Ep.269 w/ Giri Cherukuri of Waxopolis.com

SPEAKER 1: What is up everybody? Episode 269 Happy Friday. Happy, whatever day you were listening to us. And thank you, for doing such, today's guest, Gary of Wax Opolis.com. We're gonna learn all about that site. Through Gary. It's your kind of one stop shop for everything hobby related.

SPEAKER 1: Really makes it easy, for, to navigate through the hobby to almost anything. We're gonna talk about where the idea came from, what he's doing with the site, how it's going to get better in the future. He's a collector as well. So, we're gonna chop up, some hobby with, with Gary as well.

SPEAKER 1: And I got to meet him, at this year's National and, said he listened to the show and, told me what he was doing and working on and I said, hey, let's, let's let more people know about this. So, Wax aoli.com, but we're gonna, we're gonna talk about that and other topics as well. So, we're gonna take a quick 32nd break and then we'll get the show started.

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SPEAKER 1: All right. Happy to talk to my next guest on the sports car shop, guest line here at Sports Car Nation. I got to meet this gentleman, at this year's National, in Chicago. And, so without further, we're gonna do, we're gonna talk about what he does.

SPEAKER 1: He's got a YouTube channel, but he's also got an, a awesome website that, I've seen and, really kind of a one stop shop for everything, in the hobby. So I wanna welcome Gary, Chirac Curi to the show. I hope I, I hope I didn't kill that name too much.

SPEAKER 3: No, you did very good.

SPEAKER 1: Oh, ok. All right. Like I told you, even before we started rec recording Gary, I try to get, you know, I'm a stickler for trying to get name people's names. Right. So, you know, yours is a little trickier. Your de degree of difficulty is a little bit more difficult. But, thankfully I didn't, I didn't kill it too, too badly.

SPEAKER 1: But, you know, I, I got to talk with you at, at this year's National, you know, and you gave me a business card, checked out your site, as well. We're gonna talk about that. But, you know, you also co collect cards as well, kinda, you know, it's the baseline, first time on the podcast, kind of how you got in the hobby, what you collect and that sort of thing.

SPEAKER 4: Yeah. Thanks for having me on John.

SPEAKER 4: Yeah. So basically I'm the classic case of the kid, kid, who collected baseball cards and then when I collected throughout the eighties, mainly baseball cards and then when I went off to college, then I kind of stopped and stopped for a very long time.

SPEAKER 4: And then when the pandemic hit, I heard about pod, heard about the baseball cards and sports cards being hot and everything and dug out some of my old cards and then got back into it. So I didn't get on right at the beginning of the, pandemic, but maybe like August September time period.

SPEAKER 4: I heard news articles and things like cards are back and cards are hot and everything and it kind of jumped on there and then when I got back into it, the world was so much different than when I remember as a kid.

SPEAKER 4: You know, all these shiny cards, what's a refractor numbered? Cards grading all of these things, you know, I had to learn. So it was a, a big change. But, but again, it was very familiar and, and now I'm I stick to mainly vintage cards right now.

SPEAKER 1: Smart man, if I may say so, myself, you know, you mentioned a lot of shiny and, and sometimes it can be daunting, especially if you, like you said, you kind of left and then came back and in vintage, you know, I, I set up at shows, Gary. So I, I do carry both vintage and modern ultramodern, but my heart's really in vintage, right?

SPEAKER 1: Because, you know, growing up, and being in a hobby 40 something years now as crazy as that does sound, that's sort of where, Eileen and, and for other reasons that I've talked about on the show, right? You just, what's been made has been made, it's, it's out there.

SPEAKER 1: Sure. There's some fines here and there where someone will find like an unopened wax fine or, you know, some cards in an addict and that sort of thing. But the majority of what has survived is already been sort of located, found or kept or collected and, and there's something to be said about that.

SPEAKER 1: We're going into a different phase as you well know, with fanatics, you know, taking over about 75% of the hobby here when the licensing fully, goes into, their hands. And so, a little different than the hobby. We each grew up in to, to say that at least as, as, as you said, you know, the, the, let's get into sort of the, the, the site itself.

SPEAKER 1: Right? Wax Opolis, dot com. I, I've been there numerous times. It's a great sort of like, hey, I need to, how we, how do I get to the grading card coverage? You have podcasts, including this one listed on there, the card company. I mean, anything that's hobby related is, can probably be found there.

