Board Advertisements on Cards, Episode 2: Volkswagen

Way back in 1978, the NHL allowed teams to start selling advertising space along the boards of their rinks. By the time I was a hockey card–collecting kid in the late 1980s, the trend had caught on. From snack foods to car manufacturers to banks to fast food restaurants, board advertisements really ran the gamut—and they still do.

This series will explore some of the advertisements that also managed to make their way onto hockey cards.

 

Previous entries are available here.

 

 

1991-92 Pro Set #183, Jaromir Jagr

 

Here's Jaromir Jagr on his 1991-92 Pro Set hockey card. On the boards behind him is an advertisement that features a very well-known logo, clear as day.

 

Whether it makes you think of a van from the '70s, a Beetle from the '80s, a sporty GTI from the '90s, or anything else, there's no mistaking that the advertisement on this hockey card is for Volkswagen.

 

But look at the text to the left of the logo. It doesn't read "Volkswagen". It's another German word that was featured in a popular VW ad campaign of the era:

 

Fahrvergnügen.

 

Okay, it's not an actual word, but a combination of two German words (fahren, "to drive," and Vergnügen, "enjoyment").

 

And if you were around in the '90s, you might very well remember the campaign. I feel like those Fahrvergnügen TV commercials and magazine ads and t-shirts and bumperstickers were everywhere for a while—even on the boards at an NHL arena!

Here's an example of a magazine ad with some nice graphics.

 

And here's an even niftier TV commercial.

The ads were so prevalent (maybe even pervasive) for a while there that I wonder if they hurt sales instead of helped. But mostly I remember Fahrvergnugen as a catchy thing, in a good way.

How about you? Anyone remember the Fahrvergnugen ad campaign? Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading!

Man v. Custom Card

Time for another custom look-alike card.

 

First, here's the original.

1973 Topps #312, Lyle Alzado

It's a young Lyle Alzado, looking big and bulky and not too happy that his picture is being taken.

 

As for the look-alike, in this case he might be a bit more obscure than most of the other look-alikes I've covered so far, such as George Clooney or Clint Eastwood. So along with the hints below, I will also remind you to consider the title of this blog post. 

 

Here are the hints.

Alzado took down quarterbacks on the gridiron, whereas this look-alike took down copious amounts of food in restaurants and other eateries.

 

Just as fans could watch Alzado's accomplishments on TV as he traveled around to different football stadiums, you could also follow this look-alike's food exploits on TV, as he was a host of a popular show on the Travel Channel.

 

Both men intimidated their opponents with trash talk: Alzado to the defensive linemen opposite the line of scrimmage, and the look-alike to the food he was about to battle.

 

And the look-alike is... 

 

...Adam Richman from Man v. Food!

 

There wasn't too much to change on this card, design wise. I just swapped out the player position of defensive end for "Man", and changed the team name from Broncos to "Gastros". (Short for Gastronomes.)

 

If you haven't seen Man v. Food, I recommend you give Mr. Richman a try. On top of attempting to defeat an outrageous food challenge at the end of each episode, the guy is pretty funny. He's also quite knowledgeable about the food and restaurant business.

Interestingly, there are a couple of other things that tie Alzado and Richman together. 

 

First, Alzado was a TV guy as well. He appeared in numerous shows and films, including a sitcom called Learning the Ropes, where he played a schoolteacher who tried to keep his moonlighting career as a professional wrestler a secret from his kids. 

 

Second, both Alzado and Richman were born in Brooklyn, NY. What are the odds?

 

And there's definitely a resemblance between the two, don't you think? The only major things that separate them are the hairstyle and the facial expression. I tried hard to find a picture of Adam Richman scowling, but it seems like the guy is always smiling!

A little more on Man v. Food: It ran on the Travel Channel from 2008 through 2012. Various online sources will tell you that Richman went 37-22 in the food challenges he took on. That's about a 60% win percentage. Not bad, even excellent when you consider the variety and absurdity of the challenges. (There was the 12-egg omelette with chili, hash browns, and biscuits. And how about a 4-pound burrito with a side of macaroni and cheese and a bowl of banana pudding?)

As for Lyle Alzado? The guy was a beast in his prime. He was a two-time Pro Bowler, two-time All-Pro, and a Super Bowl champ in 1983. 

 

In 196 career games, he compiled 112.5 sacks, forced 24 fumbles, and totaled about 1,000 tackles. 

