Buzz Break: 2008 Upper Deck Football Heroes (blaster box)

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The box: 2008 Upper Deck Football Heroes cards (blaster box)
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com (for hobby when available)

Packs per box: 9
Cards per pack: 6
Cards in this box: 54
Base set completion: 
53 of 266 (20 percent)
Duplicates: 1

Notables on base cards: Chad Johnson, DeMarco Ware, Eli Manning, Wes Welker, Bo Jackson, Dan Marino, Fran Tarkenton, Franco Harris, Michael Johnson, Steve Vai, Tom Morello, Justin Hayward, Rulon Gardner, Tony Iommi

Rookie Cards – Andre Woodson, Ben Moffitt, Brian Brohm, Calais Campbell, Chevis Jackson, Derrick Harvey, Dwight Lowery, Early Doucet III, J. Leman, Joe Flacco, Jonathan Stewart, Limas Sweed, Ray Rice, Rashard Mendenhall, Tashard Choice, Terrell Thomas

Insert cards: None (see base card sampling in gallery below)

Autographs/Memorabilia: None

What's Buzz-worthy: Looking back, this one remains a bit of an oddity -- at least at retail -- where this is a box that is hitless and includes no inserts. (Hobby boxes included two auto or jersey cards.) The draw here for me? The oddity of Guitar Heroes autographs. Black Sabbath's Tony Iommi, for example, signed six different cards with two of them being 1/1s, two being /50 and two un-numbered. What's up with inclusions like this? Well, it's a product built with 100 cards of football heroes, 100 rookie heroes and the remainder of the set is comprised of legendary heroes sports heroes and guitar heroes though card Nos. 261-263 were not released. Typically, each subject has four cards and then each of those are paralleled -- none of those here -- with hits versions. The rookie crop here isn't that strong so the oddball inclusions are the highlights along with some of the past stars. Buzz found this one for less than $1 a pack, which was good because this box was pretty much standard stuff but without much flash at all, especially now that those rookies don't have much luster. 

Product Grade: B+ (thanks to the oddball autos)
Box Grade: C (a typical box and nothing beyond base ... also some damaged cards)
Fun Grade: C (hobby should be more entertaining)

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