Ep.284 w/ Adam Gellman/Sports Cards Uncensored Part II

SPEAKER 1: What is up everybody? Episode 284 Sports Car Nation. We are back again this week with Adam Gelman of Sports Cards. Uncensored part two of our conversation. Like I said last week, you know, Adam doesn't mince words. I find that refreshing cause I try to be the same way.

SPEAKER 1: And he does a great job explaining like how he pivoted to collecting stuff he wanted to collect and enjoy. That's really what the hobby should be for all of us, right? We should be enjoying whatever way we partake in it, right? And, Adam's a great example of that.

SPEAKER 1: Glad, glad he's back on to, conclude, the conversation we had and, I'll have him on again as well because, really had a blast chopping up the hobby, with him so quick 32nd commercial break. And then we're back with Adam Gelman.

SPEAKER 2: Hobby News Daily is your home page of the hobby providing original writing, exclusive gem rate data, a daily morning minute podcast and some of the best content creators in the hobby. Remember Hobby News, daily.com and at Hobby News on Social Happy Collecting.

SPEAKER 1: And you know, I know you mentioned with, with top slash fanatics and, and Panini doing a pretty, pretty good job in, in the rustling space or when they've produced cards, what is there? And if, you know, kind of an open letter, you know, and, and, and people do listen to the show and, and from some of these, companies, you know, if, if, if you could have the ear, what would you tell them as a wrestling collector?

SPEAKER 1: Like, hey, I, you need to do this better or hey, you're doing it not too bad, but I want to see more of this or you're not doing enough in, in this department. Well, how would you answer that to them, man?

SPEAKER 3: You know, I think, I think prior to Panini coming over my, my main thing was we need more sort of, con continuity between, I mean, baseball and football and basketball and wrestling just because it, it, it, it creates an easier, entry point into the hobby for people who, you know, never really understood what wrestling cards were about.

SPEAKER 3: So, like, if you create those parallels, it's easier for people to join in meaning you'll get more people tops historically have, have really, it's taken them a long time to figure that out. So it wasn't until like 22 2020 21 that we got tops chrome back or finest, or even like the transcendent product. They, they did actually make a transcendent wrestling product, which was incredible for three years.

SPEAKER 3: And, you know, those are the types of things I think tops needed to do more often and more quickly pin really came in and said, we're just gonna do that for our entire license. And because it was kind of a, AAA very successful approach with UFC was a very successful approach with NASCAR, all the different licenses that they have had.

SPEAKER 3: They've really just sort of drawn these parallels to make it easy for people to consume. And I like that a lot. But I think if, when Tops comes back, because it's not an, if this is the first time where we know that there is an end to this license and it's gonna go to Tops because they announced it the first week of Panini's WWE license.

SPEAKER 3: You know, I really hope that they don't lose sight of what Panini has been able to accomplish here. And I was a huge Panini hater back when I was collecting football, I thought their designs were terrible. I thought their products were, were generally rough around the edges, like a lot of collation issues, like you name it, like they had major issues.

SPEAKER 3: They've, since, since this boom period, I think they've really turned a lot of stuff around.

SPEAKER 3: They've also lost a significant amount of people to fanatics. So I think there's a lot of cross pollination in the, in the, the staff, which will be good because I think the continuity will then sort of follow the staff, upper deck when upper deck sort of lost all their licenses in 2009 and 2010, a lot of them went to Tops.

SPEAKER 3: So Tops was a terrible high-end company. And because all these people from upper deck came over, all of a sudden they started producing these amazing high-end products. Shock. Right? That's what upper deck was known for.

SPEAKER 3: So I think the same thing will probably happen as these people migrate away from Panini and into the fanatics family. So I, I think if I'm a wrestling collector, I'm telling them, like, make it easier for people to join the hobby and be a part of it.

SPEAKER 3: Highlight more of the education, give them more sort of access.

SPEAKER 3: You know, there's, there's a, a really key focus on driving variety in a lot of the different sports that are out there. We have low end products, you have middle range products and you have the premium products. Like, I think if we have that in wrestling too and there's enough products to go around it, it'll be successful.

SPEAKER 3: I think we've kind of lost sight of that with Panini because they only release, you know, a few sets a year and it's always Prism select and then like, you know, a couple of high end products and maybe one or two others, like, tops, really sort of had more variety in their stuff.

