So You're In The Mood For Promos From 1987

It's amazing some of the random things you find through Twitter. Someone with no life of their own today decided to put together a 9-minute compilation of WTAF-TV 29 promos on YouTube. Trust me, it is a good thing that I was not around to critique these back then. Some are decent, but the guy in a Detroit Tigers hat promoting kids shows scares the poop out of me. Enjoy Philly Fox 29 from 22 years ago!



That Phillies promo was one of the coolest things I've seen from the olden days. And wait a minute? Scooby Doo? Wasn't this around the time when that worthless show was finally jumping the shark? Wait? What? The show had already been running 19 years at that point? Sheesh. It must have been doing hurdles over the shark in 1987, and to think I have not gotten over the point that it is still on today.

The other thing that amazes me are all of the lameass cartoons Fox aired back then. Really? Ducktales? You mean to say that people actually watched that? Then again, I guess people did think that dressing like that make them look presentable, so I guess it is feasible. That creep in the Detroit Tigers cap is going to give me nightmares. I just know it.

Is it safe to conclude that the only redeemable television show that came out that year was Blackadder the Third?

Indianapolis Has Concerns About Drunken Bus Drivers After The Super Bowl

Apparently 3 years ago when the Colts won the Super Bowl, there was a real problem with not enough school bus drivers to pick up the kids during the Super Bowl. So what have they done this year to alleviate that problem? An Indianapolis school district superintendent has ordered that all schools open 1-hour late that day! From the USA Today

School superintendent Eugene White said, with approval from state overseers, that he's imposing a one-hour delay and a half-hour late dismissal on Monday.

The school department had originally said it would open schools two hours late on Monday to avoid the confusion that occurred three years ago when too many bus drivers called in sick after the Colts' last Super Bowl appearance. But state officials balked at the plan, suggesting it violated standards at how long students must spend in class.

Indianapolis officials then worked out the compromise. Said White to the Indianapolis Star, "I do not want to rehash what happened in the Super Bowl last time. I'm just trying to be proactive."

What? So not only do those lucky bastards get to watch the Super Bowl, but then they get to sleep in an extra hour? How on earth is that fair? We never had that for our Super Bowl! 8 hours after the Eagles lost to the Pats in Super Bowl XXXIX, I was getting my ass up for a normal school day cotdamnit! And if New Orlenas wins a Super Bowl, shouldn't we at Bloom compressed schedule so the campus can celebrate it's first alum to don a Super Bowl ring? It's only fair, right?

And what on earth is an hour going to do to these bus drivers and kids? If the bus drivers (and/or some of the older high school kids) want to live up a Super Bowl and get completely hammered before, during, and after the Super Bowl, they are going to do it no matter what and I doubt that one hour is going to make much of a difference in the grand scheme of things. Then again, I'm not from Indy where apparently drunkenness and hangovers go away all of a sudden at 8 in the morning.

Adventures in Bad Announcing, One From the Early 1980's

(Guest posted by James Craven from The O Files)

Long before there was Awful Announcing, there was "you had to be there to hear it."

On Sunday (7/26), the Phillies played the St. Louis Cardinals, winning 9-2. Jay Randolph announced the game on KSDK-TV back to St. Louis. Yes, the same KSDK that pre-empts NHL hockey games to do these Cardinals telecasts, thus pissing off those at 30 Rock. This is also done by WKYC-TV for Cleveland Indians games, but this week, that was avoided due to the fact they were in Seattle. That had become a running gag amongst us at AA and on live blogs about "Oh, they're pre-empted in St. Louis and Cleveland." But I digress.

Randolph had one memorable gaffe as a play-by-play man for NBC Sports, and it came in Philadelphia during a 1981 game against the Baltimore Colts. If you were born sometime after 1984, Bob Irsay screwed the Charm City by taking the franchise in the middle of the night to Indianapolis via Mayflower moving vans. Mikie McCormick, who was the Eagles coach before Dick vermeil took over, returned that afternoon at Veterans Stadium, and as the Iggles rang up another touchdown, Tony Franklin drilled the extra point, and Randolph intoned "It's G-O-D, Good!"

We've heard of the Second Coming, but at a football game?

NFL To Feature "Legacy Games" This Coming Season

IF there's one thing that has got me excited this year other than the high chances for another solid season from my Eagles is the fact that as has been well-documented in the past, it is the 50th anniversary of the founding of the NFL's once-biggest rival, the American Football League. And as we all know, after the initial Super Bowls, the NFL and the AFL merged together to form the modern-day NFL. To commemorate such, the former AFL teams that are in some way, shape, or form still in existence today, will be wearing their old jersies that they had in the 1960s for a game or 2 this coming season. Well, in a little new wrinkle that I am already really excited about, this will be done in what will be known as "legacy games", most of which will pit 2 former AFL teams against each other. So in other words, with both teams wearing alternate jersies, it will literally be like watching an AFL game from the 1960s! Talk about cool! And this all kicks off with the Hall of Fame Game on August 9. Here's your Legacy Game schedule (with added former team name, if such applies, in parenthesees).

August 9 (Hall of Fame Game): Buffalo Bills vs. Tennessee Titans (Houston Oilers)
September 14 (MNF): Buffalo Bills @ New England Patriots (Boston Patriots)
September 14 (MNF): San Diego Chargers @ Oakland Raiders
September 27: Tennessee Titans (Houston Oilers) @ New York Jets (Titans of New York)
October 11: Dallas Cowboys @ Kansas City Chiefs (Dallas Texans)
October 11: New England Patriots (Boston Patriots) @ Miami Dolphins
October 18: Tennessee Titans (Houston Oilers) @ New England Patriots
October 19 (MNF): Denver Broncos @ San Diego Chargers
October 25: San Diego Chargers @ Kansas City Chiefs (Dallas Texans)
October 25: New York Jets (Titans of New York) @ Oakland Raiders
November 1: Miami Dolphins @ New York Jets (Titans of New York)
November 15: Buffalo Bills @ Tennessee Titans (Houston Oilers)
November 15: Kansas City Chiefs (Dallas Texans) @ Oakland Raiders
November 26 (Thanksgiving): Oakland Raiders @ Dallas Cowboys
November 29: Miami Dolphins @ Buffalo Bills
December 6 (SNF): New England Patriots (Boston Patriots) @ Miami Dolphins

Assuming this was planned in advance, this certainly does explain some of the rather odd choices of nationally televised games this year (i.e. the 2nd week 1 MNF game and the Cowboys Thanksgiving game). I love seeing teams wear old throwbacks (unless, of course, that team is the Eagles and they are looking like Team Sweden), so this should be a look of a lot of fun to look at, make jokes about, and enjoy!

NFL announces 2009 AFL Legacy Games (NFL.com)