh, my bad. Tap's chest. He just likes his security enforcement cavities. A gut and diabetes and victory lap enhanced. That's a late riser. I want a late bloomer. That victory lap enhanced. Dude. Nobody has been talking about it. Just bothering me. Out of sight. Not a mind. I hate when people don't take accountability for their stupid, stupid takes. Well, what do we do? I like. I mean, I like Fastball. If you still have like a NFT as your profile picture, does that just enrage you? Like when you see those people? Just like every time I see one of those, they're always posting about, like the wax of Pokemon they have in their basement or it's like a AI picture usually, but it's like, I've taken all my NFT money and moved. Well, then change your profile. Picnic says, what about chopped and not chopped? That's pretty good. That is good. That was. I think that was the peak of this show. The on the fly decimation of Drake's PC. He's like, it took me a year to get that and I spent like 2 months salary. Dicks chopped a notch. I'm ready for him to come to the card letter booth and just, like, yell at all of us. Like, I'm okay with that. Like, if that's how he wants to react, I'm okay with it. If he ends, if that gets him the gym master, then we'll have done our job. You know, it's like, as parents, you're not. You're not trying to be their friend. You're trying. Tough love. Yes. Is it chopped and not chopped or chopped or not chopped? Chopped or not chopped? Yeah. Or just chopped or not. Like, someone's gonna think it's a cooking show, right? Like one of those, like, cooking challenge shows or whatever. I think that is a show. Chopped. I thought that was for, like, motorcycles. And is it technically chop or not chop or chopped or not chopped? I think it's chopped or not. Chopped. All right. Chopped or not chopped Did. We had that kid explained to us. Chopped in great detail. And we still aren't even sure. Jagger. Jagger. I do you know. Did I tell you that's where I got this? Yeah. No. Yep. That's so funny. That's amazing. He posted, he posted it to his story and I was like, jagger, let's go. Steve says, I hope Drake doesn't bring a single card to your booth and he takes two pieces of candy. I love a zag. Smart. If Drake comes to the booth, I'll give him an entire bag of candy. Drake will not take it. Drake. I know Drake would never take a bag of candy, but he might take. Is there like a hoodie rule or something? Like a battle? Because people are just like, already asking me, how do I get a hoodie and all. It's like, oh, God, if you don't get there when we have them, I can't. I'm not gonna do not bank on Christina shipping it to you. I'll tell you that. Yeah. Or don't bank on any of us remembering it. My living room is still filled with boxes from the west coast card show, like, post card show that need to get shipped out. Like, I have a pile of boxes that I need to go to ship and I just, like, have not done it. So if you do not come to the card letter booth to get your hoodie on Wednesday, Thursday or Friday morning, as a card ladder member, we cannot guarantee that you will get a hoodie because starting Friday at noon, supplies are limited, folks. Anyone who wants a hoodie gets a hoodie first. Before that. Before that, you have to be a card ladder member. FIFA. Yeah, but get more. Did you get more mediums and larges and extra larges in last year? And less of the smalls. And I, I like, yes. Like, I, I, I had notes from west coast of what we had too much of. Yeah, yeah. So I rearranged the numbers, but, like, we still do have extra smalls and smalls. Because there were kids that, like, did. Yes. Yeah, because there's going to be people that are like, I can't believe you got rid of them all. Didn't set one aside for me. And I'm going to be like, you and 50 other people, pal. Dude, I've like, people have been saying that to me and I'm like, better just come to the booth. Like, there is no set aside. Like, Robin's like, setting aside. Like, I'm not setting aside hoodies for me. Like, it's. If I like I have to grab them, like, if I want them. So do you. Come to the booth, give us the special phrase, be a card. What's the special phrase? Does it like, show us your pro membership? What's the special phrase? I have no idea. Letters. This does sound familiar, though. That's how we did it last year. But what is it? Are you not. Are you gonna give it away or. No, no. Oh, okay. That's part of it. So nobody gets the hoodie? No. I'll be surprised if you and me get hoodies, Chris. I have so many of those already. That's like. I don't even. I have like five. Cage said, would Drake trade the bag of small candies for one big candy? Do you know if we're right by the AC vent again? We're in, like, where we were last year, but 15ft closer to the emergency exit where there used to be a very large aisle. We got moved into what used to be the aisle behind us. So we're like, even closer to the ac. Yeah. So the hoodies are going to be necessary. Yeah. Plus, it's supposed to, like, rain on Friday. So if you do not plan on bringing proper equipment clothing for Friday, come to the booth on Thursday and get. People are gonna now, like, use that. What am I gonna do without a hoodie? I can't believe he gave it away. Yeah. All right. Chopped or not Chopped? Chopped is the official episode title. See some of you next week. Cy. Card Ladder is the most respected sports card analytics app on the market. We have virtually every card in our system. If the card you are looking for ever sold on one of these platforms, you can find it using Card Ladder's sales history. Easily find recent comps and get a better estimate what your cards are worth. See why Card Ladder is the most trusted and the most reliable sports card analytics app on the market. We know what you want because Card Ladder was created by collectors for collectors. Join the innovators, not the imitators. Card Ladder constantly innovating.