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Oct. 5, 2026

"2026 National Post-Mortem" The Cardfellas E2

"2026 National Post-Mortem" The Cardfellas E2
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John Newman and Tony D bring you "The Cardfellas" Two guys "Chopping up" a hobby topic. We don't have a set schedule but you'll see/hear us when inspiration strikes.


E2:

Little late to press but Tony and I review our 2026 National experiences in Chicago. The good, bad and ugly. Hope you enjoy!

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/sports-card-nation-podcast--4761791/support.

WEBVTT

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All right. If you ever were wondering if there would

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be an episode number two of Cardfellas after episode one

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and the long break in between, here's your answer. Here

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it is. This is episode two. Like we said, when

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me and Tony launched the show, we're not necessarily going

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to have a set schedule, just whenever inspiration caught hold.

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And to be in the honesty of full transparency, we

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recorded this some weeks prior to me finally getting it

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out there. So what is today's episode going to be?

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We're calling it the 2026 National Postmortem. So we're going

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to review our time at the National, things we did,

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cards we picked up, things we liked, things we didn't like.

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I think you'll find it funny and entertaining. And if not,

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it didn't cost you anything. So we have a money

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back guarantee. So if you didn't like the show, submit

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your receipt and we will honor the sale and refund

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your money. All joking aside, we do hope you enjoy

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the show. We do enjoy doing it. even though we

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don't do it as often as we probably should, quite frankly.

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So it's going to be the national wrap-up. I know

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it's October, but, you know, we had to decompress a

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little bit, too. And plus, there was so much after

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national content, we wanted to wait a little bit to

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steer clear of that. So that being said, here we are.

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And it's good to hear the music. It's been a

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while since we heard the.

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People were wondering if we had a fight or something.

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Nah, it's just life comes in between. Somehow life finds

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its way in between the hobby and collecting and then

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the work and everything else. Yeah, so we're finally able

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to get together. I know it's been about two weeks

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since we talked about the 2026 National, which we were

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on stage. You were on stage, I think, a total

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of three times?

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Yeah, I was fortunate. Yeah, SCD. hobby hotline and sports

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coordination itself. And I believe that's the first time I've

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been on three times. It's usually twice, but with the

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SCD panel that I was able to procure for, for

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sports collector, I guess I made a third appearance. So

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definitely over oversaturated on the main stage.

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So you went three for three and I was on twice.

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Luckily we were able to, be on the stage once,

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you know, our paths did cross once on Hobby Hotline.

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That was really cool. And I got to meet people

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that I only spoke to on the camera. Yeah.

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Yeah. That's always the great thing about the National is

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meeting people for, you know, for the first time.

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So we titled this the 2026 National Postmortem by the Cardfellas.

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Sounds about right. I'm still trying. Listen, I'm still trying

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to recover, man. My aura ring is telling me I'm

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14 hours behind on sleep. I came right back and

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went back to work and teaching where a lot of

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other people took the Monday off. I didn't. I've never

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done that. I think I need to start doing that.

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I got a couple weeks off coming up after this

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week before regular school starts. There's a lot of naps planned.

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In that couple of weeks, Tony, I'm not going to

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lie about it.

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Does your wife allow you to nap?

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Well, the two weeks I'm home, she'll be at work

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and I won't be. So, you know, my phone is

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going to be on vibrate so she can text all

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she wants. If I'm up, I'll respond. If I'm napping,

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she'll have to wait till I wake up.

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Because my wife doesn't allow me to nap. Only when

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she's away. And then she still sometimes calls me up.

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And then I got to make sure.

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Vibrate or mute.

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Yeah, but what if you put the vibrate in your

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pocket while you're napping?

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No, it'll be in bed with me, but I won't

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be in my pocket. It'll start in my hand, and

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as I doze off, it'll fall out.

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I sleep the same way. That's how I sleep.

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So....

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We got a couple of topics we want people to

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hear our take on and, uh, like all shows you do.

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And I try to do when I'm able to make

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YouTube content is totally unfiltered unrehearsed. Um, all we did

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was share the topics we were going to go, you know,

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talk about. And, uh, you know, we know some about

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each other's pickups, obviously, but we didn't talk about, you know,

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how we felt about the national, um, you know, we

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saw each other on the floor a couple of times

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walking around and then obviously on stage. And then, you know,

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I was, every time I saw you, I tried to

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give you a hug and stuff because you're my buddy.

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Yeah. Yeah. Good hug from somebody they like. Right.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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It was, it was like a football team hug type

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of a hug, but all right.

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Is that a Steeler fan and an Eagles fan can't

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get along sometimes.

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Yeah. But you're Syracuse fan too though.

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So yeah. we got something too much of a threat to, to,

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to much. So don't worry. You're okay there.

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Well, I went to LaSalle university and we haven't had

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a decent basketball. Well, we had one decent basketball team

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in 30 years, 35 years, maybe four.

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Yeah.

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It's, it's out there. So 2026 national is in the books. Uh,

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we were lucky enough to be, uh, granted access by

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the national thanks to everyone as part of that program organization.

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We were able to get in with the media badge

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and we earned it. I mean, especially you. I mean,

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we talked to people, we thanked people, we did presentations

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on the stage, dialogues back and forth. It was pretty cool.

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So what's your biggest takeaway from this national compared to

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previous ones?

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It just seems to get bigger, right? I think there's

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more people, you know, Michael Rubin's probably happy. There's more

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people in the hobby. I thought, you know, the national

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itself is expanding, right? They've expanded out to that second

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floor and even more so this year, there's more dealers,

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there's more tables. There's more people who probably didn't get

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in as, as dealers, right? That's why they have that

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table lottery. So, It's growing just like the hobby's growing.

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The national's growing. I think there's, that's a blessing and

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a curse. It's not all good. You know, growth, growth

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is usually good, but in most cases, it's not a

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hundred percent good. It's, you know, whatever percentage you want

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to slap on it, but, you know, it's better than declining.

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I mean, if you, if you ask me that, sure,

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growth is better than declining in most cases, in most cases. And, um,

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You know, so yeah, the hobby's getting bigger in more

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ways than one.

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So was growth good for PSA?

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Apparently not, because they have to shut off, you know,

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the lower levels. And now Beckett is, which is controlled

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by PSA's parent company. And so now Beckett has shut

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off those lower levels. So, you know, it's more money

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to grade your cards if you so choose. And, you know,

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speaking of that, You know, it was a surprise, right? Like,

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PSA was steady, but if someone has been to nine

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nationals or something around that time, right, I'm using those

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PSA lines four, five, six, seven snake rows deep, right?

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Mm-hmm.

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That wasn't the case. You know, anytime I went by there,

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they were steady, but it was two rows, three rows

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at the most. So I think less people are paying 80,

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85 bucks to rate cards. And that's not, I don't

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know if that's a surprise. I guess it's a surprise

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to see smaller lines at PSA. Not that they were slow,

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but it just wasn't that huge, you know, big long

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snake of people that we're accustomed to seeing. At most, Nash.

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So Many decades ago When I was young I was

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about the same height Or maybe an inch or two

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smaller But I worked at a I worked at a

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nightclub And Egypt Gotham Kathmandu Rock Rock Lobster And Eighth

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floor And Our lines Were packed But the way we

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kept them From going around the corner Like what you

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just said Was that We just shucked off the line

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So like We just said no one after this person.

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And then we had a person who worked there, usually

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a bouncer. He would stay there and just make sure

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no one else got in line. So with PSA shutting

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down their entry-level grading on-site service, and then they stopped that,

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they throttled that off. First they throttled it, then they

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stopped it. And then they started just, I think that's

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part of the reason why we saw smaller lines at PSA,

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At certain times, because everyone knew that they just took

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in more in the first day, Wednesday, than they did

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all of last national.

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I'm not saying they're lying, but, man, I didn't see

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that on the line. but so everyone on that line

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must have subbed a hundred cards at 80 bucks and

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spent 80 000 you know or eight thousand dollars on

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grading alone i'm not saying that's not possible that's very

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well could be possible um you know and here's the

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other thing maybe some of those people online right it's

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not even just their cards right someone who's not going

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to the national And they tell their buddy who is, hey, man,

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here's the money. Submit these for me. So I guess

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the people who were online were still submitting large number

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of cards. But also, you know, it was steady all

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day long. So did they say the amount of cards

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or the money taken in? Because if it's $ 80, $ 85

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a pop over $ 25, Yeah, they probably did make more money.

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I'm not shocked if they said they made more money

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than last year. I'm a little surprised if they're.

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Saying they got more cards than last year. So the $ 80,

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$ 85 a sub per card, I should say, per card,

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that was just for hanging the card in. That wasn't

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for on-site grading. On-site grading, I think, started at five

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or six. I thought it was like five. Okay, I

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have to double check that.

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I thought it was $ 199. Listen, it's three digits and

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it's expensive. That card better be a big boy card.

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You're not subbing your 1990 Lee Frank Thomas at $ 200

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or more, like you said. So you better have some

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big boy cards.

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So this is the first National since when I got

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back into the hobby that I attended. This is my

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third consecutive one. But this is the first one of

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the three that I did not bring any cards on me.

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I didn't use PSA, which I used PSA in Cleveland, 24. Chicago,

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last year, 25. This time, I didn't bring a... And

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my son has like a stack of cards. He wanted

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me to get graded. SGC, PSA, he didn't care. He

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just said pretty much anybody but Beckett. Because he's 17.

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And so I didn't bring anything with me. So yeah,

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I didn't even look at the PSA charges. But I

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know quite a few folks... that brought big boy cards

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and a various levels and a big boy, meaning across

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all pricing structures across all hobby budgets, because everyone has

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a big boy card based on how much they spend.

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And they sometimes pay for one day turnaround, two day turnaround.

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Some of those folks didn't get their cards back until

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Saturday or Sunday. And if they, were not there to

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get their cards back. The PSA had to mail them.

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So I heard conflicting reports that for folks who were

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not able to make, you know, to be there at

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the national, when PSA did have their cards ready, they

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had to get shipped out to them. And then I don't,

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then here's where the conflicting reports part comes in. PSA

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sometimes charged them to get the shipping and that's kind of,

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you know. Yeah.

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So here's my case. If that is true, that's not right.

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If you pay Ford, And you're told that you'll have

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them back before you leave the National. If that's what's

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told to you, if that's sort of the understanding, Tony,

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then I shouldn't. So if that's me and I'm told

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that and they don't get it done in time, don't

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charge me for the shipping. It's bad enough that you

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didn't sort of live up to the expectation that I'd

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have them before I'd be taking them home with me.

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Now you're going to whack me over the head with shipping,

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which we know is not cheap either. So, you know,

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so I hope that's not the case. I'd be mad.

