THWC 414: What a Week for the Hobby!

What is up everybody? How About Cage episode 414-414-14 of these. July 2nd, we're coming early morning here. I don't know what time you guys are gonna play this. Some of you probably, you know, you're traveling and you, you know, you won't play this till over the fourth of July weekend. But let me tell you something, I'm excited to be here. I got a message yesterday from a longtime listener who said, you know, he heard yesterday shout out to, you know, to another listener and that guy was like, hey. Five minutes after I posted the episode, he's like, hey. I heard the shout out. But this guy was like, hey. Daily episodes, I love them. You know, I love that you do them. I love that you try to pump one out every day. But you know, is there really enough to talk about every day? Like how do you come up with your topics and the whole deal? And what's funny about it is I probably, I mean, I did an episode yesterday, 24 hours ago. I probably have enough content right now to do 10 episodes today if I wanted to. That's how awesome this space is. Because it's sports and even when it's the off season, right. You have craziness going on in the world, right? So I mean, I spent some time yesterday talking about card shows and what's coming up and what I had done over the weekend. Right. I mean, you know, Friday and Sunday card shows and we are, you know, two weeks from right now, as I record this, I will be on my way to Fanatics Fest to, to pick up my credentials and go and you know, and hang out there for, for four days. But we're not even talking about that right now. We're going to talk about what's going on in the world of sports, what's going on in the hobby. Couple topics. Number one, I saw a great post yesterday that said don't say you're paying strong on something if you're offering less than or equal to the last comp on Michael Jordan, Kobe, blah, blah, blah. That's a whole episode in and of itself because it takes you to kind of the strength of the market. But also how long can that last, right? Basically the point of that is that the market has been so strong and you see kind of prices go up, up, up, up, up, up, up. You know, every time something sells, it sells at a new record, whether it's an 86 flea Jordan or whether it's just a 90 something upper deck Jordan base card for 150, $200 and you see, you know, those prices creeping up, whether it's LeBron prices, you know, Kobe, Steph, every time there's a weekly auction, an alt auction, you know, whatever it is, the price is higher than it was last week. You know, today's price is not yesterday's price. Yesterday's price is not today's price. You all heard that. But you know, is that because people are buying with the lead up towards Fanatics Fest and the national, or is it just kind of more people coming in the space, more people joining and because there's more demand and the supply is not growing on, you know, Michael Jordan cards, we're not getting those, you know, lower end graded cards coming back from PSA right now. You know, prices go up. I love that topic and the sustainability of it. And that's one. We could talk about that today and the whole episode there. Soccer, World Cup, I got stuff to talk about there. And then just the we. While we have World cup going on right now and we have baseball going on right now, Baseball, biggest news with hobby relevance is actually going on in the NBA. I mean, we got football weeks away, literally weeks away. We are, you know, July 2nd in a matter of, you know, four and a half weeks. You know, basically a month. We'll have our first preseason football game. I'll say that again. You know, preseason football is a month away. So these guys are going to be in camp soon. You're going to start to see the news of, you know, Jackson Dart looking to take a step forward this year. You know, he's, he's got some added weapons and, you know, that offense is looking good and you know, another year with this coach and, you know, you're going to see this guy looks great. Is this the year for Justin Herbert or is it Joe Burrow? Yeah, football. But that's not what we're talking about today. Here we go. We get, we're going to shoot a little caffeine here because we got, we got some news. The NBA free agent market has been insane. Insane. The Celtics on both sides of it, you know, taking Mitchell Robinson from the Knicks, that was like, okay, interesting. But Kawhi back to Toronto, is he gonna finish his career there? I mean, that is an awesome story, right? Giannis going to the Heat, which, you know, we've talked about, right? You know, forming a, you know, a super team with Bam, right? And who else is coming? You know, Pat Riley is not done. Right. Yesterday's news might be the craziest. You know, it is 4th of July. My son Left today with red, white and blue, his Allen Iverson Sixers jersey on. But if you haven't heard yet, Paul George was involved in another monster trade. Paul George has been the architect of, of NBA dynasties for a very long time. I mean, he basically was the reason OKC won a championship and, and has all this draft capital on the wrong side of that trade. And now Paul George was involved in a trade to the Celtics from the Sixers. And you now have, I mean, you can argue three top 15 NBA players. I mean, when Embiid is healthy, that's a former MVP there. I don't know where you want to put him, right? When he's healthy is sort of the qualifier, but when he is playing, he is a stud. Tyrese Maxey, I mean, another student. And now you just added Jalen Brown, who a lot of people think is a top 10 NBA player. And I mean, the Celtics didn't really get much