SPEAKER 1: Kind of talk about, you know, how you came up with the, like, what, what, what was the, the, where it all to, to start that website? And, you know, and you did, I mean, and you're still adding to it work. It's a work in progress. It's not, and it probably always will be just because the hobby is still growing almost by, by the day. Just kind of where that came from for you.

SPEAKER 4: Yeah. So, like, back to your first question. I was a decent collector as a kid. Did, you know, I started as a seven year old kid. My first pack of cars is a 1978 pack of baseball cards. And then I collected all the way through the junk wax era and then kind of stopped in the early nineties.

SPEAKER 4: But back then, basically all you had was Tops. Tops Flagship. I didn't, that was the only set and then you got flair and Don Rs and then a little bit of upper deck and things. And so when I got back into the hobby in, in late 2020 it was so different that I didn't know.

SPEAKER 4: I thought I was a decent collector but there's so much I did not know. By that time I sort of knew there was grading. I had no idea what a breaker was. I didn't know what refractor cards were numbered, cards, things like that. So I had a lot of catching up to do and a lot of learning to do. And so when I was trying to do that, I was trying to find out these things.

SPEAKER 4: And now in the modern world you go to you YouTube channels, you go look for podcasts. And I was like looking for some podcasts and it was sort of hard to find, I couldn't, you know, I search sports cards, search this and that. And in fact, this was one of the first podcasts I did find, when I was checking out Spotify or whatever.

SPEAKER 4: And then YouTube, same thing. It, it's kind of hard to find YouTube channels. And so I, I was just mulling it over for last couple of years thinking we should have a resource, we should have a hub so new and old people, they know all the various companies that are out there that do these things.

SPEAKER 4: And so I just had it in my back of my head thinking about thinking about it and wanted to think of a good name. And just so I basically, by the way, I started the site in early 2023 like in April of 2023 and just hit me Wax Opolis. I mean, obviously the name Wax Harkens back to the vintage wax packs and then Opolis, meaning the city of so Wax Ois.

SPEAKER 4: I thought that was a great name. And then technology wise, I figured out a way to enter all these companies and YouTube creators and all these, content creators and put it all in a site. So it just kind of all came together and hopefully it's gonna be very useful for people.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah, that and again, and I'm not being a salesman here, Gary, like, you, you, it is really detailed. I mean, you have a breakers listed and, you know, AAA, lot of, a lot of hobby resources are, are there? It's a great resource like you said, for so someone who maybe is new and, and doesn't know where to start. It's a good starting point.

SPEAKER 1: Even if you're not new and you just, hey, I wanna bookmark one page that I can go, it's like the Google of the hobby, right? You can go to Google, but this, you can Bookmark Wax aoli.com and just go, right. There and boom, all the links are right on one page. You don't have to really necessarily even type a, a search term in. They're, they're, they're right there.

SPEAKER 1: You know, how did you know, did you know what you wanted to list on it or did you kinda like, as you built the site, you're like, I'm gonna add breakers, I'm gonna add grading companies. How did that process work?

SPEAKER 3: Yeah.

SPEAKER 4: Some of, some of both, like you said Googling Googling kind of works, but it's still hard. You can't just Google a search term. So I wanted to create a curated website, curated categories and it's just kind categories are growing as I think about it. And like it, like 11 good example is auction houses, you know, auction houses, you know, everyone heard of PWCC Golden, ebay, things like that.

SPEAKER 4: But as I was doing the research for the website and look up all the stuff I found out there's 33 auction houses that do sports cards. And so there's no way you would have been able to find all of that just doing a Google search term. And so I have all 33 auction houses all listed there. And then another feature of the site is that you can directly click and then click right to their website.

SPEAKER 4: And if you look at it on the phone, you can click on click and it will go directly to Instagram it'll open your up your Instagram app and go to their Instagram page, you click on the their Twitter handle and open up your Twitter and go to the, to their Twitter page, Facebook page, all of that stuff. So, like you said, it's definitely a work in progress and I wanna make it better and better over time.

SPEAKER 1: Well, like I said, it's already pretty good. And, you know, I mean, even just from the standpoint, when we get a new company, a new podcast, a new selling platform, that sort of thing. Just to update it. But it's really, you covered a lot of the bases. Do you have AAA tech background or is this something you kind of learned? As you went along?

SPEAKER 4: I've always been interested in computers and tech and stuff. I, professionally, I've never done any tech things, but I was always interested in computers. Interesting. You say that I remember I back when I was, what was a 12 year old or 13 year old?

