THWC 419: Big Week for Cards!

What is up everybody? Hobby with Cage episode 41 9. For all you stoners out there, that means get ready. Tomorrow is 4:20. Not something I personally partake in, but I know some of you do. So, you know, get excited, get happy. 4:20. It's coming. But for today, you're just gonna have to settle for 41 9. 4 19. Brought to you by Arena Club. I had a fun Arena Club sale this weekend. Nothing. Nothing better than waking up, checking your email and seeing a 200 Shaquille O' Neal Panini father's Day instant card that I think I bought at the National a couple years ago for a dollar, slabbed with Arena Club for a couple bucks and just put it in my account and just let it sit there and I, I think I had to buy it now for 200 and someone just clicked buy it now. Sounds fun. You know, wake up to some free money brought to you by card ladder. Use code Cage. Save yourself a couple bucks. I got an email this weekend. Somebody else signed up using my code, Cage. I mean, it's an easy code to remember. Cage. It's like four letters, I think. I think, yeah, I think it's four letters. I don't know, I can't spell. And brought to you by the Philly show, which, you know, after we get through Fanatics Fest National, I'll be talking about Philly Show. That'll be, you know, the next big one for me. So, Pam, what a weekend. I mean, you can find the top line sales, you know, the Kobe's and the, you know, the exquisite stuff and all the craziness. You can find that stuff pretty much anywhere. You know, Fanatics collect has brought 99% of the top content creators out there and put them on their app to make content. They left out one notable name I, I can think of. You guys could probably think of also who they left out. But I mean, it's, I mean, wow. I mean, you guys, you guys can find me here on the old YouTube and on wherever you get your podcast. So it's okay. It's all good. It's all good. What a fun week. What a fun week. What a fun week. I'll throw this out there. This is the best hobby in the world. And here's why I wake up, it's Monday, July 13, and I have nothing but fun stuff to look forward to this week because our hobby revolves around sport. And sport is awesome. Whether it's, you know, Draymond Green and Yudanis Haslam fighting with each other on Twitter about the Bam. Adebayo, Tyler, hero fight. Whether it's about Conor McGregor, you know, injuring his knee in that fight. And man, we got to talk about just Saturday, I was up till 2am I mean, and we'll talk about that in a second, right? You got Connor, you got the fights there, you got soccer, you got all. But I wake up today, this week, I'm going to watch the Home Run Derby. I'm going to see the All Star break for, for baseball. We're going to see the All Stars playing, right? We're gonna see soccer, we're gonna see the semifinals, the matchups that everybody wanted, the four chalk teams, the, you know, the top four teams and everybody posting about their guys, right? It's Jude Bellingham's turn, guys. It's Mbappe. He doesn't really have so much success for club, but boy, when it comes for country, he's the guy. And everybody's showing their Mbappe cards. A nice Yamal sold last night. Is he gonna have the time to shine? He hasn't really, you know, had the headlines yet during the tournament, but the lights are going to shine bright. Is he the guy who's going to show up in the final two games and, and take a, to take the, the, the trophy home? Is this time for Yamal to shine? I personally don't think so, but hey, we'll see what happens. Or is this just another Messi? Is it a messy on repeat? You know, I mean, you got soccer, you got baseball. Like I said, we had the ufc, had all these sales and then come on, we're leading into fanatics festival. Might have saw a video of Floyd Money Mayweather telling you what day he's gonna be there. Photo ops. I actually bought a photo op with Cody Rhodes for a friend's daughter. I hope that doesn't. I hope he's not playing this out loud in the lead up to that. And I ruined the surprise because I think it's a surprise. So hopefully you don't, don't ruin the surprise. But, you know, why not? That's cool stuff. And our hobby revolves around the sport that we get to watch and the athletes and the superstars and the wrestlers and the fighters and the players. I mean, it all kind of culminates this week with this event here. And I mean, I'm excited to buy and sell some cars. I'm excited to bring my son to do the sports activations to that. I'm excited to go to national and why, why am I excited to go to national? I need more merch today I'm wearing Talon hat Limited blue one here. It's numbered on the brim. And. And maybe I got to start doing that. I gotta get the card lotter table and get a hat. I gotta get some swag. I gotta get some, you know, some new stuff to wear on my episodes when I wake up and I haven't done my hair yet. I gotta throw a hat on, you know, for you guys when I'm doing the early episodes, I gotta. We gotta talk to some friends. We gotta have conversations about card prices to the moon. I'm excited. All right. So my. My weekend. I didn't go to a show this weekend. There was a local show I didn't go, and there was the Collecticon. My son really wanted to go to that, but it