Hello, and welcome to the football card podcast. This is it. You made it. It's Friday, and you are listening to the fastest growing and the longest running podcast in the world that's centered around football cards and most importantly, football cards. I'm your host, John, aka, Pat Nicholson, and with me as always is Brett, mister Stacking Slabs himself.

Brett, how you doing? You know, this is gonna be a little interesting to navigate because I wanna just say upfront, hopefully, everyone had a very merry Christmas. We are not recording this, on Christmas, or we're before Christmas, so we're in this weird mode when we're podcasting and talking about the future. But, hopefully, everyone had a really good holiday, and this piece of content, can, you know, give you, some enjoyment. The holidays are busy, kids running around, all that stuff.

So we appreciate you spending some time with us today. I am recording this, hours away from me going to bed and from sitting through the Monday night football game. And it was, yeah. I just I wish a lot of things, and I don't wanna get into all of those. But I'll say this.

I got home from the game, and it was very, very late, way past my bedtime. And I had some Christmas cookies and those helps. They were just sitting on the counter. And then I remembered, you know what? We were at my father in law's Christmas this weekend, so we had Chipotle, and we got leftover Chipotle.

So I made, like, a little impromptu, home Chipotle bowl, and I just ate a bunch of food. And what helps me during these tough times is professional wrestling. So I I just had, like, AEW Collision queued up, and I watched a couple matches while eating some food at midnight and went to bed. And now I got the coffee going. And I'm glad we're here to talk about cards because cards are very therapeutic in these times for me.

So that's what I did, food and cards. And my mind's like, I'm in a whole another hemisphere now, so I'm in a good spot. That the late night food and watch is a undefeated combo. What Can you can you after you do something, like, really busy, like, anytime I'm at a live event, like, and I come home, win, lose, or draw concerts or whatever, I can never just go to bed. I need some wind down time.

Yeah. Absolutely. What what's AEW on? Where are where are you watching that? Is it, like, an on demand thing, or are you going and watching highlights on YouTube?

What's the what's the Yeah. It's a re replay from t TBS. It it aired this weekend, and I was just playing playing a little catch up. But that's what I love about professional wrestling is that it's just you know, there's it doesn't really matter who wins or loses, and I don't have, like, emotional stakes in it. It's just, like, throw it on.

It's kinda like stupid movies too. It's like, I love stupid movies after this. Like, the other weekend after the cold sauce, I I was flipping, and I found liar liar. And I was like, oh, man. I haven't seen liar liar in forever.

And so I watched that, and it was great. So stupid movies and wrestling. That's how I get my mind off of l's. That's a I'm gonna steal a page out of that book. I mean, I've I'm I'm a YouTube guy, and I'll it's the last few months has just been bears highlights or talking heads talking about bears, as as the wind You're on the opposite end of this picture for me.

Yeah. But, no. Then but then there's the, you know, the queue of YouTube videos that come on. There's music videos. There's other, like, tiny desk performances.

There's just certain, like, oh, this twenty minute thing? Yes. I'll watch that. So Yes. Well, I've you've obviously, I'm sure we'll get to your game, which was, I sat down.

My kids were in bed, and, I watched the whole game by myself and still can't believe what I saw, and I'm sure you probably feel the same way. So I'm at least one of us has a positive attitude towards our teams, and I'm sure we'll get to it. Yeah. We'll we'll talk later. It is interesting to see how the pendulums have swung from the start of the season.

We've each taken turns riding high, being down in the dumps. Water finds its level. That's that's exactly what I said to my wife when I was explaining what happened. I said water finds its level. Exactly what I said.

Alright. This is season three, episode three for the math whizzes out there. That's number 27, episode 27. None of it's possible, though, without our wonderful sponsors, Card Ladder. God.

I love Card Ladder. Yeah. Shout out Card Ladder. Actually, there's a bit in this on third and third and out, which we'll get to, but it was a thought I had. And took me about fifteen minutes to pull up some data, and Card Ladder is fueling this entire podcast.

And I'm wearing CardLadder gear right now, and we wouldn't be able to do this without our good friends at CardLadder. So go subscribe to CardLadder today. I think we need like, yes, CardLadder. There's no alternative. CardLadder is the only thing.

But pro football reference, if there were to be one more sponsor for the football card pod, we might have to do a cold call there. I'm just trying to get a lead, pro football reference because without them, without Card Ladder, what would we be doing? You're looking up Sports Almanacs? The yeah. How do you how do you envision the, their the pro football ref how do you envision their, like, headquarters looking like?

What do you think is going on over there? Oh, wow. I bet it's awesome. I bet it's a bunch of dudes. No.

Probably some women too. Who knows? In a big room with just highlights on TVs all over the place, sports almanacs covering the walls, just people shouting out stats, play building immaculate grids. It's probably so fun. It's probably like Google.

It's probably like this, you know, huge wow. I I'm ready for that pro football reference IPO. I'm sure this is it's it's coming, and they're gonna be one of the most valuable websites of all time. They need to do a, like, series like v h one did with behind the music way back in the day, but it's, like, behind the website. And they just all they do is explore their headquarters talking to people and just give me that.

Inject it into my veins. It's all I wanna hear how the I wanna know how the sausage is made over there. Give me the data analyst. Give me the football nerds. Give me everybody.

Just put them on the camera, and I wanna hear all about it. Dang. I'm I'm gonna do some digging. I'm just curious when it started. Who who started the reference?

There's, like, baseball reference, basketball reference, hockey. Like, all the sports have the same sites. And who who is who's the architect? Who's the what's the name of the guy who'd made Bitcoin? Nama oh, yeah.

That crypto that crypto guy. Yeah. Who no one knows who it is. Can can I make a public not gonna Yeah. Can I make a public service announcement just because I I'm just, it's I I'm gonna I'm trying to be I'm gonna be calm because I'm try I have to self manage this, but I do have a little bit of a red ass based on last night?

And I'll say two comments I have. Number one, all of my tabs always when I'm doing podcasts are card letter or pro football reference. All of them. So, yes, we need that sponsor. But the second thing, since we're talking about crypto, I'm not here to change anyone's behaviors, but I and any of my other pieces of content, I didn't get a chance to, like, share before the end the year, like, what's my biggest gripe?

What what is really pisses me off? The number one thing in the hobby this year that pisses me off, and I saw a little glimpse of it yesterday, is individuals who are posting on their Instagram stories about something that is nonsports card related Mhmm. Nonphysical card related, and trying to they are trying to sell you on why you should be go going and doing digital cards because it's early and you're an idiot if you're not, or why you should be buying Rolexes. It's like, get that out of here. I'd that is grounds for me unfollowing you and never wanting to see anything from you again.

So I'm here for the cards. If you're trying to sell me on something else, just hit the bricks. Yes. I'm here for the cards. Any other story, you're probably getting muted.

You're probably getting blocked. Crypto is the or, like, Panini blockchain stuff. It's like, I like having cards. That's why I do this. I like the card.

When you're doing the blockchain, which it it's you're doing it for reasons not the card. You're doing it, like, from an investment purpose or a hype don't know, which is like, those are definitely reasons I buy cards. But then at the end of the day, I still get the card I like the card. If you're doing it not for the cards, like, what are you doing? I don't get it.

And I don't I don't mind if individuals are into that and do that and it satisfies needs. It's it's the pushing on other people. Stop. It's like how I feel when I'm sitting at my home and someone, like, knocks on my door and tries to sell me something or, like, walking down the street and someone's trying to pass me a religious pamphlet or something. It's like, get out of my face.

I'm just walking. I'm trying to enjoy my life. I don't need you to try to sell me on whatever you're selling me on in these these blockchainers out there, man. It's like, get out of my get out. I'm spending my money on physical football cards.

That's where I'm spending my money, and I have a reason why. I don't need your reason. Get out of here. I'm sick of it. Now counterpoint, what if a door to door salesman came by Hawken Prism packs?

I'm buying, especially the new stuff. Just someone showed up at your door with a Hobby Box. I'd pay probably over market because it's right there. Are you kidding me? That's what that's what was my question is.

