Rare Tiger Woods Promo, Kevin O’Leary’s $19M Card & Ludex Collection Management

Summary

Collector Nation Podcast Episode Summary

Episode: Rare Tiger Woods Promo, Kevin O’Leary’s $19M Card & Ludex Collection Management
Date: March 6, 2026
Hosts: Ryan Alford & Brian Ludden

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Episode Overview

This episode of Collector Nation is packed with news, hobby stories, and industry insights. Ryan Alford and Brian Ludden cover the latest developments in collection management tech, a rare Tiger Woods promo card, and reactions to Kevin O’Leary's headline-grabbing $19 million card necklace. The hosts also recap a recent local card show, discuss trends in live card selling, and reflect on what makes the collecting community unique—all with a generous dose of humor and camaraderie.

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Key Topics & Insights by Segment

1. Collector Nation Store & Community Vibe

[04:44–07:22]

• Ryan shares updates about the Collector Nation flagship store in Easley, SC: a blend of man cave, card shop, and studio.
• The store already has regulars: “The true junkies we know, I'm one of them.” – Ryan Alford [05:16]
• Card show at Haywood Mall: highlights included recent pickups (Shohei Ohtani Aces, FLIR Net Effect Kobe, Julius Erving Kaboom, Randy Moss Kaboom).
• Emphasizes the buy-and-sell nature of the hobby: “Always be buying. ABB.” – Ryan Alford [07:22]

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2. Spotlight: Rare Tiger Woods Promo Card

[10:21–12:11]

• Brian Ludden describes acquiring an ultra-rare Tiger Woods promo card from the 2000 Toronto Expo.
• Details: Only 20 platinum versions exist; he paid $40 for it.
• “If you're doing a fake card, don't number them to 20…” – Brian Ludden [11:52]
• Adds intrigue about authenticity and value, but welcomes the storytelling aspect regardless.

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3. Deep Dive: Ludex Collection Management 2.0

[12:13–22:28]

• Brian details Ludex’s imminent inventory and collection management update, rolling out within a month.
• Key upgrades:
  • Robust, stackable search (by player, price, year, etc.)
  • Sharable and sortable collections
  • Integration with store kiosks for seamless dealer/buyer interaction
  • Massive 400M+ card database for granular filtering
• “It’s the stackable search that’s really cool for me. And then taking that on the social aspect…” – Brian Ludden [16:02]
• Ryan on industry needs: “I don’t know that one great [inventory] one exists yet. This is going to be the first one that’s truly…exceptional.” [13:36]
• Both emphasize how digital tools finally deliver knowledge and control to collectors at scale.

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4. Industry Trends & Card Tech Ecosystem

[14:45–21:19]

• Card Ladder and other competitors praised for data depth, but criticized for lacking user-friendly UI and scalability.
• Digital management seen as overdue: “What digital collection management was supposed to unlock was this ability to have knowledge and data and to slice and parse and know what you have at the most intricate level.” – Ryan Alford [19:23]

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5. Hobby Culture: Trade Enablement & Community

[21:29–21:56]

• New terminology: "Collection Enablement" and "Trading Enablement."
• “You are the chief enablement officer…You enable these wonderful things to happen with our digital collection management.” – Ryan Alford (to Brian) [21:58]
• The Ludex team is targeting The National (late July–early August) for the system’s full reveal.

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6. Notable Hobby News: Kevin O’Leary’s $19M Card Necklace

[24:17–27:35]

• Kevin O’Leary wore his Michael Jordan/Kobe Bryant card necklace (recently valued at $19.5M) to the 2026 SAG Awards, generating buzz.
• Ryan admires O’Leary’s branding instincts: "He understands that the attention game, the media game. He knows how to make headlines…” [26:24]
• Brian’s reaction: “Like, I think that's cool... it is art, right? It is collecting. It's unique. You just hope you don't get like mugged.” [25:49]

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7. Sports News & Personal Stories

[27:39–30:24]

• Quick takes on Kyler Murray’s release from the Cardinals and his career trajectory.
• Lighthearted discussion on athlete maturity clauses, with humorous references to ‘Webster’ and ‘Peter Pan Complex.’
• Personal shout-outs to parents and reflections on positive upbringings.

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8. Trends in Live Card Selling & Social Engagement

[07:30–09:32]

• Ryan endorses Whatnot as the leader in live commerce for collectibles.
• Highlights the importance of real-time feedback, community, and ease of sales for growing card businesses.

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9. Closing Thoughts & Hobby Motivation

[34:00–38:50]

• Bella shares excitement for the US vs. Brazil game in the World Baseball Classic.
• Ryan opens 2026 Topps Series 1 baseball, reflects on the overwhelming number of players, and reaffirms his commitment to immersing himself deeper in modern baseball.
• “Take your feedback. Anybody out there that wants to learn me on base, but get me back up to speed on baseball. That's what we say in the South. If you want to learn me, learn me.” – Ryan Alford [36:58]
• Warm farewells and encouragement for community input and engagement.

