Sports Nostalgia From Your Childhood

[btharner]

Gumball helmets....had them. I remember the Dolphins were the last one I needed and it took forever to get it. Later I got into the Riddell Chrome Pocket Pros and I have the whole set though it is becoming increasingly outdated and I don't think they make the older style chrome anymore (They switched to the revolution style which I never cared for.)

NFL pencils...had them as well as the pennant sets. I got the NFL poster in 1994 which was cool since it had the original Jaguars helmet on it, Also had a CFL helmet poster that I bought at a Baltimore Stallions game.

Media guides...I have a fetish for leagues other than the big four and many leagues that are defunct. Got them from the AHL, IHL, ECHL, NPSL, CISL, WLAF, CFL, CBA, MLS, WNBA, Arena Football, etc.

Got the programs for every Final Four from 1985-98, don't know why I stopped there. Programs for every Olympics since LA 84, with the exception of Torino 2006 and Beijing 2008 which I do not believe printed any.

[Oriolesmagic]

Gumball helmets....had them. I remember the Dolphins were the last one I needed and it took forever to get it. Later I got into the Riddell Chrome Pocket Pros and I have the whole set though it is becoming increasingly outdated and I don't think they make the older style chrome anymore (They switched to the revolution style which I never cared for.)

NFL pencils...had them as well as the pennant sets. I got the NFL poster in 1994 which was cool since it had the original Jaguars helmet on it, Also had a CFL helmet poster that I bought at a Baltimore Stallions game.

Media guides...I have a fetish for leagues other than the big four and many leagues that are defunct. Got them from the AHL, IHL, ECHL, NPSL, CISL, WLAF, CFL, CBA, MLS, WNBA, Arena Football, etc.

Got the programs for every Final Four from 1985-98, don't know why I stopped there. Programs for every Olympics since LA 84, with the exception of Torino 2006 and Beijing 2008 which I do not believe printed any.

Looks like I wasn't the only one with this problem. I seriously got about 40 Rams helmets and the Dolphins one always seemed to escape us. (My Aunt and I, it had become a tradition for us on Sunday evenings to head to the grocery store and add to our collection)

Eventually, we just went to the employees there and told them we'd "pay extra if you would just reach into the dang thing and pull out a Dolphins helmet for us." And I still have that Dolphins helmet in rememberence of those great days!

[HailGoldPants]

I know this is off topic, but when I was a kid I always wondered why some lancer was trying to pick that poor horse's nose.

Me too!!

[goaztecs]

The NFL Helmets: I loved those helmets. As a kid I'd buy them, and I didn't start getting back into it until college. The supermarket close to campus sold them, and I'd always pick one or two up every time I went.

NFL Pencils: Wow I miss those. I don't know how or why but I do remember having the Eagles pencil in elementary school.

Pennants: The only one I had was from an LA Raiders game. I wasn't a Raiders fan but it was cool to have.

Snapbacks: The funny thing was that I didn't have the sharktooth or the paint cap, but I did own the Cowboys Starter cap that was blue on one side/white on the other and had this zig zag pattern going down the middle. That cap and one that said Cowboys on what seemed like a small plaid pattern. I wish I kept those caps.

The only things I kept/bought again were a couple of Starter jackets

[DaytonBlue]

Ahh the starter jackets. I really wanted one of those when the Rams moved to St. Louis in 6th, but my Dad bought season tickets so my mom insisted I get this heavier Rams jacket instead for the walk to the dome on cold winter days. I can only imagine what she would have made me wear if they had played outdoors. (In hindsight, seeing the Greatest Show on Turf was worth not getting a starter jacket.)

As young as I can remember, I remember a pennant just like this one hanging the wall in the basement:

I thought it was the coolest thing ever, especially after my parents told me about camping out all night for standing room only tickets. So when my teams have won championships I go crazy on pennants, etc., so I can show them to my kids someday.

