back n the day

I will free your mind today.
thought amnesty. u dont have to think - let me entertain u

Back in the day believe it or not, TV was different. In fact most shows were in black and white and there were only four channels including PBS. Check this, it would go off before mid night with a picture of an Indian in crosshairs and the sound would be a long ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooe.

When we did watch it, everybody watched it together. And on that note, I decided to list my favorite TV shows I watched when I was growing up, up to age 10, albeit I never watched more than 6 hrs a week. Here are mine, what were yours (no particular order.

1] Monday Night Football – no explanation.

2] The Red Skelton Show – Sunday nights and classic.

3] The Flip Wilson Show – Geraldine. Time Magazine had him on the Cover, 1^st Black Variety Show on TV

4] Lucile Ball show – second funniest woman ever on TV to me.

5] I spy – when Bill Cosby was Black and Proud.

6] Mash – TRUE satire, exceptional writers

7] Dean Martin – drinking and smoking on TV with the first half naked women, years before the music video.

8] Carol Burnett show – Tim Conway was a tight writer and she was the FUNNIEST woman ever on TV.

9] Dennis the Menace – Poor Mr. Mitchell

10] Leave it to Beaver – made me wonder why my life as a young Black Kid was way so different.

11] Little Rascals – the way friends should be (all races). Introduced me to the “He man woman hatter Club.”

a pick up of eleven yards

It’s near the end of the year, and again I find myself looking at football. Sure I am in the midst of family, but football is also my family, especially this time of the year. The time where teams are trying to clinch play-off births and others just desire to be spoilers. Players who are sucking up the pain threshold a little bit more, to endure the wear and tear of 15 games. Throwing it all on the line, with targeted abandon and ambitions to knock the snot out of their opponent. And I sit back, with remote control in hand while screaming out loud, next to my baby girl.

The only regret is that this will be the last time I will ever see Monday Night football on ABC. After thirty five years, the show will end. I am a child of Monday night football. I was raised with Keith Jackson, Howard Cosell and O. J. Simpson. I even remember dandy Don and Frank Gifford. I had to be around 8 years old when it started on ABC. I couldn’t wait for the Monday night games, back then that was the only sporting even one could see on television during the week.

I still see those yellow suit coats in my mind and recant when I was pissed off when they changed the original theme music. Just hearing the old music got you excited and that was the era when during half time, they would show all the highlights from the previous Sunday.

For some of yall, its just a sporting event, just a football game, or it’s just a running play, but in these eyes, it’s a pick up of eleven yards and a first down, and for the record I despise the other team. Like I said, my daughter is going on seven months, and she likes football too. I guess we will cherish this last Monday Night Football game together.