1975: 'Peanut Buster Parfait'

Wikipedia tells us that the Peanut Buster Parfait debuted at the Dairy Queen in Saint Peter, Minnesota, in 1971. Per the following June 30, 1975, ad from the Sun-Democrat, it took four years for the treat to reach Paducah.

NFL72/71 and What's On TV Tonight? (Update)

I'm gradually recovering from the Dolphins' loss in Super Bowl VI, and now the prospect of this rerun of last summer's George Plimpton special is starting to turn me on for NFL72.

The Freakin' (New Year's) Weekend (1971/72)

This Week in Pro Football is a syndicated program that airs at different times in different markets in 1971--Friday nights in Chicago and Saturday afternoons in Salt Like City, for example--so check your local listings. But, by all means, check them, because This Week in Pro Football is outstanding (and has absolutely the best set in all of television history), even when Pat Summerall isn't available to join Tom Brookshier for the fun.

I am particularly interested in catching This Week in Pro Football this freakin' weekend because, as previously reported, I was tied up with Christmas doings and didn't get to see the opening-round NFL71 playoff games. 

It was Dallas over Minnesota, 20-12, in the noon Central game on Dec. 25.

Then Miami beat Kansas City, 27-24, in an AFC game that started at 3 p.m. Central but ended up needing two overtimes to decide.

In the early game on Sunday, Dec. 26, the defending-champion Colts won at Cleveland, 20-3. There were reports out of Baltimore after the Colts lost to the Patriots in Week 16 that the team might've thrown that game in order to play the Browns (and not the Chiefs) in the first round of the playoffs, but the team denied such suggestions.

In the late afternoon Sunday game, the 49ers outlasted Washington, 24-20.

This whole weekend is going to be huge for football, of course, with New Year's Day 1972 falling on a Saturday. We've got the Sugar, Cotton, Rose bowls all tomorrow afternoon and then, that evening, for the national championship, ...

The NFL conference championships are Sunday, Jan. 2, with the Cowboys and 49ers squaring off for the second year in a row for the NFC title and then the Colts and Dolphins playing for the AFC. I am very nervous about the Miami game, and I might just have to limit myself to only listening on the radio.

Hooray for Christmas! (1971)

Hooray for Christmas! (1971)

Hooray for Christmas! (1971)

It's kind of hard for me to understand right off the bat what this post has to do with Christmas, but maybe I'll figure it out in the comments.

Hooray for Christmas! (1971)

Let's get this party started:

• "We Need a Little Christmas," Percy Faith Orchestra and Chorus

• "The Christmas Song," Carol Burnett

• "Winter Wonderland," Tony Bennett

• "Love's What You're Getting for Christmas," Bobby Sherman

• "The Christmas Waltz," The Lennon Sisters

• "Deck the Halls," Danny Kaye

• "Joy to the World," The Mormon Tabernacle Choir and Philadelphia Brass Ensemble

• "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas," Barbra Streisand

• "Go Tell it on the Mountain," Jim Nabors

• "Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!" Lena Horne

• "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," The Philadelphia Orchestra and Temple University Concert Choir

• "Sleigh Ride," Andy Williams

• "Silver Bells," Johnny Mathis

• "We Wish You a Merry Christmas," Ray Conniff Singers

The Freakin' (Thanksgiving) Weekend (1971)

Happy Thanksgiving.

I'm disappointed that I messed up and reversed the uniform colors from the original Sports Illustrated cover. I colored it with my daughter on Thanksgiving 2017, and I didn't have my computer in front of me at the moment. Oh, well ... artistic license.

The Stantons label it "The Game of the Year" in The Football News ("America's Number One Football Weekly"). In that publication's poll, Nebraska is No. 1 with 176 voting points (in whatever way they tabulated that), and Oklahoma is No. 2 at 164. There's then a 30-point dropoff to No. 3 Alabama. Harry Devold's preview of the game compares its intrigue to the Texas-Arkansas game of 1969, Michigan State-Notre Dame of 1966 and Army-Notre Dame in 1946.

That is some fine weekend TV-sports viewing right there. I want to see it all. Also on Thursday, Nov. 25, 1971, Dick Cavett appears to have a lively nightcap planned for our holidays.

The Freakin' Weekend (1971)

I love Disney World.

