Buzz 12 in 12: Busting a 2001 Topps XFL football hobby box (Hour 2)

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Do you like Buzz Breaks? Today’s your day then as we launch 12 in 12 — a series of a dozen breaks of past wax boxes and wax packs in a dozen hours. We’ll post one every hour on the hour all day long today … and this is Hour 2.

The pack: 2001 Topps XFL football cards (hobby box)
The cost now: $15
The cost then: $1.99/pack, $47.76/box

What’s inside this box? Keep reading …

Cards per pack: 8 (cards in gallery below; full set thanks to a Blowout Forum member)
Packs per box: 24
Cards in this box: 191
Base set completion:  100 of 100 (100 percent)
Duplicates: 67
Triplicates: 17
Quadruplicates: 2

Insert/short-print cards: 3
Loaded Cannon (3) – Mike Pawlawski, Ryan Clement, Charles Puleri

Autographs/Memorabilia: 2
XFL Autographs (1) – Michael Black
XFL Gridiron Gear Relics (1) – Chuck Clements

What’s Buzz-worthy: Hobby boxes of this one aren’t that easy to find but Buzz jumped at it at that price in the wake of the 30 for 30: This Was the XFL documentary that recently arrived from ESPN. There’s no WWE presence in here, no Vince McMahon or anything else from sports entertainment — and no Matt Vasgersian Rookie Card, either, dang it — but what you do get cheerleaders and a mess of former college stars in the vibrant colors of the teams of the one-year wonder of a football league. Hobby boxes include one auto and one Relic — retail boxes give you stickers instead — with the rarer pulls (1:190) being cool football Relics that show the red and black shell of the unique footballs used by the league. There’s not much star power in this set — “He Hate Me” Rod Smart is the “name” of the league while some NFL and college names such as Tommy Maddox, Jim Druckenmiller, Mike Furrey and Casey Weldon can also be found. Be warned that the cards can be stuck together in these boxes. This one was fine but other boxes have had cards so stuck that they’ll all be damaged beyond keeping. The autograph here is of former Washington State RB Michael Black — his only auto and one of just five career cards — and our Relic was of former Houston QB Chuck Clements, who appears on just three career cards and two of them are Relics in this product. The XFL was a memorable anomaly in the sports world and this set is all there is to reflect it.