SPEAKER 4: I had a spreadsheet database where I type in all my 1983 tops cards and put in all the prices off the Beckett and things like that. So, so I guess I have a little bit of interesting background but, yeah, nothing professionally.

SPEAKER 1: Well, it's, it's well done. You know, we'll talk a little bit more about it but definitely urge people to check it out. Bookmark.

SPEAKER 1: It, you know, as far as, like, future plans were decided, I don't want you to give way any trade secrets or, or, you know, I mean, is it, is it something you wanted to, to make money or be profitable or is it just, you're doing it out of, you know, you just want to help others or, or bo, obviously it can be both too.

SPEAKER 4: Yeah. Right now I just want to help others and be a resource for everyone. Both old collectors and new collectors and just make it useful and give back to the hobby community. That's what I really wanna do.

SPEAKER 4: Down the line, you know, who knows what will happen. But right now, I just want to be useful and I just want to keep on building it out and make it more and more comprehensive. And it's also another important thing is just to bring light to all the various people in the community.

SPEAKER 4: For example, I have card shops in there and I have only about 5060 different card shops, local card shops, but, you know, there's hundreds and thousands of card shops around the country. And so future plans is, you know, build out that part of the thing. So you can go directly there and say you're traveling to Denver, Colorado and you just go on the site and it'll show you all the card shops in Denver.

SPEAKER 4: I've tried that where in Google and it's not as easy as you'd think to find, let's say all the card shops in Denver.

SPEAKER 4: So, so that's one area of future growth is that and, and the other one is card shows, card show calendars.

SPEAKER 4: I think you've probably had lots of different people. Guests on your podcast. People always want to create a good card show calendar where you can just log on and find where the shows are. But some reason it just doesn't exist. I mean, there's a few sites out there but nothing like really comprehensive. I mean, what do you think, John?

SPEAKER 3: No, I mean, at.

SPEAKER 1: Cd I write for sports collectors Digest. They have one but you make a great point here, Gary because, you know, it was, it's easier to do back in the day when there was far less shows. Now there's a lot, lot more shows and, and it's not your fault or sed or anyone else that does a show calendar.

SPEAKER 1: Some of these promoters don't know about to, to list, you know, hey, I can, I can put my show on this site. I do a show, a monthly show in Watertown New York, which is about an hour north of me here in Syracuse. And I, I assumed he was kind of listed on the show counters. And when I looked to see if his show was, it wasn't.

SPEAKER 1: So I'm gonna come have a conversation with the promoter, I won't mention his name. I don't wanna, you know, so, but I'm gonna mention like, hey, you need to get on these counters, you need to contact Gary at Wax Ois and get your show listed on his website and that sort of thing. So I think it's, it's more on the promoters than, than the publication or your site gear.

SPEAKER 1: It's not, you guys do. I think sometimes it's promoters not knowing that these resources are available to them and, and not taking advantage of that landscape. And so, like I said, it was easier to do back in the day when I think there was less shows. And then obviously, we know during the pandemic shows kind of shut down obviously.

SPEAKER 1: And now that they're back up, I think promoters are to realize like, hey, I can utilize these resources and listen, attendance at shows has been tremendous. And so I think sometimes, you know, we're all guilty of that a little bit myself and cool. Right. We sort of get complacent or rest.

SPEAKER 1: Hey, well, I'm doing well, like, I don't need to like, work any harder or I don't need to do it if people know about it, but there's still more resources available to get the word out there to make it even potentially bigger and better, even if it's already doing well. Right. It could be even doing better.

SPEAKER 1: And so it's something I'm going to talk about, you know, what, like I said with the show, I mentioned in Watertown New York, talking to that gentleman to get him to, to list the show and, and it's doing pretty good. It's a smaller show and that, especially on a smaller show. Gary, I think the more advertising or the word you, you can get out there, the better off, your show could be.

SPEAKER 1: And so, you know, o obviously a show like the National or some of these big regional shows, many people know about them already. But a lot of these local or regional shows can benefit. You make another great point. It's a question. I get a lot myself. When you go to, you know, people travel right for business. Hey, I'm gonna be in the city. I never been there. I'm a collector.

SPEAKER 1: What stores are there where I can check out on my do downtime or after my work's done, I get a lot of that here in Syracuse. Like people who know I'm from Syracuse. Hey, what stores do you have in Syracuse? John, I'm actually coming to Syracuse. I'd love to meet you. But also what stores might I like you know, Peral.

