So when I, Evil Ted, am not at Blockbuster scoping out creepy Steve Nash or slightly less creepy Dirk Nowitzki bobble head dolls, I haunt my local Target in search of NBA trinkets that amuse me. OK, I wasn't actually IN the store for that purpose, but on my way out I saw something that actually caused me to turn around and re-enter the place:

russell_oden

So let me get this straight: someone at TOPPS decided to put Bill Russell, the winningest player of all time, on the cover of their card package next to Greg Oden, who has never even played in one professional game?

My first thought was: perhaps the idea at TOPPS was to achieve some sort of historical symmetry - "Let's juxtapose the basketball player who has achieved EVERYTHING with the player who has achieved NOTHING." And I'm not exaggerating here: aside from managing to remain sedated for microfracture surgery on his right knee, Greg Oden has literally not done anything for the world of pro basketball - hasn't scored one point, not one rebound, not one assist, not one dribble.

My second thought was: maybe these trading card people have to work on their covers so far in advance (due to the production delays associated with migrant Chinese labor), that they didn't even know Oden would be a lame duck at the time they made these cards. Lo and behold, my hypothesis was proven valid by the baseball cards displayed one spot to the right:

clemens

Yup, that's lying, cheating, steroid-injecting Roger Clemens on the cover. I'm presuming the "Updates and Highlights" include a Grand Jury Indictment of some sort?

Next up for TOPPS: Your 2008-2009 Michael Vick NFL Trading Cards.

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7 Comments:
Blogger Nels said...
Speaking of not even one dribble... someone said the NBA should start tracking dribbles as a stat so that we can have that as a category in fantasy leagues. The Knicks would becomes the newest fantasy stars!

Blogger fredMS said...
When i saw that card pack i just assumed that it was because they looked alike/ they were implying that Greg Oden played in the 60's.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
i have 10 useless greg oden rookie cards

Anonymous Anonymous said...
I love this blog, thanks for sharing.
- George Ya76oo

Anonymous Anonymous said...
Hey Basketbawful! Here are some funny stuffs from Yahoo! NBA:

On the notes area of CLE-BOS Game 5 recap, it's funny when you have 'Superbad' title right beside your name. It's like Ron Artest (Superbad) right?

Image link:
http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/3889/superbadrn6.jpg

Original link:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/recap;_ylt=Aq_8uJHgcSKsdLz5v.Z7pjy8vLYF?gid=2008051402


Another disturbing image from Yahoo! NBA. It's just caption correction and they really made a big deal out of it!

Image link:
http://img379.imageshack.us/img379/1888/captioncorrectionqo2.jpg

Original link:
http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/photo?slug=ac3db2d82bf8f814ac0da87b003ff2f7-getty-80391809nb007_cavs_celtics_nb001_rockets_knicks&prov=getty

Thanks man!

Blogger Dan said...
The baseball cards are for 2007.

Also, Oden signed a deal last year to be a spokesperson for Topps. Doesn't explain him being next to Russel, but it's why he's there at least.

Anonymous Anonymous said...
No, he's there because it's a father-son thing. Greg Oden taught his son Bill Russell everything he knows about basketball. My grandpa remembers back in the 40's, when Papa Oden would take little Bill out into the yard and teach him how to rebound.