How the Knicks, Messi, and PSA’s Germany Move Have changed the hobby

When you're a maintenance engineer in a beverage manufacturing plant, you keep production lines moving and quality on track because there's no room for slowdowns. With Grainger's vast selection of high quality motors, sensors, belts and hard to find parts, you can get what you need fast and all in one place, so nothing gets in the way of getting the job done. Call 1-800-GRAINGER clickgrainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done. When you're a maintenance engineer in a beverage manufacturing plant, you keep production lines moving and quality on track because there is no room for slowdowns. With Grainger's vast selection of high quality motors, sensors, belts and hard to find parts, you can get what you need fast and all in one place. So nothing gets in the way of getting the job done. Call 1-800-GRAINGER Click grainger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done. I like this Messi guy. He's worth a lot and he scored, you know, so like I'm in on Messi. Had 250 cards sell over $10,000 or more. That's pretty baller. But soccer is just so global that it really opens up the whole market. And when you have a player, a generational player like Messi, and he's had cards go for one and a half million dollars, it's crazy. PSA is opening a full scale grading facility in Frankfurt, Germany. That's interesting new. That's not going to help us just get more people here. How about that? Let's do that. Yeah. What are we going to focus on? We have nothing to focus on. Let's go to Germany. Oh, 15 million backlog. The Knicks are world champions. Jolyn Brumson, MVP, 45 points. Game 5 averaged 24.5 million viewers and peaked at 33. That's like football numbers right there, man. Welcome to the Collector Nation podcast Here on the Collector Nation Network. Whether you're chasing grails or calling bluffs, we take you inside the hobby. Here are your hosts, Ryan Alford and Brian Lutt. What's up, guys? Welcome to Collector Nation on the Collector Nation Network here, the lovely Collector Station studio. I mean, Nation Station invasion. I don't even know what all the Asians other than Ludex, the CEO of Ludx, Brian Ludden, coming from our Chicago headquarters. How you doing, Brian? I'm good, I'm good. We've had a bunch of tornadoes here, which always keeps things exciting. But yeah, it's going well. Hopefully you're safe in your penthouse. Yeah, I'm as high as I can get. Yeah, exactly. You stay safe up there, right? I mean, if the bottom falls out, you're good up there. Yeah, exactly, man. Had the tornado. Direct tornado ever hit, like, downtown Chicago? No, I. I don't. I think it's, like, almost impossible because the. The. The funnel can't get enough. Yeah. Didn't have airspace or something. Yeah, yeah, you got to have those cornfields for that. That's what they're good for. Yep. Well, you got Ryan and Bella here in South Carolina coming over our collector station store and studio, and, you know, I guess we get right to it. The. The Knicks are world champions. I had such bad FOMO that I was not in New York for that game. Yeah. Like, seeing the videos, seeing the excitement, and see how just like, you know, sports are one of those things that just brings everybody together and you could see it in real time. While the games were going on, did any couches or cars get burned down? Oh, buses, actually. One of the buses that was supposed to help take people to the World cup got burned down. Ah. Yep. Okay, that's. That's a sign. That's a sign of a good championship. Yes, exactly. I mean, I was honestly surprised the city didn't burn down more. So, you know. You know, by the. It's a shame, but it's like the news cycle moves so fast that, like, even us talking about this and we recorded a day or two before the show, depending on the week, and it feels like old news already. Yeah. And I don't want to be that guy that I. Because I get. God, why is it. Why do we diminish things? Just because. And then it's only been like, what, four days? Five days? And I'm like, great. Jordan Brumson, MVP, 45 points. 45 points. It's crazy. And I saw a postgame interview, and they were like, so who holds the records for most points scored by a Knicks player? And he was like, I don't know. And they're like, you. Hey, you know, game five average, 24.5 million viewers and peaked at 33. That's like football numbers right there, man. You know, that's why. That's why those big city. That's why those leagues love. Love the big cities. I mean, hockey couldn't. Hockey has not gotten lucky with any of the big city teams winning. Louisiana gets the baseball. New York now gets basketball. So, I mean, the difference. How many viewers you think would be different if it was Oklahoma City? Name Another team, small market team, one third, it would be 8 to 10 million. You know, somewhere in there I