The Nostalgiaganza

[EnochRoot]

I recall Nicolas Cage was viewed as a joke to his peers on the set of Fast Times at Ridgemont High. Not because he was stiff as a board, but because he kept telling people he was the nephew of Francis Ford Coppola.

[bapo!]

Various notes after a year of watching boxing:

David Bey's entrance music before his 1985 fight with Larry Holmes was KC and the Sunshine Band's 'Give It Up.' David Bey is the uncoolest heavyweight to ever appear in a championship fight.

Vaughn Bean used Kenny Loggins' 'This Is It' as his entrance music before he fought Evander Holyfield in 1998. (Michael Spinks used this song before he was slaughtered by Mike Tyson in 1988.) Then the fight started, and I kind of loved Bean.

Conversely, Henry Akinwande used Peter Gabriel's 'Red Rain' before his 1997 fight with Lennox Lewis. That was an unexpected treat. Then Akinwande did absolutely nothing, just clutched and grabbed. He was eventually disqualified by Referee Mills Lane for refusing to fight.

Trevor Berbick was either fearless or an idiot. I don't think he landed a single punch vs Tyson, but he continued to taunt Tyson until he was knocked out. Good job.

Michael Spinks fought somebody named Steffen Tangstad of Norway in 1986. Norway banned professional boxing, even boxing training, so he had to move to the United States just to train. He had a son named Tex, but he wasn't allowed to officially name him Tex because it wasn't a Norwegian-enough name. Despite all of this, Tangstad worked for the Norwegian tourism board because he was the country's most popular athlete.

NBC aired a lot of boxing in the '80s, including a weird Larry Holmes/Lucien Rodriguez fight in 1983. It was finalized just a couple of weeks beforehand. Held in Scranton. NBC did nothing to introduce its audience to the European challenger. Joe Piscopo made an appearance on the pre-show. Tex Cobb was a guest analyst. (He's the guy who was mauled by Holmes in a lopsided fight that caused Howard Cosell to retire from professional boxing.) Wore a cowboy hat and flannel shirt, slouched in his chair. After watching so many fights on HBO, CBS, and ABC, this just seemed so small-time. It was fun hearing Marv Albert, at least.

The security guards at the Frazier/Foreman fight in Jamaica in 1973 wore white, two-flap baseball batting helmets. The same kind we all wore in Little League. Also, that fight happened on the same day as Roe vs Wade, and the same day that Lyndon Johnson died.

[DaveInSeattle]

Tex Cobb was a guest analyst. (He's the guy who was mauled by Holmes in a lopsided fight that caused Howard Cosell to retire from professional boxing.)

Tex Cobb also starred in the Coen Brother's "Raising Arizona" as 'The Lone Biker of the Apocalypse'.

[sancarlos]

Yeah, that was the first thing I thought of when I read Bapo!'s post. That was a hilariously great film. So many great lines. Pretty the only one in which I enjoyed Nicolas Cage.

[bapo!]

I thought we were finished with Nicolas Cage, but he keeps coming back.

I watched that Holmes/Cobb fight. It's worth it just to listen to Cosell's grandstanding. It looked like a lot of other Holmes fights. Holmes, knowing that he was far superior to his opponent, was content to let the other guy dictate the pace, then pick him off with his jab. Holmes fights were rather dull, but very clean. The only fights with any kind of drama were the two Spinks fights. (And he easily could have won both of them. If one more round had been scored differently...)

[Pruitt]

I thought we were finished with Nicolas Cage, but he keeps coming back.

I watched that Holmes/Cobb fight. It's worth it just to listen to Cosell's grandstanding. It looked like a lot of other Holmes fights. Holmes, knowing that he was far superior to his opponent, was content to let the other guy dictate the pace, then pick him off with his jab. Holmes fights were rather dull, but very clean. The only fights with any kind of drama were the two Spinks fights. (And he easily could have won both of them. If one more round had been scored differently...)

I rewatched that fight a few years ago, and it seemed that Cosell was grandstanding (as you said). Holmes was a great fighter, Cobb wasn't. That's boxing. As one who lived through the Cosell years, I find the attempts at sanctifying him to be laughable. There were many wore announcers, but my God, he was insufferable.

And by the way, the Holmes-Norton and Holmes-Shavers fights were (as I remember) tremendous.

[Steve of phpBB]

Good lord, I think I've had Tex Cobb and Tex Winters of the Manson Family mixed up for the last thirty years.

[bapo!]

As one who lived through the Cosell years, I find the attempts at sanctifying him to be laughable. There were many worse announcers, but my God, he was insufferable.