231
00:13:40.340 --> 00:13:43.340
I'm mad and it didn't even happen to me. So

232
00:13:43.360 --> 00:13:44.299
my biggest takeaway.

233
00:13:44.330 --> 00:13:46.309
So before the 2024 Cleveland National, I attended the 1988 season.

234
00:13:54.220 --> 00:13:56.919
national that was in that was in Atlantic City and

235
00:13:56.960 --> 00:14:00.480
grading did not exist there for cards so I went

236
00:14:00.519 --> 00:14:04.879
from 1988 with my father to 2024 Cleveland with my

237
00:14:04.919 --> 00:14:09.379
son and this is the first national that I can

238
00:14:09.419 --> 00:14:11.830
remember going back to 88 because I only been to

239
00:14:11.830 --> 00:14:13.049
24 and 25 where I saw so many roll cards

240
00:14:13.070 --> 00:14:14.809
so many 50s and 60s and 70s but mainly a

241
00:14:14.870 --> 00:14:25.700
lot of 50s and 60s Mantle K-Line Clemente, Colfax. I mean,

242
00:14:25.720 --> 00:14:30.080
we're talking some big names here, Nolan Ryan, where those

243
00:14:30.139 --> 00:14:34.360
cards were raw. And the amount of cards I saw

244
00:14:34.480 --> 00:14:40.799
raw just was mind-boggling. So that was Wednesday and Thursday

245
00:14:40.830 --> 00:14:46.070
because my son threw me a little curveball, a nice one. Actually,

246
00:14:46.090 --> 00:14:49.149
I should say he threw me a change-up when I

247
00:14:49.190 --> 00:14:53.580
was expecting a change-up. And he found out Tuesday night,

248
00:14:53.720 --> 00:14:56.840
he was now able to attend the National, but he

249
00:14:56.860 --> 00:14:59.279
wasn't going to be able to fly in until Friday.

250
00:14:59.580 --> 00:15:04.059
So he came in Friday, and we hung out all day, Friday, Saturday.

251
00:15:04.179 --> 00:15:06.899
I did whatever he wanted to do. He's 17 years old.

252
00:15:07.320 --> 00:15:09.299
He's on his way out of the hobby, I think,

253
00:15:09.340 --> 00:15:11.440
to take a little break because he's at that age

254
00:15:11.480 --> 00:15:16.159
where he's driving, playing golf, does rowing for school, the girls,

255
00:15:16.279 --> 00:15:18.990
the whole thing now. But he joined me, so I

256
00:15:19.570 --> 00:15:24.620
looked at every single modern booth I would say on Wednesday, Thursday,

257
00:15:24.779 --> 00:15:28.730
I might have covered 20% of the entire floor. And

258
00:15:28.750 --> 00:15:31.809
that's the multiple rooms. With my son, I think we

259
00:15:31.850 --> 00:15:42.210
got 75% covered. And looking at all these, I saw $ 5, 000

260
00:15:38.330 --> 00:15:42.929
kabooms ungraded. I never saw that before. Some people were

261
00:15:43.009 --> 00:15:44.909
asking $ 1, 000, $ 5, 000, $ 10 for all messy World Cup prism

262
00:15:44.950 --> 00:15:55.529
cards from 2014, 2018, 2019. 2012, sorry, 2022. Then I

263
00:15:55.629 --> 00:16:00.440
saw football, modern football, just TCG. I'd never seen, and

264
00:16:00.460 --> 00:16:02.360
he's not a big TCG guy, but they happen to

265
00:16:02.399 --> 00:16:05.220
be at the same booth. Never saw so many ungraded cards.

266
00:16:05.779 --> 00:16:08.379
I don't think that's a bad thing. You know what

267
00:16:08.429 --> 00:16:11.870
I mean? I think I like both. I like a

268
00:16:12.250 --> 00:16:15.190
nice raw card. I like a graded card. So like,

269
00:16:15.629 --> 00:16:17.649
I won't kick either one of them out of bed.

270
00:16:17.690 --> 00:16:22.620
And I think maybe, this grading price surge, maybe one

271
00:16:22.659 --> 00:16:26.539
of the fringe benefits of it is that people will

272
00:16:26.960 --> 00:16:30.419
fall in love is the right term, but learn that

273
00:16:30.720 --> 00:16:34.470
everything doesn't have to be graded. You can collect stuff

274
00:16:34.529 --> 00:16:38.769
and not have it be encased in plastic. You can

275
00:16:38.809 --> 00:16:43.029
keep cards like that too. And people know that. That's

276
00:16:43.049 --> 00:16:48.509
not breaking news, but maybe it'll be more accepted. than

277
00:16:48.549 --> 00:16:54.559
it is prior to this lower-level grading shutdown. So I

278
00:16:54.600 --> 00:16:57.419
don't think that's a bad thing. And for me, I

279
00:16:57.799 --> 00:17:00.659
have cards I'd like to grade, but I'm not going

280
00:17:00.679 --> 00:17:05.529
to grade at $ 80 or more. And so I'll keep

281
00:17:05.549 --> 00:17:08.849
them raw, and I'm fine with that. That's okay. And

282
00:17:08.890 --> 00:17:13.829
when the time comes, I'll submit again. I guess that's

283
00:17:13.869 --> 00:17:17.150
the million-dollar question. If PSA is doing that well at

284
00:17:17.190 --> 00:17:20.019
the higher level, A lot of people predicting like we

285
00:17:20.039 --> 00:17:23.339
may not see those lower levels ever again. Here's the

286
00:17:23.380 --> 00:17:27.019
head scratcher there. What does PSA hang its hat on?

287
00:17:27.400 --> 00:17:31.319
Their set registry and those registry classes.

288
00:17:31.539 --> 00:17:34.579
That's being ignored. Other than the Friday night dinner, no

289
00:17:35.180 --> 00:17:37.640
mention of PSA set registry.

290
00:17:38.049 --> 00:17:42.819
Yeah, that's not good. That's not good if you ask me.

291
00:17:43.740 --> 00:17:47.690
So I think that's the bigger problem than having to

292
00:17:47.730 --> 00:17:52.470
keep your cards raw. What about those people who are grading,

293
00:17:52.529 --> 00:17:55.970
not necessarily the flip, but grading because they want to

294
00:17:56.029 --> 00:18:00.579
rank on the set registry, they want to potentially win

295
00:18:00.619 --> 00:18:06.500
an award at that aforementioned registry party that we both attended.

296
00:18:06.519 --> 00:18:10.640
Which we're going to get into. which we're going to

297
00:18:10.680 --> 00:18:12.099
get into a little bit later about that.

298
00:18:12.740 --> 00:18:16.000
So like that's, that's their sort of bread and butter

299
00:18:16.220 --> 00:18:18.799
and some of their decisions are sort of going away

300
00:18:18.859 --> 00:18:21.880
from their bread and butter. And that's, that's where I

301
00:18:21.980 --> 00:18:24.440
say like, what do we do? Like, what are you doing?

302
00:18:24.740 --> 00:18:28.039
But I get it. You're 14 million cards behind. You

303
00:18:28.059 --> 00:18:29.220
got to figure something out.

304
00:18:29.500 --> 00:18:34.259
Okay. So you are in the national, now you have

305
00:18:34.259 --> 00:18:39.589
40 plus years of hobby experience, continuous experience. And that's

306
00:18:39.609 --> 00:18:41.170
what I know. You know grading.

307
00:18:41.190 --> 00:18:44.170
I'm laughing. Every time I hear that, I'm like, that's

308
00:18:44.190 --> 00:18:46.630
how old I am. And that's just enough. Like, I

309
00:18:46.690 --> 00:18:49.930
wasn't born in the hobby, so it's not like I'm 40.

310
00:18:49.930 --> 00:18:50.609
That'd be nice.

311
00:18:51.009 --> 00:18:53.069
You were born in the hobby. Let's just say that

312
00:18:53.089 --> 00:18:53.430
you were.

313
00:18:53.450 --> 00:18:54.380
Okay?

314
00:18:54.710 --> 00:18:59.119
So I just turned 50, or not just turned, but

315
00:18:59.160 --> 00:19:02.220
like six months ago. And I'm looking at all these

316
00:19:02.279 --> 00:19:05.880
raw cards, especially the vintage cards. And I'm thinking to myself,

317
00:19:06.519 --> 00:19:09.119
I haven't really, I mean, I know how to grade.

318
00:19:09.650 --> 00:19:12.930
by the standards and everything but i just thinking like

319
00:19:12.950 --> 00:19:15.349
i hope these folks that are buying these roll cards

320
00:19:15.930 --> 00:19:18.950
not only know how to measure cards obviously because no

321
00:19:19.009 --> 00:19:21.130
one had rulers i didn't see one person with a

322
00:19:21.210 --> 00:19:24.970
ruler i saw a couple people with loops but zero

323
00:19:25.019 --> 00:19:27.279
rulers i just hope they know how to had a

324
00:19:27.299 --> 00:19:30.279
great cards because you know when we were growing.

325
00:19:30.059 --> 00:19:34.390
Up rulers tony like The best tool, I have one

326
00:19:34.430 --> 00:19:35.490
around here somewhere.

327
00:19:36.029 --> 00:19:38.410
It's the loop with the ruler built in?

328
00:19:38.609 --> 00:19:44.710
No, it's a caliper. Right? I just like doing this, Carson.

329
00:19:45.549 --> 00:19:48.410
Well, I know why, but I'm also seeing it, like,

330
00:19:48.609 --> 00:19:51.849
the way you were just holding it, you were... like,

331
00:19:51.930 --> 00:19:54.630
clamping your face, measuring your face.

332
00:19:55.009 --> 00:19:57.170
I'm sure a few people really want to do that,

333
00:19:57.269 --> 00:19:58.849
so it's for those folks out there.

334
00:19:58.890 --> 00:20:00.329
It looked like a voice.

335
00:20:01.250 --> 00:20:04.599
The calipers are the best way to measure the card.

336
00:20:04.890 --> 00:20:07.059
You obviously have to be careful because you've got to

337
00:20:07.099 --> 00:20:08.839
do it out of a sleeve. You can't do it

338
00:20:08.960 --> 00:20:12.400
in a sleeve. And so you've really, you almost got

339
00:20:12.420 --> 00:20:15.480
to have it on a flat surface and just barely

340
00:20:15.559 --> 00:20:18.420
touch the card and see what the digital reading says.