SPEAKER 3: And I, I think I'd like to see them go back to that too, but keep the checklist big. Like, I think that was the other thing tops, really, really close the walls in, on a checklist later on in their run with WWE Panini just blew the doors wide open.

SPEAKER 3: They started getting signatures from the craziest people that you could think of while still having the old favorites like Hulk Hogan and Steve Austin and, and stuff like that. But I think the one thing that every wrestling collector wants and that is especially this year with him coming back is we need the Rock to sign cards for wrestling.

SPEAKER 3: And, Lee was able to get some stickers done, through some relationships with his wife and stuff like that. Through one of his charities. They released the first Dwayne Johnson autographs in 20 years, which was awesome and they sold for a ton of money, but it's not the Rock and it's not a license WWE card. Michael Ruben and the Rock have a relationship.

SPEAKER 3: We've seen it on Instagram. Let's make it happen. Come on, we can do it. So that's my big, that's one of the ass I think everybody wants to see is, can we get the Rock to sign cards? Especially now, he just made an event in one of the nights of WrestleMania last couple of weeks.

SPEAKER 1: So, yeah, if I'm a betting man, I'm, I'm probably betting that, that goes down, like you said, Ruben has, you know, some sort of there.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah. And, you know, money also talks too. He has that right? As, as well. Right. So, yeah, I think, I think you'll see that. It's just, I don't know if it's a matter of, of, if I think, like you said, it's a matter of when, a couple more questions, and, and wrestling and then we'll get into a sports card, uncensored.

SPEAKER 1: Wrestling. No one will argue. Wrestling is a very popular, sport. It's fans across, the world, not the nation, the, the world pay per view events. They don't have trouble selling tickets.

SPEAKER 1: It's not just, yeah, it's not just kids, it's kids, two adults.

SPEAKER 1: How many, when it comes to wrestling fans, people who go to live events watch on TV, what percentage of those? And again, this is speculation on, on both of our parts. But I'm asking you what percentage of wrestling fans are also wrestling card, collectors. What, what would you put that percentage number at?

SPEAKER 3: It's a very low number. Yeah, it's a very low number. And I think the, the main thing that has always been a struggle is that even when I was watching wrestling back in the late nineties, like, I just didn't know that their wrestling cards were being made.

SPEAKER 3: Right? And I think that's, that's the way most of us are, is, is like, we don't know until we know. And I think Panini was the first to really advertise on some of the broadcasts. So, like they had like little things in their little Kons in the corner.

SPEAKER 3: That, that showed like, hey, prison is coming out and whatever.

SPEAKER 3: So I, I think that was new and it really hopefully will open up some of these doors. But yeah, I think it's a very small percentage, like a fraction of a percentage because when they, they're one of the top 10 YouTube channels in the world, like they, they have millions of people turn into their show, they sell out 20,000 seat arenas now.

SPEAKER 3: Like I, there's very few people that are collecting the cards. It's just a fact of the matter.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah, and I agree with you. I, I, you would know before me, that's why I asked you, but I agree with that. I, I knew that the, the, you know, the percentage was lower than, than the fans overall. You might have answered this question already.

SPEAKER 1: What? So who's to blame for that? Is it the, the card manufacturers itself that are producing it that are not doing enough promotion of those products, advertising of a product? Is it the wrestling itself that they don't embrace it or the ball?

SPEAKER 3: That's a great question.

SPEAKER 3: I don't, I don't know really where most of this probably falls. But, you know, again, the, the historically, and again, this is prior to the boom and, and even during the boom, there just, there just hasn't been a lot of advertising because advertising is expensive.

SPEAKER 3: Like, that's part of what I do for a living and it's expensive to get people's attention. Right. Like, whether you want to spend a couple of million dollars to get a Super Bowl commercial or whatever, like, like the fact that it hasn't happened during the biggest boom period in the history of the hobby probably shows you it's still a bridge too far to really dive in deep, creating interest in just cards in general.

SPEAKER 3: Cause even the casual sports fans, like you think of how many billions of dollars exist in in sports licensing and manufacturing like AAA fraction of that percentage of cards, it's bigger than it was, but it's still very small.

SPEAKER 3: Now, the difference is tops, is like an American institution, right? So people know, tops people know upper deck but, and to a degree they know donors too. But if you say like, hey, this is Panini, it's like, oh, it's just not a grilled hot sandwich, right? It's not a card company. So I think like that's.

SPEAKER 1: Now that's all of a sudden.

