B-Rich Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 The other day I was going through some stuff and found the cards pictured below. Any of you guys remember the "Monsters of the Gridiron" promotion, which was a partnership between Coke and the NFL? It was run in the fall of 1993 and 1994, and featured special TV commercials with the players made up as monsters or fantastical creatures, as well as store displays and the like. In 1994, at least, they gave away trading cards with 12-packs of coke products. As I drink a ridiculous amount of Diet Coke, I wound up with quite a few of them.Several points I noticed about the "monsters":-- Some creations were more "monstrous" than others. Renaldo Turnbull as a huge minotaur was pretty cool, as was Marco Coleman as a snake-man, but Randall Cunningham as 'Rocket Man' and Marshall Faulk as 'the Missile' were more like super-heroes...--The Saints, by my count, had more current, past and future players as "monsters" than any other team: Michael Haynes (1993 as Atlanta's "Moonlight Flyer"), Rickey Jackson (1993 as the Saints' 'the Jackal'), Ironhead Heyward (1993 as the Bears' "Ironhead"), Pat Swilling (1994 as Detroit's 'Chillin''), and Renaldo Turnbull (1994 as the Saints' 'Raging'). -- The promotion ran for two years and in quite a few cases two different monsters were developed for each team (player movement had a lot to do with that). One interesting two-time monster of the Gridiron was Sean Jones who was "the Ghost" in 1993 for Houston, then took the Ghost persona to Green Bay for the 1994 promotion.Here are the Monsters:I thought it was neat how they had a card for the expansion Panthers, including a preview of their uni....more monsters in the next post. It is what it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B-Rich Posted October 10, 2008 Author Share Posted October 10, 2008 More monsters. They were numbered in alphabetical order of each team's "city" name.Gotta love John Randle as the 'Runaway Train'. Man that's goofy. CHOOO CHOOO!!! ... And I forgot how strange the Patriots jerseys looked with red numbers and white "TV numbers" back in the early '90s....I got the 1st two in this group from the net, thus they are out of order...I got all of this last group from the net. The Raider is, I think, Howie Long from 1993, and the Cleveland Brown "dog" is Eric Turner as "Bad Bone". Apparently in 1993 info was not on the front of the cards....Comments? Memories? Add'l info? It is what it is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
illwauk Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 Damn... I'd forgotten all about these lolI remember being a little upset at the 1992 version because the Terrell Buckey's character was called "Bear."Call it me, but I think a psychotic, meat-cleaver weilding butcher would've not only tied in much better for a guy that was playing for a team called the Packers, but is also much, much more halloween-ish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darkshadow1031 Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 Ya I remember having a couple of these cards, it was a pretty cool idea back in the day! Now if I could only remember where all of my cards went... 2002-2006 ALUMNI 2007-2009 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Conrad. Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 wow, this takes me WAY back...thanks for the memories (cue FOB song)these were really cool back in the day; i had the Faulk and Emmit ones and thought i was the shiz. Red Goat Creations :: Graphic Design Solutions Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJM Posted October 10, 2008 Share Posted October 10, 2008 I totally remember these...had a few which are probably still somewhere in the old card collection. Nice post! (MLF) Chicago Cannons,  (IHA) Phoenix Firebirds - 2021 Xtreme Cup Champions (WAFL) Phoenix Federals - WAFL World Bowl XII Champions (Defunct) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goblue131 Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 This is so sweet, thanks for posting this. I remember trying to get all these cards as a kid. Ronnie Lott and Randall Cunningham were my favorite cards I had. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShinyHubCaps Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 I had "Big Bear" and "Panthers." Pretty cool idea for cards, and I pity anyone who had to pose in costume.Thanks for posting, though. I never knew there were this many, and it's cool to see them all at once. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twi Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 Man that takes me back. I have Chillin' and Ghost in a binder somewhere. I always wondered what they all looked like. Thanks for posting that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dwboiler Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 I have the whole set in a box at my parents house. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eRay Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 Holy ship these are great! I have never seen these or heard of them, so thank you very much for posting. I just spent about 2 minutes per card just laughing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roger Clemente Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 I like how Big Bear is not member of the Bears and Knight Raider is not a member of the Raiders. Follow me on Twitter if you care: @Animal_Clans.My opinion may or may not be the same as yours. The choice is up to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZoomZoom18 Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 I had the Jessie Tuggle and Cornelius Bennett cards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BBTV Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 Pat Swilling was on the Lions? Not sure how I didn't know that, considering I loved him on the Saints. "The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joshawaggie Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 Heck ya I remember these. Can you imagine some of today's players gettin all decked up like that? @josh_j12 CFA- Fargo Bobcats Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
twi Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 Heck ya I remember these. Can you imagine some of today's players gettin all decked up like that?We could have Adam Jones as "The Paralyzer" and Ray Lewis as "The Murderer". Actually, it's not so funny when the monsters are real. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
njmeadowlanders Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 Wow...I hadn't seen these in years...I too had them, but there's no way they're still anywhere in the house... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chief. Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 Aw, no Nigerian Nightmare? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Legend Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 Hahah, awesome.I have these still in my collection, I saw them not too long ago while sorting some cards. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ColeJ Posted October 11, 2008 Share Posted October 11, 2008 wow. many many memories. i had the entire set of the ones with names on the front. i probably still do, somewhere. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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