1976

Happy Thanksgiving 1976! Merry Christmas 2023!

1976

17 Oct 1976, Sun The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) Newspapers.com

Well, until this very day in 2023, I believed the town in Massachusetts where the Patriots play was spelled "Foxboro," and it often is. Actually, though, it's "Foxborough," and, in my 1976 pretend, I'm planning to be there for tomorrow night's Jets-Patriots game. 

On today, Oct. 17, 1976, however, fake me is hanging out in my Holiday Inn room in Worcester, flipping through the (fantastic!) Sunday Boston Globe and watching (glorious!) television. We've got the Week 6 of the NFL, Game 2 of the World Series and/or a highly promising made-for-TV movie to check out.

 

Of course, supper is looking pretty promising, too. We'll definitely be taking a break this evening from Borbon, Barbeau et al., to make a trip downstairs to the ol' Persian Room to eat.

1976

I'd never realized it until today, but George Blanda's Topps 1976 might get my vote for best football card of all time. Blanda was approaching 49 years old when this card was released that summer, and he ended up being waived into retirement by the Raiders before the regular season. So, for starters, it has his complete, tremendous professional-football record on the back ...

Even an 8-year-old kid like me in 1976 could not have read the statistics had Topps gone to a smaller point size on the record, in order to squeeze in some cartoon and/or anecdote on the back--such as this one from his 1972 card ...

I think I actually read that autobiography. I know I read Ken Stabler's, and I think I might've also read George Blanda's--or at least most of it before mistakenly leaving it behind in the backseat of a cab riding home from a post-Natalie Merchant 10,000 Maniacs performance around Washington in the late 1990s. But, back to the card, ...

The picture is just dynamite. As a kid, of course, Blanda looked ancient, and, now, he looks so virile and defiant. (Which is how he apparently went out--"I just want to get out of here now," he's quoted as saying in the Associated Press report of his slipping out of the locker room quietly and without any sort of press conference on August 25.) I also love it that there's nothing in the picture that makes it look more like Blanda is part of a football game than he is waiting on his fillup at a self-serve Sunoco or Phillips 76 on a chilly evening.

The card also brings up a couple of questions for me about Blanda. He was from Illinois; how'd he end up playing at the University of Kentucky? (I have some ideas on this, but I've also read a book about Joe Namath, and I think I might be mashing into Blanda's story some of Namath's story about considering going to Kentucky before ending up at Alabama.) And Blanda was born in 1927 and went to college and made money by playing football; did he ever slide into self-doubts around leading a more frivolous life than the people just slightly older than him who dropped out of school to go fight in World War II and came home if they were fortunate to scrape out a living doing actual-tough-guy jobs like construction? I'm not saying that Blanda should've been embarrassed about the life he lived; I'm just saying that is very definitely a thing for some people, and I wonder where Blanda came down in those mysteries.

Anyway, lots of stuff to think about in 1976 Topps No. 355. It's quite a relic of the United States into which we were born.

Today's date, Sept. 28, was a Tuesday in 1976. In my young-man pretend from this time, I'm checking out of Dallas this morning after watching the Cowboys outlast the Colts, 30-27, a couple of days ago. We're three weeks in to the NFL season, and here are the standings ...

28 Sep 1976, Tue Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, Texas) Newspapers.com

On to somewhere. Haven't decided yet. Could be Rams at Dolphins, but pretend me just saw Los Angeles. Could be Raiders at Patriots, but that's a long haul up to Foxboro. Probably should be Steelers at Vikings for Monday night, but pretend me just got out of Minnesota. Should've planned better.

1976

17 Sep 1976, Fri The Paducah Sun (Paducah, Kentucky) Newspapers.com

Wow. Wow, man!

But cool your jets, dawg. First, today in 1976, Saturday, Sept. 18, we have the Lawrence Welk season premiere ...

1976

I've been pretending the last couple of days to drive down to Tampa, Florida, for the big Buccaneers-Miami Dolphins exhibition game at 8 Eastern this Saturday, Aug. 21, night in 1976. 

 

21 Aug 1976, Sat The Tampa Tribune (Tampa, Florida) Newspapers.com

21 Aug 1976, Sat The Tampa Tribune (Tampa, Florida) Newspapers.com
It's the first home game for the expansion "Bay Bucs," which is the term that some locals appear to be trying to get to catch on.

27 Aug 1976, Fri The Tampa Tribune (Tampa, Florida) Newspapers.com

21 Aug 1976, Sat The Tampa Tribune (Tampa, Florida) Newspapers.comThat pregame show should be excellent--"perhaps the finest high school band ever to exist in this country."

