SALT LAKE CITY — You'll have to forgive me while I wax nostalgic for a short while about the NBA. I don't know if it's the changing season, my favorite Halloween-themed cartoons back on TV almost every night or the fact that the Utah Jazz have again renamed their arena, from what was most recently the EnergySolutions Arena to now the Vivint Smart Home Arena.

I don't mind the name, mostly because in my heart, it's never changed from the Delta Center. I remember the Finals years, I remember when the Jazz acquired Jeff Hornacek and I remember the 1993 NBA All-Star game, when Salt Lake felt like the center of the world and John Stockton and Karl Malone were co-MVPs to appease the fans.

Either way, with the Jazz season starting on Wednesday night, and all the glitz and glam that surrounds it, I'm reminded of a simpler time and a few things I miss from the NBA of my childhood.

NBA on NBC

No Sunday was complete during the NBA season without the NBA on NBC. Highlighting the NBA's best games, NBC seemed to always feature a battle between hall-of-famers on Sunday mornings. And while the games were great, it was the terrific production of the pregame intros that made the weekly event so special. Marv Albert established himself as the best play-by-play voice in the game, with color analyst Mike Fratello at his side. But what pushed the NBA on NBC over the top was the memorable intros set to John Tesh's "Roundball Rock." With voice over work from Jim Fagan, NBC set the bar for all NBA pre-game production, and it's never been beaten.

All-Star alter egos

While the 1980s introduced the NBA to perhaps the best crop of talent the league has ever seen, from Magic Johnson and Larry Bird, to Michael Jordan, John Stockton and Karl Malone, the league needed a new set of stars to carry it into the new century. Enter the marketing campaign that created NBA alter egos. Converse was looking for a face for their shoe line to help them compete with Nike and Michael Jordan, and their answer was Larry Johnson. After winning the Naismith College Player of the Year at UNLV, Johnson was drafted with the top pick of the 1991 NBA draft, earning and endorsement deal from Converse. The shoe company transformed Johnson into a likeable slam-dunking grandma, and "Grandmama" was born. Unlike modern nicknames featuring just a players initials, Grandmama had a personality, bolstered by a complete television ad campaign, and was a star of the mid '90s NBA.

Converse wasn't the only shoe company to create a revenue-driven alter ego, as Nike, searching for an heir to the Michael Jordan throne, created Lil' Penny, a miniature, trash-talking version of Penny Hardaway, voiced by the comedian Chris Rock.

Ahmad Rashad

I understand most people best know Ahmad Rashad as the four-time pro bowl wide receiver for the Minnesota Vikings, but I know him as the sideline reporter to the aforementioned NBA on NBC broadcasts, and as the co-host alongside Willow Bay on NBA's "Inside Stuff." I still catch "Inside Stuff" occasionally on NBATV, but Grant Hill doesn't quite carry the same enthusiasm for the game that Rashad did. While the NBA on NBC was a Sunday cornerstone, the basketball weekend started on Saturday with "Inside Stuff."

Basketball cards

Basketball cards, why did I have so many basketball cards. Or better yet, why do I still have so many basketball cards? I have binders full of basketball cards, so overly mass-produced that the cases in which I keep them likely exceed the total value of the cards. But like Christmas morning, every pack of cards potentially held the key to unlock eternal happiness, in the form of a fully animated card, a star player's rookie card or the crown jewel, a holographic card. I'm ashamed to admit that I never once opened a pack with a holographic card.

NBA logo merchandise

This one is vague, but it's born from a very specific example. Where as with the Internet, it's possible to find NBA-themed anything, as a child, the products seemed few and far between. I had an NBA-themed light switch cover, which was a prized possession. But what I most remember from my childhood regarding the NBA was the team-themed Nestle Crunch Bars. Though the promotional items were short-lived, they resonated with me. Like basketball cards, each bar held a mystery as to which team logo would be inside, but regardless of which logo I found, the chocolate always satisfied me.

Ben Anderson is the co-host of Gunther in the Afternoon with Kyle Gunther on 1320 KFAN from 3-7, Monday through Friday. Read Ben's Utah Jazz blog at 1320kfan.com, and follow him on Twitter @BenKFAN.

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