Home » I Am Endlessly Perplexed By The ‘Sports Mind Produced By Sports’ Decals

I Am Endlessly Perplexed By The ‘Sports Mind Produced By Sports’ Decals

Sports Mind Toyota 2
ADVERTISEMENT

Here at The Autopian, we pride ourselves on celebrating all types of car enthusiast cultures without judgment or favor. (Well, I never got the love for all the Bailout Cars, but nostalgia’s a hell of a drug, Zoomers.) To me, the best ones are the ones that teach me something new. Yet I can’t figure out what the deal is with these “Sports Mind Produced By Sports” decals I see everywhere in New York City—often multiples on the same car.

I’ve been wanting to write about these for months and with this being my final day at The Autopian, it’s probably my last chance. It’s not the huge investigation full of interviews that I wanted to do, but maybe one of you can explain to me what the hell I’m looking at.

Vidframe Min Top
Vidframe Min Bottom
Img 5356
Photo: Patrick George

I grabbed this photo on a car parked near our place in Brooklyn yesterday (which is what reminded me to do this story.) There it is: “SPORTS MIND,” and below it, “Produced by SPORTS.” What on earth does this mean, and where does it come from?

Some cursory Google searches reveal these are nothing new—car forums and Reddit boards have been asking about them for close to a decade, maybe longer—but I never really noticed them until I moved to New York in 2017. Nobody really seems to know what they are. It feels vaguely JDM-y to me, like the kind of lettering you used to see during the glory days of Japan’s Bubble Era. But I have no clue if that’s the correct provenance or not.

They can be had for any kind of car, usually with some branding attached. You can get them on eBay or Etsy or Amazon. Here’s one example that’s assuredly unofficial:

ADVERTISEMENT
Photo: eBay

The quality, and English lettering, is often deeply questionable. Here’s another one from Amazon: “Sports Mind Powered by RACING.”  Racing! You hear that? In all-caps, too. That’s how you know they’re serious.

They can be had, or used on, any brand; I’ve seen them here in New York on BMWs, Ford Tauruses, AMGs, Hondas, Toyotas… just about everything. In fact, on the times I’ve considered picking up a cheap lease on a Tesla Model 3 for the hell of it (then I decide not to when I read stuff like this), I knew I wanted to get a “Sports Mind Powered by TESLA” decal as a goof. Also, it would make mine stand out a bit; the damn things all look the same.

Screen Shot 2023 09 27 At 9.36.40 Am
Photo: Etsy

And yes! It exists on Etsy for under forty bucks! Look at that!

But none of this abates my confusion. What is this? What does it all mean? What is the Sports Mind? Do I have it? Do YOU have it? And what is “Sports?” What the hell is that (who, maybe?) and how is it producing things? Should The Autopian start selling these in their official store? Should the site hawk “Sports Mind Powered By RUST” decals for our growing fleets of dangerous shitboxes?

ADVERTISEMENT

I have so many questions and no answers. Perhaps one day, I too will get the Sports Mind. Then I might understand.

[Ed note: I, too, see these everywhere in and around the city. What the hell is up with these? – MH]

Share on facebook
Facebook
Share on whatsapp
WhatsApp
Share on twitter
Twitter
Share on linkedin
LinkedIn
Share on reddit
Reddit
Subscribe
Notify of
66 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
FuzzyPlushroom
FuzzyPlushroom
1 year ago

I’ve never seen one of these particular decals before, though the basic idea’s nothing new, and we’ve had “this sticker adds 5 HP” types for generations.

While I’d love to slap “???????????????????????? ????????????????” on the lower leading edge of each of my Yaris’s doors, I wouldn’t want the added attention – right now my car looks exactly as slow as it is, and if I decorated it, even jokingly, I’d fear someone (police officer or G35 owner, who knows?) might believe I was serious.

Edit: Those question marks are what you get if you try to generate “Sports mind” as fancy cursive text and paste it in.

Last edited 1 year ago by FuzzyPlushroom
Alan Christensen
Alan Christensen
1 year ago

I’ve never seen those in my part of the country. Much more likely to see camo wraps.

thejewosh
thejewosh
1 year ago

They’ve been around and annoying those of us that don’t understand them for years.

Jesus Chrysler drives a Dodge
Jesus Chrysler drives a Dodge
1 year ago

It’s the All Your Base Are Belong to Us of the early ‘20s

Abdominal Snoman
Abdominal Snoman
1 year ago

Oh no!!! somebody set us up the bomb!

Stef Schrader
Stef Schrader
1 year ago

You have no chance to survive make your time.

Ottomottopean
Ottomottopean
1 year ago

Umm, what?

Vetatur Fumare
Vetatur Fumare
1 year ago

There is a Honda Accord near where I live that has a few of these. Every time I walk by it, one more “accessory” has been hotglued onto that poor car by its presumably proud owner.
It’s just another mark of absolute confusion.

Ben
Ben
1 year ago

I’ve never seen one before, but it sounds like the tagline for a knockoff Amazon product from world-renowned company XGZYVNP. What do you mean you haven’t heard of them? They’re huge in Sports-World!

Widgetsltd
Widgetsltd
1 year ago

I have NEVER seen these in the Los Angeles exurbs, or even in the city for that matter. To me, these bizzarre decals prove that NYC drivers don’t know shit about cars. Change my mind!

