They barely remember the color of the walls in their room. How important after all. What mattered to them at the time was what was going to cover the partitions of their teenage cocoon. Their own “tapestry” was the posters. Michael Jordan, Shawn Kemp, Tim and Penny Hardaway or even Gary Payton have for example populated the living room of Guillaume Saïd, 42 years old. ” Basically, there was no hole, no free space. The walls and the ceiling were covered! “Describes this communication officer from Vendée, former playmaker, who left to play in Florida at the age of 18.
Similar atmosphere at Matthieu David who, for his part, fed on the next generation of stars (Allen Iverson, Kobe Bryant, Vince Carter…). ” When I was doing my homework, I turned my back on them. But I looked at them, studied them constantly. It allowed me to enter a bubble. It was a childhood dream to perform the actions you visualize on the wall in matches “Recalls this thirty-something, specialized educator based in Nantes, who displayed in parallel images of American rappers. And didn’t forget to feed a little corner reserved for… the cheerleaders.
” It felt like being with them. We tried to do the same in practice “, completes Pierre-Marie, 37, from Orléans, who spent his adolescence covering the walls, door, furniture and ceiling of his room with everything he unearthed, including match summaries, in Reverse or Mondial basketball, to give the illusion of being faced with a ” twitter wall ” before the hour. ” Once the poster was unfolded, presto, I put books on it to remove the folds », Details the one who works at La Poste.
From 1982, the poster is essential
The poster phenomenon is obviously linked to the emergence of this magazine press more than thirty years ago. In 1982, Maxi Basket was born. And from the start, the poster – that of Julius Erving for the launch number – is essential. ” This is something that seemed very important to us. It was in the manners of the time. Football magazines had posters “says Pascal Legendre, co-founder of “Maxi” and a key player in the magazine galaxy (MVP, Dunk, BasketNews, BasketHebdo, etc.).
You have to set the context. Michael Jordan is not yet in the NBA and the concept of “Dream Team”, another key element in the internationalization of the league, does not exist. ” The French had a total ignorance of the NBA, most did not even know the three letters », continues Pascal Legendre, today at the head of Basketball Europe. So much so that with Maxi Basket, during its first years of existence, priority was logically given to French basketball. ” We had to go in small doses » and also do with the little information that crosses the Atlantic. The NBA stars therefore still fill the posters very little.
The beginning of 1991 marked a new turning point in the French basketball media landscape: Mondial Basket and 5 Major were launched almost at the same time. The first, to strike hard from the outset, has this idea never seen before: to propose a poster of Michael Jordan… life-size. ” How it measures ? “, we wonder then internally. Rather than the 1m98 of the future legend of the Bulls, the “rookie” magazine will aim even higher with 2m40. “ Or the authorized height from the floor to the ceiling in HLM “, specifies Fred Lesmayoux, the former editor-in-chief who lived all the epic of the newspaper.
Jordan… in three pieces
An ambitious bet on the technical level which requires breaking down the image of “His Airness” into three parts. At the time, the editorial staff obtained supplies from the Vandystadt agency to recover the ” ektachrome (slide type photo support) desired. Slide which, for the record, will be lost by the editorial staff. ” The editorial director (André Ciccodicola) wanted to double our salary if we found him! “, reports Fred Lesmayoux.
The precious slide is finally found while the magazine is a hit. The 50,000 copies (during the heyday in the sector, sales will climb to 100,000 issues) disappear so quickly from the newsstands that this first issue has to be reissued, even Patrick Poivre d’Arvor being obsessed with it. echo in his news. ” The poster was a promotional factor, a very, very good loss leader. This corresponded to our core target, rather 14-16 year olds, who displayed posters “, continues the former manager, describing an editorial line ” very adolescent », where the reader is tutored in writing for example.
World Basketball – whose last issue was released in 2018 – will keep the winning recipe of the giant poster for the next few issues, with Magic Johnson, Charles Barkley and Shaquille O’Neal, before offering posters with more conventional dimensions. But this first opus, with a giant Jordan, marked the spirits. Former readers still talk about it today to Fred Lesmayoux who entrusted this precious first issue, including the poster, to his mother. For “ keep it as new as possible. I never wanted to open it again. »
But where are the Bulls posters?
