One of the major things I miss from my youth; is spending the night at friends’ houses or vice versa. It seemed like every weekend I was trying to coordinate various destinations and events for my enjoyment. The entire weekend would be full for me before I even got permission from my parents.
I had a few circles of friends that I could count on when the weekend came around. I had the neighborhood guys; Brewer, Jim, Rusty, etc. Then there were my school friends; Josh, David, Michael. Finally, there were my cousins; Adam, Trent, Jared, Corey, and Dusty. Each group of friends meant small differences in the way the weekend was spent, but almost every weekend had the same basic plans.
I remember staring at the clock on Friday afternoon in Ms. Lee’s computer room. The final bell would ring at 3:20 but that time from around 2:30 to 3:20 seemed like a lifetime. When it finally did ring, I would sprint to my locker and unload everything. There was no such thing as homework on the weekend for me. In reality, homework was rare during the week for me as well. But I digress.
Most of the really memorable weekends that come to mind began with a trip to Dairy Queen on the way to the Mitchell-Baker Football Game. Our football team was very good when I was a kid and up through High School. We were a small school but we could pack “The Woodyard” every Friday night!
The stadium was dubbed “The Woodyard” because of the huge wood preserving plant behind the stadium that is now on the EPA Superfund site list. We now have a stadium built on the High School property. While I will always remember the good times at The Woodyard, I would have LOVED to have a stadium right there at the school. That would have been perfect!
I would usually spend the night with Josh or David after a football game. Josh’s step-dad was the announcer for the local radio station (and our English teacher) and we could sometimes sit in the booth and listen to the call. And David was in the band; a trumpet player. Sometimes we would all go back to Josh’s house. After the football game, we would usually spend the rest of the night playing Nintendo or something stupid like “Bloody Mary” to try to scare each other.
We were too old for Saturday morning cartoons but we were right in the thick of the drama that was unfolding at Bayside High School on “Saved by the Bell”! We would watch the “grown kids” shows and then find something to get into during the day. We went fishing, played Home Run Derby, rode motorcycle’s, played mini golf in the house, or would sit and go through sports cards to compare who had the best collection.
I would usually get back to my house sometime in the afternoon on Saturday. Upon arrival, my plans would begin for either heading over to Brewer’s or having Adam come over to the house. Saturday nights were usually the typical Pizza and a movie kind of nights. We loved cheesy horror movies and would try to find the oddest looking VHS cover at the video store to bring home.
Of course, there was Nintendo that night as well. We played a ton of RBI Baseball 3, Tecmo Super Bowl, and Double Dribble during those days. It led to some tension among friends at times, but we couldn’t get enough of the 16 bit action! It was absolutely the typical 90’s scene; Mountain Dew, Pizza, Video Games, and Horror Movies.
Here is where I list some of the awful horror movies that we watched. I list them because it is going to make me look them up to see if they are on some streaming service so I can relive the glory days. We watched The Video Dead, Return of the Living Dead 2, Phantasm (not awful but definitely weird), Ghoulies 2, Leprechaun, and Dr. Giggles. We watched some good ones too, but who wants to hear about those?
When my parents would come into the Living Room on Sunday morning, it would look like the aftermath of one of those “Living Dead” movies. We would be spread out on the living room furniture, pizza still in hand, dead to the world. Those were some long nights but were so fun! I usually didn’t know how I was going to do it, but we were less than 24 hours away from that school bus pulling up to carry us off again.
Sunday’s were all about sports. We would play sports, watch sports, play sports video games, and trade sports cards. No matter what time of year, you could find NASCAR, Basketball, Sunday Night Baseball, or Sunday afternoon Football to satisfy the sports craving. I even recorded Sportscenter back then and we would re-watch it during the week like we hadn’t seen it 100 times already. Sunday was the culmination of the week’s events.
There is one thing that was constant on Sunday’s during the basketball season; NBA on NBC. I can still hear Marv Albert, Mike Fratello, and Ahmad Rashad in my mind. The NBA was at a peak for me during the 90’s. And every Sunday brought some of the biggest stars in the league together to battle. Whether it was Jordan & Pippen vs Starks & Ewing, Reggie vs Bird, Barkley & KJ vs Stockton & Malone, or Run TMC vs Kemp & Payton; the games were loaded with Hall of Famers!
I was also at my peak in the early 90’s when it came to collecting basketball cards. And you knew that this would all come back around to cards in some way, right? I don’t care if I am the old man yelling at clouds, I will forever stand by those early 90’s players as being the best of all time. I legitimately get chills when I think about those days.
A small insert set that gives me the same chills if I haven’t seen it in a while comes from 1991 Fleer Basketball. Fleer had it’s ups and downs in other sports, but it was the King in Basketball during the late 80’s and early 90’s. And the King of inserts from the early 90’s was Pro-Vision.