couldn't even tell you who played in the NBA finals last year. I like, I was thinking about it and I was like, you know, it's the same thing in college football and what happens is everybody wants to root for the underdog and you want the underdog, but you don't really. You want the name teams, you want la, you want Chicago, you want New York, you want it. You could say you don't want it and say it doesn't matter. And yes, the fact that it's New York and people in New York and there's more population there and they watched it, but they didn't carry this alone. It's because the interest level is higher when New York and Los Angeles are in the finals or, or the college football equivalent would be Miami and Ohio State. And it's like it drives the ratings, it drives the interest. We're interested in the brands and the cities and the teams that have cachet and long term like population levels and just big city things happening and like this the mecca of where you know, business is had. I mean it just, it is. And so in these numbers prove it. We have the tech to get food delivered in 15 minutes but. But we all have horror stories about buying tickets. The GameTime app gives fans the advantage. Get amazing tickets in just a few taps. Fees are included. So what you see is what you pay. And the gametime guarantee means authentic tickets at the best price every time. Take the guesswork out of buying tickets to concerts, sports, comedy and more with GameTime. Download the GameTime app and create an account for $20 off your first purchase. Term supply. Grainger knows when you're a procurement manager for an office park, you're not managing one building, you're managing all of them. And to stay ahead, you need to see through walls and around corners. Lights about to fail, filters ready to clog. H Vac on its last leg. If you wait until something breaks, you're already behind. Count on Grainger for quality products, easy reordering and 24. 7 support. Call 1-800-GRAINGER click grainger.com, or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done. And and you also had you have a transcendent player with Wimy and then you've got the great storyline with New York. I mean it was the sin. I mean for people that produce I used to do. I still think I am an attention creator. Like if I was trying to you don't have to create that much attention. Like it becomes easy for you. Yeah. Sometimes you have to fabricate it. They hadn't had to do any of that. That's true. That's true. That was, that story was written for him, you know. Exactly. It was. And you know, and, and I said, I've said it for three weeks in a row. I did not. I was not rooting for New York. I don't know if I was rooting for San Antonio, but I probably had a little more. Yeah, that'd be cool. San Antonio wins fresh. It has been a while. I know they've won titles, but with Wimby and the young guys. But damn news. New York guys earned my respect. They also. So Brunson Wore Teal Nike Kobe 6 Lady Liberty Player Edition sneakers during game five and they're already starting to resell them. So maybe the sneaker market will come back. Speaking of big deals, I know, you know, we're not big soccer people, but there is a World Cup. There is a World Cup. Yeah. And Messi did you know what Messi likes to do and he scored a hat trick or three goals against Algeria and he is the oldest player to ever do that in the World Cup. And he also tied now for the most World cup goals. And he's at 16. It was the greatest day ever for icons.com CEO for sure. For sure. I'm sure he was so excited. You know, he was. I mean, that's all Dan, if you're listening, Dan. Dan was on our show that he sells the jersey. He's all. He's the only person that has licensed messy jersey. It was a banner day for him. That's crazy. Yeah. What I think is cool about specifically soccer and specifically the World cup is that, you know, a lot of like the collectibles we tend to talk about like basketball, football, whatever, you know, they're more national regional collectibles because, you know, football is really only in the States and Yeah. You know, but soccer is just so global that it really opens up the whole market. And when you have a player, a generational player like Messi and you know he's had cards go for one and a half million dollars. Like it's crazy. And yeah, it's like you think about the difference in like football or basketball, baseball, you've got the high end players, players that drive the. But is there a bigger gap in any sport than soccer? Probably like the value of like a certain card with a certain player than in soccer. I mean, I know you got Ohtani. And you got some of the guys now in baseball, but they're not the multiplier versus everybody else that, that Messi is in soccer. No, for sure. I mean, I know you can. You know, you've had Lamar and he had his moment. And until they couldn't score against, I, I don't