What if somebody walked to you with a brand new case of Prism Football and they said, hey. I got this new this case of Prism Football. And you know what? It's actually, like, discounted $10 or 10%. Are you interested?

Like, my level of interest, because it's something I love, I I'm I'm I'm working out the math in my head and saying, you know what? Like, this would be fun to do on Christmas. Yeah. That door to door card salesman. There's do that instead of going on blockchain.

If you wanna expand your your card offering, hit the streets. You get to knocking. Shout out to everybody, by the way, who works for a hobby business and maybe marketplace and are have a sales title in the consignment game. I I just love that. I was I was I was listening to a conversation with Darz Cards and Ryan Johnson, and he works for Alt.

And I just was like, what a what a fun job. It's like, you are a like, you're just talking to people about cards and consignment and stuff. And I was just like, that just especially if you have, like, knowledge of cards, it's like and you like, the sale like, you're not really selling people because everyone's here because they love cards. I was like, that that seems like a fun fun job. Oh, yeah.

Just talking about cards, talking about rare cards, unearthing rare cards, bringing them to market. That's fun. That's there's I'd watch a show about that. It but it's also kinda like, like Scarface style where it's like Mhmm. You got all these cards and then you start you know, he kinda went off the rails because he started using the product and stuff.

But I just I'd probably just be spending my entire paycheck. I wouldn't probably be able to afford my house because I would just spend all my money on cards. Wow. That it's like a Scarface, him sitting at the desk with a mound of Coke in front of him, but it's just a mound of prism wrappers. Exactly.

Using his own supply. Got too got too powerful. First, you get the cards, then you get the what is it? First, you get the money, then you get the power, then you get the women. That's right.

First, you get the cards, then you get the prisms, then you get the gold prisms, then you get the finites. In in in complete despair, we can jump off this bit, but I'm just envisioning, like, in the corner of that desk is, like, the lifeline of, like, a a binder, and there's, like, trying to put, like, a base set together in the binder to justify it. You know? Yep. Another movie that we got going here.

We gotta open up the football card pod studios and then start this. And then, we need the Prism Gold Shine documentary. And then what was going on with Topps football in the early two thousands when they were just randomly numbering everything based on spinning a wheel or rolling dice or whatever they were doing. Who who out there likes to make movies? I might have a role for you.

Alright. Episode 27. Number 20 sevens. There are only three hall of famers who have ever worn number 27 in the NFL. They are Steve Atwater, Ken Houston, and Carl Hubbard.

That's it. 20 seven is a lonely, lonely hall of fame number. But some other gems that are 20 sevens, one that stood out to me had to be Larry Johnson, picked up the torch after Priest Holmes had his run-in Kansas City, and old LJ in 2005 ran for 1,750 yards. And then in 2006, 1,789 yards. I'm pretty sure he's the only running back to go back to back 1750.

I might be wrong, but, and both those seasons, he topped 2,000 scrimmage yards, got a first team out pro, two Pro Bowls. Just kind of a pretty electric run there for those two years that, unfortunately, he got hurt and never really put up any numbers quite that impressive. Again, he did in some, like, limited games. But, yeah, Larry Johnson was an absolute beast there for a little bit. That was the he is a pivotal player in my team's history based on us not being able to stop the run going into the Super Bowl stretch.

I've I've infamously talked about MJD and Fred Taylor running all over us for, like, 300 yards, and then it's like, how are we gonna go for a run? And then Bob Sanders came back, and we played the Chiefs in the, first round of the playoffs. And this was off the heels of one of these incredible Larry Johnson, games. And it's just you plug Bob Sanders in and just shut him down. And that's why Sanders is so beloved because he played such a pivotal role in, like, shot stopping that because all the talking heads were like, oh, the Chiefs are just gonna run all over the Colts, but we put Bob back in.

So, yeah, whenever I think of Larry Johnson, he his name reminds me of the Super Bowl run. So I do love Larry Johnson because of that. Another one that just jumped into my mind, Ron Dane, Thunder, him and Tiki on the Giants, Thunder and Lightning. He was in that 2,000 draft class with Tom Brady. Just a beast at Wisconsin.

I mean, I think he when he left, he had, like, every rushing record. Right? I feel like he was the guy. First round pick, eleventh overall. Never really panned out in the NFL, but I don't know.

Yeah. I just remember thunder and lightning, Ronday and the bruising back, Tiki, the shifty guy, and, like, that con that that concept to me was born of, like, having the two headed monster in the backfield. And, yeah, Rondayne. Shout out, Rondayne. Yeah.

Rondayne, prolific collegiate football player and had some moments in the NFL. When I think of '27, this is very ironic because I put this on there before the game last night, but my I put and this is bad. He played for the colts from 2000 to 2003. David Macklin, who was just toast. He just got burnt all the time, and we would just me and my friends would be like, how is David Macklin still have a job?

And last night, there was a lot of David Macklins on the field trying to defend, the 49ers. So, yeah, David Macklin. And then Eddie George, obviously, he's, like, probably the top guy that comes to my mind just based on playing him so often, when he was in the league. And I just remember watch like, obviously, watched him at Ohio State, but I just remember watching him, especially going to the games when we play the titans. And I'd always be like, he is how is a running back that big?

He just looked like two running backs in one. Like, the backs weren't as big as as he was back then. He just, like, stood out. So really good player, and I I I really enjoy be he played from a probably at Ohio State, and he had such a a great run, and he had a great NFL career. He is one of those players that I believe has lived on in our hearts and minds through collectors in the hobby.

There's a lot of Eddie George guys out there. So I feel fortunate to have seen, like, probably some of his best cards just through Instagram and all the collectors out there. And, yeah, has a bunch of great collectors, bunch of great cards. He's in all the good late ninety sets into the early two thousands. Madden, initial Madden athlete too.

That cannot be forgotten. He was the first ever non or the first ever athlete to be on Madden football. Was it Madden 2001 or 2000? I think it was 2001. Yes.

That was a 2001. Yeah. On the heels of his the February season where he was first team all pro, had 1,962 scrimmage yards, 16 touchdowns. Titans make it to the Super Bowl losing that, or no. I guess '99, they make it to the Super Bowl.

2000, though, was his good season. He had a good season in '99 also. He was a beast for those years for Pro Bowls. But, yeah, I remember Mad I had Mad in 2001 on PlayStation two, and it was a pivotal game. I remember, though, for the longest not the longest time.

But, initially, I didn't realize how to switch teams. So when you would open up, like, quick play, it was always Rams and Titans because that was, like, what the previous Super Bowl was. So I was just always playing with the Titans and just running y sales with Frank Wycheck and, just Eddie George. I just, like, learned that titans team so well, and then I feel like I realized, like, oh, there's these, like, second triggers behind that I can click through and change my team. But, for at least probably a couple days, I was exclusively playing with the Tennessee titans on men two thousand one.

That's amazing. And since we're doing a little video game talk, I gotta bring this up speaking of Eddie George. But this game, man, I this is this is NCAA game breaker football on the original PlayStation, and it is 1997. And look who's on the cover here. Oh, yeah.

We've got Eddie George on the cover of this game. Dude, when original PlayStation came out, I I had two games out of the gates. I had game breaker '97 and twisted metal. And, dude, I just played these two games. Like, it would be, like, 03:30 in the morning, and my dad would come downstairs, and he'd be like, you're still up?

And I would just be like, yeah. Just one more game. He's like, you gotta go to bed after this. And I would just play this obsessively. But as you're talking video games, shout out to anyone out there who played PlayStation game breaker.

That game was incredible. And now you can buy it. Right now, it looks like it's in stock for $10.99 on j2games.com. So if you're looking for a fix, $10.99, I'm sure that'll be more entertainment than you're gonna get the rest of this holiday season. That that is tempting.

Also, we've just now referenced two recent Heisman not recent Heisman winners, but Yes. Eddie George in '95, Ronda in '99, throwing in Ricky Williams there in '98. That's a nice little run of running backs taking home the Heisman. And then following that up, though, with Chris Wenke and Eric Crouch. Yeah.

