Buzz buys and busts a lot of boxes right here for Buzz Breaks, but one of my goals is to rip a little less and talk more about cardboard that I -- and you -- might like. One way to do that? Simple show and tell -- present a few pick-ups and say why they captured my attention.

So, with all that said, here are a few Buzz Buys ...

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IT'S FOOTBALL SEASON ... 
The Item: Paul "Bear" Bryant cut autograph (BAS authenticated)
The Price: Less than a lot of new hobby boxes.
Why it’s Buzz-worthy: This pricier (for me) pick-up actually came in the last week of last year but I decided to hold onto posting it here until it's the right time -- and since football season is upon us, well, that means now's the time. In the fall of 2019, I bought a starter auto of this legendary Alabama Crimson Tide coach who before Nick Saban was easily the greatest in school history (right now, it's perhaps a toss-up) -- that one was an inscribed nickname-only auto -- for a lot less as it was a cut from a paperback book. This one? It's signed on thick, red paper (almost a light cardboard stock) and I know exactly where it came from -- a 1975 copy of his autobiography, Bear: The Hard Life and Good Times of Alabama's Coach Bryant. I have a clean-but-ratty copy of that book somewhere in my stash from an antiques store find 20-some years ago, but when this popped up from a West Coast mega-dealer of vintage (and selected modern-player) autographed stuff and plenty more I bit. I actually prefer the cut auto feel here in its case vs. the full book as it can be viewed when you find it vs. tucked behind a cover. A lot of Bryant autographs are found these days -- 40 years after his death -- are on signed copies of this book or on a style of autographed photo or two that is nearly always found inscribed and dated to fans or boosters from back in the day. While a photo (preferably slabbed) would be nice, this is a better, simpler item. Authenticated photos can cost less but look iffier depending on condition. I like this one -- and it's card-like feel -- and, heck, I might even do more. They are out there and findable.
Grab a box right here: College football boxes

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This is one of those black days for music fans.

Soundgarden and Audioslave singer Chris Cornell -- one of the iconic voices of grunge music in the 1990s and a successful performer in all the years since -- has died at 52.

Known for his intense guttural sound but also dramatic range, Cornell was part of six studio albums with Soundgarden and three with Audiosoave as part of a career that spanned more than 30 years and included two Grammy awards.

“For me to make a connection with music it has to either have a visceral nature, whether it’s anger or aggression or that kind of passion which shows up in rock music, or there has to be some sort of melancholy and introspection, something about it that makes you feel your own pain,” he once told Rolling Stone.

But, when it comes to cardboard, there's not a lot to go around to note his lengthy career.

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