Latest news with #EvanParker
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
QBs to watch (says AI), new releases and predictions coming true
I suppose I should address this up front, but I've been getting a lot of slack about my newsletter last week, as it may have been construed as me taking a swipe at The Hobby Awards and ultimately my boss, Evan Parker, who had omitted me from being a celebrity judge for the upcoming awards. I just want to clear the air: you interpreted correctly. Shove it, Evan. But also, check this out. Last Tuesday I wrote: Deep Sleeper Collectible of the Year Gina Carano is currently suing Disney and her acting star was on the rise before she got fired from The Mandalorian. She is probably in line for a comeback soon — and the Carano market has managed to stay remarkably strong despite her cancellation – autographed card prices aren't the deals you think they would be. Then, on Friday, this happened: 'Lucasfilm and Disney settle with actor Gina Carano following her firing from 'The Mandalorian.'' I am literally out here making lawsuits go away with my newsletter. I'm shaping culture! Your move, Buster. With football around the corner it seems like everyone is hype about the big-ish six sophomore quarterbacks. Drake Maye, Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, Bo Nix, Michael Penix, Jr., and J.J. McCarthy are getting a ton of hobby love. Arena Club, the trading and 'slab pack' platform ran a high-end $2,500 per card 'legendary' slab pack over the weekend. Yes, that's $2,500 for one card from one of those six quarterbacks. The 'grail' card, which you have less than a 0.10% chance of hitting, was a Jayden Daniels Donruss Optic Downtown Gold rookie /10 graded PSA 9, which is comped at over $22,000. The law of averages tells us that not all of these dudes will and can succeed, so instead of researching who I think might be a good 'investment' I went ahead and asked Google Gemini's AI bot to tell me what to do. While the bot didn't want to provide financial advice it clearly favored Caleb Williams, still, despite his struggles last season and in spite of Jayden Daniel's incredible rookie season. Gemini insists that Williams has the 'highest ceiling' but it also favored, quite a bit, J.J. McCarthy due to him 'landing in the most favorable situation.' I'm not here to tell you that to follow the advice of AI— I'm mostly here to remind you of the following 'can't miss' 'high ceiling' quarterbacks: Zach Wilson, Trey Lance, Daniel Jones, Mac Jones, Landry Jones, Cardale Jones, James Earl Jones - oh, wait, sorry he wasn't a quarterback. My bad, it's hard to keep up with the Joneses. …That was a long set up for a not-worth-it punchline but just a friendly reminder that spending $2,500 (or more) on a sophomore quarterback rookie card doesn't always end up being a 'good investment.' Hope you didn't miss the pre-order of the Topps Chrome Boxing release on Monday. It's the first time in 74 years that Topps released boxing trading cards. I know that boxing isn't quite on the trajectory that it was 74 years ago, but if you've been reading this newsletter for a minute then you know I'm a sucker for new shiny things [a sentence I type will sitting on a chair made of 2023 Monopoly NBA Prizm blaster boxes that I bought as a retirement plan]. Speaking of Topps, the 2024 GPK Battle of the Bands - Green Day edition - pre-sales sold out respectfully fast. If you missed out, you still have a chance to buy on release day, which is August 27th. This product is quite the procrastinator's dream since this is a [checks the date on the box once again] twenty, twenty-FOUR release. Leaf, I love you, but you're bringing me down. It's not that I'm against whatever this is actually supposed to be - or should I say who this is meant for - but I feel like this is one of those situations where a release like this can instantly sink the entire Livvy Dunne auto market. I'm not sure we need any more Livvy Dunne autos. We have enough on the market already to satisfy every man woman and child and teenage boy. It feels like this is the WNBA Royalty version of Panini making you spend $2,000 on a Prizm hobby box to chase Caitlin Clark rookie autos only to, months later and pretty much under the radar, release the Royalty collection which made all those Prizm autos feel 'meh.' Maybe I'm being too much of a prude, but the absurdity of this card makes her normal cards seem too 'normal' to be anything special. On the pro-Leaf front, so you know I'm not hating on them - I think the Leaf Anime Nation cards are highly, highly underrated. They tap into generational phenomenon (anime) that in a decade from now will still be highly popular and desirable. Like the Panini Manga cards but, you know, affordable. Hey, now! This guy has over 95,000 unique Topps Now cards. I actually love the Topps Now set, but man that's a lot. Though, I guess if you ever want to look back at Jose Altuve's 9th double on a Tuesday while Mercury was in retrograde, you can thumb through the collection and look back fondly on that amazing feat. How did everyone hold up at The National? Tons of people are sharing their purchases, grails and stories over at Mantel. Come share!
