Hey, Super Bowl happened. I call it the Super Bust. Everything about the Super Bowl was a bust for me. There was just nothing enjoyable about that whole experience. The game itself just was not good. And I'm happy for Darnold. No offense, but I'm fine watching Patriots get their butt kicked in the Super Bowl. Did you see a PSA announcement? Yeah, I did see that. Price increases and timing increases, is that right? Yeah, that's what I saw. Hey, when you rule your own world, you can set all the rules. It's just you got to have the right level of scrutiny and the tools are there with AI and other things to help you with the scrutiny of what should or shouldn't be great. I think the biggest risk you have back there is altered people trimming those. But I like vintage. There's less pressure. It's like buying a bond instead of a stock. Welcome to the Collector Nation podcast here on the Collector Nation Network. Whether you're chasing grails or calling bluffs, we take you inside the hobby. Here are your hosts, Ryan Alford and Brian Lutton. What's up, guys? Welcome to Collector Nation here on the Collector Nation Network. Always with my good buddy here on Fridays, Brian Lutton. He is the CEO of LUDX, that's L-U-D-E-X, the best scanning collection management, eBay listing software on the App Store. What's up, Ryan? What's up, my man? How you doing? I'm good, man. Hey, the Super Bowl happened. I call it the super bust. Everything about the Super Bowl was a bust for me. I'm just going to put it out there. I'm not normally a negative Nancy. I try not to be. But there was just nothing enjoyable about that whole experience. I agree. I mean, it was, I don't even know who Bad Bunny was, and I don't ever need to know who he is, but the game itself was just, it was, it just was not good. I mean, the Seahawks, I mean, they're a good football team. They probably were the best team all season. They beat some really good teams really by a lot of points. Yeah. And I'm happy for Darnold. Yeah. And no offense, but I am fine watching the Patriots get their butt kicked in the Super Bowl. It was hard for me to root for the Patriots as the underdog. And they were. Four and a half points was a joke. Seattle looked like the better team coming in. The defense was dominant. It played out exactly. It's having no skin in the game, not caring about either team. It played out exactly like I would have analyzed it too, which is dominant defense from Seattle. And Patriots defense was good too, but just a better overall showing. but it's hard to root for the Patriots. Like it's too soon for them to be the underdog and me to go, oh, yeah, hope the Patriots can, as the underdog, really overcome Seattle. That narrative didn't really work for me. No, they beat them last time on that stupid play calling. So I was fine with it. I'm going to miss football. I mean, I don't watch the NBA. I will watch March Madness. I do watch U of I basketball. I'm a U of I fan. But honestly, I miss football. And, you know, baseball. It is the doldrums of, you know, of the time period with sports. You know, I do like March Madness. But then it's kind of that comes and goes. The playoffs in the NBA are just too long. I can't get into four months of the NBA playoff. I get into like the last two series. But the four-month NBA playoffs. And then it really just becomes, officially the Super Bowl is the countdown to when football starts again. That's true. Does Topps pick up the license now? I thought it was after the Super Bowl. I thought the date is technically the cards coming out like April or May. Okay. But I'm really, I'm excited because there's been nothing but Padini. it's been weird a little bit you know the unlicensed top stuff i wasn't a big fan of but now but i'm a football cards are my thing like that's my it's funny talking to cole who's here at the shop uh helping me manage the store and i go you if you look around here and we've got everything at the store but it goes you know tell me your owner's a football fan without telling me your owner's a football fan we got more football cards than anything uh so uh bring on the tops licensed now. Yeah. Then I'll just be counting the days for when the season starts and hopefully Clemson's a little better this year. Well, I don't think that could be much worse, honestly. Yeah. You started talking about disappointing teams that they're in the top. Yeah. Ironically, it was us in Penn State who had the biggest disappointments of the year in the toilet bowl game that we lost that to. So, anyway, Anyway, Drake May didn't have a great game. But you know what? I know his cards are probably getting bashed a little bit. I haven't even looked at the pricing, quite frankly. I have a lot of his cards, and I'll be holding those long-term or selling them in the store overpriced. But just kidding on that one. We have great prices here. They're on sale. But it's kind of as expected. First Super Bowl, playing one of the most ridiculous defenses of the last, I don't know, five to seven years. I'm not going to say all-time. I'm not that guy. All-time best defenses. No, a really good defense. All-time last five years probably. We're