remember who, like, the number 84 seed or something. It was like, zero, zero, tie. I'm like, I'm just gonna say this. I, I respect, I love culturally, like, bringing countries together. The Kumbaya nature of the whole thing. With the World cup, we need more peace and not, however, the zero. You know, Spain is supposed to be like the firepower team. Right. And then, like Spain and like France and like Argentina. Argentina and, you know, Portugal. Yeah, exactly. Zero, zero, tie after 90 minutes. This is why I don't watch soccer. I'm sorry. Like, I like scoring, I like offense. You know, defense is great. Defense wins championships. But guess what? You can't win a basketball game 0 to 0. And what they should do. Or lose. Yeah. Or lose. You know, what they should do is take every five minutes, take a player off the field. Like, start with 10, and then after five minutes you have nine, and then eight and seven. Eventually it's one on one and, and go for it. But no ties. Yeah. Or something new penalty. Like, you know, have a penalty box. You know, like, yeah, my thing, like, I don't get. You're in the World Cup. How can you have a game that ends zero, zero? I feel like there needs to be some sort of shootout to at least have a winner. You're in the Did. I guess they did. I mean, I, I would think they had it. And they didn't even score in that. I don't, like, just shoot me now. I mean, I, I, I'm sorry. And it's nothing to do with. I respect the athletes. I respect the World Cup. I'm going to get hate mail for this, I'm sure. But I don't care because I'm raw and real, and at least you know that. And no, thank you. 90 minutes, no scoring, and, you know, maybe some bicycle kicks or something. I'm, I'm out. I'm out. No, thanks. They go backwards more than they go forward. I'm like, I'm looking this thing. I'm like, they just went from, like, 20ft away from the goal they're supposed to score in, and now the goalie on their side kicks it. They brought Ali back to the goalie. I'm like, no, there should be A rule against that, like hockey, you know, it's like, no, if you go over this line, that's bad. And you got to get everyone back in. But no, I love it. I love soccer. Yeah, you do. And somebody's going to try to tell us like we're unsophisticated or something. Yeah, whatever. Stupid Americans. Stupid Americans. They don't understand the sophistication. Whatever. Well, last, last thing. I must eat. He. In the last 18 months he has had more than 250 cards sold on ebay. I like this messy guy. He's worth a lot. And he scores, you know. So like I'm in on Messi. But 10 had 250 cards sell over $10,000 or more like that. That's pretty baller, dude. When it's 0, 0 and other scores and you score three points alone, that's why you're shit selling for that month. Are you kidding me? Yep. And speaking of, of the globalness of collectibles, I heard that PSA is opening a full scale grading facility in Frankfurt, Germany. Well, that's interesting new strategy. That's not gonna help us global. No, just get more people here. How about that? Let's do that. I mean like what we're gonna, we have nothing to focus on. Let's go to Germany. Oh, whoa. 15 million backlog. Forgot about that. Frankfurt. Frankfurt, Kentucky, isn't that, that's a pretty big town. Is, yeah, that's where they should go, I guess, you know, status meeting in the morning. All right, what's on the agenda? And it's like there's 17 guerrillas in the room and they're going, well, let's talk about Germany. Like nats at the table. He can't even like grab his coffee because there's like gorillas on top of him called like, you know, 1 million cards. Like I don't know. I, I mean I think it, I think it fills a gap for European collectors because I mean if we think the process to getting cards graded at PSA now is long, I can't imagine how long it takes is taking for European customers. You know how the German they make good shit. They're very. It's going to take longer because they're going to grade those things much more strenuously, I'm telling you. I mean I know what that BW is paid, you know, I mean German engineering, German grading. But it will take some of the pressure off the US grading places because no people are going to be overnighting them to Germany. They're like, all right, I'm not waiting on this thing. 