Found at an average of 2-3 per box, the Pro-Vision cards were artist renderings of some of the biggest superstars. The art work was illustrated by Terry Smith. These remain some of the most aesthetically pleasing cards from the Junk Wax Era. And they remain extremely popular to collectors. Here is the 1991 Set breakdown.
Card #1 David Robinson – The Admiral was the College Player-of-the-Year, NBA Rookie-of-the-Year, the league’s top rebounder (13 rpg), two-time NBA All-Defense (first 2 seasons), a top ten scorer (25.6 ppg), the second best shot blocker (3.9 bpd), and the fastest center the NBA had seen up to that point. He was a game changer at the center position. This card depicts Robinson with his smooth left handed jump shot surrounded by a beautiful, cloud-filled sky.
Card #2 Michael Jordan – MJ had cemented himself as a superstar by 1991 but was still growing his legacy. He was on the way to a tremendous championship run and dominance on a scale that we would remember forever. He had led the league in scoring for 5 consecutive seasons (31.5 in 90-91), and shot at a then career-high field goal percentage (53.9%). He was named the League’s MVP and led the Bulls to the first of six titles during the 90’s. The card features Jordan rocketing into space to dunk the ball. This was foreshadowing for the 1996 movie titled “Space Jam”!
Card #3 Charles Barkley – Many people from the 2000’s or later think of Barkley as the jovial but controversial round man on the NBA on TNT broadcast. But basketball fans who got to see him play during the 90’s remember just how dominant an athlete he was. He was really unbelievable. He did not have the body type of a Jordan or Dominique Wilkins; but he had led the Sixers in rebounding from his rookie season in 84 through 1991 and had never shot below 57%. He was the MVP runner-up in 1989-90 and won the 1990-91 All-Star Game MVP with 17 points and 22 rebounds. And this was when the All-Star game was more of a game.
Card #4 Patrick Ewing – I would meet Mrs. Dub a couple years later and found out that this was her favorite NBA player. I was a fan of Ewing as well. In 1990-91, he finished in the Top 10 in scoring (26.6), rebounding (11.2), and blocked shots (3.19). He had led the Knicks in scoring from his rookie year in 1985 through the printing of this card in 1990-91. He scored 20+ points in 70 games that season while leading the team in scoring for 61 of those. The card is a beauty, with Ewing standing at the forefront of the New York skyline. Coincidentally, this is the same skyline that is seen at the beginning of Super Tecmo Bowl.
Card #5 Karl Malone – “The Mailman” was somewhat overshadowed in the Western Conference in the late 80’s and early 90’s by the last player in this set. But he was an absolute stud in the league. He would eventually get a shot at a championship in 1998 but would fall to Jordan and the Bulls. In 1991, he was 6’9″, 256 lbs of pure muscle. Over the previous four seasons, which included 1990-91, he averaged over 29 ppg and over 11 rpg; all while only missing 3 games. This card features Malone standing in front of a pane of broken glass with the ball crashing through it. That is what I think about when I see him; just crashing through teams.
Card #6 Earvin “Magic” Johnson – It turns out that as dominant as Malone was, he isn’t even the best #32 in this 6-card set. That distinction belongs to “Magic”. He was known in 1991 as the best point guard to ever play in the league. He was bigger than the average point guard but could move the ball with the best of them. By the end of that season, he passed Oscar Robertson as the NBA’s All-Time Assist Leader (9,921). He was an 11-time All-Star, 3-time NBA Champ, Athlete of the Decade, NBA Man-of-the-Year, and the MVP of the NBA Finals 3 times as of this card’s release. He truly was Magic on the floor.
I challenge you to look at any of these 6 cards and find a flaw, besides the actual condition of these 30 year old cards in my collection. The artwork is perfect, the player selection is on point, and the cards hold a place in basketball card history as one of the best inserts of all time (as per a study conducted by me and for me only).
These are the kinds of cards that make collecting what it is for me. These cards look good, feature great players, and come from an era that is full of great memories. I can look at Barkley and think about hanging out with Adam and battling for rebounds. I can look at MJ and think about Rusty wearing his Jumpsoles around the house. And I can look at Magic Johnson and think about all of the fancy passes I would try to pull off in the backyard.
And as I have said time and time again; that is what it is about. It isn’t about the flashy 1/1 autograph from the best prospect we’ve never seen play. It isn’t about scooping up all the retail boxes when find them at Target. And it isn’t about “investing”. It is about a piece of cardboard and what it means to you. It is about what the card says to you. Mine speak to me. I’m just the only one that hears them.
J-Dub