Oh, hey. Did that did that '99 class where they were promoting it was they went '98 and all the products they got. They're like, we got Manning. We'll put Manning on everything. And then '99, they tried to follow it up with Tim Couch, and it just didn't quite work out.

Oh, yeah. Tim Couch, Achilles Smith Yes. Smith, McNabb. I remember McNabb was the at least one of the best players from that draft. Yes.

Ninety nine NFL draft. Yeah. That's a Edge. Edron James. That's what I always think about when I think of '99.

Oh, true. True. True. Edgerrin, fourth overall, Champ Bailey. Yes.

Dante Culpepper, David Boston, Javon Kurse, Tory Holt. I mean, yeah, not, like, first ballot hall of famers necessarily. Some of those guys, Champ and Edron, but, very nostalgic players. Like, I love these names. Devon Kurse, speaking of the titans in 2000 Freak.

The Freak. He was and then when he went to the eagles, I was like, the eagles have the greatest team of all time. They've just just assembled all the best players. Who who do you think is more pro wrestler ready Mhmm. Between Michael Pittman senior and David Boston?

Like, who would who do you think is Boston. Boston was just Boston, like, he stood out like a sore thumb when you were watching the games. Yeah. He and something about him being a receiver. It's like, right.

Move his arms the way he needs to to catch the ball? Can he extend with all those muscles? I don't know. But, like, Michael Pitt because Michael Pittman senior was a running back. Yep.

So that's more like bowling ball esque. I mean, both of them. That that tag team? Pittman and Boston? We we, I can't believe we've gone twenty seven weeks, and this is the first David Boston mention.

Glad we could get that one in. Is it? That's yeah. I'm a little upset if that's the case because I do own a couple David Boston cards. So I have his o two finest X Fractor.

And I love that card because I'm like, god. This guy was so sick. He had that one season where his first team all pro led the league in receiving and then kinda kinda fell off. But, yeah, 2001. Shout out David Boston.

That's a that's I thought you were gonna say I have, like, I have his, like, you know, Bowman paper card or something. You're like, no. I got his his axe fracture. But he is kind of right in the alley in the wheelhouse of types of guys you like to pick up when you see it. Yeah.

Well, in that, like, there was a time when o two x factors were $15. Like, that I bet I got for 15 or $20 max was, like, the David Boston, like, four years ago, three years ago. So I remember on this thread, I remember when I looked in for, like they wasn't, like, one day. It was, like, a couple days, and then finally, like, I said something about it, and I should've just bought it. But I remember, like, there was a Curtis Martin, like, PSA nine that was sitting out there for, like, $99 for, like, at least a week.

And I'm like, really? No one like, that was, like, a sign to me. It's like, Chris Martin's a hall of famer. How's no one I was just like, how's no one buying this card right now? Yeah.

No. There I remember there were a lot of X Fractors sitting on eBay, and I had bought Anthony Thomas for $35, which was like a splurge because I was like, I'm spending $35 on Anthony Tom. Like, the like, during the era of investing in Luca and Jaw and stuff, I was like, this is why am I doing this? But when I got it in hand, I'm like, oh my god. This card is awesome.

Like but there was, like, Jamal Lewis was, like, $50. I was like, I can't do that. And, like, all these other players that were just sitting there and eventually just somewhat there was I remember there was one day I woke up, and they were, like, all off the watch list. Like, they had all ended. I was like, god.

Damn it. Like, I should've so from that point on, I started if they popped up for a reasonable price, I was like, I'm buying these. I love I love grouping them together, having the that's part of, like, the the Madden collection of just, again, taking it back to 2000 Madden 2001. It's like when I go through my o two finest stuff, it's like I'm flipping through the choose a team screen and just seeing all the players and all the jerseys. It's a great great feeling.

What what, the everyone talks about collecting these guys because of fantasy football. Like, I think Madden is more influential to me. It's like, I would want more to collect these guys because of Madden. Like, dude, being in, like even, like, in I played Madden forever. College, like, I'd skip class and game online, play my buddies three suicides in a or three three Oh, yeah.

Random and then the yeah. Yeah. Those guys in that like, you bring up any of those guys and you have, like, a cool card of theirs, like, I'm gonna have some connection because I literally played all the years of Madden until my eyes bled. I just find that interesting now that we're on this video game card thread. It's like, everyone always talks about fantasy, but it's like, why aren't we talking about Madden?

Like, that's probably just as influential. Absolute like, all the those running backs, I just think of the Madden mini games. Like the the running back drill. Yeah. That was the most addictive thing you could ever do with a little good Charlotte playing in the background as I'm Outside?

Running off tackle. Just spin move. Let's go. Corey Dillon, Jamal Lewis. Corey Dillon was on the Patriots, I feel like, in that game.

Eventually. But I I remember because he didn't go there until, like, o four. But and he had a great season with the Patriots. People forget. 02/2004, he ran for 1,635 yards, 12 touchdowns for the Patriots.

It's like, of course, he's fallen off a cliff in Cincinnati kind of Yep. And then he just goes to the Patriots, gets new life. Did, dude. Wins the Super Bowl. He won the Super Bowl.

That's what they did back then. It was nonstop that all the time. Yeah. And somehow, there's they're back up there again. Yeah.

Drake May is very good. Yeah. Not whatever. Good for them. See him in the Super Bowl, I guess.

Rematch at eighty five? Yeah. Yeah. We'll see if it works out for him this time. Alright.

Three and out. Should we hit our topics? Yes. Three and out. Got got a few, brain busters here.

So I was thinking about this. The I was thinking about the honestly, it it it happened after I watched Drake May on Sunday Night Football against the Ravens, and this is also coming off the heels of me seeing Caleb Williams make those two throws. Caleb Williams is such a interesting player to me. You know? Not I wouldn't say struggling, but just not necessarily, like, the best game.

And then when it matters the most, it he just makes these ridiculous plays, which we've talked about this. It's like, at the end of the day, completion percentage doesn't matter if you're winning games with your arm, Mike, and that's what's happened. But, like, Williams, and then you got you can't lose sight because it's been a bad year for him with injury and stuff, but Jaden Daniels. And then also Bo Knicks. Right?

Like, look at the broncos. So you've got Williams, Daniels, May, and Knicks. And those are the there's more, but those are the only players that I'm gonna mention because they're all proven to be good players. And then you go back to, 20, Burrow, Herbert, Love, and Hertz. And there's more, but these are the four.

And I'm like, in the last four years, you've had these two really good quarterback classes. And so, like, I don't know. Just I wanted to open it up because, like, so much attention is on all of these players' cards too. And so I guess first question to you, like and I know you've got some bias because you got your guy in there, and I'm not asking you to pick against it. But just as a collection and I know one of these groups has the app has aged and the other one's still fresh.

But, like, when the dust settles with all of these characters in these two classes, which class do you think will be considered, the best class out of those two groups? Oh, that's tough. Yeah. Harder because 2020 already has, you know, an extra four years. Hertz won a Super Bowl.

Burrow's been to a Super Bowl. Herbert has crazy numbers. Jordan Love, I do think, is a good quarterback. I gave some sang some Jordan Love praises. Yeah.

I still think it's too maybe early to call it, but if I had to, I think this 2024 like, I think Drake May is really good. I think Bo Nix is really good. I think Caleb is gonna be really good. Jayden, I hope, gets healthy. But I don't I don't know.

I love Joe Burrow. Joe Burrow is, like, the best, I would say, of all those quarterbacks. I would take Joe Burrow if I had, like to pick one quarterback to play one game. I think I'd pick Joe Burrow. Joe Burrow's so good.

I I it this is so close. If you put, like, all four of these guys together based on potential and what we've seen, it is so close. And I I will I will my thought pros I think, like, Drake May's ceiling is extremely high. I think all of those quarterbacks in the 24 ceiling is high. I think Drake Mays is really, really high based on what I've seen, so far.

