Author: Dave Soffen

Over the years, I’ve binged—on food, on alcohol, on anything that could numb the stress, the anger, or the depression. Even powerlifting, which started as something healthy, eventually turned into a toxic outlet. I needed control. I needed relief. Between 2017 and 2019, I sold off large parts of my sports card collection. I was done with the hobby and had moved on. But when the sports card boom hit during the pandemic, it sent

A few weeks ago, I got paid—and something inside me snapped. Not in celebration, but in compulsion. I opened Whatnot, joined a few lives, and started bidding. Didn’t matter if it was sports, Pokémon, singles, packs—I was chasing. And when that wasn’t enough, I went deeper. Facebook Marketplace. My dealer. A Prismatic Special Collection box I swore I’d keep sealed… but told myself maybe, just maybe, this was my time to hit something big. Of course, it