THWC 420: The Hobby Hitting New Highs

What is up everybody? Habit cage episode 420 brought to you by Arena Club by card ladder use code Cage. Save yourself a couple bucks. And by the Philly Show 420. I had, I had a bunch of great suggestions about what I should do for 420 that I should be smoking, maybe a cigar. As you guys know, I don't do the herbal stuff. But what's funny about it is the hobby takes care of its, its own headlines here, its own title for the episode. Because, you know, as I sit here to record episode 420 for you guys, the hobby is at new highs. But it is true. I mean, every single day, wake up and see, you know, the, the cards that we, we think of as iconic, those kind of bellwether cards, you know, the A6 flare Jordan in 5, 6, 7, you know, the Tom Brady 2000 Bowman chrome, the, the 2003 tops chrome LeBron. They're at New highs, those mid grade Jordans. Maybe not the 10 yet. It's kind of headed back up. Those mid grade Jordan 86 FLIRs are higher than they were even. You know, after that COVID pandemic crazy spike, they took a little bit of a dip and now they're running back up. And we talked about this in prior episodes. It's not just those cards, like so many cards are at, are hitting new highs. It's the time of year that we're at. You know, that's part of it, I think that they're the time of year. It's funny, it's. It's almost a chicken or an egg kind of thing, right? Are the prices going up because people are excited about Fanatics Fest or are people excited about Fanatics Fest the National? And that in turn is making the prices go up. So there is a difference. And, and let me try to explain it right. The goal of shows like the national and Fanatics Fest are to bring more people into it. And they work because they set new records for attendance every year. And I anticipate that the national will be setting an attendance record that more people will be at Fanatics Fest this year. Hell, they expanded it to four days this year so they're adding an extra day to any extra athletes, extra, you know, activations. The goal there is to bring more people into it. And if you bring more people in, just to use, you know, silly economic terms, that's more demand, right? And the fun part about this is let's use Fanatics Fest for a second because I record this and we are a day away. July 15th Wednesday, a day away from the start of Fanatics Fest. Let's talk about it for a second. Why it is. It is. Why it is much improved from years past. I've been at all of them and I walked away from the first year one with one ringing. I don't want to call it a complaint, but sort of one, one statement made by a lot of people who were there and it was that it was like two different parts, that the cards were kind of off in a corner and the rest of it was sort of this convention type atmosphere, a Comic Con type atmosphere, you know, a, you know, just a sports fair where you had the leagues and you had autographs. You had, you know, all kinds of craziness. And by the way, just to take a step back, that is often the way it is. Even at the national, you know, there's a separate autograph pavilion. I'll walk the national for, for three days and never even go where the autographs are. So they're in its own kind of separate space too. So that, you know, like that's just, that's for logistics. That's just the way stuff is done anyway. But I understood after year one people, basically the commentary was this. Fanatics needs to do a better job of integrating the overall events, the celebrities, you name it, into the cards. And last year, come on, you had to see an improvement in that because you saw Tom Brady at the table buying cards. You saw, you know, Paul Skeens and Livy Dunn buying cards at the table. You saw, you know, Wemby buying cards at the table. These athletes were coming over and, and, and making deals and buying cards right there in the card space. I anticipate a further integration of that this year. It's a, it's. I haven't seen anybody do any content about this, but I'm on the Fanatics app pretty much every, all the time. And Fan cash is going to be a big push this year. I see it. I see Fanatics 1 sort of like a loyalty level, almost like your credit cards, right? Like your Amex Platinum. And they do obviously have a deal with Amex and Amex is a sponsor of Fanatics Fest. But they probably took a note from them. You know, when you log into your Fanatics app, you're going to have a, like a loyalty level now. You know, you're going to have a Fanatics one that have gold Platinum. I think there's even a black level. I don't know, you know what I got to do to get there. But I'll be Trying, but. But you're gonna see activations around that you'll be able to spend your fan cash while you're there. And I think that they're going to attempt to combine everything there in that one kind of, you know, Fanatics ecosystem using