SPEAKER 3: Right. Exactly. Me too. But I think that's, that's the issue is like no one knows what is going on, like in, I think from a wrestling perspective, even less so.

SPEAKER 3: But I, because there's just not a lot of advertising, it's not, it's all word of mouth and it's all sort of like natural growth through Social Media and I think that's an issue and it's, and also, like, the cards weren't great for a long time. Like, it wasn't like this flashy stuff until, you know, 2013, 2014 really.

SPEAKER 3: That it, it sort of morphed into like the ultramodern sort of things that would sort of bring in new people who maybe weren't the same as same ilk as the vintage collectors that are out there. So I think there's, there's a lot of blame to be going around but it's growing, it's, it's on its way up, but I think there's a million miles left to go, excuse me.

SPEAKER 3: So I think, like, we've got a long, long ways before we're starting to see the type of market penetration that we probably should be seeing, given the licensing capabilities of like the action figures and the T shirts and you name it, right? Like wrestling action figure is a huge industry, wrestling t-shirts and stuff, huge industry also run by fanatics.

SPEAKER 3: And so, like, you know, all of these things sort of like are interwoven into the experience of how people enjoy wrestling. But i it's just, it's, it, cards were never a really big focus and I think even now where there's gonna be a struggle getting it to, to really be in the forefront of everybody's mind.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah, great point. I agree. But you know what, I play armchair card manufacturer here and, you know, you have these big pay per view events.

SPEAKER 1: I'm not saying you do it for every, you know, the, the wrestle, you know, the WWE a w they travel the country and I'm not saying you do it for every venue, but for some of these bigger events, whoever the licenser is at the time, why not make a set that everyone that comes through that turnstile?

SPEAKER 1: I agree if that lie and make it a special set, make it like a promo set for, you know, I don't know if the arena holds 35,000 people. You make 35,000 sets, everyone I love it.

SPEAKER 1: I love it. Right? So now those people, like someone comes through the turnstiles that are in a car, love wrestling, but maybe they don't know cards exist now, they got them in their hands. They're like, what's this?

SPEAKER 1: I like you've, you've created a potentially a new collector, right? Let's say they get the cards and they're like, yeah, this is cool but I, I don't really collect. So they put it, they throw it on ebay. Let's be real, right? Like, hey, I'm gonna cash it out. Offset what my ticket.

SPEAKER 1: Now you've created a secondary market cause hey, me or you who are wrestling collectors let's say I didn't, I wasn't able to go to wrestle mania, but now those, some of those sets are making their, I love it, making their market. I'm a collector. Yeah, I didn't go to the actual vet. That's, that's ok.

SPEAKER 1: I still want the cards, right. That you've created in a sense. Two markets again. Right. You might have, you might have created a new collector who, who, when they get handed that set and if they don't, if they don't want to, now you've created a buzz for people. Hey, I need to get one of those sets from that event.

SPEAKER 1: And that they've.

SPEAKER 3: They've done, they've done stuff like that.

SPEAKER 3: I in certain circumstances, but it's not at that scale. I think that the cost of doing that is probably prohibitive, but it's like, man, that would be cool. I would really like that. The, the closest thing that I think they've ever done to this was back when they still were doing DVD si think only recently they've stopped doing the DVD s and the pay per views is they used to include like a card with the DVD.

SPEAKER 3: So like as you bought these DVD s cause again, this was the era before, you know, Netflix and whatever WWE just signed with like they were, you know, physical DVD S and you would open it up and there'd be like disk there, then there'd be like a card on the other side.

SPEAKER 3: Like that's really this, the only sort of thing that they've tried. But it's a, it's a great idea. I would love it. Especially for WrestleMania, especially for the big ones. Like the big four summer slam and Royal rumble. Like that would be so cool, man. I would love that.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah. And I, I know it's, I, I know it's probably a little trickier than I made it out, out to be.

SPEAKER 1: Obviously there, there's, well, on the same token, it's not impossible either. You know, a year in advance where the event is gonna be.

SPEAKER 1: And you can, you can produce the set, you know, a, a year ahead of time, you know, shrink wrap them, you know, how many, how many seats the venue holds, you produce that amount o of sets and everyone that attends that. I love it.

SPEAKER 1: That's the set. Ii, I, again, I, I think it's the answer somewhere between, you know what I said in, in act. I know it's not as easy as I made it sound, but that's a cool idea.