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Notable Quotes

• On Tech and the Hobby
  “It's really trading enablement. That's what this is…collection enablement. The new term of the day for the hobby.”
  – Ryan Alford [21:29]
• On Rarity and Stories
  “Even if it is [fake], good story.”
  – Brian Ludden [12:08]
• On Business and Collecting
  “Always be buying. ABB.”
  – Ryan Alford [07:22]
• On Brand & Attention in the Hobby
  "He knows how to make headlines. So you can hate the game all you want, but don't hate the player."
  – Ryan Alford (on Kevin O’Leary) [27:21]
• On Collecting for the Community
  “United in the chase, baby.”
  – Ryan Alford [05:14]

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Suggested Listening Timestamps

• [04:44] Store and community vibes at Collector Nation
• [10:21] Rare Tiger Woods promo card story
• [12:13] Ludex app: new features explained
• [16:02–18:45] Stackable searching, social sharing, shop integrations
• [21:29] “Collection Enablement” philosophy
• [24:17] Kevin O’Leary’s card necklace at SAG Awards
• [34:00] World Baseball Classic and hobby reflections
• [36:58] Ryan on learning baseball: the joy and challenge of card collecting

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Tone & Style

The episode blends deep collecting expertise with playful, honest shop talk. Ryan brings high energy and marketing wisdom, while Brian’s insights into card tech are grounded and practical. The rapport is casual but rich with actionable info and inside jokes, making the content inviting and relevant for collectors at all levels.

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For More

Download the Ludex app, visit CollectorNation.com, and follow both brands on social media for breaking news, videos, and tools for modern collectors.

Transcript

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[Ryan Alford]

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[Brian Ludden]

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[Ryan Alford]

On today's episode of Collector Nation, Brian and I dive into the latest on the Ludx App Collection Management 2.0. Yes, it's coming and it's on the LUD X app coming. Over the next 30 days, we dove in to talk about all the newest features. Plus we talked about Kevin o' Leary making a big splash again in the hobby. Wearing the card is the necklace. 19.5 mil, folks. Fun discussion around that. We dove into the card show that we went to this weekend at Haywood Mall. All the highlights from that show and again, all the latest, the greatest, the newest here on Collector Nation.

[Brian Ludden]

In business, you have competition, especially within the tech world because tech has got diluted so much with these AI agents. So what you have to do is separate yourself other ways. And this is one way is that if you could get the best inventory management system and you have people's collections, you're going to win.

[Ryan Alford]

There's always something physical about the cars themselves, but it's maximizing the digital tools that we have. It's really trading enablement. That's what this is, trading and collecting enablement. The new term of the day for the hobby. It's collection enablement. Every other news outlet has a headline that says Kevin o' Leary turns heads by having that necklace. And it's about the necklace, but it's not about playing brand, playing attention game. Welcome to the Collector Nation podcast here on the Collector Nation Network. Whether you're chasing grails or calling bluffs, we take you inside the hobby. Here are your hosts, Ryan Alford and Brian Lund. What's up, guys? Welcome To Collector Nation. It's Friday, March 6, 2026, here in the studios of lovely Easley, South Carolina, and Chicago, Illinois. You got Brian Ludden, Ryan Alford, always here. Your humble servants in the hobby, here to bring you the latest news, the latest gossip, and you never know what else we might get into other than being sunny in 78 here. Brian, what's the forecast in Chicago?

[Brian Ludden]

It's cloudy, 38 here.

[Ryan Alford]

Right.

[Brian Ludden]

We got a little north wind, so. Yeah, so it's beautiful. Beautiful.

[Ryan Alford]

Oh, man, I can't wait to get outside after this. But not there. No. Rubbing it in a little. But, you know, that's why you live in South Carolina. You get this weather. You know, we don't have the hustle, bustle of Chicago. There's. There's some commerce going on, big business. Brian's running a big CEO company. I can't do that here, you know, but we do get the weather. That's the one thing we get here at Easley.

[Brian Ludden]

That's the beautiful part of it.

[Ryan Alford]

I know. I'm in. I'm in your lovely Collector station studio. We'd love to have you in at some point. Our store is hustling and bustling. We welcome you if you ever hit the South Carolina area and you're listening, you got. Hey, it's a flagship store. You got to stop in. It's like a. I've said this many times, but it's a man cave meets a card shop meets a studio. Many times we're sitting here and talking to the celebrity ludden and my customers walk in and they go, ah, Lud X. Nah. But in all seriousness, they. It's fun because it's right in the center of the store. So we'd love for you to stop in and if we were to be recording, you can say hello to Brian and of course, our lovely producer Bella, who is with us today. Hey, everyone.

[Brian Ludden]

Hi, Bella.