 

Many say he played over the edge, and wasn't quite in control. Case in point? He once participated in a charity boxing match against Muhammad Ali. At times during the match he actually motioned for Ali to hit him—and then stood there with his arms down and took the punch! 

 

Needless to say, Alzado seemed to have an unquenchable desire to prove that no one was going to take him down or stop him from getting to a quarterback.


BONUS CARD

 

The 1973 Topps football set contained a card for each playoff game from the prior year, complete with stats from the game on the back.

Because Richman's challenges could be considered "playoff" games, I thought I'd whip up another custom card. 

 

I just changed the heading from "NFC" to "MVF" (man versus food), and changed the team names and score.

 

In this particular challenge, held at the Quaker Steak and Lube, Richman had to eat six "atomic" wings. (Each wing is hotter than 40 jalapenos—he had to sign a waiver form holding the restaurant harmless for any injuries sustained during the ingestion of the food.) 

 

And as you can see from the card, Richman defeated the wings. For the victory, he earned a bumper sticker and had his name added to the wall of fame at the restaurant.

So here's to a couple of terrors on the field of battle. And to another couple of custom cards finished.

Any fans of Man v. Food out there? Favorite episode? Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading, as always.

From the Favorites Box: Bob Nystrom, 1985-86 Topps #11

A series where I post some thoughts about favorite cards. Previous cards in the series are available here.

 

 

I grew up in the mid-1980s as a baseball-loving kid. When I wasn't in school or doing homework, you could often find me on a ball field. If not that, I'd be sorting baseball cards, or watching a game on TV, or studying how to improve my skills. (Anyone remember The Baseball Bunch videos?)

 

However, in the very late 1980s I met a new friend at school. He was the youngest of many siblings, and all his brothers played ice hockey and roller hockey. Whenever I went over his house we'd end up playing Blades of Steel on the NES in his basement, surrounded by bags of hockey equipment and sticks lined up against the wood-paneled walls. Gradually, he and his brothers introduced me to the sport.

 

Although I still loved baseball, I was also soaking up all the hockey knowledge I could. Fast-forward just a few months, and I'd convinced my mom that I liked the sport enough to want to play with it my new friend and some other neighborhood kids. Eventually I had a pair of rollerblades on my feet and a hockey stick in my hands, and I was out in the street or at the local park, skating around. 

 

Add another year or so of effort and desire on my part, and my dad had seen enough to fit me with all the necessary ice hockey gear. Soon after that I was attending a summer instructional camp at a nearby rink to prepare me for league play.

 

And since this rink was on Long Island, the organizers of the camp would occasionally invite a current or former New York Islander to attend a session or two, and give some specialized instruction and advice.

One of those players was this guy:

 

 

 

Bob Nystrom played his entire 14-year career with the Islanders, was heart and soul of the team throughout their dynasty years, and scored one of the most memorable goals in team history. Case in point? His nickname was "Mr. Islander".

 

Here's that memorable goal:

 

 

 

 

Although I was much too young to remember that goal (or any of the dynasty years), having grown up on Long Island I sure heard about them. After all, the early 1990s were just a few years removed from those great teams and from Nystrom's retirement. So when Mr. Islander came to the camp that summer, it was a big treat.

And as you can see on the card above, he always stuck around after camp ended for the day to sign autographs and talk to parents. I'm happy to still have the card after all these years.

 

For all the memories of those early hockey-playing days that this card conjures up, plus a pretty sharp-looking autograph, 1985-86 Topps #11 has a spot in my box of favorite cards.

Topps Giant Mr. Bean Card: PRINTED

 

More fun news:

 

 

 

I've printed out the Mr. Bean Topps Giant design!

 

The original design I came up with only featured the front of the card, but I really wanted the print version to capture the full effect, so I added a custom card back. Here it is:

 

 

 

 

I figure that fictional account stays pretty true to Mr. Bean's mannerisms, and is something we might have seen in an episode of Mr. Bean back in the 1990s, had they done an episode on baseball.

 

These cards have the same dimensions as the original 1964 Topps Giants, 3 1/8" by 5 1/4". I tried to go with a background color that was a little off-white, and I also softened up some of the edges to make the cards seem a little more period correct.

 

Similar to the Samurai Jack menko that I printed out a while ago, we're going to do a little giveaway here. I'm going to send a copy of this Topps Giant card to the first two readers to leave a comment describing their favorite episode of Mr. Bean.