was like a two hour, two and a half hour drive each way for just Pokemon. That's a little tough for me. That's a little tough. I don't know if I could do that. So we didn't do it. I might regret that because that show was like a thousand tables and it looked like, you know, there's a lot of cool stuff going on there, but, I mean, no shortage of shows coming up in the next couple of weeks. So, you know. All right, maybe we take the weekend off and hang out, you know, in the house here for a little while. And I did some spending, though. I didn't go to shows, but I didn't spend. Let me tell you guys, fun stuff. I watched the soccer games on Saturday and meh. I mean, Drew Bellingham showed up. You know, Argentina, don't cry for me. Va Argentina. The truth is, the replay will save you. And then the referees, they'll save you too. They throw it for Messi. The whole thing is fixed. I mean, if you wanted to make a song about it, that would be how it would go. I don't really. I'm kind of tone deaf, so. I'm sorry I had to make you guys suffer for that, but, I mean, holy cow. Switzerland, Egypt, Cape Verde. These are not the teams you're supposed to need help with. You gotta think maybe their luck runs out against a juggernaut like England. Although England hasn't looked so spectacular either. This side of the equation, you know, you kind of. It's one of those things where, I mean, you know, it's a shame about the Knicks, but when you watch the spurs play against the Thunder, you're like, that's the real finals right there. You know, that's the one we really want to watch. But Then the Knicks wanted anyway, which is kind of a shame. But it is what it is. It's kind of that, right? Everybody's kind of saying the big final, the matchup that everybody really wants to watch is not the final itself. The way that, you know, the bracket kind of set up, you got France against Spain. I mean, talk about some craziness there. France against Spain, where you have, you know, Yamal against Mbappe. I mean, that France team is just a juggernaut. It's really hard to bet against those guys. They've been the best team for the last three World Cups. I know they lost against Argentina in the finals last time, but France was the better team and France won it in 2018. So, you know, they're looking to go to three straight finals here. Like, like I said, Mbappe not so great for, for club, but man for country. He shows up. I mean, the other side of the equation, it would be interesting to see a Argentina against Spain final. For all of you Barcelona fans out there, that could be interesting. And how you root, you know, which side are you gonna cheer for? Maybe a tie. It just never ends. But anyway, I mean, this is the culmination of four years of soccer here. We sadly said goodbye to Holland. You know, he was basically invisible during that game, even to his own teammates. So, I mean, also on the. The wrong end of some calls there too, which, you know, kind of sucks, but it is what it is. He. He really made a name for himself in this tournament and, you know, I don't think that goes away. People will be following him now. It's just tough. I mean, I can't see too many World cup watchers, you know, you know, Man City fans and following that, you know, that team and watching their games, I just, I just, honestly, I just don't see it. But I could be wrong. But I watched those two games and then I stayed up for ufc and I was bidding in Golden Auctions and I was one of the last cars just in a bidding war. I won three cards. I spent a lot of money in gold, and probably more than I should have. But, you know, I get in a bidding war and I'm like, you're not gonna beat me. And you had one of those, like, psychological thrillers where, like, the guy bid with like 4 seconds left of the 30 minute extension. So I waited until there was like 4 seconds left to bid, and then the next one came and he bit immediately. So I bid immediately. We were just going. It was tit for tat in the extended. But I won. You lose. Whoever you are out there, I beat you. I overpaid. That's how I beat you. That's how it works, I guess, sometimes in the stupid auctions, but I was up late, so I watched that McGregor fight. Oh, man. What? That's miserable. But I'm gonna tell you guys something. I'm gonna tell you guys something. And this is why I said what I did when I bought the, the Dana White card, right? I bought Dana White's card. And in the same auction, there was a Conor McGregor card that set the record for the most expensive UFC card ever. Do you guys remember who the record was before that? Ilya Tapora, who just got his ass smacked in his last fight. Conor comes out there, does this. I don't want to say it tarnishes legacy, but if he didn't get injured, he was gonna get beat anyway. And I kind of hope they have a third fight because I, I, I am not a better. I don't, I don't sports bet, but I will come out of sports betting retirement to bet on Max Holloway. You. There was an MMA award show, and obviously it's sort of like jokey, jokey because Chael Sonnen hosted it. Chael did some interviews. You know, he, he had, you know, he had some, some, some PR around them here. I mean, he, he's awesome. He's great on the mic. Probably better than Connor. Best