In my pretend, I spent Thursday night in Macon, Georgia, and then got into the Holiday Inn in downtown Tampa on Friday. I was thrilled to discover that the Ink Spots were performing for two more nights in the lounge!

19 Aug 1976, Thu The Tampa Tribune (Tampa, Florida) Newspapers.com

My word, we live in a glorious age.

1976

23 Jul 1976, Fri Chicago Tribune (Chicago, Illinois) Newspapers.com

Except we'll be watching at 8:30 on Channel 3 as Frank Gifford and Bud Wilkinson describe the action. 

16 Jul 1976, Fri The Paducah Sun (Paducah, Kentucky) Newspapers.com

Comments flow!

1976

My word, I adore newspapers. If I had lived in Philadelphia today in 1976, there's about a 101-percent chance that this page would've already been taped to my bedroom wall in advance of tonight's game ...

13 Jul 1976, Tue The Philadelphia Inquirer (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) Newspapers.com

1976

 Being an A's fan is always kind of weird.

19 Jun 1976, Sat The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts) Newspapers.com

1976

18 May 1976, Tue Daily News (New York, New York) Newspapers.com

This really did become huge, huge news in my world. It's going to lead to my portraying Howard "Mr. C" Cunningham in a Concord Elementary third-grade play, which is the kind of thing that will really stunt a kid.

1976

Here are Verne Lundquist and Byron Nelson to get us ready for the Byron Nelson Golf Classic at Preston Trail Golf Club, which starts Thursday, May 6, 1976, in Dallas.

This tournament probably won't merit any too much flow in the comments, but I couldn't let those two clips get by without commemoration here. 

1976

MLB76 Update: Tim Hosley is an A again, and here's the cartoon that The Oakland Tribune published today in 1976 (Thursday, April 22) after the Tigers won the series finale yesterday. I'm not sure that I totally understand it--"Curtains For the A's," maybe? But they're 6-5 and only a half game out of first in the American League West.

22 Apr 1976, Thu Oakland Tribune (Oakland, California) Newspapers.com

1976

I just can't quit thinking about Tim Hosley and Randy Hundley.

There have been moments in the last few days of 2023 when I've been among here-and-now people in my actual scope of meaning and, sometimes, actual sphere of influence with whom I've been actually talking and interacting with in actual Madisonville, Kentucky. And then I find myself losing bead on conversation because my head is drifting back to Tim Hosley and Randy Hundley and imagining this sunny Tuesday afternoon in Chicago, the ups and downs of their histories and prehistories, Vince Lloyd and Jerry Morales, South Carolina and Virginia, the Chicago Tribune and WGN, the A's and the Padres, proms and fantasy camps, Hawaii and Palatine, Spartanburg and Williard Schmidt.

Why am I so stupid?

The Cubs on April 13, 1976, brought back Hundley as a backup catcher and demoted Hosley, a backup catcher. Hundley's signing was announced and celebrated during Chicago's home opener of that season, against the Mets. I'm not sure whether Hosley's demotion was executed before, during or after Hosley's pinch-hit popout in the Cubs' victory.

I'm not certain, but I might have had these actual pieces of cardboard since I was 7. I'm 54 now. It's not rare, but it's a curious thing to carry these things all of the places I've carried them for this many years. Sometimes I fancy myself a cell-memory descendant of Andrew or the Numbers writer, and it's just written in heart to count and to note, and so it's best that I just recognize and adhere. Mostly, though, I just wonder, why am I so stupid? And adhere.

I think it could be a heck of an interesting book or a pretty movie, Tim Hosley and Randy Hundley on the Sunny Afternoon of April 13, 1976, in Chicago, Illinois, United States of America. But I doubt I will write either one of those today because baseball doesn't stop and I've moved on to April 15, 1976, for Minnesota at New York (A) in the first-ever game at newly renovated Yankee Stadium (the old one at East 161st Street and River Avenue). 

15 Apr 1976, Thu Daily News (New York, New York) Newspapers.com

16 Apr 1976, Fri Daily News (New York, New York) Newspapers.com
The New York Daily News reported in this 1976 morning's editions that the Yankees had been thinking about trading Ron Guidry to the Royals for Tony Solaita, and it sounds like they would've done it but Kansas City backed out on the deal!

15 Apr 1976, Thu Daily News (New York, New York) Newspapers.com

1976

22 Mar 1976, Mon Lexington Herald-Leader (Lexington, Kentucky) Newspapers.com

And this concludes my coverage of the satisfying, 1975-76 NCAA men's basketball season. Congratulations to Coach Hall and the NIT-champion University of Kentucky Wildcats!

