Who'd You Get?!: Charlie Ward, Skybox (1995)

We at No Regard used to collect basketball cards. Convincing a parent to shuttle us and our friends to the local collector's shop was a consistently important victory. When we found out KMart was selling entire boxes for $20, we almost wore out our bike tires pedaling back and forth.

Now we've unearthed the cache, and the results are stunning. We've been reminded that players named Dino Radja and Wesley Person briefly and forcefully carved out steady roles for themselves in the league. We've been straight tickled by the goofy casual pics. And we've been touched and inspired by the relentless optimism of the copywriters. We hope you enjoy this odd time capsule, a Utopian angle from which to view the league, where everyone is the next somebody and context is pointless.

 Back of the card after the jump.

No Regard Previews: A Hero's Welcome

One Game We Will Definitely Watch Tonight: New York Knicks vs. Sacramento Kings

Tonight's featured contest marks the return of a legend back to New York. You guessed it: Jimmermania invades NYC!!

Jimmer Fredette, a native of Glens Falls (a small town about two-and-a-half hours north of New York City) is New York State's 6th all-time leading scorer in high school basketball history. The sharpshooting guard is averaging 8.2 points per game in his rookie campaign, impressive numbers for the humble baller from Upstate.

Tonight predicts to be an undoubtedly emotional affair for both Jimmer and Knick fans, as one of their own returns home. The BYU alum will serve as the main topic of conversation around the water cooler in offices everywhere this afternoon. His story will also be the primary focus of the MSG coverage. In other words, expect to hear his name early and often!

In his first foray home as a professional, Fredette looks to avenge a December loss to the Knicks in which the New Yorker shot 2-10 from the field. With the entire city locked in on Jimmer's story, expect the savior to write another epic chapter in his ever-growing narrative.

One Game We Won't Watch Tonight: Milwaukee Bucks vs. New Orleans Hornets

The Hornets are pretty bad this season, but at least Chris Kaman is back. If New Orleans turn their season around, somehow make the playoffs, and Kaman continues to put up his recent numbers, then you have to include the German in MVP discussions.

Question of the Day

If the Suns called up the Knicks and offered Steve Nash for Jeremy Lin straight up, should the New York take the offer?

No Regard Recaps: A Dream Come True?

One Game We Watched This Weekend: Boston Celtics vs. Chicago Bulls

Celtics: 95 Bulls: 91

Rajon Rondo took advantage of a Rose-less Chicago, playing his best ball of the season and earning a triple-double en route to beating the first place Bulls. Rondo was in attack mode all afternoon, fast-breaking his way to easy points and assists throughout. With that boring recap out of the way, here are some of the topics my brother and I discussed while watching the game:

NBA Middle Names: Jeremy Lin

We at No Regard spend a lot of time in our NBA knitting circles trying to figure out the human side of these players. Whether it's musing about their commutes to work, how much "Call of Duty" they play, or what their favorite snack food is, we like to remind ourselves that NBA players are nothing more than young men with enviable jobs. What better way to humanize our heroes than look up their middle names? 

Jeremy Shu-How Lin

No Regard Preview: The Myth Can Overwhelm

One Game We Will Definitely Watch Tonight: Portland Trailblazers vs. Oklahoma City Thunder

You have to assume that the Trailblazers probably put a lot of thought into who they were going to take with the first pick of the 2007 NBA draft. I envision an entire team of analysts bustling around a Willy Wonka-esque lab, filling beakers and peering through microscopes to determine who would be a better fit for their franchise. In this probably-pretty-close-to-real-life scenario, I am going to hypothesize there were certain members of their committee who very much pushed to draft Oden over KD: "Big men like him don't come around very often. He's the next Tim Duncan, but a better shot-blocker."

No matter how hard the Durant camp pushed with articulate arguments, great data and sound logic, the Oden people refused to budge from their mindless trope: "You just can't pass up on big men like him in the draft. It's not every year someone with his size comes around, you know."

The Oden proponents were relentless in their pursuit: "It's a no-brainer when it comes to big men and the draft, you simply have no choice."

In the end, the Odenites and their big man argument won out. They popped champagne and toasted to the future the Trailblazers: "Here's to the next 20 years in Portland. We just drafted the best big man of all time. Can you say 'dynasty?'" They spent the rest of the night drinking and talking about how great it was to have a dominate big man in a league where there are so few: "They just don't come around very often in the modern game."

When MVP candidate Kevin Durant runs into the gym in his fresh OKC warmups tonight, I imagine the Oden people will look at each other, sigh, and remark: "I stand by our decision. Dominate seven-footers don't grow on trees."They're right: They sure do not.

One Game We Definitely Will Not Watch Tonight: Washington Wizards vs. Toronto Raptors

No offense to John Wall, Rudy Fernandez or any of the other players competing in this game tonight, but I'd be a lot more interested in tuning in if we were watching actual wizards play actual raptors. Also, I'm aware that Harry is fighting a dragon in this picture above, so you don't need to mention the inaccuracies of the photo. It's the closest thing to a wizard fighting a raptor I could find on the Internet. I expected better also.

NBA Middle Names: Anthony Morrow

We at No Regard spend a lot of time in our NBA knitting circles trying to figure out the human side of these players. Whether it's musing about their commutes to work, how much "Call of Duty" they play, or what their favorite snack food is, we like to remind ourselves that NBA players are nothing more than young men with enviable jobs. What better way to humanize our heroes than look up their middle names? 

Anthony Jarrad Morrow

No Regard Preview: The Legend

One Game We Will Definitely Watch Tonight: New Jersey Nets vs. Detroit Pistons

Did you know that Lawrence Frank is the only coach in the four major American sports leagues to go 13-0 in his first 13 games as the head coach of a new team? Did you know that, just like Michael Jordan, he got cut from his high school basketball team? Did you know that tonight Larry Frank returns home to New Jersey where his legendary status was certified?

Sure, some of you out there are going to watch two Eastern conferences favorites, Chicago and Philadelphia, battle it out in the City of Brotherly Love tonight. Others might look to a rematch of the Western Conference Finals, OKC vs. Dallas, to get their NBA fix this evening. And perhaps there are even some of you out there sick enough to take in the Wizards vs. Magic game for some dumb reason like, "I'm from Orlando, jerk." Yeah, yeah, whatever.

But for us, tonight is all about the Nets, the Pistons and Lawrence Frank—a man with two first names that never let his lack of basketball ability stand in the way of his undying passion for the game. Is Lawrence Frank perfect? Maybe not, but he's as close as any mortal walking planet earth. Is Lawrence Frank mortal? We're not sure.

Welcome home, Lawrence Frank.

One Game We Definitely Will Not Watch Tonight: Utah Jazz vs. Los Angeles Clippers



Just in case you somehow forgot that this happened. (This is not to say we don't have an interest in seeing Blake's prey become a bloody memory right before our eyes tonight, it's just that we're on the east coast and we've got to catch up on some sleep. Sorry we're not sorry.)