Also similar to the Samurai Jack menko, I've only printed out a small amount of Mr. Bean's card thus far, so the rest will be split between my bonanza store and eBay store. I plan to print out and assemble another batch soon.

 

If you're one of the claimants and I don't already have your mailing address, here's how to reach me:

 

My email address is available on my blogger profile page. 

You can also message me on TCDB.

 

 

Thanks very much for reading!

These Transformers Cards Never Met My Eye Back in the 1980s

The Transformers hit their stride right as I was in my little-kid, cartoon-watching, action-and-adventure phase. And for a couple of years there, I was really into the animated TV series. If I'm remembering correctly, it was broadcast every Sunday around 10:00 a.m. on WPIX NY channel 11 here in New York, and I'd watch as often as I could with great interest. I also had a few of the action figures, used the red cellophane decoder on the back of the box to find out each one's strengths and weaknesses, and thought I knew the major characters pretty well.

However, at least one product escaped my knowledge until recently, when I saw it on Trading Card Database's "random card of the day" feature.

A trading card??

 

Yep, a trading card. I had a look at the checklist, and the set consists of a whopping 192 cards, plus 24 stickers. There are individual cards for all the major Auotbot and Decepticon players, plus a bunch of cards that are made up of animation stills taken straight from the original cartoon.

For the dose of nostalgia that these cards would bring, I thought I'd have a look around the internet to check prices and availability. Turns out these cards are somewhat rare, which might help explain why I never saw them in stores back in the '80s. Complete sets are a bit too pricey for me, and I don't need that much of a nostalgia hit, so I decided to search for a few singles. 

 

A particular seller on eBay had quite a few listed, and I added a couple to my watch list. The seller soon noticed, and offered me 50% off each of the two cards. With such a generous offer, I asked if he'd provide that same deal if I were to grab a couple others that he was selling. Nice guy that he was, he said it would be fine.

 

So here are the four cards (two Autobots, two Decepticons) I decided to pick up:

 

 

First up is Brawn, resident Autobot tough guy and demolitions expert who transformed into a Land Rover Defender 4 x 4. In one episode he quipped at a fleeing Decepticon, Hey, come back! You didn't finish your nickel-plated knuckle sandwich!

 

 

  

Next is Huffer, a construction engineer who transformed into a semi-truck cab. His colors are quite bright. I wonder why the studio went with purple and orange like that. 

 

Speaking of colors and design, you'll notice that the artwork on the card fronts is of a higher quality than what you got in the animated series. The metal is more shiny and chrome-like. There's more detail in the lines and depth.

 

 

 

Now we have Laserbeak, who I seem to remember had a role in just about every episode of the cartoon. How could he not? I mean, he was a rocket-powered robot bird who performed covert surveillance, shot lasers from his eyes, and transformed into an audio tape that fit inside the next guy's cassette deck. 

 

 

 

Yes, for the fourth card I went with Soundwave, for obvious "coolness factor" reasons. A boom box who had a wicked digitally altered voice? Yep. That was a smart move by Hasbro/Takara. I'm sure Soundwave was a best seller at toy stores everywhere.

 

Now here are the card backs.

 

There's quite a bit of detail there, and I can imagine I would have gotten into the show even more had I owned some of these cards back then.

 

There's also a bit of a Cold War aspect to some of the text, don't you think? I guess you could say the same thing about the entire story line. It was the Autobots (Us) vs. the Decepticons (Them).

 

As for where you'd have gotten these cards back in the '80s, they seemed to be available as hanger packs sold in retail stores, as evidenced by this image I pulled from the internet.

There were 8 cards and 1 sticker per pack. At 192 total cards, it would have been pretty tough to complete the entire set!

So that's that. A few nice-looking cards for my collection, and a big dose of nostalgia.

Have any of you seen these cards before? Any Transformers fans? Favorite Autobot or Decepticon?

 

Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading!

The 1982-83 O-Pee-Chee Dating Game: FINAL EPISODE

 

Welcome back to the 1982-83 O-Pee-Chee Dating Game. WE'VE REACHED THE FINAL EPISODE! (APPLAUSE)

It's been a great series with some entertaining contests. And if we've learned anything, it's that our NHL bachelors have quite a healthy variety of skills and hobbies. They're landscape business owners, water skiers, cooking enthusiasts, horseback riders, wind surfers, golfers, fishing enthusiasts, race-horse hobbyists, computer nerds, tennis players, boxers, public speakers, loggers, hunters, guitar players, and more.

