2013 SPx Football

What We Pulled:

Packs: 10
Cards Per Pack:  5
Total Cards Expected: 50
Total Cards Received: 50

Base Set Completion: 80% (40 out of 50 Cards)
Duplicates: 0

1997 SPx Subset Card

Inserts:
SPx Rookie Auto Jersey (1:10 Packs): 1 - Tyler Eifert #/30 (Autograph Patch)
Autographs (1:5 Packs): 2 - Rookie Signatures Cierre Wood #/299, Redemption of a Rookie Signatures of Sheldon Richardson #/299
SP Finite Rookies (3:10 Packs): 2 - Mike Gillespie #/899 Marcus Lattimore #/10 (Spectrum)
SP Finite Legends: 1 - Barry Sanders #/899
1996 SPx Subset:  2 - Earl Campbell, Aaron Dobson
1997 SPx Subset: 1 - Joseph Randle
SPx Shadow Box: 0
Memorabilia Cards (1:10): 1 - Eddie Lacy #/250

Our Thoughts:

Design - This is a simple design for the cards. The main team color on top and an arrow on the bottom with gold outline for the different aspects of the card and the picture in the middle. The pictures are basically only of the player which is refreshing. There are some black and white pictures which only enhances the set.

Player Selection - You know most if not all the players in the base set. It is nice to see some of the players you might forget like Steve Owens. Also included are players that did not go on to have stellar pro careers like Charlie Ward and Tommie Frazier.  I would like to see some more players that did not have stellar pro careers included in future sets. Use the set as a way to reach those people that don't necessarily know the history of college football to expand what they know.

Inserts - Too many insert subsets. Auto Rookie Jerseys, 1996 SPx, 1997 SPx, Rookie Auto Jerseys: Tier 1, Rookie Auto Jerseys: Tier 2, Rookie Signatures, SPx Finite Legends, SPx Finite Rookies, Shadow Box, Shadow Box Signatures, Shadow Box Dual, Shadow Box Dual Signatures, SPx Signatures, Super Scripts Autographs, UD Rookie Premier Auto Jersey: Tier 1, UD Rookie Premier Auto Jersey: Tier 2, UD Premier Auto Jersey, Winning Big Materials, Winning Big Materials Patch Auto, Winning Materials Combos, Winning Materials Combos Patch Auto, Winning Materials Trios

That is 22 insert sets. That does not all the parallel sets. That is just too many subsets to even think about collecting. And some of the subsets are at least 30 cards big. I believe that Upper Deck would do themselves a favor to cut back on the inserts and expand the base set.

Price:  At $70.00 for the box, I thought that the value wasn't there. I believe the biggest reason for that is the redemption for the autograph that I received. If you are going to have a large batch of autographs which is your call, then have the cards that need autographs ready to go before the redemptions need to be packed. I will need to wait between 12 and 16 weeks before I can expect that card. That is unacceptable.

Final Thoughts: Upper Deck used to be the king of cards last decade. You would open an Upper Deck product and be in amazement at what you had. It isn't like that any more. This release shows how far they have fallen. They need the NFL license. I like Barry Sanders and others that have retired, but not featured year after year. Expand the base set to 100 and have 7 cards per pack with the same amount of inserts (3 Autos and 1 piece) for a $70.00 price tag and I think most people could stomach it. That is $7.00 per pack.  The card companies are losing collectors. And unless they can figure out how to bring good value to their product, they will continue to lose them.

Box Value 2.5 out of 5.

2011 Sweet Spot NCAA Football Hobby Box Break

2011 Sweet Spot

What We Pulled:

Packs Per Box:  4

Cards Per Pack:  8

Base Set Completion:  22 out of 100

Redemptions:  1
     2011 Sweet Spot Football Sweet Spot Rivalries Book Card Varied #'ing CD #SSR-WJ
              Bo Jackson/Herschel Walker





Inserts: 7

Todd McShay Scouting Report (2) - Torry Smith, Mark Ingram

 Chris Mortensen Retro Report (2) - Brian Bosworth, Bo Jackson

Sweet Spot Sweet Beginnings Autographs (2) - Colin McCarthy, Cecil Shorts

Sweet Spot Rookie Signatures (1) - Ryan Kerrigan

Our Thoughts:

While this would never be considered our favorite Upper Deck product that they put out each and every year, the product is unique due to the Rookie Signatures that they have.  I am disappointed in not being able to collect a set of base set cards unless you purchase 5 boxes of this product.  That is a major complaint that I have for each and every card manufacturer.  I understand that base set cards aren't what the true hardcore collector wants, but completing a 100 card base set should not require that you spend lots of money to do it.  This product is the lower end of the one autograph per pack sets, so there should be more value to the product to entice people to buy it. One way to do that is to make the base set easier to obtain.

I do like the fact that the inserts are 1 per pack.  Having Todd McShay and Chris Mortensen scouting reports as the inserts does bring a sense of the big time.  Almost everybody that follows sports on even a casual level knows about Chris Mortensen and Todd McShay has been a real fine analyst for ESPN for the past couple of years.  A big thumbs up for Upper Deck in having those two insert sets.

As for the one autograph per pack gimmick, it is an OK one, but it needs to be rethought.  Not the one autograph per pack, but who they are including in the autographs and how they are devising the autograph sets.  Maybe do the Top 50 college players in your set as 1st Round Talents.  The next 25 as Building Blocks For Success and the last 25 as your Rookie Signatures.  I would also do a College Hall of Fame subset of Autographs.  As for the autographs on the helmets, the quality control on those leaves something to be desired.  Maybe figure out how to put the helmet up further on the card and put the auto below or something.  Because I did open a second box and the Christian Ponder signature on the Florida State helmet is a C and a line then a P and an arc.  I expect more form the autographs than that.

Overall, while there are some drawbacks, there are some redeeming qualities about the product.   I don't need the NFL logo and team symbol on a card to enjoy the product.  And the fact that using the college teams for players does make the set seem a little more unique isn't a bad thing.  And while I don't like redemptions, I can understand that some have to be included if the item is too big to be included in the packs.  If Upper Deck can figure out how to make the autos on the helmets look better, then this product could be one of those that I look forward to each year when it is released.

Box Value:  2.5 out of 5 Stars.