2 Vintage Sports Guys - Episode 3

Episode 3: Join Joe and Paul as they discuss the NCAA tourney, cards for the Boozer Twins and other stars. They'll delve into the NHL and F1 racing.

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https://bzzr.com/profile/EwjIXH8NQJbDYtvgfxe27PE3BQ53?watch=true&videoId=VtKYIKKPCsUByjlFzE5I

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:07

All right, welcome back everyone. This is two vintage sports guys. This is Joe Rendacci. And this is Paul Gallagher. Welcome, Paul. How are you doing in sunny Atlanta today?

SPEAKER_01 0:18

I'm doing well. I um I bought a bunch of uh upper deck hockey cards and I'm I'm seeing what kind of big pulls I got out of those. And I'm watching a little March Madness, although I don't know who's who in this whole thing it is amazing how much money I used to bet on this, how much I used to pay attention, how much time I used to take off work. Uh and now I don't know who's who.

SPEAKER_00 0:42

So I think that's a sign that I didn't even do a you didn't even fake a bracket this year.

SPEAKER_01 0:46

Didn't even fake a bracket this year.

SPEAKER_00 0:48

So I I am uh usually I get into a bracket with like a bunch of guys and I get wiped out on day one. This year I couldn't get anybody to join, and I'm at like 98% killing it. Like CBS? Yeah, alone in a group with me and my awesome picks, like for once. But so if we look at the uh as we're entering day three here, which means it's the Thursday-Saturday game, so then it'll be followed by the Friday-Sunday follow-ups. Uh, there hasn't been any major surprises other than Duke was down. Duke is the one seed, was down to the 16-seed Sienas by 14 at halftime, and came back and won that by six. So at a 20-point second uh half turnaround. Um my St. Johnny's with Mr. Uh Rick Petino beat number.

SPEAKER_01 1:39

What state is high pointing? Yeah, yeah, yeah. What is that?

SPEAKER_00 1:43

Let me let me give my mother St. John's moment there. They finally won their second second NCAA game in 20 years after last year, winning one and getting knocked out by uh John Calipari and Arkansas. Uh St. John's beat Northern Iowa. Kansas beats Baptist, nothing special there. Michigan State, uh Dakota, Yukon, number two seed, did struggle, but they beat number 15 seed Furman. And to your point, there was High Point, which was there we go. High Point. That was the one of the big upsets. Uh number 12, high point beat Wisconsin, number five on a uh Sid. Did you watch any of that? Do you know what happened?

SPEAKER_01 2:33

No, the only game I watched is one that I I I bet 200 bucks on a game. It was the play-in game. And um my son called me and said, Can you place a bet for me? And um and I did, Father of the Year. You know, that's kind of the you know, habits I'm stilling. Um, and we lost. So I think it's the the the lesson there is don't bet on things you don't know about. It was a gimme. There was a play-in game, but somebody wasn't playing who should have been playing, and it's all fixed at the end of the day. So I lost 200.

SPEAKER_00 3:06

All right. Well, that's the way to continue this conversation. And high point, just just just to finish it, which was actually pretty cool. Um, they went in for um they stuck they stopped Wisconsin in the last few seconds, and the high point guy kicks the ball out to one of the uh the high point guys who uh hung back. He was the only guy at the other end of the court, grabs the ball uh and and lays it up for two points. It was the guy's only two-point shot of the year. He's a three three-point specialist, and it was his only two-point shot of the whole year.

SPEAKER_01 3:45

There we go. He got lucky that night. Good for him.

SPEAKER_00 3:48

But you're villain over, you're a villain over.

SPEAKER_01 3:50

Yeah, I usually have I usually have a lot of Philly teams to pick from. Back in the day, the Big Five, uh, what was that? Penn, Temple, LaSalle, Drexel, St. Joe's. Uh, I got nothing this year. Yeah, I got villain over.

SPEAKER_00 4:06

Who lost to Utah State in the eight-nine game? And uh. But so far there haven't been any major major upsets. Uh, I think this is gonna be another year where out of the final four, you're gonna have either three or four ones or twos. Yeah, it looks like it.

SPEAKER_01 4:25

And and it it has to do, and I I don't know whether you've seen Calipari and some of the other guys talk about NIL and the and um um the roster spots and and movement on the teams. It's it's gotten a little bit chaotic, and and that's the rich get richer. So the number one seeds and the number two seeds are the ones that do everything. So maybe that accounts for a little bit of my uh lack of enthusiasm that you hear in my voice here about the whole thing.