SPEAKER 1: And so I think that would be a great resource to have where you can search literally either by zip code or city or, or major city and, and then know what shops are in, in your area. I think you know, Google doesn't tell the whole story, right? And you have with Wax Hooli, you have a site that's literally just hobby dedicated. And so the more info you get on there and you've done, like I said, it's already a great resource.

SPEAKER 1: But the more stuff you add to it, it just becomes more of a one stop shop and, and kudos to you, right? To have the wear it to, to build it, to build it up and it's not as probably easy as you make it look. But it's a nice resource to have and everything you add to it will be even even better, right?

SPEAKER 1: As, as the site, as the site grows. And that's a, again, that's a question. I get a lot. Hey, I'm coming to the area, what, you know, I'm going to Binghamton or, and I'm, I'm, you know, while I might not be super far from Binghamton, I don't, I'm not from, but I don't know all the shops. So if they can get themselves listed there, I can say, hey, go to the site, you'll find all the stores in all these areas.

SPEAKER 1: And that's just to be a great resource and even for future business trips, you know, chances are, if you're traveling now on business, they're gonna be somewhere else at some other point as well. And it'll just be a great, a great resource. It's nice to hear you, you know, Hey, I'm doing this because I wanna help people.

SPEAKER 1: Right. Some so, and there's nothing wrong with being profitable. And I'm, I'm, you know, but, you know, sometimes that's really the sole reason for things and again, it's, that's not a illegal or crime. But, you know, if you, in your case, you're doing it out of the kindness of your heart to help fellow, collectors.

SPEAKER 1: Our, our backgrounds are very similar. You said you got your start in 78. I got my, with top baseball, I got my start one year later. As both, we were both seven. I was seven in 1979 and, and it was 79 tops baseball. That's, to blame for this, you know, 44 years, later. But, so we have similar backgrounds there and it can be daunting.

SPEAKER 1: I never really left. I kind of hit pause for 34 years at, at one time when my son was little. But had I taken a, a longer pause?

SPEAKER 1: It can be, the hobby can be daunting. And so any resource that can make the terrain easier to navigate is I'm sure welcome by, by most. Right. And, and important, important too because I don't, you know, some people will list, you know, breaking sites, some people will list auction sites. Some people list just podcast.

SPEAKER 1: You're trying to, to, to do all of that in one place and, there's some, yeah. And I think that's important to know people will, will focus on one niche, but you're trying to focus on everything, that's related to the Abby, I can speak for this show. I'm glad to be listed on there. And that will be my next question for you.

SPEAKER 1: Gary is, do, do people reach out or whether it be a breaker, a podcast, a card store, a business? Do people reach out and say, hey, I'm not on there. Can you put me on there and the reverse of that? Do you ever get someone that says, hey, I don't want, I don't know why it's kind of silly but I listen, I appreciate it but I don't wanna be publicized. You, you get both of those.

SPEAKER 4: I get a few people reaching out to me. I'm still trying to get the word out about the site and everything. So I don't get a lot of people inbound, but I do have a email address. If suggestions at Wax Oli.Com, anyone could feel free to tell me about your site, your organization, everything.

SPEAKER 4: And I'd be glad to add that and the thing about, wanting me wanting to be taken off the site. No, I haven't had that yet, but I wouldn't doubt it if one day someone does something like that. I don't, I don't understand it but for some reason, I don't know it wouldn't surprise me, but luckily it hasn't happened yet.

SPEAKER 3: So, yeah, and.

SPEAKER 1: Hopefully it does. And I, I mean, it would be a kind of a goofy thing. Sometimes people feel like, hey, you didn't ask me.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah.

SPEAKER 1: You know, it would be one of those type deals instead of like, hey, you're getting free publicity, like, enjoy it. You're not costing you anything.

SPEAKER 1: You know, but, you know, people could be funny, duddies, sometimes so maybe down to a little that will actually happen and you know what that'll be on them. They don't want, you know, they don't want the free pub then. So, so be it, I guess.

SPEAKER 4: But what you're trying to do is for a lot of companies, I'm trying to put in the logos, put the logos on there so they become familiar and people will know that and like I said, someone may come down the line and say I'm stealing their logo or something, but I'm not stealing anything. I'm just, you're not.

SPEAKER 1: Stealing, you're not, you're not using it and saying you're them, you're just, if anything, you're like you said, you're redirecting them to their Social Media page or website.

