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Collector Nation
Ryan Alford, Brian Ludden & Brandon Steiner Talk What’s Wrong With Sports Coverage Today
00:34:57
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- [00:00]
Brandon Steiner
You can't follow the pack. Most people, when things get bad, everybody panics. Everybody gets all nervous. That's when you could really advance. When things are a little wobbly, most people freeze. I always say take action over anxiety.
- [00:12]
Ryan Alford
They need to remove the L from NFL and make it nfe National Football Entertainment. They gotta remember what they're doing here. It's a show. And that's what McAfee figured out. That's what World Wrestling Entertainment figured out. I don't even watch wrestling, but when I do, I get it. The theater. And no, it doesn't have to be acting, but you need some theater, you need some entertainment value.
- [00:31]
Brian
Everyone has an op. I've learned that on something. The second thing is companies can help each other. Goldman Sachs is not helping, you know, Merrill lynch or, you know, bank of America. We can help each other. Like Brandon and I have done partnerships before. We're gonna do more. And that's smart. And that's what I love about this industry, is we can help each other out.
- [00:48]
Podcast Announcer
Welcome to the Trading Cards and Collectibles podcast on the Radcast Network. From Chasing Grails to Colin Bluffs and Going Inside the Hobby, are you ready to collect? Let's get at it. Here is your host, Ryan Alford.
- [01:06]
Ryan Alford
Hello and welcome to Trading Cards and Collectibles here on Friday, November 14, 2025. It's our weekly catch up here, Ryan and Brian. And we got a little special guest coming in. We got an og, let me call him that, whether he wants me to or not. He is the og Brandon Steiner. What's up, brother?
- [01:28]
Brandon Steiner
What's up? What's up? First of all, I had a fabulous time on my last conversation. Avoided like an hour of therapy. Like I was able to just release all the stuff that was bothering me. So I'm excited to come back and get into some real conversation, talk about what's going on. I feel like a little bit, I don't know if everybody feels that way, but you know, it's kind of like the NBA season's kind of. I don't know what's going on there, honestly, I just have no clue, you know, but the baseball thing was so exciting. So I'm feeling like almost like the high, almost like malnutrition of sports without that baseball excitement. The football season seems like it's going on forever. Like the season doesn't seem like it's ever going to end and it's getting a little boring, to be honest with you. And I have no idea what's going on in College sports because it's really like semi pro anyway. And it's just the same old teams beating up on the other teams because they have so much more money. And that's kind of like my concern these days is that I'm having to start talking to my wife again. I can't use the big game play. It's, it's not working for me. And she's like, you really have to watch another game right now. And I'm like, yeah, not really. Kind of where I'm at right now.
- [02:36]
Ryan Alford
You summarize a lot there. I mean, as a football guy, I might disagree, but I will say there was something about the World Series and the energy of all that that even captured me who, who has been my boys. And I kind of like, you know, have been kind of passive. Baseball for a few seasons, it kind of reactivated and there's definitely an energy around it that feels a little bit like we're either catching our breath or a little bit in a lull. Right.
- [03:02]
Brandon Steiner
I mean, football, the beautiful thing about it is if the game you're watching isn't working out, you can always flip on the four other games and you can really just move right into it, which you can't always do with other sports.
- [03:13]
Ryan Alford
Yeah.
- [03:14]
Brandon Steiner
So. And it seems like there's a lot of football anyway. Like, you know, they got Sunday night, they got Monday. What a great job NBC he does on Sunday night. Monday nights actually found its rhythm now with, you know, some real commentators. That's a good watch. And then you got football all day Sunday. I'm liking, you know, that. I mean, there's nobody who's just done it better than the NFL. They have figured out how to get money out of everybody in every which way. And I think as a business person, like I'm always thinking, like I need to be more like that. You know, how can I spread my wings? How can I collaborate with more people that have more money that can take advantage of what I have and, and vice versa. And I just think they've done it in a way which everybody seems to be cool. I mean even the NFL is only six channels sticks. And everybody's cool.
