In the Spring of 2007, I was just a young pup in this NBA blogging world. Since then, I have accumulated literally dozens of readers and made untold tens of dollars writing about the NBA, but back then the only people reading this blog were me and Drop Dead Fred. (He didn’t even like it … I just spammed his Gmail account with links to my posts.)

Then, on April 4, 2007, I did a post called “The Top 50 NBA Commercials of All Time” that got linked to from Henry Abbott’s new ESPN version of TrueHoop and a cavalcade of other NBA blogs that probably don’t even exist anymore and, like, 40,000 people showed up. Since my previous high in any day was somewhere south of 4 unique users, it was pretty cool.

Unfortunately, within the year I switched hosting companies and perhaps-due-to-nonpayment (who remembers really?), I lost pretty much all my old content in the transfer. It seemed like a bummer at the time, but honestly the commercial thing and like three other posts were probably the only not completely terrible things I ever did. Still, losing stuff sucks.

HOWEVER, through the miracle of the a tech-smart friend of mine, I was recently able to recover some stuff. And so, mostly because I want to put it back in my archives, I’m re-posting it as it was originally posted verbatim in April, 2007. (Thus, forgive the omission of any spots from the last three years that warrant inclusion.)

Additionally, this may as well be the formal launch of “The NBA Commercial Project,” which will be an attempt to gather links to video for every NBA commercial ever made. We’ll start with just these 50 and build on that. And that’s where I’ll need your help. Head over there and drop links to videos in the comments.

Just do it (wocka, wocka, wocka).

Check the full, original Top 50 after the jump.

This needs to be prefaced by saying these are only the best that can be found on YouTube. Meaning…No Grandmama, no Nique Pump ads, no Bird/Magic Converse, no “Grant Hill Drinks Sprite,” no Moses Malone rebounding, and, believe it or not, no Derrick Coleman British Knights spots.

Even so, I’m sure there are some glaring omissions. Let me know what I missed.

Now excuse me while I finish my Gatorade, put on my Nikes, and log-on to ESPN on my T-Mobile phone while I head to McDonald’s.

(If you have any audio trouble, try toggling the volume icon on the lower right corner of each entry. If that doesn’t work, just re-load the whole page and you should be good.)

50. Play it Again, Grant

This is only here because of how amazing it is to remember that these guys were both once about as good as it got in their respective positions. Unfortunately, Grant’s ankles fell apart and Dan Patrick turned into a giant douchebag.

49. Kobe’s 81

Looks like he had a pretty good night.

48. AI’s Slow Spin

This loses points for helping popularize the once-underground and cool, and now everywhere and obnoxious And 1 dribbling phenomenon.

47. Dancing Gheorghe

This is just a teaser for the Gheorghe to come later.

46. Timmy’s Delight

Duncan shows more emotion in this 30-second cartoon than he has in his entire NBA career.

45. 100-Foot Rim

Probably not that great all things considered, but I’m giving out bonus points for it being a dope shoe and the early-90s CGI.

44. Big Slam

The Big Cameo.

43. Spike and Timmy

“Look at the Ugly Knuckleball Action.”

42. TMac’s Tall Tale

Could have been better, but a good effort.

41. Kobe’s Matrix Dunks

It’s almost hard to believe this is even the same guy that wears #24.

40. Jugador Mas Valioso

I was trying to stay away from ads for the actual NBA sponsored by the NBA itself, NBC, ABC or TNT because there are just too many of them and most of them are boring, but when you put a guy who can barely speak English into a spot where the whole premise is him speaking Spanish, you’re making the list.

39. Slam

This is here only because of the little kid and the dunk over Zo.

38. The Greatest

I could have made this with Powerpoint and Cassio’s “My First Keyboard.” Goes to show how easy your job was when MJ was hawking your product. This probably won’t be the last you see of him.

37. Tastefully Done

Not sure why, but watching this one is when I feel the oldest.

36. Don’t Walk

Could of been done a lot better, but making fun of Patrick Ewing earns you points.

35. Magic’s 7-UP Tricks

Think he slept with her?

34. Check

I don’t care if you have a whole army of businessmen, girls in bikinis, fat construction workers and Mexican migrant workers….You’re not stopping The Kid.

33. Yo, Yao

Mocking foreigners is always a good time.

32. Really Wasn’t About the Hat

Chuckster at his best.

“Is this your dad?”

31. King Kong McGrady

King Kong meets Gulliver’s Travels.

30. Godzilla vs. Barkley

Good luck with that, Big Zill.

29. Can I Kick It?

This is the poor man’s version of that Tiger Woods golf ball juggle commercial. Pretty impressive for a Canuck point guard, though.

