This story first appeared on SLAM 250.
I wonder if my love of collecting comes from the satisfaction I get from knowing that everything is in order and accounted for. That the numbers line up and everything fits. The fact that every issue of SLAM ever released has it number, and this number represents the date of the basketball schedule. I’m a weirdo. Don’t judge me.
In terms of number of releases, our last milestone came when we hit you with the Iverson/Jordan doubleheader in issue #200 in 2016. August: Over the past eight years, things have changed, not necessarily dramatically, but there are. however it changes. Unlike 2001, when we hit our first major milestone, number 50, the changes since our conception in 1994 have been wild.
The Internet had changed the way basketball information was consumed, and salaries had gone from hefty to astronomical. Streetball had invaded our DVD collections and the fashion era was about to get real. However, one thing remained. Michael Jordan was our basketball god.
So it was fitting that one of MJ’s most famous moments should reside on the front page of our 50th fall. It was the infamous Windy City version of “White Cements.” Only we did it differently not about three alternate covers, I’m talking about never-before-seen camera angles Our brief but significant game meant that editors Russ Bengtson and Tony Gee have developed a strong relationship with legendary NBA photographer Nat Butler. Nat has taken (and continues to take) some of the most iconic pictures in basketball history and choose them as your background.” Our ancestors’ (perhaps) unlikely friendship with Nat meant that he gave access and permission to the most important part of Mike’s career. to never-before-seen footage of one of the moments.The result was the cover for our 50th issue.
The “familiar but different” element of SLAM 50 covers is symbolic of those early years of SLAM. Giving you something you thought you knew, but making you look twice. Reminding us that things change, while what- which remains the same. Everything is done chaotically, but everything falls into place. Numbered in the basketball schedule.
