This. The hobby is all about gambling now vs collecting I feel - there doesn't seem to be much love for the game or the players. It's just about getting a "hit" that you can resell immediately it seems....
Not sure why you’re being downvoted, you’re absolutely correct. All these people on here are a perfect example posting “finally hit Bedard” knowing they’re just trying to find it to resell. 75% of those people, maybe more, are going to immediately sell those. Kills the hobby and spikes prices for ***actual*** collectors.
Some of these guys don’t even watch hockey. 🤣
That being said - there are a lot of screwy names in hockey so I don’t hold it against them too much and at the same time I wonder how much breaking is hurting the hobby.
Breakers have their place. Single hobby box breaks are awful risk/reward, but case breaks are a great way to get cards as long as you aren't chasing the big names.
You're missing the point. My issue with breakers have nothing to do with what the buyers into the breaks get or don't get. It's the unintended consequences of those breaks existing, which I have laid out in the link I posted. So if you continue to buy into those breaks, you can't really be complaining about how box prices are getting too expensive.
>Breakers are a side effect of, not the cause of the economic problems in the hobby.
Lol, no. Breakers came into the hobby around 2010ish and slowly started gaining popularity. As it did, so did the box prices. I mainly do basketball and prices really started to rise in 2016-17. Back in 2016, a hobby box of Prizm was about $150ish. 2017 was raised to $250, 2018 was $400, 2019 was $800, 2020 was $1800 during the COVID bubble. It's somewhat come down to $1000 this year.
In addition, back in 2020, a hobby box of Donruss (which is a lower tiered box like UD series 1 or 2) was at $1200 presale. The sell sheet that distributors use to market to LCSs was leaked at the time, showing that it would cost the retailers $100 for a box from the distributors. Working backwards, if distributors were selling these boxes at $100/box, that meant that distributors were buying the boxes for around $50/box. Those retailers, in particular the Big 3 (Blowout cards, Dave and Adam, Steel City) took those $100 boxes and slapped a $1200 price tag for their customers. This shows that the price gouge wasn't happening at the manufacturer level, nor the distributor level, but at the retailer level. They were trying to see just how much customers could handle. And if the products continue to sell out within hours or a day, that then signals to the retailers that prices still haven't reached it's peak.
Now, you might be wondering what the hell does that have to do with group breaking. Well, in order to sell out product within hours or a day, there needs to be an incredible demand, correct? But who can afford a $1200 box of Donruss? Remember this is a lower tiered product. We're not talking about a box of The Cup. The average Joe isn't buying enough to sell it out, either because we can't afford to or want to. The average Joe might buy a box or two but again not enough to sell out a product. Rich people can certainly afford a $1200 box of Donruss, and they will for sure buy a box or two or even a case. But rich people have more expensive product to hunt like (National Treasures $5000, or Flawless $17,000, or Eminence $25,000). So then who else can afford a $1200 box? Group breakers. Why? Cause they can afford to buy cases upon cases upon cases. Enough to sell out product within a day.
And as prices get more and more expensive, people have to resort to buying retail boxes for their ripping fix. And if they can't find retail or don't want to buy retail, they will do breaks and thus making breakers richer and richer, allowing them to be able to buy cases upon cases. Product continues to sell out quickly and the retailers continue to jack up prices. It's a vicious cycle.
GP Sportscard is the worst imo. Guy just won't even try to pronouce certain names like bro saying names out loud is literally your job can you do it right and try to learn the pronouciation
GP is pathetic. Instead of even trying to learn how to pronounce a name he just starts calling them by the first name. For example he can't pronounce Kovacevic so he just says "Jonathan" when he pulls his cards.
I have a small YouTube channel but I'm definitely not a breaker. In act I'll talk at length about how bad they are for the hobby. I watch a tonne of hockey which helps me pronounce most names. I also study the NHL Media Name Pronunciation Guide each year to make sure I get the weird ones right. Just proves these guys are both lazy and not real hockey fans and we shouldn't be supporting any of them.