15 million. I'm getting that. I'm being number 8,000 in line in Germany. Well, we, what we should do is Oktoberfest. We should deliver them. We should be like, we're going to actually deliver these cards to Frankfurt, Germany, to make sure they get there. And it just happens to be Oktoberfest. And we'll stay. I like that plan. That's what we get a beer stein at a beer garden and sing Kumbaya with some sports cards. That's the way to go. I, I'm trying to think of the analogy of like the brand and like coming. Like, I've been doing marketing for 25 years and in a way it's not a great place to be when you're just the necessary evil, even if you've got business. And I feel like we're teetering on that with psa. And that's not a good, that's not a say like it when you draw up the diagrams of business, like safe zones. Yeah. You don't want to just be necessary evil. And they're teetering real close to that if they're not already there. But it's like. And I know they're. But like they're doing it laughing all the way to the bank. And I, they. And I'm not naive to the fact that they don't have to always, you know, have approval to make money. But I don't know, Brian, how you feel about that? Well, it's not a democracy for sure. And go make your money. Go make them. Go make it. It's America. Yeah. The thing about America is ability to do that. I say make your money. Yeah. Well, in lighter news, Bruce Buffer is opening a card shop In California, an 8,000 square foot card shop. And he's calling it It's Time Sports cards, which, you know, is fitting for his brand. Yeah, I like it and I like Bruce. He's a very good businessman. Yeah, dude has hand. I had him on my business show a few years ago and I respected his acumen at a very high level. It was. I didn't think he's going to be an idiot or anything like that, but I was like, this guy's arc. I mean, he had more companies than I did, you know, kids, toes and I have four. But yeah, no, he, he's, he's sharp. So I did not know he was even a trading card. So I'm gonna have to like, hit him up and be like, bruce, what that's. You're coming on the show, Coming on the show to talk about it. There's no way he's gonna get, he won't get allocation. Right, because he just. No, yeah, exactly. Yes. How's he get to the front line there? Yeah, well, he won't. Same way Tom Brady did. Well, I think acquisition typically, I mean, you buy these card stores, seems like that's the only way. So I'm assuming if he, if he's buying one or who knows. But I think if Bruce Buffer went to tops, it was like, I mean, hey, can I have some cards? They'd be like, yes, please take it. You know, as soon as they rep actually walked in this store, I think we're going to get it too. But we got to get them here. Bruce is a celebrity, you know, and he's gonna, he's open an 8,000 square foot store. So I don't, I have no hard feelings that they'll go there first, but they need to come here second. Right, Ryan? I mean, that's reasonable. Yeah. Number two. It's okay. Number two. I'm okay. Hey, Tom Brady first, Bruce Buffer second. Collector station third. You know, no big deal. I'm okay. We're, we'll, we'll wait in line. Yeah, we're okay being number three. Oh. When we show them the, the receipts of what we've done without it, I think they'll step up. Yeah. When you're a maintenance engineer in a beverage manufacturing plant, you keep production lines moving and quality on track because there is no room for slowdowns. With Grainger's vast selection of high quality motors, sensors, belts, and hard to find parts, you can get what you need fast and all in one place. So nothing gets in the way of getting the job done. Call 1-800-granger click ranger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done. And speaking of UFC, we had the 250th anniversary of the United States UFC fight the other day earlier this week. That was an awesome spectacle. It was, I was like both proud to be. It was so very, like patriotic. I, it felt a little circus like, if I'm being honest. But I, I kind of like that. But I didn't. But it, it felt more patriotic than circus like, which is the fine line to hold, you know, but it's, you know, under the big top, you know, like a little bit. But the fighting was good. I think it's really cool. I was worried about his own safety, but they obviously foiled some plans and other things. We'll probably get to that. But Melania and Donald sitting there for four hours in the same seats. I mean, they may have gotten up. We didn't know it, but they didn't get up much. They were sitting there watching the fights, enjoying it, letting their hair down a little bit, even if they both still looked like, you know, the president and first lady. And I'm like, that's kind of like he does that nobody else would ever do, like, love it or hate it. I don't. I'm not even, like, advocating for any one thing. I'm just saying there's something refreshing about it. And I thought the fights were great. I thought the patriotism was awesome. And I don't know. I think it was great for the sport. I'm sure. I'm sure it was great for their cards, too. It was. I bought. Dude, that last fight. Oh, my God. Dude. I mean, unbelievable. Did you watch it, Brian? I did not. And. But I have a thought on it is nothing's more patriotic and. And speaks to 250 years of freedom than guys fighting at the White House. I mean. I mean, punching each other in the face with no gloves. Yeah, we. That's been going on 250 years ago. Someone fought. I