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I've told my kids countless times "I grew up in the golden age of (insert countless things)...".

Especially true for sports. Growing up in the late 60's and 70's and into the early 80's, I feel that's true for football, baseball, hockey, basketball, auto racing, tennis, boxing, golf, chess(!) and yes even soccer (Pele?). I guess a few could be argued- most notably baseball and boxing- but so many truly great teams in the '70's & 80's. Dynasties.

All four major sports have been ruined since then by any number of means, mostly traced back to money or movement to a more "civilized" society.

Football- flags every play. Instant replay. Free agency/holdouts/renegotiation
Baseball- length of games. Home runs, walks, and strikeouts, no fundamentals. Too many to list!
Hockey- fighting. Aforementioned penalty shots. Arenas in Tampa. LA. Dallas.
Basketball- 3 point shot and fouls. Little defense. Coaching? Ha.

I won't attend professional sports events or buy merchandise. Too many prima donnas and debutantes. I only watch to be informed and discuss with my kids. Sorry for the rant.

Oh, did I mention that I grew up in the golden age of gambling? My grandmother went to Vegas in 73 and brought me home a toy pocket roulette wheel which I took into 3rd grade and took bets on. Single 0!

billryan wrote: ↑

Fri Jul 16, 2021 8:20 am

It's only the most popular sport in the world and the most watched.

You are a man of the masses, BR

olds442jetaway wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 18, 2021 10:58 pm

As long as we are still on the general subject, I have tried and tried again to like soccer even though my brother-in-law from Peru is a fanatic. Even after more than a couple of beers I absolutely cannot get into it. I have also dumped NBA which I used to enjoy and most of the NFL games except maybe a couple of playoffs and the Super Bowl. At the risk of being politically incorrect, Player antics and behavior on and off the court turned me off to both of those games. Still enjoy baseball and WNBA. And growing up I was really into the old time wrestling with the likes of Antonino Rocca, gorilla monsoon, wild red berry, the graham brothers, and even haystacks Calhoun. Was anyone around here still old enough to have watched wild red berry And Antonino Rocca? Just curious or am I it for such old time shows. Just wondering if Siri will ever learn proper punctuation, capitalization, spelling, and sentence structure. It can’t possibly be that difficult in this high-tech day and age.

Understand all of that. Many sports have become boring. Used to be a big Knicks fan, but lost interest after Bernard King's terrible knee injury when he was the best player in the sport. The 3 point shot ruined the NBA in my opinion. Teams just look for open 3's now and there isn't the passing and teamwork that there used to be. Remember the 1978 (I think) Portland Trailblazers? That was great basketball.

Argentino Apollo wrestled in the old WWF in the early 1970s, as did Tarzan Tyler. He and Luke Graham were tag team champs in 1974, although both men were old and well past their prime.
Cowboy Bill Watts went on to become a promoter, first in Oaklahoma and then in the 1980s, he moved into the South East. When Vince McMahon started poaching talent from other federations, Watts started signing guys to crazy contracts and soon ran out of money. He sold his promotion to a couple of mysterious businessmen who cobbled together the last major regional federation called the UWF.
The UWF was short-lived but notorious as it often paid its employees in cocaine and encouraged wrestlers to do unsafe moves that most promotions banned. It shut down due to money laundering and drug distribution investigations of it management.
Eric Watts, Bill's son, was a highly rated college QB who got caught up in the drugs and blew his shot at the NFL. His father tried to give him a big push in wrestling but he quickly proved to be no better than a mid-card draw.

Anyone see the Mets game yesterday? One of the dumbest plays ever.

The Pirates had bases loaded and already scored three runs. Batter hits a fifteen-foot dribbler foul but it starts to curve back towards the field. The Met pitcher wanders over and lazily swats it away to keep it foul. Only he is a second too late and the umpire rules the ball fair. The pitcher doesn't react to the call at all and no one chases the ball as all three runners score.

olds442jetaway wrote: ↑

Sun Jul 18, 2021 10:58 pm

As long as we are still on the general subject, I have tried and tried again to like soccer even though my brother-in-law from Peru is a fanatic. Even after more than a couple of beers I absolutely cannot get into it. I have also dumped NBA which I used to enjoy and most of the NFL games except maybe a couple of playoffs and the Super Bowl. At the risk of being politically incorrect, Player antics and behavior on and off the court turned me off to both of those games. Still enjoy baseball and WNBA. And growing up I was really into the old time wrestling with the likes of Antonino Rocca, gorilla monsoon, wild red berry, the graham brothers, and even haystacks Calhoun. Was anyone around here still old enough to have watched wild red berry And Antonino Rocca? Just curious or am I it for such old time shows. Just wondering if Siri will ever learn proper punctuation, capitalization, spelling, and sentence structure. It can’t possibly be that difficult in this high-tech day and age.

I actually did a piece on Rocca for my HS newspaper in the early 60s. Attended a press conference he had for student news papers. Somewhere, I still have that article. My parents saved it.

billryan wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 19, 2021 11:08 am

Anyone see the Mets game yesterday? One of the dumbest plays ever.

The Pirates had bases loaded and already scored three runs. Batter hits a fifteen-foot dribbler foul but it starts to curve back towards the field. The Met pitcher wanders over and lazily swats it away to keep it foul. Only he is a second too late and the umpire rules the ball fair. The pitcher doesn't react to the call at all and no one chases the ball as all three runners score.

I remember Chuck Knoblauch arguing with the first base umpire in extra innings of a playoff game while the runner circled the bases and scored.

Anyone remember wrestling from Bridgeport ? I think it was on channel 9 wor network .

I know nothing about the backstory but Antonio Rocca was featured in Superman 155 where he fights Superman under a red sun so Superman didn't have his powers. The cover is Rocca tossing Superman out of a wrestling ring. You can read the story on line.

advantage playe wrote: ↑

Mon Jul 19, 2021 2:29 pm

Anyone remember wrestling from Bridgeport ? I think it was on channel 9 wor network .

Yes, also Bedlam from Boston.