Hall of FameSports

Nothing but Rex Chapman Commercials

By February 18, 2015June 18th, 2018No Comments
rex-chapman

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I’m feeling a bit frisky. When I feel a bit frisky it means that I’ve been thinking about late 80’s NBA players. Today I’ve been thinking specifically about my favorite white dunker, Rex Chapman. Here’s a few commercials from the last 80’s/early 90’s that Chapman did that should put a smile on your face.

The first thing I noticed in this Converse commercial is the “SLAM” opening. The song “Slam” by Onyx didn’t come out until 1993. Dare I say that their inspiration for the song was from this Rex Chapman commercial? I think so. I love that in this commercial Rex is wearing his boys size medium shorts with the white spandex underneath. I know that I definitely rocked this look back in the day.

This Wendy’s commercial is beyond fantastic. First lets start with Rex Chapman’s attire: pleated stone washed Jordache jeans with a white and teal shirt (tucked in) and a gold chain. Short of also rocking a slap bracelet and wearing some Back to the Future sunglasses he is a billboard for late 80’s/early 90’s fashion (or a lack there of). Next, Rex says “Wow, all the Italian and Mexican dishes I can eat”. Wait a second, he realizes that he’s at Wendy’s right? Call me crazy but I’m guessing that this whole “Burgers and Fries and Mexican and Italian and Salad” combo didn’t work out too well for them.

You can fast forward to the 22 second mark to see Rex first show up in this Wendy’s commercial. If Jimmy Chitwood from Hoosier ever did a commercial he would look exactly like Rex Chapman does in this one.

Wendy’s sure loved them some Rex Chapman. The first thing I noticed in this commercial is the striking resemblance Rex’s yellow and red Wendy’s shirt is to the Hulkamania shirt that I own. Subliminally I think Rex is telling us that he takes his vitamins and is also a Hulkamaniac. When I see this commercial I can’t help but think of Matt Nover’s character in Blue Chips, Ricky Roe. If Ricky never would have gotten injured and was able to lead the Western University Dolphins to a title  and that catapulted him to being a lottery pick in the NBA then this is the type of commercial he would have done.

Why some Nike exec thought that a commercial staring the Iceman George Gervin cooking some chicken and dumplings while talking about Rex Chapman would sell shoes I have no clue. I love how the Iceman says some very general things about Rex but tries to play them off like they are special attributes that make Rex Chapman some sort of all world player. “He can run and he can jump and shoot the jumper”. I’m pretty sure what he just listed are the minimum requirements in order to play the game of basketball. I know that there’s not a lot to go off of when talking about white guys in the NBA but come on. You created a fake cooking show called “The Iceman Cooketh”, you can be more creative than that. At least drop Rex a bone and say that he’s got the range of Dale Ellis, the hops of Tom Chambers, and the speed of BJ Armstrong.

Send all tips, suggestions, and praise to boom@baconsports.com or on Twitter @BaconSports.

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Rob Cressy

Rob Cressy

Sports loving free throw specialist and yinzer living in Chicago who is awesome most of the time, has run with the bulls in Spain, and is a graduate of Second City's Improv program.