What's going on, everybody? Welcome back to Stacking Slabs. This is your hobby content alternative. It is the flagship episode, the first one here in 2026. Wanna first say thank you everyone out there for supporting the Stacking Slabs network and the Stacking Slabs brand.

We appreciate you tuning in each and every week and telling your damn friends. It means a lot. I'm full of excitement and passion going into this year. I'm very excited to continue to build out this network, to continue to deliver category specific shows, to continue to find ways to tell stories and to excite pockets of the hobby. And I'm excited to announce that we will be launching starting Saturday, we'll be launching Booked to Last, which is a wrestling card podcast here on Stacking Slabs, and it's not going to be just any wrestling card podcast.

I have long been a fan of wrestling and wrestling cards, and I am interested in telling the stories on what do people remember, what do they recall, what is it about a category is different and interesting as wrestling that gets people so excited to go all in and collect cards. There are stories. There's characters. It is a one of one and a one of kind community, and it's been a long time coming. And I'm excited that I have two incredible guests or, excuse me, hosts for this show.

Adam Gellman, who is a longtime content creator in the wrestling card community. He has built communities around wrestling cards. Adam will be one of the hosts alongside Ryan Bannister, who is the owner at RBI Cruise seven, one of the most recognized hobby shops within the country. They're gonna be tag teaming and launching this show, and I couldn't be more excited. There is going to be some moving pieces around on the network.

The WNBA card podcast is going to keep on running. Likely, we'll have a couple different days that the episode drops. I think we're going to be dropping an episode on Thursday this week, but that show will end up on Sundays, for the time being. So there's going to be a lot of reorganizing, new shows. There's gonna be just a lot going on.

I'm fired up. And as I think about the hobby and I think about the growth, and I recorded an episode and hopefully got a chance to, listen to that last week about 2025 bull market. You know, I had spent the last six months asking the question to guess, like, what is contributing to this? And you didn't get the same answer, from anyone. And so synthesizing all of those thoughts and thinking about how we got from a, subculture in a way to a mainstream industry that's continued to thrive and grow.

And what does that actually mean for the collector? And that's what I'm exploring now. And so I put some thoughts out, earlier this week or, excuse me, last week. But it's something I'm gonna continue to analyze, and I'm gonna continue to bring the collector to the forefront. And that's what we're doing here on Stacking Slabs.

And I'm excited and excited for you to be here. And as I was thinking about this episode, it really started from an experience I had, in the hospital. My wife and I were absolutely thrilled to welcome our third daughter, Iris Anne McGrath, to the family, last week. It's wild. I was thinking about this.

You know, I started this podcast, in 2021. And since then, not only has it become my full time gig, but I've had three daughters and have got to share that, on these episodes and have got to connect with so many other parents in the community. It's been so fun, and, I'm thrilled. And there might be a little disruption in the scheduling as any of you parents know when you add someone new to the family. There's a lot going on.

But I'm filled with joy and excitement and just so blessed, to be building a, incredible family here at Stacking Slabs HQ. And so, you know, when you've you've been in this situation before and there's a lot of waiting game and you're waiting around until the big moment happens when your child gets born. And so I started to think and about, you know, cards, of course, because it's always on my mind. And I started to explore kind of cards I was looking at, and there was a moment that happened, you know, when everyone was asleep, and it involved me bidding on a card, and I didn't win the card. But I think this will make a awesome jump off point for the flagship in 2026 and talking through this experience and talking through a loss.

But most importantly, I think it is talking about the why behind the card that I wanted and what I did because I went from very little interest to a ton of interest. And a big reason for that is because of research. And I think we see on the mainstream or the front end of the hobby, most participants in this hobby, think desire comes from price, hype, or scarcity. And I don't think that's true. I think it comes from understanding.

And so this episode, what I want to get out give you all in this episode is some insight on how learning made me want a card more and why I I think that matters. I observe the hobby a lot, and I observe how people consume content. I observe how I consume content. And I think my current state assessment with this industry right now, and it's a hobby, but it is an industry, is that there is a lot of there's a lot of focus on short attention span content, whether it's reels, break hits, influencer takes, one sentence opinions Instagram stories, and most collectors operate on this borrowed conviction. They want cards because other people want them, and I never understood that.

Maybe it's because I pride myself on independent thought and thinking, and, you know, I only have so many many hours in the day, and especially I only have even less now that I have a third child. The last thing I'm gonna be doing is following anybody. Anti establishment in a way. I like to think for myself, and I like to collect for myself. And I I'm not trying to attack any individuals who see something on in a group or see something in a post and see arrows go up and wanna do that.

I'm just describing the system. It's undeniable. This is the current system. This is how the hobby moves. It is a constant movement of hype in, individuals getting getting sucked into the hype.