341
00:20:18.480 --> 00:20:23.170
And again, a hand caliper, it's not 100% foolproof. Like,

342
00:20:23.230 --> 00:20:25.690
you know, it could still be off. But at least

343
00:20:25.769 --> 00:20:28.329
it's a tool where you know if it's short with that,

344
00:20:28.809 --> 00:20:34.589
it's probably not meeting the minimum size requirement and it's

345
00:20:34.630 --> 00:20:36.049
not going to get a grade, right?

346
00:20:36.369 --> 00:20:39.089
And those cards are... those cards are not getting graded

347
00:20:39.150 --> 00:20:43.430
if they're even one 16th off of an inch. Yeah.

348
00:20:43.849 --> 00:20:47.349
You know, sometimes it's, and you know this, but for

349
00:20:47.390 --> 00:20:50.470
those out there, maybe a lot do know this. Sometimes

350
00:20:50.579 --> 00:20:52.960
cards are come out of a pack like that. Does

351
00:20:53.000 --> 00:20:57.559
it just because the card says minimum size, not, not Matt,

352
00:20:58.000 --> 00:20:59.799
it could have came out of a pack like that.

353
00:21:00.279 --> 00:21:02.599
I've sent in a card that I know I pulled

354
00:21:03.039 --> 00:21:05.000
out of a pack back in the day and it

355
00:21:05.039 --> 00:21:08.819
got that designation. So, So that doesn't mean like something's

356
00:21:08.859 --> 00:21:11.460
not on the up and up or the guy selling

357
00:21:11.480 --> 00:21:14.279
the car, trim the car or the guy that he

358
00:21:14.339 --> 00:21:17.019
bought the car from trim the car. It could mean that,

359
00:21:17.339 --> 00:21:18.640
but it's not a hundred percent.

360
00:21:19.279 --> 00:21:23.279
Vending boxes always contain cars that were cut a little

361
00:21:23.420 --> 00:21:26.380
shorter than what you would get out of rack packs and,

362
00:21:27.009 --> 00:21:28.690
and wax boxes.

363
00:21:29.130 --> 00:21:30.650
Yep. But guess what?

364
00:21:31.069 --> 00:21:33.509
PSA doesn't seem to really care about that. I don't

365
00:21:33.529 --> 00:21:34.450
think they understand that.

366
00:21:34.569 --> 00:21:37.869
Here's, here's the thing, Tony, if you send that card

367
00:21:38.049 --> 00:21:41.809
in and pay 85 bucks and it gets that designation,

368
00:21:41.829 --> 00:21:44.930
it costs you 85 bucks. They don't give you your

369
00:21:44.930 --> 00:21:48.700
85 bucks back because they graded the card. They graded

370
00:21:48.759 --> 00:21:51.380
the card. They did what they're supposed to do. Just

371
00:21:51.400 --> 00:21:53.559
like when you, if you send a counterfeit card in,

372
00:21:53.759 --> 00:21:56.200
you don't get your money back on a counterfeit card.

373
00:21:56.240 --> 00:21:59.400
You just get told it's counterfeit and it costs you

374
00:21:59.400 --> 00:22:00.519
85 bucks to find that out.

375
00:22:00.849 --> 00:22:04.480
So it's, Most grading companies, if they think the card's

376
00:22:04.519 --> 00:22:06.519
been trimmed, they're going to charge you. But if it's

377
00:22:06.579 --> 00:22:08.220
mint size, you don't get charged.

378
00:22:08.240 --> 00:22:11.559
All right. I didn't, I'm, I'm, you know, I, well.

379
00:22:11.579 --> 00:22:14.019
We need to double check. We will double check that

380
00:22:14.400 --> 00:22:15.019
just in case.

381
00:22:15.559 --> 00:22:17.500
But I know because I said it once and I

382
00:22:17.539 --> 00:22:20.569
think I was, I don't quote me, but if my

383
00:22:20.660 --> 00:22:23.289
memory serves me correct, but I'm old, as you just

384
00:22:23.349 --> 00:22:26.250
pointed out with 40 years of, I'm going to be,

385
00:22:26.470 --> 00:22:31.319
come on, come on. So, I thought I got charged,

386
00:22:31.380 --> 00:22:34.099
but maybe not. Maybe not. Maybe you're right. So I

387
00:22:34.140 --> 00:22:35.779
think you're right more often than I am.

388
00:22:36.000 --> 00:22:39.339
So no, we just don't ask my wife if I'm

389
00:22:39.480 --> 00:22:40.500
more right than wrong.

390
00:22:41.240 --> 00:22:44.000
I don't ask any wives that that's not relegated.

391
00:22:44.799 --> 00:22:50.740
Yeah. So, so that was my biggest takeaway and my surprises.

392
00:22:50.980 --> 00:22:54.119
I also, and this was kind of like a good thing.

393
00:22:54.140 --> 00:22:56.980
I saw, I still saw it, but not as much

394
00:22:57.440 --> 00:23:02.130
people filming. Like, When you go to a national and

395
00:23:02.150 --> 00:23:04.259
you're hanging out with friends or you're talking to a

396
00:23:04.299 --> 00:23:08.240
car dealer and stuff, just put the video camera down, man.

397
00:23:08.299 --> 00:23:13.000
Put the phone. Stop the recording. Just immerse yourself into

398
00:23:13.059 --> 00:23:13.819
what's going.

399
00:23:13.640 --> 00:23:14.319
On around you.

400
00:23:14.420 --> 00:23:19.180
Be observant. It's like going to a sporting event and

401
00:23:19.220 --> 00:23:22.400
instead of watching it live, you're trying to take a

402
00:23:22.460 --> 00:23:24.619
picture or you're trying to take a video of that

403
00:23:24.680 --> 00:23:29.119
at bat or that play right after the game. huddle broke,

404
00:23:29.180 --> 00:23:32.609
you know, broke. Um, but it was better than previous nationals.

405
00:23:32.650 --> 00:23:36.769
But I remember in Cleveland and in 2025, just people

406
00:23:36.789 --> 00:23:39.630
were like trying to trample each other, trying to get

407
00:23:39.650 --> 00:23:43.529
the different destinations to interview certain dealers and certain people

408
00:23:44.029 --> 00:23:47.250
or each other. Um, I saw less of that on

409
00:23:47.289 --> 00:23:47.930
this time around.

410
00:23:48.349 --> 00:23:51.450
There was, there was less of it. Um, but man,

411
00:23:51.529 --> 00:23:55.089
somebody's out like these rigs, man, like it goes around

412
00:23:55.130 --> 00:23:58.119
your waist and it had, it comes up, you know,

413
00:23:58.130 --> 00:24:00.480
they had these rigs that goes around their waist and

414
00:24:00.519 --> 00:24:03.740
this bar comes from behind them and then in front

415
00:24:03.799 --> 00:24:07.000
of them and then the cameras there, they look like Dr.

416
00:24:07.180 --> 00:24:11.970
Octopus from, like, Spider-Man. Like, I thought they were filming, like, Spider-Man.

417
00:24:12.390 --> 00:24:17.109
And here's the thing. Listen, as a content creator, myself

418
00:24:17.210 --> 00:24:20.069
and yourself, I don't want to be a hypocrite, but, man,

419
00:24:20.190 --> 00:24:23.519
I really, haven't we seen enough of, like, just these

420
00:24:23.619 --> 00:24:28.539
negotiation type filmings, like, Yes, people spend six and seven

421
00:24:28.599 --> 00:24:31.859
figures on cards. We don't need to see every deal

422
00:24:31.880 --> 00:24:36.930
on video. And frankly, you know, if I'm a dealer,

423
00:24:37.029 --> 00:24:41.250
and I am a dealer, I don't want that really filmed, right? Like,

424
00:24:41.309 --> 00:24:44.269
I don't need my business out there that much. Like,

425
00:24:44.329 --> 00:24:46.619
I'll show a card after I buy it, but I

426
00:24:46.660 --> 00:24:50.579
don't need to show... the whole negotiation, right? This is old.

427
00:24:51.000 --> 00:24:54.250
This has been done so much, right? It's just, it's

428
00:24:54.630 --> 00:24:57.690
like to me that like that wells run out of water.

429
00:24:57.710 --> 00:25:01.309
Like we don't need to see every big money deal

430
00:25:01.910 --> 00:25:05.109
go down. Like we know what happens. We're on the floor.

431
00:25:05.210 --> 00:25:08.470
I see it happen in person because I'm standing at

432
00:25:08.509 --> 00:25:10.769
the same table when it goes down and there's $ 40, 000

433
00:25:10.670 --> 00:25:18.039
in and $ 100 bills on the showcase, right? I don't

434
00:25:18.259 --> 00:25:20.259
need to see the video of that. I'm seeing it

435
00:25:20.420 --> 00:25:22.920
in person. For those that maybe can't make it to

436
00:25:22.940 --> 00:25:26.069
the national, maybe it's more for them. I get that.

437
00:25:26.529 --> 00:25:30.150
But it's been just so played out now. I'd rather

438
00:25:30.230 --> 00:25:33.710
see other types of content where we're seeing things that

439
00:25:33.730 --> 00:25:37.799
are a little more interesting than that, to me. And

440
00:25:37.839 --> 00:25:40.420
maybe it's because I'm a dealer, and I did my

441
00:25:40.460 --> 00:25:42.680
first show when I was 15, and so I've got

442
00:25:42.680 --> 00:25:47.140
38 years of shows under my belt. I've seen big

443
00:25:47.200 --> 00:25:51.890
money deals. I've seen small money deals. I've seen it all.

444
00:25:51.990 --> 00:25:55.410
It's just sort of played out and redundant. And how

445
00:25:55.450 --> 00:25:59.680
many can you watch? that's, again, everyone has their thing, right?

446
00:25:59.769 --> 00:26:03.670
For me, that's content I skip. I see that kind

447
00:26:03.730 --> 00:26:06.470
of like, I've seen this. I've been there. Maybe not

448
00:26:06.569 --> 00:26:09.109
in some of these crazy deals, but, you know, I've

449
00:26:09.130 --> 00:26:12.599
been in four or five-figure deals before on both sides,

450
00:26:12.990 --> 00:26:17.740
buying and selling. So, like, is it an adrenaline rush? Sure,

451
00:26:17.900 --> 00:26:20.740
if you're in on the deal yourself, but it doesn't

452
00:26:20.779 --> 00:26:24.880
do anything for me watching someone else play the game.

453
00:26:24.920 --> 00:26:27.720
When I'm playing the game, you get that adrenaline rush.

454
00:26:27.779 --> 00:26:30.579
It doesn't do anything for me to watch it, but

455
00:26:30.599 --> 00:26:33.779
to each their own, to each their own. But yeah,

456
00:26:33.960 --> 00:26:36.900
I agree. I think it was less intrusive this year,

457
00:26:36.920 --> 00:26:39.619
but I'm impressed by some of these rings. Like it's,

458
00:26:39.700 --> 00:26:41.680
I thought like, are you, are we on the set

459
00:26:41.720 --> 00:26:44.220
of a movie? Yeah. What's going on here?

