Welcome back, loyal listeners of the Stacking Slabs podcast to season three episode 11 of the WNBA card podcast. My name is Katelyn. I go by at cold lunch cards, mostly on the Instagram machine, but on some other social platforms as well. And I'm joined by my amazing cohost, Brett McGrath at Stacking Slabs, and we're excited to continue to deliver collector driven and community focused content to you guys today. We're excited to have you on our last episode, our final episode of season three, we've and got some fun topics to talk about today.

Brett, how are you doing? I'm well. I am trying to find sleep right now. I'm feeling very grateful for caffeine. We welcomed in our third daughter in the gap between episodes.

So I'm trying to find our footing, figure figure things out. But changing the I guess, in the spirit of this podcast, we're changing our defensive scheme here at Stacking Slabs HQ. We're moving to a zone because it's it's two on three right now. So we've we've gotta find a way to not let, the inmates, take over the asylum. And there's been moments where that that has felt that way, and I'm sure anyone who has three or more children who are who is listening to this podcast can relate to that.

But mom and baby are, certainly, they're doing well, and that's all I can ask for. Absolutely amazing, Brett. I'm excited to see the development of those players in your household as we continue to create, the WNBA card podcast, team WNBA team one day. Yeah. You know, I'm I'm realizing out of the gates that we've we've got the makings of a maybe a the first ever sister starting unit in unrivaled.

We could do that. That's topical. We can I could be I could be they'd be the probably the smallest team out there, but maybe fast and, feisty? So maybe we'll go with that. Okay.

I love that, Brett. And that's what a transition from our host here. I mean, let's talk about unrivaled. I know the last time that we talked, we previewed that games were officially tipping off. I've been all over the place for the listeners.

I've been traveling like crazy for the Christmas season and the holiday season, and I I wasn't able to catch too much of it. I I watched a couple highlights. I read a lot of thoughts on on Reddit and Twitter and all the places where people share their opinions on and commentary on how the games went. But, Brett, I heard that you may have caught, your fair share of games. Yeah.

I I I surprised myself a little bit where I realized and I there's been so much going on over here that I realized that unrivaled was actually tipping off during my workday. And I don't know. I can't whatever it was, social media post something caught my attention, like, midstream of work, and I realized, oh, wow. My newly found squad is tipping off the season. So I need to put on YouTube TV while I'm trying to get some work done and see what my new team is all about.

And, unfortunately, the Hive shout out to all you, the Hive, mob out there. We're we're we're gonna be okay. It's it's only the beginning, but we got absolutely roasted by the Mist. And I'm I'm, like, looking at the with Unrivaled, it's so tough because it's like you're we think about these players in their WNBA team and who they're playing with. And then a new c second season of a start up, it's like, you you don't really know the rosters and the teams yet unless you, like, spend your whole time studying it before.

And I'm, like, looking at the missed roster. I'm like, how is this fair? Like like, look at their squad compared to ours. So, unfortunately, the missed, the the Stewie led missed, took down the high of seventy two fifty six. And you could very much tell, and it it reminded me a lot of, Caitlin watching Caitlin Clark's rookie season with the fever where, like, no one knew how to play with each other yet.

It felt very much like that, and it was just it was kind of ugly, but I'm I'm optimistic. And I don't know. It's fun. And so I got a chance to watch that game and then watch some of the rest of the action. And I don't really know.

Like, I don't have any profound takeaways. I do know that, Marina Mabry is still, fighting people, and she got in a little battle with Sugg Sutton, like, the the very like, right away. And I'm like, alright. So these people are, like, still still ready to go. But the league's so fun.

Like, the action's so fun. As I'm watching these games, I'm just, saying to myself, did I miss, like, the Panini announcement of these cards because the season tips out? And I realized I I didn't. It's like, we saw the post from last year. The season tips off, and we're I'm still like, what does that even mean?

Like, are we getting cards this season or not? So, yeah, I love, though, like, we get more games on Friday, and it's just like this. If you're a loving a lover of women's basketball, it's you we just get these slow drips of unrivaled, and it feels like it's always on when I'm, like, needing a moment of reprieve on my couch and I'll, like, turn on my YouTube TV and be like, oh, there's an unrivaled game to watch. And so I'm pumped that it's back. The product's great and excited to see kinda how it all shakes out.

