By: Josh Bern

The Cardboard Crash

Everyone is down at least five percent. 

As the National Football League has just six weeks left, excitement is at an all-time high for a few teams and their fans. 

Other teams and fan bases are looking forward to the NFL Draft on April 25th.

In recent years, this is when the football card market has spiked drastically. However, this year, the market looks a little different.

Players on the teams with good Super Bowl chances usually see an upward tick in their card values, but this year, we have not seen the same results. For example, one of the most liquid cards in the hobby is the Prizm Silver, a card that features a glossy finish. The 2017 Patrick Mahomes Prizm Silver PSA 10 is around $3,000. At this time last year, this card was around $4,000. 

Mahomes added another Super Bowl ring to his collection last year, so one would expect this card to be over $ 4,000, but it is not.

Top Quarterbacks like Jalen Hurts, Josh Allen, Trevor Lawrence, and others are either down or have stalled. So, what is going on with the sports card market? 

Jon Eck, who runs the monthly Sioux Falls Sports Card Show and has been in the sports card industry for nearly four decades, says, “The whole economy sucks, and people just do not have money to invest right now. If you are a collector, this is the time to buy. I have found many cards for my collection that a year ago I could not have imagined paying the low prices for them that I have.”

Dennis Worden, owner of Triple Play Sports Cards, thinks some is due to the poor play from the rookie and second-year quarterbacks. Bryce Young has looked terrible, Desmond Ridder got benched, and Sam Howell’s team is terrible. Investors have poured money into these guys’ cards over the summer and the past few months and are still recovering from their losses.

Mark Johnson, who has been the vendor next to my table for as long as I can remember, had some fascinating thoughts on the market, “I tell every one of my friends to buy the cards that will hold their value over the next couple of years. Think about it. Is Joe Montana going to get injured next season? No, he has not played in decades. Invest in the legends, and you will see a steady rise in their card values, but it will always be in the upward direction. Compared to the modern day stuff where it could go to zero.”

Avid collector John Christensen is happy with how the marketing is developing. He mentioned how the prices of cards and hobby boxes are self-adjusting to where they should be. John says his collection has been growing rapidly because he can open more boxes, and his favorite player, Francisco Lindor, cards are also leveling off. “I am not in it for the money. If I wanted to get rich, I would sell real estate. I am in it for the great memories these players provide for me and my kids.”

Overall, the sports card market has been down over the past couple of months, but hopefully, the economy will bounce back, and we will see more investors and collectors pouring their hard-earned money into the hobby. However, the multi-billion dollar industry will see its ups and downs like everything else. 

Dear faculty of the Midland Zoo,

It is with great disappointment that I am writing to you today. Our beloved polar bear, Homer, died early this morning at 16. The other two polar bears will be held in another exhibit closely monitored by our vets, Amanda and Chris.

A necropsy will be administered, and a cause of death will be determined, but not for quite a while. As you all know, our primary goal at the Midland Zoo is to protect and preserve our beloved species.

Homer holds a particular plane in many of our hearts. We will greatly miss him. Once again, thanks for all you guys do to protect and preserve our wildlife. If you have any questions regarding Homer, please contact me directly.

Upon opening the new website, I saw a few significant changes. I did notice a few new photos, such as the student who will be a future educator and one who will be a future pilot. Morningside is pushing its new aviation program, and this is a great way to do so. I read about the article on Marto Brewery who released a Morningside themed beer called “Dear Old Maroon”. The article mentioned how it was a partnership the college and brewery did. Morningside alumni and supports tasted four beers, and made submissions on which one should be the “Dear Old Maroon”. The beer contains a little warmer feel and taste, but it contains a very subtle fruity taste.

Scrolling down, I see “preparing students for success,” I like what is written here, but I would not say I like the photo with it. The photo seems too staged and needs to be more authentic. The guy taking the selfie in the background is what bothers me.

The next place I went to evaluate the new website was the “apply page” since this will probably be the most visited part of the site. I do not remember quite what it looked like before since it has been a few years, but my initial impression of the “start your application” is that it is very well organized. Below is a “contact admissions” with a Lewis Hall graphic, which I do not like. Lewis has an absolutely gorgeous exterior in the fall; why couldn’t they have used a picture of the building?

I like the “athletics page” on the website, as it includes excellent photos of players in action and even a short video of a baseball player. This will be a popular page on the website, as almost every student on campus is an athlete.

Overall, things are more organized and more straightforward than on the old website. Things are a lot more manageable. There are a few spots where I would like to see some different images installed, but other than that, they did an excellent job.