EA Sports Vol. 2, Issue 1

This is a 20-page magazine from EA Sports that I believe was distributed as an insert with an issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly. I also own Vol. 1, Issue 1 which has lower quality paper and Michael Jordan on the cover, but I chose to scan this one instead because it is football-centric and this is Super Bowl weekend. Although John Madden is EA's primary football guy and this issue features some John Madden Football articles, the issue's cover is not of John Madden but of Bill Walsh, who endorsed EA's first college football video game. I am including every page of the magazine, including ads, though you can find the same ads in the Electronic Arts albums posted back in 2017. However, I provide slightly larger article pages than I previously did in the past, and I matched the ads to that size as well, so these are bigger than my other ad scans.

As I said, it's Super Bowl weekend and at this time of year I do often put together a video or blog post with a score prediction, which is really just a complete guess as I'm not an expert and I don't analyze anything. Last year I picked the wrong winner in a game that went into overtime. Two years ago I was a single point off from guessing the exact score between these same teams. Philadelphia makes its second Super Bowl appearance in the last three years and Kansas City returns for the fifth time in the last six years, and is going for a three-peat! I did pick against KC last year and maybe I should learn from my mistakes but I'm leaning toward the Eagles pulling out the win. Either way, I'm expecting a close, high-scoring game, and I'll go with the same score I guessed two years ago but with a different outcome: 38-34 Philadelphia.

Joe Montana Quarterbacks Another Super Game (Sega Visions - Winter 1990/91)

This Sega Visions article is about signing Joe Montana to endorse -- and assist in the development of -- Sega's football video game for the Genesis. In addition to that, I'm adding the Sega Visions review, Sega football ads that can also be found on Facebook and Google Photos, and my annual Super Bowl prediction which I sometimes post about here or sometimes only mention in a "Let's Play" video on YouTube. While I'm not a football expert by any means and am only taking a final score guess for fun, I was actually only off by a point in last year's post (Kenner's Starting Lineup). I have mentioned Joe Montana games in a few other posts previously, and I opted to go with a Montana post here because of the Super Bowl matchup. Montana is, of course, one of the greatest 49ers players and one of the best quarterbacks of all-time. However, late in his career he played for the Kansas City Chiefs as well and appeared on multiple Sega video game covers in the Chiefs uniform.

Sega Visions - April/May 1991

In the early issues of Sega Visions the reviews read more like overviews than an actual review. You won't find much in the way of opinion as Sega was simply promoting Genesis games, its own and those of the third-party publishers, and it avoided being negative. Eventually it did start rating games on a numerical scale. I lightened the green background on this scan which is somewhat difficult to read in the actual magazine with black print against a dark green page.

Sega Ads

Super Bowl LVIII

This year the Chiefs haven't looked like the Super Bowl champions they were in the previous season but they still have the best QB in the NFL which is why they are in the big game yet again. The 49ers have a young QB with less than two years of NFL experience but a good defense and the better all-around team. I'm going to lean toward the better team over the better QB and predict a 31-20 49ers victory.

Avon NFL Huddles Gift Set

This is one of my non-gaming and non-toy posts though one could say trading cards fall into the toy category. I'm a sports fan and typically do something around MLB Opening Day and Super Bowl Sunday, and this year I'm taking a look at the NFL Huddles Gift Set from Avon. In 1983 the NFL released "Huddles" branded merchandise which were cute versions of each team's mascot; not all teams have mascots so in those cases it's just a short, rounded guy. I suspect the best known of the items is the plush toy line made by Tudor Games. This 1984 set from Avon includes a football shaped soap on a rope and a set of trading cards featuring the aforementioned mascots on the front and team histories on the back. I've never used the soap so it's still in good condition as is the box. Coincidentally, this year's Super Bowl teams are next to one another on the front cover.

The box image wraps around all four sides but my scans don't line up perfectly. Initially I wasn't sure about posting the Washington card since some may find the Native American name offensive so I made one that said Commanders and originally posted that one. However, I've decided to use the team name as it was at the time but it's not entirely accurate because of the colors. That card's colors didn't scan properly as what should be burgundy looks green in the scan and more brown than burgundy on the card itself. I'm not sure why my scanner didn't reproduce the colors accurately, though I did some editing but it's not perfect. I'll include a copy of the alternate card in the event that someone wants a Huddles image that says Commanders. Also, while the order doesn't matter, I actually meant to scan the teams alphabetically within each division, yet I managed to place them on the scanner backwards. I've grouped the teams together based on where they'd be in today's divisions rather than 1983.

AFC East

AFC North

AFC South

AFC West

NFC East

NFC North

NFC South

NFC West

As far as the Super Bowl goes, I'm going to pick the Rams to win by more than a touchdown. Both teams have good offenses, however, the Rams defensive line is likely to be the difference maker. While I'm not a fan of either team, I do like their helmets. In fact, these could be the best looking team helmets to ever appear together in a Super Bowl. The Rams have great helmets, maybe the best in football, and the Bengals aren't too bad either. No boring names or animal mascots here, just cool patterns.