Saturday, June 28, 2008

1994-95 Stadium Club #79 Hakeem Olajuwon

The Stadium Club brand was best known for its photography. Today's card (1994-95 Stadium Club #79 Hakeem Olajuwon) is an example of the Stadium Club's stylistic photography, but I'm not sure it works on this card.

This photograph would probably work great as a print in a nice frame, but the card layout clashes with picture. The primary action in the picture is on the left side with Olajuwon beating Patrick Ewing to the hoop. Unfortunately the foil graphic of Hakeem's name covers Olajuwon's chest and Ewing's face. The middle of the card is just blank court space. The right side of the card has player spectators (including a Knick in a full face mask), but again, one of the players is covered by the Stadium Club logo.

So let's get the layout straight: Players on left, covered with graphic. Court in center, not covered by anything. Players on right, covered with graphic. Oops.

The back contains a couple more pictures and some basic statistics and commentary. There are also some odd statistics labeled Roundball Ratio. Your normal statistics usually include points, field goal percentage, etc. The Roundball Ratio includes Points to Field Goal Attempt Ratio, Free Throws Attempts to Field Goal Attempts Ratio, Offensive Rebounds to Total Rebounds Ratio, Steals to Turnover Ratio (that's fairly common for point guards), and Block to Personal Foul Ratio. I do like the Points to Field Goal attempt stat. That would be very beneficial in analyzing a player like Fluff McKiver. Since he shot so many three pointers, that really lowers the field goal percentage. By comparing points per shot, you can better compare three point shooters versus mid range and low post players.



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