bet there was a raw aspect of that br. I mean, you know, and I know it's like you're kind of being serious. You're kind of not being serious, but it's like, it actually is truthful. And there was some aspect of watching it that felt, I don't know, like, yeah, like this is us fighting the rest of the world or our adversaries, Even though most of everybody was so, you know, respectful of where they were and to the president, no matter what their denominator. I mean, like, so there was never, you know, the US Versus that guy. There's a lot of u. S. Guys that fought each other. There was, you know, everybody was respectful. That. But at the same time, it felt like a metaphor in a way. Brian, I think you're onto something. Whether intentional or not, it did feel that way. It should have been American guy versus an English guy. That's it. It's like 10 on each side. Battle Royale had a little Boston tea party in there, too. Forced the. The British guy, you know, to wear a garb or whatever. Ironically, if the. If both US And England make it to the world cup knockout rounds, well, we actually could potentially play England. Yeah. Which I think would be really funny on the 4th of July. That would be better. Wow. What is this? Well, got to keep it Extra patriotic. With that said, we, we should keep them as an ally, let's say. You know, like, I think it's, it's better that we're allied than, than apart. We just had to get our freedom first, I guess. Yeah. But I enjoyed the event and, and Trading Cards made a little bit of an appearance at it too. Yeah, I, I did not know this story. I'm going to let you. Yeah. So Josh Hokut, which, you know, he's a little controversial based on what he said after the fact, but during his weigh in was like looking very rough and very drunk and I don't even know how he was standing and probably should have gotten disqualified to be 100 honest being as he was like throwing up on the side before he goes ways in like. Well, that happens sometimes. But after he won, miraculously won his fight, he had a gold chain that had a one of one card on it, PSA graded card. And he put it on, on Trump's neck. Yeah, no, the artist was. No, I tried to find a picture of it. I couldn't find a picture of it. Trump took it off like pretty quickly after based on what Hokit said in final interviews. So I mean, for all you, for all you kids out there, if you're ever about to go to a big sporting event, you know, make sure you drink a lot of alcohol. That's for sure. I don't know how. Oh, if you're gonna be. What about if you're gonna be the fighter? I mean. Yeah, that sounds like a good plan. Well, we had, we had Josh Emman on the show like a few months ago and he was saying how he like he schedules his days out to a te. Like he doesn't do professional, who's like won a lot of you about and titles and. Yeah, it's just like crazy to me that like there's that and then there's this dude that just like doesn't care and is drunk on this way and I don't know. Justin Gagey. Yes. I like that guy. That guy, he's old, he's a little older. I think he's in his 30s. 38. 38 years old. And look, he was gassed at times, but he never gave up. I thought he was gonna get knocked out like a hundred times because he was gassed. And that guy's dangerous. A very. One of the best fighters on the planet. He was overconfident and Gagey, that was the American spirit that I was like, that's what it looks like. And he literally retired that guy on. Not retired forever, but retired in that match, quit on his seat. They try to say, oh, his corners. Throw it in the. No, he threw in the towel. He didn't want anymore. That what he. That home cooking he was getting like, he. He got the green beans, the mashed potatoes and the spaghetti. All of it in one. I just, I don't get how people, like, do it for fun. I just. Getting guys looked like spaghetti. I mean, it was not pretty. And I was like, oh, this is interesting. And I just. I was exhausted watching them. They both deserve a lot of respect for getting any of those guys that get in there. Kidding me, what they do to get in, in. In there and. And take that punishment and like the raw nature of that and how many. How much adrenaline is going and then to do it for five minutes, for three, like 15. It's go, go get in. In an adversarial situation for one minute and where you're fighting and tell me how exhausted you are. And if you haven't, then you haven't. Hopefully. Most women haven't been that, but let me just say I've been in a few. And let me just tell you, I've been on both sides of it, mostly kicking ass, but also get my ass kicked a few times in college when I probably deserved it. But it exhausts you, man. And they. I mean, it is respect what they put their bodies through in that. It's so violent. I mean, let's talk about this, like concussion protocol. Like there. There's youth soccer. You can't even like head. A head a soccer ball anymore. Like football's like getting like thrown at it all the time about how they don't care. Those guys are getting five concussions a fight and they don't say anything. No, like, bro, you're fighting. That's what they signed up for. Yeah. You're getting your head put in a freaking blender and then sh. Yeah, there. Everyone's concussed a thousand times. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I ordered like four Gaugey cards though. I'm like, I was going into PC. I don't care if he ever. He can lose every match from here on out. I'm like, I. I am a Justin Gagey fan. I am. And I put my money where my mouth is. We're like autographs. Like, well, I think I ordered like a 101 or something. I don't even know what it was. I was like, yes, patriotic and just a badass. I'm curious as to what his card market looked like right Up. I'm sure it went up because there was one. One that I was buying that, like, it was bought before I could buy it. So I wasn't the only one with that idea. Yeah. Final. Final thoughts for. For this episode, we have some pretty big releases coming out this week. We. The Topps Chrome Cosmic Football. Finally here. Almost. Well, by the time this episode's releasing, it will be here. Yeah. Which is exciting. And same thing that Topps Chrome Disney released today, which is Wednesday. And I'm super excited for this because it has Disney Channel inserts, and that's my childhood. Oh, how sweet. I know. Nostalgic. I don't think we're getting any. The one project that I want to open, you don't get. But ironically. Yeah. Thank you. We bought a little bit. I think we still might have a couple boxes they. Yeah, but see, I want the Demi Lovato autographs. Okay, then. Then you buy the singles. You don't need the box. Well, okay. Ripping's not the way to get to the card you want unless you come to a collector station, especially. Especially when you're me. Because again, never once. Never once have I gotten a card. And he sends me a card every damn day. He's like, oh, Just ripped a Drake May out of 150. Yeah. Auto. Yeah. First pack. Last night, I was gonna open one box. I was open one box of Mega Box. First pack Drake May auto out of 150. Oh, that's amazing. I've been on a heater. I got a lot. I have not always been that way, but it's been. It's been warm at the offered residence. Do you do, like, a ritual? Like, is there, like, a certain box you pick or is it just, like, whichever one's calling to you? I usually have a formula that changes depending on the moment, but not like the same one every time. Yeah. Don't tell people divulge that. Bella's trying to code on every box. That tells you where the hits are. Yeah. Bella's trying to get that information out of you. Yeah. Don't do it. I want it. I just. I need, like, one. Like, I need to just hit one card and then I'll be good. Yeah. The most of a card I've ever ripped is a $10 card. That is pathetic. Numbers. And usually it's not transitive, but I'm so hot right now, I'm even picking out the boxes for others. Like, I picked out a guy yesterday. Everybody's convinced that I can pull. They know what I'm pulling. Lately so they go, all right, pick. Pick the box. Pick the box he pulled out of 25 Shohei $2,000 card of box. Like, yeah. I'm like, okay, all right, maybe there's some truth, but I gotta keep, you know, But I want the customers. Hey, I. I'll. I'll. I'll pass it on wherever I want them. I want every box in here that we have one on ones for. For our customers. Yeah, you'll sell them. You'll sell those cards to your customers, right? So it's. Yeah, it's like I sell all the stuff that I pull if it's not something I keep and then. Or I want them to pull it by the box and pull the one. One I don't want to pull off it. But, you know, the less they buy, say, this is there. I need. This is marketing. You know, we need you to buy more so that I don't open them. You know, I leave more for y'. All. Reverse psychology here, but reverse marketing. It's time for this week's on it segment of the week. What's up, everybody? It's Bella here with the on it segment of the week, and I am here with. You know him, you love him. Leonard Berry, the digital marketing specialist at onit. Athlete. Leonard, how you doing? I'm doing good, Bella. Good to see you. I'm in a more stable location, as you can see today. So we've been on the road for a while now, but it's been a good time. Yeah. So tell everyone, like, where you are, what you're doing, how it's going. Give us the rundown. Yeah, I'm out here in Nebraska right now. I was at the College World Series over the weekend. Shot a lot of content there. Super fun. And then I've moved on getting some signatures here from some teams that have signed from us in the past. So people can be expecting that. You know, Nebraska football team that we've worked with in the past. I'm out here in Lincoln getting some signatures for