2017 me watched a Dan Marino profile on the NFL Network last night, and he was thrilled to learn that Dan Marino's dad was a truck driver for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. 1971 me has been looking at a lot of the Post-Gazette and it's fun to pretend that Dan Marino's dad was the one bringing my pretend paper to the pretend gas station where I purchased it.

Meanwhile, in the NBA, ...

The absolute best part of this very, very good Milton Berle episode of Dick Cavett is the boss college-football commercial narrated by Keith Jackson.

You've probably been wondering what's been going on with CFB71, and the Roger and Pam Stanton and I are here to tell you.

The Stantons run a publication called The Football News, which I had never discovered until this 2017 summer. I bought a bound volume of 1971-72 issues, and it's a treasure trove.

My favorite feature is Mrs. Stanton's regular "A Women's View" column. In one issue, she had an item about connecting with the wives of Joe Robbie and Don Shula at the league meetings, and I LOVED THAT!

It's a thick tabloid, dense with news reports and lots and lots of agate--the college results and rankings, pro transactions--that is sometimes pretty hard to find in the newspapers of the day. 

Also, Mr. Stanton throws in his own hot-take-ish commentary paragraph on pretty much each news item, in which he almost always sides with the largest institution in play (league > team > coach > star player > non-star player). I really should've taken a picture of one of these, but I forgot to, and I want to get this thing posted. I'll put one in the comments soon. Suffice it to say for now that Mr. Stanton could be a bit of a lightning-rod figure.

Along with Detroit Tigers broadcaster Ernie Harwell and other friends, Mr. Stanton bought The Football News in 1962. "He filled it with interviews and gossip, with opinion, news and statistics, including a compendium of team results and upcoming schedules, point spreads and predictions. The latter coupling into one handy package all the information casual gamblers needed triggered the growth of the Football News and made it the most successful publication of its kind." That's from a bizarre remembrance to Mr. Stanton in the Detroit Free Press after his death in 1990, which goes on to tell about some curious runs-in he had with Tom Brokaw and William Clay Ford--and one Mrs. Stanton had with Howard Cosell.

Anyway, I'm enjoying following football through the words of the Stantons this fall, and it's time for me start paying a little more attention to CFB71 in particular.

Guess who the Virginia Tech quarterback who is coming to Lexington on Saturday, Oct. 30, 1971.

Here's hoping John Ray's Wildcats can close the regular season with a big four-game win streak and become bowl eligible (and congratulations to the 2017 'Cats, while we're at it).

What's On TV Tonight (Mondays 1971)?

Cynthia Lowry, the AP's crisp and oft-crispy TV-radio writer, mostly panned the fifth-season opener of Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In: "some signs of fatigue, or maybe age ... slowed to a walk ... diminished." She bolstered her point with detail on the appearance of Martha/Mrs. U.S. attorney general John Mitchell: "Replying to a question about her husband's reaction to her activity, she replied, 'John and I have an understanding--I don't tell him how to run the Justice Department and he doesn't tell me how to run the rest of the world.' It sounded more like something from a comedy writer's typewriter than native Mitchell wit." I love Cynthia Lowry.

Also, I like Arnie a good bit.

And, of course, I love Here's Lucy , which opened with Flip Wilson as its first guest star. He portrayed Butterfly McQueen in a little-theater production of Gone With the Wind. Here's how CBS promoted each of its Monday-night season openers.

That Stand Up and Cheer thing is actually syndicated. I could see myself getting into it.

Of course, my TV attention is pretty much sucked up by one show on Monday nights in the fall.

The Oct. 25, 1971, game is a doozy: the 4-1 Baltimore Colts at the 4-1 Minnesota Vikings.

What's On TV Today (Sundays 1971)?

Hail to the ... whom?

Here's Snoopy this morning, Oct. 24, 1971, ...

And he's on TV tonight ...

So are Jimmy Stewart and Glenn Ford, for now ...

Here's the regular network Sunday-nights 1971-72 schedule from (beautiful and fantastic) TV Guide ...

It's stunning how much The Jimmy Stewart Show opening looks and sounds like the Newhart opening (and how those two shows fell at similar stages in the star actors' careers) ...

Oh, and here's the Cade's County pisode where Bobby Darin rode a horse, unpacked a bazooka and fired it, wrecking a delivery van ...