that fan cash, which you can use to buy cards, which you can use to buy on their, you know, Collect app, which you can also use to buy jerseys on Fanatic site and buy tickets. And once you have that integration, I think that's even, you know, going to bring everything even closer together. But the fun part is leading up to this, I have spoken to people who are not into cards. They're not, you know, they're. They're not hobby people, let's say, right? But they're going to take their kids to Fanatics Fest. They are going to show up there, they're going to, you know, see a wrestler that they like and maybe get a photo op or an autograph. They're going to go see, you know, they're, they're soccer fans. They don't really get into the soccer cards per se. But, you know, Rosinha is going to be there, the goalie from Capa Verde, and they want to take a photo with them, which, by the way, Thursday sold out and they got new ones for Friday at a higher price, I might add. You know, I guess when you sell out at the cheaper price on Thursday, if they add something for the weekend, I'm buying because, you know, my son, he's a goalie, so it'd be cool to take a picture with, you know, this goalie who made a name for himself during the World Cup. If they could convinced Holland to stay instead of going back home and got him to Fanatics Fest, the thing would have exploded. That would have been crazy because you would have housewives who are now watching, you know, social media of early Holland trying to take pictures with them. But the point is, maybe you have a soccer fan who's there for the weekend, who's who. Who is not a card collector. Maybe they're there from Europe. Maybe, you know, their team was eliminated. You know, maybe, you know, a French team that was eliminated yesterday and they show up at Fanatics Fest and they see that there's soccer cards, you know, and maybe you get a new collector in there. You know, you have people coming to this event trying, you know, to, you know, to be a part of the atmosphere. And then they, you know, they see the cards and it's a, it's a way to take something home. I I liken it to, to Disney World, right? Everybody goes to Disney World. You know, you save up for it. You go and you got to come home with a souvenir. You know, you got to come home with a pair of ears, you got to come home with a Christmas ornament. You got to come home with something. You know, there's a gift shop next to every ride. That's the way that, you know, Fanatics Fest I think is probably going to be more set up this year. You're going to have your lids so you can buy your hats. It's going to be jerseys, it's going to be shirts. But there's also the card sections, you know, and if you're there because you wanted to see Cody Rhodes or you wanted to see, you know, Justin Gaethje, you can go over to the card section after and buy some cards or you can go buy some cards before and have them sign them. You know, it is that type of integration that's there that I think was missing in the first year that is clearly going to be there now. And I mean, I don't know whether or not you guys agree, but there is an increased level of excitement around the entire hobby because of just this, this two week period here where we have, you know, Fanatics Fest and the national right on top of each other and throw in if we're allowed, the Dallas show and the west coast show are also this coming weekend here. So there's been a ton of buying, there's been a ton of activity, a lot of high level, you know, record sales. I posted about them in my news segment yesterday. You gu see kind of what's going on there. And I anticipate, you know, Fanatics does a very good job of this, right? They do a very good job of creating those moments whether they are the Jaden Daniels one of one sale from last year or if it's going to be, you know, Fanatics games moments. They're clippable content, right? And even if people aren't there, they do a good job of, you know, live streaming the Fanatics games. You know, creating those moments where a Tom Brady goes out there and buys a card or has a conversation with someone about cards. I mean, I saw Ryan Reynolds is being added. You know, I'd like to meet Ryan Reynolds, but I was not selected to hang out with Ryan Reynolds. I think, you know, they, they think my personality is a little too much like him. Plus I'm better looking. So, you know, they couldn't put someone better looking with Ryan Reynolds. Sorry, Nature. They put you with him. But, I mean, this is, you know, think of all the fun. And he's gonna be opening cards, right? He owns a soccer team. He's going to be opening soccer cards. That. That's the kind of thing that, you know, a casual fan of his, or maybe of the Wrexham show, you know, the reality show that. That they put on tv. You know, maybe they see that and they're like, wow, all right, this