Thursday, June 17, 2021

1975

91 comments:

  1. Baseball on the radio is the best do-something-else-while-it's-on sports-media experience.

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  2. Replies
    1. Tony Soprano also had an Uncle Junior, which always made me happy.

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  3. JAWS is out this weekend in 1975, but we're still seeing only the trailer in Paducah. Here are the local movie listings in the Friday, June 20, Sun-Democrat:

    -- W.W. & the Dixieland Dancekings at the Columbia

    -- Earthquake at the Arcade

    -- Beyond the Door and The Reincarnation of Peter Proud at Paducah Cinemas I and II

    -- 5 Fingers of Death and Sacred Knives of Vengeance at the South Twin

    -- The Devil's Rain at Paducah Drive In

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  4. I can get pretty high and mighty about media involving murder and violent crime, but then I turn around and also love a disaster movie like Earthquake or war movie where all kinds of people get killed and hurt and experience all kinds of awful stuff. I can't defend my fascination there.

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  5. I don't remember ever hearing about W.W. & the Dixieland Dancekings until doing 1975 this year.

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  6. The movie poster reads, “W.W. has got a way with words and a way with women … and he got away with anything that wasn’t nailed down … until he met a virgin named Dixie.”

    Burt Reynolds is W.W.

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  7. The movie also has Ned Beatty (whom I like), Art Carney (whom I love) and (in his first movie appearance) Jerry Reed (whom I also like). Burt Reynolds wanted Dolly Parton to be in it, too, but she passed. So, instead, Dixie is Conny Van Dyke, a name I didn't recognize but a face you probably know from a million things.

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    1. Dolly always had good sense about these sorts of things.

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    2. July 8, 1975, Trans World Airlines ad in The Boston Globe: “Right now on all of our movie flights you can choose between ‘W.W. And The Dixie DanceKings’ and ‘Catherine Parr’ from the BBC series ‘The Six Wives of Henry VIII.’ And although there is a nominal charge in Coach for movies on all airlines, we’re the only airline that offers you a choice on all movie flights.”

      So did they have screens at every seat? Or was there a cabin vote to determine what would be shown on a big screen at the front? Maybe a former Trans World flight attendant out there in HP Nation can drop some knowledge.

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  8. I started watching this movie a little here and there on YouTube and might still eventually finish it. I think the Wikipedia plot summary is probably about as entertaining (and I actually do mean that in a pretty good way).

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  9. I don't know why I got interested in W.W. & the Dixieland Dancekings, but the really weird thing was that, later in the day that I discovered it, I was in Sharpe, Kentucky. And it turns out the movie was written by Tom Rickman of Sharpe, Kentucky.

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  10. Among the other screenplays that Tom Rickman also wrote were Coal Miner's Daughter and Everybody's All-American, both of which I adore. I had never heard of him.

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  11. I was listening to Phyllis Schlafly on Phil Donahue the other day, and I was so relieved to hear her talk about the drudgery she experiences in writing. I'm impressed with anyone that can actually completes any writing project of more than a couple of thousand words (I think it's really hard to do anything a good bit shorter than that), and I'm blown away with anyone who actually writes something that other people enjoy reading and can make sense of. Mad props to Tom Rickman.

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  12. Here are the MLB75 standings from the Friday, June 20, Sun-Democrat:

    American
    East
    Boston 35-24
    New York 35-28, 2 GB
    Milwaukee 31-31, 5.5
    Baltimore 28-32, 7.5
    Detroit 25-34, 10
    Cleveland 24-37, 12

    West
    Oakland 39-25
    Kansas City 37-28, 2.5
    Texas 32-31, 6.5
    Minnesota 29-31, 8
    California 31-35, 9
    Chicago 26-36

    National
    East
    Pittsburgh 36-24
    New York 32-37, 3.5
    Philadelphia 34-29, 3.5
    Chicago 32-31, 5.5
    St. Louis 28-32, 8
    Montreal 26-31, 8.5

    West
    Cincinnati 40-26
    Los Angeles 39-29, 2
    San Francisco 31-33, 8
    San Diego 30-35, 9.5
    Atlanta 27-37, 12
    Houston 24-45, 17.5

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  13. One time I was playing baseball in my neighborhood in Paducah, and there was a Latino guy--young guy but still older than us--who showed up and played with us for an hour or so. I had never seen him before. He was a lot better than the rest of us. I went home and told Mom I was pretty sure it was John Candelaria.