SPEAKER 1: And if you have the licensing, right? Promote your, promote, you want people to know about your product, you have a captive audience that, hey, you get, you get a set, right? It creates even, maybe even in the building itself, right? Like, hey, you know, you don't take it, my, my, my son at home who's not exactly, you know, give it to somebody, we give it to somebody.

SPEAKER 3: The only thing, I mean, recently this year was the first time that fanatics put on like a convention that went alongside WrestleMania.

SPEAKER 3: So this actually could happen, I think, come, you know, in the future when they're making the cards too, they had this big huge convention that went along called WWE World and they had people like come and sign stuff and be on the stage and then they announced the fanatics fest that was happening and they have wrestling content as part of the fanatics fest that's happening in New York in the summer.

SPEAKER 3: So, I mean, like, I think there are ways of doing stuff like that.

SPEAKER 3: So, yeah, I think that that would be really cool.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah, and I'm gonna up the, you know, put a random autograph in some of these graph sets, right? So yellow parallels, right? We, they exist already just could, you know, maybe someone opens the cards, right?

SPEAKER 1: They open their set at the venue, maybe they're not card collectors, but they pull an autograph card, then all of a sudden all of a sudden they're like, holy crap. I didn't even know that I could get an autograph of, of these wrestlers and they know, and again, it's just, you're promoting your product, you're promoting the sport.

SPEAKER 1: And again, with these athletes having an equity stake, they should be willing to do their part as well. So sign, you know, 20 cards for the chances are they're signing more other than that a, as they come out or, or, you know, they go somewhere to dinner or before or after the show, you know, they're signing and most likely, I mean, I'm sure there's some that, that just refuse but generally most are decent human beings. Right.

SPEAKER 1: Ii, I know I make it sound simple but I don't think it's, it's, it's super difficult either somewhere, in between.

SPEAKER 4: Someone's at my door. I've got to get that be right back.

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SPEAKER 4: Sports Car Nation has returned.

SPEAKER 1: All right enough with, with wrestling. Let's talk about, sports card, onsets. It kinda, it's your baby. I'll let you kinda, you know, I kinda, in my intro, I talked about it very informative. You kinda make people aware what's going on. It's not just wrestling, it's, it's all all facets of the hobby kind of where, you know, where it came from why you started it and, and how it's progressed through the years.

SPEAKER 3: Yeah.

SPEAKER 3: I mean, I started it because I just saw a gap in coverage. I mean, it was 2007, 2008. And the only real sort of Hobby News source was Beckett. Right. And they were always kind of rainbows and unicorns. And I just, I didn't like that cause cards were had a seedy underbelly that very few people wanted to talk about fake autographs and you know, you name it and I wanted to expose a lot of that and just be different.

SPEAKER 3: And at the time, you know, I'm an English major from college. So I, I love to write creatively and whatever and you know, there were a few blogs that were going there, some of them are still going today. And you know, it was just, it was a very small new area of, you know, coverage, which was so Social Media and like, I, you know, it's obviously now it's a staple of our lives, but at the time it wasn't.

SPEAKER 3: And so I just, I wanted to change the narrative because it was, it was stuffy, it was suffocating. I thought, I thought before and you needed to have people that were willing to, to call out the stuff that wasn't good as long as well as the stuff that was. And you know, e even today, I mean, you still have people on YouTube and Instagram like, oh be positive, always be positive.

SPEAKER 3: Like negativity really has a place in a lot of things that people don't seem to understand, especially if you are looking at it from a constructive manner and trying to help, call out things that need to be repaired and giving solutions and understandings of like how it could be repaired, I think is a key element of like learning and and and feedback, right?

SPEAKER 3: You know, if you're only just sitting in an echo chamber and everybody's just yelling at each other, how great things are nothing ever gets improved, especially the stuff that's wrong. So I just saw an opportunity back then to like call out a lot of this stuff and, you know, through the 15 or so years that my blog has been around, like, I've, I've developed relationships with just about every manufacturer.

SPEAKER 3: I, I mean, I have, I talk to them regularly, the Panini guys, the tops guys, like, you know, I, when I go to the, you know, things like the, the NSCC or whatever, like it's easy to say, oh, hey, how are you?

SPEAKER 3: It's been a while like we, we still catch up because I, I wish I had enough time in my life to, to spend and do the 2 to 3 posts a day I used to do because back then it was like, I was fresh out of college and like, you know, my job wasn't demanding. I had no kids. Like now I have all of those things and it's just taking a complete focus away from creating content as much as I still try to do it.

