The Freakin' Weekend (1973)

I'm always starting some new pretend and then not following through on the writing of it. But the truth is that while, as previously reported, I have come to decide I do actually enjoy writing, I also have realized that I even more enjoy pretending. And sometimes the writing about pretending one thing gets in the way of pretending the next thing.

So, anyway, for my next pretend, I am pretending two things on this #freakinweekend.

One, I'm pretending that I'm 10 or so and headed to Indianapolis for the weekend, for Game 4 of the 1973 ABA championship series. I'm pretending my dad is a sportswriter for The Courier-Journal who is not involved with the newspaper's abundant coverage of the Secretariat Kentucky Derby. So we end up, after the Kentucky Colonels/Indiana Pacers game, having to watch the race on the Holiday Inn TV set, which thrills me.

Two, I'm pretending that I'm the 50-year-old second-tier sportswriter at The C-J, and I am not thrilled about having to watch the Secretariat Kentucky Derby on a TV set in a Holiday Inn two hours north of Churchill Downs.

Browsing the actual newspaper editions from The Courier-Journal and The Indianapolis Star at Newspapers.com helps me pretend, as does watching these videos at YouTube. Thank you, Internet.

Newsstand, March 1973

Paducah made Ebony!

Meanwhile, Boys' Life has an enthralling depiction on a Catlettsburg, Kentucky, Scout's springing into action to save a neighbor boy's life. (I loved these "Scouts In Action" features in Boys' Life when I was a kid.)

I don't really know much at all about National Lampoon magazine, but its March 1973 cover cracks me up. It's like one of those great overly specific Onion editorial cartoons, and, in this one, the personified magazine is marching into "GOOD TASTE" and "SWEETNESS AND LIGHT" and away from its "BAD TASTE" marked by "VICIOUS ATTACKS," "UNCALLED-FOR SMUT" and--my favorite--"TEARING DOWN WITHOUT BUILDING UP." This last one is represented by a man maniacally smashing birds with a hammer. As it moves toward a future of "MIRTH," "MERRIMENT" and "HARMLESS JOSHING," National Lampoon declares in a sturdy, seriffed font that it is "On the Right Path." Now this is a fantastic cover.

Here are the Nixons, by Norman Rockwell, on a magazine I had never heard of, First Monday. From looking at other eBay searches, it appears to be some sort of GOP-advocacy publication--and maybe even produced by a Nixon-specific organization.

I also was unaware of QST, "The Official Journal of the ARRL," or Amateur Radio Relay League of Hartford and now Newington, Connecticut.

I'm so happy to report that I still so love television, and each of this 1973 month's TV Guide covers--March 3, March 10, March 17, March 24 and March 31--just absolutely makes me want to watch more.

Turning to sports, Action Sports Hockey is taking us “INSIDE THE CANADIENS’ HATE-FILLED DRESSING ROOM;” Carlos Monzon is Boxing Illustrated's fighter of the year, and The Sporting News picks Nate Archibald and Bill Walton for its pro and college players of the 1972-73 basketball season, respectively (and congratulations, William "Bird" Averitt of Hoptown and Pepperdine for his honorable mention!)

More from March 1973 magazines:

-- Music Star, "The Loneliness of Michael Jackson"

-- Country Song Roundup, "who is Jim Ed Brown?"

-- Tiger Beat, "OSMONDS: Will Religion STOP Them From LOVING YOU?!"

-- 16 Magazine, "David--Is He a Phony?!"

-- Seventeen, "the real-life BRIDGET AND BERNIE"

-- Modern Screen, “DISCOVERED! BURT REYNOLDS & DINAH SHORE’S Secret Love Hideout!”

-- TIME, "EUROPE, AMERICA'S NEW RIVAL"

-- Christian Crusade Weekly, “POWs Tell of Religious Experiences” and “US Warming Up To Cuba?”

-- Consumer Reports, “The High-Filth Diet, Compliments of FDA”

Newsstand, February 1973

I have an idea for a new HP feature, which I think might bring us all some mirth and insight. I'm considering it part of #freakinweekend family of posts, and, an ongoing basis, #newsstand might even be only the occasional focus of "The Freakin' Weekend"-labeled posts. But, for its debut today, "Newsstand" gets its own standalone header, and here we go.