SPEAKER 1: So, you know, but, you know, people, people can be funny sometimes you, you know, and I, I see it too but so be it if that happens, you know, you know, no, no lose, they don't get the free, they don't get the free pub I, I thank you for, for us being, listed there and, appreciate, you know, I appreciate that. I'm gonna put, put the site in our show notes as well.

SPEAKER 1: Gary. So people can, people can see it or if someone that maybe has, whether it be a show, a podcast, new selling platform, or, or anything hobby related, they can reach out to you and, and be part of what you're building, right? And and grow with you.

SPEAKER 3: Right, youtuber.

SPEAKER 4: I have 78 YouTube channels there, you know, and there's even more that I don't, I'm not aware of.

SPEAKER 5: So there's so much you are listening to the Sports Car Nation podcast.

SPEAKER 5: We'll be right back after this break.

SPEAKER 6: For nearly 50 years. Sports Collectors Digest has been the voice of the hobby, bringing you comprehensive coverage of the sports collectible industry from industry news, auction results, market analysis and in depth stories about collectors and their collections.

SPEAKER 6: Sports collectors digest has everything you need to know about the hobby. S CD is also your leading source for listings of sports collectible dealers, card shops, card shows and the latest from the industry's top companies to check out all the latest news or to subscribe to the hobby's oldest magazine.

SPEAKER 1: Visit sports collectors digest.com or call 1 808 29, 5561 Sports Car Nation has returned and speaking of YouTube, that's a good segue too. G because you, you have your own YouTube channel, vintage baseball card packs. You mentioned, I haven't seen it. Full disclosure.

SPEAKER 1: I saw the website, I haven't seen the YouTube channel, but you told me you'll, you'll open up some, old retro packs and, and, and see what you get, on your channel, which I think it's very cool. Right. It's a way to kind of nostalgia. Right. Go back and we all remember open, you know, we're old enough. Like I am, I remember opening those packs when they were brand new.

SPEAKER 1: And it just kind of brings you back to our younger days. Right. And so talk a little bit, you know, since I haven't seen it and it's your channel. Talk a little bit, about your channel there.

SPEAKER 3: Yeah.

SPEAKER 4: It's called vintage baseball card packs. And, like I said, I got back into the hobby in late 2020 2021 and YouTube didn't exist back when I was in the hobby before. And then I saw all these breakers on YouTube and people opening packs on the screen and to be frank initially, I thought that's kind of odd.

SPEAKER 4: Why would someone spend time just watching someone else open pack packs of cards. But as, you know, a lot of people are addicted to it and I kind of get addicted to it too.

SPEAKER 4: And so I just want to experiment and see what I could do in that type of realm. And I like old vintage cards. And so I started going to shows and buying up old packs by vintage. I'm talking about the eighties and stuff.

SPEAKER 4: I mean, finding packs in seventies and sixties gets to be an expensive proposition and you don't know whether you feel bad about opening these up and things. So, so all I do is just open them up and just show you what the cards look like. And I'm trying to do, I'm trying to do one video for like every year, every year tops, every year flare, every year donors.

SPEAKER 4: So then people get a flavor of what, what these cards look like, what you can pull.

SPEAKER 4: And it's interesting too also now, you know, when you pull a 1988 pack of tops to see all the old players and think this guy was hot way back then and it, he didn't turn out so well. And, and you remember these, these guys, you know, when they're playing everything. So it's kind of enjoyable for myself.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah, you, it's a nostalgia factor brings you back to our, our younger versions of ourselves. It's also great for, let's say a newer collector, right? Who wasn't around that time to get to see kind of what cards and packs were like back then. You know, they may be good with the current landscape but have no idea, sort of the history, of the hobby. And I'm a, I'm an advocate and ambassador.

SPEAKER 1: Right. I try to educate and teach and, and learn myself as well. And so it's a great, it's a great resource, right? To learn, something maybe, you know, and, and, and in that case, hey, I, I wasn't around that. I want to see what this look like. What's that? At the end of the pack that's pink and cracked and dried, right? Yeah. There used to be gum in there. Don't eat it now.

SPEAKER 1: Unless you like it just to disintegrate and you make a weird face, as you taste, you know, 35 year old, I won't even call it gum, whatever you call it now. So, but it's a great way to sort of go back, you know, the time.