[Old School Fool]

I just want to point out, those Snapbacks in the first post are still in production over at the Mitchelle & Ness site. It may not be the original, but it's really cool it's still around.

[LEWJ]

I had a youth version of this when I was younger. Still have it, I think.

Had a Georgia Tech version too.

Also, I have two card sets (both the same) from the Super Bowl in 1990, 9ers/Broncos.

I wasn't born yet, but I used to look at them all the time.

And funny I found a pic of this actual poster, I had this hanging up on my bedroom wall from 1999 up until 2009, got it at a garage sale across the street, back in first grade... haha

Lofton's been my favorite player since.

[CS85]

My uncle, who got me into the Blackhawks, thought the Sharks were awesome when they entered the NHL and got me a ton of Sharks swag.

My first hockey sweater:

And a Sharks christmas tree ornament which google couldn't provide a picture of. Everything about the original Sharks look brings back a flood of memories. It's part of why I violently loathed every look of theirs since.

I used to do wrestling moves off of my couch onto this guy:

[Luke_Groundrunner]

Every time I go back and look at some of my old hockey cards from my youth, I get a rush of fond memories. From playing street and ice hockey, to going to the local card collector store with friends and opening the packs of cards with excitement and anticipation. Ah good times.

Of course back in those days finding any Wayne Gretzkey card was always the most exciting.

[BrianLion]

Anyone else a member of the NFL Super Pro Club in the 80's?

I updated the standings and playoff tree RELIGIOUSLY as a kid

[HedleyLamarr]

On a side note, about the gumball football helmets. The stickers came separately and you'd put them on yourself. I remember I got Cleveland once (I was about 6 and didn't know much about the teams other than a few) and the sticker was just orange like the helmet, which defeated the whole purpose of having a sticker lol. I was confused at first, but my dad informed me that they had no logo and that was their thing.

When I first started collecting the gumball helmets, teams would have that blank white sticker for the helmet stripe (or for the Browns, blank white logo stickers), and I was so antsy to put the stickers on the helmets that I'd put those blank white stickers on there, even though the teams didn't have a center stripe. I didn't realize til later that I wasn't supposed to put them on.

Gumball helmets....had them. I remember the Dolphins were the last one I needed and it took forever to get it. Later I got into the Riddell Chrome Pocket Pros and I have the whole set though it is becoming increasingly outdated and I don't think they make the older style chrome anymore (They switched to the revolution style which I never cared for.)

NFL pencils...had them as well as the pennant sets. I got the NFL poster in 1994 which was cool since it had the original Jaguars helmet on it, Also had a CFL helmet poster that I bought at a Baltimore Stallions game.

Media guides...I have a fetish for leagues other than the big four and many leagues that are defunct. Got them from the AHL, IHL, ECHL, NPSL, CISL, WLAF, CFL, CBA, MLS, WNBA, Arena Football, etc.

Got the programs for every Final Four from 1985-98, don't know why I stopped there. Programs for every Olympics since LA 84, with the exception of Torino 2006 and Beijing 2008 which I do not believe printed any.

Looks like I wasn't the only one with this problem. I seriously got about 40 Rams helmets and the Dolphins one always seemed to escape us. (My Aunt and I, it had become a tradition for us on Sunday evenings to head to the grocery store and add to our collection)

Eventually, we just went to the employees there and told them we'd "pay extra if you would just reach into the dang thing and pull out a Dolphins helmet for us." And I still have that Dolphins helmet in rememberence of those great days!

My sister had dance class every Thursday during the school year. In the same shopping center, there was a Kroger with a gumball helmet machine. My mom would let me have all the quarters in her wallet, and I'd take like $5 of my allowance money and walk up to the store. I'd go to Customer Service and ask for quarters in exchange for however much money I brought with me. I'd look in the machine (and after a little while, I learned which 5-6 helmets were next in the rotation) to see if there was a helmet I needed for my collection....if there was, I'd keep feeding the machine until I got the needed team, and scan the next ones to see if I needed any of those. The Eagles was my team-of-need....and when I finally got one, the plastic container was broken and I got no decals with the helmet, so it was just a blank dark-green helmet.