[Ryan Alford]

Fella should have your camera on for like that, you know, like she. We actually got Cabela. Yeah, we. We unbanished her from non camera land, but no longer. The basement girl.

[Brian Ludden]

Yeah, yeah, she's a. She's an AI robot.

[Ryan Alford]

So we don't want. I've trained her pretty good, right, Brian? Wouldn't you admit? I mean, she sounds like human, like she responds to anything you ask.

[Brian Ludden]

Yeah, she seems great.

[Ryan Alford]

I'll just take over the world real quick. Yeah, exactly. I've been using some AI this week. This kind of scary. It's good. Yeah.

[Brian Ludden]

Your shop is looking awesome, dude.

[Ryan Alford]

Thank you, brother. It's coming Together, it's fun. And it's been, I mean, it's been great meeting people we've had, we got regulars already, Brian. Let me just say that, like, the true junkies we know, I'm one of them. So, I mean, you know, I'm sitting here and dudes coming back in saying, you know, we've been over like three weeks and some guys have been here about five times. United in the chase, baby.

[Brian Ludden]

I mean, that's, that's what this industry's about, though, you know, like, it's cool.

[Ryan Alford]

It is cool. In all seriousness, we'd welcome you here in South Carolina. If you get through there, stop in, you'll see us, and we'll save some cards, baby. We got a good selection actually. Good stuff. Actually brought it to that end. I'm just gonna bring it right up. And, you know, the show was this weekend. We did a show at Haywood Mall and bought a lot of cards. And I've been buying a lot of stuff this week. Got some cool stuff here. The sh atani aces card. You seen those? Ace of diamond, all aces tops.

[Brian Ludden]

Yeah.

[Ryan Alford]

Fun card. Probably sending that one for grading. Got this flir net effect. Kobe. It's like a die cut.

[Brian Ludden]

That's cool.

[Ryan Alford]

Yep. What year was that? 1990. 1994 maybe. I don't know. Cole, what year is this FLIR? Kobe, 90 something mid-90s. Yeah. Yeah. Say hello to Cole if you come into the store too. Cole manages the story here, keeps me sane, does a great job, and one of the nicest guys in the hobby, Julius Irving. Kaboom. That is a cool card. I like it, I like it. Brian and his son, I think, pulled a bird in this kaboom. And we got the Irving. I bought the Irving. I, I, we're not. So I'm not as lucky as them, so I, I had to buy my singles, but that was a good pickup. And then Randy Moss, the greatest receivers of all time, on the kaboom. So had a good card show, Brian. I mean, we sold some stuff, man, but I, I was buying. I was buying, baby. Always be buying. Abb.

[Brian Ludden]

Well, yeah, I mean, that's, that's how you make your money, right? It's like you gotta buy, you know where you're gonna sell it. You gotta sell it at comps or right around there.

[Ryan Alford]

So what's up, guys? I know you've heard this term live shopping. Well, the leaders in live shopping are whatnot. I've personally been on the platform for a couple years selling trading cards, getting our feet wet. Before we opened our retail store. And let me tell you, it's a game changer. You get on there, you literally have people coming into your live feed. You sell product and it makes it so easy. It's also fun. That's the biggest thing. I didn't know selling could actually be fun. To build community. You get people coming back to your store and it is a big, great way to start a business. A lot of times people are looking way to build a business live. Shopping is here. It's not the future, it's the now. And whatnot is the leader. If you sold anything online, you know the biggest thing is not having real time feedback. That's what's so great about whatnot. You literally have people buying your products right there, right now. You know how much money you're making. And whatnot makes it easy. Track your inventory, sell things live in the feed. It's fun, it's engaging, and it's an incredible way to grow a business. One of my favorite things about whatnot is all the features they build in for selling. You can do different things, make it fun for your viewers and ultimately drive more sales to your bottom line. And for a limited time, whatnot will match your first $150 sold in your first month. Visit whatnot.com to start selling. That's whatnot.com sell whatnot.com sell.

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[Brian Ludden]

We buy matters.

[Ryan Alford]

It's interesting. The card showed lots of deals being had. We're gonna have some footage from that. We had Callan, our main guy, filming everything, setting things up, doing deals. We'd have some good footage for that. So check out the socials. You know, we probably don't plug that enough. Look, if you're not already, go follow L U D E x ludx on the app store. And of course in social media, if you just search Ludx, Ludox will come up in Instagram, Facebook, etc. Go follow collector nation, Collector station, either one of those. So give us some love there and we'll have all of the footage there, and we're doing some cool videos for some of the products, new things for ludx, and lots of cross pollination here as we, you know, we're living and breathing this thing, baby.

[Brian Ludden]

I. I got a card that was so interesting. So some guy, you know, whoever I. He came in to, he came to my house. Cause I. He. My dad's friend, and he has his Tiger woods card that I have no idea. I've never seen it. Mike Baker's like, I don't think I've ever seen it. And it's a promo card from a Toronto show. So I'll show this, like, really quickly, but we'll get a better picture.

