Buzz Break: 2021 Topps U.S. Olympic Team & Hopefuls (hobby)

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The box: 2021 Topps U.S. Olympic Team & Hopefuls cards (hobby)
First Buzz Preview & checklist: Click here
Where to buy: BlowoutCards.com

Keep reading to see a full breakdown and gallery of highlights for what was in this one.

Packs per box: 24
Cards per pack: 8
Cards in this box: 182
Set completion: 
72 of 76 (95 percent)
Duplicates: 41
Triplicates: 13
Quadruplicates: 7

Notables on base cards – Monica Abbott, Cat Osterman, Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan, Jordan Burroughs, Kyle Snyder, Haylie McCleney, Mariel Zagunis, Sam Mikulak, Vashti Cunningham, Lilly King, Simone Manuel ... and others.

Inserts & short-prints: 46 (all in gallery below with some base)
Bronze parallels (12) – Megan Rapinoe, Alex Morgan, Vashti Cunningham, Michael Andrew, Jessica Beard, DeAnna Price, Katherine Nye, Ryan Murphy, Trevor Crabb, Robbie Hummel, Alexander Massialas, Carissa Moore
Silver parallels (8) – Alex Morgan, Steele Johnson, Mallory Comerford, Robbie Hummel, Brooke Sweat, Michael Andrew, Maggie Steffens, Carissa Moore
Gold parallels (1) – Jessica Long (/99)
Flag parallels (3) – Jessica Long, DeAnna Price, Sakura Kokumai (/299)
U.S. Olympic Heroes (9) – Lilly King, Alex Morgan, Haylie McCleney, Kathleen Baker, Matt Grevers, Maggie Steffens, Carissa Moore, Kyle Snyder, Robbie Hummel
For Pride & Country (7) – Alex Morgan, Kathleen Baker, Madison Hughes, David Boudia, Kareem Maddox, Jordan Burroughs, Ryan Murphy
New To The Games! (6) – Haylie McCleney, surfing, skateboarding, Kareem Maddox, Robbie Hummel, 3-on-3 basketball

Autographs/Memorabilia: 3
Team USA Relics (2) – Robbie Hummel, Ryan Murphy
Autographs (1) – Maggie Steffens (/189)

What's Buzz-worthy: This box was relatively standard in what it delivered as pretty much everything here was as the odds note -- Gold parallels are one in 25 packs, so every other box -- but the volume of dupes, triplicates and even quadruplicates was rough, especially considering that a base set wasn't completed. It's a small set so that should be a given here and if it was clean you'd have almost a second full set in a hobby box. These are dramatically different than the five-cards-per-pack, five-five pack format of the blasters but with much better odds on ink with them dropping at least once per box. Hobby is the way to go here for the better shot at rare stuff but as I noted last time the set is small and there are a number of obvious names who are not found in this release vs. Olympic sets from the recent past. ... As noted for my blaster break, the checklist is perhaps a little smaller than other past releases and the list does not include any women's gymnasts or men's basketball stars so a few things could have been in play here beyond it having been shelved and then revived. Rather than dwell upon what's not here I'll just ponder the idea of whether we'll see Olympians on Topps Now cards soon. (Maybe?) ... The checklist limits some of the break-out potential here but there are typically a few names who fare well in events and then have their autos or rarer cards blow up as people want their cards but may not know where to find them other than on eBay. There are some notable past Olympians with autos here and others who will be popular and are already selling well. With the Games finally here, these should start getting more attention and these hobby boxes with guaranteed ink might deliver big.

Product Grade: B+
Box Grade: B- (more toward average results and tons of extras without a base set)
Fun Grade: B

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