28. Dwyane vs. Flash

Do whatcha do.

27. Daruis & Q

Great song + head pounds = #27.

26. Agent Zero

There was 0 percent chance that this wasn’t making the list.

25. Frozen Moment

This one was better at the time than it is now. However……

The Lil Penny remix still holds up just fine. (Don’t worry, more LP to come.)

24. Swingers Dirk

All these Trophy Love spots were pretty good. This was my favorite. Here’s the ones with JKidd, Nash, Vlade, and Manu & Tony.

23. Umi Says

Mos Def, extended edition (the Jeter appearance cost this one some points).

22. The Glory of The Mustache Days

Click here for more info on the history of the NBA moustache.

21. AI and Jada

Jada kills this Trackmasters sneaker squeak beat.

The A6 Remix, this time with an verse from AI

20. One on One

If Kobe would just embrace the dark side, everyone would respect him a lot more.

19. Not a Role Model

He always was shy.

18. Gheorghe Muresan Cologne

Screw Scorsece, I still can’t believe the Academy overlooked an Oscar for My Giant.

17. That’s a 90-footer

CGI at its best.

16. The Shirt

Exactly what we were all thinking.

15. Zeke the Thief

Speechless.

14. Coulda Dunked … Shoulda Dunked

Three more MJ appearances for the price of one.

13. Nationwide Basketball Society

Easily Diesel’s best performance since Curb Your Enthusiasm. But most of these Ali G/TNT spots were pretty great. Here are most of the rest.

12. The Second Coming

You know it’s good when it convinces you to enjoy a Dip Set track.

The “Kobe Being Kobe” version is 10x better though.

11. Fun Police

Unfortunately, these are probably the worst two in the Fun Police series. If I had the better ones in front of me this is probably in the Top 5. Step your game up, YouTube.

UPDATE: Thanks to Sam for hooking us up with a link to the better Fun Police spots. “Your facial expressions when you dunk are VERY limited.”

10. Nasty Dunk

An ad with the Four Best Centers Ever and one of the most hilarious catch phrases of all time gets you an automatic bid to the Top 10.

9. Freestyle

Extended edition. Great stuff.

8. Mars

Money … it’s gotta be the shoes.

This, you cannot do.

What’s the over/under on Spike, 4?10??

7. The LeBrons

“Dunk Contests are Bourgeois”

“You Think Michael Trained in the Pool?”

The First Season

6. Like Mike

If this song isn’t in your head for the rest of the day, please burn your Social Security card and leave my country immediately. You’re not wanted here.

5. Lil Penny

The “Super Bowl Party” is basically the “We Are The World” of sports commercials.

Double Action.

Lil Penny Classic.

The Secret Service couldn’t guard me.

4. Johnny Kilroy

This version (and the video quality) is pretty horrible. Go here for the proper edition with Steve Martin and “The Popcorn Tape.”

3. Roswell Rayguns

I’m just gonna lump these together so they don’t monopolize the Top 10.

Snoop and George Clinton’s Funk Ship.

Dr. Funk.

2. The Showdown

With MJ’s sweater and Bird’s backhair, it’s really hard to leave this out the #1 slot.

1. XXI

On the other hand…’Nuff said.

I have always hated their current logo. It is an ugly triangle with absolutely no whimsy. It is the least fun thing I have ever seen. It is an imitation art-deco clusterfuck of a logo with harsh lines, jagged edges and unnecessary complexity. The current Knicks logo was actually the perfect logo for the disjointed teams put forth by Scott Layden and Isiah Thomas, but that’s not exactly a good thing.

The Knicks logo has actually had two major revisions. It was once a fun but confusing drawing of a Knickerbocker, which is both a descriptor of the Dutch settlers who discovered New York and the type of pants that they wore. Is that silly? Of course it is. Not silly enough to change when you consider that there aren’t many lakes in Los Angeles, but the team did change it in 1963. Oh well . . .

The next revision of the Knick logo was the charming “parachute” design for the 1964-65 season. It was an extreme change from the previous logo and color scheme, which I always have problems with, but you can’t deny that it is a quality logo. The parachute gets more love because it is associated with the greatest success in the team’s history. Why did they decide to change this logo in the summer after Pat Riley’s team almost beat a far superior Bulls team in 1992? I suspect that the change was in the works well before that fun ’92 playoff run as a sort of karma-shift from the depressing Stu Jackson/John McLeod teams, but the plan probably should have been abandoned after Pat Riley proved that the only real way to change the culture of a team is to run it well. Oh well . . .

Please allow me to digress for a moment into my family history so that I can explain to you what I expect from a sports team logo. Once you understand my point of view, I hope that you will hate the current Knick logo as I do.

