Buzz 8 in 8: Busting 2006 Bowman Sterling NFL (Hour 8)

Do you like Buzz Breaks? Today's your day then as we launch 8 in 8 -- a series of a eight breaks of wax boxes and wax packs in as many hours today. We'll post one every hour ... this is our finale for today.

The box: 2006 Bowman Sterling football cards
The cost: About half of its original price ... get newer NFL boxes here

What's inside this one? Keep reading ...

Packs per box: 8 (six standard, two one-card gold variation hit packs)
Cards per pack: 5
Cards in this box: 32
Base set completion: 
11 of 50 (22 percent)
Duplicates: 0

Base cards (all RCs) – Jeremy Bloom, Corey Blamlet, J.J. Outlaw, Garrett Mills, Tony Scheffler, James Anderson, Jimmy Williams, Jeff King, Johnathan Joseph, Haloti Ngata, Travis Lulay

Inserts: 1
Refractors (1) – Travis Lulay (/199)

Autographs/Memorabilia: 20 (see everything from this box in the gallery below)
Rookie Relics (6) – Vince Young, Antonio Holmes, Tarvaris Jackson, Marcedes Lewis, Maurice Stovall, Jerious Norwood
Veteran Relics (5) – Jeremy Shockey, Shaun Rogers, Ronnie Brown, Marcus Stroud, Lee Evans
Veteran Relics Refractors (1) – Lorenzo Neal (/199)
Rookie Autographs (2) – Dave Thomas, Jeff Webb
Rookie Autographs Refractors (1) – Ingle Martin (/199)
Autographed Rookie Relics (2) – Brian Calhoun, Joe Klopfenstein
Autographed Rookie Relics Refractors (1) – Joe Klopfenstein (/199)
Gold Variation Rookie Autograph Box-loaders (1) – Maurice Stovall (/900)
Gold Variation Veteran Autograph Relic Box-loaders (1) – Larry Johnson (/250)

What's Buzz-worthy: I found this box at a fraction of its original price -- under $16 per pack -- and, sadly, that's still probably too high based on what I pulled here. (Yet the price I paid was a lot less than many eBay asking prices. Go figure.) That's just how old NFL can go, especially when releases are so focused on Rookie Cards and it's 15 years later. The 2006 RC crop is a loaded one for back then -- Reggie Bush, Matt Leinart, Devin Hester, Vince Young, Antonio Holmes, LenDale White, A.J. Hawk and Mario Williams to name a few -- but it didn't work out like the hype promised. I knew that ripping into things here but why did I do so despite that beyond the price? I like the volume but there are a number of dual-auto cards to be found in the toppers here -- not likely easy finds and these are the years where there were groupings -- that include duos like Peyton and Eli Manning, Bo Jackson and LaDainian Tomlinson, Bush and Emmitt Smith, Kellen Clemens and Brett Favre, Leinart and Joe Montana, Joe Namath and John Elway, Young and Earl Campbell, Michael Vick and Favre and many others. Some of those notables also have their own auto Relic cards -- Favre and the Mannings the bigs -- and I did land one card from that set, Larry Johnson. It's a nice card but his career wasn't as legendary as was hoped. Some of the veteran Relics here can also have some decent value as it's a long list (see gallery) that includes Favre, the Mannings, Donovan McNabb, Larry Fitzgerald, Vick, Curtis Martin and a ton of other guys. All in all you get a bunch of hits here -- heavy on rookies in general and then Relics -- but some money guys are in there ... it's just a huge checklist. I didn't bite back then but at this price I knew it had potential ... just not this time. Crazy enough, there's a chance I could try this again if I want a rip with some volume.

Product Grade: B (It hasn't aged well player-wise since then ... but it is a strong package and design.)
Box Grade: C+ (I'm being too nice ... but I like the Johnson patch and Young appearance.)
Fun Grade: A- (Loaded with hits ... just not any truly big ones this time.)

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What's next? Hopefully, Buzz will be back to doing one of these marathons regularly this year ... just comes down to box/pack variety, cost and availability. (Last year, things got too volatile with delays and price surges.)

Follow Buzz on Twitter @BlowoutBuzz or send email to BlowoutBuzz@blowoutcards.com. 

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