SPEAKER 1: The DeLorean isn't real, but it's a way to sort of go back into a hobby. DeLorean and see what, you know, cards were like 35 years ago in the case of, of 88 tops, as you, as you mentioned. But depending on what year pack you're opening, it may even be, further back and, and I love doing that stuff.

SPEAKER 1: The next best thing to open in the pack yourself is to see it, opened and, you know, it's a great, it's again another resource, right? Yeah. And, and kudos to you for sharing, sharing that, right? So many people have knowledge or have that opportunity and they just sort of again to each their own, but maybe just keep it in house where, where you're just trying to educate and be AAA free resource in this, in this case.

SPEAKER 1: And something to be said about that I mentioned, you know, and, and getting to meet you at this year's National, wasn't your first, you told me you went to the 93 1, which is exactly 30 years ago.

SPEAKER 1: Talk about going to the 93 1 and then attending the 2023 1. Just the difference is from, I, my first National, I think was 2017, 2018.

SPEAKER 1: So I've, I kind of know it in its form that it is still kind of like today. But, oh, you know, for someone that's never been to the National during the nineties. Well, and, and I count myself obviously in that, that group, you know, the difference between what you saw in 1993 and what you saw in 2023 besides obviously more collectors or more hobbies.

SPEAKER 4: Yeah, actually, surprisingly it was very similar.

SPEAKER 4: I'm trying to think back. It was 1993 or 1994 but the year I went it was actually in Chicago, just like it is. Now, it was downtown Chicago. It was at Mccormick Place at the Convention Center there as opposed to Rosemont. And it's similar in the sense that you had, all the concrete and all the booths set up and you walk around and a lot of people looking at the tables and things like that.

SPEAKER 4: In that sense, it a lot hasn't changed.

SPEAKER 4: But on the other hand, what's changed also is, that area was the end of the wax, wax, junk, wax era. You know, people thought that they were gonna get rich and they were gonna send their kids to college by buying all this 1990 1991 1992. Wax backs, everything like that.

SPEAKER 1: And so it was, I got to popple and Brian, I'm gonna, all my kids are going to college for four years each. Right. I, I kid, I kid but IIII, I chuckle because I, you know, I lived through that. I lived through those days. Exactly. How about, do you.

SPEAKER 4: Remember, do you remember Chris Sabo off the Reds?

SPEAKER 1: Chris si love Chris s big, the big, the big goggles and, you know, not a, not a big guy but, you know, he could, he could box some home, run out known for those spectacles and, you know, the Reds were even good, during that time period as well.

SPEAKER 4: Yeah, I bought like a 50 card. Lot of, for each, like 10 cents a piece and spent, you know, 15 $20 and thought all these crusts instead of 15 cents a piece. So that one day they'll be worth five bucks a piece, you know.

SPEAKER 4: So, so, so, yeah. So, yeah, shows, you know, the National from then to now, you know, it's basically, it's basically the same thing.

SPEAKER 4: I, to me, at least, I mean, now you have a lot more corporate boots and things like that and it, it's a plus and minus, you know, some people like it to stay the same and some people think it should be modernized. So, there, I think there's both sides of the coin there. You know, what should happen to the National?

SPEAKER 1: Yeah, it definitely has. And, and this is, without me being an attending during the nineties, it definitely has a, a more of a corporate, presence. Everyone that I know that that's been to most of them, you know, was attested to that. I call it the Super Bowl o of, of the Hobby, Gary, you know, we circle that week, every year.

SPEAKER 1: It's around the same time. The, the, the kind of good thing is, it's really the same week minus a couple day or two, depending on the calendar. You know, it's nice to tell, an employer like, hey, this, around this week every year, this is something I, I heard pretty much do.

SPEAKER 1: Like, I'll be, I'll be needing this week off for me, in the teaching profession. It's during summer school, which I'm thankful for, for not that summer school is not important, but it's a little bit of a different vibe than the regular school year.

SPEAKER 1: So it's easier for me to take 34 or five days off during summer school than it would have been, you know, during the regular school year itself. So it works out. I've been in the teaching profession for about three years prior to that. When I went to my first National, I wasn't in the teaching profession.

SPEAKER 1: A matter of fact, I went to two Nationals before I was in the teaching profession. And it really was a pain in the butt to get those, those days off to attend with, with the job I had at the time. And now it's a lot easier of a task of almost no hassle whatsoever at all. So, but it's nice that it's sort of that same week.