back. You know, you trade a top 10 player, you want to get back a top 15, top 20. Paul George hasn't been that since before I was doing content and I've been doing this for a long time. And I mean, look, there's draft capital, you name it. But if you're a Sixers fan, you got to wake up today excited. And what does it mean for Cards, right? Jalen Brown, you know, does he have some real relevance now? Are you buying his cards? He, I mean, he had a, you know, first half of the season, no Tatum and you know, that, that was a guy who was playing MVP caliber basketball. You know, the Sixers were a, a playoff team, borderline playoff team, better playoff team without him. I mean, if you could string together, you know, a season here in Philly with those three guys leading the charge, I mean, that's a hell of a team. You know, if I were, you know, the Knicks, I'd be a little concerned about that. I mean that is, that is, that is a unit right there. And then you have out in la, the Lakers are starting to form the old Utah Jazz minus Karl Malone as they signed Walker Kessler as their rim protector. And they now have their three star players are Luka Doncic White, Austin Reeves Whiter and Walker Kessler whitest. And I don't know if that's a recipe for success out there in LA, but I think they got better. You know, LeBron leaving has provided them some flexibility and they are, they're going to build a team around Luca. And I got to tell you, if you are a Luca collector or a Luca investor Or a Luca believer. It is clearly his team. I mean, it was kind of his team when LeBron was there and they're going to build a team around him that, I mean, Luca could really put up some video game numbers next year. I mean, this is a guy who could potentially average a 30 point triple double next year. Average it, if not more. And you know, I don't know whether or not they are a, a real title contender. I think I put them in the top half of that west, but the west is, I mean the west is still beast east getting better West. I'd like to see what other moves they make. But Luca is going to be a, a stat machine this coming year. You know, I already have a couple Lucas just, you know, base cards and silvers and stuff. Nothing, you know, nothing monstrous. But, but we look at the moves that are made and I would, I like Tyrese Maxey. We've met him, he's a great guy. I don't know that adding Jaylen Brown is going to help his individual numbers. For Maxi's individual numbers, I think the scoring numbers might actually come down a little bit because, you know, when you have a three headed monster like that, you know, the numbers might come down for each individual. I think the team is better and that in the long run is what you want, right? You want to compete for a championship. But I think, you know, if I were holding Maxi's cards, I'd be a little concerned about his individual numbers. The opposite for Luca. You know, I'm bringing this to cards. I look at this and I say, you know, I want some more exposure to Luca now because I think his numbers are going to be off the chart. And then you have, I mean, the biggest news of all Monday night was the deadline for the Lakers to move on from Bronny James. And they didn't make a move. And Monday midnight came and his, I think it's 2.333 million. You know, somewhere in that 2 to 3 million dollar contract became guaranteed with the Lakers. And as Monday midnight turned, Bronnie James stayed a Laker. Well, for now, his contract with the Lakers is guaranteed. And then Tuesday morning, right after that Monday deadline, LeBron announced to the Lakers he's no longer staying with the Lakers. Brownie's money guaranteed. LeBron leaves. It's the timing on it has to be coincidental. Just has to be. Listen, you could say what you want about LeBron James, you can call him your goat. You can say he's not the goat, you could say he's not as good as Kobe. You could say he's not as good as, as Jordan. You could say he's not as good as Wilt. Everybody has their argument, everybody has their player that, you know, they think is better. I have grown to appreciate LeBron as he continues to play at this high level, mostly because while obviously he's significantly younger than me. But I went out to play basketball with my son yesterday and I mean, I can hardly walk, you know. You know, I'm having a hard time walking if my feet are killing me after playing. I mean, I give him a tough game. That's what it is. I play all out and my feet are killing me. Right. LeBron is, you know, what he's doing is amazing. He's just adding to his legacy and he's gonna go somewhere else and be a feature marquee name, you know, star attraction wherever he goes. And I hope it's a storybook. I hope it's the Cavs, I hope, hell, the Heat. You want to talk about a super team, you know, you saw what the 76ers did. All of a sudden the Heat become giannis, bam. And LeBron, that's a different kind of team too, you know what I mean? I don't know where he goes. I really have no idea. I gave that great idea if he should go play with every team on 10 day contracts, you know, like go play a week, you know, with every team in the league. That'd be fantastic. You have to appreciate the guy. You're going to miss him when he's gone. Whether you love him or hate him. You know, this has been a LeBron League football for 22, three, four years. I don't know how many more years he has left. This might be the, the goodbye tour, one more year. But his cards, I mean, you have to start asking questions. What does this do for lakers cards for LeBron if he's not gonna be a Laker, he's gonna have one more year with who? Right? He, you know, NBA