[Ryan Alford]

Yes. Huh.

[Brian Ludden]

Okay. Who is that tiger?

[Ryan Alford]

Oh, yeah. Okay. Never seen that.

[Brian Ludden]

Okay. And then the back is like, it's

[Ryan Alford]

out of 20. Who makes it?

[Brian Ludden]

Some dude in his basement probably. But I paid $40 for it. And there was a letter that was like, listen, this is a promo from the 2000 Expo, Toronto Expo card show. It's called the Year of the tiger. There were 500 printed like they're 500 base. And then this is a platinum of 20. And if you bought a base, you got a chance to open up a pack to see if you got this card in there. And this is a promo card called the Year of the tiger. It's 2000, and I have no idea what it's worth. I paid 40 bucks for it.

[Ryan Alford]

I'll give you 50. Done. That's immediate 25% profit. If it's not worth $40, then we both need to go get out of this game.

[Brian Ludden]

Okay. But then, but then I thought to myself, my buddy at work is like, oh, that's fake. It's promo. I'm like, if you're doing a fake car, don't number them to 20. Yeah, like, or your number 20 and print 2000. But you know, it could be fake.

[Ryan Alford]

It could be. But even if it is, good story.

[Brian Ludden]

Yeah.

[Ryan Alford]

What's new? Let's get. Give us the Ludx CEO update. The things you can share, like, what's happening on the Ludo front. The company standpoint, I think the biggest

[Brian Ludden]

thing is rolling out this collection, inventory management part of the app. It should be in the app within the month. Way more robust. Searching, filtering, sorting. And really the industry needs an inventory management, collection management platform. And that's really what we're doing. We've been working on that for like a year. I mean, the, the utility that Ludox has is like, scan a card. But like, we want it to be like all encompassing because in business you have competition, especially with, in the tech world because tech has got diluted so much with these AI agents. So what you have to do is separate yourself other ways. And this is one way is that if you could get the best inventory management system and you have people's collections, you're going to win. And that's what we've been working on. We've been rolling that out on the web version, but within the month we'll have it. You'll start to see it migrate towards the, the app. So that's super exciting. Our tech team's been working really hard at it. I love it. I've seen it. You've seen it?

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah. It's slick. Really slick. I mean we need the, the hobby needs one or at least two really good ones. Let's start with one really good one because I don't know that one great one exists yet. You know, this is going to be the first one I think that's truly like really exceptional.

[Brian Ludden]

Yeah, I mean, car lighter does a really good job.

[Ryan Alford]

They do.

[Brian Ludden]

I love their indexes and stuff.

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah, I mean, I like that. I like the indexes. It's just the UI of the collection management is not like wonderful, let's be honest. I like the substance of what they have there, but I kind of want like either me or someone creative to get a hold of the ui. Like they got the data, you know, they got the indexes. I like that. But I need art to meet science.

[Brian Ludden]

Yeah. And I mean it's a small, smaller ecosystem so they could, you know, they price things well. But yes, it's hard to get cards onto that platform and it's not like super scalable, but.

[Ryan Alford]

But that's what I love about what I'm seeing and what I've witnessed with the Ludx is it was already good, but now with the updates, it feels exceptional. It's again like, you know, everything's going to have get better over time, but it feels like a, a real leap forward.

[Brian Ludden]

I mean, you intact every, it's like every, every three years, four years, you have to like redesign it. Like you have to put money into it and back into tech and you gotta make it more relevant and you gotta, you gotta skin it better and you gotta market it better and it's gotta look better because if not, you're stuck with you know, a com, C or ebay or you know, card ladder. It's just not, doesn't migrate to like the modern day, so. But it's very expensive to do that. It's really expensive.

[Ryan Alford]

So put your CEO hat on for the audience. Like, not that you didn't already have it on. Put it, put it on a little tighter and give the audience like, okay, what they can expect with this new app. Like what does it's collection management, but like give me the elevator pitch the 32nd on the new features, what people could expect from it.

[Brian Ludden]

Well, the thing that I like the best about it is that it's stackable search. Right. So if I wanted to check out my Jordan collection, I could say Michael Jordan cards equal or greater than x $1,000 from 1990, 1990 to 1995. And then all that search stacks on each other and you'll get that component. You'll just get those cards that meet that criteria. Then I could take those cards and if you want to look at them, I could send them to you. I could start sharing the collection. So you and I, even that tiger card, I could be like, hey, I'll scan it in there, I'll send it to you. But it's the stackable search that's really cool for me. And then taking that on the social aspect of it and then sharing that with other people.

