SkyBox Basketball came on the scene in 1990. The main selling point for the brand was that their cards had computerized graphics along with the standard action shots of the players. Unfortunately, the "computerized graphics" were mainly just squiggles or random pastel colored shapes. My roommate once described it as "Kevin Duckworth with a fucking trapezoid".
Which brings us to Karl Malone. My younger brother went to the MOA yesterday and bought a bunch of packs of old basketball and baseball cards. He was kind enough to let me open some of the packs. This is one of the beauties I pulled out:
Yes, nothing says one of the top 20 greatest NBA players ever like a bunch of random colored circles. The whole thing just looks muddled and vaguely like something an 8th grader would draw in art class. But the real treat is the back of the card:
HOLYFUCKINGSHIT. Anyone who followed the NBA during the 90s knows that Karl is from Bumfucknowhere, Louisiana. Amhad Rashad rammed that down our collective throat enough during Inside Stuff. But why exactly was Malone being filmed riding a horse in period gear? Was he guesting on Lonesome Dove? Was he shooting an audition tape for The Postman? And why in the fuck is this on the back of a basketball card? I'm pretty sure these same questions went through most sane people's heads when pulling this out of the wrapper back in the day. Time has only deepened the mystery.
And don't even get me started on the Mark Jackson in a leather blazer and turtleneck card I also pulled out of the same pack...
3 comments:
I have that whole skybox set in my parents basement. I put it together just by buying packs. Wanna buy it?
Do you want £5 for it?
I bet you have a shortcut key for the British pound sign programmed in to your keyboard because of your love for Britain...
Post a Comment