Classic 80s/90s Sports Posters: New Weekly Feature, Volume I "The Reign Man" (and request for entries)

I'll Make it Rain Babies Up in this Piece!

Those that frequent this blog know my deal. I'm a product of the 80s and 90s, back when you were allowed to make physical contact with receivers and brush back a batter without drawing a flag or causing umpires to issue 17 warnings to players, managers and the fans in the stands. It was a pleasant time. My childhood was typical...summers in Rangoon...luge lessons...

In all seriousness, it was a lot more innocent time to be a sports fan (right?). So, we're going to pay homage to those decades a bit more regularly here at The Legend...times before we had Web-enabled phones and when blogging had yet to reach even an embryonic stage. After posting a few weeks back on my awful 90s hat collection/obsession, and illiciting some emotional recollections from more than a few readers, it got us to thinking of other 90s classics -- like the sports poster.

Long before any of this corporate-fueled Fathead-type nonsense, the sports poster was a staple of the young fan. We didn't find them online at allposters.com or call into an 800 number based on some funny commercial we saw on TV. No, we went to good, ole' fashioned poster racks like this and thumbed through them one at a time. They were either in the back of a sporting goods store, local grocery or comic book place. You know, one of these guys:

We'd spend an absurd amount of time thumbing making our way through the "gallery" and compartments looking for the perfect poster to adorn the back of our bedroom doors, the walls or in the basement or some other tasteful location. We'd look longingly at the swimsuit models whom our mothers (ok, mine at least) wouldn't let us take home.

To clarify, these were not just any posters. No, no, no. There were two distinguishing characteristics of these posters.

1. The majority of the poster was a large-scale image of a single player or small group, frequently dressed in garb other than their team uniform

2. They were accompanied by one simple word or phrase to describe the player and/or group that was either extremely kitschy, completely over-the-top (think: The Annihilator) or both

"The Reign Man" example at the top of this post is one that I remember adorning a wall in the house of one of my childhood buddies. He would be ashamed today that one of the most notorious babymakers in professional sports had once served to inspire him.

Another ironic example is below. Personally, I recall a Knicks "Bomb Squad" poster I had featuring three studs in leather flight jackets that I can't seem to find anywhere on the Web...anyway, we want yours. We'll look to post one every Friday. These are treasured works of arts. Dig 'em up and share an image along with a quick related anecdote (preferably, fairly "clean"). If we like, we'll post with credit to you and throw some love to your blog (if ya got one) and all dat. Send to legendofcecilioguante@gmail.com. The plan is to post every Friday, starting Jan. 11.