Yahoo
05-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The Fickles: An alternative Hobby Awards
It's becoming apparent there's a disconnect here at Mail Day, between our boss, Evan Parker, and your old pal, man of the people J.R. Fickle. First, he didn't tell me about the Mantel-sponsored Fanatics Fest party at Bleecker Trading until the week before. He then hid the beer from me. Then he planned and announced The Hobby Awards with Yahoo Sports, which I found out about from reading his favorite newsletter, Above the Mantel. Hey look, a guy can take a hint. This is all just a test to see if I would create The Fickles in protest. I did. He can't stop me (he's still busy courting celebrity judges). Let's dive in (Note: These awards run 2024-25). (Editor's note: As always, J.R. Fickle does not represent the views of Mantel— hell, we don't even invite him to our parties). Best Card Company Topps. It's not close, really. It's like 15 year-old me is running a card company, and that is the highest praise I can ever give. Best Card Company, non-Topps Leaf. We've praised Leaf here before. Yes, they have giant, weird misses. But they take big swings. And they're often very far ahead of the game (Livvy Dunne, Savannah Bananas, Ashton Jeanty, etc) as far as taste-making. Their designs are pretty, their card stock is top-tier, and they seem to be having fun. Best Sticker Set McDonald's Panini Family. It was a summer 2024 release that kids hated and parents ignored. But it has the Suni Lee rookie (really her only non-ACEO 'card'), and they had glitter parallels (showing a deeper understanding of the 'McDonald's Adult' crowd), so there may ultimately be a long-tail demand for what we imagine to be a mostly-discarded and therefore probably-scarce set (Buy on eBay). Most Disappointing Social Media Topps has a billion cards, unlimited history, 70 years of creativity, top-tier art, licenses galore, card-back fun facts… and all they do is repeat the corny 'dad and son pull a 1/1!' trope. Maybe it works for some people but why Topps acts like a fanboy on social media remains a giant mystery. Biggest Miss Every card company — and I'm throwing Funko in here, too, because they also could've done something — for failing to produce a Raygun card or POP featuring the Australian Olympic breakdancer. Best Inscription Anne Schedeen's card in the Cheers set — 'Maybe a beer to go for ALF?' (Buy on eBay) — combines Schedeen's roles in two 80s classics; a guest role on Cheers and the mom on ALF. Best Card Design Parkside is so good at designing their cards, it's hard to figure out which subsets are actually 'worth' something and which are just commons. Even if you don't like NWSL, the designs may get you to buy a few. Check out their 2024 Vol. 2 for a taste. Or the 2025 planet parallels. Lots of color and fun in here! Rookie of The Year Markie Devo probably has no idea how widely and often we quote him in Mail Day with his fast food missives. He's tipped us off to the BK Advent Calendar, DunKings, Lil' McDonald's, the Jim Henson/Count Chocula sold out cereal bowl collection, and more. He may have been around for years, but he's a rookie to J.R. Fickle Best Show of The Year The David Gonos/Michael Salfino 'card talks.' This should be a weekly show, it's fantastic stuff. Forgotten Vestige of Times Past of the Year NFTs. Remember those? Gigantic Loser of the Year (Tie) All Breakers Trend of the Year Lububus. They're cute! Next Big Thing of the Year It has to be Sophie Cunningham, right? Enigma of the Year Mary GambleGamble. She's fun and full of energy but mannnnn I can only take so many 'Profit: $125' fake/forced haggling videos. Deep Sleeper Collectible of the Year Gina Carano is currently suing Disney and her acting star was on the rise before she got fired from The Mandalorian. She is probably in line for a comeback soon — and the Carano market has managed to stay remarkably strong despite her cancellation – autographed card prices aren't the deals you think they would be. They are, in fact, 'generally unaffordable' for a guy like me. So imagine where they'll go if she makes that comeback!. Only one way to go! A lot of people are finding themselves un-canceled! The Hobby Awards Judge Snub of the Year LeMeme James should've been asked. And THEN J.R. Fickle. Bust of the Year Watch-collecting message boards. Just buy a $30 Indiglo and get over yourselves! The 'Why Do You Keep Doing This?' Award JG Auctions, for continuing to run air and space autograph auctions with obscure pilots' signatures on mostly unrelated postcards. (Note: We do love JG. We are frequenters of their historical auctions) Congratulations to our winners! See you on the red carpet for The Hobby Awards! Your collection deserves a community. Download Mantel today.