100%. I I echo the same excitement about just, like, having women's basketball to watch. I know we're heading into, like, some of the bigger, more competitive collegiate games now, but to have professional level basketball on the TV is always good. I will say, like, I'll address the elephant in the room, which is that my favorite player is not playing. That is something that, like, I didn't even think was possible, to be honest.

When I saw the news that Phi was out with her, what is it, double ankle surgery or something like that, I was like, oh, I didn't even know this was in the realm of possibilities, to be happening. That was that that was, like, extremely disappointing. I kind of was like, this is not the omen I need at the beginning of 2026. I'll tell you that right now. But I'm hoping that, you know, she's gonna be a great developer for her team.

I'm sure she's as good of a leader, on the bench as she is on the court. And I'm just hoping she gets healthy for my Minnesota Lynx because as much as a fan I am of unrivaled, the real the real fandom comes with the Minnesota Lynx. So I'm hoping that she she gets ready to go. But that was that was just so disappointing to see. You you as a fan, you don't prepare yourself for those moments.

You don't think that they're gonna happen. I've been, like, hyping up unrivaled. It's her league. You know she wants to play, and then she cannot. And for for that, my my heart breaks for her.

Yeah. The Lunar Owls, Rebecca Allen, Aaliyah Edwards, and Marina Mabry, like, that that that was the starting three. And with no Skyler, no fee, it's like, they got they got roasted by the roast, 80 to 62. So it might be a long unrivaled season for that club. Yeah.

We'll we'll take it one day at a time. Should we shout out our sponsors? I think now is a good time to shout out our sponsors. I'll shout out Great Lakes Trading Cards in Saint Paul, Minnesota across from Saint Kate's, campus. What a great card shop.

They've been along for the ride for the entirety of season three, and I thank them very much. If you guys are ever in the area of the Twin Cities, I cannot recommend stopping in enough. They've got a large selection of WNBA and women's college basketball cards. And when you walk in, you may not you may notice, our poster for the podcast, which is always super cool to see. So if you guys have time or you're on vacation in the very cold winter months in Minnesota, a warm spot you can stop in is Great Lakes.

And shout out Cardladder, the official data provider of the WNBA card podcast. Cardladder always, helping us form these episodes. Great product. If you are not using it, go run over to CardLadder and check out the platform. And I said this in in the opening that, I will have already recorded, but I'll just reiterate this here, just programming notes, just so the audience knows, where to find us.

Stacking slabs is continuing to grow and expand. And with that, there's, I spend half my job, like, trying to figure out moving pieces where certain content fits in. And so, for this next season, we will be moving from Saturdays when these go live. Then these episodes will now go live on Sunday. So this episode is basically, I think, gonna all be about, like, the reflection of kind of what we've been talking about and doing, but I wanna spend a majority of it on a look forward in where we're taking this podcast, which as a fan of learning from other people, I'm very, very excited about that.

But just wanted to make sure I got that programming note in. I love it, Brett. We'll be we'll be saying hi to everybody here in season four on the Lord's Day, which is exciting. Happy to have you guys there and make time on your Sundays to listen to us. Okay.

No doubt about it. Should we get into the bulk of it, Caitlin? It may, Brett. Let's do it. Okay.

So this has been fun. We have done three seasons. There has been you know, and this started from us kind of going back and forth to saying, like, this would be fun to have a reoccurring show, and we did that. And it feels like there's been a a lot of, a whole a gap filled in content from and people have given us so much so many good so much good feedback. And, you know, we talked like, the past couple seasons, we've talked kind of about, like, where we wanna take this show, how we want to evolve it.

And so you and I have had some conversations, and we're going to kinda try to share as much as we can about kind of where we're headed with this podcast. But before we do that, let's maybe reflect. Having three seasons of anything under, you know, your belt, you begin to think about things differently. You begin to think about audience. You begin to think about the market, cards, collecting lanes.

Did you just maybe in this season, when you think about kind of topics conversations, did it what maybe surprised you most about what we accomplished here in season three, the WNBA card podcast? I felt like so so season one, we were trying to figure out, like, our bearings. Season two, we did a little bit more data driven, and season three became, to me, much more reflective and intentional, more focused on, you know, the the bread and butter of the stacking slabs podcast about collector psychology and digging into why we collect, why it matters, and how to kind of, boil the ocean of of cards and to figure out, why we like things and how to do it in the most, rewarding way. And so our conversations in season three felt like they went beyond that surface level. And I I think that was just, like, incredibly rewarding.