    It's John Candelaria vs. Tom Seaver in this June 20 broadcast from Shea Stadium.

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  14. Tom Seaver is 10-4, with five complete-game wins in a row, and he's leading the National League in earned-run average.

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  15. Pittsburgh has been hot--nine wins in 11 games--and the Pirates have a pile of .300-plus hitters. But after a scoreless top of the first, Seaver has now pitched 23 straight scoreless innings.

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  16. Candelaria blanks the Mets in the home half, and now here's Roger "Rooms To Let, 50 Cents" Miller with an announcement on behalf of the U.S. Department of Labor: "I want you all to know that the federal minimum wage is two dollars and 10 cents. That's $2.10 an hour for most workers."

    1975's $2.10 is $10.54 in today's dollars, and Roger Miller, who died in 1992 when the wage was $4.25 per, might be dismayed to learn where things stand today.

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    1. In 1975, real median household income (in 2019 dollars) was around $50,000/year. In 2019 (the last figure for which data are available, it was $68,703. So the median household in 2019 could have stopped working at the end of August, taken the last four months of the year off, and had about as much income as a comparable family in 1975. Of course, they didn't do that, so they ended up with about 37 percent more money instead.

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  17. Bob Murphy, a sunny play-by-play voice of the Mets since their expansion season of 1962, teaches me something I didn't know about baseball: When batters' fouls frequently fly straight back from the plate, it means the pitcher's fastball is really fast that day. Candelaria's is. So Seaver's, too. It's 0-0 through five innings. Candelaria has held the Mets hitless; Seaver has struck out seven Pirates.

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  18. Seaver, behind 0-2 in the count to lead off the sixth, beats out an infield single for the Mets' first hit of the game!

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  19. But the top of New York's order can't do anything with Candelaria, and now Lindsey Nelson takes over from Murphy for the scoreless game's seventh inning.

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  20. "A home run for Wilver Stargell ... over the right-field fence ... and the Pirates go out in front by a score of one to nothing ... that home run was No. 358 in the major-league career of Stargell ... ties him for 26th place on the all-time major-league list ... ties him with Yogi Berra."

    (With 475 in his career, Stargell now stands T32 with Stan Musial--two behind Adrian Beltre, two ahead of Carlos Delgado.)

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  21. These are the only two teams that have won N.L. East titles. Six divisional championships have been contended. Pittsburgh has won four; New York, two.

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  22. Seaver hits Richie Zisk with a pitch, and then he hits Manny Sanguillen, and Sanguillen--who once lived in the same apartment building with one of my college friends (!)--apparently took a couple of steps toward the mound with his bat still in his hand. Things have settled down, but Mets pitching coach Rube Walker (a former Pirate pitcher) is coming out to see what the heck is suddenly wrong with Seaver.

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  23. Nothing apparently. Seaver retires Frank Taveras, and the Pirates' lead holds at 1-0.

    And sorry--Rube Walker never pitched for Pittsburgh. (I was thinking of Luke Walker.)

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  24. Now Seaver hits Richie Hebner! So that's three hit batsmen in the last four Pirates faced by Seaver.

    With 76 career hits by pitch, Tom Seaver is tied for 194th on the all-time list (along with Josh Beckett, Bill Dinneen, Chuck Finley, GeorgeMogridge, Eppa Rixey, Edinson Volquez and C.J. Wilson)—one behind Paul Maholm, Mike Sullivan and Dazzy Vance; one ahead of Dennis Eckersley, Mark Leiter, Esteban Loaiza, Willie Mitchell and Cinders O’Brien. The leader in this career category is Gus “Cannonball”/“Rubber Arm Gun”/“Rubber-Winged Gus” Weyhing of Louisville, who hit 277 batters in 14 seasons between 1887 and 1901. That’s 58 (26 percent) more than second-place Chick Fraser.

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  25. Seaver gets out Al Oliver, though, and that's it for the Pirates. Their lead remains 1-0.

