For the last three years or so I’ve been slowly selling extras on Sportlots to try to conserve space and generally focus my collection on what really interests me at the moment. This is a slow, sometimes grueling process, but I did recently cross 7,000 cards sold on the platform – that’s not nothing, but I know I’ve acquired more cards than that since I started. I guess I meant well.
Every now and then I sell a card that catches my attention. A few factors go into which sales, and which cards manage to do this. Obscurity is one – a player who enjoyed only a cup of coffee in the bigs is always sure to make me look twice. Beyond the truly obscure players, career bench guys will also catch my attention. Another is an oddball card – a local or food issue will always make me look twice, if for no other reason than its the kind of stuff I always try to buy. Finally, there’s the last “je ne sais quoi” category… the random stuff that I decide is cool in the moment. This includes defunct teams, cool pictures, superstar players just kinda hanging out in the background, or a complete story told in one photograph. One of today’s sales is a perfect example of almost all of these items.
I present to you this 1990-91 Kayo Seattle SuperSonics card for Scott Meents.
First of all, Kayo spelled his name incorrectly. Absolutely no respect. Second, Meents is a completely obscure player. He logged a total of 201 minutes in 39 games spread across two seasons with the Sonics after being a fourth-round draft pick of the Bulls in 1986. After 1991, he never played another minute in a regular season NBA game but played in the minors and abroad into 1998. Needless to say, he was also a bench guy. But beyond that, this picture is full of classic bench guys from my youth. The New Jersey Net in the foreground is the late Jack Haley. The other Sonic in the key is Dave Corzine, whose career was winding down at this point and was definitely a bench guy, and I’d bet decent money that the mostly cropped out Net is Chris Dudley – a solid player who played big minutes but exuded big bench guy energy. The Nets are wearing one of my all-time favorite jerseys – their short-lived tie-dyed number – and the picture captures the classic roof of the Seattle Center Coliseum. Finally, in the background is future Hall of Famer Gary Payton, shown here early in his rookie season.
How do I know it’s early? Because this could only have been one night – in fact, one single minute of one night. This picture was taken November 20, 1990 as the Sonics beat the Nets 105-88. The box score shows that Meents and Corzine each played one minute during this game, with Meents’ only stat being a personal foul. Jack Haley played 13 minutes and went 1-2 from the foul line. I don’t have game footage to be certain, but I’d be willing to wager this photo captures that foul. Any picture that allows me to geek out and fall into a Google wormhole is a winner in my book.
Plus, Kayo made basketball cards??? I’d only seen cheesy boxing cards from them before (see the boxing kangaroo on the back of this one). I found this card in a stack of about 50 Kayo Sonics cards in a box at Goodwill a couple of years ago. I kept a full set in my permanent collection, as well as a few spare Paytons (unfortunately there was only one Shawn Kemp), but the rest of the cards have been up for grabs since, with a few selling here and there. Its nice to see other people appreciate the weird stuff.
Meents apparently had some run-ins with the law in the late ought’s – the internet seems to be devoid of recent updates on him, so here’s hoping that’s in the past.
As a Blazers fan, I did not care for the Sonics. However, I do miss having an actual rivalry and the way they left Seattle is a permanent mark on David Stern’s legacy. Accordingly, I disliked the Sonics, but I despise the Thunder.
On the other hand, I did (and do) love Oasis – so I’ll see myself out with another trip back to the 1990s.