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah. So the collector station app, that's about 1, 1 millionth of the capability of Ludx. But we'll eventually probably migrate to what the Ludx is once this gets commercially available. And I can, you know, beg Brian for it to allow me to use it. No, he's letting me use it. But I, when I could actually roll it out with my whole store. The basically what I think is cool, Brian, I'll go and share like a feature that's on our really stupid app that's not as pretty as yours is. I allow people to build a collection and then they can share what they want with the store so that I can make offers on their cards. So that way they get the collection management for free. But I can see what their cards are if they agree to share them.

[Brian Ludden]

Yep, yep. Public. That's all. Yeah. And then like think about that, how it, what you're thinking about is what the capabilities that we'll have. So if, if a shop has their cards on there, I could go to the kiosk, like you guys have a kiosk, and I could sort through that kiosk to get the cards that I want.

[Ryan Alford]

Exactly.

[Brian Ludden]

And then those cards that I want might be on the floor or they might be in a storage unit behind the store. And so that's that's what I think would be really cool is that when people come in, they can find what they want and that gives them time to then, you know, buy some wax or you know, break something or whatever. And then it's a card show. It's, it's honestly turns into, it could Turn into a 365-24.7cart virtual card show. It never has to stop.

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah. Hey man. Lots of cool features. And look, that stack, look, I'll say this. I go to an e commerce website like you said, stacking the search capabilities, that's what makes or break a really good site, is how, how much you can sort of slice and dice the inventory or what's there. And the same thing with your own collection when you're trying to put a deal together or you're trying to know what you have or like, especially if you've got thousands of cards in your collection. All right, how many, you know, baseball cards do I have that are over $50? Because maybe you're doing a deal to move some baseball cards because you're more of a basketball guy, but you aren't necessarily looking for a player. You just want to know what your high value baseball cards are. Being able to slice and dice that data the way you need to, that's next level. And that, that's true empowerment to the collector with managing the collection. That, that is the. I think that it just hit me, Brian, what you guys are doing, it's really what digital unlocked. Right. Because in the analog world is finally coming to this industry. Like because all these things, all these cars belong in, they're in binders and they're in top load or sitting in closets or they're in a beautiful case in your house. But what collection, digital collection management was supposed to unlock was this ability to have knowledge and data and to slice and parse and know what you have at the most intricate level, which is what digital sort of unlocked for every other industry the last 15 years. Yeah.

[Brian Ludden]

And think about this. The power. It's really our database. Right. It's like we have 400 million cards in our database and those cards belong to people. But those, that's the searchable function of it. Every card that's probably been printed, we probably have 95% of them, 98% of them. So all we're doing is going through our own database with all that data and we're sharing it and that's it. If you want to find a card, go find a card. And you know what I could put in exactly the card I want. And we could say, hey, Ryan Alford has that card. We'll be like, cool. I'm gonna go, go on Discord and I'm gonna reach out to Ryan, see if he'll sell.

[Ryan Alford]

I'm gonna go to his house. You know, when he's eating kids, he's having dinner with his kids. Hey man, I saw you had that, that, that Michael Jordan card on, that Bo Jackson card on Ludx. Yeah, man, I'll see you at the show on Saturday.

[Brian Ludden]

No, you're right about that. Like it's all, it's getting a massive database and then making it into this like searchable virtual world.

[Ryan Alford]

Exactly. There's always something physical about the cars themselves, but it's maximizing the digital tools that we have to innate. It's really trading enablement. That's what this is, trading and collecting enablement. The new term of the day for the hobby, it's collection enablement.

[Brian Ludden]

I'm an enabler.

[Ryan Alford]

You are, Brian. That's a. You are the chief enablement officer, that's the CEO. That's all you are is your enabler. You enable these wonderful things to happen with our digital collection management. Oh man, we have fun even while we're working. So big things coming with collection management and Ludx should be out this month. Brian, is that for the masses?

[Brian Ludden]

Yeah, I would say that it's, you know, we are trying to release like two different features a week and so it's going to migrate towards the finished product. It is software, so it's never truly finished, but the functionality of it will be that we've talked about here. Today will be 30 days. Our big reveal is going to be in the National. That's what really what we're shooting for. And so, you know, we kind of have, have those bookends. Today is one bookend and the national is the other to make it really functional and really cool.

[Ryan Alford]

Keep your eyes peeled, stay in touch with the Ludx, social, Instagram, all that. You'll see the updates, you'll see the releases and all that. Ludx.com will always have the most up to date information. Of course. And of course come see me and Brian at the National. We'll be there. We're gonna do. Who knows what we'll be up to by then. Like we're gonna, we'll have Collector Nation on display. Brian's gonna have all the goodies. I mean the, the boot, you guys did it, right? I mean you guys had a nice booth last year. I mean it Feels swanky. A little, you know, walk around. It's like, whoa, I'm at CES suddenly.

[Brian Ludden]

Yeah.

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah.

[Brian Ludden]

Gotten pretty big.