them for their upcoming football season. So really excited about that. That's super exciting. And, you know, if you're listening and you didn't know all of on it's autos are on card, so Leonard is literally on the ground getting those autos, making sure they're being signed. So we have no sticker autos here, which I think is just, you know, still one of the coolest parts about on it and something that really separates you all from different card brands because I feel like, you know, more oftentimes than not. It's not an on card auto. So. Still special that y' all can kind of have those interpersonal connections with the athletes and, you know, like, they're actually touching that card. And so I have to ask, while you've been on the road, what had. Do you have any, like, fun stories or has there been, like, a really heartfelt moment with any of the athletes? There's been some super cool moments here at Nebraska. Yesterday, there was actually a guy who said that he has been, like, his lifelong dream was to sign a trading card. I don't want to. I don't want to say who it is yet just because we haven't totally revealed everything. Yeah. But he said it was his lifelong dream to sign a trading card because when he grew up, him and his dad used to open boxes together. And so he's had a love of cards. And as he's been playing football, his goal was always to be on a card. And he had never been contacted by anyone else. So when we contacted him, he was like, yeah, this is a way to connect, you know, to my dad. And, you know, I know my dad will be wanting to get one of these autographs, and it's an opportunity for me to do something and be in a space that I've always been involved with. And he. He even collects college cards of guys in college uniforms. So I just thought that was a really cool, like, full circle moment for him. And again, if we didn't come bring the cards to these guys, that's something that, you know, never really would have happened. He would have just signed stickers for the most part, or he might have never signed a card. I do want to get into, you know, what has the College World Series been like for. For. For y'? All. I know that you got Oklahoma in the finals. That's super exciting. What are we. How are we feeling? What are we looking like there? Yeah. Oklahoma just won their semifinal, so. Against Georgia, so they're headed to the championship series against North Carolina. Honestly, I think one of the craziest and the toughest roads to walk for anybody to get to this point. Like, if they go on and beat North Carolina, who's the number five national seed? I think this will be one of the most difficult journeys to win a national championship ever. They got sent to the Atlanta regional to play the number two seed in the country, Georgia Tech. They took down Georgia Tech in Atlanta. They go to a super regional in Lawrence, Kansas, a place that's hosting their first ever super regional. So that place is Rocking Jayhawks are the 15th national seed. They take them down in two games. Don't even need a third game there in Lawrence to go to the College World Series. And then they get drawn into a bracket with the number three national seed and the number six national seed in Texas and Georgia. And then they also have Ole Miss out of the SEC as well. So it's just all SEC side of the bracket. And Oklahoma comes out by beating Georgia twice, back to back games in their quarterfinal and then the semi national semifinal to get to the championship. And now they get to take on the number five seeded team in the country after beating the number three seeded team twice. So this team who was like down and out at one point in May has really turned things around and I'm kind of shocked to see where they're at, but really excited that we have an on it team in the final. I do know that y' all have a, a little announcement you made today if you want to kind of share that for the listeners. Yeah. So big announcement today, 776, which is a venture capitalist firm run by Alexis Ohanian, the co founder of Reddit. They acquired us actually in a sale. So we are now underneath the 776 umbrella, which is really cool for not only 776, but also for Onnit, because we've been trying to, you know, kind of push boundaries and invade this college space. And not just the big name college sports stuff, but we've been going after, as you mentioned, you know, gymnastics, softball, men's and women's basketball, women's hockey, like sports that don't necessarily get a whole lot of national media attention. And we have made packs and we have made cards for all those teams. And for anybody who knows Alexis, of course, he's married to Serena Williams. He has two daughters who play sports. He is a lover of women's sports. He's got investments in the Chelsea Women's Club out in London. He's invested in Athlos, which track and field company he also owns part of the