guy's opening cards. Let me. Let me get into some cards. And that is, you know, to go back a few years to the nonsense of it when everybody said this, like it was a silly little tagline. We're going to 10x the hobby. We're going to 10x a hobby. Haven't they already. I mean, maybe your individual card not. Might not be worth 10 times. I mean, some of you. Your cards are worth more than 10 times if you have the right cards. But haven't they 10x the hobby? I mean, don't you. Don't you kind of feel like this hobby is more present now? Don't you feel like it's kind of everywhere that record sales are in the news all the time, that ESPN is covering card sales, that athletes are talking about card sales? The Knicks just won the championship, right? And, you know, call. Anthony Towns is buying cards. He'll be there talking about cards and his, you know, his collection and why he collects cards. You didn't see that a couple years ago, you know, and. And if there were players who collected cards, they weren't out, you know, front and center talking about it being promoted the way that fanatics is promoting them now. So enough to, you know, kind of, you know, to say the, you know, the stuff that they're doing, you see it. And if you don't, you will see it over the. The next four days. Because I imagine a barrage of content coming out of this. Everybody's going to be there. Everybody's gonna be talking about who they see, you know, what athletes are there, who they kind of rub elbows with. Half the people, I don't even know who they are. You know, my son is excited for somebody named Drew Ski. I asked him what sport he plays, what team he's on, and he laughed at me. I mean, I don't know who this person is. I guess he's not in a sport, so. But that's fun, too, you know, I mean, we were in Disney World and saw this guy speed walk by, and my son said hello to him. I'm like, who's that, you know, I have no idea. Now I know he's a very big Messi fan, If you know who it is. You know why that's funny? He's not a messy fan. He's a Ronaldo guy. Well, there you go guys. There's my 10 minutes or so on Fanatics Fest and my excitement for it. And you know, when it ends, the excitement level will continue. As we head international and go there, I've got a lot of messages from people saying they're going to be at Fanatics Fest, wanting to meet up, wanting to say hi. I definitely want to do that. You know, I will be there all four days having fun and you know, just taking in all of the things that Fanatics Fest has to offer and yeah, so excited for it. It is a day away. I feel a little like Christmas Eve kind of vibes here. A little, little. December 24th. All right, now soccer. Have to do it. All right? People want me to be done talking about soccer, but I gotta do it. Five minutes. Lamin Jamal is not the guy you ever see. You see that clip? You're not that guy, pal. You're. Trust me, you're not that guy. He's not the guy. And the best argument that I got from the lamine lovers in my DMs after I posted my stories about him yesterday was, well, that he plays for a better team and the team plays good team ball. Okay, well, that's great. I won't even argue against that. It's 100, right? Rodri had the game of his life yesterday. You know that the Spain team is a juggernaut. They, they are one of the best teams. You know, I thought France was a great team also and Spain beat them pretty easily yesterday. France has a lot more superstar, top level names. You know, a couple of the guys you know are, are, you know, top, top five players. Mbappe obviously has already won a World cup and people already penciling in for the third straight finals, myself included. So, you know, in that regard, you know, Spain winning was a big deal, but here's the thing. You collect cards, whether you collect soccer, basketball, baseball, you name it. Do you collect cards of a superstar player or do you collect cards of a guy who is just one of the. The players on a great team that functions as a great team. There are very few instances where there is high collectibility of a guy who doesn't put up numbers but, but wins and wins because he's part of a great team. You know, that's Bob Koozie, you know that's Yogi Berra, you know, that's. There are guys who are on dynasties, who were on great teams but didn't put up numbers. That's Bernie Williams, you know, who, by the way, has more postseason RBIs than anyone in the history of the game. But I don't see him being collected as much. The thing about soccer, and you've seen it during this World cup, is the guys who are collected by the casual fans like myself, I will not consider myself an expert in any way, but the guys who are collected by the casual fans out there are the guys who score goals. And this World cup had those guys front and center. Erling Holland became a household name. Everybody showed him yesterday getting