[Ryan Alford]

It has. I mean, but it's. But everything kind of still felt like a big. Okay. A table with a bunch of cards on it or, you know, I mean, I thought the digital pack opening guys, you know, I won't name names or several of them. They did pretty good because if. And they're selling the tech of that. But you definitely guys had the white and the blue. The branding that I love. I felt elevated the Ludex booth. And I'm sure that will only. The surprises and delights will only increase this year.

[Brian Ludden]

That's what we hope for.

[Ryan Alford]

So come see us at the National. That will be in late July, first week of August. It's like the 31st, first, second. Somewhere in August in that neighborhood. I don't have my calendar in front of me, but hey, I got the, I got the. The RV wagon coming hard. More news on that. I'll share more. That's just a teaser for now, folks. Let's just say it's coming along. Very nice. Kevin O' Leary turned heads at the 2026 SAG Awards by wearing that Michael Jordan Kobe Bryant card that he paid him and a couple of investors paid 13.5. And I guess it's already up to 19.5. I don't know if that was because what was around the necklace was worth that or if the card had actually jumped, you know, 40% since they bought it. Probably. Who knows? Part of me rolls my eyes, but part of me goes, yeah, it's kind of a baller to where that card around your neck, you know, Like, I don't. Even if Logan Paul did it first, I'm okay with it.

[Brian Ludden]

Yeah, I mean, I, I think, like, I think that's cool. Like, I don't know if I would do it.

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah, I would.

[Brian Ludden]

I'm also buying a third, but. Yeah, you would. I'm not buying a thirteen half million dollar card either. Like, I would.

[Ryan Alford]

No.

[Brian Ludden]

Like, yeah, a thousand bucks or something. So. But I, I think when you have it like, that just shows like, it is art, right?

[Ryan Alford]

It is art.

[Brian Ludden]

It is collecting. It's unique. You just hope you don't get like mugged.

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah. You, you, you think that he had to add like extra protection insurance for that day. Had to. Right.

[Brian Ludden]

Lloyd's in London.

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah. Total had a side policy, probably 10 grand or more. I mean, maybe more than that. I don't know, bro.

[Brian Ludden]

If it was. If I had partner And I was. I was like. He's like, this is what I want to do.

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah.

[Brian Ludden]

And I. Third of that or half of that, I'd be like, whoa, no, no, no, no. Like, get. Get insurance. Even that insurance is like.

[Ryan Alford]

But. But here's the thing. And look, everybody bear with me. I know you're here for the cards and the hobby, but you're always going to get a little slice of business from me, at least marketing. And if you don't know, right about now is the number one business and marketing show on Apple. It's been for three years. That's my other show. I don't ever plug it, but I'm going to plug it right now. Kevin o' Leary knows something that very few business people get. He understands brand. He's playing the brand game. He's. He understands that the attention game, the media game. He knows how to make headlines that he made. Look, our little show here, you know, maybe we're top five sports and Apple, but it's our little show, our little slice, but we're talking about it. And so is cnn, and so is Drudge Report, and so is every other news outlet has a headline that says, kevin o' Leary turns heads by having that necklace. And it's about the necklace, but it's not. It's about playing brand. Playing attention game. And Kevin makes his own brand, his own assets and his own businesses more valuable because he generates headlines. So you can hate the game all you want, but don't hate the player.

[Brian Ludden]

That's some. That's some sage advice. That's awesome.

[Ryan Alford]

Kyler Murray got released from the Cardinals. This. Does this feel like a story that's been coming for six years? I like. It's like, I don't know what to make. Kyler Murray, like, badass in college, had moments in the pros. I like him. I like his game, but it's like, it's never. I feel like you're always like one. You're always waiting for one more dial turn that just doesn't seem to ever come.

[Brian Ludden]

Yeah, I mean, it really sets your franchise back. You know, like, they get. They paid him a lot of money and he just didn't deliver. And that's. That hurts. You know, the Vikings, I could see the Vikings picking them up. As a veteran to go against J.J. i think if Kyler Murray matures and gets and really commits to the craft, I think he has crazy potential. But access to affordable credit helps me

[Ryan Alford]

pay my employees, but I don't really need it. Inflation is killing me. But who cares? Big retailers are making record profits. That's why we support the Durbin Marshall credit card bill. See, banks and credit unions help small businesses make payroll. This bill would cut the vital resources they need while increasing megastore profits. They deserve it, don't they?

[Commercial Narrator]

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[Brian Ludden]

It's got to happen like, this year, right?

[Ryan Alford]

It's so weird too, because he's never been the guy that's in the headlines. Like, he's not Manzel, you know, it's not like. And I like Johnny. I'm not busting on you, Johnny. I'm just saying. But let's be honest. And you've even said it yourself, totally immature. Like, in trouble all the time. That's not Kyler. He seems like put together, but all you hear is this same thing. This maturity, this discipline. Like, it's like, it's hard to put. Get your head around it.

[Brian Ludden]

He had to put a clause in his contract to not play like PlayStation or Xbox or something like. Like that was in his contract. You could only play X amount of hours of Xbox a week. Like, Like a child.