But I think it's hard for me to pick against 20 because I think, like, Joe bur I'm with you. Like, to me, Joe Burrow is the guy. And if I had to pick one guy, that's who I would go with. Yeah. Like, if I'm if I could turn off injuries to bring it back to madness, then I'm picking Joe Burrow.

We gotta use this video game, analogy throughout the rest of this episode. And so I guess the the follow-up is based on all of their Prism cards, like, visualize all their Prism cards, which one do you think is the coolest rookie card? Now this is interesting because 2020 and 2024 Prism are probably two of the best years Exactly. In that run. So good job, Panini.

You didn't mess that one up. Oh, that that's tough. I think I love 20 I think I'd like 24 more just from a looks. I take the Caleb Williams one over them all. Like, I'll I'll let my bias shine through there, but it'd be that.

Or, again, like, going back with the the Joe Burrow thing, like Burrow's 2020, has that his finite ever sold? Has that been seen? That's a good question. I feel like I've seen his auto finite, but, I love them both too, twenty and twenty four. Mine is probably burrow, and maybe it's because it's more burned into my brain at this point.

But I love the you get to see some background in his, and it's such a great action shot of him. Like, he's probably my favorite out of the bunch. The 20 because I went by all of them. Was looking the 20 fours are, like, more up close and personal. You're getting, like, really close with the guys.

And I do love it, but I think probably Burrow is my pick in terms of out of all of these guys, which card I like the most. Yeah. Yeah. Burrow's Finite has never looks like it's never sold. Has I wonder if it's ever been seen.

If anyone knows where that 2020 Borough Finite is, I'm just curious. I wanna see that card. That if that's still in a box somewhere, that's fun too. That is fun too. That I I could imagine the retail on the 20 prism is probably pretty high if that's available based on all things considered.

Because what did the what did the Herbert Finite sell for? I got a little A mill 1,000,001.1, I think. 1.1. Yeah. That's a lot of money.

He's really good. He is. Herbert is amazing. I mean, that's that was, like, peak peak 09/08/2022. Okay.

So not '21. But yeah. And his numbers are unreal. Like, Herbert unbelievable. He's he's very, very good.

He's very good. Yeah. It dude, this year is such an interesting year just in terms of, like, I think about like, they store there's so many story lines. Like, is Herbert finally gonna get playoff success? Is this the Josh Allen year?

There's there's so many of these, like and we'll we'll talk more about them as we enter playoffs. I'm sure we'll have a whole thing of, like, we can make a fun episode. But I was starting to think about that. I was like, man, there's a lot of, like something can be resolved this year based on what I'm seeing so far. Yeah.

There are very good storylines. And for the Chiefs to already be out, the Ravens are out, the Bengals are out. Like, there's I saw some tweet. This is terrible radio because I don't remember the stats, but I put some tweet of, like, all those teams being out of like, if before the season, all those the odds that all those teams were gonna miss is, like, point zero six or whatever. Dude, it it it probably the same odds as the the bears beating the packers with two minutes to go.

Unreal. Okay. Next question. Second down. You ready?

Yep. Alright. If this were last night, Brock Purdy would be hitting George Kittle for a 15 yard pass over the middle. Based on your observations of Topps Chrome NBA release, what do you like about what's to come with football, and what do you not like? Okay.

So I did a little brief research into this just looking up 2025 Tops Chrome basketball, the checklist, and other things I've seen. First off, things I don't like, the backs of the cards. Low effort into the back of a card. I don't like give me some blurbs. Give me stats.

Like, partner with Pro Football Reference and get the stats on the back. Get some blurbs on the back. It's they're just, like well, wait. Okay. I take that back.

There's one line of stats and a blurb. I guess I saw an autograph card. I saw the back, and it was just like, this autograph is guaranteed by tops is, like, the only thing really on the back. And to me, I was like, come on. I want a little more.

But I'm looking at a base card right now from basketball, and there is a good blurb and some stats. So I take that back at least for now. The parallels, I'm still figuring out what the like, there's a super factor one zero one. Golds are out of 50, but then there's a bunch of other new things in the mix, like, of five, out of 10. So I am interested to kinda, like, learn it all, but I don't know.

I'm not like, I'm more hyped for Prism football than I am Tops Chrome football at this juncture. But what do you think? Yeah. I so a couple things. I, there was a thread.

Someone, Reddit user by the name of Seldu did, like, a deep dive analysis, and I think about Tops Chrome release and, I'll link out so people can read it. But he estimated 89,850,000 cards produced, and there's which would be roughly 33% more than any Chrome release in history. So you're getting more production, more distribution. So that's, like, on that side. So, like, that that probably doesn't impact what I would like, I'm going through probably probably trying to go for manufactured scarcity if I buy this stuff so that but just generally, like, it's there's more of it.

I think out of the basketball release, things that I really don't like, I do not like like, the Halliburton card, It the there's a variation, and then there's the his, you know, base set card, but the base set's horizontal. And it's like, why is why did you decide to make him horizontal when there's not many horizontal guys? So that pisses me off. Think I the photography is terrible. Like, I the the cards itself are go look through the the Chrome basketball stuff.

Dude, everyone's just, like, standing there or, like, dribbling the basketball. I'm like, this photography sucks. I think I'm giving it the benefit of the doubt for it being, like, the first release, but that's what I don't like. I do like the the chase of the gold, like, Logoman patch. I think that's cool.

I think, like, the fact that you can get that stuff out of blaster boxes is cool. Mhmm. But, yeah, it'll be interesting. Maybe they'll, like, get some of this figured out by the time they release their football product. But, yeah, I'm with you.

I'm more excited about Prism, the last Prism coming out than than Chrome football. Yeah. So I'm seeing there are 61 parallels in Tops Chrome according to trading card database. And, like, some of these parallels where'd it go? Numbered out of 10.

See, there's too many. I can't even okay. There's black basketball refractors out of 10. There's black geometric refractors out of 10. There's black pulsar refractors out of 10.

There's black ray wave refractors out of 10, and then there's black refractors out of 10. Oh, and then there's black wave refractors out of 10. It's just a lot of lot of things out of 10. It's like if everything's serial numbered, nothing's serial numbered. Like, this is just it's too much in my humble opinion.

The black geometric would be as close as you can get to a black finite, but they're out of 10. You know? Yeah. Well, then I I do like the prospect of, like, finding ways to collect this new bears team that maybe aren't gonna, like, cost a fortune like Prism will. Like, am I even gonna get a Caleb twenty twenty five Prism gold?

Probably not. It's probably, I don't know. Like, maybe. But those seem like they're gonna be expensive, and then, like it's like, then do I wanna get a Prism card that's out of 99 or, like, a Tops Chrome card that's out of 10? You know?

Like, I feel like I can find ways to maybe put together some cool team sets in this tops chrome world, but I I just don't know if I'm gonna, like, like the cards. It all depends on if I get that card in hand. Am I like, oh, yeah. This is cool. I want more of them, or is it gonna feel underwhelming?

So and I don't like the numbering on them. They're skimping on the the letterpress to really indent these numbers. Like, look back at old, you know, PMGs or o two Finest. O two Finest has the best serial numbers in my opinion. It's just, like, gold and big and thick stamped in there.

And then some of these Tops Chrome ones, they're almost like the digital numbering, which is my least favorite kind of numbering on a sports card. You wanna hear the the, like, the breath and smoke coming up after every yeah. I feel like they they go to a steel mill after they leave tops, and it's, like, 24 karat gold. And, yeah, I want some of that too. 24 karat's the just the rumor of, like, that logo being actual 24 carat leaf gold.

Give me bring back make numbering great again. But that honestly, it they don't have the budget for it because they're cranking out so many numbers. We we can't make these numbers nice. We've got a million number. Because the strategy isn't to appease us.

It is to gain net new sports fans, and so they don't know the difference. So that's you always have to remember that when it's gonna be an uphill battle for us nerds, basically. Yeah. But, yes, it's all it's all for breaking. It's like, It is all for breaking.