Here's a list of the winners, by episode number:

 

1. Normand Leveille (Boston Bruins)
2. Ron Francis (Hartford Whalers)/Steve Kasper (Boston Bruins) (tie)
3. Mark Messier (Edmonton Oilers)
4. Aaron Broten (New Jersey Devils)
5. Dale Hawerchuk (Winnipeg Jets)
6. Curt Fraser (Vancouver Canucks)
7. Ron Greschner (New York Rangers)
8. Keith Brown (Chicago Blackhawks)/Brad Palmer (Boston Bruins) (tie)
9. Wayne Gretzky (Edmonton Oilers)
10. Glenn Anderson (Edmonton Oilers)
11. Mark Pavelich (New York Rangers)
12. Paul Woods (Detroit Red Wings)
13. Kevin Lowe (Edmonton Oilers)
14. Paul Reinhart (Calgary Flames)
15. Joe Mullen (St. Louis Blues)
16. Lars Molin (Vancouver Canucks)/Jim Peplinski (Calgary Flames) (tie)
17. Mike Foligno (Buffalo Sabres)/Brent Sutter (New York Islanders) (tie)
18. Chris Valentine (Washington Capitals)
19. Mike Ramsey (Buffalo Sabres)
20. Grant Fuhr (Edmonton Oilers)
21. Bobby Carpenter (Washington Capitals)

The bachelor who received the most votes in his victory was Mark Pavelich, with a total of 6 votes back in Episode 11. Way to go, Pav! (APPLAUSE)

 

For this final episode, we'll have to do something a little differently though. Why? 

 

Well, There were 64 players who were listed as bachelors on the back of their cards—enough for 21 rounds. 

 

That makes a total of 63, however, which means there's one poor guy left over.

 

 

 

How about a big hand for Joe Cirella! (APPLAUSE)

 

Now we can't just award him the date with our lovely lady this week, so what we're going to do is bring back two contestants who didn't win their rounds. First, please welcome back Left Wing from the New York Rangers, Don Maloney! (APPLAUSE)

 

 

 

Mr. Maloney was shut out by teammate Mark Pavelich in their round.

 

Next, please give a warm welcome to Left Wing from the Chicago Black Hawks, Al Secord! (APPLAUSE)

 

 

Mr. Secord was one of the unlucky competitors who appeared in the same episode as young Wayne Gretzky. 

 

Now that you're all here, gentlemen, please have a seat on the stage, thank you.

 

 

Let's get right to it and find out more about these gents from the back of their hockey cards.

 

 

Not much to say from two of the three bachelors. Maybe Mr. Secord's boxing history had them a little worried. Nevertheless, our lovely lady needs a date! Who will it be?

 

Bachelor number 1: Rookie Joe Cirella, who racked up some big-time PIMs in Ottawa a couple of seasons ago and now finds himself in New Jersey.

Bachelor number 2: Ontario man Don Maloney, who's been putting up consistent goal totals in the Big Apple.

Bachelor number 3: Boxing man Al Secord, who tallied a whopping 44 goals and 303 penalty minutes last year. 

 

 

Cast your votes, and thank you to all the readers and card collectors who participated throughout this series. Your humorous and entertaining comments really made it fun!

If you'd like to look back at any of the episodes, I've created a tab on the menu bar at the top of the blog.

A Bonus Custom Card, One Week Later

After the lively discussion in the comment section of last week's blog post about David Lee Roth's custom card, Sammy Hagar, and Van Halen, I started thinking about creating another custom card—this time for band mate and guitarist extraordinaire, Eddie Van Halen. 

So, I began looking through some images and thinking about a border design. Nothing was really inspiring me until I came across one particular image. It featured Eddie performing at an outdoor venue in the afternoon, smiling that classic smile, using one of his famously designed guitars—all with a beautiful blue sky in the background.

And it all came together.

 

 

 

I had to use the 1982 Topps "In Action" template. 

 

Why?

 

Back in 2020 I'd used the same template for a card that featured another extraordinary guitar player, Jimi Hendrix, also performing at an outdoor venue in the afternoon.

 

I mean, just look at them side by side on cardboard.

 

 

 

There was no other option for me. Two absolute legends of the guitar. Two guys whose sound and style everyone wanted to imitate. I think a lot of folks would put both of them in their top-5 list of guitarists. Maybe even top 2.

 

And I think they look fantastic together in action. Hope you do, too.

Thoughts? Favorite guitarists? Share in the comment section, and thanks for reading!