right up there with some of the best. All-time of the last. All five years they were the best, Brian. I need some kind of hyperbole for this highlight clip. But Andy got rattled a little bit and didn't look good, but I don't think anybody was going to look good against them. No. I mean when will teams just dominate like the draft dominate offensive line defensive line I mean honestly we seen Mahomes look human when he gets hit Brady lost because he got hit. Drake Make had no time. He got hit. Like, I would just go offensive line draft, defensive line. Offensive line, defensive. Offensive, defense. Then fill in the rest, like, whatever. Reagents. But when you can get to their quarterback and protect yours in that NFL, you're a step ahead. I did think, I know the running back got the MVP, but Sam, I mean, Sam Darnold is a good story. He played really well. He's more, I mean, he looks like, he always had it in him. You could see, you know, streaks of it. But I wasn't rooting for a team in the game, but I was rooting for that guy. Yeah, he's a likable dude. and he went through a lot of stuff. But, I mean, he came out of college, he was kind of doughy, and I think he probably just didn't understand what it would take to make it in this league. And then I think he committed and matured. And, I mean, he'll sign a big deal with Seattle, and he'll be their quarterback for the next 10 years. Yeah, and looks like a good investment, and Minnesota botched that. I mean, right? Like, how do you let that guy out the door? I guess you're hoping J.J. McCarthy's it. Maybe he still will be, but he hasn't seen it yet. We'll see. As a Bears fan, you don't really care, do you? No, I'm glad that J.J. McCarthy is even a Chicago guy. He grew up right by me. Is he it? Has he got it or is he not? Do you know? Do you have an opinion on him? You know what? I think he's got to grow up a bit. When he talks in third person about nine, nine's out there doing this, and these are the type of plays nine makes. I'm like, stop. You're in the NFL now. You're not a child. Grow up. Commit to your craft. So, I don't know. Ryan, I wish you would sometimes say that's what the kind of play Ludden would make. If you'd ever said that to me. I might have kicked your ass right there. On the spot. I've been like, what did you just say? Yeah, I have not heard that. I'm glad I haven't seen that. I would have never talked about him. No one does that. He definitely needs to grow up. But I was happy for Darnold. His prices are definitely on the rise. I did buy a few of those before because I was pretty certain of that outcome of the Super Bowl. Oh, 124. His 2018 Donruss Optic was $260, and now it's $450. Sounds about right. Super Bowl pop? Almost double. Almost double. I don't know. I like it. It might have been up there anyway. But a 2026 Tops baseball is releasing this week. We will have that here at Cluster Station. Just a little side note. But it signals. This is like the first thing, not only with the hobby, but sort of baseball in general. You get Tops release, you get spring training, and then you get opening day is right around the corner. yeah first week of april first week of it part of me is like where's time going and how fast is it going there talking about long season holy crap yeah baseball april to october uh when aren't you playing when exactly the only time we're not exactly so tops 2026 75 years of making tops baseball. It's the 75th anniversary. I'm not good with math. Is that like 51? Still have to work that math for us. Yeah, 51. 1951. Is that their first year, I guess? Somewhere around there. It has to be. That's a long time. I wish I had more. Yeah, I like some of those. uh or just you yeah well 52 tops uh mantle right yeah that's fine exactly some of those did you see a psa uh announcement yeah i did see that uh price increases and timing increases that right yeah that's what i saw i mean hey when you rule your own world you can you know set all the rules i will say this no one likes pricing increases and it's it's fascinating to me what what they're being allowed to do in this industry without much scrutiny but hey nat hats off to him he can get away with it i mean yeah good business man clearly uh nothing but respect for him but look in any industry you're speaking for business. If your demand is outpacing your supply and you increase prices. Yeah, everyone does. Everyone does. If there's more demand and you have supply, prices go up. In this industry, people get so offended. And I'm like, what do you think has happened to wages in the last two years? And also, to be honest, Like that's a really, really human intensity like to, for, to grade and human beings are expensive and you have to hire more people. The technology is where it flips, right? And if you start using more technology, then you can be more efficient and you would actually cut the times down and you'd probably bring the prices down because you're doing more, but they, they haven't really solved that yet. And, but you know, they, they're running a business and it's also interesting because when you look at it let say they charge and they get you a and your car doubles