Wisdom from Roone Arledge

In its issue for December 22, 1969, Sports Illustrated ran a long feature on the relationship between television and sports, and as part of that feature, it ran this quote from Roone Arledge, who was then a 38-year-old wunderkind in charge of ABC Sports:

Sport is a business, not a religion, and there is no sacred way things must be done.  Sport is a set of created circumstances -- artificial circumstances -- set up to frustrate a man in pursuit of a goal.  He has to have certain skills to overcome those obstacles -- or even to challenge them.  And people who don't have those skills cheer him and admire him.  It's that simple.

I think this is really good, and it certainly helps to explain how ABC used to frame a lot of their coverage back during their Golden Era.

Music of Your Life (Mine, Too, Of Course)

I enjoyed tracking my personal relationship to the mainstream over the course of this time frame, and I thought you might, too.

In Honor of Charlie Watts

I'm listening to Let It Bleed today. 

Hilltopper Haven

 From the February 17, 1969 issue of Sports Illustrated:

Down home is the place to be in the Ohio Valley Conference, especially when home is Bowling Green, Ky., where Western Kentucky plays.  In a shoot-out with Murray State for the OVC lead, the Hilltoppers scored the winning basket on a tap at approximately the same time the final buzzer sounded.  No goal, said Murray Coach Cal Luther.  The goal counts, said Referee Charles Fouty, after conferring with Timekeeper "Big Six" Henderson, a longtime Western rooter.  Luther's objection was reasonable, since the ball was fumbled, shot from 25 feet and tapped up twice, all in the last six seconds of Western's 84-82 win.

I'm very impressed at whoever it was at SI that decided to track down that much detail on this game, including the nickname of the timekeeper.  Based on my own knowledge of the rivalry between Western and Murray, I'm going with SI on this one.

But it didn't work out for Western, at least that year.  Murray won the OVC in 1969 -- the last time it would win the league until after Western decamped for the Sun Belt.  The Racers would finish second in 1971, 1973, 1977, and 1981.  They would finish either tied for first or in first in 1980, 1982, and 1983.  But they would not return to the NCAA Tournament until 1988.

Oh, Kentucky

Good jobs news from Campbellsville and Chavies.

Hiring in Clinton (for a full-time secretary for the Hickman County schools guidance counselor).

The Price Is Right and, this October, live from Rupp.

Greetings from Paducah (maybe Stanley Kubrick visited the Paducah City Hall, designed by Edward Durell Stone and completed in 1964, before figuring out 2001: A Space Odyssey):

Happy 80th to "a Covington hot spot."

Fifty years of hospitality in Liberty.

The African American Coalition of Hopkins County is, at last.

About 16 percent of all Kentuckians are said to be deaf or hard of hearing.

Christmas parades: Murray, Dec. 1, and Henderson and Scottsville, Dec. 7.

Oh, Kentucky

Just a fantastic and inspiring feature in the Lexington Herald-Leader from Will Wright of Report for America: The People, Yes.

More Yes: Lashana Harney has a good one in The Winchester Sun on a retiring Bluegrass Community and Technical College professor and her enjoyment of "the application and then thinking critically, mastering concepts."

Astronomy Day is coming up next month, and the West Kentucky Amateur Astronomers have a full day of interesting free programming planned at LBL, and I'm invited, and so are you. Yes! Yes! YES!

Metcalfe County does not have a jail, but it does have a jailer, and now the jailer has newly approved direction on compensation and responsibilities.

The Section 8 waiting list is being reopened in Lawrence County.

Kentucky for sale:

The Freakin' Weekend (1970)

OK, so here's the deal. People (the people, yes!) have been going all Colin Kaepernick/civil disobedient and posting old NFL Films 1970-season-review stuff on YouTube because life is uncertain and because light shouldn't be hidden under bushels. But, of course, it's not like the light clobbers the darkness. The darkness could not overcome it; the score is always like 23-21, and we're forever committing penalties on third down or dropping passes that hit us between the numbers(!)--the very-soon deal is likely that all of this great stuff will be yanked back down from YouTube any moment. So--spoiler alerts--here it is now for us to enjoy while we can. 

NFL70 kicks off today 1970 (Friday, Sept. 18), and you might remember that the Kansas City Chiefs are the defending champions:

"Quarterback Gary Cuozzo was at the Super Bowl, and he remembers," says Pat Summerall. "His entire team remembers." The Vikings will be taking another shot at a championship with Cuozzo at the helm, not Joe Kapp:

Ebony isn't buying Minnesota's plan.

YouTube doesn't have the film on the 1970 Rams' and Lions' seasons, but it does have awesome playlists of the songs purportedly used in the Los Angeles and Detroit NFL Films productions (Dave Volsky, yes!).

It's easy to see why Ebony likes "able, young John Madden" and the Raiders.

The Bengals will be playing this season without their great, young quarterback, Greg Cook, who is still recovering from an arm injury, so it seems we'll have to wait another year for Cincinnati's "golden age of football prominence" to commence.

Frank Gifford wonders "if people will long remember the 1970 New York Giants?" Well, we'll see in this episode (with commercials!) of NFL Action (hooray!) ...

The AP had a story a few weeks ago that the coach of the Eagles, Jerry Williams, says they are hoping for a winning season, so that probably means Philadelphia isn't going to be any good.

Sports Illustrated chose Dick Butkus and the Bears for the cover of its season-preview issue, but they probably aren't going to be any good either.