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah. Never heard of such in a professional contract. Right. And there are some dudes, there's been some dudes that like, if they were going to have that clause or have the no stupid goofing off clause, it would have been before Kyler, because you don't. Again, Kyler's just under the. He's just behind the scenes, I guess. He's like, you know, what's the kid that never grew up? It's like Webster or something. Like, you know, talk about Peter Pan maybe. But remember Webster, like, when he like, kid that, like, always was a kid. I don't know.

[Brian Ludden]

Webster just physically didn't grow. I don't.

[Ryan Alford]

I thought he was always kind of acting like a kid, too. Yeah.

[Brian Ludden]

And same with the guy from Different Strokes, Arnold.

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah, exactly.

[Brian Ludden]

I think they just stopped growing. I don't know.

[Ryan Alford]

I didn't mean like. I was talking about more maturity, like, than their, like, physical side. But Kyler, I mean, he's not the biggest guy, but he's. He's bigger than those guys. I mean, dude's an NFL quarterback. I thought I've been more like. Like they're always a kid, I guess. Kind of like Michael Jackson. Like Michael Jackson, they say. Never really grew up because he just never like, got a chance to live. He was on the road all the time. Then when he finally, like, had a Little bit time and money. He's like, I'm gonna stay a kid, you know? Anyway, I digress.

[Brian Ludden]

Bella's right. Peter Pan's complex.

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah, Peter Pan complex. That's what it is. Not Webster. You know, I am showing my knowledge of the 80s silver spoons. Remember that movie, that Silver Spoons, Silver spoon. The kid had the train in the. You know, that drove through whole house. Secret passages.

[Brian Ludden]

Great house.

[Ryan Alford]

Was a great house. Always. I forever wanted secret passages in my house because of that show.

[Brian Ludden]

Way different than my house I grew up in.

[Ryan Alford]

Was it all open, no doors or something?

[Brian Ludden]

It's like, lived in the train box. No. In fact, Mary Frances Ludden turns 80. She turned 80 yesterday. So they. Mom, thank you for raising four boys. So, yeah. So shout out to Mary Frances Lutton.

[Ryan Alford]

Hey. I'm thankful for Mary Frances Ludden for having Brian. You know, I don't even know her, but I love her because she had Brian. So we do give her a shout out. 8, 0. So a good one, you know. Is she good health good?

[Brian Ludden]

Yeah, she's doing okay. They're down in Marco Island, Florida, doing their thing.

[Ryan Alford]

Okay. So.

[Brian Ludden]

Yeah, that's cool. Retired, doing their thing.

[Ryan Alford]

I talked to my mom this morning for about 30 minutes, and she just told me how happy she was. Like, 30 minutes. She's living her best life.

[Brian Ludden]

That's great.

[Ryan Alford]

You know, I'm like, if I'm 74 and as happy as she is, I'm. I'm good. You know, I will say that I have my parents. I have happy parents. You know, like, that's. I think that's a big deal, like, as far as how you grow up and stuff. Like, I don't know, like, it makes a difference. My mom was always happy. Yeah, it does. I mean, like, mom was always happy. My dad was in the military, so he had that in him, but he was generally always happy with. No, no, we did. We were breasts tonight. Because, you know, a lot of times you have mental health issues. Things that. They're just natural or just out of control. And I, you know, not having to go around that. It's like, I like being around happy people. You're not. Not because the world. Not because we're like, I don't know, Cinderella. Like, we think everything. Oh, you know, like Pollyanna. I think that's the. The right analogy there. Unlike Webster. The not Pollyanna. Ish. But, you know, like, it's just not a time like this.

[Brian Ludden]

Let's.

[Ryan Alford]

Let's just be happy, you know, Try to figure this out. Anyway, I'M happy that Brian Ludden is my friend and that we get to do this show. Any final. Any. Go ahead, brother. What'd you say?

[Brian Ludden]

Same exact thing to you, man.

[Ryan Alford]

What? Any final thoughts, Bella? Did we leave anything out here on the March 6, 2026 edition of Culture Nation? Only thing is that today the US Plays Brazil in the World Baseball Classic, which is super exciting. And we lost last time to Japan in 2023, so hopefully this year we can have a comeback moment.

[Brian Ludden]

Yay. Yeah, that'd be awesome.

[Ryan Alford]

That's.

[Brian Ludden]

That's exciting stuff.

[Ryan Alford]

Exactly. We're right around the corner from opening day. We talk about that more as it comes. I did open a box. You know, as we finish here, I don't want to. I'll talk about how happy I open the tops 20, 26 series, one hobby box. And I haven't. And I'm a baseball. I'm a football. Excuse me. Basketball, more like, me personally and PC stuff. I got baseball stuff. We got ton of baseball in the store. It's freaking card chop. And baseball still rules. But I just. All it did was make me want to open a football box. I don't know. I know people love baseball, and I, like, I've gotten more into watching baseball again, but the baseball cards, there's so many players. I'm like. I got dizzy trying to, like, get keep up with it. I mean, I felt old. I mean, how many. How many players are on every baseball team?

