"In the off season, Jim breeds horses and works in bowling public relations."

I briefly got my long, elegant fingers on a 1965 Topps football card of Jim Otto of the Oakland Raiders of the American Football League. The card is kind of strange because the palindromic center is wearing number “50” in the picture even though Otto wore “00” for his entire career after his rookie year in 1960. Otto had a very distinguished career until his retirement in 1974–never missing a single game due to injury or illness–but he never could have envisioned during his playing career that decades later he would become a recurring symbol in the work of Cremaster artist Matthew Barney. It’s funny sometimes how people invent themselves and then are later reinvented in surprising ways by others. Here’s the copy on the reverse side of the card:

“Jim is one of the three original players still performing for the Oakland Raiders. He is considered to be one of the best all around centers in the in the American Football League. He has been an All-Selection every year. An excellent blocker, Jim handles his position with poise and pride. Jim starred at Miami where he performed as an offensive center and a defensive linebacker. In the off season, Jim breeds horses and works in bowling public relations.”

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