460
00:26:44.519 --> 00:26:48.829
So I did witness firsthand the power of some of

461
00:26:48.849 --> 00:26:51.890
these videos and the reach. So I was helping a

462
00:26:51.930 --> 00:26:55.940
buddy of mine, at a booth, because you can never

463
00:26:55.960 --> 00:26:58.789
have too much help at booths, especially what we saw

464
00:26:59.210 --> 00:27:05.390
with that theft. So a popular YouTube hobbyist came to

465
00:27:05.410 --> 00:27:09.730
the table, and he recorded a nice little video just

466
00:27:09.759 --> 00:27:12.980
showing the showcase, and then he went to a booth

467
00:27:13.140 --> 00:27:17.819
two away from us. So here's where it comes in.

468
00:27:18.240 --> 00:27:21.819
The booth I was at, the next day, 20 people

469
00:27:21.859 --> 00:27:25.660
walked up to his booth, to his cases, and just said, hey,

470
00:27:25.720 --> 00:27:30.480
I saw you in so-and-so's video. You got really cool stuff. Like, wow.

471
00:27:31.460 --> 00:27:36.019
First time I saw that, I experienced that. And just

472
00:27:36.220 --> 00:27:39.440
people at the National, they consumed the content later on

473
00:27:39.500 --> 00:27:42.900
in that night. And then the next day, bang, my

474
00:27:42.960 --> 00:27:46.640
friend Mark had 20 different people come up to him

475
00:27:47.220 --> 00:27:50.819
and just say, hey, I saw you in so-and-so's video.

476
00:27:51.339 --> 00:27:56.279
Then the second time was another person filmed at Mark's booth.

477
00:27:56.759 --> 00:28:02.309
And this is Mark, who owns Uncommon Curator. And Mark's

478
00:28:02.380 --> 00:28:05.650
a friend, and we have a common friend. And we

479
00:28:05.670 --> 00:28:10.349
became friends ourselves, so that's pretty cool. And so two

480
00:28:10.369 --> 00:28:13.130
doors down from Mark, I have a couple other friends

481
00:28:13.490 --> 00:28:15.650
that have a booth. And they're all pre-work. 100% is

482
00:28:15.670 --> 00:28:25.349
all pre-work. And they had 1917 Felix Mendelssohn photo cards,

483
00:28:25.890 --> 00:28:30.410
the real bigger ones. And a few sold earlier that day.

484
00:28:30.430 --> 00:28:33.230
And I get a phone call out of the blue

485
00:28:33.309 --> 00:28:35.730
from my buddy, Eric. And he says, hey, are you

486
00:28:35.789 --> 00:28:38.609
near so-and-so's booth? I'm like, why?

487
00:28:39.430 --> 00:28:39.730
Why?

488
00:28:39.750 --> 00:28:42.470
How do you know? He said, I just saw a

489
00:28:42.470 --> 00:28:46.170
video and this dealer gave me the dealer's name. And

490
00:28:46.210 --> 00:28:49.000
he says, my friend. He didn't know we were friends.

491
00:28:49.599 --> 00:28:51.559
And he says, they have Felix Mendelsohn cards, you know.

492
00:28:52.000 --> 00:28:55.980
And Eric has a wonderful collection. And what's great about

493
00:28:56.079 --> 00:29:01.400
his collection is it started with his great-grandfather. His great-grandfather

494
00:29:01.420 --> 00:29:05.329
gave him Cracker Jack cards and Gaudis, but really like

495
00:29:05.349 --> 00:29:08.890
the Fleischmann Bakery cards and other things. And then over

496
00:29:08.930 --> 00:29:12.410
the last 20-some-plus years, Eric was able to put together

497
00:29:12.430 --> 00:29:14.130
a lot of these sets. So he's going after the

498
00:29:14.150 --> 00:29:16.799
Felix Mendelsohn. Mendelsohn set and he heard this guy has

499
00:29:16.819 --> 00:29:18.700
some cards and then I was able to go over

500
00:29:18.720 --> 00:29:21.440
to the booth and take pictures while talking to him

501
00:29:21.460 --> 00:29:22.779
and say hey do you need this one do you

502
00:29:22.799 --> 00:29:24.339
need this one and then I sent him pictures and

503
00:29:24.359 --> 00:29:26.240
then he was able to make a deal with that

504
00:29:26.289 --> 00:29:29.009
dealer and then um I thought that was pretty cool

505
00:29:29.410 --> 00:29:31.690
um I was able to help so that's just something

506
00:29:31.710 --> 00:29:34.369
that I saw which I found pretty uh cool you

507
00:29:34.390 --> 00:29:38.049
know it's the power of content and uh there's then

508
00:29:38.069 --> 00:29:42.160
there's a few other uh videos where you know if

509
00:29:42.579 --> 00:29:45.180
they show the same dealers over and over and i

510
00:29:45.220 --> 00:29:47.579
just wonder if they like have a partnership or they're

511
00:29:47.619 --> 00:29:49.539
good friends oh.

512
00:29:49.059 --> 00:29:52.339
Yeah i'm sure there's mark there's a marketing see that's

513
00:29:52.400 --> 00:29:54.680
the content i rather you know what i rather see

514
00:29:54.740 --> 00:29:57.599
tony's almost what you just said i don't actually want

515
00:29:57.619 --> 00:30:01.710
to see a negotiation on a on a card deal,

516
00:30:01.730 --> 00:30:03.210
whether it's one card or a pack of cards.

517
00:30:03.230 --> 00:30:03.769
Yeah, those are fake.

518
00:30:04.130 --> 00:30:06.890
Yeah. Well, they're not always, but what I'd rather see

519
00:30:06.950 --> 00:30:10.819
is what you said. Like, show the showcases. Show the

520
00:30:11.019 --> 00:30:15.400
showcases and what's in them, right? Because maybe someone's looking

521
00:30:15.480 --> 00:30:17.640
for a card, and now they know where it is.

522
00:30:18.019 --> 00:30:21.839
Yeah, and that's what happened with the people I just mentioned.

523
00:30:21.960 --> 00:30:25.769
I'm more a fan of that than just showing a

524
00:30:25.890 --> 00:30:30.049
rich dude buying a big boy card, which happens a lot.

525
00:30:30.390 --> 00:30:32.809
And it's, and not only does it happen a lot,

526
00:30:33.269 --> 00:30:36.470
it's just shown a lot. And it's, it's, I've seen

527
00:30:36.549 --> 00:30:38.910
so much of it that I'm like, I've seen enough.

528
00:30:38.990 --> 00:30:42.410
Like I know it, I know it happens. It's cool.

529
00:30:42.849 --> 00:30:46.150
Good for the dealer making the sale. Good for the buyer,

530
00:30:46.990 --> 00:30:51.130
you know, buying a card they want or vice versa.

531
00:30:51.190 --> 00:30:54.569
Good for the dealer buying a card from someone selling

532
00:30:54.609 --> 00:30:57.480
to him at his table or Good for both parties,

533
00:30:57.759 --> 00:31:01.039
but we don't need to see every single transaction that

534
00:31:01.079 --> 00:31:05.089
goes down. I think there's too much of that. But listen,

535
00:31:05.829 --> 00:31:10.210
I'm a fan of video your own showcases and put

536
00:31:10.250 --> 00:31:12.369
it out there on your own show. Hey, here's my

537
00:31:12.509 --> 00:31:15.859
inventory at the National. If you're interested in any of these,

538
00:31:15.920 --> 00:31:18.759
message me or come to my table. Let's make a deal.

539
00:31:19.059 --> 00:31:19.980
I'm all for that.

540
00:31:20.519 --> 00:31:24.779
All right. So switching topics before we get to our pickups.

541
00:31:25.220 --> 00:31:32.049
We both were on the modernized, the redone, the redesigned,

542
00:31:32.089 --> 00:31:35.589
whatever you want to call it, Mike Berkus stage. And

543
00:31:36.109 --> 00:31:38.549
we used to be on the first floor near the breakers,

544
00:31:38.690 --> 00:31:43.299
which was horrible because the National had no other place

545
00:31:43.380 --> 00:31:46.559
to put it in Rosemont, but we had no choice.

546
00:31:47.019 --> 00:31:48.859
But it was right there. And then when you and

547
00:31:48.880 --> 00:31:52.440
I spoke last year on the stage, it was just,

548
00:31:52.539 --> 00:31:54.859
you could hear the breakers in the background. This time around,

549
00:31:55.539 --> 00:31:56.559
Let's go!

550
00:31:56.880 --> 00:31:59.369
Let's go! That's what we heard quite a bit.

551
00:31:59.380 --> 00:32:02.640
Yeah. You know, you got people having orgasms, you know,

552
00:32:02.759 --> 00:32:07.420
sounding noises while they're hitting $ 10 cards out of like

553
00:32:07.420 --> 00:32:12.500
$ 500 packs. But this time around it was better because

554
00:32:12.519 --> 00:32:16.390
you were upstairs on the second floor. You were around

555
00:32:16.470 --> 00:32:19.569
other dealers, but they were just further enough away and

556
00:32:19.609 --> 00:32:23.710
directly next to the stage and you had a museum

557
00:32:23.950 --> 00:32:28.650
like pop-up of the history of the, of the national.

558
00:32:28.769 --> 00:32:30.789
And that was pretty cool. And I took a video

559
00:32:30.829 --> 00:32:32.809
of that and I'll post it. Did you get a

560
00:32:32.829 --> 00:32:33.930
chance to see that?

561
00:32:34.390 --> 00:32:39.210
Yeah, it was cool. I agree with everything you said.

562
00:32:39.650 --> 00:32:42.630
It's obviously a plus not to be near the breakers

563
00:32:42.650 --> 00:32:46.329
where you can't even hear yourself talk. Um, and you're over,

564
00:32:46.549 --> 00:32:50.400
you're over shadowed, uh, by them yelling and screaming. Um,

565
00:32:51.490 --> 00:32:54.009
So I like, I agree with you. The stage was,

566
00:32:54.170 --> 00:32:55.730
was nicer. Yeah.

567
00:32:56.250 --> 00:32:58.190
The stage is cool. Yeah. Yeah.

568
00:32:58.230 --> 00:33:01.930
Nicer. We were actually in like lounge chairs, like not,

569
00:33:02.009 --> 00:33:05.420
you know, like padded chairs rather than like, you know,

570
00:33:05.480 --> 00:33:09.759
fold up foldable chairs and a table was more professional.