dynasty comes out this year and let's hope tops has, you know, he's going to have Lakers cards because it's this year's cards, you know, it reverts back to this year. So Lakers will be his playing days cards. But when you are opening those cards, he won't be on the Lakers. And that's a funny little twist. He'll have Cavs, Miami, and those will be what we like to call little, you know, ceremonial cards or whatever you want, celebratory cards, you know, memorial cards. Whatever the heck you guys want to call them, you know, non playing uniform cards, even though he's playing days cards. But what if he goes back to the Cavs or the Heat and you had Cavs and Heat dynasty patch auto cards of him and he's actually on that team again? Does that throw a little fun wrinkle into playing days, playing years? What if he's on another team? Like, what if he goes and joins the Celtics, which is just insane to think about him wearing that uniform. I mean, it happened with Shaq for a minute, right? But Shaq kind of wore every uniform at the end of his career a different Shaq. I mean, you're gonna have, you know, next year's product with LeBron in this new uniform. It is an exciting wrinkle that gets added to our hobby. And I think it right now, not even knowing where he's going, I think there is an added level of excitement to his cards. I think people are excited about, you know, about LeBron and where he's gonna go. And you could love him or hate him. I think his cards are probably going up. Most cards are. I mean, Jordan is not coming back to play and making a decision about what team he's going to go to, and his cards are going up and Kobe and Curry and, you know, everybody else. But the LeBron saga is. Is a fun one and an interesting one, and I'm, you know, it has an impact on the hobby. And then what happens if he signs somewhere unexpected? Who knows? I don't know. What if he likes being in LA so much that he signs with the Clippers and people look at that move and say, what? He's not going to play for a championship. It's just kind of a goodbye tour and he's playing for another team. I doubt it happens. Right, guys? I. I really doubt it happens. You know, I think you can kind of limit where it's going to go. And he kind of posted, I'm driving around in my city, you know, a post yesterday, and, you know, people were watching him. He was in Cleveland playing golf, you know, dropping hints of where he might play. I doubt that he will go somewhere that's not going to be, you know, a good story, but it could happen. And then what happens to the cards? You know, do they take a little bit of a. Of a step back? You have to plan for that. There is an unknown to it. It's an added little fun for our hobby. So there you go. We talk a little bit about the shows, the craziness, the Price, action, the comps, the buying and selling. LeBron and let me spend five minutes on this. Every four years, people pretend to care about soccer because the World cup happens. And we grab our flags and we cheer for our teams, and, hell, we sing songs about roads in the country and mountains. I don't know exactly why that's the song for the U.S. but it's cool. It's fun when they win and, you know, they sing it afterwards. And getting people in the US to care about soccer is a monumental task. But it happens every four years. Every four years, we get whipped up into a frenzy. And this one specifically, I mean, we are one of the host countries. It's a North American World Cup. There are games in Mexico and in Canada and a lot of games across the United States, including the US Game yesterday in Santa Clara, basically, near San Francisco. They'll be playing again on Monday in Seattle. We're showcasing our cities and our stadiums to the world. And our fans who are used to American football, baseball, basketball, are being exposed to the game of soccer. A successful U.S. team is helpful there because this is a global game. It is a game that in the hobby people, I mean, it's not that funny. In the hobby people are exposed to the arguments about soccer, that it's the most watched game in the world, it's the most played game in the world. How could it not be collected as much as other sports? You know, it's gotta grow. It's got to grow. Well, I'll tell you why. America's not good at it. So it's nice to see the American men, you know, advanced. We have our first knockout stage win since 2002. Although that's cheating for anybody playing along. They added around this year. It used to be the knockout stage was the next round. So that means when we won in 02, it was already in that round of 16, and we were advancing beyond that. This whole round of 32 is new this year, and they're thinking about expanding it even more. So this is kind of like fugazi knockout win. I mean, it still counts. If we lost, we would have gone home. But now is kind of when it matters, right? You're in the final 16. These were the old knockout rounds. Let's see you win against Belgium on Monday. And here's the rub. American sports have some stupidity when it comes to penalties and rules and stuff as well. We've seen teams make the super bowl on pass interference calls not being called, and that's a judgment call. And the refs getting involved and hell, there are more memes about Patrick Mahomes making out with referees that I care to watch. Baseball now has a challenge system where you can challenge the strikes and the balls. I happen to love it, but that is laughable. I can imagine people from other countries saying, what the hell's going on? Why is this guy hitting his hat? You know, the umpire called it a ball. How can somebody challenge it? There are interesting