SPEAKER 3: So, I mean, yeah, it's, it's been a challenge to keep up with it for sure. Because there's just so much news flying around, especially now that there's a actually, an audience for all this content.

SPEAKER 3: Like, again, much, like selling my cards in 2019. I was doing this way too early because if I come in and done what I did it, you know, now, II, I, who knows where my stuff would be right now. It's just, I, I'm always a little bit too early to the game and I think it's, it's fun though for me still to, to do the coverage and do the content.

SPEAKER 3: Like, that's always been something thing that my wife makes fun of me for it. Like, oh, you gotta go make another video or go write another article. But it's something that I think it's, it's still fun for me to do and have an outlet for, for my writing.

SPEAKER 3: So, yeah, it's, it's been, it's been a wild ride for sure. And I've created some lifelong relationships as a result of it. Like, just friends and stuff around the hobby I still talk to every day. So, it's cool. That's, that's a really fun experience.

SPEAKER 1: You said you're too early. I, I, I'll correct you. I think you were ahead of your time, but we'll go with that. You make, you know, and I generally Adam, you, you make a good point too. I, I want to take you back off of, I generally try to be positive and, and sort of highlight some of the good things in a hobby.

SPEAKER 1: But, you know, on this very show and people will listen to the show will tell you, I will talk about some of the not so glorious things that are going, right? I think it's, I think you have to, right? It can't always be roses and daisies and sweet, you know, classical music. It's nice when those things are occurring, but that doesn't tell the whole story, right?

SPEAKER 1: And, and, if someone doesn't want that they don't, you know, they can fast forward it or not listen necessarily to that episode or watch that video if that's the case, right? We have choices, we can sort of avoid that. And, and what I love about the site is it's, it's more of a, from an informative thing.

SPEAKER 1: You're not, you know, like you said, you formed relationships with some of these people, but you're calling it like you see it and, and you're not, it's not always negative. You'll say like, hey, I love this, you did it on this during this conversation, hey, they're doing a pretty good job.

SPEAKER 1: So I think if you're, if you're sincere, and I think that's what you said too and if it's coming from, a sincere, I'm just kind of, this is how I see it. This is my opinion rather than, hey, I got 100 bucks. And so now I have to say this, you know, I think people appreciate that more.

SPEAKER 1: I know I do and I think most people do and I, I, and I think that's where, you know, sports Garden CED, is and people know, like, hey, Adam's gonna, you know, like I said, call the cliche but call it like he sees, it gives me his honest assessment of things. You know, you got your scam school section where you make people aware of, of some things to be on the lookout for Pratt Fall.

SPEAKER 1: And that's educational whether, you know, whether someone wants to learn it or not, that's on, that's on them. But that, that resource is there for them and, and, you know, we've seen other people do it as well. I try to do that, at least on, on the audio side.

SPEAKER 1: Right. Exactly. You can't, you, I, I don't think you can have too much of that. Right. It's, it's, it's not being a, someone said, well, who anoints so and so, or, you know, I've been to me a Watchdog. We're all watchdogs there. There. No one is the only watch. It's a very touchy subject. Yeah. It's a very touchy.

SPEAKER 1: But, hey, here's the 10 Watchdogs. I think we all are watchdogs in the sense that if we love the hobby we're passionate about it, we care about our fellow collectors. Let's just help each other out where no one, no one's necessarily, maybe not, you know, the title. We don't need a title watch, but we're just looking out for one another. Right. I mean, I think it's thoughts when you hear that, go ahead.

SPEAKER 3: I mean it's, it's a, it's a double again, it's a double edged sword because my, the tone of my site and, and this really shifted. So when I started in 2007 and 2008, like it, it started as like me being angry like that was really, but it shifted into like through the relationships that I built with a lot of these car manufacturers.

SPEAKER 3: I, I try to take the approach of the, the why not just the how? And I think like, cause people always want to say, well, I don't like redemptions or I don't like that this is done this way or this way or whatever.

SPEAKER 3: I've been fortunate enough to understand through my conversations with the manufacturers themselves, why something is the way that it and you know, something like, well, I don't like that. It costs more at my shop here than there or whatever, like stuff like that.

SPEAKER 3: There are huge education gaps in this hobby, just gigantic education gaps and a lot of those education gaps provide answers that people don't necessarily want to hear such as the manufacturers are, are a business. And like I, I hear people saying like, oh, this is a cash grab. Oh, this is why are they, do they just doing this because they want to make money?