Street and Smith's went with Joe Namath and the Jets. They were, of course, super just two seasons ago, but, ever since then, the story with the Jets has been whether Namath is going to play--because of possible suspension, because of injury, because of possible retirement, etc.

Tex Maule a few weeks ago in SI had an analysis of the choking Cowboys. Nonetheless, Boys' Life put Calvin Hill on its cover this month 1970.

You might think from this ad in the Boys' Life that Johnny Unitas is a man without a team, but that is not correct. He's back leading the Colts after missing most of the Super Bowl two seasons ago against New York, and we'll have to see how that turns out.

The Dolphins have come a long way since 1966, and now they're looking great!

As previously reported, the plan appears to be coming together pretty happily in Pittsburgh.

As for the rest, here's how they fared in the preseason (which is a bigger deal in NFL70 than it is now) ...

Despite the 5-1 preseason performance, the Redskins are reeling. 

Vince Lombardi's impact on in Washington was really huge. I didn't get this for a long time--until I actually lived in D.C. for a little while, it felt like this mostly inconsequential anecdote of NFL history. This was incorrect. Washington spent years and years being a joke of the league, and then it spent 20 years being one of the absolute best teams in the league, and Lombardi appears to me now to have been the primary catalyst in that change. 

In summer 1969, there was an AP story in the Kentucky New Era that Sam Huff "took a pay cut in snipping his rich business ties with a clothing firm," in order to come back from retirement and have a chance to play again for Lombardi. (I lost that link--sorry, AP.) The story said that Huff's mind was made to return when he saw Lombardi, who was a Giants assistant in Huff's rookie season, 1956, speak about winning determination in a sales movie, Second Effort:

I was in the Martin Luther King branch of the Washington public library this summer and discovered this fantastic, beautiful book (5 Stars, Highly Recommended) from 1974 ...

Here's its chapter about Lombardi's time ...

Actually, my favorite part of the book is a big section in the back with color pictures of the Redskins' facilities.

So, in conclusion, hooray for public libraries, football, TV, all media and affordable, universal access!

What's On TV Sept. 23, 1969?

I feel certain that the first-ever ABC Movie of the Week, "Seven in Darkness," had to--had to--at least subconsciously influence the Airplane creators.

I so love television.

Oh, Texas (1970)

Happy new year, Jan. 1, 1970, and greetings from Dallas.

I love hotels, and I especially love Holiday Inns ...

Got in from Houston after midnight after the Astro Bluebonnet Bowl (congrats, Cougars!) ...

Have I mentioned how much I love a parade?

OK, time to get down to business: No. 1 Texas vs. No. 9 Notre Dame in the Cotton Bowl. I'm going to be tuning in to my main man from the Humble Oil Southwest Conference Radio Network, Connie Alexander, on the transistor radio from inside the stadium ...

TV Guide has me excited to check out Notre Dame's junior quarterback--I heard a good bit about Joe Theesmann, but I haven't seen him yet ...

The other big games today include No. 3 Arkansas vs No. 13 Mississippi in the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans …

And then there's No. 5 Southern California vs. No. 7 Michigan in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California ...

I’ve set my videotaping machine to record those two games back home in Hoptown ...

Tonight, we wind things up with No. 2 Penn State vs. No. 6 Missouri in the Orange Bowl in Miami. Depending on how things shake out earlier in the day, that one could end up deciding who ends up on top of the poll ... 

I just hope I can stay awake to see it after I get room service back at the Holiday Inn ...

What a great trip we are having!

What's On TV Tonight (1969)?

It's the second-annual Peach Bowl on Tuesday, Dec. 30, 1969 ...

Thank you for this fantastic, fantastic movie, YouTube user James Schrumpf, who writes, "It's 1969, and Oh. My. God is it 1969. The hair! The clothes! Lester Maddox? ... sit back and enjoy some good WVU football, and don't miss the short speech at the end by their new head coach -- Bobby Bowden."

The Freakin' Weekend (1969)

1969 was such an odd professional-football season. The American Football League has this 1969 weekend off after the Kansas City Chiefs and Oakland Raiders won their first-round playoff games, and now the National Football League playoffs get rolling Saturday, Dec. 27, 1969, with the Los Angeles Rams at Metropolitan Stadium to face the Minnesota Vikings. 

Please note the lack of TV listings or other reports of goings-on during this 1969 (freakin') weekend. Rich Hoptown 1969 me apparently just drove up to Minneapolis to check out the game in person and took some highlights with some new moving-picture camera he got for Christmas.

I love Christmas.

The Freakin' Weekend (1969)

The AFL playoffs get started Saturday, Dec. 20, 1969, with the Chiefs at the defending-champion Jets in Shea Stadium:

The American League wrapped up its regular season last weekend ...

The National League, though, has one more Sunday (Dec. 21, 1969) of regular-season games ...

Plenty of pro football to watch on TV this weekend ...

Also, rich Hoptown 1969 me decided to go ahead and subscribe to Sports Illustrated, and the new issue is here ...

The Freakin' Weekend (1969)

Sorry this is late in posting. It has been a busy time in 1969 ...

No. 1 at No. 2 on today, Dec. 6, 1969 ... whoa, Nelly! ...

Rich 1969 Hoptown me bought this week's Sports Illustrated, and it included this big Astro Turf insert about the big game ...

I haven't been a very good UK fan yet this season; maybe it's just that I'm still just heartbroken over Mike Casey's injury.  I've got to start paying attention ...

Just nineteen more 1969 shopping days ...

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas on TV, too ...