Love Volleyball, professional volleyball. So there's a lot going on with him and women's sports and he's kind of been one banging the drum for a long time now of championing women's sports. And so to have somebody like that who passionately cares about the stuff that we're already doing is really cool to see. And I'm excited to see kind of like what the next steps are with that acquisition and how we can start doing even more in those spaces that we're already doing quite a bit more than everybody else in. And as we close out here, I also know that you had a product release coming out soon. So if you want to talk about that too. Yeah, just to give everybody a little bit of a heads up. Like I said, we're trying to really, we've been trying to push these boundaries recently and I think the recent acquisition will help even more. But on Monday, we are going to have our first ever fully mixed product coming out at Walmarts and Best Buys nationwide. It's going to feature 10 of the top college baseball teams. Some of the teams that are in there, ucla, Mississippi State. Oklahoma State is actually exclusive to this product. We did not make a team set for Oklahoma State, but Oklahoma State does have players and cards inside this release. It is fully mixed and it is on Ion Opticrome which is the first time that we have ever done a Chrome release. So for folks that are familiar with onit cards and understand the paper card stock that we have generally used for our cards, this is on Chrome. So it'll be comparable to what you see from some of the other manufacturers when they release their Chrome products. And it is fully mixed as well. It's called on it Gravity Baseball. It's available in Walmarts and Best Buys starting on Monday. There's some information out about it online if folks are interested in looking that up. But yeah, it'll be. I'm hoping it'll be one of our best releases ever and it's certainly in terms of pushing the envelope with a mixed college baseball product, the furthest that we've ever gone. So I'm really excited to see it and I love Chrome cards so I can't wait to start ripping some of it myself. And guys, if you're listening, shop on it athlete.com use code collector nation at checkout to receive 15% off your first order. These cards are awesome. They are supporting the athletes that, you know, we all watch and love. So give on it some love. Wish them luck on their new venture capitalist experiences and go shop those Best Buy and Walmart cards. Any final words, Leonard? Just appreciate everybody who listens and supports us and supports the Collector Nation Collector station down there in South Carolina. Yeah, we will see you next week on our on it segment of the week. I know you gotta to bounce Brian. So anything, any final thoughts? No, I'm looking forward to our show next week. That's for sure. In Shytown, baby. Yeah, yeah, we'll be like. And we're only probably five or six weeks away from the national. I mean it's coming, coming in a hurry. Yeah. Well, thank you guys. Always appreciate it. Thanks, Brian. And we'll have up, we'll put on the screen some of the cards we mentioned earlier. We'll have the team, I'll send them some pictures. We'll throw those up as the outro credits maybe as uh, as we go to Ryan's pulls in the last couple weeks. And what I more than what I bought yesterday, I traded with the guy. It was a good trade and some cool Kobe stuff. So we appreciate everyone for listening, appreciate Bella, appreciate Brian. You know where to find us the collectornation.com we'll see you next time and make sure to tell your friends. Thanks for tuning in to the show. Be sure to follow us on your go to podcast platform and catch the full video episode over on YouTube. Visit us@collectornation.com and follow Ryan on Instagram at Ryan Alford. Now get out there and collect yours. We have the tech to get food delivered in 15 minutes, but we all have horror stories about buying tickets. The GameTime app gives fans the advantage. Get amazing tickets in just a few taps. Fees are included, so what you see is what you pay. And the game time guarantee means authentic tickets at the best price every time. Take the guesswork out of buying tickets to concerts, sports, comedy and more with game time. Download the Gametime app and create an account for $20 off your first purchase term supply. Being outside is good for us. It's that simple. And trails make it easy for us to walk, bike and be active outside in our own backyards. On the trail, we see people moving, connecting with their communities, making the places where they live great. For 40 years, Rails to Trails Conservancy has led the way, creating trails across the country, making it safer and easier for everyone to get outside. They want you to get involved, find your trail and start your journey today at railstotrails.org iheart and follow @railstotrails on social media.