When someone's doing a break, they're hitting a numbered card and can make it a big deal even though it's probably not like again, all these orange basketball refractors, orange geometric orange geometric refractors, orange pulsar, orange ray wave, orange refractors, orange wave refractors. So you got the orange ray wave, the orange refractor, the orange wave refractor. What are we doing? It it's not I I make my living on the Internet, and I respect anybody who else does that. And it's not lost on me, though.

Because that I'm working on the Internet and working in cards, it is very and I'm I'm I'm I'm in marketing. Like, the it's not lost on me, your statement of this is all for the breakers because the breakers are the TV commercial for this product and will be. That's the way this is all set up and organized. And if you take breakers out, take them out. What happens next?

That's the question that I'm asking myself in this area. If you remove the breaker, which I'm not suggesting that or recommending that, but I that's that's what I think those are the questions we need to be asking ourselves when we're evaluating the product and its quality. Mhmm. And look. This is not to say that I don't end up collecting some of these cards at one point.

Like, I don't know. Like, there might be one of these maybe that orange RayWave is awesome, and it ends up, like, looking great with the bears orange jerseys, and I end up getting it. So, like, I don't wanna, like, diminish these cards if, you know, if someone likes collecting them, if they give you the good feels, like, by all means, go for it. A 100%. I just just looking at it from this, like, parallel checklist, standpoint is funny where but I just looked on eBay.

You know, the black geometrics do look like finites. Yep. Like, they're out of 10, which is you know? But, like, do I want one of those to will it, like will it fit together in the collection? Will one of those feel like the rest?

I don't know. I don't know. But we'll see. Good good good I we're just setting the stage. We'll eventually talk about this stuff, but I thought that would be a good second down.

Then second down. Third down. Did shout out CardLadder. I did some data analysis, ten minutes before this episode, actually, and I was thinking about this. But I said to myself, hey.

I haven't looked at CardLadder at the top 100 highest selling cards of this year. I'm about to record a podcast about football cards. Let's let's try to figure out based on that dataset, what does the football card makeup of of that look like? So we have, the highest selling card, which we've we've heard is not a football card, obviously. The Logoman Jordan and Kobe, that card sold for 12,900,000.0.

So that is the highest selling card as we record this on December 23. Then you go all the way to a 100, it is $356,000. So from 12,900,000.0 to 356,000, that's your 100 card range. In this range of a 100 cards, there is only four football cards out of 100 of the highest selling cards. You've got coming, in at four, you have the Jaden Finite rookie, which that has made been made famous via Rothcard's public sale to the owner of the Washington Commanders.

You have a Brady Champ ticket PSA eight that sold for 400 and or fifth 549,000. You have a 21 green Kaboom Brady one of one selling for 660,000. And then the highest selling card is the Tom Brady o five finest super factor one of one at $704,550, which the Brady is number 40. So you don't get a football card in the 100 selling until 40. So this is a football card podcast.

We advocate for football cards, but, obviously, there is something interesting to think about and talk about. When you hear this data, John, you hear the lack of football cards in the top 100 highest selling cards of 2025, what does this what does this suggest to you? That's crazy. I would have guessed more. I know football is still because, like, what?

The top of that list is probably exquisite stuff, vintage baseball, like exquisite basketball, Logo Men, LeBron, RPAs. Yeah. Vintage baseball, lots. Lots of vintage baseball. That Shohei MVP logo man.

Yeah. Shohei Shohei. A lot of Shohei stuff. And Hannes Wagner, a Kobe flawless logo man, another Kobe flawless logo man, a Mickey, a Messy Mega Cracks, PSA 10, some Babe Ruth's basketball. Yeah.

It's like yeah. Where are the football cards? I don't even know. I guess I don't know what the the reason for I I guess now this is evidence no one collects football cards. That's right.

That's all I got. Shout shout out, MK. Nobody collects this stuff. So I was thinking about, like, what are the reasons for this? And this, like, this exercise wasn't meant to be like, let's go football card collectors.

Let's spend more money. Like, we're all here. We already collect this stuff. It's more like what's happening around us. And I three a few things came to my mind.

Number one, I think one thing that's hurting football cards is this, which is ironic because we just talked about a rookie couple rookie quarterback classes that hit, which that is the exception. Most of them don't. And I think this rookie inflation on the young quarterback stuff, might be a detractor where people like, it's like a hot potato. So I think that maybe hurts. I also, like, think about the other categories in baseball and especially vintage baseball and and this, high end basketball, it's like the hierarchy and structure of, like, the players and, like, the cards that matter is very established.

And Mhmm. You look at football, and it's just like at the high at the top, and it's just like Brady because people because he won seven Super Bowls in it. But the the category makeup and parallels and which is better than that, that is, like that is very it's it is forming now, and so that that's that's another thing. So it's like the Brady factor being the only guy really to, like, push up. If if there dude, if there were take Brady out of this.

Where is there any foot? Like, Jaden Daniels, but would Jaden Daniels even been on the list if Brady wasn't Brady? So that that's kinda where my head's at right now. Well, and even I'm looking up Shohei sales. And in December 19, so four days ago, his 2018 Bowman Chrome Gold Refractor rookie auto authentic, but auto 10.

Mhmm. 50 out of 50. So I guess there's significance there with the 5050 season. Oh, I didn't think about that. The numbering being fifty fifty, that would that's why this is so high.

But it sold for $552,000. And just the thought of, like, a card numbered out of 50 selling for $552,000. Like, there's no football player that's even close. Like Well, there's no football player with in today's game right now that is you think about the popularity and cultural impact, like, there's no one even close. Not even Mahomes is not even in close to Ohtani.

No. Ohtani is doing, like what? He has four straight MVP or three straight MVPs, four and five years, and now he's winning titles. But alright. So scrolling beyond that, in September 2025, his 2018 Bohman Chrome rookie autograph orange refractor, BG S nine five autograph 10 out of 25 sold for 347,000.

Card out of 25 doesn't have the fifty fifty numbering, still is over $300,000 card. Yeah. I know Shohei's great, and, like, I it's just crazy to me that there are this many people willing to spend this much money on these cards to drive the price up that much. Like, it's same thing with Pokemon and, like, that Pikachu felt hat felt hat card or whatever the one is that there's, like, 20,000 PSA tens, and they are over, like, $10,000 each. It's like, how are there this many people that are, like, buying that?

And but there are. The the audience is there globally. And, yeah. That's they're I guess it's up to Caleb Williams to become that next superstar. It it it I guess, at the end of the day, it's it's very, it is nice to know just that cards that we're buying, although they might seem more expensive than ever before, If you believe in football cards, like, it's it's a pretty fun place to be because to me, there's and we know there's cards we don't even talk about and segments we don't even talk about, but there's more opportunities in collecting football cards and finding value than probably maybe any other category just in terms of the volume of opportunities.

And, obviously, we can't predict the future. But if you love this stuff, like, in your just think about the last five years, dude. We've been collecting it the last five years, and just think about the cards you bought and, like, what has happened to them. And I'm not saying that's gonna go on forever, but it just it seems like there's a lot more opportunity than any of these other, like, very established categories like high end basketball or vintage baseball. Yeah.

For sure. And then, yeah, the lack of yeah. I guess I'd it's I'm so curious of what it takes in football to, like, be like a Shohei because, yeah, you just gotta win every MVP, I guess, and a couple Super Bowls in a row, and they'll be that that hype. But it's like Mahomes did that. He won back to back Super Bowls.

Didn't he win go back to back MVPs or at least back to back Super Bowl MVPs? But I I think Mahomes will be I think with Mahomes, he'll be more favored when the it it's all said and done. There's when you're at like, Brady's flowers really in prices really started to kinda go up as, like, he was on that last lap and he won the the final Super Bowl. I think there's especially with a lot of these players, like and football is weird. Like, if you win a lot, people are gonna like, people criticize the Chiefs on, like, the refs being for the all this stuff.