1976

There's way too much going on in 2023 to focus on 1976 now, but I just didn't want to miss the chance to share this picture from today 1976's Courier-Journal ...

16 Mar 1976, Tue The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky) Newspapers.com

I'd never seen it. The headline for the story running with the picture is, "Wooden, the king, gives 'way to Knight, the wonderkid." I may or may not read it.

In the NIT tonight in 1976, we've got Kentucky vs. Kansas State and then Louisville vs. Providence, which is so weird. The winners are scheduled to play in the semifinals Thursday, March 18, in New York.

16 Mar 1976, Tue The Courier-Journal (Louisville, Kentucky) Newspapers.com

1976: Why Not the Best?

They didn't know it yet in Burbank, ...

... but Jimmy Carter and President Ford are going to win today 1976's New Hampshire presidential primary.

I just love art like that (from Collier's 1977 Year Book Covering the Year 1976) and this (from this 1976 week's TV Guide).

Comments flow.

1976: What's On TV Today?

 Jimmy's big number is about 44 minutes in, in case you want to scroll ahead to it.

1976

 

I wonder how many times American Bandstand featured Who songs.

09 Jan 1976, Fri The Paducah Sun (Paducah, Kentucky) Newspapers.com

09 Jan 1976, Fri The Paducah Sun (Paducah, Kentucky) Newspapers.com

09 Jan 1976, Fri The Paducah Sun (Paducah, Kentucky) Newspapers.com

Everybody's getting excited about Super Bowl X tomorrow (Sunday, Jan. 18, 1976).

17 Jan 1976, Sat Lexington Herald-Leader (Lexington, Kentucky) Newspapers.com

17 Jan 1976, Sat Lexington Herald-Leader (Lexington, Kentucky) Newspapers.com

17 Jan 1976, Sat Lexington Herald-Leader (Lexington, Kentucky) Newspapers.com

Of course, the big deal in Lexington today is that Dick Enberg and Billy Packer are in town for a 2 p.m. Eastern UK-Vanderbilt game in Memorial Coliseum.

17 Jan 1976, Sat Lexington Herald-Leader (Lexington, Kentucky) Newspapers.com

1976: Happy New Year

01 Jan 1976, Thu The Paducah Sun (Paducah, Kentucky) Newspapers.com

Here's what we might be looking at on TV today 1976, Thursday, Jan. 1.

Right now, we’re almost an hour into two hours of Good Morning, America on Channel 3, Today on Channel 6 and news getting ready to give way to Captain Kangaroo on Channel 12. Channel 6 has the "Junior Rose Parade" at 9 (I didn’t know there was such a thing), a Rose Parade preview at 9:45 and the Rose Parade at 10:30. The Rose Bowl football game is at 3:30. I definitely want to see those. And when I’m not flipping around game shows and soap operas otherwise today, I might put on some of the stuff I didn’t get to and videotaped yesterday--the Sugar Bowl, for example.

OK, evening time … the big deal tonight is the Orange Bowl at 6:45 on Channel 6: Oklahoma and Michigan. Given that, here’s what I’ll be missing in prime time:

• Barney Miller at 7, On the Rocks at 7:30, Streets of San Francisco at 8 and Harry O at 9 on 3

• Waltons at 7, Hawaii Five-O at 8 and Barnaby Jones at 9 on 12

The late movie on 12 is Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in Artists and Models, which I’ve never seen, so I might watch that and flip in the commercials to whomever Johnny Carson and Tom Snyder have on 6. A Mannix and Longstreet are on late on 3. 

Happy new year!

1975: U.S. of Archie

18 Jul 1975, Fri The Paducah Sun (Paducah, Kentucky) Newspapers.com

If you're skipping church this Sunday morning, July 20, 1975, you could take a last, fleeting look at U.S. of Archie, on Channel 12. Here's a clip from the 16th of 16 episodes produced, "The Wizard of Menlo Park."

Wikipedia: "The series features Archie, Jughead, and the other Riverdale High student regulars re-enacting famous scenes throughout American history, taking full advantage of the Bicentennial in the months leading up to it. These re-enactments were termed by Archie during the show to be historical accounts featuring the "ancestors" of the current Archie gang; surprisingly, these ancestors were nearly identical to Archie et al. and were seemingly close friends of famous people in several eras of American history."

NFL75: Super Bowl X

I read somewhere yesterday where someone said that NFL75 was the best NFL season of the 1970s. Well, we'll see. Let's start with how it ended ...