SPEAKER_00 4:55

Just just to end it on this, what's what's become very interesting, and again, you could either love or hate this whole NIL portals, buying players, teams becoming good out of nowhere, uh traditional dynasties not not being as great as they used to. The SEC, who we know kill it in football, college football, now are like contenders like Alabama, Georgia, uh Mandy, Tennessee are all good now. And they were never traditionally good college basketball.

SPEAKER_01 5:28

I realize I realize that you moved away from Georgia, but just by saying it, I had to look out my window to make sure there wasn't SEC fans ready to pitch for, cunt you down. You're not allowed to say stuff like that in the South.

SPEAKER_00 5:41

So please, please never say that again.

SPEAKER_01 5:46

Well, that Georgia is anything but great and Alabama and and all that, never speak poorly of the SEC team.

SPEAKER_00 5:53

Oh no, no, no, no, no. I'm saying they are good now in college basketball. Yes, you're correct, because they're getting the money. The money's being shared. But yeah, but cards if we saw the cards around college, what are you seeing, or what do you think?

SPEAKER_01 6:09

So I think yeah, if you like that, you go into the into the tops you and the bowman you product line, you look at, and then you start to be able to go back to our good friends at Leaf uh and Panini because they have college basketball players uh that they market the cards to. So in that one, you really just like to go after players that you like, and and maybe it's up and comers, or maybe you're a fan of a team and you collect all of that player, but that's I think that's the reason you're not you're not investing per se in anything, but you're just collecting for the good old sake of collecting, and you're looking at Bowmanu, Topsy, and Leaf and Panini.

SPEAKER_00 6:47

Well, you were mentioning earlier about certain it's just coming down to licensing and watch explained with the boozer twins and leaf.

SPEAKER_01 6:56

Yeah, so I think uh you know it is all licensing, that's why you've seen tops uh become uh bigger and bigger and bigger. They have the licensing, meaning that they can actually show a player in his proper uniform, and they have that now for NBA, uh, NFL, and baseball and F1. So when it comes to colleges and it comes to different players, the NIL allows these kids to sign with whomever they want. So I don't think you have one, you know, university or college league anymore, but you have players that are allowed to promote themselves through, in this case, Leaf has the Boozer twins. I think that's probably one of the more exciting um, you know, duo and team that the Duke team is always exciting. So you have them, and so you're able to really pick and choose and go after the players you like, and that takes you into different markets with Leaf and Panini, which I love. I I I'm a big guy, I'm a big fan of Leaf, big fan of Panini. I know that um that may not be a popular statement, but that's a vintage guy saying what he wants to say.

SPEAKER_00 8:01

So it looks like you could just buy from Panini, to your point. Um, like if you're a Yukon fan, you could just buy uh 24 cards per box, six packs per box, four cards per pack, and you could pretty much build your whole starting time.

SPEAKER_01 8:18

Yeah, you're going into retail, you're buying retail, you're you're just buying stuff off the shelf and you're enjoying it.

SPEAKER_00 8:24

Now, is it any fun? I mean, going back to why do people collect it, how we used to collect. You and I going back 150 years ago collecting cards, you know, for 25 cents for a pack for a snail piece of gum and 10 cards that smelled like a snail piece of gum, would collect, right? And then all of a sudden, around what would you say, mid to late 80s, you could just buy the whole uh year or something.

SPEAKER_01 8:47

Right, you'd buy the whole set. Yeah, I used to buy a book.

SPEAKER_00 8:49

I bought a whole box and it was a hundred times cheaper, but it was no fun at that point for me. It was master boost, right?

SPEAKER_01 8:56

It was just you're just getting it to put it away in a in the attic, you know, or or or something. It was just buying it. You're right. You're there was no fun to it. There was no chase, let's say. And that's I think that's what it all comes down to today. We're all chasing something. I I I have a, you know, we can talk about hockey cards after this, but you're chasing something, and that's the fun of it. Um, it's not gambling, I don't think, but it's just chasing and seeing if you can find that. It's the Willy Wonka theory that I keep coming back to, right? I'm looking for the a golden ticket, or I'm looking for a nice uh bunch of cards in a set that I like. So I I do think it's it's come back to that, and that's nice to see. We're all chasing what we want based on the product.

SPEAKER_00 9:43

I I think I think there's a convenience to your point of if back to this Yukon thing. If I'm a Yukon fan, I just want to buy the whole set of the thing and be done with it.

SPEAKER_01 9:53

You're in target, you know. Yeah, you just get it and you're done, and and you you've gotten what you've gotten. Yep, I think that's good.