off the plane with the raccoon, with drinking, you know, alcohol, the most American of souvenirs, etc. You all saw it. You know you did. And why he lost. Yamal won. Yamal still playing. He may win the World cup, but everybody's talking about Holland. Why? Because Holland scored. Because he was exciting. Because when they put the ball in his feet, he scored. And he was exciting. And he was a player that was on social media and he made a name for himself. And guess what? Mbappe, who, who lost, had a lot of goals. People were talking about him in the lead up to yesterday's game as potentially the player of the tournament. Messi, a lot of goals will probably end the tournament winning the Ballon d'. Or. We'll probably win everything. I probably win a golden boot and probably win golden everything and maybe even the trophy. He's scoring a lot of goals. Drew Bellingham, six goals. Harry Kane, six goals. Yamal, one goal. Now Spain won. His team is advancing to the finals. You cannot take that away from him. But people expect not just a great team, not just the success, but success because of you. They the story would have been very different yesterday if Spain beat France 2, nothing. And Yamal had one of those goals. And I get the argument right, it's, hey, you know, take a look at the penalty kicks. Messi gets a lot of penalty goals. No, he doesn't. He misses a lot of them. You know, Harry Kane gets penalty goals and you know, Mbappe gets to take the penalty kicks. Yamal didn't take the penalty. Well, why not? Well, because they have a specialist. But what does that mean? That means that there's someone on his own team who's better than him at it. If you're the superstar, you take the penalty kick. Messi takes every penalty kick. The stars on the team take all Every penalty. And by the way, I get it. Spain, you have a superstar penalty kicker and you name it. This is the whole point. If you have to tell these stories, if you have to make these excuses, if you have to explain, it makes it harder for that card to have the value you think it's going to have. It's very easy to say I'm collecting him all because he won the World cup and led the tournament in goals or he had top five in goals. Messi may have had more, Mbappe may have had more, but he was one of the three stars. Bellingham, him? No. Ronaldo is 118 years old and was eliminated a month ago. And that dude had three goals in this tournament and Yamal had one different makes it hard. And as much as I root for the kid, because we need that next superstar, because Ronaldo is old and Messi is old and they're both younger than me. So it's amazing that I'm calling them old. They're all for the sport, which just means that they're not going to be here that much longer. You have Mbappe. Great player, just not that exciting. Bellingham, that could be the guy everybody was hoping for, Yamal. And maybe he turns into something. I had somebody compare Yamal in my comments yesterday to Maradona. Come on, dude. Yes, he's done a lot of things at a young age. His teams have done a lot of things. I've watched almost every one of his games, all 90 plus minutes of almost every one of his games. He's very fast. He gets the ball. He looks exciting. He always does the same thing. He dribbles it right into the defenders, shoots it right into the defenders. He's not creating anyway. I'm not going to get into it. The numbers are there. He's winning. But for him, winning will not be enough. Even if he wins the tournament, guess what that makes him less than Mbappe was after 2018, because Mbappe also won one as a youngster. But Mbappe had a hell of a tournament and scored a bunch of. And who's collecting Bopping now? A bunch of people who were hoping they collected him because he was going to win the World Cup. But they were all going to be trying to scramble the cell today because he didn't win the World Cup. He doesn't really have much success for his club. Anyway, there's my Yamal story. I'll get some hate on it. I kind of don't care. I was rooting for the kid and I mean, he just invisible was the word that I used to and that's not exactly fair you know he's a playmaker he's fast you know when the when he's touching the ball it's very exciting. He seems to operate at a different speed than everybody else out there but there's just nothing that comes of it not any time that he has the ball do we see that exciting scoring play just it doesn't happen There's a lot of misses there's a lot of turnovers he loses the ball a lot but there's my imal come after me I don't care and there is episode 420 the hobby's hitting new highs I don't think your miles cards are gonna though and that's brought to you by arena club by card ladder use code cage save yourself a couple bucks and by the Philly show and if you're coming to fanatics fest send me a message I will see you guys there Take care everybody.