I've, I've seen for a combat sport. And he basically broke it down in a jokey way as to ahead of the fight, why Conor can't win and how in the last, you know, half a decade, Connor's fought Cowboy Cerrone and Max Holloway has fought this laundry list of, of top fighters. And the injury that he was coming back from, people just don't come back to this sport and succeed with that long of a layoff, with that type of an injury. It just, it is a very different animal to come back into the cage and fight and try to be at the level you were. And look, the adrenaline hits and he's trying to do these crazy things out there. You know, he could have taken it slow. He could have. But, you know, it doesn't surprise me that he got injured because there is only one unlimited fighter, and that is Father Time. And I say this every single time. It does not matter. Time catches up with everyone. The hits that they take catch up with you. I mean, I've, I've seen it for decades. You know, when Chuck L. Became a shell of himself and just, you know, just Started getting tagged. And, you know, it happens that sports very, very different than anything else. And that's why when I invested in what I consider the best UFC card ever made, I bought a Dana White card. Because after Conor lost and his legacy was tarnished and people were like, oh, man, look at this. I just bet on this guy and what am I going to do now? And the person who bought his card now has to, you know, they were. They were probably paying a little extra for it, hoping he was going to come out and have this magnificent fight and, you know, ride off into the sunset with a. With a win and maybe even fight again, and who knows? Instead, this is how, you know, the last chapter closes. We'll see if he comes back. He can't get 20 or 30 million dollars to come back. He's gonna have to fight for a significant discount. But the legacy now is, is this. You know, what Dana White does, He wakes up, he gives a press conference, and he starts talking about the next fight, maybe get Sean Jones to fight. He starts talking about UFC 330 or, you know, whatever the next fight is going to be, and what next champ is out there and starts promoting Gable Stevenson, you know, the guy who was in the WWE and then tried to be in the NFL and now is a UFC fighter and he's going to be enough, you know, a superstar now. And who's it going to be and who's the next big star? Dana stays undefeated, too, just like, for all the time. So that, that was a little fun thing that I, that, you know, I was thinking to myself, you know, as Conor McGregor went down with an injury, hate to see that. Hate to see it. But it's part of the sport. It happens all the time. I was the biggest Anderson Silva collector that there was, like, not. And there wasn't even a close second. I was as big as 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 all combined. I had so many spider cards. Nervous. When he got in the cage, you thought Vitor was going to beat him. Then he got front kicked in the face. Vitor Weidman exposed him. Chael exposed him. But, I mean, you talk about, like, then the breaking of his leg, it just. He got older. It's just what happens. Someone can be so dominant, they could be the top of the sport. And not only does time catch up with them, the sport catches up with him. His Gracie was the greatest. And then Matt Hughes showed him what ground and pound did when he got a little older and just made him look bad. Anyway, fun stuff. I love that combat sports Stuff I, I really do. I love watching, you know, I love watching that. That was a great card. Patty Pimblet, man, that was, you know, winning by sub. That was, that was a, that was a big show for, for Patty. People like him, he's got a lot of personality. He, he's great on the mic also. I could see him, you know, taking a step forward now, you know, towards being one of the faces of the, of the promotion. And that was fun. But I, I was watching it because I had to. I was just, I was up bidding. I won cards on Fanatics last night. Lots of cards. Leading into Fanatics Fest and leading into the national. I'm excited. I hope you guys are. Maybe you can tell, you know, I gotta make it through the work week, which kind of, you know, sucks. But none of you hobby companies have reached out to me yet and said, cage will give you a job in the hobby so you can work in the hobby and quit this silly lawyer thing. I'm waiting, I'm waiting for somebody to, you know, hey, just come work for us. That would be great. I'll take that in a second. That way I can wake up and have hobby energy every day instead of, you know, lawyer energy. That's no fun. Nobody likes that fake, fake business. This hobby stuff is the stuff. By the way, guys, it's the best hobby in the world. I mean, I mentioned that before, but why? Because it's, it surrounds our sport and it surrounds our heroes and cool stuff. It really does. I see some great posts out there about the market and I'm gonna spend the last couple minutes on that. Take a look at some prices, guys. Take a look at some prices of cars. I'm not talking about the high end, those are crazy too. But just, I mean, the Michael Jordan stuff, it's funny. I started really spending more, buying more in February, March, maybe