571
00:33:10.339 --> 00:33:13.130
The chairs were so comfortable. I had trouble getting out of, uh,

572
00:33:13.829 --> 00:33:16.470
a couple of times when the show, the show was over.

573
00:33:16.630 --> 00:33:19.150
Here's my own. I don't even know if this is

574
00:33:19.190 --> 00:33:23.319
a complaint. It's just an observation. I missed being, obviously

575
00:33:23.359 --> 00:33:25.400
being near the breakers. I didn't miss that part, but

576
00:33:25.420 --> 00:33:28.400
it would have been nice to eliminate being overshot by

577
00:33:28.420 --> 00:33:31.700
the breakers and yet still be on the first level.

578
00:33:32.099 --> 00:33:34.680
I think you have less traffic on the second level.

579
00:33:34.700 --> 00:33:38.329
So you have potentially have less people, you know, seeing

580
00:33:38.369 --> 00:33:40.769
what you're doing at least live. So it would have

581
00:33:40.789 --> 00:33:43.230
been nice to have our cake and eat it too. Like,

582
00:33:43.710 --> 00:33:46.430
have what we had and still been on the first level.

583
00:33:46.869 --> 00:33:49.369
But that being said, you know, sometimes you can't have

584
00:33:49.410 --> 00:33:51.910
your cake and eat it too. But it was nice

585
00:33:52.029 --> 00:33:57.329
not having to, you know, like literally yell yourself to

586
00:33:57.730 --> 00:34:01.990
out shout, you know, the breakers. So that aspect, 100%

587
00:34:01.990 --> 00:34:04.230
on board. It would have been nice if they could

588
00:34:04.250 --> 00:34:06.930
have put the stage somewhere on the first level, not

589
00:34:07.369 --> 00:34:11.150
near the breakers. But again, I'm not involved with the

590
00:34:11.190 --> 00:34:16.730
logistics and the demographic. So again, that's a trade-off you

591
00:34:16.750 --> 00:34:19.710
make sometimes, right? You're not going to get all the

592
00:34:19.750 --> 00:34:22.510
yelling and screaming, but you're going to be on the

593
00:34:22.590 --> 00:34:27.239
second level where the main level is busier. So no complaints.

594
00:34:28.340 --> 00:34:32.159
I'm blessed and privileged to get to do that. I'm

595
00:34:32.199 --> 00:34:34.980
just Just an observation. It was something I thought about

596
00:34:35.039 --> 00:34:37.909
being on the stage. Like, this is very cool, but

597
00:34:37.929 --> 00:34:40.530
it would have been nice to still have this and

598
00:34:40.610 --> 00:34:43.590
be on the first level. But sometimes you just can't

599
00:34:43.730 --> 00:34:46.349
make that work. And maybe that was the reason why.

600
00:34:46.369 --> 00:34:50.429
10-second answer. Here's the question. What's your favorite slice of cake?

601
00:34:50.969 --> 00:34:53.280
Anything. A cheesecake. I'm a big cheesecake.

602
00:34:53.760 --> 00:34:54.639
What's on the cheesecake?

603
00:34:55.539 --> 00:34:59.039
Almost anything. There's not too many cheesecakes I'll say no to.

604
00:34:59.679 --> 00:35:04.659
I'm not a fan of Oreos, Oreos, the cookie. So

605
00:35:05.139 --> 00:35:08.650
like cookies and cream cheesecake, that would be my last

606
00:35:08.989 --> 00:35:12.409
piece I would request. But if it was the only piece,

607
00:35:12.469 --> 00:35:14.530
I'd probably still eat that. All right.

608
00:35:14.630 --> 00:35:18.250
So next national, if we're blessed enough to be on

609
00:35:18.269 --> 00:35:21.409
the stage together, I'm going to bring you a piece

610
00:35:21.449 --> 00:35:24.190
of cake, cheesecake. It's a little box so you can

611
00:35:24.230 --> 00:35:25.280
have your cake and eat it too.

612
00:35:27.000 --> 00:35:31.820
If I get to pick, raspberry cheese. Okay.

613
00:35:32.539 --> 00:35:36.760
The only place of improvement, I think, for the new

614
00:35:37.019 --> 00:35:40.699
Mike Berkus stage was when I was given the presentation,

615
00:35:40.880 --> 00:35:43.860
not with Hobby Hotline, but with my buddy Stacy, and

616
00:35:43.880 --> 00:35:46.840
we were talking about how his love of sports influenced

617
00:35:46.900 --> 00:35:51.960
his television, commercial directing, writing, and then how that impacted

618
00:35:52.039 --> 00:35:58.510
his collecting and also his painting. That's a mouthful. But

619
00:35:58.650 --> 00:36:01.829
it was like I created a PowerPoint, like a 40,

620
00:36:01.829 --> 00:36:05.309
50 page PowerPoint with all pictures. And every time I

621
00:36:05.769 --> 00:36:09.010
had to say next, I went like next or, you know,

622
00:36:09.389 --> 00:36:12.659
do one of the gun shoot things. And if I

623
00:36:12.679 --> 00:36:15.340
wanted to see what was on the screen, I had

624
00:36:15.360 --> 00:36:17.400
to turn around. So I just wish that they had

625
00:36:17.440 --> 00:36:20.739
like a little monitor and maybe like a clicker. But

626
00:36:20.860 --> 00:36:24.079
other than that, everything was perfect. I liked how they

627
00:36:24.139 --> 00:36:28.320
had the seats. It was like an auditorium style where

628
00:36:28.340 --> 00:36:32.409
they had the seats roped off with like a little fence. Uh,

629
00:36:32.909 --> 00:36:35.949
that was pretty cool. So people could walk in and out. Um,

630
00:36:36.030 --> 00:36:39.010
people could stay outside of that seating area. That was

631
00:36:39.050 --> 00:36:41.710
really nice. The speaker system worked well. The mics worked

632
00:36:41.769 --> 00:36:46.260
well that the screen in back of us. And I'll

633
00:36:46.300 --> 00:36:48.199
have a picture that I'll post here so people can

634
00:36:48.239 --> 00:36:50.679
see what the stage looked like with all of us

635
00:36:50.760 --> 00:36:53.320
on it. You know, the hobby hotline team. Um, it

636
00:36:53.340 --> 00:36:59.489
was really well done and yeah. And pretty, pretty good. Pickups.

637
00:37:00.110 --> 00:37:03.530
So I'm going to start this one first because I

638
00:37:04.150 --> 00:37:07.190
did the same thing for the third consecutive year. I

639
00:37:07.230 --> 00:37:13.800
completely annihilated my national budget, like three months before the national.

640
00:37:14.159 --> 00:37:15.219
So then I started seeing.

641
00:37:15.679 --> 00:37:19.039
Get in line with people who annihilate.

642
00:37:19.099 --> 00:37:21.170
I mean, it's like, I didn't go.

643
00:37:21.590 --> 00:37:22.010
I didn't.

644
00:37:22.090 --> 00:37:24.909
Yeah, I know you didn't. That's why I'm going first

645
00:37:24.929 --> 00:37:25.809
because I know you didn't.

646
00:37:25.849 --> 00:37:26.650
Yeah, go ahead.

647
00:37:26.869 --> 00:37:30.550
So like things came up at auction or on eBay

648
00:37:30.750 --> 00:37:33.280
or a friend was selling this and it was on

649
00:37:33.320 --> 00:37:36.900
my top 20 list. And so top 20 list, I

650
00:37:36.940 --> 00:37:39.840
think about buying it. If it's on my top eight list,

651
00:37:40.460 --> 00:37:42.619
I have to go for it. And I had a

652
00:37:42.679 --> 00:37:45.219
couple items in the top 20 list that I had

653
00:37:45.239 --> 00:37:50.389
that I needed, not wanted. but need it. So I

654
00:37:50.719 --> 00:37:53.659
started saving up again. And then three weeks before the

655
00:37:53.719 --> 00:37:57.219
national bank, same thing happened to me. That's so I had, like,

656
00:37:57.639 --> 00:38:00.360
I was really thinking this would be another national where

657
00:38:00.420 --> 00:38:03.139
I go and I spend more on Uber rides and

658
00:38:03.610 --> 00:38:06.150
restaurants and eating out than I would on actual cards,

659
00:38:06.550 --> 00:38:09.650
which I did in 2024 Cleveland. And I almost did

660
00:38:09.690 --> 00:38:13.210
last year, but so I did pick up a few things.

661
00:38:13.329 --> 00:38:15.570
I just wanted to quickly go over and, you know,

662
00:38:15.590 --> 00:38:18.340
we're going to show them one on screen. Um, but I,

663
00:38:18.599 --> 00:38:21.019
you know, I'll have, John's going to send me pictures

664
00:38:21.059 --> 00:38:23.079
and I already have pictures of some of his pickups.

665
00:38:23.840 --> 00:38:25.900
So the, I got them with me. I got them

666
00:38:25.940 --> 00:38:26.360
with me. Yeah.

667
00:38:26.699 --> 00:38:28.500
Yeah. But I'm going to show them up on the

668
00:38:28.519 --> 00:38:31.119
screen too. So people could see them and I'll have

669
00:38:31.139 --> 00:38:33.929
a static picture. So I've been looking for a 1989

670
00:38:33.929 --> 00:38:42.530
Jerome Brown signed ProSec card for 35 years. I mean,

671
00:38:42.570 --> 00:38:44.809
it's been a long, long time. I mean, he died

672
00:38:44.869 --> 00:38:47.710
at the beginning, right after the, he died at the

673
00:38:47.750 --> 00:38:51.789
beginning of the 92 season, if I recall. Yeah, because

674
00:38:51.849 --> 00:38:54.969
Cunningham was back after his injury in 91, and they

675
00:38:55.030 --> 00:38:57.699
had a patch here, and I wasn't able to find one.

676
00:38:57.719 --> 00:39:00.940
And I'll show, you know, people, you can see here,

677
00:39:00.980 --> 00:39:03.539
but I'll also put a nice picture on the card.

678
00:39:04.300 --> 00:39:07.860
And I found, I can't believe how I found this card.

679
00:39:07.920 --> 00:39:11.329
So on Saturday, I'm walking around with my son, At

680
00:39:11.349 --> 00:39:16.670
the– like the area where there's modern and also vintage,

681
00:39:16.769 --> 00:39:20.690
and I ran into the Steve Grad booth just by accident.