Cerberus
Cerberus
1 year ago

Never saw those before, but I suspect they’ve been around me on attention-seeking shitboxes I ignore. If I thought a sense of humor was a thing with these, I’d attribute it to some kind of viral irony mocking “Powered by Honda” and such, but I think it would be an out-of-date reference, not really funny when it’s commonly seen, and doesn’t look applied to cars meant to be a joke. It does have that imperfectly translated look and it makes no sense to me, so it being a weeb thing (along with some followers who just imitate what they’ve seen without knowing the origin) sounds like the most likely explanation.

Cy B
Cy B
1 year ago

I have wondered this very thing many, many times. The weirdest thing is the stickers usually end up on extremely normal cars owned by very normal people. I don’t think they even know where the stickers came from, Patrick.

Goof
Goof
1 year ago

Meth. Not even once.

Andy Individual
Andy Individual
1 year ago

I’ve always been perplexed by ‘Sport” decals on pickup trucks, especially F150s. What sport are we talking about? Competitive drive through latte fetching? The kid drop?

It’s kind of like calling a garden rake fine dining cutlery. (I bet DT has a take on that, though.)

Rad Barchetta
Rad Barchetta
1 year ago

It’s “sport” in the sense that figure skating is a sport. Or fishing.

Stef Schrader
Stef Schrader
1 year ago

Pickup Bed Usage Avoidance Champions ’23

Hugh Crawford
Hugh Crawford
1 year ago

You live in the slope?

William Sheldon
William Sheldon
1 year ago

last day? noooo! not again! first at jello picnic years ago, now here?! I hope i dont have to follow another car site

Morgan van Humbeck
Morgan van Humbeck
1 year ago

Lol. So much agreed

“Uhhhhhg, x is going to another car site…? Guess I’m never hearing from them ever again”

Stef Schrader
Stef Schrader
1 year ago

Is this where we type “eat shit?” I think that’s still the tradition.

Last edited 1 year ago by Stef Schrader
David Tracy
David Tracy
1 year ago

Patrick was a part-timer here helping us get things dialed in. So though it’s sad to see him go, we knew it was temporary.

William Sheldon
William Sheldon
1 year ago

I read it first as “Spirit animal” before reading the article. I think i like that better?
Spirit animal powered by dinosaurs

Ranwhenparked
Ranwhenparked
1 year ago

It feels a lot like the descriptive plaques Suzuki used to put on the Alto Works, but way less coherent

Glutton for Piëch
Glutton for Piëch
1 year ago

If we don’t get a goodbye roast article from the staff/contributors, I’m gonna be very sad.

Mark Jacob
Mark Jacob
1 year ago

and with this being my final day at The Autopian

What? No! Why? Say it ain’t so!

StillNotATony
StillNotATony
1 year ago

Maybe a riff on the sportsball meme?

Jack Trade
Jack Trade
1 year ago

My favorite has always been the “Powered by X” ones that riff on the classic, actually-made-sense-once Ford decal (used back in the day when its engines were in bodies it didn’t build, like open wheel race cars).

“Powered by Acura” is of course the best.

Slow Joe Crow
Slow Joe Crow
1 year ago
Reply to  Jack Trade

“Powered by Acura” was part of the greatest automotive desecration I ever saw. It was the early oughts and some kid took an RX-7 Turbo, rattle canned it black and stuck Acura shit all over it to make a fake Integra.

Jack Trade
Jack Trade
1 year ago
Reply to  Slow Joe Crow

For us here, that has to be the most cringey 2000s thing ever (which is saying a lot, as The Office was on then too).

Mark Tucker
Mark Tucker
1 year ago

Maybe they’re big Huey Lewis fans…?

Harmon20
Harmon20
1 year ago

Ask Torch about it. He’s the guy driving around a vehicle with a random “FASHION” plastered on the side. This guy gets it.

A. Barth
A. Barth
1 year ago

and with this being my final day at The Autopian

It’s been a pleasure having you here. Don’t let the door hit you in the ass. 😉

Gubbin
Gubbin
1 year ago
Reply to  A. Barth

What the heck! Will be curious where he’s landing.

DadBod
DadBod
1 year ago
Reply to  Gubbin

it’s in the morning dump, he’s going to be Editor-in-Chief of InsideEVs

Gubbin
Gubbin
1 year ago
Reply to  DadBod

That’s cool! Yay snarky writing about EVs!

Parsko
Parsko
1 year ago
Reply to  A. Barth

Don’t let the door hit ya where the good Lord split ya!

Arch Duke Maxyenko
Arch Duke Maxyenko
1 year ago

It’s like Good Vietnam Shirts

PL71 Enthusiast
PL71 Enthusiast
1 year ago

These are incredibly cringy. I was thinking about them the other day and I suspect they were not originally designed by a native English speaker. Possibly by the same person who writes all of the manuals for my cheapo Chinese electronics.

Nic Periton
Nic Periton
1 year ago

I have just this minute read the instructions for a cheapo Chinese air brush ” pointing the nozzle toward the eye will lead to a poorly day” Clear enough I suppose.

SNL-LOL Jr
SNL-LOL Jr
1 year ago
Reply to  Nic Periton

Every time I want to laugh, I have to remind myself they speak better English than I speak Chinese.
So well done.

66
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x