Varying the players put forward is not always the most obvious. ” We noted those that we had already posted. We looked to see if we had the right photo with a certain quality. Obviously, it was not yet the avalanche of photos “, recalls Pascal Legendre whose covers are frequently occupied by Michael Jordan in the 1990s, which induces a poster of “MJ”. In case of weariness, the reader must then uncheck a letter, unlike today where a simple comment on social networks can raise a request.
” Some young people come back every month: ‘If you could put such a guy, such a guy…’, ‘You never put such a team on a poster’ “, reports Grégory Gabillet, journalist for more than twenty years for 5 Major, citing, for example, recent complaints from Bulls fans. He thus receives many requests on the posters once the cover of the new issue is posted on the networks.
“ We still try to be careful that there is not a poster of LeBron or Giannis for each issue. It’s not always easy to find the right balance between the poster that interests you the most and the original poster “, continues the 48-year-old editor, whose medium still offers four posters per issue and relies in particular on his graphic designer, Sauny, to work on the images.
The photo that was published raw in the 1990s thus passes through the meshes of editing software, to generate original creations. ” Today, there are so many visuals everywhere, so much information, we are almost overwhelmed with it. I’m sure most people pick up visuals being unable to tell he did. “, regrets in this regard the graphic designer Ptite Cao, who works for the NBA and whose” at least 80% of the creations are intended for social networks.
At Basket le Mag: no poster
At 5 Majeur, the question of whether or not to offer the poster, which retains the value of an offering made to its 13,000 subscribers, has never really been asked. “ For us, it is part of the magazine. No reason for that to change “says the journalist whose old magazines with posters sold the best during his participation in the recent “Brocante Sports”.
Yann Casseville, editor-in-chief of its newsstand competitor, Basketball the Magmade the opposite choice, and without hesitation, to do without the poster from the start in 2016. “ The first reason is that the magazine is more aimed at an adult audience. The average age of our subscribers was 41 years old », Figures the manager, before mentioning another reason: placing a poster induces fewer pages available for editorial content. Unless you thicken the magazine, which would therefore cost more in printing.
“ In seven years, I must have had three or four requests to post in all “, counts the journalist on whom this monthly publication is based, which sells 10,000 copies. ” If I had to make a magazine that is aimed at a teenage audience, I would go all out on the poster “Adds the 30-year-old who also, younger, lined his room with NBA images of 5 Majors and MVP basketball.
And he too had to go through the phase of “unhooking” everything that was affixed to the walls with thumbtacks, tape or “Blu Tack”. ” It was mostly a way to prove to yourself that you’re growing up, that you’re moving on “recalls Yann Casseville. An episode at the heart of the transition between adolescence and the adult world more or less well experienced by some.
Not easy to pick up
” I dropped out when I left home around 18. It was not easy to remove them, to break this childish delirium. There was nostalgia. My parents then threw them away. It happened a little abruptly. At the time, I wanted to dodge the subject… “recalls Matthieu, whose former bedroom has since been transformed into a music room.
Pierre-Marie was 20 years old when he removed his, stapled from layers to layers “. ” It took me forever, I had a good day doing it. Sometimes I sat down to read something. It was the time I grew up with “Recalls the thirty-year-old whose 8-year-old son is starting to take an interest in basketball in turn.
The poster, probably less popular now compared to twenty years earlier, remains popular with some young people. Example with Axel Bregnon (photo of one), 15 years old, who, with the help of his mother, wanted to recreate the atmosphere of a basketball shop in his room. Boxes of shoes, mini baskets above the door, clothes closet… And posters everywhere, of course.
” Me, my dream is basketball “, Displays the young man who plays at the regional level next to Toulouse and does not find this atmosphere posters with his friends. Above his own bed, on the ceiling, is Stephen Curry. For what ? ” Because I’m a leader like him, and he’s the one that inspires me the most. So every night he glances up before falling asleep. Like thousands of others before him.