682
00:39:20.969 --> 00:39:22.750
And my son's looking at modern. We just happened to

683
00:39:22.769 --> 00:39:27.210
pass it, and this– it was like Moses parting the

684
00:39:27.289 --> 00:39:32.610
sea or just a spotlight shown down I didn't see

685
00:39:32.809 --> 00:39:36.630
anything else in his display cases and he had nice

686
00:39:36.789 --> 00:39:40.969
countertop display cases and really cool stuff stuff in the

687
00:39:41.010 --> 00:39:45.199
background Star Wars car sports everything you wanted but I

688
00:39:45.239 --> 00:39:47.079
saw this Jerome Brown I don't know if it's because

689
00:39:47.099 --> 00:39:51.570
of the orange But this stood out at me. When

690
00:39:51.610 --> 00:39:55.889
I gave my talk during Hobby Hotline, I had a

691
00:39:55.909 --> 00:39:59.449
few jokes in there, but I kind of was laughing

692
00:39:59.489 --> 00:40:02.900
because a friend of mine in the hobby, Dan, Steel

693
00:40:02.920 --> 00:40:09.260
City Cards, not Steel City Cards, Dan Steel City Collectibles,

694
00:40:09.440 --> 00:40:10.239
I should really know this.

695
00:40:10.260 --> 00:40:12.119
I think it's Steel City DW.

696
00:40:12.380 --> 00:40:17.530
Yeah, Steel City DW. I could call him Dan. He's

697
00:40:17.550 --> 00:40:21.110
just a really cool guy. And during Hobby Hotline, he

698
00:40:21.150 --> 00:40:23.550
was wearing a gold chain. I'll put a picture of

699
00:40:23.590 --> 00:40:28.849
that here, too. And he gave me a 1991 Top

700
00:40:28.929 --> 00:40:32.320
Steve Gels Desert Shield PSA 10. And I'll have a

701
00:40:32.320 --> 00:40:36.559
picture of this, too, up on the screen. And so

702
00:40:36.739 --> 00:40:39.739
he's wearing a gold chain, like Flavor Flav did, and

703
00:40:40.300 --> 00:40:42.579
like Kevin O'Leary does.

704
00:40:42.639 --> 00:40:45.260
Yeah, boy! Anytime I do my Flavor Flav.

705
00:40:45.789 --> 00:40:51.210
You're Kevin O'Leary. Do you have one? No. Okay, so

706
00:40:51.250 --> 00:40:55.030
Dan basically tells me, you kind of, in a joking way,

707
00:40:55.070 --> 00:40:58.469
you insulted me because you proclaim yourself the Steve Jobs

708
00:40:58.929 --> 00:41:01.219
collector of the hobby, and you don't even have a

709
00:41:01.260 --> 00:41:05.280
PSA 10 in this card. You only have a 9.

710
00:41:05.280 --> 00:41:07.159
So he gifted it to me, and he didn't give

711
00:41:07.179 --> 00:41:09.059
me the gold chain. I really would have loved to

712
00:41:09.099 --> 00:41:12.300
have the gold chain because it was fabulous. But yeah,

713
00:41:12.320 --> 00:41:15.710
I have a PSA 10 in that card. And, uh,

714
00:41:16.329 --> 00:41:18.989
and the last thing I'm going to show, Oh, and, uh,

715
00:41:19.050 --> 00:41:21.230
when we get to the PSA registry dinner, I'll show

716
00:41:21.289 --> 00:41:25.070
my son's pickup, but this is kind of a national pickup.

717
00:41:25.110 --> 00:41:28.429
It's kind of a gray area. Um, my son was

718
00:41:28.449 --> 00:41:31.809
looking at Lionel, uh, little messy cards and.

719
00:41:31.769 --> 00:41:33.630
At the same say Lionel Richie.

720
00:41:34.070 --> 00:41:35.349
Yeah. Lionel Richie cards.

721
00:41:35.369 --> 00:41:36.889
And I'd be like, hello.

722
00:41:37.590 --> 00:41:41.250
And it was, it was right by Matt White's booth

723
00:41:41.289 --> 00:41:45.409
where he was working at. And, uh, They had a

724
00:41:45.389 --> 00:41:54.719
2005 Topps Chrome Christie Brinkley refractor. And it's numbered– this

725
00:41:54.800 --> 00:41:58.940
is number 503 out of 999. And then when I–

726
00:41:59.579 --> 00:42:02.920
great price, Christie Brinkley. I have to get a Billy

727
00:42:02.940 --> 00:42:05.730
Joel card now and maybe even a Chevy Chase card.

728
00:42:06.050 --> 00:42:08.050
So then I go on eBay, and this is the

729
00:42:08.090 --> 00:42:13.010
gray area for me. John. So if you buy something

730
00:42:13.429 --> 00:42:16.070
at the national, but it's on eBay, is it still

731
00:42:16.110 --> 00:42:17.730
considered a national purchase?

732
00:42:18.230 --> 00:42:20.170
To me? No. If you're asking me.

733
00:42:20.190 --> 00:42:21.650
Okay. I'm asking you.

734
00:42:22.110 --> 00:42:25.829
No. To me, a national purchase has to be on site. However,

735
00:42:26.329 --> 00:42:30.039
I'll make an exception clause. If you're talking to a

736
00:42:30.099 --> 00:42:33.539
dealer at his table or her table and they say,

737
00:42:33.559 --> 00:42:37.440
and you say, Hey, I'm looking for this. And they say,

738
00:42:38.000 --> 00:42:41.519
I didn't bring it, but I do have it. It's a,

739
00:42:41.900 --> 00:42:44.699
you know, PSA 5 or 6, whatever. I'm just taking

740
00:42:44.760 --> 00:42:47.369
up numbers. And I could do this for it if

741
00:42:47.429 --> 00:42:49.809
you want it, and we could do it via mail.

742
00:42:49.849 --> 00:42:52.570
I don't have it with me. And you consummate that

743
00:42:52.630 --> 00:42:56.730
deal at the National, but they're set up at the National.

744
00:42:57.130 --> 00:42:59.530
I'll count that. But if you go to your hotel

745
00:42:59.590 --> 00:43:03.679
room and log on to eBay or Leland's and buy

746
00:43:03.760 --> 00:43:06.719
something that way, no, I don't care for it.

747
00:43:07.119 --> 00:43:09.179
So I need to throw a, if this was a

748
00:43:09.300 --> 00:43:12.920
yellow flag, I just flagged myself because I did not

749
00:43:12.960 --> 00:43:16.400
do that. When I sold the Christie Brinkley white one,

750
00:43:16.420 --> 00:43:19.219
I went on eBay to see, you know, to do

751
00:43:19.280 --> 00:43:22.869
a comp. And I saw eBay had a black one,

752
00:43:23.769 --> 00:43:26.829
a black refractor. So now I had bought it on eBay,

753
00:43:27.050 --> 00:43:29.530
not the same dealer, but it goes with the white one.

754
00:43:29.929 --> 00:43:31.869
And I guess I did a party fail.

755
00:43:33.030 --> 00:43:35.239
Matt, listen, Christie Brinkley is a great lady.

756
00:43:35.789 --> 00:43:40.849
You know, Angie's 72 now. She is? Yeah. Oh, my God.

757
00:43:41.429 --> 00:43:48.239
Holy crap. That's crazy. I'd rather have this. He looks

758
00:43:48.280 --> 00:43:49.659
like Sylvester Stallone.

759
00:43:49.960 --> 00:43:50.579
Yeah.

760
00:43:51.019 --> 00:43:56.400
Panini Smash Hits Rock and Pop Collection, 1980.

761
00:43:56.400 --> 00:43:57.079
Okay.

762
00:43:57.159 --> 00:44:01.079
PSA 8. These are very hard to find. This might be.

763
00:44:01.139 --> 00:44:03.269
I got to look this up. This could be a

764
00:44:03.329 --> 00:44:05.929
pop one. I didn't even care because it's not for sale.

765
00:44:06.030 --> 00:44:09.789
It's from my PC. Everyone I showed is too like, oh,

766
00:44:09.809 --> 00:44:13.739
you like Rocky Balboa? I'm like, I don't hate Rocky Balboa,

767
00:44:13.780 --> 00:44:18.820
but this is a Billy Joel. So I didn't pick

768
00:44:18.860 --> 00:44:20.800
that up at the Nationals. That I just pulled off

769
00:44:20.840 --> 00:44:21.340
the wall.

770
00:44:21.739 --> 00:44:23.880
So you don't get flags. So I'm not going to

771
00:44:23.900 --> 00:44:25.960
throw the flag. I'm putting the flag back in my

772
00:44:26.019 --> 00:44:28.010
pocket for that.

773
00:44:28.050 --> 00:44:29.050
So yeah. Yeah.

774
00:44:30.340 --> 00:44:34.510
Instant replay says no flag. So do me a favor.

775
00:44:34.849 --> 00:44:36.530
If you ever see one of those in the wild,

776
00:44:37.070 --> 00:44:39.849
either in person or online, you got to let me

777
00:44:39.889 --> 00:44:41.889
know because I need a Billy Joel card now.

778
00:44:42.340 --> 00:44:45.940
All right. I might have one. We'll talk after later on.

779
00:44:46.179 --> 00:44:48.539
And I know you're about to show some monsters. So

780
00:44:48.599 --> 00:44:52.079
I'm going to show what I consider my biggest or

781
00:44:52.159 --> 00:44:55.949
my most important pickup that I made at this national.

782
00:44:55.969 --> 00:44:56.449
So in.

783
00:44:58.059 --> 00:45:02.360
April of this year, I consigned 137 lots over at

784
00:45:02.460 --> 00:45:06.559
Love of the Game auctions. And I had consignor's remorse

785
00:45:07.179 --> 00:45:10.340
for a handful of cards, maybe like three cards, not many.

786
00:45:10.699 --> 00:45:16.599
But as soon as that auction ended and there's no

787
00:45:16.639 --> 00:45:19.150
more bidding, I went to sleep. The next morning, I

788
00:45:19.179 --> 00:45:24.829
woke up missing this card the most. T206 Walter Johnson portrait.

789
00:45:25.300 --> 00:45:26.980
And I was able to pick up one of these

790
00:45:27.019 --> 00:45:29.760
in the same exact grade as the one I sold

791
00:45:30.099 --> 00:45:32.840
with Love of the Game. The only difference is I

792
00:45:32.900 --> 00:45:36.239
had a Sweet Cap overprint back, and this one has

793
00:45:36.280 --> 00:45:39.230
a regular Piedmont back.

794
00:45:39.889 --> 00:45:44.650
That's a big boy card. You just said me.