Part of the reason I love him. Any event he was tied to was a spectacle, and I pay more attention when he's part of the broadcast. I still love the Gifford/Cosell/Meredith 'Monday Night Football' team.

This is certainly one of those instances when I won't argue the merit of my opinion over yours. Cosell was divisive for a reason.

[bapo!]

Holmes was a great fighter, Cobb wasn't. That's boxing.

Holmes seemed reluctant to hurt lesser boxers. I admire that. That Cobb fight could have been a lot worse.

And by the way, the Holmes-Norton and Holmes-Shavers fights were (as I remember) tremendous.

I haven't gotten there yet. There's a gap in my heavyweight viewing between 1977-1981 that I will fill in eventually.

A couple of more in-ring notes: I became a fan of Dwight Muhammad Qawi. He was a 5'5" light-heavyweight, built like a fire hydrant. Just put his head down and bulled in. Looked just like Joe Frazier. Then I learned that he was from Camden and trained in Frazier's gym. That explains it. His fights vs Spinks and Holyfield are worth looking up.

Also, I always thought that I was a Lennox Lewis fan, but I kind of wavered last year. I was excited to start from the beginning to watch all of his fights. Was a little surprised to see him fight dirty. In almost all of his first ~20 fights, there was at least one moment that made me like him a little less. But after the McCall loss in 1994, he looked like a different fighter. The second half of his career, he was class. And, of course, gorgeous and a charming interview. That helps. That was the Lennox that I remembered.

[sancarlos]

Dandy Don had the right thing to say in a pinch!

[bapo!]

Dandy Don had the right thing to say in a pinch!

He knew his role, and he filled it well.

I've watched so much of this stuff lately, I feel like I'm in a committed relationship with some of these guys.

Dick Enberg/Merlin Olsen calling the NFL for NBC is perfection.

I had forgotten that Vin Scully used to call football for CBS. Not surprisingly, he was great at it.

I've seen/heard a lot of Tim Ryan lately. Remember him? Called football and boxing for CBS? He was a huge part of that network for years, and nobody talks about him anymore.

[sancarlos]

Tim Ryan is out here in the Bay Area. He does 49er preseason games and postgame shows. (The Tim Ryan who played in the NFL and does color analysis, not the Tim Ryan who did play-by-play. I think you are referring to the latter. He was good.)

[Ryan]

There’s a guy whose voice I’ve always really liked but I can never remember his name I don’t think he’s NFL but maybe Pac-10 and/or college hoops? Like those random Raycom productions on Saturday nights maybe? Help me.

[bapo!]

Ryan, I'll sleep on your question and give it some thought tomorrow.

sancarlos, I'm talking about the older, retired Tim Ryan, not the former football player Tim Ryan. Nor the Congressman Tim Ryan. Nor the runner Jim Ryun.

OG Tim Ryan was very good, but not really flashy or memorable. I probably heard as much of his voice as a kid as I did Enberg's or Scully's or Keith Jackson's, but I had forgotten about him. Don Criqui is another of those guys. And Dick Stockton.

Which of course reminds me of something. I went back and watched some Pittsburgh breaking news stories a while ago. (We had our share about 20 years ago. Two race-related mass shootings, a mine collapse, etc.) WTAE's lead anchor was a guy named Scott Baker. Exactly what you expect a local news anchor to be. Professional, well-spoken, and perfectly bland. He left after 13 years, and I hadn't thought of him since.

I looked him up. After leaving WTAE, he helped launch Breitbart News. Then he hooked up with Glenn Beck and helped launch his network and web site, where he was the editor-in-chief until 2016. The secret lives of newscasters must be more interesting than I imagined.

[sancarlos]

Bapo, your mention of old broadcasters takes me back to the 70s when I religiously watched the Denver Broncos each Sunday. If it was a Sunday AFC West tilt against San Diego, Oakland or Kansas City, you knew it was going to be probably Charlie Jones on the NBC play-by-play. Always misidentifying players or being late on the call. But, in a jovial way.

[Ryan]

Joel Meyers. That took forever.

[sancarlos]

Joel Meyers. That took forever.

Now I remember him

[bapo!]

Bapo, your mention of old broadcasters takes me back to the 70s when I religiously watched the Denver Broncos each Sunday. If it was a Sunday AFC West tilt against San Diego, Oakland or Kansas City, you knew it was going to be probably Charlie Jones on the NBC play-by-play. Always misidentifying players or being late on the call. But, in a jovial way.