- [04:00]
Brian
And also think about all the different countries they're playing in. I mean, sold out stadiums, London, Germany, Spain. Like that's pretty cool to get up at nine in the morning or whatever. When I get up on a weekend and football's on for 15 hours, collectibles.
- [04:18]
Ryan Alford
Show is where you'll find all of the channels and learn more about what we're doing. And ultimately, hey, we want to hear from you. You do case hits at Collectibles Show. We want you to send in your favorite pulls of the week. And here's the difference. This isn't about just value. Hey, we want to see some $10,000 hits. Had a couple of those myself a few months back. But it's not just about the value. It's about what you're collecting, what means something to you. Share a story, share a video of you holding up the card that you hit last week that was your fav. Favorite player and you nailed it. So case hits, collectibles show, send in those videos. I want to know the stories. We're going to bring them to life here on the show. We're going to do a segment each week once we get rolling and get some videos in where we share that on the show with us. We want to feature you on Collectibles Show. It's so funny, Brandon, you mentioned the. How well they do Sunday Night Football. It does remind me, like, how much that theater and all that goes on with that matters, because I'll sometimes catch myself, you know, watching the Tuesday, Wednesday, like, the Mac attack or like, you know, football's on all the time. And I'm like, why is this? I know why. It's boring, but why is it boring? It's the commentators that, you know, it's the D league commentators, everything. You don't realize how much professionalism, how much interest, like, good commentators, good storylines, and everything else that's built around the game matters. It does.
- [05:43]
Brandon Steiner
It's everything. Otherwise, you just watch. I mean, the commentators are critical. There's never going to be, like, Howard Cosell, Dan Meredith. I mean, there's never. That's not. I mean, that Monday night, when you think about what we had, I mean, that was entertaining. Those guys were. I mean, I wish some of that was. Would come back. And it's not. It's not that Romo and Brady and Aikman, I mean, they're good, but we don't get the best of them. I mean, if they put their hair down, maybe ate a gummy, had a couple beers, I'd like to see what the hell they're really thinking about.
- [06:17]
Ryan Alford
I agree.
- [06:17]
Brandon Steiner
You know, every now and then it slips, but they don't really give you. Like, that was a stupid play. Like, that guy sucks. That was terrible. And. And I think there's room for a channel. Like, by the way, did you sense the tension with Eli and Art and Payton a little bit the other night? Yeah, definitely something going on there, it was a little weird because he watch usually goes. Goes along with anything, but I just feel like there needs to be a completely uncensored channel that we can actually listen to someone who knows what they're doing and is completely torching anybody and everybody with the complete truth.
- [06:52]
Ryan Alford
If you watch her, you don't really.
- [06:53]
Brandon Steiner
Know what's going on in that game other than what they tell you.
- [06:55]
Ryan Alford
Yes. Herb Street's podcast, if he would become the character or the person, the real person he is on his podcast on Thursday night, it would be much watch tv, like, because he lets it go. He lets his hair down on his podcast. Like, he says it exactly, you know.
- [07:10]
Brandon Steiner
And I'm like, it's a little bit what we get with Pat McAfee. Like, yeah, he's been a breath of fresh air, at least for me.
- [07:16]
Ryan Alford
I agree.
- [07:16]
Brandon Steiner
Besides being entertaining, besides, like doing the right thing with. With these field goal kicks. And I just think he's unbelievably funny. He's funny. He's not sitting there ripping on people all the time, but he will, at time and time get real. Like, I love that. I wish there was more of that. And I can't get enough of him, man. Like, he's just. And, you know, he's knowledgeable because he played. I mean, played it. He's lived it. He's respectful. I think he's just, what a great package of. Of what a great. What a great package he's put together, man. I mean, I don't know if everybody's listening is like, agree, but, like, I just think he's become a really good watch. He fought the status quo with espn, told them to go F themselves, you know, people that were giving him a hard time. This is how it's going to get done. And I think, I feel like when I watch his show, generally speaking, I'll find out something that I didn't know prior to the show, which I think is really important. Hopefully we'll cover that in this conversation, like. But I think it's important to deliver something that the audience didn't know other than just, you know, re hitting the same old soup.
