Hockey and the Cheetozard Are on Heaters

Let’s talk about the hottest sport going right now; yes, I’m talking about hockey. Yes, that hockey.

I’m of course riding the loud wave of yelling that happened this past week as the NBA All-Star Weekend went “up against” the 4 Nations Face-Off tournament, which essentially acted as the all-star festivities for the NHL. 

For the NHL, it was a huge success. They were booing the National Anthem?! In the NBA, however, literally the biggest storyline to come out of their perfunctory All-Star Weekend was Mac McClung, the 3-time Slam Dunk Champion who is averaging, hold on - let meee check – ZERO points per game when suiting up for the Orlando Magic this season. 

As collectors, though, Mr. Fickle, what does this all mean? To be honest – I don’t think the sport had much of a run on collectibles in the wake of the tournament. If you just look at the rising data from the past seven days, 4 Nations MVP Nathan MacKinnon registers as the 779th most popular athlete bought and sold. 

Meanwhile, in that same span more than 2,000 Zion Williamson cards were sold - one card in particular, according to Alt, sold for over $10,000. Williamson has played just 19 healthy games this season. Oh and a Mac McClung 1/1 Panini Chronicles PSA 10 sold for over $1,500 this past Friday. 

He is averaging ZERO points per game this season (though, TBF his stats aren’t too shabby when he plays for Osceola in the G League, if that matters to you). 

Personally, I’m an NBA lover and a hockey admirer and am less attacking and more asking: do NBA fans move more on emotion and are NHL fans more pragmatic when it comes to collecting? 

Oh, cool, Nathan MacKinnon had a nice “All-Star” tournament but there’s no way I’m buying on an emotional high; whereas NBA fans see Mac McClung dunk a ball over a KIA and look out!

Are we too emotional?! Don’t answer that. I can’t handle the truth. 

Speaking of messing with my emotions; I was absolutely devastated to hear about Victor Wembanyama and his season-ending injury. Just gutted by it. 

There’s been a lot of tension between the “buy the panic”-ers and “sell this dude before he retires this summer” shouters. 

I adore Wemby, I believe in his greatness. He is a generational talent and I want nothing more than to watch him for the next 20 years. 

Where on the fence are you sitting? On the side that’s selling off everything or are you throwing down $860k on a 1/1 Nebula Choice? 

How was this not a $1 million card? This feels like an absolute steal at $10k. 

No surprise, someone with the IG name KardboardKaren was in Sports Card Investor’s replies saying they think this is the “Worlds (sic) worst investment of 2025.”

OK, Karen. 

Speaking of Karens, is anyone else finding themselves having to deal with more “Karens” on eBay recently? 

Everyone seems to be complaining about everything these days. 

I was doom-sleuthing on a massive seller’s page on eBay just to see what kinds of negative reviews they have been given, considering they have over 40,000 total reviews. 

Some of the “negative” reviews were things like, and I’m paraphrasing only slightly, “the listing said the card was #44/199 and it was actually #14/199 – I really wanted #44, so I reached out to the seller and they said it was a mistake and they apologized and gave me a partial refund on my $7 purchase and let me keep the card but I’m leaving a negative review because I wanted #44…” 

What? 

And this was a common comment on little mistakes - which when you list hundreds of thousands of cards you’re bound to make some mistakes. 

Let’s let people make mistakes and allow them to correct the mistakes without “speaking to the manager.” Please?

More carin’ and less Karen. 

This is absolutely insane. We should not be buying Cheetos for over $5k. Nope. I’ve literally eaten dozens of Cheetos shaped like the bat Babe Ruth used when hit his “called shot” and hundreds of Cheetos that looked like the bit of ear missing from Evander Holyfield. 

Talk about putting money where your mouth is. 

Finally, just a nice thank you to all those who shared their Estate Sale knowledge with me. The Mantel community is so special and great, so just wanted to say thanks for the tips!