SPEAKER_00 10:00

All right. Well, let's segue that into what you were mentioning with hockey cards and collecting. Uh, give me a little hockey update as we're closing out the regular season.

SPEAKER_01 10:09

What do you see as some surprises or um I I still would like to think that the Flyers have a chance to make the playoffs, but you know, I'm not sure we do. But Upper Deck is by far and away the best product out there. I love it. I just bought myself two hobby boxes, series two just came out. They don't have the tins out yet. And what we chase, talking about chasing, is we're chasing young guns. Um, the biggest one is Schaefer for the Islanders. I did not get him, but you're you know, these are the rookies, these are or what they call the young guns, and I have had a ton of success. So um Dmitrieov um was one of the best ones, and I got two of those that came out with series one. This is series two. I've got you know, Jack Williams, they're all Russian, Joe. I've got Alexander Nishkin, I've got Dimitri, Dmitry Shimeshev, I've got Max Shabinov playing for your islanders. So they're right, it's a Russian invasion.

SPEAKER_00 11:15

Uh you mentioned you mentioned you mentioned my 18-year-old Matthew Schaefer, uh, superstar. Like thank God we wound up with a number one pick for once. And uh he has kept us in the in the uh position we're in so far this whole season.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

Yeah, I think if you if you pull his card, it's probably 300 bucks, 350 bucks right now. So you're you know, you're spending 180, and you know, you might pull a card worth twice that.

SPEAKER_00 11:40

So it's so that's interesting. So if I was buying in general, if I was to buy like just the islander team this year, as compared to another team without a superstar or an uh anything on it, that might be what 30 bucks for a set. How much would it cost?

SPEAKER_01 11:57

You can buy it by team. I think that takes all the fun out of it. I think you buy the hobby boxes and tins and then you collect the players and team. I don't think you can buy just the team. So well, I know you can do that in baseball. You can't do that in hockey. No, no, no. That's again, you're you're cutting right to the chase, taking all the fun out of things. Uh upper decks, I'll just say it the way it is.

SPEAKER_00 12:17

I've I've bought it.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

This product is so good that you don't want to do that. No, no. You don't you don't want to do that. I'm not gonna tell you what to do, Joe. Nobody can tell you what to do. But you what this product has so many great things. It has silver bursts, it has gold bursts, it has inserts, canvas cards, uh, one-on-ones. The the even the base cards are great to look at. Um, so I think this is my favorite product. I enjoy getting all the cards. Jack Hughes coming off the Olympics. I mean, I've got I set aside all my Jack Hughes cards. That's like setting that's like setting aside uh Shohei Otani in baseball, right? Just Jack Hughes, everything.

SPEAKER_00 13:01

I'll take it. The Hughes brothers cards have teeth on them because they've been smiled.

SPEAKER_01 13:05

Yeah, so so when when he did that, I signed up for a tops now product. And so I think the uh email came out the other day that they'll be shipping in mid-April. There's a million-dollar card that somebody's gonna get personalized autograph for Jack Hughes, and it's gonna be a million bucks.

SPEAKER_00 13:23

Have covered off the Olympics uh with the gold for both the men's and women team, or the girls' cards, any particular card player or team.

SPEAKER_01 13:34

You always do you you try to stump me every time, and and and you might have done that. I'm not as familiar. Um, I have two boys that don't have girls, and I have one hockey player. So um I'm not as familiar with them as I should be. Shame on me, but they are a great product to collect, and I know that they're out there. Um, and that's all I'll say about that, Joe. You stumped me. I'm you've heard me speak hockey on a podcast, which is really about that. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:03

So next topic. Well, let's round this up into what you mentioned earlier, F1. Um F1, F1, Netflix.

SPEAKER_01 14:13

If if you're looking for anything to watch on Netflix, then the new the latest F1 series came out. We binge watched that last week. Uh F1 missed two races in uh in the Middle East because of the war, but um, everything's a bit different. It's shaken up. The F1 cards, I I went to my local card shop, couldn't find any. Uh, I was a bit late to the game, didn't get any. So if you can find them, buy them. Uh, there's tons of great cards in there. So if you're an F1 fan, there's a lot going on. The season just started. Netflix special, topp's product. Uh, it's really again, if you can find it, scoop them up, and uh, you might be able to even resell them for a higher price on eBay.

SPEAKER_00 14:57

Um, so what I'm looking at here, thank you, Google, because I wouldn't know any of this. And let me try to hack this name. Um Arvind Linblod has a 2025 Top Chrome Formula One 75th anniversary diamond that eBay is listing for a meager 2499.