No surprise that this month's Golf Digest reveals Jack Nicklaus as its player of 1972, but the sublime LeRoy Nieman cover mustn't be missed!

February 1973 me believes that Cesar Cedeno is headed to a Hall-of-Fame career, and Baseball Digest is steeling my conviction.

I really like it that World Soccer, "The International Magazine," expects February 1973 us to know who this dude is without any labeling or even identifiable jersey markings.

In Chess Life & Review, David Levy has a compelling report on “Church’s Fried Chicken Inc. First International Chess Tournament:”

Not since New York 1924 has there been such a strong tournament in the USA … Bill Church evolved the idea of this magnificent event almost two years before the first pawn was pushed. While he and his wife Kaye were on a visit to San Francisco in February 1971, they were invited to the home of George Koltanowski, where Bill took a beating from Kolty at the chessboard. “To make a long story not so long,” recalls Koltanowski, “the Churches took my wife Leah and me to dinner. Even if it doesn’t pay to win it costs to lose. And it was then, by a chance remark, that the idea of the first Church’s Fried Chicken International Tournament was hatched.

In New York, there's a feature on the New Yorkest of Knicks:

Most of the New York Knicks’ front-line stars came from out of town. Frazier, Reed, DeBusschere, Bradley—they’re here because they came here. But one of the brightest new Knicks is a home-town boy, and the crowd loves him for it. Dean Meminger grew up in Harlem, made the All-City team, and realized the great ghetto dream of making it big. Tony Kornheiser, who covers pro basketball for Newsday, relates the rise of Dean the Dream.

Turning away from sports (mostly), the February Crawdaddy centerfold is the board for its “American Buy-Buy-Buy Centennial Game.” It’s a more-meandering Monopoly-style layout with corner squares for “Revolution” and “Disneyland” (instead of “Jail,” “Free Parking,” etc.) Here are some of the spaces, printed in all-caps, typewriter font:

-- “BURN SOCIAL SECURITY CARD AT DISNEYLAND. MAULED BY MECHANCIAL CROCODILE. GO TO V.A. HOSPITAL WHERE YOU’RE FORGOTTEN.”

-- “WORKERS STRIKE AT YOUR FACTORY FOR NATIONAL HOLIDAY ON BETSY ROSS’ BIRTHDAY. LOSE TEMPER AND ONE TURN.”

-- “STOCK IN RED, WHITE AND BLUE A.B.A. BASKETBALL SOARS. DRIBBLE AHEAD 1 SPACE.”

Newsweek this month clues us in on "The Hottest Movie,” Last Tango In Paris, and asks “Whatever Happened To Black America?” 

Meanwhile, in Canada, ...

Here are some features from other titles this month in February 1973:

-- Rolling Stone, “Joan Baez in Hanoi: 12 Days Under the Bombs”

-- Cosmopolitan, “101 Ways a Man Can Please You—If You Would Only Tell Him”

-- Guns&Ammo, "GUN CONTROL IS NOT CRIME CONTROL!"

-- Good Housekeeping, “EXCLUSIVE: John Wayne in his very private world” and “Make our nubby-knit pull-on sweater, page 76"

-- For Teens Only, “DATE DONNY!” and “Be a part of the great date debate between SUSAN, DAVID, MAUREEN & BARRY!”

-- SHAZAM! It's Captain Marvel.

-- Better Homes and Gardens, “Tax deductions—an easy-to-follow chart” and “Design a kitchen just for your family”

-- Mademoiselle, “women are the creators of male chauvinism—a sizzling interview with esther vilar”

-- Popular Science, "Before You Buy: The Facts About MICROWAVE OVENS”

What's On TV Tonight (1973)?

Channel 12 at 7 Central tonight 1973:

Channel 3 at 8:

That leaves a half-hour gap between the two broadcasts, and rich 1973 me will probably use it to watch the videotape of last Friday's Partridge Family, which I missed.