- [08:23]
Ryan Alford
I want Brian to respond to that. Then I want to share something related to McAfee. I mean, Brian, what's your take on Macbe?
- [08:30]
Brian
We were. I was lucky enough to go to the studio with Erlocker and I, and he did a lot of LUDX kind of shout out. This is when he was, you know, this is three years ago. So I kind of caught him on the way up. I don't think he would have me again, but it might be. But, you know, I'll be. I'll be knocking on that door and see what happens. See if he answers.
- [08:52]
Ryan Alford
I love him. And let me say this. I. He inspired me with my business show right about now, which I consider the edgy. You know, he was the inspiration for kind of taking a left turn with business and content. A little edgier. Bringing on people like, I think he's amazing. And I don't always love every little thing, but I respect the hell out of the entertainment value. And they need to remove the L from NFL and make it NFE National Football entertainment. Like, they gotta remember what they're doing here.
- [09:27]
Brian
It's a show.
- [09:28]
Ryan Alford
And that's what McAfee figured out. That's what World Wrestling Entertainment figured out. I don't even watch wrestling, but when I do, I get it. The theater, like. And, no, it doesn't have to be acting, but you need some theater. You need some entertainment value.
- [09:42]
Brandon Steiner
How great is Saturday mornings? Yeah, I get up and look forward to that show. I watched it because I love Lou Holtz. You know, I love all those guys. That was a classic. You know, almost comparable them to, like, Barkley, Kenny Smith and all that. And Shaq. I mean, that's a. That's an incredible show, too, by the way.
- [10:02]
Ryan Alford
Yes.
- [10:03]
Brandon Steiner
And you realize it's not easy to put those shows together for some reason and get the chemistry right. But I got to tell you, man, like, Pat has gotten the best out of Saban. Yeah, he's got. Saban laughed and he's got Sabin comfortable. Not that he's. He's loose. He's.
- [10:18]
Brian
He's.
- [10:18]
Brandon Steiner
He. You know. You know, that guy's got great insight.
- [10:21]
Ryan Alford
Yes. 100.
- [10:23]
Brandon Steiner
Yeah.
- [10:23]
Ryan Alford
But he does that. What I like about Pat is you nailed it, Brandon, when you said this, like, he doesn't. He shares his opinion, and he's direct, but he's also disarming and respectful. It's like he has this ability. Some people are either all or nothing. Kind of like, you know, fine bombs, all jerk all the time, you know, Like, a lot of these guys are all or nothing. And Pat finds this line of being endearing. Warm, edgy, and critical sometimes. And he. He blends it all together really well.
- [10:58]
Brandon Steiner
And himself. And he's Himself.
- [11:01]
Ryan Alford
Yeah.
- [11:01]
Brandon Steiner
The shirts he wears.
- [11:02]
Ryan Alford
Yeah, exactly.
- [11:03]
Brandon Steiner
The whole thing is this. It's a pretty good package.
- [11:07]
Ryan Alford
I agree.
- [11:07]
Brian
That's why I think it starts with, like, there's. He takes. Doesn't Take himself too serious. And because he's. He's doing what he loves, he's getting paid for it, and it kind of radiates around like, all good leaders have that ability. I want to touch on something. Brandon, you said you like him because he keeps things real. And I would say that's you.
- [11:30]
Ryan Alford
If I.
- [11:30]
Brian
If knowing you over these years, it's been a pleasure, but you do keep it real. And I have a little story that it kind of will tell you how it is. So in the. At Cleveland, at the National Lux VIP lounge, we had a back room, nice tables, chairs, some refreshments, good food.
- [11:50]
Ryan Alford
Yeah, it was excellent. I had a great time with my boys. It was wonderful.
