Thanksgiving Feed - Campbell's Bean and Bacon Soup (1950)

Here's one that's near and dear to my heart, Campbell's Bean and Bacon Soup. You see, one of the memories from the all to infrequently golden days of my youth centers around Campbell's Bean and Bacon Soup and Ritz Crackers. Sunday evenings at our house, back in the days before NFL games that ran until midnight and ten-thousand channels of unwatchable reality shows, meant The Walt Disney Hour and The Andy Griffith Show, the ladder of which was often enjoyed while eating a bowl of Campbell's Bean and Bacon Soup that was so packed with Ritz Crackers it had a texture more like oatmeal than soup. Ah, the sometimes good old days.

As for the ad itself, I think I could have gone my whole life without hearing beans described as "munchy meaty and zestful."

A Special Funnies Page for Super Bowl Sunday

A lot has been said about the personal lives of sports figures and, with the NFL being the most popular game going in the US, its probably been said more often about football players than anyone else. Just to show that this isn't a new phenomenon I thought it'd be nice to look back to 1922 on this Super Bowl day morning. Sure, the champ in question here is Jack Dempsey, but the sentiment is right.

The Good Sport

I'm posting this the day after the playoffs as a reminder of all the wonderful virtues we sports fans should aspire to uphold. I broke 1, 2, 4, 9, and 10 a couple of weeks ago. To quote my Cub fan friends, there's always next year.

Welcome to the Postseason

Welcome to the post season, football fans. All the prognostication is over and the swollen-headed experts can pretend the fantasy scenarios of how the season would play out they so proudly proclaimed back before week one actually played out. Most fans of the home team can begin their off-season commiseration and start looking forward to the eternal promise of next year while sixteen teams fight it out in the Thunderdome that is the NFL playoffs.

The photo is of Cal Hubbard of the New York Giants and was taken in November of 1936. Hubbard started playing pro ball in 1927 playing both defense and offense. In 1929 Hubbard moved to the Green Bay Packers where he played for the legendary Lambeau and won an NFL championship.

Hubbard took to the small town atmosphere in Green Bay and began umpiring baseball games during his summers there. In 1936, he took on a new career as an American League umpire and eventually became well known for his work on the diamond. In 1958 he was appointed umpire-in-chief of the AL and to date Hubbard is the only person to be enshrined in both the Baseball and Pro Football Halls of Fame.

How Every Quarterback Feels on Sunday...

Came across this image of Johnny Unitas in a 60's issue of Boy's Life. I think he's expressing a sentiment felt by every NFL quarterback on Sunday.

Sports - NFL Predictions

For those of us who are fans of American football, something like a holiday is about to happen. Preseason has concluded, the bugs supposedly have been worked out and strategies have been established, and now the real thing can begin. The game can really begin, there will be winners and losers, drama and foregone conclusions, and the so-called experts will opinionate and in the end be wrong.

Take heart fans of teams that aren't located on a coast or in a pre-approved championship city. I did a quick search of Super Bowl predictions, and sites as diverse as ESPN, Sports Illustrated, and About.com failed to make a single accurate pick of the Super Bowl champion. 

Year	Predicted	Actual	Result
2003	New York Giants Over Kansas City Chiefs	Tampa Bay Buccaneers Over Oakland Raiders	WRONG
2004	Seattle Seahawks Over Indianapolis Colts	New England Patriots Over Carolina Panthers	WRONG
2005	Pittsburgh Steelers Over Seattle Seahawks	New England Patriots Over Philadelphia Eagles	WRONG
2006	Indianapolis Colts Over Seattle Seahawks	Pittsburgh Steelers Over Seattle Seahawks	WRONG
2007	New England Patriots Over New Orleans Saints	Indianapolis Colts Over Chicago Bears	WRONG
2008	Philadelphia Eagles Over San Diego Chargers	New York Giants Over New England Patriots	WRONG
2009	Pittsburgh Steelers Over Philadelphia Eagles	Pittsburgh Steelers Over Arizona Cardinals	WRONG
2010	New England Patriots Over New Orleans Saints	New Orleans Saints Over Indianapolis Colts	WRONG
2011	Atlanta Falcons Over San Diego Chargers	Green Bay Packers Over Pittsburgh Steelers	WRONG
2012	Green Bay Packers Over Denver Broncos	New York Giants Over New England Patriots	WRONG

So, regardless of who proclaims themselves an expert and how “complex” their prediction model, in the end it’s all just a guess and one that’s more often informed by fandom than facts.

Welcome to the Preseason!

 

Welcome to NFL preseason, the time when hope reigns supreme and every fan believes deep within their being this could be the year! Preseason is that magical time when true believers tout each victory as evidence of the regular season’s bounty and write off every defeat as working through the roster and clearing out off season rust. Soon reality will set in. Half the teams that play on opening day will be winless, the other half undefeated. From there on skill will combine with luck, the machinations of league scheduling, injuries, weather, and a thousand intangibles and the 2013 season will wend its way toward the crowning of Super Bowl XLVIII’s champion in the Meadowlands. So pop open a cold one, fire up the grill, settle into your favorite easy chair, tune into the game, and enjoy the moment – this weekend your team has a perfect record, they are undefeated, and if they should lose just remember it doesn’t really count anyway.