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  26. And now the Mets have a man on with one out in the bottom of the eighth. On comes pinch-hitter Jesus Alou. This guy was great for the A's a couple of seasons ago ...

    Alou singles! John Stearns moves to third. Jack Heidemann pinches for Seaver, and his sacrifice fly scores Stearns. It's 1 apiece.

    Alou is leading the National League in pinch hitting.

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  27. That's all in the eighth. Tom Hall comes on to pitch to the Pirates in the ninth. He's due to face Stargell, Dave Parker and Zisk. Hall, whom the Reds traded to New York in April just before all the real fun got going in Cincinnati, has his issues with the Pirates:

    In 1974 he pitched a career-low 64 innings, and his ERA rose again to 4.08 to go along with his 3-1 record. On May 3, when his ERA stood at 1.00, Hall cut the middle finger of his pitching hand on a tile soap dish in the shower at Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Stadium. He was disabled for two weeks and the injury hampered him for longer. A couple of years later he filed a lawsuit against Three Rivers Stadium and the Pirates for the incident, which caused a loss of blood and emotional trauma. It is not clear how this lawsuit was resolved, but Hall never pitched as well as he had in the year prior to the mishap.

    After two brief appearances in 1975, on April 15 the Reds traded the 27-year-old Hall to the New York Mets for fellow lefty hurler Mac Scarce. The move was mostly about the Reds’ abundance of relievers, as Scarce went to the minors and never appeared in a game with Cincinnati. The Mets needed pitchers. “I think it’s a steal for us,” said new teammate Tom Seaver. “Hall’s got a great arm, and he’s not that old.” Hall pitched in 34 games for New York, including four starts, and managed a 4-3 record despite an elevated 4.75 ERA, part of a trend that saw his ERA more than double in three years.

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  28. Stargell singles, and Art Howe comes on as a pinch runner ...

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  29. Parker singles. Howe to third ...

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  30. Tom Hall, Tom T. Hall and Charlie Pride were honestly all one and the same baseball-playing, country-singing superstar to 7-year-old me in 1975. I was confused about the whole situation.

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  31. Zisk singles Howe home and Parker to second. It's 2-1, Pirates. Not only has Yogi Berra tonight lost his sole hold on No. 26 on the all-time home-run list, now his Mets are in precarious shape in the top of the ninth. Berra gives not-Hee-Haw Hall the heave ho, and Bob Apodaca is coming on to face menacing Manny Sanguillen with two on and no out ...

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  32. Sanguillen bloops a single, and bases are loaded ... on comes a pinch-hitter, Ed Kirkpatrick.

    When I was 7, I thought Ed Kirkpatrick looked like Frank Burns. Now I'm a little embarrassed about my Hall/Hall/Pride confusion, but I was totally on the mark with this Ed Kirkpatrick/Frank Burns resemblance.

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  33. Oh, cool ... Lindsey Nelson also just used "precarious" to describe the Mets' predicament ... deep, deep fly foul for Kirkpatrick ...

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  34. Kirkpatrick K ... now Candelaria ...

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  35. Another strikeout ... Rennie Stennett ...

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  36. Stennett triples!

    I don't mean to be a Mr. Big Pants here, but I once got to meet Al Oliver, and Al Oliver told me that he felt Rennie Stennett was one of the most underrated hitters in baseball history. I was just typing that, and then Rennie Stennett tripled to put Pittsburgh ahead, 5-1.

    Sincerely,
    Mr. Big Pants

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  37. Twenty-one-year-old John Candelaria of New York completes a 5-1 win over the Mets on Friday night, June 20, 1975, at Shea Stadium.

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  38. I've never dialed in to a soap opera, but maybe I should try to get in on the ground floor of Ryan's Hope.

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  39. OK, the setup here is that there's a bar/restaurant place, Ryans', frequented by a young obstetrician-gynecologist who is friendly with the middle-aged proprietor couple's chipper, young-adult daughter. They also have a son who is just launching a campaign for Riverside city council, and the Ryans appear to be a very happy and cohesive family.

    That's the first 1 minute, 25 seconds. Eric's hope for Ryan's Hope is that the rest of the soap opera is just pleasant stories of Mary and the OBGYN falling in love and having a beautiful family, Mr. and Mrs. Ryan getting to retire and go on romantic vacations and Councilman Ryan successfully opening a dog park for the Riverside citizens and their pets.