But at the same time, when we think about reflection and, you know, Brett and I have so many conversations beside behind the scenes, it's just Brett and I talking. You know what I mean? And so now we feel like we've got, a lot more room to to continue to talk to more folks and to talk about, more ideas and concepts around cards. But in terms of just, like, where we started compared to where we are today, Brett mentioned there wasn't really anything filling this space when we started, and it feels good to close that gap. It it feels like we've come from, like, being super scrappy and trying to put it together to trying to really answer the mail on what listeners wanna hear about when it comes to WNBA cards.

And and to be the the folks that are sitting here and hopefully creating that dialogue with you guys is just amazing. I I've enjoyed it a lot. Is there anything specifically and I love how you brought the fact of, like, collector psychology and digging in and you know, I've I'm a big believer in category specific shows, and I think the more we create content that is pointed at a specific group or community, the more educated, excited, and enabled that group is going to be. And this was a gap. Like, I as I was starting to collect WNBA cards, I wanted a place to turn to to learn more, and there wasn't much there.

Based on where we have come from, are there any specific kind of types of conversations that we dove into on this podcast that you you think about and that maybe that's something that you want to inject in the next season of the WNBA card podcast. Yeah. I would say the kind of, like, theme that resonated with me the most and what both for me personally as a collector, but also in the messages that we receive feedback wise is this idea of restraint and conviction. Because there's so much power to collecting within a community where you feel like you don't have to chase whatever the next great thing is. You are chasing what you want.

And have that community of collectors in one specific lane like the WNBA where, you know, when we talk about, oh, we we really want a card, but we're not sure if we're gonna pull the trigger. We're talking about a new release like impeccable with a hefty price tag. We don't know how to navigate that. Having conversations that really allow you to unpack those thoughts instead of just, you know, making an impulse decision, I think that's been what's kind of, like, I've I've learned the most from from our conversations. Was there anything about maybe season three that outperformed your expectations, for any anything else we had done have done to this point?

You know you know, not to, like, toot our own horns, but I feel like our episodes Come on. It's our show. We can toot. Okay. Okay.

So I would say, like, I've realized that our shows aren't like, they're not expiring, which is something that I'm really proud of. I think of, like, our podcast as being if if you miss a week, you can always come back and listen to it, you won't feel like you're behind because the concepts are kind of, like, eternal in collecting that we talk about. And I think that that kind of, through line going into season four is very important as we talk about what we're gonna do. And I think that, you know, the idea of eight eight of episodes aging well instead of being just like a one week listen is something that surprised me, and and I thought we did a good job at while still keeping everybody up to date on, you know, general news or scores or, you know, whatever game highlights that happened, I feel like having these concepts that that move beyond the time period is is super cool. Such a great observation and something that I hadn't really thought about.

And I think about as you're talking through that, I think about just like the Asia Wilson episode. It's like we decided, you know what? She just won another championship. It's probably time to just do a dedicated episode on AJ Wilson. And my hope and my goal, not only with what currently exists in the WNBA card podcast archive, but what's going to be created moving forward is that these are artifacts.

And if you are new into WNBA collecting or if you wanna start collecting AJ Wilson, like, there is a piece of content you can turn to to understand what had happened up into that point and what might be potentially going on with her market. So I think that's a good call call out. And I wanna maybe contrast what you just said, and I'll maybe step up to the the the the line and share my feedback. But just I wanna get your feedback on, like, maybe limitations and where did you feel limited. And I'll just share, and maybe this also will segue to what we're gonna talk about.

But I have been creating shows on this platform forever and for the last five years. And to me, the insight and what excites me so much is oftentimes bringing in outside views, and we we've done that via the mailbag. But sometimes, it's it takes more. And this platform and I'm very intentional about this where so much of the content that's being delivered to us regularly are short burst clips, reels, like dopamine hits constant. But I am trying to pull us back from that and create really great long form content for people who actually want to, get inspired or get educated or get turned on to some new ideas.

And, Caitlin, I wouldn't I couldn't do this without you. You know, I really enjoy kinda your passion and mindset mentality, and I've learned a lot from you. But then it just reaches a point where it's like, you know, there's all these people in the space that have been doing this longer than us, and we have admitted. Like, we we're relatively new to this category. We're learning as we go.