SPEAKER 1: You know, you attended this year now with the site and your we, and, and, and your youth is, is going to the National, going to be like a yearly trek for you. Is that, would that, would that be an accurate statement?

SPEAKER 4: Yeah, yearly or, or every other year? Because I'm fortunate and blessed to live in the suburbs of Chicago. So, il like, like literally 20 minutes away from Rosemont Convention Center. So definitely every time it's in Chicago I'll be there.

SPEAKER 4: And then I'll see a, see about traveling other years. Yeah.

SPEAKER 1: Well, look, you're, I think you're gonna be in luck because I think Chicago is literally most of the dealer's favorite venue.

SPEAKER 1: It makes, it's, it's widely acclaimed as, as attendees. Most attendees are favorite local. So I think you're gonna have plenty of opportunities being in Chicago to get to the n I guess I'll put you on the, on the spot. It's in Cleveland this year coming up in, in 24.

SPEAKER 1: Are you planning to go to Cleveland? Is that trip, manageable for you?

SPEAKER 4: Yeah, it's manageable. I'm, I'm like 5050 right now. I grew up in Ohio. So III, I like Ohio and everything like that and Cleveland is just a four or five hour drive over there. So, yeah, it would be great, to go next year in 2024.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah. Well, I'm, I'm hoping, I'm hoping to see you for me, see when it's in Chicago and Chicago is a great city. It's a great venue, like you said, with the Rosemont. But for me to go to Chicago, I have to fly in.

SPEAKER 1: It's too long of a drive. I'm kind of liking it being in Cleveland this year because it's a five hour and 10 minute drive, for me. So I'll be def, you know, God willing. I'll be definitely, driving in will have my car.

SPEAKER 1: And so that will be, that will be nice. Anytime I can drive right anytime you can drive somewhere, you can bring more stuff you can bring, you know, in support of the show, whether it be T shirts and, you know, when you fly, you know, you can check only so much stuff onto the plane.

SPEAKER 1: And so you're sort of limited and, and what you can bring when you drive, it sort of opens up, more possibilities when I was in ac, a couple of years ago, I was able to bring more stuff because I drove and now with Cleveland Chicago had to bring less stuff and, and fly. So, I've never been, to Cleveland period for, for any event.

SPEAKER 1: So, gonna check out the, the rock and roll Hall Of Fame for the first time. So we're gonna make a whole, I'm gonna make a whole week of it a whole trip. Check out the whole, maybe catch, you know, we'll see what the Indian schedule, looks like, during the National, if they're playing at home, maybe catch, I've never been, I've been to quite a bit of the Major league stadiums.

SPEAKER 1: Never been, the Cleveland Stadium. So hopefully add that to the itinerary. And then, you know, that's the nice thing about the Nationals.

SPEAKER 1: You can make, there's plenty of stuff to do even after the show is over, whether that's go to dinner with friends and of course, go to a sporting event, sometimes even even, concerts are in town at the same time, the National is so looking forward to Cleveland and, and the fact that I'll have my own vehicle there to, to get to those venues and events makes it a little bit easier rather than rely on public transportation.

SPEAKER 1: I'm a New York City kid. So, you know, I'm not, it doesn't overwhelm me but anytime you can jump into your own vehicle and get somewhere, it's obviously a lot convenient than to, you know, rely on public transportation.

SPEAKER 1: So I'm looking forward to Cleveland just on that aspect. Alone. I hope to, I hope, I know you said it's 5050. I'm, I'm hoping that becomes 100 0 in favor of, for you when, when the time comes and get to talk to you, in person, again as well.

SPEAKER 3: Well, it's a.

SPEAKER 4: It's a, it's a five hour drive for me too. The same five hour drive. So now I have no excuse if you're driving. Yeah.

SPEAKER 1: No. Hey, listen, listen, I don't like the older I get Gary, the less I like to drive, like my stamina is getting worse each year. So, if I can do it, you, you can do it. You know, you sound like rock. I sound like Rocky at the end of, Rocky four. You know, if I can do it, you can do it.

SPEAKER 1: But, you know, it, it's nice to be able to, you know, I, I, yeah, I think, you know, 5 to 8 hours, I think I, I would drive to, you get past the eight hour Mark. It gets a little trickier although you can, you know, people, you hear people cut even. I've had people like my friend Danny Black drove from Baltimore to Chicago.

