EDITOR’S NOTE

Yesterday, we debuted exclusive images of the landmark 1986 NBA official catalog, a rarer grail for vintage sportswear collectors. Until these scans, there were no photos of this catalog, which contains the Valhalla of 80’s sportswear brands like Sports Specialties, Starter and Nutmeg Mills, available online.

THIS WEEK’S GRAILS

• 1996 Atlanta Olympics Starter Jacket (Size M)

• Someone let us hold $350 so we can buy this 1985 NBA merch catalog?

  

• Vintage Purdue:“Friends Don’t Let Friends Watch Indiana Basketball” tee (Size L)

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Two Truths and a Lie: Gameday Grails newsletter stat version

• The Gameday Grails newsletter has an open rate of 63%.

• The Gameday Grails newsletter has at least one subscriber from every school in the current Big 12 Conference.

• The Gameday Grails newsletter grew 500 subscribers in 6 weeks.

Which one is the lie? The answer is at the bottom of the newsletter.

THE GREATEST SPORTS POSTERS EVER MADE

Picture this: Two Greek brothers from Seattle, working out of their dad's sketchy parking garage, somehow convinced the biggest athletes in the world to dress up like action heroes/pro wrestlers. No focus groups. No corporate BS. Just pure, unhinged creativity that would give today's PR teams an aneurysm.

The Costacos Brothers didn't just make posters – they created an entire universe where Lawrence Taylor was literally The Terminator, and nobody batted an eye. This was peak sports culture, and we'll never see anything like it again.

The Hustle Before The Fame

Their first hit? A Prince-inspired "Purple Reign" t-shirt that moved 20K units. But that was just the warm-up. When they convinced Bears QB Jim McMahon to go full Mad Max for a poster, the sports marketing world lost its collective mind.

The phone literally wouldn't stop ringing.

The Stories That Sound Made Up (But Aren't)

A reminder that 0% of these images are digitally altered. Yes, they really had Patrick Ewing sweating bullets next to two massive guard dogs that clearly wanted to eat him.

They had Herschel Walker standing 40 feet from REAL EXPLOSIONS. No CGI. No safety tests. Just pure '80s insanity.

You want more behind-the-scenes gold? Try this:

This is Chicago Vice, a poster that went triple platinum in the Chicagoland area when I was growing up. Jim McMahon and Walter Payton posing in front of Payton’s actual Lambo.

Gameday Grails connected with John Costacos himself in the DM and he shared this amazing anecdote about the shoot:

Why This Matters

Before every athlete had a personal brand manager and every tweet needed approval, the Costacos Brothers were out here turning Jose Canseco and Mark McGwire into the Bash Brothers.

They didn't just capture nicknames and personalities – they amplified them into myth.

And here's the crazy part: These posters were selling for $5 at your local mall next to a poster of the Ninja Turtles. Today? Dana White dropped $2,500 EACH on them at a New York gallery. A-Rod spent $40K on the whole collection!

The Last True Cowboys

By '96, when they finally sold the company, the Brothers had moved 30 MILLION posters. But those numbers don’t explain the impact these posters had on a generation.

The Costacos Brothers created something that would be absolutely impossible today. Imagine trying to get Patrick Mahomes to pose with actual explosives. Your legal team would have a stroke before you finished the intro slide.

Sure, they've done some modern collaborations (that Zlatan "Thor" poster is fire), but it's not the same. You can't replicate that perfect storm of pre-internet imagination, '80s excess, and pure creative chutzpah.

These aren't just posters anymore; they're artifacts from a rougher time when sports marketing had actual balls vs empty briefs.

The Legacy Lives On

Today, finding mint Costacos Brothers posters is like hunting for gold. They're stashed in Midwestern basements, tucked away in collectors' art tubes, or hanging in art galleries next to pieces by Jeff Koons (no joke – look it up).

But more than that, they're proof that sometimes the best ideas come from two guys in a parking garage who don't know any better than to dream big, lock in and blow stuff up.

Think we're overhyping these? Fight us in the comments. Better yet, tell us which Costacos poster you had on your wall – we know you had one.

P.S. If anyone has a lead on an original "Chicago Vice" McMahon poster and isn’t trying to tax someone, slide into our DMs. Asking for a friend.

(it's us, we're the friend).

#FREEGAME

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The lie was “The Gameday Grails newsletter has at least one subscriber from every school in the current Big 12 Conference.”

Currently, we don’t have anyone from BYU or Houston.

…yet.

If you want your brand in front of 500+ vintage sportswear sickos who love looking cool, reach out.

Let’s Connect!

Follow us for daily inspiration and deep dives: @GamedayGrails

Do you own a vintage-inspired sportswear brand we should be aware of? Reach out.

Have feedback, ideas or want to collab? Email [email protected] with any ideas, we’re usually down to clown.

Thank you for being part of the Gameday Grails family.