And I think that's maybe where some of the limitation is for me. It's like, what would this be like if there were some voices added to this platform that could help us elevate this brand forward and get more people around us excited or people who have thought about collecting WNBA who haven't before turned on to new concepts or ideas. So I would say I'm very proud of what we've accomplished to this point, but I'm also, very excited about the potential of letting people, introducing kind of other collectors to people who we appreciate and admire in this space. 100%. I completely agree.

I think the idea for season four is about uncovering some of these hidden perspectives that haven't had a platform to, talk about specifically WNBA cards, WNBA collecting, to talk about, what it was like before there was even any WNBA podcasts happening. Right? Like, these are these are thoughts that I definitely had around limitations as well is that Brett and I are not the end all be all of WNBA collecting. We actually operate in very small lanes within WNBA, like, respectively. And so, bringing in new voices, new people, whether that be, different diverse collectors, like people that have been collecting since the nineties or people that started when the Caitlin Clark boom era happened.

Understanding those different perspectives can help challenge your, you know, kind of the thoughts that you have in your head around collecting. And it's something that I think the hobby is kind of dying for. We wanna we wanna know what other people are thinking and we wanna know how we can learn from them. And so, yeah, I'm I'm super excited about that possibility for sure. This will segue into maybe why the show is evolving and letting people in on that.

Maybe we'll start here. What what changed, Caitlin, with you and how you view the show and where there's opportunity? You just alluded to some of that, but maybe anything additionally you wanna share. I think, like, you know, I've I'm talking about this temporal piece, this idea of existing in a time and place, and I think that it's really important when we think about season four. My my vision for it is to be something like you mentioned the word archive before.

Something that people can really look through a chronological lens and see different collectors showing and walking through the idea of WNBA collecting as a lane itself. I think a focused kind of, like, documentary style instead of just, like, news releases or general thoughts, Diving into those and having specific collector individuals come on, that's kinda how we dig deeper, how we get deeper. Because Brett and I have talked to each other a lot. I think if you add up the hours, it's prob it's certainly more than two day. Like, almost a a over a day long of conversations.

And those are just the conversations that are recorded. You know what I mean? Like, there are so many other people that have similar thoughts, and I just hope that we can give them some sort of platform so that we can we can dig into it. I'm excited about the fact that we decided not to bring in new voices, like, right at the beginning of the next WNBAs card or WNBA season where cards might be more of a focal point. Like, I would say right now, WNBA cards aren't necessarily the focal point that maybe they were this time last year.

Mhmm. So I don't know. It just when when when stuff is not too hyped up, it just always feels like a good time to start laying the groundwork for new new approaches to content. But maybe, like, talk about the the timing and maybe why bringing in community feels necessary right now. Well, I think we can all admit that the WNBA is in its moment.

I think we can all admit that more content is needed around especially in card collecting. The momentum that the league has felt, and the news coverage that it's getting, it just feels like it's the time to really dig in and go beyond the surface level, level, which I I hope that we've been doing, but to do it in other ways and, from other angles. The second thing is that I think there's a lot of narratives forming, whether it be around the CBA negotiations, whether it be about competing leagues. And, this is the moment to kind of, like, bring some nuance to those conversations. And the way that you do that is by challenge your your own thought patterns and by having other people talk about it.

So it really feels like the optimal time, like you said, without the kind of noise of the hype the hype cycle, to bleed over to really have those, like, authentic, genuine conversations about collecting and about WNBA cards. Is there anything specifically regarding we've covered a lot of ground. We've tried to cover sets, products, players, mindset mentality. Is there anything you feel right now that still feels underrepresented? I like this idea of uncovering stories about when different people entered the hobby.

Okay? Like, Brett and I are in different stages of life. You know? Brett Brett, you just welcomed your third child. I have, like, a dog, and that feels like work.

You know? Like, but we both have this shared interest of WMA cards. And I think that, you know, learning when collectors entered through specific moments, whether that be the birth of the league, whether that be the DTE and Sue Bird era, whether that be the Caitlin Clark moment or Page Becker's or all these different moments that happened in time, figuring out what drew people in and then why we have that common thread. Talking about that is what gets me excited. And I think we're in the space in general, we just don't we don't discuss it as much.

So that that would be the part that I feel like is kind of underrepresented stories that I wanna I wanna tease out. This is completely off topic, but you mentioned Clark, and I'm just curious your perspective. What are your thoughts on the Clark Nike shoe launch and the timing of it on Christmas day? I thought it was awesome. Maybe maybe like, I know some people had thoughts like, why are you doing this Christmas?