My grandpa, who died when I was eight years old, played semipro baseball and basketball in the 1930s for a team called the Astoria Arrows. He was one of my favorite people of all time (as a grandfather should be) and, as such, I would be clad head-to-toe right now in Astoria Arrows merchandise if I could find it anywhere. People would ask me what that archery-themed logo was on my hat and then I’d tell them about Al “Big Maxy” Drews, how I have a scrapbook at home of clips mentioning him in Queens newspapers, including one with the headline “Drews Sinks One” that mentions his timely “slam shot” as the highlight of game in which the winning team scored something like 20 points. The person who asked me about that logo might not care about the lengthy answer that I would give them, but the joy of talking about my grandpa one more time would make any money that I spent on Arrows paraphernalia a very worthy investment. Unless, of course, they happened to have changed the logo . . .

If the Astoria Arrows logo was changed in 1963, and again in 1992, then it would be a tad difficult to muster much emotion when I placed their cap upon my head:

“Hey, Ken, what’s that mysterious logo on your hat?” a passerby would ask.
“Well, friend, it’s actually a semipro team that my grandfather played for in the 1930s,” I would answer.
“Cool,” the passerby would say.
“Only they wore different colors,” I would add.
“Oh.”
“And the arrow faced the other direction.”
“Right.”
“And the font for the team name was different.”
“That’s great, Ken. I’m going to go now.”

Sounds like a fun exchange, huh?

It is just laundry, folks. It is a tired and trite axiom at this point, but all we root for is the laundry on the players’ backs. A sport is ephemeral and the men wearing the laundry change. We root for that laundry because it connects our past to our future. I want Charles Oakley to have a connection to Dave Debusschere. I want the team that my grandpa watched on WWOR back in the day (for free!) to have a connection to the career of Danilo Galinari and Wilson Chandler. I want any connection to my grandpa that I can get. The players change, but leave the laundry the same.

So go ahead and rank the Knicks logo low, Jared. It sucks for one of the oldest teams in the sport, playing in its most famous arena in its biggest market, to have a middling ranking…but it’s a freaking triangle. Give the Knick logo the C-minus that it deserves. How could you rank it higher? It was created in 1992 and was five years out of date even back then. It’s not the logo of the 1970 team (one of the sport’s most memorable title winners) or the logo Willis Reed had on his warm-ups when he limped out of the tunnel in 1970. The triangle isn’t the logo of the team that suited up Nat “Sweetwater” Clifton as the NBA’s first black player in 1950.

Who needs a logo with a connection to the “Knickerbocker” era of Sweetwater, Dick McGuire and Harry Galatin? Who needs a connection to Willis Reed, Clyde Frazier, Dave Debusschere, Dick Barnett, Bill Bradley, Black Jesus and the other men who wore the “parachute”? Who needs a logo with a glorious past when you have one that was on the towel Charles Smith used to hide his face in shame after getting four point-blank shots blocked by smaller players in the 1993 conference finals?

Oh well . . .

Kenneth Paul Drews co-hosts the FreeDarko Presents: The Disciples of Clyde Podcast along with the ever-loquacious, never-salacious Dan Filowitz. Ken also writes about the NBA on the DOC website and can often be found having recurring nightmares about Isiah Thomas.

Fun Fact: If you type “comical failure” into Google, it asks Did you mean: Charles Smith

Meanwhie, I really wanna see them do Reggie’s back-to-back threes in Madison Square Garden next. I think that might be the only one from a road game that would work. I mean, look at the crowd in this photo. And that’s not just the Pacer fan in me talking. Seriously, who doesn’t wanna see a bunch of d-bag New Yorkers who spent $1,500 on courtside seats just to have their hearts ripped out suddenly materialize out of thin air?

So to make up for me thieving his Photoshop for a quick post that will allow me to pat myself on the back for the pretend work I did today, why don’t yall go over there and let him explain its vast significance.

Aside from the obvious, of course.

Why did he only put four guys on the mountain? Cause there are no fives.

Today’s question: Who has played in the most All-Star Games without winning an All-Star Game MVP?

Here’s Reggie’s run-down (player – All-Star selections):

Moses Malone – 11
Hakeem Olajuwon – 12
John Havlicek – 13
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar – 18

Thus, Kareem is the winner. While it is surprising that big fella couldn’t manage one MVP, back-to-the-basket guys alway struggle to get the ball from guards in the All-Star game, so it’s not altogether shocking.

Yet, I was misled by the original question and thought “Wendell” was looking to find out who has the most All-Star appearances on his resume without winning a League MVP award. Thus, I looked that info up because that’s just the type of courteous guy I am.