SPEAKER 3: Well, yes, they're a business and their goal is to make as much money as possible, not to make friends. So, like when you look at the overall sort of state of how the tone of what my site has become, it's been like this is the how, but it's also the why.

SPEAKER 3: And I think it's like the Watchdog title gets tossed around way too much. And people shouldn't be the white Knights of this, how they just, they just shouldn't be. And because, but there is like this self saying, sort of regulation that happens and it's unfortunate that there isn't more of a regulating body that can go and be more of a voice of reason.

SPEAKER 3: But I, and I, I don't have the time to be that person either. Like, you know, people say like, oh, I hate that. Jeff Wilson is the voice of, you know, the, the welcome wagon for new people, blah, blah, blah.

SPEAKER 3: Well, that's his job like he, yeah, I don't like Jeff Wilson. I don't like what he stands for. I don't like how he does do whatever. Don't get me wrong. But that's what he's built up to be. He's built his business around that. His personal livelihood depends on all of this. These things being true.

SPEAKER 3: Me, not the case. The cards are my hobby and it's fun for me. Yeah. I don't make money on cards to support my family. I, I work for a living so, like this is something that is completely a different tone for me. I don't have to be the welcome wagon.

SPEAKER 3: I can take the risks much more differently than somebody who depends on this as a shop or ad or, or whatever that can't approach it the same way. So, being that informative sort of individual that I've been for 15 years now, less so now than then, you know, that's always the tone that I've had.

SPEAKER 3: And if you look at guys like that are really controversial, whether it's sports car radio or whatever, like there's a, there's a balance, right? It's like, oh, they're the most negative people. They always just want to call out idiots and whatever. Yes, true. A lot of what they're called pulling out is, is, needs to be called out.

SPEAKER 3: But there's very little that goes on in their show that's also like, hey, this is going really well or this is something that's positive. So I think that there has to be kind of like you said, there has to be this balance and for a lot of us.

SPEAKER 3: That's a challenge to find, we like our echo chambers, we like positive reinforcement of our own viewpoints. And so when somebody says, man, I hate redemptions and they go and they want to find somebody who also hates redemptions like the, the circle just, you know, sort of populates itself.

SPEAKER 3: But do you know why a redemption exists? Like, do you know why that has to happen? Like, do you know, do you understand the process of getting those autographs? Cause I've sat through those signings like I've been in the room when the autographs are being signed. I've been at the events where the athletes have to sign, you know, 5000 cards. I've dealt with the people themselves who are signing the cards.

SPEAKER 3: Like I know what goes through those types of situations and why it's not always on the manufacturer. But I also understand that if you want Tom Brady on the checklist, he only signs twice a year. So your cards are coming out all year long, what are you gonna do for those other sets? You gotta have that value in a box. People aren't gonna buy it.

SPEAKER 3: So like there's these tradeoffs that a lot of collectors don't want to consider because it's a me first type of situation. I want my stuff. I want it to be fun. I want it to be live. I don't want it to be, you know, I have to wait for it and stuff like that. So those are the types of things, topics that I've covered a lot on my site.

SPEAKER 3: But also just things like, hey, why, why are these cards getting, you know, re record grades at, at the biggest show of the year? Well, because it's the biggest show of the year. Like they wanna create media attention and they're a business, they're not a service, they're a business. So how do you look at this from a different perspective and start to ask the questions of why things are happening, not just how.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah, great, great point. I agree. Pretty much, across the board. And then, you know, you mentioned sports card radio and, you know, that you, you know what, I've heard them call the shock jocks of the hobby.

SPEAKER 1: But I agree, I agree with what you said, all this, you know, they, all, they really do is talk about the negative. And so sometimes that gets, so I agree with you if they kind of covered, like, sort of both aisles, I'd probably be, more of a fan than, than I'm, I'm not, you know, the of, you know, full transparency. I'm not, you know, I'm, I'm not, but.

SPEAKER 3: It goes the other way too. If you're always rainbows, they're always lollipops. It's the same thing.

SPEAKER 1: No, I agree. It's, it's, it's a fair and balanced and, folks who I think do it. I think people tend, well, you know, to each their own, but I think people appreciate that. A lot of people appreciate that. Now, listen, you notice as well as I do. Adam, the hobby has I call him the train wreck folks. Right.