- [11:54]
Brian
And so Brandon came in, and he and I are talking, and the next person in the room was Gary V. And Gary's like, oh, my gosh. My idol. And they know each other, and they give hugs. And Brandon says, gary, I'm glad you came in here. I got some. I got something to tell you. He goes, your autographs are. You got to do a better job with your autographs. And Gary just, like, looks at him, starts smiling, goes, that's why I love this guy.
- [12:19]
Brandon Steiner
Yeah. I mean, listen, I've had a few moments with a few players. I've had to get into this kind of conversation, and they don't always go pleasantly easily. And I got into a garbage. He effed up my cards. I bought some Gary Friends cards, which. I'm a fan of his cards. I like the cards. I think they're cool. But I saw the cards differently. First of all, there's great art and kind of cool, subliminal messages. So I send them out as gifts to people because I say, these cards remind me of you. You know, your generosity reminds me of this card or your intensity or your focus. And all those cards have those little innuendos on there. And I looked at it as a cor. Separate gift, not even as a typical card collectible. But then he takes the card and he freaking puts a line through it. I'm like, that's his order. I'm like, no, that's. I said, gary, you out of your mind? Like, you just ruined my car. Like, that's not an autograph. You don't know what I mean. That's. That's like some Russian hockey player who comes over, doesn't speak English, gives you. That reminds me that. Because that's what I got with the Russians when they came over back in the 90s when Sergey Machinov and Alexei Koval all Those guys came over. I'm like, dude, you got to. He goes. But they don't ask. Let's figure out your name in English and make sure you spell one of the two names so you could read it. And they started doing that. And I just remember that lesson as I made them $1,000 to do a three hour appearance. And they were like happier than, you know, they were the happiest human beings on the planet. And I made my $150 commission. I was happy. Geez, those were the good old days, huh?
- [13:50]
Ryan Alford
Yes. But it's still funny that you told Gary, uh, and Gary's probably not, you know, he's, he's probably got a little bit of. But he's probably not used to just getting told, you know, he's kind of the guy that's telling people more than getting told. My having four boys that are younger, I've got from nine to 15. There's nothing more disappointing to my kids. Like, they would, they wouldn't care who the autograph was. But when they get it and they open the pack and they got an autograph and the guy has just mailed it in like two letters or you can't read it. And it's, it's. I'd say six or seven out of ten are that way. It's more that are than are good. And it's the look on there, they're just disappointed, you know, so it's like they, they, you couldn't, they couldn't take the time to like figure out how to write their name. Like, I mean, it's, I don't know, I think there's, I think you gotta make a good point and like, hey, we need to lead the charge. Like, let's make it.
- [14:41]
Brandon Steiner
It matters though, you know, it matters. It makes the piece a lot nice when you have the autograph and they sign it correctly. We have to have the hall of Shame of like the worst autographs. I may have to put that. I always have the, the greatest autographs I've ever seen. I've got that list pretty well in my head now. But maybe the worst autographs could be a fun episode.
- [14:59]
Ryan Alford
Yeah. Tcc. Worst autographs of all time.
- [15:06]
Brandon Steiner
Tom can step up his game. And I, I think Tom should put for $2,000. I mean, I want either DNA or I want some blood or something like, or a description. $2,000. How is that helping the hobby? Who's supposed to be the man of the hobby who's opening up card shops and he's charging 2,000 for his autograph, like, that's not helping us. And I always felt like when I had a big name athlete and you were getting bigger numbers for his autograph, I always thought the 8 by 10 was for little Johnny, for the kid. Maybe not the most collectible thing, have an 8 by 10. But I always ask my players to sign the 8 by 10 is really cheap so we could sell them inexpensively. We knew they weren't going to go for big money down the road, but at least the little Johnny, he could put it up in his room and he has his autograph. And that's. Guys like Tom Brady and even Michael Jordan used to sign 8 by 10s a lot cheaper. By the way, Jordan, I know he has forgets about. That's all been forgotten about. But Jordan's been Jordan, you know, since day one. It's. He's always been like, I'm not signing a lot of stuff and it's always been kind of tight and. But there was a point in time in the early 90s when he, he was signing eight by tens. You could pick up one for 100 bucks. And he was signing certain things cheaper. But it's like some guys don't understand. You have to build that up.