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  40. Oh, no. Three minutes in, and it appears the politician son, Frank Ryan, has been pushed down a stairwell.

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  41. OK, I'm off Ryan's Hope--way, way, way too dramatic.

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  42. We also have some new game shows debuting on ABC today (Monday, July 7) 1975. You Don't Say is a Tom Kennedy thing where contestants try to guess the name of a famous person or place when some celebrity panelist gets them to first guess a word that sounds like but is not spelled the same as any part of the name. So, for example, Abby Dalton (the original Mrs. Barney Miller) just got a bank teller from North Hollywood, California," to correctly guess "bury," which then led her to correctly guess "Barry Goldwater."

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  43. Now a housewife from New York successfully got to "The Count of Monte Cristo" when Loretta Swit got her to guess "Mounty" (as in Canadian) and then Sherman Hemsley got her to guess "Crisco."

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  44. And I think the concept of this show is interesting.

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  45. The issue is that there are too many moments where a stumped contestant is quizzically yelling something over and over again like, "AWFUL T HOURS ... AWFUL T HOURS! ... AWFUL T HOURS! ..." or "PICTURE MANURE! ... PICTURE MANURE! ... PICTURE MANURE! ..." And it just takes too long to get to "Eiffel Tower" or "Victor Mature," and the show barges out of your background and distracts you from editing a blog post that a client needs by the top of the hour.

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  46. "ZOO IS KENNEL! ... ZOO IS KENNEL! ... ZOO IS KENNEL! ..."

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  47. "FLORIST LEACHED MEN! ... FLORIST LEACHED MEN! ... FLORIST LEACHED MEN! ..."

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  48. "PATTER CELLARS! ... PATTER CELLARS! ... PATTER CELLARS! ..."

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  49. Well, You Don't Say! is probably not going to be a hit with me, but, still, mad props to YouTube user "The Guy with the Games." I especially appreciate that this video has preserved the commercials.

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  50. Well done, Pop! Goes the Country, logically following "Put Another Log on the Fire" with "I'm Not Lisa." But now it's "Rainy Day Woman," and I'm probably going to be worried about Julie the rest of the day.

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  51. I don't mean to brag, but I am in a couple of churches with a woman who performed in one of the Up With People troupes. She signed my UWP boxed set.

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  52. Up With People made at least a couple of appearances in Madisonville, and those are lauded to this day by my wife's family. My wife, in fact, knows the lyrics to a handful of their songs, including "Up With People" and, I think, this one. I like it.

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  53. Wikipedia really adds a layer of nuance to watching an old episode of Tattletales. Today's celebrity couples are Sugar Ray and Millie Robinson; Robert and Sheila Sullivan Culp, and Charles Nelson Reilly and Elizabeth Allen.

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  54. Robinsons win. Tattletales is fun.

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  55. The Price Is Right is not exactly my jam, but its rapid-fire variety, luxurious depiction of contemporary products and prizes and--most of all--Bob Barker's naked ambition give the program a relentlessness that just wears a person down. The Price Is Right will not be denied.

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  56. And when somebody actually wins both showcases at the end, the payoff for all involved is huge. White-belted David just racked up a trip to Hawaii, trip to Tahiti, trip to Australia, Hawaiian Tropic dark tanning oils, a movie camera and projector from Bell and Howell, casual patio furniture from John Hancock, a Casablanca greenhouse, a Dyna Corporation backyard waterfall, 14 different flavors of Diet Shasta and a Road Ranger pull-along trailer. He already had scored a collection of Quoizel lamps ("upholding America's rich tradition of fine lighting") and a Chevrolet Nova compact sedan (without air conditioning) earlier in the show. That is quite a haul! Thrilling conclusion, as David and his proud wife are overcome with emotion.

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  57. Among regular panelists, Richard Dawson is amazing on Match Game, though Brett Somers is my personal favorite. Charles Nelson Reilly gets a lot of hype, and I do like him, but I think Fannie Flagg is actually underrated--I would flip flop their frequency in appearances.

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  58. Oh, good. Betty White's on next week, and she, too, is excellent on Match Game, as she is all game shows.