Here’s a Top 10

1. Jerry West – 14
2. John Havlicek – 13
3. Rick Barry – 12
4. George Gervin – 12
5. Isiah Thomas – 12
6. Elvin Hayes – 12
7. Dolph Schayes – 12
8. Patrick Ewing – 11
9. Elgin Baylor – 11
10. (tied) Clyde Drexler – 10
10. (tied) Paul Arizin – 10
10. (tied) John Stockton – 10
10 (tied) Hal Greer – 10

Looking at that list of names, I proffer that the only possible logical conclusion we can draw is that the NBA doesn’t care about white people

Also don’t forget, you can always send any and all questions to Reggie at ReggiesMailbag@turner.com.

Clarendon Hills police arrested Preston Thomas, brother of former NBA star Isiah Thomas, for urinating near a church last week. Thomas, 52, of 279 Columbine Drive, Clarendon Hills, was arrested at 9:15 a.m. Jan. 8 at Notre Dame Parish, 64 Norfolk Ave. He was charged with public urination.

Thomas was seen urinating near the church building by a passing motorist, as well as a teacher and student at Notre Dame School. He later was arrested at Golf and Chicago avenues.

Personally, I don’t really see what the big deal is. If Buddy Christ really didn’t want you pissing on churches, he should have put it in the Commandments. Make up your mind, dude.

What's that Moses? You know I don't speak Spanish.

Further proving my theory is the fact that, unlike most politicos and business folk, he isn’t letting nepotism influence him into furthering the careers of his friends without merit. (Hat tip to the nine-tenths man/half amazing Natalie at Need4Sheed)

“I couldn’t recommend him again because he’s failed a couple times now,” Johnson, who won five championships with the Los Angeles Lakers, said in an interview with Bloomberg Radio’s “On the Ball” program airing Nov. 29. “So I would probably have to just pass on that one.”

Meanwhile, Earvin’s planning to add a 33rd Way to Be a Champion of Business in his book’s next edition (buy it here), “Never Associate with Zeke Under Any Circumstances.”

(Image: Crown Business)

Yesterday, for example, Jets/KC was the only early game on and since I really didn’t feel like putting on pants and making the trek all the way to the bar that shows every game (literally two blocks away), I mopingly put the Jets game on. But it was just horrible. So I ended up flipping over to ESPN Classic and, lo and behold, there was an “NBA Scorers” marathon on, which was tremendous to watch because I really loathe preseason basketball. It was like an NBA opening day adrenaline shot in the arm.

A boring game with Iverson dropping 50-something against the Magic was first, but then came Bird’s amazing, career-high 60-point-game where he was just out-of-his-goddamn mind making every shot he took, including fadeaway continuation-after-the-foul threes while falling out of bounds that had the entire Hawks bench jumping out of their seats.

That’s one of my favorite games and it’s all the better considering the Celtics were fouling to stop the clock, up by like 15 mind you, just to get the ball back enough times for Bird to break the career Celtic high of (I think) 58 that McHale had literally set the previous week. At one point the announcer says (paraphrasing) “Isn’t it a coincidence that McHale just broke Bird’s old record last week and here Bird is tonight taking it back?”

No, sir wearing a comical sports coat, it was not a coincidence.

That’s just Larry Bird.

Anyway, the point here is that the NBA season starts tomorrow and that the Association is steaksauce.

And to commemorate the unadulterated brilliance that is the NBA, I remembered I had a list of the 52 Greatest Moments in NBA history on my computer that I wrote down a while back while watching the show of the same name that Spike TV did a bunch of years back (I presume to celebrate the League’s 52nd Anniversary).

Obviously, there have been a few moments since then that would be included (LeBron’s Game 5 most notably), but to get you excited for the upcoming year, here’s the full list:

#52 – Reggie’s push-off on Jordan to hit a three-point game winner in Game 5 of the ECF in 1998

#51 – Dikembe’s eight-seed Nuggs beat the Sonics

#50 – MJ’s shoulder shrug six-three-pointer first half against the Blazers

#49 – Iceman drops 63 (33 in a quarter) on the last day of the season to edge out David Thompson for the season scoring record

#48 – Larry Legend’s back-to-back game winners to give them home-court advantage in the last two games of the season

#47 – Vinnie Johnson Finals game winner over Portland

#46 – Big O wins a title with Milwaukee…Drops 30 in the final game

#45 – Memorial Day Miracle – Sean Elliot’s game winner in the WCF to beat Portland

#44 – Robert Horry beats Sacto

#43 – Larry Legend revives the Celtics

#42 – Sir Charles’ game winner to send Suns to Finals

#41 – Walton’s Blazers win the finals over Dr. J in his first season in the NBA

#40 – Game 6 1958 Finals: Bob Petit scores 19 of the last 21 and 50 total. “It was the greatest game of my life. It just happened to be in Game 6 of the NBA Finals.”