- [16:24]
Ryan Alford
Yeah.
- [16:25]
Brian
Yes. So that, that touches on the other thing, Brandon, that I wanted to talk about. Tell the story about the Yankees, Yankee Stadium, and how you took advantage of that opportunity of old Yankee Stadium getting torn down. Because talking about starting, you know, starting something, I thought that was super interesting.
- [16:45]
Brandon Steiner
You know what's crazy about that is it took me. People don't realize people always want to do what I do, but they never want to do what I did. And it's like, hey, like I'm working two years to get Yankee Steiner done at the time. And I knew that would change the whole business as far as collectibles. Once the Yankees got on board, all the other teams, and they did, the leagues have now gone on board. I knew it would be a big game changer. And I think when you lead in an industry, you have to sometimes do for the common good. So I'm trying to get this deal done and it's done. And the last second I'm like, man, like, if you guys ever take the stadium down, I've got to be the guy who does that, right? He goes, we're not adding that to the contract. We're not moving it. I'm like, oh, man, I forgot to put that in there. That's crazy. But meanwhile, five years later, literally, I get called up to the executives Offices and like, hey, look at this. We're building a new stadium. I'm like, I know we pro. What's amazing is they remembered. And I know we promised that you were going to be the guy to do it. It's a little more complicated because the city had owned it. And it was, it was. I'm in the middle of doing two stadium demos and next time I come on the show, if you have me, I would love to be able to tell you one of them is really, is a really big deal that I'm about to announce in about 10 days. It's a very big deal for you NFL fans. But it's crazy, like how much is involved when you, when you actually take a stadium down. At least the way I viewed it, it was different than anyone else. So I went to the Yankees. I'm like, this is a three year plan to take Yankee Stadium down. They're like, what? Well, you know, I want dirt. I got to lift the grass up. I'm going to freeze dry it. And the black, I'm cutting that up. And I have Reggie Jackson. I'm cutting all the foul poles up. I'm creating a whole bunch of product just with the foul poles alone. Then I've got the lockers, which got me into deep trouble because all the players wanted their lockers and they thought I should give it to them for free. And free wasn't going to happen because between when I was had to pay to do all that work and when I had to give the city and I had to give the city eleven and a half million dollars right up front. Wow, there's a lot of money. And the seats need to be rebated. They had, they had lead in the paint, so we had to scrape all the arms down and repaint and put them in an oven. And I mean, there's so many complications there. We were selling the lights, the speakers. I mean, we, we. I really, I mean the coolest thing that I found at Yankee Stadium and you know, all that stuff we were digging in, but I found these. I was looking for bricks. We had 9,000 bricks in Monument park and I knew I could sell those and I did. But I found these bricks in the ceiling that were from the original stadium from 19 in the 20s called Cold Brick. And they sell for like 5, 600 bucks on eBay when you see them. And it was like two days before I finally negotiated to pull those bricks down from the ceiling. There were 5,000 of them and it cost me 50 grand right out of the gate. To pull the bricks down. Because union people. What's crazy is, so we get all this stuff going. I'll leave you with this one story. So outside my office, I see my warehouse guy. Guy and a couple of the, you know, people that work on developed products look like they're having a little bit of a nervous breakdown. I go, what's going on? What. What's. What's going on? They're afraid to come my office and tell me, but they had ordered 9,000 cases for the bricks. 9,000 cases. And they go, the bricks don't fit. Like, holy shit. The bricks not fitting. You're kidding me. So. And this is where it's not what happens to you in life. It's what you do with what happens. So I go to them. I go, look, I want you to take a slice of the brick off. Which we did. We sliced the brick piece so it would fit in the case perfect. Then we take the slice. I wish I had to show you example. We took the slice of the brick, and then we created a Monument park piece of. It's every number. Maris, mantle, DiMaggio would have a picture of the retired number and a slice of the brick that it'd be one of our best selling items. And meanwhile, I ended up with 9,000 more products to sell, and those sell for 400 bucks on eBay. It's unbelievable. $400 for a slice of the brick that didn't fit in the case with just a picture of the retired number.