rules. Ground rules, crown rule doubles. Different size stadiums in baseball is a weird thing, you know, how do you play a sport where not every stadium is the same? You know, the field does not have a regulation field. I can understand, you know, all of that, but here's the fun. To get America into soccer, you need the American team winning and you need the game to be one that the American fan can get excited about. And the American fan is waking up today to a headline of we have a player who is really good. Not talking about Christian Pulisic. He's very good at controlling the ball. He's very fast, he can dribble. But when he gets anywhere near goal, I don't know what happens to him. You know, he doesn't shoot. He. Whatever. I'm not. I'm not. Not. They won yesterday. Two, nothing. We're not gonna, you know, beat up Pulisic. I don't know why he is the star, but we have a guy who has played three games and has scored three goals, including the first goal in yesterday's game. And, you know, lucky for us, he decided to play for America instead of England. But, you know, if you were watching the game or if you're reading headlines this morning, you are seeing that he was called for a red card yesterday. And that meant that he was ejected from the game. Mulligan. He was not only ejected from the game, but because of the red card. He's not going to play in the next game. Now they don't have to play, you know, down a man like they did for the last half hour of the game yesterday. But the biggest question that I heard this morning in sports talk radio was what the hell happened and how did it happen? And then after they tried talking about it, the host of the sports radio radio talk show said, I just don't care. Like, I don't even want to learn. I don't care. And it kind of sucks that the American team is on the end of the stick here. You know, you have. Who has been your best player. I mean, I think he scored two goals in the, in the, in the first game. You know, who's been their best player, their goal scorer, the guy who gave him the lead yesterday on a call that on the field was not even called the yellow card. Then var the little review, all of a sudden it's a red card, which they didn't do a very good job in the game yesterday. Explaining that means you're out for the game. The team plays down a player, so it's 11 against 10. They still won. Good credit to the US team. But now he cannot play in the knockout game on Monday. He's out. He has to sit. Hopefully the U.S. you know, will find a way to get through that and he can come back in the next round. That's stupid. There's no other way to say it. Imagine that in the playoffs where, you know, a team's best player is. Is not able to play. Is there an appeal for the. Sure. Will the U.S. appeal? Sure. Chances are it does not change anything because, you know, their review process, you know, for FIFA is. It's got to be like a clear mistake. But what's the rule? Who the hell knows? Honestly, I thought there was supposed to be some form of malice intended. You had to have some sort of intent. And when are you going to know that anyway? And that makes tough. And when you have this type of a thing, it turns off fans. And I gotta tell you, if the US Loses on Monday and gets knocked out, that's going to be the story. The story is going to be soccer is stupid. Look at this. The US Got screwed because their best player was taken out and suspended for the game on a call that no one understands. That's going to be your story. And that makes it tough for the expansion of soccer here on the country roads. West Virginia, take me home. And that is the episode I've taken at home. I hope the US Finds a way to win. I hope that that red card is just a footnote on the story. Even if they do advance, I think they wind up playing maybe Spain in that round of eight, which I don't think they advance from that. But hey, let's go, usa. Guys, I could probably talk for another half an hour. I want to talk about the comps. I want to talk about the upcoming shows. I want to talk about the free agent moves. I want to talk about the Yankees sucking. I want to talk about what Ohtani is doing. He was supposed to pitch yesterday, but they moved his game up to Friday. We'll see what he's doing. I mean, there's so many things to talk about. I want to talk about, you know, record sales. I want to talk about PSA at the National. I want to talk about so many things that are going on. I will have to do episodes over this holiday weekend. But we're already at 22 minutes. And, you know, a lot of you do this on the treadmill and you're gonna have a heart attack because you know us guys in the hobby, we're not in the best shape. I don't want to make you run for too long. And some of you guys, you're in the bathroom and 22 minutes, you should stand up by now. You should be done. Finish it up, take care of your business and be done. And there's another episode brought to you by card ladder use code Cage. Save yourself a couple bucks by Arena Club and by the Philly Show. I'm gonna say it twice because I'm not sure I said in the beginning episode. Episode 414 of the Hobby with Cage brought to you by Arena Club by by card ladder use code Cage. I had like three people sign up this week. So you guys are all listening. You know, I get little emails. So, you know, see us people are saving money on their call. That a subscription using code Cage and by the Philly Show. If you guys are coming to Fanatics Festival and or the national, send me a message. Let's meet up. I'll have cigars or something fun. We'll talk soon. Take care, everybody. Enjoy your fourth. Bye, everybody. Sorry about that.