Wednesday, October 1, 2014

1966 Conference Tournament

Game 1: Ballads of The Green Berets by SSgt. Barry Sadler vs. Supremes A'Go-Go by The Supremes

Game 2: The Monkees vs. Strangers in the Night by Frank Sinatra

Game 3: Revolver by The Beatles vs. If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears by The Mamas & the Papas

Game 4: What Now My Love? by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass vs. Game 1 winner

Game 5: Game 2 winner vs. Game 3 winner

Game 6: Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner

41 comments:

  1. The Supremes are going down, and I'm as surprised as anyone.

    ReplyDelete
  2. it occur to me that this would be better staged as golf majors. each of three listeners could be a major tournament, choose his or her own fields of albums for that given year in whatever way makes sense to that individual and then score those records against par based on whatever qualities that person individually values. and then there could be a fourth major, which might be the u.s. open, that would all be sales-driven for that particular year.

    or, the four majors could be me and my tastes (the masters), billboard sales (the u.s. open), some kind of rotten tomatoes-ish critics aggregatoion (the british open) and the grammies (pga championship).

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. yes, i agree with me here. this is a good idea.

      Delete
  3. Game 1 final:

    Ballads of The Green Berets by SSgt. Barry Sadler 61
    Supremes A'Go-Go by The Supremes 53

    ReplyDelete
  4. i started sorting my album by release date a few years ago, and now i know why.

    ReplyDelete
  5. i think i'm just going to become a golf fan altogether.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Dear Topps, please go back and produce 150-trading-card sets for golfers for each year from 1860 until now, and please ship one of each set to me.

    ReplyDelete
  7. interesting. the first cut on the second side of the monkees record is a kellogg's jingle, which i figured drew its inspiration from the who sell out. but, alas, the who record came out in 1967.

    ReplyDelete
  8. check that. the youtube link that i'm listening to is a later reissue of the 1966 monkees record, and the kellogg's jingle is included among some bonus material. well, that's pretty funny.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Boom. I just created a YouTube playlist. BOOM!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Frank Sinatra is slaughtering the Monkees.

    ReplyDelete
  11. With Frank Sinatra amid a blowout win, all of the 1966 Conference fans are beginning to explore their dinner options near the arena. I might check out the Lee's Famous Recipe Chicken. It looks great!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Game 2 final:

    Strangers in the Night by Frank Sinatra 94
    The Monkees 64

    ReplyDelete
  13. I want an explanation of the scoring system.

    ReplyDelete
  14. I'm just making it up. For example, the Monkees' album has some good songs, but, overall, it didn't do anything that made me want to stand in its defense. The Frank Sinatra record, meanwhile, seems to do perfectly what it sets out to do. So that seemed to me to be the kind of basketball game where the Frank Sinatras would just come out and efficiently execute their offense and run away with the game.

    The early-session game, however, was quite a bit different. Neither would rank with me as a particularly great album, but both have a lot to like about them. I saw this as mostly a stalemate. Foul problems plagued both teams in such a physical game. The SSgt. Sadlers pulled away in the last five minutes, though, as they continued to execute their offense, stay in their 2-3 zone and hit 75 percent of their free throws. The Supremes tried some really kooky things to throw the Sadlers off the rails--a version of "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" at the end of the first half and The Beatles' "Money" about midway through the second half--and these plays out of timeouts did seem to stun the opposition momentarily. But the Sadlers converted a couple of and-one backdoor layups and forced the Supremes into some crazy shots at the end of the shot clock, and that was that.

    ReplyDelete
  15. I got my fried chicken to go, by the way, and went back to the hotel room and watched a My Three Sons.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Day 2 of the tournament. Early on, the refs are whistling "Tax Man" for palming a lot more frequently than the Beatles are accustomed to having it called. Beatles fans are complaining to one another about inconsistent officiating, and one can understand their frustration.

    ReplyDelete
  17. The Mamas & the Papas come out sharp with the fluid "Monday, Monday" and "Straight Shooter" and take a somewhat surprising early lead. But the Beatles, unbothered, come back from the first TV timeout and answer effectively with perfect "Eleanor Rigby." The Beatles have so many ways to beat you. The teams are trading buckets and leads midway through the first half.

    ReplyDelete
  18. The depth of the Beatles is underrated. "For No One" doesn't get many minutes but makes them count. Those 1966 Conference fans who are arriving at the arena late after church on Sunday, Oct. 2, 1966, are going to see the scoreboard and have no clue of the valiant effort posted by the Ms&Ps early in this game.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Bogged down in "Spanish Harlem," the Mamas & the Papas will now have to fight to keep the margin respectable.

    ReplyDelete
  20. Game 3 final:

    Revolver by The Beatles 101
    If You Can Believe Your Eyes and Ears by The Mamas & the Papas 69

    ReplyDelete
  21. "I'm a Lucky One" by Barry Sadler has such a strangely specific transporting effect on me. The Floyd Cramer-ish piano and background vocals send me straight to a particular restaurant with red-vinyl-topped bar stools and a pie case in a particular southeastern Kentucky town--Somerset, maybe--on a particular summer Friday night in 1991 or '92 that I was traveling through there. That song or maybe some Floyd Cramer piano hit must've been playing in there that evening.

    ReplyDelete
  22. II'm listening the game 4 of the 1966 conference tournament on the radio in my car

    ReplyDelete
  23. it's pretty clear that Barry Sadler is going to have a hard time disrupting herb Alpert's beautiful game this afternoon

    ReplyDelete
  24. Alpert came into this tournament as the top seed his records led the billboard 200 album sales charts for the United States more weeks than any other artists in 1966

    ReplyDelete
  25. albert plays hey lovely precise game that is pleasing to the eyes in years traditional fan

    ReplyDelete
  26. but albert also ad exotic modern innovation and the combination has taken he and the tijuana brass to the top of the 1966 conference standings

    ReplyDelete
  27. but the 1966 conference tournament is not her B Alberts coronation party

    ReplyDelete
  28. the gritty Saddlers have come outand and demanded that this game herbs conform to their preferred slow tempo

    ReplyDelete
  29. at half the berries lead 39 234and the herb appear confounded

    ReplyDelete
  30. Like the Internet, voice-recognition software on smartphones is amazing.

    ReplyDelete
  31. Game 4 final ...

    Ballads of The Green Berets by SSgt. Barry Sadler 78
    What Now My Love? by Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass 74

    ReplyDelete
  32. Game 5 ... Frank Sinatra is up, 25-17, midway through the first half on the Beatles ... all of us middle-aged guys who showed up at the arena in our suits on this Monday, Oct. 3, 1966, are standing at the urinals in the men's room, smoking our cigarettes and telling each other that maybe things aren't changing so much, after all ...

    ReplyDelete
  33. But, suddenly, "Call Me" has come on, and the Sinatras can't seem to find decent shots ...

    ReplyDelete
  34. Half: Beatles pull even, 43 apiece.

    "'Yellow Submarine'?" I say to no one in particular before taking a sip of coffee from a Styrofoam cup while waiting for my hot dog at the concession stand.

    ReplyDelete
  35. More solid, Side 2 minutes from "For No One." Tournament-MVP talk is picking up around the longer-haired boys on press row.

    ReplyDelete
  36. Game 5 final ...

    Revolver by The Beatles 93
    Strangers in the Night by Frank Sinatra 80

    ReplyDelete
  37. Championship ...

    Ballads of The Green Berets by SSgt. Barry Sadler 72
    Revolver by The Beatles 78

    ReplyDelete