I was never much of a basketball kid growing up, but I thought this comic book ad from the late ’70s (with Mad Magazine’s Jack Davis handling the art chores) was fun. How cool would it be to shoot some hoops with your pals and have two of the greatest players of the era just show up and give you some tips while plugging their endorsed balls? Did Rick and Julius just randomly show up, or were they a part of some crazy labor intensive marketing approach where they blanket the nation’s playground with these demonstrations. This particular visit was already a waste of time, as the kids were already playing with a Spalding ball, so the net profits the company gets from this is ZERO!

The opening panel looks rather ominous, as if one of the kids owe them some money. They actually resemble Jules and Vincent from Pulp Fiction.

What also troubles me is that the kids need a lot more help with Math than their hoop skills, because that one stupid kid says Barry’s shot is “A 30-Footer” when he’s just lobbing one in from the side of the key. Hell…I could make that shot and the only endorsed ball I have is a superball from a vending machine with my initials on it!