SPEAKER_01 15:22

Yeah, that's horrible. I don't know. I don't know anything you just said. I don't know the driver, I don't know what what $5,000 for a card. I yeah, I I'm not gonna try to explain it. I'm not gonna try and rationalize it, but that's the world we live in. Somebody likes them.

SPEAKER_00 15:40

I am seeing some crazy similar cards here.

SPEAKER_01 15:42

But well, here's the thing. So so we should be looking at huh Palmer. Do you know Cole Palmer? I don't know what you're looking at. You're not even looking at F1. So you should be looking at Kimmy. So here's what you Google, because you you have a hard time even Googling, which is a shame. Who won last who won the last race? So start there. Who won the last F1 race? Young fella by the name of Kimmy, 18-year-old. Kimmy? He's an 18-year-old F1 driver, just won a major F1 race. And his car's got to be going up in value. Um, but again, it comes to a team. Are you team Ferrari? Are you team Mercedes or your team Aston Martin? Which you're probably not because they're not that good. Um, you know, McLaren got off to a bad start at two, uh did not starts. So it's Hamilton is great. You're gonna find a ton of cards in F1. Hamilton, Verstappen, um, everybody. But Kimmy is an 18-year-old kid who just won his first big race. I mean, you're starting Antonelli? Is that yep? So you Italian fella, sure. First Italian win in 26 years. And Kimmy Antonelli, we'll put him on the team. Look up his cards, what they're going for and what they 350. Yeah, see? Boom. Boom. Big time.

SPEAKER_00 17:10

Interesting. Interesting. I'll have to start looking at some of uh Italian F1 cards. There we go.

SPEAKER_01 17:15

Yeah, start uh check out the Netflix special first, and it's a behind-the-scenes uh launch into the season. They made some big changes into the cars, more electric. Um Max Verstappen's not a big fan, calling them Mario Karts, that sort of thing.

SPEAKER_00 17:33

So if you Antonelli first F1 win Chinese GP 2026 card, the top six bucks. Six bucks.

SPEAKER_01 17:44

There you go.

SPEAKER_00 17:45

That one's a good one.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

But again, it's it's uh it's it's again on my theory that I will preach every single week, which is you know, you're not collecting cards just for the money. And if you are, God bless you, go after it. People flip houses and make a lot of money doing it. People flip cards, make a lot of money doing it. God bless you, go for it. But as a vintage old guy, I'm gonna be collecting things because I like the player, I like the team, you know, I like I like the sport, or in the case of upper deck hockey, I like the card. I like all the cards. Uh, so not only do I like the sport, but I like everything. And then I'm chasing the Willy Wonka. Uh, I'm going for the young guns and and and seeing what happens. So uh whatever you're in it for, it be in it for you.

SPEAKER_00 18:34

All right, we're gonna end on an F1 and which a little snipe comment before we'll end on an F U two, and uh and uh we'll have to now turn this to uh PG 17. Uh PG 13. But uh all right, once again for two V. That's my vintage moment.

SPEAKER_01 18:55

I went for a walk. We can talk about something other than sports to close it out. Speaking of FU and kids, I went for a walk today. Should should motorized bicycles be allowed on the sidewalk on the motorized. So the these electric big bikes that are on that you see people riding, kids and adults, should they be allowed on the sidewalk?

SPEAKER_00 19:19

That's a tough one. Because if regular bicycles are, I'm gonna get that your point is they're going too fast, it can mow you down.

SPEAKER_01 19:28

Some kid almost killed me today on my walk, and I accidentally um said F you to him as he as he drove by. So that was my classic vintage moment of of the week. So we can close it on that and uh we can have a little debate later. Should motorized vehicles be allowed on the sidewalk?

SPEAKER_00 19:49

Well, and duck and dodge because I need you for this podcast. So tuck and roll, baby. Tuck and roll.

SPEAKER_01 19:56

That was my bad news bears coach moment of the week where I you know cursed at a kid and got chastised.

SPEAKER_00 20:03

As you wear your Chico's Bell Bonds uh jersey over there.

SPEAKER_01 20:07

I'm waiting. I ordered two of them. I'm waiting for them to come in. So next show, hopefully, I'll be in my Chico's Bell Bonds jersey. And on that, I am Joe Redacci. And I am Chico's Bell Bond sponsor, Paul Gallagher. Have a good day. Have a good one, folks. Bye-bye.