And so I don't know how much that translates to cards, but I think maybe football is one of those things. And we're seeing that now with, you know, players like Manning and you know? There it it's appreciating later, and there hasn't been a lot like, I don't know. I feel like nostalgia is getting baked in. So I don't know if that'll trail that trailing effect will happen with Mahomes or not, but I don't know.

It's just interesting to look at. Yeah. Absolutely. This for for do you wanna just dude, I don't really I've kinda shared my piece upfront. I'm I'm very exhausted from this season, and I'm just tired of did we we it's been rough.

And I'm tired right now from last night, so I don't really have anything to say outside of just giving San Francisco its flowers, and they looked really good. And Kyle Shanahan's a great coach, and they played their ass off. And Philip Rivers played his incredible, and our defense was terrible. So I that's that's all I got, man. But you had a great Saturday night, so I'm gonna give you some time.

I'll I'll be short, though, to spare our loyal listeners who don't care about our own fandoms, our selfish loyal listeners who kidding. But, yeah, that was an unreal game. I was pretty depressed, I'd say, for the first two and a half hours of that Saturday night. And but still, I just kept thinking, like, there's a way. There's time on the clock.

Like, they've done it all year. They've found ways to win. And lo and behold, the Green Bay muffs an onside kick, and then it's like, Caleb just does crazy things. Like, those two throws were just unreal. I've watched them a million times.

I'll watch them forever. Like, it was awesome. The like, Chicago needed a play like that. Like, the overtime touchdown throw, I was talking to some friends. It's like, that's the biggest bears moment probably since the Hester Super Bowl kickoff return, like, singular play that just, like I don't know.

An electric play for not to just win an overtime on a field goal or, like, a two yard run for it to be this, like, moonshot into the night was I don't know. It was just beautiful. So got, you know, these team of destiny vibes. I don't know how legit it can be in the playoffs this year, but I'm just enjoying it. Like, they're just winning games.

They're they clinched the playoffs. Probably gonna play the packers again in the wild card is what everything's trending towards unless the bears win out and get some help, and then they'd get the the one seed and a buy. But I don't think that's gonna happen. They go to San Francisco next week, which after watching part of that Colts game, I'm I'm terrified of the 40 niners. They look like they're coming back.

Like, everyone's coming back healthy to, like, full power. And yeah. I mean, my only hope is that, like, I mean, if Philip was able to carve them up, can Caleb do some damage and kinda hang with them, and can we force can the bears force some turnovers? So, yeah, I don't know. Like and the Caleb completion percentage thing, it's like it's low because he's taking shots, but he's always they're they're not he doesn't throw interceptions.

He's thrown 12 interceptions in his whole career. So it's just like, I'm okay with him missing two and then hitting a 30 yarder. It's like, alright. If that's how we're like I'll take that over, like, three ten yard passes in a row. What's what's the difference?

So, yeah, I don't know. It's fun. I can't believe it. I just can't believe that game. That was unreal.

Yeah. That's all I got. Dude, that was, it was as a fan of football, that game was absolutely crazy. And, also, I'll say this, just outside observation, non game related. I like I like the Saturday night game.

It was very apparent right from the jump. Those, Chicago bears fans were were highly popped. They they've been pop they've been pop they've been popping all day. Right? Within the first two seconds of the game, we got a, you know, Green Bay, you suck chant.

It was like, this this crowd is loaded right now. Eight twenty is long because I, myself, indulged in a few beverages leading up to the game. I was like, come on. Let's get here. So, and then and had some friends over, which I never do during bears games, but I was like, whatever.

Like and so it the energy was low. People were like, do we need to leave? I kept trying to kick people out. But, no. They go nuts.

I think I woke up my daughter when they scored that touchdown. And then my wife, a real MVP, the next morning, took our daughter and went up to her parents just to leave me in the house for a little bit, alone to The gift. That's the that's your Christmas present. Oh, it was sad. And I just rewatched the fourth quarter, like, three times.

I think I've shed a tear just watching, like, highlights of crowds of in bars going nuts and, like I don't know. And, like, yeah, the the packers fans, oh, this is your Super Bowl. It's like, yeah. I haven't had shit to cheer for in the last, like, thirty years. So, like, a monumental regular season win.

Like, it felt like a playoff game. 100% felt like a playoff game. It makes me excited for, like, Caleb in the playoffs. I'm like, he does this shit. He, like, can step up in the moments.

His confidence is just growing. Him throwing that and then, like, putting his hands in the hand warmer and just standing there and, like, watching it, it's like, oh, there's so many good pieces of content that keep coming out. Like, now all the mic'd up footage is coming out and, like, the slow mo NFL films clips are coming out and the, like, next gen stats pieces are coming out. It's just like a nonstop feed of all the levels of content. So, yeah, it was awesome, but it does have me worried that we're gonna play the Packers again, and they're gonna be extra pissed off after that game and maybe just beat the shit out of the Bears, or maybe the Bears just keep the magic going.

I don't know. I'm having fun. I love Ben Johnson. He changed my life. But his that fourth and one call where they, like, snapped it through Kmet's legs to Manungai in, like, the first quarter, and it fumbled back 18 yards.

I was I could not get over that for the rest of the day. I was so mad because I was like, that was everything. That was all the momentum. Just run the ball. So I hope he's learning too.

I'm sure he is, but, yeah, it was awesome. I don't wanna end this on a positive packers note, but I'll just say LaFleur is a really good coach. Like, Malik Willis literally played like, he played so good. It was like, I love a good, like, backup coming out and just, dude, didn't even blink. And he again, if there's a trend here, Rivers did it.

Got blown out. These sometimes when the quarterbacks are playing out of their mind based on where they're at in skill level, it's still not enough. And Malik, it felt like that. Malik I felt I felt bad for Malik Willis because he he did everything he could to win that game. Yeah.

And he was great. LaFleur is awesome. Like, LaFleur is a great coach. Like, those drives were just backbreak. They were, like, minute drives every time, like, in just three yards, four yards, third and two.

They get four yards, three yards, four yards, like, another third and three. Oh, Malik Willis runs for six. I was like, get a stop. They just couldn't get a stop. Yeah.

It was pretty excruciating because, like, until that onside kick. And, yeah, they messed up the field goal, like, running the team out and, like, kicking it into the two minute warning. I was like, this team's a joke. Like, what are we doing? We don't deserve this.

And then for it to shift the way it shifted was I'm just happy. I haven't had a bears moment like that literally in, yeah, 2018, the 2018 team that made a run. But then since the double doink, it has just been terrible for the last seven years. So, hey. Yeah.

We're excited over here. Just at this this niners game. I just wanna see how they stack up to the niners. Like, don't get killed. Be competitive.

That's all I ask. Enjoy it, dude. You ready to hit market watch? Yeah. Let's talk about some sales.

Alright. Shout out CardLadder for the MarketWatch segment. Are also, are you ready to enter the kaboom room? Let's go. Open the door.

We don't we don't go into the kaboom room every episode, but when I do a search this is the this is the complete opposite of my reporting on the 2025 sales, and there are only being four football cards. This is the first time all year or since we've been doing this podcast where I looked at sales for the week, and the number one selling card on eBay for the time that I, looked at, which was the last week, was a football card. And it's this football card, which is the 2022 absolute Josh Allen vertical one of one green kaboom. We just nine five. This thing sold for $100,000 fixed price.

How you doing? What do you gotta say about this? These are sick, though. Like, I do love how these look. Like, I mean, a $100,000 is crazy.

But if I had the opportunity to get, like, a Caleb Williams of this card, I would I would love to have that card in my collection, but they're just so expect like, that's a different level of card. But I don't know. I think that's awesome. I guess a 100,000 makes sense when you see some of those sales. Like, didn't LeBron just sell, like, for some crazy price too?

Dude, Kaboom's like its own market, man. I it it is it's its own beast. Yeah. A LeBron 2018 gold sold for $350,000. Like, a gold out of 10.

You know? And then his 2023, so not even no. Twenty eighteen's first year for football. Twenty eighteen's not even first year for basketball. That's just a random basketball year gold selling for 350.

Yeah. The market is insane on these. Yeah. It was this a this was fixed price? Yeah.