in value So let say it goes from to You make I mean if it goes to $23, it shouldn't matter. As a percentage, it doesn't matter. I mean, the other thing I don't like, and vintage is different, but modern stuff, it's $10 or bust. Because anything else, and nines are pretty much worth raw now. It's almost identical. Nines and then eights are below. Eight's called what I call, and I'm not talking about the drug, crack city. It's crack city. If you get an eight, you better keep some good pliers around because there's no reason to keep it in there for modern. Modern only. Don't take that. This is not investment advice. This is not PSA cracking advice. This is just opinion. There's that disclaimer. But in all seriousness, if you get an 8, it's modern. Crack it because it's worth less than raw. Yeah, you're right. And also, let's talk about modern. The time, I would say instead of raising the prices, the biggest thing is the turnaround. Because these cards, every week you and I are talking about them, and they're doubling in price and halving in price. and like, you know, your guy can get hurt. So I think it really, I would be more concerned about the turnaround time with the modern stuff because things get hot and then they get not. I almost forgot this. I bought a, this is how we talk about like so much happens in a week, Brian, but it's related to this. I bought a box full of vintage. Baseball, football, basketball. We're talking 1950 to 1980. Talk about some really cool cards. uh kevin mckell rookies like cool shit and if you grading vintage is a no-brainer you know in bulk because even if it's a three four five six seven it's worth more way more than raw way more typically speaking generally speaking more than the grading way more than the grading fee. To know that you have a four in a vintage card, that 20, 25 buck fee, it more than pays for that. And it creates more demand because there's no mystery of what the card is. And that's what it removes. And so sometimes the basis for our dissension and reason we're upset is because there's a failed premise to begin with or or the the problem is a lack of understanding or uh not being you know happy with the price increase all that but when the premise should have been this is probably underpriced already compared to what you can get for the right cards it's just you got to have the right level of scrutiny and the tools are there with ai and other things to help you with the scrutiny of what should or shouldn't be graded yeah i think the biggest risk you have back there is altered you know people trimming those i mean but you get them graded no matter what and that just authenticates them and you're good to sell those things but then i love i like vintage i mean there's less pressure there it's like buying a bond instead of a stock like new players and ai stock hey you sound like ken golden who was on the show uh and it will be what what date is that release bella um the 24th 24th the 24th that's bella schaefer the lovely and wonderful executive producer here on collector nation say hello again making me blush over there there you go she runs the show over there runs the show i try so yeah ken golden will be on and he had he talked about that very thing i had a rapid fire with him brian and pretty much same thing he's like vintage vintage and vintage vintage baseball especially but vintage anything is a safe bet long-term short-term everything he's he's a nice guy i like him so we do have okay in top series one they are going to have some 1952 tops variations in there maybe 52 was their first year since that's what they're saying is going to be in yeah that could work that math works yeah 51 they're gonna have some 52 tops variations all kings all aces cover athlete autos celebrity autos brian ludden might or might not be in there we'll leave it up for mystery i gotta check my email i'm sure it's there so exactly you missed the signing you were probably win my spam yeah you're too busy counting your dordan ricky cards 1991 uh tops autos home field advantage and actually this week this should be is this coming out this week 218 is that this week or next week v friends super stickers we will have those here at collector station we are an official distributor of v friends and gary v's team good people work with um love that and fun i love the messaging with those man i think kids need something positive and i think gary's doing that with his cards a signed michael jordan trading card sold for 800 000 800 000 big ones i mean you think they've earned money on that like whoever ever bought that uh depends on what the card was all i see is trading card i don't know what card it was so if it's a rookie card probably not if it's uh something else then maybe though i might get that detail for us before this is over we'll leave that as a cliffhanger the uh what do you think i think honestly if it like any rookie card star card like whatever it is and the pop report low like I don think you ever lose money on those high cards I mean, I've talked to people, I've probably talked to five companies in the last five months, so one a month, that, you know, these funds are coming