- [20:46]
Ryan Alford
Can you share? Like, okay, 11.5 million is what you paid. Can you share what you made, or do you feel comfortable?
- [20:53]
Brandon Steiner
Yeah, I could. I mean, it was 11.5 plus. You got to remember, you got to pay the guy to take the seats out and to take all this stuff out. By the time I got the lights turned on, I'm 16 million in. In the hole.
- [21:06]
Ryan Alford
All right, here's.
- [21:07]
Brandon Steiner
Here's the debacle of this whole Yankee Stadium thing, which I don't really shared it, but I'll share it. We were doing well. Remember, this is during. Not a great time in the economy, if you remember in 2009. 8. 9. When that. That little financial issue. So things were getting a little tight. But what's weird is we send the seats up. We sold X amount of seats, but then. But a lot of the seats. The mistake I made is like, maybe I didn't need to take all the seats. Maybe I should have taken X amount of seats that sold with a little bit of inventory. But no, I had to take them all, you know, bleachers are not easy to sell. So now we're sitting and this guy up in Syracuse decides that he can melt the arms down the cast iron and get money for his drug addiction problem. So if you actually have a pair of seats. So anyway, we lost about six or seven thousand pairs of seats because the guy melted the arms down. And obviously we sued and sued and we had an insurance policy and that whole dilemma. So if you actually have a pair of seats, you really have some that's collectible because there are more limited amount of those seats. And we only ended up taking a very limited amount of the bleachers out in Yankee Stadium. So if you have those, that's a really good collectible, too. And right now in the market, there are no seats out there. We got the last seats. Maybe there's three or four pairs we have left. But from the guy who did that job, he went out of business. We took all what was left from him, but when it was all said and done, we only made a few hundred grand on that deal. But we got insurance money of a couple million dollars, and that ended up being the profit, the insurance money on that deal. What's crazy is that stadium, I would do that 100 times out of a hundred times the same way, no difference. It was really a game changer for me, for the company, and also for the business. It really opened people's eyes up. The way I took that stadium apart, I kind of felt like I was a surgeon. And I really took nothing in that stadium for granted, knowing how passionate people were and what. What had gone down in that stadium. So I'm very grateful for that opportunity. But the other thing was, I'm going to share this other story, and that is now because I don't really give a shit. I don't work for that company anymore. So I can at least say this, but you got to have balls is always my favorite line. So we're losing money. We're not doing well this year. And now we got the stadium thing, and we're not really making a lot of money on that, on the off because the economy is bad and you have all these expenses. And I'm thinking, I'm going to end up in the year, basically break even, losing a couple of hundred grand, which is not the worst thing in the world. I work for a $30 billion company. I'm like, screw it. I'm going to triple down my advertising. I'm going to go. Because at that time, you were getting advertising for 20 cents on a dollar to go get $1 million ad for 200 grand. I'm like, shit. So I lose three, 400 grand. They'll slap me around a little bit. They'll be mad at me, but what am I going to do? I thought it was a bigger play. So I go out and literally spend. Because I was not a big advertising guy at Steiner, I didn't really believe in advertising. I was like, you know, something so cheap. I got a billboard outside the Garden. I've got billboards around the city. And people are like, man, this guy. In this economy, I'm looking large. I probably spent about a million and a half dollars and it cost me like 300 grand. That's how cheap the advertising was. And I think that sometimes you got to go and really you can't follow the pack. Most people, when things get bad, everybody panics. Everybody gets all nervous. And so that's when you could really advance. When things are a little wobbly, most people freeze. And that I always say, take action over anxiety. And that's one of my favorite lines. It's like I took action at a time when most people would be shitting and trying to make cuts and not. Which is what most people did. I took advantage of the market and it was a really good, tremendous opportunity for me to blow my company up through some advertising that I would never have been able to afford to do in normal circumstances.