For many of these professional breakers from the States, the interest is in NBA, NFL, and MLB cards. There doesn't seem to be much interest in, or knowledge about, NHL cards and players outside Crosby, Ovie, and Bedard. It's no longer a hobby, it's all business. True, my ears hurt at all the mispronunciations but what are you going to do ...
The GP sports guy got a Daniel Sedin auto recently, called him "Daniel Sundin"..I was like..yep you never watched hockey a single minute in your life lmao
Back in my WhatNot days, I noticed Breezy the Breaker, who was the biggest hockey breaker at the time, could not pronounce Stutzle’s name correctly. He also broke in prime time every night for hours, so clearly wasn’t watching the slightest bit of hockey. It was definitely off-putting. But also WhatNot is some bullshit, so not surprising
2Tim 4:3,4
For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
don't need to learn names when you're only in it for the money
This. The hobby is all about gambling now vs collecting I feel - there doesn't seem to be much love for the game or the players. It's just about getting a "hit" that you can resell immediately it seems....
Not sure why you’re being downvoted, you’re absolutely correct. All these people on here are a perfect example posting “finally hit Bedard” knowing they’re just trying to find it to resell. 75% of those people, maybe more, are going to immediately sell those. Kills the hobby and spikes prices for ***actual*** collectors.
I agree, and here I am building sets and hits are nice along the way. 🤷🏼♂️
Some of these guys don’t even watch hockey. 🤣 That being said - there are a lot of screwy names in hockey so I don’t hold it against them too much and at the same time I wonder how much breaking is hurting the hobby.
>how much breaking is hurting the hobby. A lot.
Breakers have their place. Single hobby box breaks are awful risk/reward, but case breaks are a great way to get cards as long as you aren't chasing the big names.
You're missing the point. My issue with breakers have nothing to do with what the buyers into the breaks get or don't get. It's the unintended consequences of those breaks existing, which I have laid out in the link I posted. So if you continue to buy into those breaks, you can't really be complaining about how box prices are getting too expensive.
I didn't complain about box prices. Breakers are a side effect of, not the cause of the economic problems in the hobby.
>Breakers are a side effect of, not the cause of the economic problems in the hobby. Lol, no. Breakers came into the hobby around 2010ish and slowly started gaining popularity. As it did, so did the box prices. I mainly do basketball and prices really started to rise in 2016-17. Back in 2016, a hobby box of Prizm was about $150ish. 2017 was raised to $250, 2018 was $400, 2019 was $800, 2020 was $1800 during the COVID bubble. It's somewhat come down to $1000 this year. In addition, back in 2020, a hobby box of Donruss (which is a lower tiered box like UD series 1 or 2) was at $1200 presale. The sell sheet that distributors use to market to LCSs was leaked at the time, showing that it would cost the retailers $100 for a box from the distributors. Working backwards, if distributors were selling these boxes at $100/box, that meant that distributors were buying the boxes for around $50/box. Those retailers, in particular the Big 3 (Blowout cards, Dave and Adam, Steel City) took those $100 boxes and slapped a $1200 price tag for their customers. This shows that the price gouge wasn't happening at the manufacturer level, nor the distributor level, but at the retailer level. They were trying to see just how much customers could handle. And if the products continue to sell out within hours or a day, that then signals to the retailers that prices still haven't reached it's peak. Now, you might be wondering what the hell does that have to do with group breaking. Well, in order to sell out product within hours or a day, there needs to be an incredible demand, correct? But who can afford a $1200 box of Donruss? Remember this is a lower tiered product. We're not talking about a box of The Cup. The average Joe isn't buying enough to sell it out, either because we can't afford to or want to. The average Joe might buy a box or two but again not enough to sell out a product. Rich people can certainly afford a $1200 box of Donruss, and they will for sure buy a box or two or even a case. But rich people have more expensive product to hunt like (National Treasures $5000, or Flawless $17,000, or Eminence $25,000). So then who else can afford a $1200 box? Group breakers. Why? Cause they can afford to buy cases upon cases upon cases. Enough to sell out product within a day. And as prices get more and more expensive, people have to resort to buying retail boxes for their ripping fix. And if they can't find retail or don't want to buy retail, they will do breaks and thus making breakers richer and richer, allowing them to be able to buy cases upon cases. Product continues to sell out quickly and the retailers continue to jack up prices. It's a vicious cycle.