Right. That's a that's a big sale for old for old Josh. What do you think? When you get into 6 figure territory, I feel like that is territory where you then start asking yourself what's missing. And to me, like, what is missing about this card is and, again, I'm not, like, setting rules, but the fact that this is a nonrookie card going for a 100 k my and then my question is, like, in I think 28 teams, the first football, and I don't know if did Josh Allen have a one of one twenty eighteen?

Don't think they had greens until No. I mean, they have gold. So right? I don't know if football did. I mean, maybe that's why this is a $100,000.

Right. There's not so the those are just the questions that I ask, but people are willing to pay for it. Yes. 2018 football has goals. Oh, they they don't have a green, though.

Right? No. Okay. Yeah. So I that's just where it gets interesting.

So, like, does They do. They do. I'm sorry. Okay. So a Josh Allen card worth what's that card worth now?

That's Josh Allen sold in oh, wow. Okay. So this had a little history. This has a alright. We gotta we're in the kaboom room.

What happened was in July or in June 2022, Josh Allen's rookie green kaboom one of one sold for $72,000. In September 2022, so a couple months later, it sold for $60,000. Mhmm. It was a PSA six, and then it went to PSA authentic. So they re it.

And then it sold again in December 2022 for $33,000. Oh my god. So three sales coming within. All going down. Seven months, going from 72 to 60 to 33, and now a non rookie just sold for a 100.

The the last sale is the 30? Yeah. 33. Who hope whoever bought it for 30 is sitting on it and laughing their ass off right now. Yeah.

That's a what a buy. Good job. But Wow. Yeah. Like, again, I it's just a different level of card than, like, I'm in.

So, like, I'm just a outside observer. It's like exquisite basketball. Like, I'll just I can be like, these are sick. I would want to get one if I was a multimillionaire. Yeah.

I don't know. But 100 k. Good. That's a that's a healthy football sale. That is a healthy football sale.

The kaboom room was fun this this week. We're out. We're we're out, but are you we're ready are you ready for a little vintage football talk? So we're moving from the boom room to little vintage. Are are you down?

So, like, little vintage football talk is like a sunken living room in, like, a mid century modern house with, like, the fireplace and the robe, and we got some stogies. And now it's time for a little little vintage football talk. I'm I got my cup of coffee here. I'm thinking I'm gonna go pipe. Yeah.

Oh, I like that. Some chestnuts roasting on the open fire. Okay. So the the first one is my man, the 1971 tops Dave Wilcox. This card sold it's a PSA 10.

There's a pop two sold for $10,064 on eBay via best offer. You got a Dave Wilcox in 2025 PSA 10 selling for 10 k. So I did a little research. He's a 49ers legend, five five time all pro. He spent ten years his whole career here and as a niner, nicknamed the intimidator.

And this quote I was saw this quote from him, and it says, what I do best is not let people block me. I just hate to be blocked to be blocked. Love that. That is a quote from Dave Wilcox. And the card is so cool.

He's got his shoulder pads on, hands on what appears to be his thighs, just look gazing up at the, no helmet on, gazing up at the, other side, and just this guy looks like he's getting ready to crush some souls. Wow. Sharing a nickname with Dale Earnhardt? That's right. Pretty badass.

Who's the real intimidator here? That's that's a good question. Two time first team all pro. Wow. That's that's a good football player right there, and that's a good card.

That's just a classic see, vintage high grade. Vintage tens, there's something about them that's just, like, very appealing or very pleasing when you see, like, beat up copies all the time and stuff like that. To to see a 10 is cool. And what this sell for? Like, 10 k?

10 k. Yep. Wow. But we're not moving completely out of a little vintage football talk because I got another one for you. It is the 1970 tops Ken Bowman.

His PSA 10 sold for $5,255. Ken Bowman was a center for the Green Bay Packers. He played with the Packers from 1964 to 1973, and then he did a swan song after the Packers to play for the World Football League's Hawaiians out of Honolulu. So I love this. He was in the frozen tundra.

He was in the cold. He was just ripping people's heads off in Green Bay for a decade plus. And then he's like, you know what? I'm not quite done with football, but this weather is killing me. So I'm I'm gonna go play for the the WFL's Hawaiians out of Honolulu.

So he spent a season there. But also too, like, I love the fact that this is back to the part time football player. We've talked about this. But after his rookie season, Bowman decided to attend law school part time and earned his JD from the University of Wisconsin Law School. So he's an NFL center, but he's also, you know, if if if you gotta go to court, I know a guy.

His name is Ken Bowman, JD. Wow. Wow. That I love old football players and their trajectories. We've we've talked about this many times, but, yeah, everyone it's too serious now.

Kids are kids are getting into football camps when they're, like, three years old and just being trained only for football. And it's like, no. Go fight in a war. Go past the bar. Go do a little something else.

Go smoke some cigarettes. Go smoke some cigs. Drink a beer at halftime. You know? Knock someone out.

It's yeah. Too soft. But shout out Ken Bowman even though he's a packer. And but, yeah, centers centers need love too. Dude, and if there's this narrative around football cards, oh, they don't they when I got back in the hobby, oh, they don't sell well because you you they got their helmets on.

You can't see their face. We just showed a '71 Wilcox tops, no helmet, just looking up at the sky, and we've got a Ken Bowman getting ready to crush you. Nineteen seventy tops, no helmet, man. They're featuring these guys. Yeah.

The helmet argument, that's ridiculous. It's I'm not buying LeBron cards because I can see his face. Yeah. Like, I'm what about the oh, I guess it's twenty twenty four prism. Whatever.

His chalk toss. I think his top chrome chalk toss, you can't see his face, but the prism one, you just see the back of his head. It's a little bald spot. So it's like, what? I'm not buying it for the face.

I'm buying the player. Okay. So that was a little football vintage football talk. That was fun. I want to highlight this 2012 Bobby Wagner Gold Prism rookie that sold out of 10.

This sold on eBay via best offer for 2,000. I was like I saw the sale, I was like, man, Bobby Wagner is one of the greatest linebackers of this era, and his gold prism just sold for 2 k. And so I, of course, went to pro football reference. This is what I had up. And outside of Luke Kinkley, who is looking at the hall of fame meter, you have Ray Lewis, Singletary, Jack Lambert, Dick Buckis, then Kinkley, then Urlacher, then Bobby Wagner in in terms of hall of fame meter.

So that suggests to me that, Bobby Wagner is soon to be hall of famer, which to me, that seems like a pretty solid buy. Yeah. I did not I knew he was, like, a perennial Pro Bowler. I didn't realize he had six first team all pros. That's pretty awesome.

And in is this right? In 2014, he finished fifth in MVP voting. That's pretty badass. That is good. Tied with Brady.

They each got a vote in 2015. Gotta love that. Or 2014. Sorry. Aaron Rodgers won that year.

But, yeah, Bobby Wagner shot, and he's still doing it. He's still playing. He's good. He's on the commanders. Yeah.

Two k for a gold prism of one of the best linebackers of all time. That's I think that's a pretty good buy. You know what's interesting? And I thought about this. Like, what if the Luke Kinkley gold prism 2012 sold?

And I can't even imagine what that would do, But I think it's like the it you start to see this, like, maybe it's because Bobby Wagner is still playing type of a situation. I just find that interesting. Like, I don't know. I didn't even see this card. But I'll tell you this, dude.

If I would have seen this card listed at two k, I would have in listing type best offer, I would have strongly considered putting in an offer because of the hall of fame nature, the iconic set, and Bobby Wagner's a badass. So, really and this copy looks pretty clean. So, yeah, congrats to whoever whoever picked this up. I feel like there were a couple, like, Keekeley Gold Prisms, like his 2013 or something just sitting on eBay for a while, and I remember thinking, like, he was so good. Why is no one buying this?

Why is no one buying this? So I hope I hope that ended up in a proper collection. Dude, Andrew Andrew Luck and Luke Kinkley, offense and def like, this era, both, like, very, very good, both, like, in their careers early. Like, I associate the one player I ever always associate with luck is Kinkley. Yeah.

