Strasburg Mania- What the heck is going on?

Hey guys, Drew back here. Since I don't really have much to talk about right now, I figured I would cover the Stephen Strasburg insanity that is going on in our hobby. If you are hiding in a hill somewhere with Osama Bin Laden, Strasburg is the phenom pitcher on the Washington Nationals, who is 2-1 in 4 starts with now 41 strikeouts.

Stephen has been pitching great through his first 4 starts and has helped bring the Nationals to a popularity that is almost unbelievable. The thing that really jumps out at me are his cards. His regular Bowman card from 2010 sells for an average of $20-30 bucks while the chrome typically sells between $40 and $60, sometimes even more. His Superfractor card was recently found and sold for $16, 400 dollars. $16, 400. That is a ridiculous price to pay for a 2 1/2 by 3 1/2 sized piece of cardboard. Now, his red parallel 1/1 autographed card has been found, and currently the bid is at $121,100 dollars! $121,100 dollars!

This really proves that our hobby is basically pictures of men that cover up the gambling issue in our world. We spend money to hope that the cards we buy will soon reach a price that we can sell them for a profit. Back in the 1970's, 1980's and such, cards were fun. Sure, we've seen many expensive cards from that time, but collectors didn't really rely on money back in that time. It was more about pulling a card of a favorite player that got people excited. Most collectors didn't run to eBay once they pulled it back then. Of course, eBay wasn't around, but you get what I mean.

Our world has many problems right now. You can tell by this auction. This makes our country look like a bunch of gamblers who go out to McDonalds, and go home and watch sports waiting for their card's prices to soar. Stephen Strasburg is a phenomenal pitcher right now, and I definitely like him a lot, but I could only imagine how it would feel to buy a card of this caliber and then have him turn out to be a terrible player. I mean, what if Strasburg blows his arm out? He only throws 100 mph!

To be honest, seeing this auction makes me not only sick, but it makes me kind of feel embarrassed about where our hobby is going. All over the internet you find people that are selling cards for prices where they should not be. This year, we only have so many products to look forward to, and most of them have not been special. Nobody really knew what kind of effect there would be by Upper Deck losing it's license.

I sure hope that Strasburg is what everyone says he is, because everyone here in this hobby (except eBay snipers) are my friends, and I don't want to see them do something dumb like this.

Please comment and leave your thoughts on the monstrosity that is Strasburg cardboard. I leave you with this. Take a look at it and then tell me what you think.