I thought it was really awesome. The the the cast of characters that they had was outstanding. It was just like a list celebrity row. And then to do it on a day where it's, like, not what you would that you wouldn't think to do a promotion on Christmas. But when I saw it, I was like, oh, that's pretty bad ass.

Like, to know that you're good enough to do it on a day like that and for it to hit, I thought it was received well. I was a big fan. Did you like it? I I did, and I thought, man, as a lifelong marketer, it is always been taught, like, make sure the emails don't go out on Christmas. Make sure we're not interrupting.

Don't make sure you pause social posts, all this stuff. Then Nike just, like, went completely against the grain of it and, like, deeply thought about the situation and the people that they're trying to get in front of, which is a lot of people, and they're just saying, you know what? Everyone is sitting around with their family and friends on Christmas, and there's conversations, but inevitably, naturally, based on consumer behavior and expectations, everyone's just dying for that moment to pick up their phone and do the scroll. And because everyone else is paused, what does everyone else see? They're seeing the Nike spot with a super, superstar in Caitlin Clark.

So I've, like, psychoanalyzed it. And at the end of the day, my thoughts were like, this is why Nike is Nike. I completely agree. I love this, like, little tan. I really liked it.

Like, I I was not expecting to. I would say it it takes second place on my 2025 WNBA marketing. I would put Asia Wilson's, like, clapping, commercial. I'm sure we're all familiar with that. I would put that at number one just because it was, like, catchy.

But the Clark Christmas Day, I mean, that's just, like, setting herself up for iconicness. And I'm not saying there hasn't been promotions and marketing for WNBA players products before, but spotlighting too that we both can remember, like, right out of the gate is a good sign and signal for where this league is going and and what why we're doing this and hopefully where the card market is going. So maybe this is a good time to, like, get into the bulk of kind of season four. And what is at the core, and what is the goal of season four, Caitlin? Oh god.

What a big question. I feel like I'm, like, drafting a road I feel like I'm at work drafting a road map. We're gonna set our objectives. No. Absolutely not.

Okay. Core goal of season four is to create a collector narrated oral history of WNBA cards. That's what I wanna do. I don't want it to be a price guide. I don't want it to be, a checklist of sets.

I I want it to be a record of how cards have evolved with the league and to talk to people that have been there along the way, whether they've been here since the beginning, whether they've been here for the past couple years. I want to make sure that the community is shaping this archive that we can then go back and reference. And, hopefully, you know, whenever the time may be, we can see, wow. Look how far we've come in terms of a a card collecting community. And this is kind of the foundation where if you're somebody that's new to collecting or even if you're not, even if you're somebody that's just curious about collecting to feed into that curiosity so that we can all kind of uncover these hidden little, stories and collecting identities throughout the WNBA card collecting lane.

When Caitlin first showed me what she was thinking, it got me very excited, and it also I'm I'm even more excited now that it's being shared publicly. We've talked about community a lot. How is community involved? Like, what is your vision? So my vision for the the season four WMA card podcast is to kind of have you know, we've we've been doing, you know, a dozen or so episodes each season, and I think that each of the episodes is going to focus on a specific era of WNBA cards and trying to bring in a collector that either really loves it or knows a lot about it, ideally both, that would be the ideal.

And to talk about, you know, what was going on in the league at the time, set kind of the context of what was going on, who was big, what what did what did it feel like to be a WNBA fan, in 2002, for instance? What did it feel like to be a WNBA fan in 2018? These are different periods that, you know, not all of us were at and to kind of uncover those those feelings. And then alongside that and more importantly is weaving in this idea of card collecting because so much has changed, since the inception of the league. So talking about, you know, which cards were at the forefront?

Which cards did people want at the time? Is that still the same as it is today? What manufacturers were kind of creating the rules and, you know, setting the expectations for collectors? And then which which players and cards define the era? What what's the idea of significance?

What does it mean to you both personally, but also as as the era evolved? And then finally, wanna talk about just, like, personal perspectives with folks. You know? When did you start collecting in this era? Why do you feel inspired?

Why do you feel so connected to this? Do you have any favorite sets or cards? Are there any moments that you think about when you close your eyes at night and you think about your favorite cards and it's a 2004 or whatever? You know? Like, why is that the way it is?