SPEAKER 1: Or the car wreck folks. They just want to see the bad stuff. They're gonna slow down and, and look, it's entertaining why people do it. That's why the news is mostly bad stories and 75% negative and then 25 and the, and the positive ones are usually at the end, they sort of end the story.

SPEAKER 3: They close the news make you feel good.

SPEAKER 1: So, yeah. No, I, I agree. I agree with you. And you know, it's, it's again, you can consume what content you want, avoid what content you don't. But I personally, like you said, I sort of respect those who kind of cover both sides of the, the story and, and a great point by you to the why? Right? You mentioned redemptions.

SPEAKER 1: No one loves them, but very few people do, but they're a necessary evil because I, if you want certain athletes autographs, that's the only way you're gonna get them. So if you wanna fully get rid of, if you f if you wanna like ban redemptions from the face of the earth, you, it's probably possible but you're gonna ban certain athletes you'll never get.

SPEAKER 3: Or you'll get one of them a year and say it's, it's just not a feasible situation.

SPEAKER 1: Yeah. So that's a great point by you. Like, and I've, I've said that, you know, that, you don't have to like them but in some cases if you want a certain athlete or celebrity, they're gonna have, they're gonna be part of the landscape.

SPEAKER 1: Well, you don't have to like it but that's just the way, the way it's gonna be and the way it's got to be. So that's the why, right. That's, you know, but no one, sometimes no one wants to talk about the why they just want to say redemption suck or Panini.

SPEAKER 1: It's easy and fats. Yeah, it's, it's easy. It's the low hanging fruit. As they say, well, Adam, man, I, this was a lot of fun you know, picking your brain learning a little bit more about the wrestling space. And that sort of thing as I always do, I give the guests sort of that final set.

SPEAKER 1: You know, where people can find sports card, Uncensored. Any Social Media you want to share, take your time. Get that stuff out there.

SPEAKER 3: Yeah. Thank you for having me on. It's like I said, it's always fun to hop on and talk shop. I love it.

SPEAKER 3: You can follow me on, on Twitter. I'm never gonna call it X so it's just gonna be Twitter at Sc Uncensored. Yeah. You can at sc uncensored on Twitter, on Instagram. It's at WWE Gelman. If you wanna see the, the, the exploits of my collection and see my graveyard of regret.

SPEAKER 3: So that's, that's on Instagram. But yeah, you can follow me there or you can visit my site www dot Sports Cards and censored.com. And then we do YouTube videos on wrestling trading cards, which is a channel on YouTube.

SPEAKER 3: You can search for it there. A lot of huge amounts of content from so many different people. Great, great resource for people if you're new into wrestling cards, so stop on by there. But, yeah, it's been great. Thanks for having me on.

SPEAKER 1: Well, thanks. Thank you, Adam. Like I said, I, I learned some things. It's, when you don't know about a particular space, it's still important to, to learn, you know, what's going on in that. You filled in a lot of blanks and, and, and, and did it and, you need to do any fashion. Oh, I appreciate it. We'll have you back if you come back, down the line. But, happy success.

SPEAKER 1: Keep doing what you're doing. Thanks again. Thank you. All right, once again, thanks to my guest, Adam Gelman. This was part two of our conversation and, good guy, man, just, call it like he sees it enjoying the hobby, you know, pivoted, like you said, from baseball cards, football cards to wrestling cause that's what he enjoys, right? And, that's what it's about. Your hobby should be enjoyable.

SPEAKER 1: It is for Adam. It is for me and hopefully it is for you.

SPEAKER 4: Time for our hobby is the people announcer of the week.

SPEAKER 4: This is David Keppel. Remember the hobby is the people, 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 6: That's a wrap for this week. Huge thanks to you, the listeners out there because without you, there is no ice.

SPEAKER 6: 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 Mens coming up on Monday.

SPEAKER 6: I'll leave you with this.

SPEAKER 6: How do we change the world?

SPEAKER 6: One random act of kindness at a time.

SPEAKER 6: Remember the hobby is the people.

SPEAKER 7: 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. Sports collectors digest has everything you need to know about the hobby.

SPEAKER 7: 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. Visit sports collectors digest.com or call 1 808 29, 5561 for nearly 50 years.

SPEAKER 7: 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. Sports collectors digest has everything you need to know about the hobby.

SPEAKER 7: S CD 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. Visit sports collectors, digest.com or call 1 808 29, 5561.