Charlie Jones was fun. Yes, jovial. Rex posted a great clip of his earlier in this thread, many pages and years ago.



I have no memory of Joel Meyers.

[DaveInSeattle]

Bapo, your mention of old broadcasters takes me back to the 70s when I religiously watched the Denver Broncos each Sunday. If it was a Sunday AFC West tilt against San Diego, Oakland or Kansas City, you knew it was going to be probably Charlie Jones on the NBC play-by-play. Always misidentifying players or being late on the call. But, in a jovial way.

Charlie Jones was fun. Yes, jovial. Rex posted a great clip of his earlier in this thread, many pages and years ago.

Charlie Jones and Todd Christensen were always doing the AFC west games. And I think Charlie Jones did Track events at the '88 Olympics.

How about Don Criqui? He seemed to always be doing Jets or Dolphins games.He was also on the call of the '84 Orange Bowl (Nebraska-Miami)

[rass]

Just did a search to make sure Don Criqui was still alive and learned he lives pretty close by in a very exclusive little town. The town's wikipedia entry includes the following paragraph:

Based on an ordinance passed in 1928, commercial activity in the borough is limited to a single three-story building constructed to look like a house and two small workshops on a dead end. As of 2000, Essex Fells had 750 houses, most of which were custom built, with many occupying lots several acres in size. The borough has no apartment buildings, office buildings or traffic lights, and until recently, no condominiums. The only units available for rental are in carriage houses and other ancillary structures.

[The Sybian]

Since this is a nostalgiaganza in here, all the Ken Dryden talk just brought up a long forgotten memory. I was probably six or 7 years old, and for some reason a high school kid down the street gave me a Ken Dryden goalie stick. He told me the autograph was real and it was worth a lot of money. Of course I realized years later that all sticks come with a printed autograph of a player, but man did I treasure that stick and debate whether to play with it or save it as a valuable collectible. I remember they let me play street hockey with them one day, then my parent's taking me to Herman's Sporting Goods and buying my first hockey stick. A wooden shafted Mylec stick with a screwed on plastic head. The stick was twice as tall as me, and my father eventually sawed off the top half of the stick. First time playing, one of the high school kids accidentally stepped on the stick during play and snapped it maybe 6 inches from the bottom. Maybe that's when they gave me the goalie stick...

[Pruitt]

Ken Dryden was my M.P. (Member of Parliament) for 8 years.

[mister d]

Wait ... Herman's was a chain?

[bapo!]

Criqui was fantastic. I don't think I appreciated him in his time, but I really like his voice and delivery now.

Ken Dryden was my M.P. (Member of Parliament) for 8 years.

The best part of Dryden's bio: He sat out a year and practiced law when he had a contract dispute with the Canadiens. Don't see too many players threatening that kind of hold-out these days.

[The Sybian]

Wait ... Herman's was a chain?

According to Wiki: "By 1992, Herman's had 259 stores in 35 states."

The one by me was in a mall and could not have felt more like a chain store.

[DSafetyGuy]

Joel Meyers. That took forever.

He's now the Pelicans' play-by-play guy and did some first-round NBA playoffs for TNT last season. Replaced Chick Hearn on the radio for the Lakers after his passing, eventually taking over the TV play-by-play job for them.

[bapo!]

According to Wiki: "By 1992, Herman's had 259 stores in 35 states."

I bought a Ron Powlus Notre Dame jersey at Herman's when I lived in the Philly area.

(And then, in true Nostalgiaganza fashion, I bought the same jersey on eBay years later to replace the one I lost in the fire.)

[Tom 1860]

A bit of rugby union, to remind you lot what you have been missing...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imy2SZhidqY

[govmentchedda]

A bit of rugby union, to remind you lot what you have been missing...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imy2SZhidqY

"Chariots had arrived in full armor. The locals were relying on their vocals."?

You sir just got yourself a full watch of the video.

[sancarlos]

A bit of rugby union, to remind you lot what you have been missing...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=imy2SZhidqY

Tom! Welcome back. What in the name of John Elway have you been doing with yourself?

[Tom 1860]

Well, in the last year, mostly avoiding other people...

Other than that, I moved jobs, moved house and avoided all things Trump, which as you can imagine, has been pretty tough.

Nice to be back though

[Giff]

Joel Meyers. That took forever.

He's now the Pelicans' play-by-play guy and did some first-round NBA playoffs for TNT last season. Replaced Chick Hearn on the radio for the Lakers after his passing, eventually taking over the TV play-by-play job for them.

