"tacogate"; "posterize"; "the full Mozgov"

[Ben Zimmer]

On Wed, Feb 1, 2012 at 12:14 PM, Dan Goncharoff  wrote:
>
> Is this the Jordan shot that has become (in silhouette) the emblem of the NBA?

You may be conflating two logos. The NBA logo (designed in 1969) is
based on the silhouette of Jerry West. Nike has used a silhouette of
MJ for its Air Jordan merch, but the "Jumpman" logo predates the '91
posterization (and is based on a studio photo and not an actual dunk
shot):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jumpman_(logo)

--bgz


> On Wed, Feb 1, 2012 at 3:12 AM, Ben Zimmer wrote:
>> I looked into "posterize" a few years ago, and the earliest I found at
>> the time was this WaPo article by Michael Wilbon, about Michael
>> Jordan's famous shot in Game 2 of the '91 Finals (a dunk that became a
>> layup to avoid Sam Perkins):
>>
>> ---
>> http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/sports/nba/longterm/jordan/articles/layup91.htm
>> Great Shot! Jordan's Best Amazingly Goes One Better
>> By Michael Wilbon
>> Washington Post Staff Writer
>> Friday, June 7, 1991; Page D01
>> ...
>> There was no indication Perkins would jump and attempt a block.
>> Probably, Perkins just wanted to get out of the way and not be
>> "posterized," which is what happens when the dunkee is humiliated by
>> the dunker.
>> ...
>> Only one other such spectacular shot in a game of consequence comes to
>> mind, the time in the 1980 NBA finals when Julius Erving wrapped
>> himself around the basket, going out of bounds while in the air in the
>> process, and posterized Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Mark Landsberger with
>> a reverse one-hand flip off the glass.
>> ---
>>
>> I also found a variant, "poster" as a verb, attested from 1993.



--
Ben Zimmer
http://benzimmer.com/

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