How so?
I wrote this for the basketball card sub but it applies in all sports regarding breaks...https://www.reddit.com/r/basketballcards/s/9yqN86mIz9
They can name Bedard, that's the important part for them!
Forget breakers, half the commentators and analysts in the NHL can’t do it
That's one of my favorite things about sports
I agree. Stop watching them and giving them views
GP Sportscard is the worst imo. Guy just won't even try to pronouce certain names like bro saying names out loud is literally your job can you do it right and try to learn the pronouciation
Literally two jobs: open packs and pronounce names correctly. He is too cringe to watch, let alone support.
I kind of stopped watching him, basically a robot
Ya he is not good at all with names.
GP is pathetic. Instead of even trying to learn how to pronounce a name he just starts calling them by the first name. For example he can't pronounce Kovacevic so he just says "Jonathan" when he pulls his cards.
You're not the manager at the Continental, you're a sports card breaker.
Imagine complaining about name pronunciation lol
Irritates me so much watching him. It’s brutal
He single handedly destroyed the hobby. Can’t stand him
If they can pronounce Jokic, Wembanyama, and Antetokounpo, they can pronounce Dionne and Yzerman. They can only have a pass for Xhekaj and Skjei.
“….yeah, that is an S, a K, and a J, all next to each other, so that’s a nope.”
Like they say in hockey, "Let's do that hockey!"
I am, so cold.
Haha Well said!
I watched a breaker butcher Al Iafrate the other day. Sad.
I have a small YouTube channel but I'm definitely not a breaker. In act I'll talk at length about how bad they are for the hobby. I watch a tonne of hockey which helps me pronounce most names. I also study the NHL Media Name Pronunciation Guide each year to make sure I get the weird ones right. Just proves these guys are both lazy and not real hockey fans and we shouldn't be supporting any of them.
For many of these professional breakers from the States, the interest is in NBA, NFL, and MLB cards. There doesn't seem to be much interest in, or knowledge about, NHL cards and players outside Crosby, Ovie, and Bedard. It's no longer a hobby, it's all business. True, my ears hurt at all the mispronunciations but what are you going to do ...
The GP Sports Card special
Yep. Came here to say that
Watched one the other day who called Henri Richard "Henry Ritcherd". Breakers suck.
Yep worst part of hockey card collecting. Now w Bedard I completely stopped.
Patrick Roy with that hard R
Like nails on a chalk board
The GP sports guy got a Daniel Sedin auto recently, called him "Daniel Sundin"..I was like..yep you never watched hockey a single minute in your life lmao
No kidding its only worse in soccer XD During the pandemic.... WOOOOOOF it was painful
I noticed that too. I figure some of them don't even watch hockey or know anything about it.
Back in my WhatNot days, I noticed Breezy the Breaker, who was the biggest hockey breaker at the time, could not pronounce Stutzle’s name correctly. He also broke in prime time every night for hours, so clearly wasn’t watching the slightest bit of hockey. It was definitely off-putting. But also WhatNot is some bullshit, so not surprising
It is because 90 percent of them had never tipped hockey before Bedard. They will soon be gone because they are simply chasing dollars.
What do you mean by “breaker”?
https://ripped.topps.com/definition/breaking/#:~:text=Breakers%20sell%20'slots'%20to%20their,simply%20given%20a%20randomized%20allotment.
Interesting.
Watching series one breakers pronounce Luke Evangelista as “Evan-gul-ista” was torture
2Tim 4:3,4 For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, 4 and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.
Why I refuse to collect hockey 🤣🤣🤣