in. The Mr. Wonderful, but like there's a lot of funds that are like, hey, let's get this high, high-end stuff and hold it. And when it becomes a herd mentality and there's too many of them, they tend to move the prices up too much and kind of stifle what their return would be. But, I mean, look at the Honus Wagner coming up. Like, I mean, that guy made how much money and how much time? So the card was a Auto 2003-2004 Upper Deck Exquisite Collection Logo Man 1 of 1. Oh, okay. That makes sense. They'll make money. that's $3 million card in 10 years. Maybe not even that long. Is Michael Jordan, how do you get Jordan's signature these days? I mean, does he even do them? No, I mean, I think he's still with Upper Deck, but he doesn't sign anything anymore. I had my buddy Urlacher plays golf with him twice a year. I was just thinking about like, hey, Brian, can you just ask him to sign a couple things? Yeah, ask him to sign these rookie cards I got, dude. I mean, come on, be a friend. Play that card, right? You know how much I do for Urlacher? I don't know. Anything else we missed, Bill? I mean, just that Pokemon over the last two years has outperformed gold and the S&P 500 index. Oh, yeah. We didn't miss nothing. But, you know, that's not showing the state of the hobby. I don't know what it is. Don't buy those gold Pokemon cards. Those are fake. Yeah. Look, good story. Good story to close. You know, they say you don't get high on your own supply. Well, I tend to question that thought. I was ripping through some Pokemon last night late. Look, I was working on the app at like 1 a.m., Brian. I got to have like some Sandy. So I'm working, ripping a pack. Working, ripping a pack. Little Mega Evolutions. I got the gold Mega Lucario. That's the big hitter in that thing, like eight packs in. What's that work? It was like $700 three months ago, but it's like three something, $350. 350 it looks like a 10 to me we've got to put it under the microscope but it could be a 10 if it goes to 10 you're on my $900 card well how does a Pokemon card it's not like he went on the field and broke a leg or something like how does it get her you know it's like I mean and he had a really rough he had a concussion he got taken out you know Charizard he gets a little rough and he messed up Lucario pretty good yeah that's interesting no i because of speculation i guess you know hype like everything else a set it was a mega mega evolution set and so comes out all the cards are overpriced i think it's now more of where it should be and probably will be long term beautiful card all gold but it's not fake i did not print it and it was in the pack brian that's awesome good for you so you see hard work Hard work pays off. Stamp late kids. Yeah. And look, and to be truthful, I wish someone would have just bought that box and ripped it in the store. I wasn't trying to take that opportunity away from someone. It's just if it sits there long enough and I got nothing else to do, I start ripping cards. You're like staring at it. You're like. I had this box. I've been carrying it around for a week and hadn't opened it. And then I was like, I'm going to rip some packs tonight while I'm working. And this really happens, folks, kids listening, you know, the speculation, opportunity and risk combined with a little stupidity and beer. You too can rip a card of your dreams. Making the next generation of gamblers. Exactly. I think that's, I don't think we're having, I don't think we're doing that. And I think that's more like, you know, Stadium Club and all those guys can live with themselves. They're the ones doing that. And your friend that got you ripping that Tops or that LeBron. Hayshop. Hayshop. Hayshop, exactly. What are you getting that card? You getting that card in? I got it. You already got it? It's at home. The LeBron? Yeah. Yeah, I got it like three days later. It was pretty awesome. Oh, dude, you need to bring that on the show next week. I want to see that. I'll bring it on the show next week. And sell it to me. I'll give you 65%. 70. All right. Trade it in for Jordan. I'm doing. I think that's all we got. Brian, any final words? No, man. All good. Always a pleasure, my man. I appreciate you. Hey, guys, we appreciate you. A little loose episode here on Collector Nation. This is what it really looks like, guys. Two guys. Hey, we like the game as much as we like playing it. And we like bringing it to you. We appreciate you for listening. Hey, you know where to find us. First, go to that app store. L-U-D-E-X. Download LUDX. Thank me later. Collection management. Values. eBay loading so that you actually make some money back for all the money that we spend on these things. See where you get digital collection management. You'll change your life. L-U-D-E-X, LudX, in the App Store, and of course, thecollectornation.com. For Brian Ludden, I'm Ryan Alford. We'll see you next time on Collector Nation. Thanks for tuning into the show. Be sure to follow us on your go-to podcast platform and catch the full video episode over on YouTube. Visit us at collectornation.com and follow Ryan on Instagram at Ryan Alford. Now get out there and collect yours. Hey!