#39 – MJ drops the double-nickel in his return to MSG while rocking the 4-5 (5th game back after baseball).

#38 – Jerry West’s Game Winner in the NBA All Star game

#37 – Knicks comeback from down 18 with under 6 to go against the Big O/Kareem Bucks. They scored final 19 points of the game.

#36 – Lakers repeat after Riley’s guarantee that the would…beat hobbled Zeke, who was amazing while playing on a damn near broken ankle

#35 – Spud wins the 1986 Slam Dunk contest

#34 – Game 6 1993 NBA Finals: Bulls finish off Three Peat on Paxson’s jumper despite Barkley’s amazing game

#33 – Larry asks “who’s playing for 2nd” then wins three-point contest in his warm-up jacket with the walk-off #1 finger raised

#32 – George Mikan becomes a superstar, lead Minny Lakers to 5th title in 6 years

#31- Flu Game: MJ’s 38 with 103-degree temperature

#30 – Derek Fisher’s 4/10ths of a second WCF game-winner after Timmy’s had just drilled what he thought was a Spurs game-winner

#29 – Kareem’s skyhook in Game 6 of the 1974 finals

#28 – MJ’s 63 in the Boston Garden in his second career Playoff game

#27 – Larry Bird’s jersey retirement — Magic wears Boston t-shirt

#26 – Game 2, 1984 Finals: Gerald Henderson steals the ball

#25 – Bernard King vs. Zeke in Game 5 of the 1984 First Round Playoffs: Zeke gets crazy but Bernard averaged over 40 ppg for the series and dunks home a put back to seal the game

#24 – Elgin Baylor drops 61 points in Game 5 1962 NBA Finals (Cs win series)

#23 – Jordan beats Nique in 1985 Slam Dunk (free throw line in Chicago)

#22 – The Streak: Elgin retires on November 5, 1971…and then the Lakers win 33 straight.

#21 – Bird vs. Nique shootout in Game 7 of First Round: Larry scores 20 in the 4th, Nique drops 47 total

#20 – Reggie’s 8 points in 8.9 seconds in MSG

#19 – Bill Russell leads the Celtics to their first Championship in 1957 over the St. Louis Hawks by winning Game 7 in 2 OTs

#18 – Kareem hits a skyhook to score point number 31,420 on April 5, 1984, breaking Wilt’s career record

#17 – Ralph Sampson hits walk-off, turnaround, fadaway, alley-oop, 12-footer to take Houston to the NBA Finals and end the Lakers three-year run of winning the West

#16 – 1962 NBA Finals Game 7 — Celtics vs. Lakers: Cs win their 5th straight title as the Cooz dribbles out the final seconds

#15 – Jordan’s jumper/fist pump over Ehlo’s defense/fetal position curl up

#14 – Magic’s All Star Game return

#13 – Shaq/Kobe Lakers come back against Portland…Kobe lobs to Diesel for the flush and that tremendous Shaq reaction

#12 – NBA Finals Game 6, 1980: Magic plays center and drops 42 as the Lakers beat Philly

#11 – Dr. J’s still-unreal, behind-the-backboard, baseline up-and-under

#10 – Player/Coach Bill Russell wins his 11th ring in his final game over the the Wilt/West/Elgin Lakers in Game 7 in Los Angeles

#9 – MJ’s “Spec-tac-u-lar Move!” (1991 NBA Finals Game 2 in The Forum)

#8 – Magic’s running hook (1988 NBA Finals Game 4 in The Boston Garden)

#7 – Jerry West’s hits a 60′ footer to send the game to OT. Knicks end up winning the game and title (1970 Finals in The Forum)

#6 – Paul Westphal’s timeout and Gar Heard’s turnaround jumper for Phoenix bring Celtics to a 3rd OT. Boston wins game and series. (1976 NBA Finals)

#5 – Wilt’s 100

# 4 – Havlicek steals the ball

#3 – The Clyde Frazier Game.* (1970 Finals Game 7 Knicks vs. Lakers in Madison Square Garden)

#2 – “A steal by Bird…underneath to DJ…he lays it in.” (1988 ECF Game ? Detroit @ Boston)

#1 – MJ’s final shot (in a Bulls uniform)

* You probably know it as the Willis Reed Game. It’s wasn’t. Clyde dropped 36 points and dished 19 assists and in his own words: “Willis provided the inspiration, I provided the devastation.”