Now we evolve or I think many of us evolve in to this point where that's not what we want, and so we wanna build a collection that's for us. And this was a moment I had when, my my my newborn was asleep for a moment, my wife was getting rest, and I started thinking about this card more deeply. And it was on my watch list on eBay. And the card and, again, I lost this card. It it pains me because the more I talk about this card, the more I want it.

And I'll just say this. If any of you out there want this card, I would love to know. And I might pay you more more for it now because the more I talk about it, the more I'm sad I missed it. But the card itself was the 2020 Crown Royal Tyrese Halliburton Crystal Platinum one of one PSA eight. This card was a card that was listed on eBay.

I believe it was a seven day auction. I saw the card, and I hit watch. Now what's interesting to me about the process of me bidding what I bid is that this card fits a little outside the zone of typical Tyrese Halliburton cards that I buy, most notably because this is a king's card, not a pacer's card. Now it is a rookie card, which adds some complexity to how I think about building my Tyrese Halliburton collection. Now for the most part, and sure there are exceptions to the rule, this card certainly is one of them.

And maybe I'm moving past it in a way with a specific subject like Tyrese Halliburton. But what's always very important to me is the association with my teams. Now my collection isn't exclusively players from my teams, but it's a majority and a heavy majority. So team matters to me. Jerseys matter to me.

You know, my collection at the end of the day is very dedicated to the teams that I watch, I spend time, my money on, and that I are a part of the city that I love in Indianapolis. And so there has always been a distinction with how I collect Halliburton. Now I have collected some of his rookie stuff before, but typically whenever I've done a consolidation effort, it our cards there are cards that I end up giving away. Now I've also observed about my collecting. We're in a change period of change in evolution.

And this change in evolution comes after one of your favorite players, takes you on a journey of your lifetime. And this might sound preposterous and ridiculous to so many people, but the playoff run that Halliburton Halliburton was already my favorite player in the NBA. Now the playoff run he took me on where he had four game winners and heroically went down in game seven of the NBA finals with an Achilles. These are the types of things that ignite collecting, ignite excitement, ignite passion. And so I had I went from Halliburton being my favorite player in the NBA to Halliburton maybe being my favorite player of all time because there has never been, Reggie Miller included, anybody taking me on that ride.

So when you reach this tier of fandom and passion, you begin to make exceptions to preexisting rules that you already had in this card. This, Crown Royal Halliburton crystal platinum one of one is certainly an example of that. Now I didn't wake up obsessed with it. It wasn't a trend. No one was screaming about this card, but I was curious.

And it was that curiosity that really took me, on this ride of the lifetime after I went on the ultimate ride of, my lifetime having a new child. And I'm sitting there in this card I had looked throughout the week, but I'm sitting there and I realized, okay. This card's ending in three hours. And I'm sitting here and I should be sleeping, but instead of sleeping, I decide to do a deeper dive and research. And that this is the core of what I wanna talk about, and I wanna talk about what I learned, and I wanna talk about it from the lens of impact.

I want to dig into this experience and how having an experience where you're spending time to get as intimate as possible about a specific card and also having the ability to take that information and have it push against your existing collecting style. This this this push and pull between research and insights and how I think I'm supposed to be as a collector in this conflict is what creates this episode today, and it's what has created this experience. And it starts with the research. And so as I'm digging in, obviously, I know Crown Royal basketball, traces its roots deep. And I I dig in and I find out about Pacific Trading Cards owning the brand and featuring the regal crown theme and the intricate die cut designs.

And then I look at, the production and the the lines and when it was acquired. And Panini acquired the Defunct brand in 2009, and for the first time, they brought it to NBA cards. In the inaugural Panini Crown Royal release came o 09/10. You think about Curry rookie, and there's a Curry rookie autograph in that. And after this release, it was just kind of radio silence.

It didn't see a new release for several years, and that fascinates me. And so I'm learning more and more about this set, and I'm looking more and more about where the attention is. And then I start to under think back to when I got back into the hobby and seeing people breaking these cards, and there was some nostalgia there. And then I started to understand and learn about this one of one parallel, the one of one parallel of the base set, the crystal platinum parallels, and they're beautiful. I'm, like, not only looking at the scan of the Halliburton, which was okay, but then I started looking at the scan from other cards, pulling up Card Ladder, looking at other sales.

And the more and more I started to dig in, the more and more I wanted the card. And I look at the image of Halliburton on the card, and he looks much younger. And it beginning to look at while Halliburton's still a young player, he looks a lot older than he did on his rookie card. And seeing his face and seeing this guy in this jersey that he hardly played in. And it's asking myself this question, does this guy even know what he is about to do?

And maybe part of this process of me trying to dig in and learn about this set deeper, more intimately, and pairing it with a player that I love, maybe a part of this is me trying to justify buying a Cal Halliburton card to fill the void of having a season where the Pacers are one of the worst teams in the NBA and their star players sitting on the bench. Maybe that's what it is. And isn't that what cards do? Do don't cards help fill the void for us sometimes? At least this is where I'm experiencing.

