2012 Topps USA Olympics

A little over two weeks ago Topps launched it's 2012 London Olympics trading card collection which focuses on US hopefuls, among them a few soccer players. The women's autograph lineup consists of Alex Morgan, Hope Solo and Abby Wambach. Juan Agudelo is the sole men's inclusion in the entire checklist which is actually surprising considering the US national team failed to qualify for the tournament.

The women's autos are selling very well as expected with Alex Morgan's autos being white hot but I personally would've liked to have seen Topps go beyond the US athletes and obtain the signatures of some of the top footballers expected to be part of the games, the likes of Neymar, Chicharito Hernández, Gareth Bale, etc. It also bears mentioning that Panini has also released an Olympic product, which focuses on the British contingent. Unfortunately though it's the typical Panini "Adrenalyn" garbage, not even worth a further mention.

First Ever SCB Box Break

To be honest there's just not that many contemporary unopened soccer products out there worth opening so I mainly stick to buying only the singles I want. However I do sometimes pick up a box from an older collection I'm interested in, especially if the price is right as was the case with my recently busted 36 pack box of 1994 Upper Deck Wold Cup.

I had yet to pick up this preview edition World Cup set so this was a great chance to add it to my WC sets collection. Here's the breakdown of the "hits" from my box break as pictured in the scan below. I got 4 different "Bora Selects" inserts which the back of the pack states that the odds of finding these is 1:12 packs. Next I got 2 SP "Honorary Captain" inserts (1:24 odds) including Michael Jordan. Lastly I got 6 (3 not pictured) "World Cup Super Star Holograms" inserts. I have heard that these hologram cards were originally meant to be stickers and it makes sense because they are much thinner than the rest of the cards and very flimsy, still nice looking cards though plus I absolutely smashed the odds on these as they're stated odds are only 1:18 buit I got 6 in 36 packs!

As a result of this fun and dirt cheap break I now have the complete base set for my PC and a spare one to trade, as well as the entire Hologram insert set. I still need plenty of inserts especially the Bora and SSP Honorary Captains so if anyone out there has 'em I'd be interested in trading for them.

2011-12 Topps Authentics Premier Gold

Topps have recently released another Premier League premium collection with the 2011-12 return of the Topps Authentics brand. If you ask me this product is a real breath of fresh air from that nefarious Match Attax crap. This time around it appears there are no newly issued auto & jersey cards, at least no sign of them as of yet. The collection consists of 50 cards total with 10 being foils and the remaining 40 regular cards. It looks a solid set but unfortunately it appears as though the collection will only be obtainable in the UK via some type of promotional giveaway from British bank Barclays. Looks like eBay's the best option to pick up a set for those of us who not residing in the UK.