SPEAKER 1: He gotta stop halfway, got a hotel room, got some sleep and then made the rest of the trip. So, even on the longer trips, I guess if you break it up and you have that time in your schedule to do that, it still works. So that's a lot of driving for me. You know, kudos to him for being I do that. I don't know if I could pull that one off.

SPEAKER 1: The older I get here, but five hours definitely still, still doable at this point. And so I'll be driving, if all goes as plan, I'll be driving, to Cleveland. Excellent. Well, Gary, I appreciate you. You coming on and, and, and sharing what you're doing. I think it's important. It's a great resource. I advise, you know, every, you want to check out Wax Opolis.com.

SPEAKER 1: If someone who's been in the hobby, as long as I have can get stuff from it, everyone could. It's a great resource for no matter what you're almost looking for. Hobby wise, give out, all that stuff, socials, anything you want to share the website, even though I said it, you say it again, your YouTube channel and, and all that good stuff.

SPEAKER 4: Yeah. Thank you so much for the kind words. It's been great to talk to you.

SPEAKER 4: Yeah. So like you said, the website is Wax aoli.com. You can go right to it and then if you wanna submit any new sites, there's a form on this, on the website where you can tell me about things that I don't know about, you know, YouTube, content creators, any companies, any local card shops, things like that, or feel free to send an email to suggestions at Wax Oli.Com, suggestions at Wax Oli.Com or send me an email.

SPEAKER 4: Giri Gir I at Wax Oli.Com and then I'm on Twitter Wax Ali there too. So check out any of those ways. Just get a hold of me and I'd love to collaborate with more people and, you know, figure out how to make this site better and make it a nice resource for everyone.

SPEAKER 4: So anything to make it better would be great.

SPEAKER 1: Well, it's all, it's already very good. I'm not just saying that I, I've been there on, on more than one occasion and clicked a lot of the links and, and you know, you can lose a lot of time too like you check it. Oh, I don't know about this site. I let me see what they're about. Right. And then you, it's three hours later.

SPEAKER 1: And you're like, hey, that was cool. But, I lost three hours.

SPEAKER 1: So it's, it's, it's, it's great what you're doing. I think it's important to, and they have that sort of again, all in one spot rather than to have to keep typing in stuff, to get read your corrected. That's, a nice thing.

SPEAKER 1: It's easy to bookmark, you know, in 2023 it's easy to bookmark. A page, click on the link, go to the page and then everything is there on one page that you, you potentially need. There, you know, people like convenience, in 2023 2024 here.

SPEAKER 1: And, and you've made it a lot easier to me, to navigate and I think others will, will find the same.

SPEAKER 4: Yeah. There's so many great people in the hobby, so many people and companies out there in the hobby. And unfortunately you, you, it's hard to hear of them all.

SPEAKER 4: You know, you didn't, there's a small hobby supply company that makes some great card protectors or something and, you know, you won't, might not know about that and there's youtubers, there's podcasters, there's everyone out there breakers. And it would be great to get exposure for everyone.

SPEAKER 1: Well, you're, you're doing a great job. Keep, keep up the great work and, and we'll, we'll talk again. All right.

SPEAKER 4: Thank you so much.

SPEAKER 1: All right. Thank you to Gary for, letting us know all about Wax Opolis.com. Check that site out. It's, growing literally as we speak. And, I've gotten to know Gary a little bit. He's a dedicated gentleman. So I look for major improvements.

SPEAKER 1: As time goes on with this site, it's already great. So, check that out. As well. We're gonna hear from our hobby is the people announcer. Come back with some closing thoughts and we'll wrap up this episode.

SPEAKER 7: Time for our hobby is the people announcer of the week.

SPEAKER 8: Hey, everyone. This is Alex here from Relics Cards and collectibles in Toronto, representing the Relics squad. I just wanna remind everyone the hobby is the people.

SPEAKER 7: If you'd like to be the hobby is the people announcer of the week, do a WAV or MP3 file and send it to Sports Card Nation PC at gmail.com.

SPEAKER 9: That's a wrap for this week. Huge. Thanks to you, the listeners out there because without you, there is no ice.

SPEAKER 9: If you like the show, we truly appreciate positive reviews. Big ups to our great guests who drive the show and our awesome sponsors who make it all possible. Sports Card Nation will be back next week but don't forget to catch either hobby quick hits or cod mentions coming up on Monday.

SPEAKER 9: I'll leave you with this.

SPEAKER 9: How do we change the world?

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SPEAKER 9: Remember the hobby is the people.

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