So I'm digging in and I'm then I'm looking at CardLadder. I'm looking at the sales history, and I'm saying, man, this is a category that not a lot of people are or a card and a product that, you know, some people love, but the prices aren't outrageous. So I'm trying to decide, like, what do I bid? Why do I why do I want this? And so I'm sitting there just researching, digging in for hours when I should be sleeping.

But this curiosity and this excitement is what has me thinking about a number of a bid I'm going to put in. I think about the psychology behind this and why this works. And I think about collecting isn't just about objects. It's about what those objects say about us. And I think about why we collect and that people often use possessions, myself included, to express their identity.

And for me, a big part of my identity as a basketball fan is being a Tyrese Halliburton fan. So why should I minimize my Tyrese Halliburton collecting to his pacer stop? These are the questions that I'm beginning to ask myself. I think about the way the thought process behind how I collect changes. I think researching a category, researching a card often transforms it from a mere object into a meaningful treasure.

The more you learn about an item, its history, rarity, and story of its creation, the more emotionally invest invested you become. Knowing the backstory of a card gives it purpose, gives it meaning. And I think that's interesting. And price may attract attention, but providence builds the confidence. It's the time you spend reading old auction listings, player stats, forum discussions.

It's a bond forming experience, and I very much formed a bond in that time with this card that I do not own. But by the time you finally try to acquire or you do acquire it, you've woven in a broader narrative which heightens your attachment to it, and that is cool. This is this long game approach, and research is such a big part of it. Patience and planning. And I think many collectors, and I've said this say this a lot, collecting is a marathon, not a sprint.

And in sports cards, it's so important. So important to have patience in strategy. It's so important to factor in research, waiting, gradually building, having this form. And the more you have this form, the more excited you get and the more confident you get. Research is what fuels and powers the collecting experience for so many of us, and it's not the hype.

It's the research. And for those of us that are willing to go that extra mile because it tickles our curiosity and really excites us. And you know who you are as you're live listening to this. You go through that mode where you spend hours studying, planning, trying to piece together information until you finally formed an opinion on a card that's available. That type of proactive approach to buying sports cards is what keeps you in the hobby forever because you're buying cards that you emotionally become invested to and represent your identity as a collector.

And that's what I felt in that moment. Now I somehow keep kept my eyes open, and I was wrestling. I was trying to figure out, like, what do I bid on this card? And I'm like, well, maybe it's New Year's Eve. And and it was probably ended maybe twenty minutes before the ball dropped.

And I I was just debating back and forth. I'm like, what do I bid on this card? And I put in a bid, $1,180. And I think the card before I put the bid in was at, like wasn't even 500. It's like maybe $3.40 something.

So, you know, when you've got that kind of multiple on the bid, you've kind of feel good, but you have no idea. And instantly, when I got shut down and and became the underbidder, I was crushed. I was devastated. And the card ended up going for 1,205 to some lucky collector. And, again, if you're out there and you have this card and you wanna make a little something on it, get at me.

I'm easy to find at stacking slabs across all those social channels, but I am emotionally invested in this card right now based on the amount of work I put into it. And it's not just the work and the work telling me that I want this card, but it is the work being so illuminating that I am pushing against the conventional way I've collect I've thought about collecting a specific player. And I regret not putting more. I would have put probably double at this I don't know what I would have done, but I'm I'm regretful that I don't have this card. And I'm not mad about the money.

I'm mad because the research worked and I cared. And that's not failure. That's proof. If losing a card teaches you something about how you collect, it paid you anyway. That's what I'm trying to hold on to.

I think it's important to think about this as you go off and you have this type of similar situation happen to you. Before your next chase, ask, what do I actually know about this card? What questions haven't I asked yet? Would I still want this if no one else saw it? Am I bidding with borrowed excitement or earned conviction?

The hobby rewards people who slow down. I can tell you that. I felt that long enough to understand what they're chasing. Surface level collectors rent excitement, and form collectors build relationships. One feels good for a moment, the other lasts.

I'm excited about what we're going to doing with Stacking Slabs Network this year. There's a lot of fun shows, ideas, thoughts, mentality. I love the psychology of collecting. I love digging into this. I love sharing with you how I'm thinking about my own personal collecting.

There's a lot of fun in store. There is so much passion in this community. There's so much change happening across our industry. My message as I'm leaving here in the first flagship episode of Stacking Slabs is let your curiosity run wild and don't try to control things you can't control. It's okay to have an opinion.

And even that opinion might be negative, but don't forget the reason why you're here. And that's because this hobby absolutely rules. And the more you dig in, slow down, have patience, and let your curiosity take over, the more fun you are going to have. At least it's been that way for me. If you don't mind, hit the follow button.

Tell a damn friend. Run on over to the Patreon group. We got a lot going on here at Stacking Slabs in 2026. Glad you're here from the jump. Take care.

We'll talk to you soon.