As a child growing up in Orlando in the early 90's was a fun and fascinating time. Especially for the kids who were into MONSTERS! Universal Orlando started up their annual Halloween event; Halloween Horror Nights (Fright Nights circa 1991.) My parents dragged me to the very first event when I was six and I was terrified! But I fell in love all at the same time. I remember coming back home and playing "Fright Nights" with the neighbor kids next door.
Around this time Universal was teaming up with other other brands to promote their event. One of them happened to be Coke, and Coca-Cola was the head sponsor of the NFL at that time. In October of 1993 they released a series of football cards called 'Monsters of the Gridiron.' This was a series of football cards that showed off players more "monstrous" sides. Players decked out like The Wolfman, a giant serpent, a specter, etc.
They were pretty cheesy, but if you know me, they were right up my ally! I remember only owning about 7 or 8 cards and a few were doubles but I remember Halloween of '93 as if it was yesterday. Trading monster cards next door with my friends and watching ads for Fright Nights. Also FOX just started up their station and were hamming it up for Halloween with a ton of this commercials. So the ads ran almost every night.
Well a friend of mine brought Monsters of the Gridiron up the other day and nostalgia hit me like a linebacker with bolts in his neck! I had to see if the cards were on Ebay.
I'm proud to say I just won the whole set for a whopping four dollars!
This was all a great trip down memory lane and I am happy to share some of the (outrageously cheesy) marketing campaign ads they ran for Monsters of the Gridiron right here. Enjoy!