Defensive rookie of the year. Luck well, no. RG three got offensive rookie of the year. But Don't remind me. Yeah.

Okay. We've got one more, and I just wanna highlight this Mahomes 2017 Prism PSA 10, which is a population of nine seventy nine. I saw this card sell on Fanatics Weekly for $4,080, and I was like, that seems cheap based on it. And, yeah, it's the you're you're starting to see like, if you go through CardLadder and look at the sale prices, like, this is the cheapest copy that's sold in, I think, like, six months or something, which this is what happens, right, when you've got a commodity card that has some recognition and the player's hurt or not playing. Like and I bring this up because I just say, like, if you've ever wanted this card before, like, keep your eyes on it because now might be a good time to to snatch it up.

Yeah. These next few months, Mahomes, if you are wanting to buy Mahomes, that would be the time to do it. And this is like, $20.17, the silver is like, what what's the pop on this? It's probably not 79. Okay.

Not crazy. I mean, it's a high pop card, but I bet by contrast, if you look it up, someone from 2020, I would imagine it's higher. But Yeah. Yeah. Go buy Mahomes.

Go buy Mahomes. This is an investment advice. That is it for MarketWatch. Nice. Good good watching.

Collecting updates or current collecting projects that you're focusing your resources on. Any any updates? Any purchases? Dude, I just I smashed Ben on one card because and it cost me $5. And so I actually have it.

That that's the bet that's the best part about getting a card for $5. It, like literally, if you've got a seller who's semi professional, it'll just show up at your house in, two seconds, and that's what happened here. So, shout out to, low end cards. But I saw this card for $5, and I've always been curious about these cards. And I was like, this is an opportunity to get one, but it is the it's a rookie.

It's the 2023, upper deck metal universe, Anthony Richardson, $98.99 PMG gold throwback, out of 50. So $4.99 for this card. But, dude, I gotta tell you, like, this won't do it justice, but, like, dude, the dude, the foil on this thing, it's like I know this is a tribute. It's got the serial numbering on the back, but I'm like, this for $5? Like Yeah.

This makes me really happy. Like and, yes, it's unlicensed, but he's in, like, a warm up shirt that he wears, and he's like, it's this this card is sick. And now I'm like, I need to look into this more because, like, aesthetically, the shine, $5, dude. That was it. That's all I spent on this.

$4.99. And how much like, the amount of joy it's bringing for $5? Well, it's I've always wondered about these. I'm like, does it have a good aesthetic? And I was like, well, shit.

I I'm spending what I spent on a cup of coffee on this card. And I know people are anti like these throwbacks, and I just never have had a an opinion on them. But, dude, I need something to collect that's not costing me thousands of dollars. Like, I just need I need something like that, and I'm looking at these. And I also love upper deck.

I think upper deck has just done a great job just generally, but upper deck has a built they a lot of stuff that they produce is stuff that I don't collect. And this shout out upper deck is what I wanna say because this card is amazing. I haven't had this much joy for a $5 purchase in a long time, and it's sitting by on my desk. And I'm just like, it's shiny. It's great, man.

So I'm all about this. That is awesome. Great pickup. That's better than my $5 pickup because coincidentally enough, I bought a card for $4.95 free shipping. Yes.

It hasn't arrived yet, but it's a 2013 Prism black Shay McClellan auto. They're not numbered, but I was just curious about this 2013 Prism that it's like this black parallel that's not like a a finite parallel. Shay McClellan bears legend just for breaking Aaron Rodgers' collarbone in one game in 2013. So, you know, that, like, leading up to packers week, I was like, oh, yeah. Like, I saw it pop up in the safe search.

The previous comp was $2. So I, 150% x that last comp. Don't have that in hand yet, but excited for, yeah, a little $4.95 pickup. Dude, somebody DM'd me about these twenty thirteen black autographs months ago, like, maybe beginning of the year. And this it was, like, a moment where I was like, man, people are reaching out to me about Prism history and stuff.

And it was about the print run. And I can't remember where we landed, and if you were the one to DM me about this. But, like, my mind tells me right now that someone had done research. And I don't know if there's, like, there's, like, twenty, twenty five, 30 copies of those types of cards. Like, someone was at someone had information.

We were going back and forth, but it was so long ago. Yeah. That I was, like, looking on CardLadder, and that's what my feeling was. I'm like, there's not a lot of these, it seems like. No.

So I can't tell if it's, like, super shiny. Like, what are these gonna be like in person? Like, they sell for $2 for players like this. So, yeah, I have no idea really what to expect from that, but the curiosity curiosity got me. There there we go.

A Pat Anger sold for $25 in October. Oh my god. I missed I missed that. Iowa Colts legend. What's also interesting about these cards those cards is that it's the black finite in football.

So you're but it's the black. So you're getting, like, the a black parallel, which is unprecedented in the Prism run with the auto, but that's another interesting angle to it. Yeah. Wish it wasn't a sticker auto. But Sure.

Whatever. I mean, yeah, I need that card to show up. Where is it? I had Beggars can't be choosers for for $5. Yeah.

I had another card that got stuck in the I know it's the holidays, but the infinite loop of, like, in transit to next destination, just every day at midnight, the update switching to in transit to next destination for, like, a week straight. Just losing my mind. Where's my card? Oh, we've all been there. Yeah, man.

That is that's what I got. Yeah. Cool. Card call out. Last week, we asked to see top four cards.

That was awesome. I will apologize, though. Hand up. I dropped the ball. Just between the bears game Saturday and then my slow Sunday, I didn't get to every reshare, every story.

And it was a devastating feeling because I'd like on the football card pod Instagram, I could open up and see, like, you have a story tag. And I'd click it, and I would see the person's cards, and then it would disappear because it was, like, twenty four hours ago. Was like, no. And so there were so many good four packs that didn't make it to the story because I was offline from Saturday evening till Sunday late afternoon, but that was awesome. There were a lot of good good combos.

Episode 27, though. I'm running out of ideas, Brett. What do we wanna see? What is we're talking about centers. We've done offensive linemen.

We've done defenders. I've got one. Okay. I wanna see coaches. Coaches.

Let's go. Do you have any coach cards? I don't. And I see them all the time. And, like, dude, if you if if they had, like, a Tony Dungy black finite, I'd I'd I'd I'd sell my house for it.

Wow. That would be sick. I I none of the the Colts haven't had a coach since Dungy that's, like, deserving of, like, a cracked ice or a a a a finite. Or and, like, they they brought coaches back in '24. So there and there's historically, like, these old sets, pro sets they put coaches in it.

So there are coach cards out there, and I know you all have them. Please give me the nostalgia of seeing some of these great coach Marv Levy, like, let's see these guys. Yep. Like, I wanna see a Ditka. Like, let's go.

Okay. And so, yeah, coach cards, you if you just have a card of, like, a head coach, tons of bonus points. But then also will allow, like, a player who turned into a coach, like, their player cards. Like, if you have, like, a Harbaugh player card, like, that that counts. Right?

As a Well, I mean, one that just sold that comes to my mind, Deron Mayo of 2012 Gold Prism just sold, so that would be the perfect card because although he coached a year, he's still coached. Yes. That yes. And in 2024 Prism, I remember seeing there's, like, a Matt LaFleur and Andy Reid, like, Finites because then I went digging because my goal if there was a Matt Eberflus one, I was gonna buy it and blow it up like the the way they electrocuted the Steve Bartman baseball of just, like, get this out of existence. Dude, how how much if in this next prism set, because we haven't seen the checklist yet, if there was a Ben Johnson black finite in that, what would what would you do for that thing?

That would that would be high on the list. I bet they will. Get his shirt off in the locker room. Wow. That would be not not just spending money on pictures of dudes on cardboard, but a shirtless Ben Johnson in the locker room.

Alright. Coach cards, let's see them. Thank you all for listening to the football card podcast. Post your pictures. Tag the football card pod on Instagram.

Keep listening. Tell a friend, and we'll see you all next week.