ITG Shoots & Scores With Motown Madness A Trading Card Tribute to the Detroit Red Wings

There are not many sports franchises that can be the sole subject of a trading card product. The NY Yankees, Real Madrid, The Montreal Canadiens, The Dallas Cowboys, Manchester United, The Boston Celtics and the LA Lakers could easily fill their own sets, but not too many other ones could and make money for a card manufacturer.

The Detroit Red Wings are another one that can fill a mighty long checklist with top names and at the same time make many fans and collectors reminisce about the 90+ years of making Detroit affectionately and passionately known as Hockeytown.

In The Game absolutely nailed this set. From the base cards to the manufactured patches to the autographs and real game-used items this collection will appease a Red Wings fan like no other.

I can already hear other hockey fans crying about this one. Guess what, if you are open-minded there is something here for you, if not... tough. It's called Motown Madness for a reason jerky!

Check out the box break video and if you want some more info about the product, be sure to visit the Cardboard Connection Motown Madness page.

The Soup Nazi talks to Cardboard Connection Radio

On the next edition of Cardboard Connection Radio, our interview from the Industry Summit with the incredible Larry Thomas AKA the Soup Nazi from Seinfeld will air as part of a live show.

Larry was an awesome guest. Funny, appreciative and genuine, a great guy. He was so cool that he worked a little magical phrase especially for Cardboard Connection listeners...

Here's a clip of the interview

If you'd like to add this autographed photo of the Soup Nazi to your collection, make sure you are following @CardboardRadio on Twitter and tweet what the Soup Nazi says to us in this clip to be entered in a drawing for the photo.

You have until Wednesday, March 27, 2013 at 11:59 PM Central Time to enter.

A tremendous thanks to Dave and John at Sweet Deal and long time friend Scott Schwartz for making this possible.

New Guests Bring Significant Impact To Cardboard Connection Radio

Wednesday night we welcomed Mandy Fuerst from Tristar, Brian Gray from Leaf Trading Cards, and Colin Barnicle the producer of the ESPN 30/30 short The Holy Grail on the show. We were also supposed to have Scott Gaeta from Cryptozoic on the show. For some reason, he no-showed even though we double-checked for confirmation. While we were disappointed that happened, it didn't put a damper on an amazing show.

We talked about TriStar's brand-new Impact Wrestling LIVE! wrestling card product hitting stores in a few weeks as well as the National Sports Collectors Convention autograph pavilion with Mandy. She gave us great info about the schematics for their products and some hints on potential upcoming projects. It was fun after meeting her many times to finally have her on the show.

Colin spoke very candidly about his documentary of the esteemed and scrutinized Honus Wagner T-206 trading card that is currently valued at over 2 million dollars. It was a great discussion about a topic that has been talked about by many for years, and will continue to be for many more.

Brian Gray earlier in the day had dropped the bomb that his products included a mystery redemption card of one Heisman winning Johnny Manziel. We spoke with Brian about the major announcement and some other Leaf happenings. He's continuing to break ground as a manufacturer and is finding ways to deliver the cards he wants to put into collectors hands. Always interesting.

If you missed the show, here's a link to the archive to listen: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/cardboardconnectionradio/2013/03/07/wednesday-cardboard-connection-radio

Tune in tonight for an all-new show with artist Sean Kane of Painted Glove Collectibles 

editor of the Cardboard Connection Ryan Cracknell, Law of Cards with Paul Lesko and NHRA and NASCAR racer Nicole Lyons. Listen live at 10pm EST: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/cardboardconnectionradio/2013/03/09/friday-cardboard-connection-radio

 

Topps Series 1 Price Drops, Is It Loaded With Too Much or Not Enough?

I was looking over some products in hopes of picking something up at a good price while simultaneously putting together a video of 2013 Topps Series 1 Baseball. I recently opened a hobby box and a retail box of the first entry in the 2013 MLB collecting season. Needless to say, that when I saw Series 1 had dropped from $60+ to  $46 I was a little surprised. That kind of drop doesn't usually happen this close to the release date.

But it has happened, and while I am an avid fan of many of the manufactured relics that appear in 2013 Topps I can't help but wonder if there is just too much going on with the brand. I've heard commentary from all kinds of collectors. Some love it, some do not -- I get that.

You can beef about what you love and hate, it is a free country. When I look at what the flagship product has become, I see many of the traits that I loved about it as a youth. It still has the set building qualities I remember as I tried to collate a set.

I love inserts as much as the next guy or gal, but it seems excessive here. I don't need that bloat to keep me interested in the base product. Some of it I can handle, some of it I can even tolerate, and some of it I can really enjoy, but I guess my question is, when is enough, enough?

This hobby seems to be geared towards outdoing the competition and then outdoing yourself. I understand that competitive nature. I have it. I want every Cardboard Connection Radio show to be better than the previous one, but even I know that when you overdo things it seems forced. That's pretty much how I feel about this year's product. All of the gimmicks, followed by the biggest card promotion, the million dollar chase, etc, etc.

That's said, when it comes down in price to the point where it is $1.27 per pack, it is one of the best bargains in the industry. There is no product that can touch it at that price, and that my friends is why it's been around longer than I have and will probably be around long after I am gone.