I still have my gumball helmets. I even made some of my own to keep the teams updated by printing up the helmet logos off the computer and gluing them with rubber cement onto blank helmets (with the main colors, I'd skip putting the logos on in case a team changed logos) of the extras I had. (Finding the left-side Ravens decal was a pain in the duff.) So they aren't the proper decals, but I made the Falcons' current helmet, as well as the Seahawks, Giants, Texans, etc. Haven't made the latest updates (Chargers, Bills, now the Dolphins and Jaguars). If a team had a miniscule change (like the Cardinals and Vikings and Panthers), I wouldn't bother making a change.

I saw those Riddell mini-helmets (roughly the same size as the gumball helmets)....and they're up-to-date, even the Jaguars one. They did find a way to make their helmet black-to-gold.

[btharner]

I looked up the new pocket pros, they are the revolution style and are not chrome so they would not match the rest of the set.

I forgot to mention standings boards in my original post. I liked the ones from the 70s and 80s that had the rubber logo magnets but then in the 90s gave way to those big boards with the logos and name tags so you could post the daily or weekly schedule and they had the playoff bracket at the bottom. They were a great tool to follow your favorite team or sport, especially pre-internet.

[twi]

Anyone remember a mid-90s promotional NFL card set that had star players dressed up as monsters? I can't remember what product they were promoting or any specifics really but some of them were pretty out there.

Ahh, standings boards. I used to have a NHL one that had little magnets you would place in the division circles and playoff bracket. I recall being so disappointed when a team would change its logo and my league set was "ruined". And even though I was in high school at the time I took great joy in placing the Lightning one in the Cup in 04.

[oldschoolvikings]

I had this poster as a kid. Check out the mistake on the pant's stripe... I always kind of liked it. It goes with the jersey better.

[JayMac]

Two words...starting lineup! Those little figures were my childhood.

[ADW77]

Anyone remember a mid-90s promotional NFL card set that had star players dressed up as monsters? I can't remember what product they were promoting or any specifics really but some of them were pretty out there.

Ahh, standings boards. I used to have a NHL one that had little magnets you would place in the division circles and playoff bracket. I recall being so disappointed when a team would change its logo and my league set was "ruined". And even though I was in high school at the time I took great joy in placing the Lightning one in the Cup in 04.

Monsters of the Gridiron, and I still have a complete 1994 set.

[BrianLion]

NFL Huddles any one?

I still have the Lions one my parents gave me when I was 9.

[Sport]

For some reason I was obsessed with football helmets as a kid. One christmas all I wanted was a football helmet, a real one, and my parents Santa got me a real white helmet with a gray facemask. I pretended I played for the Cardinals. I used to draw logos and stripes on white printer paper and tape them to my helmet. I went through so much tape that I got my own rolls in my stocking the next year. I was a weird kid.

I also had every NFL team's gumball helmet, which was a feat because I had duplicates of several teams. I bet I had 6 Broncos helmets. If I was at the store with my dad he would keep giving me quarters until I got a team I didn't yet have. If I was at the store with my mom she would say sorry and I'd have to hope for better luck next time.

Every helmet came with a white facemask. If the team used a black facemask I would color their facemask with a sharpie so it was the correct color.

I also had that NFL helmets poster in what I think was 1995. The Rams helmet had the old LA Rams word mark, but there was no city above the name because the team was in limbo. It's still on my bedroom wall at my parents house. I wonder if it's worth anything.

[andycumbee19]

Holy crap! That Raiders huddles is on Zack Morris' wall on Saved by the Bell! I always wondered what it looked like Cuz it was never in focus. That's awesome. That takes care of my something new for today!

[andycumbee19]

As for my nostalgia....

Along with a whoooooole mess of WWF figures & other Hulk paraphernalia