795
00:45:44.889 --> 00:45:47.400
You got some big boy cards, though. that you're about

796
00:45:47.420 --> 00:45:50.599
to show. And it's a 1.5. I stayed in the

797
00:45:50.699 --> 00:45:54.619
same exact grade, same exact grading company. I just got

798
00:45:54.639 --> 00:45:58.960
a nicer card and it pretty much canceled out what

799
00:45:58.980 --> 00:46:04.099
I received at that auction. So I'm really happy. But

800
00:46:04.579 --> 00:46:08.039
when you showed me your list, but I don't want

801
00:46:08.059 --> 00:46:11.050
to talk for you. So just tell me about your

802
00:46:11.219 --> 00:46:13.800
frame of mind going into the National and then what

803
00:46:13.840 --> 00:46:15.650
you did there and show these beauties.

804
00:46:16.170 --> 00:46:19.530
So I always go into the national with like five

805
00:46:19.570 --> 00:46:22.030
to ten cards on what I call my target list,

806
00:46:22.110 --> 00:46:25.059
fully knowing I'm not getting all of them. So I

807
00:46:25.099 --> 00:46:27.599
always try to get two or three of the ten.

808
00:46:27.960 --> 00:46:28.159
Right.

809
00:46:28.239 --> 00:46:30.340
And I made a video. It's on the Sports Card

810
00:46:30.360 --> 00:46:34.679
Nation channel. And I talked about like, hey, I'd like

811
00:46:34.719 --> 00:46:37.800
to get three of these ten cards. And then I said,

812
00:46:37.820 --> 00:46:40.139
there's two of them I really want to get, but

813
00:46:40.179 --> 00:46:41.969
I don't think I'll be able to get them both

814
00:46:42.070 --> 00:46:45.480
per se. And I'll make this story short. We were

815
00:46:45.539 --> 00:46:52.710
at Giordano's. We were leaving and two dealer friends of

816
00:46:52.750 --> 00:46:57.429
mine from Las Vegas, the brothers from Las Vegas came in.

817
00:46:57.789 --> 00:47:03.469
We're coming in and we were waiting. We were waiting outside. And,

818
00:47:03.849 --> 00:47:07.070
you know, they we made some small talk and they

819
00:47:07.090 --> 00:47:10.570
were like, hey, what are you looking for? You know,

820
00:47:10.630 --> 00:47:12.530
John and I kind of told them and they're like,

821
00:47:12.980 --> 00:47:16.239
we just bought a big collection before the national and

822
00:47:16.280 --> 00:47:19.840
we have those cards and they, I, you know, I'm saying, okay,

823
00:47:19.860 --> 00:47:23.480
well let me know, set, you know, text me what

824
00:47:23.500 --> 00:47:26.090
you got, the grades and when we can go from there.

825
00:47:26.199 --> 00:47:29.889
And they did. And they made, they made a sort

826
00:47:29.929 --> 00:47:32.429
of an offer on two of the cards I mentioned.

827
00:47:32.929 --> 00:47:35.150
And I said, listen, I'll call, they were upstairs in

828
00:47:35.190 --> 00:47:39.800
that second previously talked about. I'm like tomorrow morning. I'll

829
00:47:39.840 --> 00:47:42.900
come up before my show. Uh, that's on the main

830
00:47:42.940 --> 00:47:45.820
stage there. And I'll, I'll take a look at them

831
00:47:45.880 --> 00:47:48.269
in person and see what we can do. And so, uh,

832
00:47:48.420 --> 00:47:50.619
I want, we wound up making a deal. I haggled

833
00:47:50.659 --> 00:47:53.159
a little bit, uh, and they were nice to me

834
00:47:53.630 --> 00:47:56.909
and I had bought previous stuff from them. They're almost

835
00:47:56.929 --> 00:48:01.039
like my personal dealer now. Uh, like at the national, uh,

836
00:48:01.110 --> 00:48:03.650
I joke with him that, but, uh, uh, this one

837
00:48:03.670 --> 00:48:07.320
was like pretty much number one, uh, on my target list.

838
00:48:07.619 --> 00:48:11.139
That's the Ernie banks and it's a two. And, um,

839
00:48:11.510 --> 00:48:14.110
But if you see it, you saw it, it presents

840
00:48:14.210 --> 00:48:17.989
very well. To me, it presents more than the two.

841
00:48:18.469 --> 00:48:20.750
And then the other one I got, and I know

842
00:48:20.809 --> 00:48:24.739
he's sort of a polarizing player, and we recently lost him.

843
00:48:24.800 --> 00:48:27.780
I think he gets in the hall now that he's

844
00:48:27.860 --> 00:48:31.099
passed away. Regardless of what you think of this guy,

845
00:48:31.119 --> 00:48:34.159
you can't argue he's one of the greatest hitters to

846
00:48:34.199 --> 00:48:40.480
play Major League Baseball of all time. And that's Pete Rose. And,

847
00:48:40.530 --> 00:48:43.639
you know, as a kid, I wasn't necessarily a Phillies

848
00:48:43.719 --> 00:48:47.480
or a Reds fan or an Expos fan. But, you know,

849
00:48:47.719 --> 00:48:50.619
anyone know who Pete Rose was? If you were a

850
00:48:50.679 --> 00:48:55.469
young baseball player, even today, I imagine somewhere down the line,

851
00:48:55.489 --> 00:48:57.889
you find out what Pete Rose is. This is a three.

852
00:48:57.929 --> 00:49:00.789
And again, this one presents well. That's sort of my

853
00:49:01.230 --> 00:49:04.369
my M.O., Tony, is I try to buy. cards that

854
00:49:04.449 --> 00:49:07.699
present better than their grade. Save a little money. And

855
00:49:07.719 --> 00:49:09.920
these are PC cards. So you're like, if you come

856
00:49:09.940 --> 00:49:12.539
to my show, you're not going to see these in

857
00:49:12.579 --> 00:49:16.929
my showcase. And I'm very happy with the purchase. Very

858
00:49:16.989 --> 00:49:19.969
happy that I got to purchase them from Two Brothers.

859
00:49:20.360 --> 00:49:24.539
that I really appreciate and like and think are great guys.

860
00:49:24.880 --> 00:49:29.559
That's always a plus too. That was cool. I got

861
00:49:29.599 --> 00:49:33.480
that pretty early. I think that was Wednesday or Thursday.

862
00:49:33.500 --> 00:49:36.400
I can't remember. I have sort of an MO for

863
00:49:36.460 --> 00:49:41.519
waiting almost to the last before the gun sounds. But

864
00:49:42.079 --> 00:49:44.699
this year and even last year with the Seaver Rookie

865
00:49:45.119 --> 00:49:48.099
that I bought last year, I got them earlier. So

866
00:49:48.159 --> 00:49:51.619
I'm doing a better job at finding that card or

867
00:49:51.679 --> 00:49:55.969
cards earlier than traditionally has been my case.

868
00:49:57.289 --> 00:50:00.550
You also picked up the Fox Leicester also.

869
00:50:00.989 --> 00:50:01.349
Yeah.

870
00:50:01.409 --> 00:50:06.699
Which you prearranged earlier. And you got the whole thing.

871
00:50:06.739 --> 00:50:09.730
That was prearranged before the national, but I bought it.

872
00:50:09.730 --> 00:50:11.409
But you picked it up there. Yeah.

873
00:50:11.809 --> 00:50:13.070
Yeah. From not a dealer.

874
00:50:13.150 --> 00:50:13.309
Yeah.

875
00:50:13.690 --> 00:50:18.380
From not a dealer. Somebody. Yeah. Walking the floor. Yeah.

876
00:50:18.559 --> 00:50:21.000
I knew a little bit. And then here, this is

877
00:50:21.039 --> 00:50:23.320
not a, this is not a national. Yeah, go ahead.

878
00:50:23.380 --> 00:50:26.340
And this came the same exact way from the same

879
00:50:26.360 --> 00:50:27.380
exact person too.

880
00:50:27.800 --> 00:50:31.780
Yeah. So this, and then I, I had, Unlike a

881
00:50:31.880 --> 00:50:34.119
lot of people, I guess, I brought some money back,

882
00:50:34.360 --> 00:50:37.800
which is not a bad thing. And I still have

883
00:50:38.389 --> 00:50:41.690
some left. It goes back into the business account. But

884
00:50:42.190 --> 00:50:45.710
I've had this card numerous times, but I wanted it

885
00:50:45.769 --> 00:50:49.269
back for the PC. So this is not a national purchase,

886
00:50:49.329 --> 00:50:55.179
but this was a purchase I made with leftover national money.

887
00:50:55.219 --> 00:50:58.829
And it's the Barry Rookie PSA 9.

888
00:50:58.820 --> 00:50:59.280
Wow.

889
00:50:59.659 --> 00:51:02.360
You know, I love, you know, anyone that knows me

890
00:51:02.840 --> 00:51:06.900
knows I love those big, big face rookie cards. And

891
00:51:07.300 --> 00:51:10.019
that checks that box. We got to see him. Maybe

892
00:51:10.039 --> 00:51:12.960
a good segue to go into the registry party. He

893
00:51:13.000 --> 00:51:15.800
was the guest of honor there. I didn't get to

894
00:51:15.840 --> 00:51:18.719
meet him like I did with Jerry, like I got

895
00:51:18.760 --> 00:51:21.730
to with Jerry Rice the year before. But me and

896
00:51:21.750 --> 00:51:27.199
your son have the distinction of at our table. Mine's

897
00:51:27.300 --> 00:51:31.300
put away, so I can't show it. But me and

898
00:51:31.320 --> 00:51:34.780
your son were fortunate. Everyone got a gift box passed

899
00:51:34.900 --> 00:51:37.639
out to them with some packs in there. And everyone

900
00:51:37.769 --> 00:51:42.409
got a Barry Sanders registry card encased slab by PSA.

901
00:51:42.710 --> 00:51:44.829
But only some of them were autographed.

902
00:51:45.190 --> 00:51:49.730
So 500 total boxes means 500 total slab cards. And

903
00:51:49.789 --> 00:51:51.250
only 50 of the 500 were signed.

904
00:51:53.130 --> 00:51:53.449
Okay.

905
00:51:53.630 --> 00:51:55.889
By, by, by Barry. Yeah.

906
00:51:56.250 --> 00:51:59.150
Yeah. And me and your son were, were two of them.

907
00:51:59.389 --> 00:52:00.440
So I'll take him.

908
00:52:00.670 --> 00:52:02.730
I'll get a picture of yours when you send it

909
00:52:02.769 --> 00:52:04.550
to me, but here's my son. It's kind of hard

910
00:52:04.590 --> 00:52:08.800
to say because of reflection, but the flip says 2026

911
00:52:08.800 --> 00:52:16.760
PSA set registry awards, Barry Sanders, SR awards collection. And

912
00:52:17.000 --> 00:52:20.480
you know, every card is authentic graded. They didn't give

913
00:52:20.519 --> 00:52:24.190
a numeric read to it. but it has an auto 10.