I remember him doing Texans preseason games some years too.

[bapo!]

I haven't enjoyed college basketball in years, but I'm determined to give it a go this spring. I've been easing back into the mindset by watching the team I loved as a kid -- the '87-'88 Pitt team of Charles Smith, Jerome Lane, Sean Miller, etc. All of these years later, I can vividly remember about 10 players on this team.*

I had watched this team for a few years, and players stuck around longer then, so by 1988 I felt an attachment. Which made yet another early exit from the NCAA tournament that much harder to take. (Vanderbilt. Second round. Barry Goheen with a 3-pointer to tie it at the end of regulation.)

The first game that I could find is a 1/2/1988 non-conference game vs Florida. Florida had Vernon Maxwell and Dwayne Schintzius and was ranked #8 coming into the game. Charles Smith finished with 30 points; Schintzius finished with 2 after shooting 1-12.

Then I watched the 1/25/1988 Providence game. Mike Gorman and Bill Raftery called the game for ESPN. (Mike Gorman was a huge part of my adolescence. He and Tommy Heinsohn called Celtics games for Sportschannel New England, and I watched every game on the satellite dish.) This is another Pitt blowout, memorable for Jerome Lane shattering the backboard.



My band director in junior high was an assistant with Pitt's band. The next day, he showed me a piece of the glass that he was carrying around in his pocket.

Smith, Lane, and Demetrius Gore left after 1988. (Gore died after suffering a heart attack last year. He was 54.) That team had four excellent freshmen, so Pitt was still a very good team for a few years. Still an early exit in the NCAA tournament every spring, tho. Paul Evans, the coach, stuck around until 1994, then never coached again.

I miss Big East basketball. I miss basketball in general. I've found about 10 Loyola Marymount games from 1987-1990. If the conference tournaments don't hold my interest this week, I have a fall-back plan.



*I listened to yesterday's ACC Tournament game on the radio. I only knew one player. But, to be fair, a couple of weeks ago, I knew three players, but two of them quit at the end of the regular season.

[sancarlos]

Those late 80s might have also been my high point for watching college basketball. I was in a new town and didn't know many people so I watched a lot of ESPN. I remember "Big Monday" games with Bill Raftery.

Your mention of Dwayne Schintzius also brings back memories. He always looked pissed off, as he got called for another bad foul. The Colorado Buffaloes don't have much positive college basketball glory to recall, but I do remember a CU team led by Chauncey Billups spanking a Schintzius-led Florida team in the NCAA tournament.

[bapo!]

Schintzius clearly looked unhappy that day vs Pitt. 'Resting bitch face' is the term, right?

That was a great era for college basketball. I was an obsessed fan, watched probably 15 games per week.

I wanted to do something like watch the entire 1985 Big East Tournament, but there aren't enough games online. So I'm settling for individual teams. Some of the Loyola games that I have on deck are going to be fun to relive. A couple vs UNLV. An Oregon State game with Gary Payton. An LSU game with Chris Jackson/Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf and Shaquille O'Neal. Man, I freaking loved Chris Jackson.

[govmentchedda]

I saw Schintzius play in high school. He and his teammate Toney Mack were amazing. They were like their own NBA JAM team before NBA JAM was a game.

Mack won Florida Mr. Basketball and Schintzius never did.

[bapo!]

The Pitt/Providence game mentioned above had a commercial for Mike Tyson's Punch Out, the greatest Nintendo game of them all. This was in that very brief window when Tyson was seen as marketable. This is the only commercial I ever remember him appearing in.

Do you guys remember the theme song to that game? I saw some old Gillette commercials last year, and I thought that the melody of the song sounded familiar. Sure enough, it was repurposed by Nintendo years later.

It started out as the theme song for the Gillette Cavalcade of Sports, a radio/television sports show broadcast by NBC from 1942-1960, featuring mostly boxing. It's called 'The Look Sharp March,' and it's tremendous. Did anybody else know this? I feel like I should have learned about it earlier, like in 10th-grade Social Studies or something.

[L-Jam3]

I remember playing it, and my mom called out from the kitchen, “wait! That’s the Gillette Friday Night Fights!”

But other than that, no way I would’ve known that.

[bapo!]

I remember playing it, and my mom called out from the kitchen, “wait! That’s the Gillette Friday Night Fights!”

But other than that, no way I would’ve known that.

Ha! That's awesome. Your household was much more cultured than mine, apparently.

[Pruitt]

I've seen it a couple of times before, but just rewatched the first Ali-Frazier fight and it is one for the ages.

Unbelievable!