And so I'm trying to create I think the goal that Brett and I have for season four is to create this kind of archival history that walks a collector through the entirety of the league, which is some an opportunity that not a lot of leagues have. Right? We're only, what, twenty five years in? It is possible to document this, and I don't want it to be just like a a news release or, like I said, like a checklist. Like, you can get that anywhere else.

I wanna I wanna get deeper into the the collector stories. Is there anything just as you're talking through that, I'm thinking about, just structure or maybe even inspiration. Is is there it like, are you inspired by anything as you're thinking about construct constructing this? Like, is there anything that currently exists that you're turning to and you said it'd be cool if the WNBA card podcast looked like that or operated like this? Or is it just more or less, like, this is a need I think that needs to be filled based on what I'm looking to, do with this show and how we can introduce kind of this content to other people?

Like, the like, let me know, like, how the sausage is made based on your mindset when you're kinda building this out. Well, this is kinda meta, Brett, because I don't think I shared this with you, but, some of my first content I consume from you, this feels, like, so strange to do it like this, was the nineties insert set where you had a collector on for each of the, like, you know, 24 karat gold, PMG, whatever. I wasn't a nineties kid. Whatever those were. And you had one collector on for each of them, and they dove so far deep into it to the point where I was like, even if I don't like these cards, I can understand why somebody does.

And I'm kinda taking that same approach and just turning it on its head a little bit and going more by era instead of, parallel. And I think that that that was, like, the inspiration behind why I thought it was necessary, and it's also because of the gap. I mean, nobody nobody's talking about older WNBA cards. Nobody. Like, unless and if people have it, like, I'd like to listen to it, but, like, it just feels like this is this is where it's headed, especially as the season is not happening.

Like, there's not, games to document and, you know, huge, storylines happening. It feels like the perfect time to kind of set that that groundwork and that foundation. I love it. The the content landscape across this hobby is something that I'm constantly looking at and evaluating. And one of the things and I think it's because it's it's it's really hard to do is what I I I come to this determination all the time, and I'm constantly having to push stacking slabs and all the content properties forward and focusing around this.

But it it just feels like across this entire hobby, there's not enough deep dive conversations about cards themselves. And I know that might sound silly because there's plenty of sports card podcast, but not talking about prices, not talking about values. I'm talking about, like, what makes up a card and why things happen the way they did and what that did for collectors and why these cards still matter. I I think about the conversation we had around that '97 Hello, though? Yes.

Exactly. We're in the nineties zone right now. But I think about that, and I'm like, man, that was fun. And, honestly, like, that's the type of content I could listen to forever. And it's this, like, tribal knowledge that collectors have in their head that's just in their head, and they're just waiting for an opportunity to say, hey.

Come share this with the world, and we're hoping that we can at least this is what I'm gathering from you. It's like, you're hoping that we can provide a platform where we can begin to elevate some of these, these thoughts and these ideas and get this tribal knowledge out of people's heads and shared, on the StackingSlabs feed. That's exactly the outcome I'm looking for, Brett. I I'm looking for people to nerd out with me about, WNBA cards and why they like them so much. Yeah.

I mean, isn't that what we all want in card collecting? Isn't that why we're listening to content? Isn't that why we go to shows? Isn't that why we collect them? It's not just because we like them.

It's because we can tell other people why we like them. And to be able to express that through words and through conversations is very powerful. It usually makes you like your cards more, and it usually teaches you something. And so I'm I'm really excited about that angle. We've got a lot of different concepts baked into the structure of how season four is gonna go, and that's something that I've definitely thought about is the the card design elements, the nerdiness of it all that we that trait that we all have where we look at a card and we say, this is just cardboard, but, it's not just cardboard.

And so digging into that is definitely what I'm I'm kinda most excited about for sure. Now I have spent a lot of time thinking about, inside business, thinking about change and change management, and I'm very mindful that the word change is scary to a lot of people, and it makes people feel uncomfortable. I'm going through tremendous change here right Stacking Slabs HQ. So I I think about change, and I think change is certainly happening. But I also wanna make sure we reassure the audience that, like, the core tenants of what this show is built on and based on is still remains the same.