beginning of April. And at the time I thought to myself, I'm just gonna wanna, I'm gonna put all my money into Michael Jordan cards. I'll buy 86 flirs. I'm just gonna buy Michael Jordan. Michael Jordan. And every time I try to, it was like a little higher than before. And I'm like, I'm not buying this. I'm not going to be buying at the higher price. I'm trying to get bargains here. I'm trying to get ones lower. I look back at the prices. They were back in February, March and April. I'm like, oh my God, I should have set the record. I should have went 5% higher or 2% higher and been just higher because those prices are in, you know, they're, they're now so much lower than what they are now. I don't know how long something like that continues and I am excited and maybe I'll do an episode about this in the lead up. I'm, I'm curious to see what happens with the market. If some of this is excitement leading up to, you know, the, the, the national and Fanatics Fest. I have a theory on it. I watched the video. I'll post it on my story today. So take a look at my story. I watched a video guy who's been collecting for about a year and he's been buying cards and selling cards and going to shows and he's got suitcases of smaller cards the whole deal. And he made a video saying he's gonna go to Fanatics Fest and he's going to try to get himself into an 86 FLIR. Jordan. That is not the only person thinking that. And here is my theory. It's not just that people are buying these 86 Flare Jordans or the O3 LeBron Chromes or the 2000 Bowman Chrome, you know, Tom Brady car, the iconic, the rookies, the things that people look for. It's not just that people are buying them to have in their showcase because they want a price couch and they want to have it in the showcase to charge more at the national for the card. I think people are buying them now because whether you get to go to the national or not, whether you go to Fanatics Fest or not, this is that pilgrimage. This is that one time a year, it's like Christmas, right, where people take stock in their collection, people look at what they've done during the year and they actually take a step back and say, okay, did I get the car? I wanted to. I'm going to refocus my collection. I'm going to look at what I have here and you know what I really want? I really want that Bowman Chrome Brady Rookie. I really want that LeBron. I really want that 86 flu Jordan. Maybe I can't afford a PSA 9 or an 8, but I'll get a nice 6 or I'll get a 5 or I'll get something right? And I saw that video and I know that's not the only person thinking that. There are people at home saying, all right, you know what? Everybody's talking national, I'm going to refocus my. I'm not, I can't go this year, but I'm refocusing my collection, I'm going to sell a bunch of stuff. I'm going to consolidate into the one card I really want and then we'll do it again next year. And then there are people who are going to go to Fanatics Fest and try to sell their cards like this guy and consolidate into the card that they want into that 86 flare Jordan. I think that's part of the run up we're seeing. I think people are buying those to have them at the show. I think people who aren't going to go to the show are buying them because they use the show. They use the, you know, the, that this is that time, this is the Christmas of the hobby here, right where, where it all kind of culminates this month in these big shows. I don't know that that necessarily means that you see a price drop on these after. I mean we might see a kind of plateau maybe. I don't know. It's very hard to predict because the market's been very strong. There are a lot of new people coming in. I see new stores opening. I see new content. You know, I see new repackers. Even if you look at the map for Fanatics Fest, the makeup of it is different this year. A lot of different companies, a lot of, A lot of people want to be there. A lot of new companies that are there. So it's, it's fun to think about sort of, you know, what the market's going to do and where it's going to go and we'll do content about it. We'll see where it is afterwards. I got to tell you, I mean I, I have more than a couple of the 86 flip Jordans myself. I'll bring some. So if you're somebody who wants to consolidate into one, send me a dm. I'll have, I'll have a few Fanatics Fest. I'll have a few at the National. Well, I got a few of everything. We're, we're really enjoying the collecting journey in 2026. Just buying more stuff and having more stuff and you know, building up the collection and you know, buying, selling and trading. I'll have some fun stuff with me at the shows. So let's make some deals. I might have one of these guy right here behind me might have one of those with me too. Gonna be hard to get it from me though. And there you go guys. That's 419. You know, get your paraphernalia out for tomorrow's episode, but today's419 brought to you by arena. Brought to you by card ladder. Use code Cage. Save yourself a couple bucks. And by the Philly Show. We'll talk to you guys tomorrow. Take care, everybody. And if you're coming to Fanatics Fest, coming to national, send me a message. Let's meet up. Let's chat. Talk to you soon. Take care, everybody.