- [25:12]
Ryan Alford
I love that. Incredible. What we got this week, Brian? Who's breaking through?
- [25:18]
Brian
So every week we do the top, top three players. This happens to be NFL we're working on to see the change in their cards. And I don't think there's any of anyone on here. This is. Will surprise anyone. We'll start with Drake May. So his. His Panini Prism Silver is up 38% and he now is in second week in a row where he's the number one trending player on Ludox. So he's. I mean, people are buying him, they're scanning him. The second is Matthew Stafford. His stuff just keeps going up. It's up over 100% because I think people just start like, like, this guy is one of the best. I mean, he's proven it year and year. The final one, true to my heart, I love seeing this because I haven't seen it a long time. Is a Chicago Bears player. Caleb Williams has gone up 23% and he's number 40 on the trending player list. But those are. Those are three guys.
- [26:19]
Ryan Alford
These three guys, the offers have a ton of Drake May and A ton of Caleb Williams. So yay.
- [26:26]
Brian
Yeah, you're not worth. Your family net worth is up.
- [26:28]
Ryan Alford
It just went up.
- [26:30]
Brandon Steiner
I just want to throw something out at you for a minute. Obviously I'm never going to co host the show with you guys because my name doesn't rhyme with Brian and Ryan. I, I like that kind of theory and obviously that's not going to work. But I've gone on a lot of different shows over the years and I always offer a copy of my book for free and I rarely get somebody who actually takes advantage of that, which I don't know why, because, I mean, I like the books. There's four of them and you pick one of them. I mean, who's better than that? I'm sending you the book. But I've gotten more requests from my book, from your show, that one show than all the pods I've done over the last five years where I've offered a book. I mean, I probably had 20, 30, 40 people ask for the book. I'm like, what the hell's going on with this show?
- [27:14]
Brian
People that take action, hey, drive you out of business.
- [27:18]
Ryan Alford
I love it.
- [27:19]
Brandon Steiner
I mean, a lot of people have reached out to me, so please put in the notes. I'm extending the offer. But I love that, you guys, I love that there's people listening, like really respecting the hobby.
- [27:30]
Ryan Alford
Yeah.
- [27:32]
Brandon Steiner
Which is, I think it's just everything. Like I, you know, all the years I've been in it, I still respect the hobby and the people in it. And I just love that people have reached out to me and, you know, they have their two cents about whatever, whatever is they think. And also I'd love to get a copy of your book. I love that. So that. Shout out for the book and if everybody listening, thanks for reaching out. I love that. And don't hesitate if you still want a copy of the book.
- [27:53]
Ryan Alford
Love it. Brian, anything to add there?
- [27:55]
Brian
You know, I think like the thing, I love this industry. Like I was a derivatives trader. I was in the financial industry.
- [28:01]
Ryan Alford
Yeah.
- [28:02]
Brian
Every day I had to take on Goldman Sachs, which, you know, there's, they weren't the most, have the most integrity. But this industry, everyone has an opinion. I've learned that on something. The second thing is, is companies can help each other. Like Goldman Sachs is not helping, you know, Merrill lynch or, you know, bank of America.
- [28:25]
Ryan Alford
Bank of America, yeah.
- [28:26]
Brian
We're, we're, we can help each other. Like Brandon and I have done partnerships before. We're going to do more and that's smart. And that's what I, I love about this industry is we can help each other out. Speaking of friends in the industry, we got this Zion case.
- [28:42]
Brandon Steiner
Wow.
- [28:44]
Ryan Alford
Oh, yeah.
- [28:44]
Brian
Which is Brandon Ludox. And that goes to Ryan. Go ahead.
- [28:52]
Ryan Alford
Yes, we have a name. All right.
- [28:54]
Brian
4.494461. 4,494,461. And that was over basically a 31 day period. All baseball.
- [29:07]
Ryan Alford
Unbelievable.
- [29:09]
Brandon Steiner
Unbelievable.