[Brian Ludden]

24.

[Ryan Alford]

Okay, so it's not my imagine. Well, I know there's a lot of football players, but they don't make football cards for every football player, I don't think.

[Brian Ludden]

Dude, they got. They got rookie league. They got low A. They got. Yeah, they got double A. They got aaa.

[Ryan Alford]

So many. So many play. And how many teams is it? Same number. 30. Yeah, that's about the same as. As football and basketball, but, like, that's pretty big.

[Brian Ludden]

720 people are in the major leagues, but in the Meyer leagues, there's like 7,000.

[Ryan Alford]

I'm just so behind on my names. I gotta get better at that football, guys. I. I know the offensive lineman for the Chiefs, you know, like, but it's. It's. It's getting rough. I gotta get up. I gotta. I'm really trying to get back up to speed, but I. I'll tell you what. Like, football cards are way more expensive, but, yeah, I feel like you get bigger hits. I was just kind of like dying for, like a 10 card. Opening that hobby box. Yeah, like, 130 card. And that's cool, but I'm like, I don't know. Take your feedback. Anybody out there that wants to learn me on base, but get me back up to speed on baseball. That's what we say in the South. If you want to learn me, learn me. I grew up in Easy, man. I got a college degree, but, I mean, let's be honest. I grew up right here. I gotta get learned on more baseball that. You want to talk basketball? You want to talk Cooper flag? You want to talk about Wimby? You want to talk Shay Gildrus, you want to talk. Who are you going. Go as deep as you want. A basketball and football. But I got to get my. My baseball thing going because I was just, like, opening these baseball cards.

[Brian Ludden]

I. I believe you could do it. I believe in you.

[Ryan Alford]

I got a memory for it. I just got to get into it. I needed to open, like, a banger box. I'm gonna go like jumbo next time. Triple jumbo or something. I don't know. Whatever. Whatever. Like the. The banging box. I need some. Like, I needed some. You know what it was, Brian? I needed some dopamine, and I wasn't getting it with the. The. The ace of bass. I was getting out of that hobby box. Too much bass. I mean, the base card stack. I thought they're high when you press a football. That baseball card base stack was this high out of that hobby box. Yeah. Now, I'm not gonna sell a single box out of the store, but, no, I'm saving the good ones for everyone else.

[Brian Ludden]

Yeah, it's enough tinder for a day.

[Ryan Alford]

Oh, God, it's kind. It's kindling in the South Carolina fire for three years. Light one of those cards up and go. No, I'm trying to learn the names, man. Lots of names. So bear with me as I get my baseball names from this year. In three or four weeks, I'm going to be quoting the dudes for baseball. I'm committed to it. I'm in. I've got to put my reps in. I gotta open some more and get the boys into baseball more. We've been football, basketball, family, even though we own the card store. I got my guys, they're into baseball, but, man, we gotta. I gotta get some reps in. I gotta rip, like. I gotta rip through, like, 100 grand in. In baseball to get where I was in football to get three grand. Yeah. Three grand at least. Yeah. Brian, final thoughts today, my friend.

[Brian Ludden]

I'm all good, my man. It's always a pleasure to be with you. I enjoy it. Thank you for everything, Bella. Thank for, thank you for everything you do. So yeah, just have a great weekend, everybody. And thanks for watching.

[Ryan Alford]

Yeah, we appreciate everyone. Like Brian said, we, we know you got options and we thank you for making us one of them. If there's something you got feedback, leave in the comments. I respond to every one of those, Bella. And I jump in on those comments on social or on Spotify or YouTube. Keep dropping them. Anything we could talk about? Guess we could bring ideas. Hey, you know, Brian's got access so we could, you know, what do you want? Well, you know, let us bring you access to what you want when you want it. And we thank you. Don't forget about Ludx in the App Store. L U D E X Go download that app. We talked a lot about it today. Go, go check it out. For Brian Ludden in Chicago, I'm Ryan Alford. We'll see you next time, Pleasure Nation. Thanks for tuning in to the show. Be sure to follow us on your go to podcast platform and catch the full video episode over on YouTube. Visit [e-mail] and follow Ryan on Instagram at Ryan Alford. Now get out there and collect yours. Safeway and Albertsons have made saving easier than ever with great savings on family favorites this week. 16 ounce sweet strawberries are two for $5 member price. And don't miss the incredible deal on Signature select boneless skinless chicken breast value packs for $2.97 per pound limit. One plus medium avocados or mangoes are five for $5 member price. Fresh and delicious savings for everybody meal. Hurry in. These deals won't last. Visit Safeway or albertsons.com for more deals and ways to save.

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