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  59. Channel 12 wasn't one of them, but many CBS affiliates followed Match Game with Musical Chairs, which featured the first Black game-show host, Adam Wade, and various guest performers. This linked episode, for example, featured Irene Cara (eventually of Fame) and the (sublime) Spinners. Wikipedia: "A singer would begin to sing a song, but stop at a certain point. The singer then sang three different lyrics for the next line of the song, only one of which was correct, which were all displayed on back-lit panels. The third panel occasionally contained humorous or absurd lyrics. The incorrect lyrics were written by songwriters/lyricists who were on the show's staff." It's clever and pleasant, but the game play is somehow not as interesting or peppy as Name That Tune.

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  60. In his spare time, Bob Barker took a trip to beautiful downtown San Salvador. He was almost smack in the middle of a 20-year run of hosting the Miss Universe pageant (preceded by Ark Linkletter and followed by Alan Thicke).

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  61. Replies
    1. Pardon ... this is the Friday, July 11, late sports--not July 10.

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  62. As of 11:20 or so Eastern July 10, the Yankees were trailing the Twins in the ninth in Minneapolis, and that was bad news because the Red Sox at the time were leading the Rangers in Dallas in the seventh.

    The Pirates beat the Dodgers, and that was bad news to New Yorkers, too, because it meant the idle Mets fell another half-game back in the N.L. East.

    The Astros have fired their general manager, Spec Richardson. "A very sick franchise," says Girard. "They need help."

    The All-Star Game is coming up Tuesday, July 15, and a late rush of votes elevated Graig Nettles to starting third basemen for the American League. He's joined in the starting lineup by fellow Yankees Bobby Bonds in the outfield and Thurman Munson at catcher. Girard is particulary excited about the Yankees' 27-year-old, seventh-year catcher. "There was never any doubt ... He's been hitting all year long ... driving in runs, getting those key hits and no slumps, you know? I've been expecting this for a few years. He finally developed, and it's beautiful to watch him in action."

    The other A.L. starters are Reggie Jackson and Joe Rudi in the outfield (though Rudi's been playing first base for the A's this season), Bert Campaneris at shortstop, Gene Tenace at first and Rod Carew at second.

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  63. In some typically crazy ABA/NBA-player-transaction shenanigans, George McGinnis will be playing for the 76ers next season instead of the Knicks, though New York initially was the team to sign him away from the Pacers. Don't sweat it, says Girard, recalling a game a few years ago in which McGinnis padded his rebounds total by intentionally missing a layup and batting the ball a time or two against the backboard. "That is cheap, friends, let me tell you!"

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  64. And Prince Rogers Nelson, in the summer of 1975, is about a half-year in on working with his first band, 94 East. My guess is they had no gig on Saturday, June 21, and Prince was home to see this Lola Falana bit on a Sammy Davis Jr. special.

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  65. I'm keep getting my days off kilter here because I forgot the British Open started on Wednesday. That was the Thursday, July 10, sports that Jerry Girard was doing, after all. The third round of the golf tournament was Friday, July 11. Then, on Saturday, Tom Watson and Jack Newton ended up tied after 72 holes, so those two played 18 more Sunday, July 13.

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  66. It was a huge victory for Watson, who had led the 1974 U.S. Open going into the last round, only to collapse with a 79 on the last day. Watson tied for 8th at the 1975 Masters. Then he had a three shot lead after two rounds of the 1975 U.S. Open, but finished in a tie for 9th after shooting 78 and 77 over the last two days. So he was getting the reputation of someone who couldn't win the big one.

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  67. And that 1975 British Open was a killer. Watson was three shots off the lead going into the last round. He shot a 72 on a day when most people collapsed. He beat Nicklaus and Miller by one shot each to get into a playoff with Jack Newton. Then he beat Newton 71-72 to win the playoff.

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  68. Watson had a one-shot lead going to 16, but a bogey put both men into a tie. They both parred 17. Then Watson parred 18, and Newton bogeyed, and Watson was the champion. From then until about 1983, he was pretty much unstoppable.

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  69. Gene and Helen Rayburn are crossing over to this week's Tattletales. His Match Game 1975's top-rated program in daytime TV.

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