- [29:10]
Ryan Alford
And we, we teed up, we tried to give hints the whole time, Brian. You know, we, we dropped them along the way. This isn't 5,000. You know, I think what I think you even gave away like maybe the last weekend of the game. It's like you said, there's like a million scans alone or something like that.
- [29:26]
Brian
Yeah, I said. I said I'll give you a hint. It's got seven figures.
- [29:30]
Ryan Alford
Yeah, we couldn't, we couldn't lead them to water any more than we did. All right, drum roll, please. The winner of the Zion Lud X case is Trey Whisner. Congratulations, Trey. We'll get your information. We'll send you a dm, get all of that info and send the case out to you. We appreciate everyone for sending in their guests. Gonna be more organized with those giveaways moving forward with. But hey, gotta start somewhere. Four plus million scans on the Ludx app. Congratulations to Trey, who guessed right at, I think it was 3.5 million that he guessed. So he was the closest within half a million scans or a million scans ultimately of what it was. Everyone else was a little lower. Even though we tried to give you the hints, we did our best, but congratulations to Trey. First contest giveaway, the LUDX Scion case. Oh, Brian, Any other news for Ludx this week?
- [30:30]
Brandon Steiner
What was going on in your company, Brian?
- [30:33]
Brian
Oh, nothing. We're just chilling, you know.
- [30:35]
Ryan Alford
Yeah, let it store.
- [30:36]
Brian
The card store. The card store is gonna be cool. So talking about artists, we're gonna do a. A big A case that every month we bring in a new artist. We'll have some of Brandon stuff in there for, for the merch and collectible exchange. We'll have their signs up. So we're breaking. We broke ground and we're probably, you know, January, so. And it's in Texas, Arlington Ranger Stadium.
- [31:05]
Ryan Alford
And if you're listening, go vote on Mantle for the Innovation Awards for ludx. That's. Am I getting that right, Brian?
- [31:15]
Brian
Yeah, on Mantle, we're up for the Innovation Award.
- [31:19]
Brandon Steiner
Really?
- [31:19]
Brian
We're up against some stiff competition. I'm just, I'm not going to say it. I'm not going to say it, but I'm just saying that our competition might have inflated some numbers that I know about. But I'm going to stay true to who we are and every number. It matters and it's right.
- [31:37]
Brandon Steiner
Cool. Be.
- [31:38]
Ryan Alford
Be you. Yes.
- [31:40]
Brandon Steiner
But hey, I think this being in the conversation matters. Like winning sometimes isn't always. It's not always the quintessential part of it all. Like, I disagree. I argue with Derek Cheat about this for years about if you don't win the World Series, the season's failure. Like, I think being in the World Series is extremely cool and extremely hard to do and should be a big deal even if you lose. I think getting to the playoffs should be a big deal. Winning playoff games should be a big deal. Like, and it's, it's, it's an important message. Winning is important, but doesn't be, it doesn't have to be the win all if you're, especially if you're in the conversation of being a winner.
- [32:17]
Ryan Alford
I love it, guys. I think it's been great, man. Appreciate you guys. A lot of fun.
- [32:22]
Brandon Steiner
I love this show.
- [32:23]
Ryan Alford
Yeah, man. We love you and appreciate your directness, honesty and right up my alley. So I, I thank you. I'm forever appreciative.
- [32:31]
Brian
Yeah, thank you.
- [32:32]
Brandon Steiner
I am sending you a copy of the new book. I'm gonna, I gotta make sure I send you a new way when I want to get your feedback on it.
- [32:38]
Ryan Alford
Yeah, brother. I love it. Hey guys, you know to find us collectibles show you'll have links to Brandon's book. Go check that out. He was so generous to continue to make that offer to anyone listening. Go to the App store, type in LudX. It's the best seller scanning app on the market. Lots of new features. We're going to talk about one next week, including an integration with ebay. That's amazing. We appreciate you for listening. Brandon, Brian, see you guys. Love you. We'll talk to you soon. See you next time on tcc.
- [33:05]
Podcast Announcer
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