It just might look a little different. Like, the spirit of what we want to accomplish is is going to continue, and that, hopefully, that is woven throughout each of the episodes of next season. But I don't know. Like, how do how do you think about the this next chapter and maybe what remains, what's the same, and what might be a little different? I'll I'll say this, like, the cadence, like, we're the cadence stays the same, like, continue to produce an episode that you all can enjoy, and, hopefully, the the way we present it is similar, but maybe talk through that a little bit.

Yeah. I mean, I think the the big thing here is we start every we've started every single episode of all three seasons with the words collector driven and community focused. It's in our at w n b a card pod on Instagram. It's in our bio. It is what kind of drives us and steers us through these conversations is collectors in in the community.

And I think, you know, right now, we've got two collectors talking to each other, and we've got a community that's listening. And I want to bridge that gap. I wanna bring the community in. I wanna focus on collectors. I don't wanna focus on prices.

I don't wanna focus on breaks. I don't wanna focus on that. I wanna talk about why you like cards, and I want you to, like, to educate me on what I don't know about that era of cards. And I hope that that's kind of like I hope the listeners can see that that's not changing. We're we're not getting rid of that.

We would never abandon that. That's, like that's why we do this is is to deliver that. And so I I hope that those those words, collector driven and community focused, continue forward. That's gonna be something that's steady no matter what we're doing on podcast. I love it.

Maybe for as much as you can or want to share, as we're around the corner on this chat, maybe just, like, preview with the audience what you're thinking in terms of stories and people involvement. I'm sure you've got a group of individuals who you appreciate and admire and likely will be trying to get to do episodes with. But I'm also probably pretty sure because we're very open about feedback that individuals will be raising their hands saying, hey. This is something maybe this season or next season I wanna be a part of and cover. Maybe talk about how you're thinking about involving members of the community on this short or soliciting feedback.

Yeah. For sure. So I've laid we've laid out kind of a format of 13 total episodes for season four. That's the goal. It may change.

It may change, but that's the goal. And 10 of them will have collectors on. In each of those 10 episodes, we'll cover between two to four years of the WNBA's history starting with the before the WNBA. And we'll uncover what the foundation looked like and how we got there, what the what what sport what's women's sports cards look like before the WNBA started? Because there was a before, and we have to understand that before we get into the inception of the league, which would then be the next step.

So, okay, what did 1997 look like? How was it different? The noise, what did it feel like? And then we'll move into, you know, the first the first icons of DT and Sue Bird and kind of make our way through the two thousands into the February and then round it out with this kind of change of the game, a changing of the guards with Caitlin Clark and Paige Beckers and wrap it up, into current day. And I'm hoping that each of those episodes can dig into the era's significance.

You can feel like you have a better grasp, a better understanding of what it was like to collect then and what it's like to collect that era now. And I think that those are the the bringing on collectors that can speak to that is the goal. And I'm hoping that, you know, if you guys are feel especially connected to one era or one player or one set of cards specifically, I've brainstormed a long list. The list keeps getting longer of collectors I wanna talk to, which is which is good. But if somebody feels, you know, especially intrigued by a particular era of cards that they feel empowered to reach out because we we wanna talk to folks that are excited and and passionate about this.

I am really fired up. And outside of just, like, reading Caitlin's outline and what she has planned, we'll we'll I'll reserve everyone because we've gotta we've gotta tease some stuff. Right? We've gotta build some excitement, but I am very excited for kind of this next chapter of the WNBA card pod and sharing it with all of you out there. And and I do wanna make sure I say, like, there has been a lot of you that have been here from the jump, you continue to come in.

Like, I get messages from individuals all the time who join the Patreon, and they'll say, hey. I came here because of the w b a card podcast. And that's just incredible, and that's part of the reason why I wanted to do this. I wanted to get stacking slabs brand attached and exposed to new collectors who might not have listened to any of my content before and also make sure that they're being served through awesome content on the WNBA card side. So this is gonna be fun, Caitlin.

I'm excited. It's gonna be great. I can't wait to have you all along for the ride. We have a lot to learn together. We have a lot to talk about, and I couldn't be more excited to start to engage with some of you, hopefully, on podcast itself.

So it's gonna it's gonna be awesome. I can't wait. Anything else before we get out of here, Caitlin? Hootie hootie hootie hootie hootie hootie in fee fees memory get well soon fee. I need a happy cohost delivering these episodes.

Any any positive fee news, just keep just inject it into this podcast because we 100%. We need it. Happy. Alright, guys. Thanks for listening.

We'll see you next time.