BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
(FOUR) SUPERMAN
I could have given this to Shaq, but he’s “Shaq-Diesel” or “Shaq-fu” or the other dozen nicknames marketing companies tried to convince us was cool. To me, Superman is Dwight Howard. He sucks, sure, but he’s Superman in my book. For only because come those dunk contests he wore the hell out of that cape.
(THREE) JOHNNY KILROY
Michael Jordan is the greatest basketball player of all time. His face is easily one of the most recognizable of all time. His actions, his accomplishments, and his fame are something we’re never going to forget. For some reason in the mid 90’s he adopted the nickname of Johnny Kilroy for a couple commercials and even one “rare” basketball card. This one isn’t as fun or as memorable as the top of the list, but it’s MJ so it makes it on.
(TWO) GRANDMAMA
Remember Larry Johnson? Probably not. But I bet if you were a basketball fan from the early 90’s then you definitely remember Grandmama. This was the alter ego. Basically he was Big Momma’s House Before Big Momma’s House, but probably 17 times funnier. He wore a floral pattern dress and dunked on people. This persona will forever be remembered as it was secured in time by appearing in an episode of Family Matters. Sometimes that’s all you need to be immortal.
(ONE) LIL PENNY
Anfernee Hardaway was great for a while. He rocked it on the Magic when Shaq was first there and had tons of fame and success. He made the All Star team four times, 2 times All NBA First Team, won a Gold medal, and more and more. For like four or five years he was on top of the world. With this came the marketing genius of Nike with “Lil Penny”. It was a puppet version of Penny Hardaway voiced by Chris Rock. This was hilarious and popular at the time, but sadly it seems forgotten now. I wonder if Shaq hadn’t left Orlando if Penny wouldn’t of lost a step due to the pressure of being the main guy on the team.
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