914
00:52:24.190 --> 00:52:28.789
And that's pretty cool. And one of our friends who

915
00:52:28.809 --> 00:52:31.750
was sitting at a different table, actually two friends sitting

916
00:52:31.809 --> 00:52:32.489
at different tables.

917
00:52:32.510 --> 00:52:33.369
Yeah, they got them too.

918
00:52:33.829 --> 00:52:36.340
Did they announce, did they make, I don't want to,

919
00:52:36.500 --> 00:52:38.059
you know, let the cat out of the bag, but

920
00:52:38.099 --> 00:52:38.780
I think they announced.

921
00:52:38.800 --> 00:52:41.179
You don't have to mention them by name. All right.

922
00:52:41.239 --> 00:52:45.340
So one of them pulled a golden ticket, which means

923
00:52:45.739 --> 00:52:49.880
they give out this month's PSA sports magazine with Barry

924
00:52:49.900 --> 00:52:52.349
Sanders on the front. And you got to meet Barry

925
00:52:52.369 --> 00:52:55.130
Sanders and get it signed. So that was pretty cool.

926
00:52:55.510 --> 00:52:55.809
Yeah.

927
00:52:56.150 --> 00:52:58.789
And then the other person actually received the card, just

928
00:52:58.829 --> 00:53:00.110
like you and my son.

929
00:53:00.469 --> 00:53:04.690
Yeah. Cool stuff, man. Like, I love the PSA Registry Party.

930
00:53:05.050 --> 00:53:07.309
They do a great job. The food's great.

931
00:53:07.809 --> 00:53:09.889
Always good. The food's great. Always great.

932
00:53:09.929 --> 00:53:13.889
You know, it doesn't go super long. It's not too short.

933
00:53:13.969 --> 00:53:17.420
It's not too long. Everything's sort of timed right. It's

934
00:53:17.500 --> 00:53:20.400
in a great venue. You got space to walk around,

935
00:53:20.480 --> 00:53:26.179
talk to your buddies at different tables. You know, NFL Network,

936
00:53:26.860 --> 00:53:31.909
you know, Scott Hanson, Syracuse University, former football player, does

937
00:53:31.989 --> 00:53:33.849
a great. This is his second year in a row

938
00:53:34.489 --> 00:53:38.190
hosting it. He did a great job again. And then

939
00:53:38.250 --> 00:53:41.690
he spends time talking to everyone, waiting for him in line.

940
00:53:41.829 --> 00:53:46.269
And he takes all like he's very, very personable, very

941
00:53:46.309 --> 00:53:49.170
down to earth. Something you don't always see, right? You

942
00:53:49.210 --> 00:53:50.710
don't always see that.

943
00:53:50.929 --> 00:53:54.989
Dominique Wilkins, he was like that back in 2024 Cleveland

944
00:53:55.010 --> 00:53:57.469
when the first time you and I got a chance

945
00:53:57.489 --> 00:54:02.340
to really sit down together and talk. Dominique was cool.

946
00:54:02.860 --> 00:54:04.000
I didn't go to that one.

947
00:54:04.440 --> 00:54:06.139
Oh, you weren't there? I saw you were there.

948
00:54:06.159 --> 00:54:09.920
No, I was not. I was not there. I think

949
00:54:10.159 --> 00:54:15.480
I was to one before that. I missed the year.

950
00:54:15.820 --> 00:54:17.949
Not that I wasn't at the national, but either I

951
00:54:17.949 --> 00:54:21.110
didn't get an invite or plus one, or I had another.

952
00:54:21.130 --> 00:54:27.489
That's right. That's right, because I met Logan at that national.

953
00:54:28.230 --> 00:54:32.130
So there's one I missed. Yeah, there's one I missed,

954
00:54:32.210 --> 00:54:35.230
and that might have been that one. But, you know, kudos.

955
00:54:35.269 --> 00:54:37.969
You know, we can bag on them sometimes, but kudos

956
00:54:38.010 --> 00:54:41.480
to PSA. They get the registry party done.

957
00:54:41.519 --> 00:54:47.050
Yeah. That's right. I met Victor and Logan at 2024 Cleveland.

958
00:54:47.190 --> 00:54:49.909
I sat at their table, I think, also. Yes, I did.

959
00:54:49.929 --> 00:54:55.190
That's right. You weren't there. Damn. I missed you. I

960
00:54:55.230 --> 00:54:57.469
just got a text message from my wife. My son

961
00:54:57.550 --> 00:55:00.380
is at... I know I don't want to get too personal,

962
00:55:00.440 --> 00:55:03.440
but you may realize that I was kind of like

963
00:55:03.800 --> 00:55:07.659
paying attention to my phone. My son and wife went

964
00:55:07.719 --> 00:55:10.929
to Boston College to go visit the school and check

965
00:55:10.969 --> 00:55:14.909
it out. And their flight got canceled coming back. Short flight.

966
00:55:15.469 --> 00:55:19.590
And they wanted them to catch a flight tomorrow at

967
00:55:19.590 --> 00:55:21.559
6 a.m. But it would have had to stop at

968
00:55:21.619 --> 00:55:26.039
Syracuse and then come back here to where I live.

969
00:55:26.400 --> 00:55:29.320
And now they're going to drive home. Yeah.

970
00:55:29.659 --> 00:55:33.139
By the way, the Syracuse airport, just for conversational purposes,

971
00:55:33.599 --> 00:55:36.929
it literally is three miles that way from my house.

972
00:55:38.460 --> 00:55:39.719
I am right near the airport.

973
00:55:40.139 --> 00:55:43.840
See, if that was me, I used to love to drive.

974
00:55:43.920 --> 00:55:48.039
I drove the Syracuse twice. I drove the UVA a

975
00:55:48.079 --> 00:55:51.960
bunch of times. I drove to Baltimore with my wife

976
00:55:52.039 --> 00:55:57.579
and I've done Beyonce before we got married and drove everywhere.

977
00:55:58.340 --> 00:56:01.360
You name it, East Coast, West Coast. Never drove the

978
00:56:01.400 --> 00:56:03.050
West Coast, but a lot of places on the East Coast.

979
00:56:03.389 --> 00:56:04.449
Now I can't stand to drive.

980
00:56:04.929 --> 00:56:06.789
New York, I'll make a drive if I have to. Six,

981
00:56:06.829 --> 00:56:08.769
seven hours. Six, seven hours.

982
00:56:08.949 --> 00:56:12.230
I mean, I drive the Virginias about the furthest I

983
00:56:12.269 --> 00:56:12.849
would drive.

984
00:56:14.050 --> 00:56:17.679
I'll fly to next year's National Chicago. I'll fly like

985
00:56:17.719 --> 00:56:20.340
I did this year, run a car most likely. The

986
00:56:20.400 --> 00:56:23.219
next one after that's in Detroit. That's drivable. So I

987
00:56:23.260 --> 00:56:27.159
will have my own vehicle for the Detroit National. God willing.

988
00:56:27.590 --> 00:56:30.070
Well, I think that's a wrap.

989
00:56:30.480 --> 00:56:33.360
Yeah, I think one pet peeve. Can I talk about

990
00:56:33.380 --> 00:56:36.960
real quick? One pet peeve. I think I mentioned this

991
00:56:37.039 --> 00:56:39.860
to you at the registry party. This is something that

992
00:56:39.900 --> 00:56:43.400
really bothers me. And again, everyone pays for their own table.

993
00:56:43.440 --> 00:56:46.000
They can do what they want. I'm not arguing that.

994
00:56:46.360 --> 00:56:50.239
But as a dealer who does buy at shows, you know,

995
00:56:50.539 --> 00:56:53.949
I don't have a problem with the big banner, like metal, steel,

996
00:56:53.989 --> 00:56:57.809
you know, buying. That's fine. You see these dealers, right?

997
00:56:57.849 --> 00:57:01.579
They got these showcases. And then they have one or

998
00:57:01.619 --> 00:57:05.760
two showcases, no cards in them, and just $ 100 bills

999
00:57:06.239 --> 00:57:09.940
all spread out in the showcase. Right? Just a flex. Like,

1000
00:57:09.980 --> 00:57:13.159
put cards in your darn showcases. Like, I don't, you know,

1001
00:57:13.239 --> 00:57:16.199
put whatever cards you want. But it's just like, hey,

1002
00:57:16.280 --> 00:57:18.460
I'm buying. Here's all my $ 100 bills.

1003
00:57:18.820 --> 00:57:21.570
And because they think they're Mr. Mint or they see

1004
00:57:21.590 --> 00:57:25.050
the video. But not only that, but put stickers on

1005
00:57:25.070 --> 00:57:27.719
the front. of the cards. So we could see what

1006
00:57:27.760 --> 00:57:28.760
you're asking prices.

1007
00:57:29.139 --> 00:57:35.650
Not. Yeah. Well, I don't get the whole cases full

1008
00:57:35.690 --> 00:57:37.769
of a hundred dollars, but you have a big banner

1009
00:57:37.789 --> 00:57:40.849
that says you're buying. You obviously have money. If you're buying,

1010
00:57:40.869 --> 00:57:42.730
you don't have to show a hundred dollars. You don't

1011
00:57:42.889 --> 00:57:45.510
have to show like you have them. You have them.

1012
00:57:45.530 --> 00:57:48.429
We have your buying sign, put cards in the case,

1013
00:57:48.670 --> 00:57:51.619
fill up your cases with cards. That's my pet. That's

1014
00:57:51.679 --> 00:57:55.869
my biggest pet peeve. And it's not one person. I've

1015
00:57:55.909 --> 00:57:58.710
seen it more than one person do that. It's kind

1016
00:57:58.750 --> 00:58:01.829
of goofy, if you ask me. I'd rather see cars.

1017
00:58:01.889 --> 00:58:03.429
I know what a $ 100 bill looks like. I think

1018
00:58:03.469 --> 00:58:06.070
most kids know what a $ 100 bill looks like. It's

1019
00:58:06.110 --> 00:58:11.849
a weird flex that's probably unoppressive to most people. But

1020
00:58:12.340 --> 00:58:14.920
you can pat yourself on the back, I guess. But

1021
00:58:15.300 --> 00:58:17.460
if you're buying, you're buying. You don't have to show money.

1022
00:58:18.139 --> 00:58:20.539
We know what money looks like. John. I do. John.

1023
00:58:21.150 --> 00:58:21.829
Leave the money.

1024
00:58:22.289 --> 00:58:26.489
Take the cards. That's a good way to wrap the

1025
00:58:26.510 --> 00:58:26.789
show up.
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