Retro Review – Remembering an Icon

December 13, 2018

Today is such a special day. The federal government doesn’t recognize it as a holiday at this time but a well worded petition on change.org has been considered by your humble blogger on more than one occasion. In fact, the last couple of times this anniversary has rolled around, I have come closer to pulling the trigger. I can promise you it wouldn’t be the strangest thing proposed. Have you ever actually browsed change.org? Are we really going to “Get the White house to construct a Death Star”? Or are we going to get enough people together to “Shut Down Rotten Tomatoes”? Oh I know, let’s “Abolish the usage of the word Ma’am”!

Back to the matter at hand, so much changed 27 years ago today that I think the United States, if not the World, should pause and give December 13 the recognition it no doubt deserves. I think it will be an uphill battle being jam packed right between Thanksgiving and Christmas, but even if it didn’t result in a day off, I think it needs to be printed on the calendar. I mean, if Groundhog Day and National Bosses Day are a thing, this would surely qualify as a “calendar event”. If you were alive (especially between the ages of 10-16) on that fateful day, I can pretty much guarantee that your life was affected in some form or fashion, directly or indirectly. And we are still feeling the ripples today.

On December 13, 1991, a Japanese Video Game Company by the name of Tecmo Co, LTD released an NES Video Cartridge titled “Tecmo Super Bowl.” This was the follow up to “TecmoBowl” that was released in 1987, but had some key differences that I believe changed the way sports video games were made and enjoyed by the consumer. We will discuss some of those momentarily but I’m going to need an open mind from my readers on this one. Because I know what some of you are thinking right now; “Really? This is where that was going?Don’t you talk about TSB all the time?” The answer to all of those questions is a resounding yes. And if you don’t like reading about Tecmo, I would guess you would have stopped reading my blog a year ago.

First off, let’s just talk about the cover of the game. If you aren’t well versed in the way Tecmo released some of their games back in the day, it was pretty standard for them to put a real life photo on the box. This was an attention grabber from the get go. Most NES games in the late 80’s featured some outlandish cartoon photo that was appealing to kids but didn’t quite capture the imagination of the young teenager.

Not only was the cover a big hit back then, but I would venture to guess that it is one of the most recreated of all time! Just look at some of the examples above. These are in fact recreated because the game gets updated every year by a group at TecmoBowl.org. You can buy a copy of whatever year you want for your PC or even the NES in some cases! That’s right; in 2018, you can play the greatest video game ever created with up to date rosters and player ratings! Unfortunately, there is no Bo Jackson on the current rosters though.

Which brings me to one of the major reasons this is the greatest video game of all time; rosters. 1991 was a wonderful time to be alive and a fan of the NFL. Some of the greatest players of my generation were in their prime and right there on the 13 inch TV I had in my bedroom. A 13 inch TV sounds abysmal by today’s standards but I was actually one of the lucky few that had a color TV with cable in my bedroom at that time.

Just check out this amazing list of talent:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are big name kickers as well but we won’t go into that. There was a “clock“ one time though that was keeping up with the players from Super Tecmo Bowl that were still in the league and the last player to retire was a kicker; Jeff Feagles. He was a member of the Philadelphia Eagles in 1991 and he played until 2009. It even prompted a story on NBC NY titled, “The Official End of the Tecmo Super Bowl Era.” The last position player in the league from TSB was Junior Seau, RIP, who played 7 games in 2009 but did not finish out the season.

You will never convince any reasonable person that Bo Jackson wasn’t the greatest player to ever appear in 8 bits. I firmly believe it and the rest of America does too. All you have to do is surf YouTube for 5 minutes after you type in “Bo Jackson Tecmo”. Some of the runs you will see are beyond legendary. One of the greatest autograph pieces I have ever seen was the Bo Jackson signed Tecmo Bowl Photo. I would trade almost anything in my collection for that piece. Bo was a very popular athlete but I really believe that a chunk of his popularity can be attributed just to that video game. Bo’s career did not last long enough in the league because of his catastrophic hip injury but that one year on TSB encapsulated what a career of watching Bo might have been like.

Tecmo Super Bowl is simply iconic. Aside from Bo Jackson, you have the viral video clips of Christian Okoye breaking 80 tackles on a single run, recreated highlights from 2018 in the 8 bit style of TSB, the image of Lawrence Taylor straddling quarterbacks after a sack, and the unforgettable Joe Montana Touchdown sequence. There was the awesome music, the cheerleaders at halftime, the injured player screen with the daunting music, the 100 yard punts, 100 yard passes, and the 3,000 yard rushing season from QB Eagles. I could type all day about the little nuances of the game if I really had the time and if I could hold your attention. But I will digress and move on to the football card set I want to review for this piece.

