A funny thing happened on the road to The National 2023: previously absent or scarce cards suddenly became available in droves. With the 2024 National about two months out, Austin Carlson (@carlson_cards) visits to talk about how last year's trend is informing this year's collecting.

The Shallow End is hosted by Dave Schwartz (@Iowa_Dave_Sportscards)

In this episode, it's three stories in 15 minutes.

1. A card negotiation in the shallow end of the collecting pool

2. Dave once again gets tripped up by his hobby nemesis

3. A new, surprising experience that could have ended badly, but didn't

- The Shallow End is hosted by Dave Schwartz (@Iowa_Dave_Sportscards)

The biggest U.S. sports figure over the last year has been basketball player Caitlin Clark. Now, armed with a fresh Panini contract as her WNBA career is set to begin with the Indiana Fever, the former University of Iowa star is beginning a new chapter in her remarkable run. To commemorate the moment, Dave welcomes three guests into The Shallow End:

• Keith Murphy, WHO-TV Des Moines broadcaster who has covered Clark since her freshman year of high school (4:32)

• Brett McGrath, the Stacking Slabs Podcast host and Indiana native who's now directly in the path of the Caitlin Clark Experience (33:20)

• Carter aka @MCBasketballPC, a WNBA fan and card collector with unique insights into how Clark's soon-to-be-released Panini cards might affect the hobby (57:13)

- The Shallow End is hosted by Dave Schwartz @Iowa_Dave_SportsCards

Dave saved up to buy a card that long had been on his watchlist. But when he finally had the funds, something happened: he didn't buy it. This is the story of what made him stop.

Host: Dave Schwartz @Iowa_Dave_Sportscards

Joe (@Henry_Rowengartner_Cards) has one of those Instagram pages you can't stop looking at. His collection of late 1990s Cubs baseball cards is something of a marvel. In this episode we learn how – and why – he chose to build it.

Host: Dave Schwartz (@Iowa_Dave_Sportscards).

In this episode of The Shallow End, we celebrate the quirkier sides of our PC's. We honor the lanes of our collections that nobody but us truly appreciates.

In this episode, @Iowa_Dave_Sportscards talks with Adam (@SplendidSports) about his ambitious collecting goals and how he reaches them. This is a story of discipline, patience, and sticking to the plan.

About. a year ago, two card collectors, @Iowa_Dave_Sportscards and @Paper_and_Chrome, started chatting over Instagram about their collections. Their real names concealed, it would be months before one of them realized the truth about the history of their relationship: close friends growing up who had lost touch after high school. This is the story of how cards helped Greg and Dave reunite after 30 years.

Sometimes a mistake is the best thing that can happen to us.

After greed, it's the sports-card hobby's greatest affliction: FOMO. The fear of missing out. Recent research has sought how to combat FOMO, with much of that research focusing on an antidote: JOMO — the joy of missing out. It's not a perfect solution, but it's a start. Let's dig in.