I had to review a football set that would really tie in with the Tecmo Super Bowl theme and it really wasn’t difficult when I started thinking about the year. My favorite set in 1991 was Score. In fact, Score was a major hit for me in both Baseball and Football during the early 90’s because of some of the inserts we’ll cover. It is also a set that makes me think of Christmas because of how many of my gifts were centered on sports cards as a kid. Score was one of the main manufacturers that our Wal-Mart carried so I got a ton of it back in the day.

I remember the Nolan Ryan and Joe Montana triple exposure cards getting a lot of publicity. I really don’t remember too many people being excited about this Dean Biasucci double exposure.

I bought a box of Series 2 so it isn’t LOADED with all the stars but it has enough to make it worthwhile. I bought Series 2 for a specific reason, which will be revealed at the end. But this box did include 3 Super Bowl Champion Quarterbacks!

Bo and Barry were in Series 1 but I’ll take any box that produces a Herschel Walker and Rodney Hampton!

Jerry Rice headlines the wide receivers. A young Michael Irvin was coming off of a 20 catch rookie season but was about to explode!

Solid tight ends were hard to come by in the early 90’s in the sports card world but these 3 were very solid on the field.

Reggie White and Richard Dent! What more is there to say?

I was thrilled that LT was in Series 2 and Junior Seau was an added bonus!

Deion Sanders and Darrell Green were two of the fastest players in the league while Rod Woodson and Brian Jordan were two of the hardest hitters.

I don’t know that I’ve ever seen Emmitt Smith in a #25 jersey. I wonder who #22 was that year in the Pro Bowl? And how about a Marcus Dupree Card? Remember him from the 30 for 30, “The Best That Never Was”?

The Hall of Fame Inserts were not as appreciated when I was a kid as they are now. Big Earl makes an appearance!

I had totally forgotten about this insert set until ripping this box. I loved these back in the day! David Fulcher may have been the best defender on TSB. I also have Joey Browner as one of the most underrated NFL players in history.

The sackmasters got their own insert called Sack Attack. All of these guys were studs but look at that top row!!

The artist cards were big back in ’91. These were the NFL Leaders in various categories. Some of these were obvious, like Thurman Thomas with the most all-purpose yards and Barry Sanders most rushing. But I was stumped by Steve DeBerg so I had to read the back. He lead the league in QB Rating, if you can believe that!

Dream Team was one of my absolute favorite inserts in the baseball set because they were black and white. I did like these too but not quite as much. This is one of my favorite André Rison cards though.

More Art Cards! These were the Team MVP’s and I pulled the whole set in the box I ripped. Another Rison for the PC and the addition of Bo is always welcome. These are some great cards!

Here are the highly touted rookies from the ’91 class. Russell Maryland was the #1 overall pick in the draft. Ricky Waters May have had the best career of these players but I remember each of them for various reasons. Todd Marinovich was the Todd Van Poppel of the group.

Here is the reason I bought Series 2! The Brett Favre RC is the most valuable card in the set, though not very valuable on a monetary scale. I often think about what would have happened if the Falcons had kept him. Is Favre why we are cursed? Is it like The Bambino and the Sox or the Goat and the Cubs? Is it Favre for the Falcons?

I really enjoyed revisiting 1991 Score and there were some things I had forgotten about over the years. The Favre RC is a good pull but the inserts like Team MVP, League Leaders, and Dream Team make this set what it is. The base design is very much “Early 90’s” but the inserts were so much fun back then. At $10 or less, the price is so reasonable on these boxes, you really can’t pass them up! The only knock I have about the set is one I could have with the whole era. But when you study this checklist, it seems to stick out more than normal. The sets that were broken up into Series 1 and 2 completely eliminated your chances of pulling certain stars like Bo Jackson AND Jerry Rice in the same box. I don’t understand how the Series’ were truly split up when it comes to the veterans but I like the opportunity to pull anybody in the league when I open these boxes. For that reason, I have to give 1991 Score a “4” on the Dub-O-Meter. What say you?

J-Dub

Scoring Scale

1.Let me be the sacrificial lamb so you don’t have to buy these cards.  Just read the post and thank me later.

2.There is worse but there is much better – not worth the effort though.

3.Middle of the road – I wouldn’t talk you into buying these but I certainly wouldn’t talk you out of them.

4.You should probably go out and buy a box and enjoy the rip – I did!  It has some downside but worth the ride.

5.Stop reading and find a box to buy and get to Breaking!  What are you waiting on?