The Funnies - Origin of the Sprint (1922)

A little incident in the daily life of prehistoric man, showing the origin of the happy expression worn by all sprinters as they approach the tape.

Life Magazine, 1922

Boating to the 2014 Olympics

Tonight the music will play and the games will open on an eastern stage as Sochi, Russia plays host to the games for the first time since the boycotted summer games of 1980. I did a little magazine archaeology on Sochi and turned up just about nothing with the exception of this.

In a 1937 issue of Popular Mechanics Magazine, I turned up a mention of a proposed high-speed ferry between the Black Sea ports of Sochi and Sukhum and in a 1940 issue of Popular Science Magazine...

It is done!

Now all Russia needs to do is get basic human rights, an honest judicial system, and an economy that isn't based on graft and corruption and they'll really have something!

I'll try to write something a little more Olympic during the games, I promise.

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.

Sling Tennis

One great thing about combing through old magazines is that, on occasion, you come across something you've never heard of. Humanity is constantly inventing and discarding, discovering and forgetting. Today, on a sporting Monday, the rediscovery is sling tennis. Here's the article from the January 1917 issue of The Countryside Magazine complete with instructions on how to build your own sling tennis court!

100 Years Ago - Christy Matheson's Advice

The Major League Baseball playoffs have arrived and in the wake of doping, BALCO, and ignominious testimony before congress by some of the more...colorful...characters in the game I thought it might be nice to look back 100 years to the advice given by one of baseball's greats.

Matheson began his professional career with Norfolk, a minor league team in the Virginia-North Carolina League, and in the 1900 season he got the call up to the majors to pitch for the New York Giants. Between July and September he played in six games, starting one, and by the end of the season he hadn't won a single game. The Giants, angered with what they perceived as Matheson's lack of talent, not only sent him back to Norfolk, they demanded a refund. The same month the Cincinnati Reds acquired Matheson, but quickly traded him back to the Giants where he stayed.

Matheson dabbled with professional,  playing fullback for the Pittsburgh Stars in the first NFL's 1902 season, but he disappeared from the roster in mid-season. The reasons for his ending this dalliance with full-contact sports is a bit of a mystery, but Matheson spent the remainder of his MLB career with the Giants and still holds the National League record for career wins (373).

Matheson's sage words about sports come from the October 1913 issue of  Boy's Life Magazine. 

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 - Defeat and Victory

One week into the NFL season and some of us already can sympathize with the sentiment of this 1941 beer ad. I don't know if defeat actually is sweeter with a beer, but I'd agree that the edge is taken off.

I believe the odd phrasing, a kindly glass of beer or ale, can be attributed to two things: the relatively recent repeal of prohibition and the rise of fascism in Europe. American brewers probably weren't too eager to tread on the smoldering coals of the temperance movement. Doubtless they feared doing so might reignite the passionate fire that drove alcohol underground.  Also, since many of America’s brewers came from Germany, they surely were aware of the frightening prospect of being linked with un-American values and goose-stepping goons. Better to cleave close to mom, apple pie, and the good ‘ol American way of life than take any chances.

In truth the United Brewers Industrial Foundation had been in existence since 1862 and like most trade organizations its chief interest was lobbying for favorable legislation and tax breaks for its members. The organization did some good, supporting the Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906, but its failure to recognize that the Prohibition Movement and Anti-Saloon League presented a serious threat to the sale of alcoholic beverages proved flawed and from 1920 through 1933 the sale, production, and transport of alcohol became against the law in the United States.

As a little aside, in 1941, when this ad ran, the president of the United Brewers Industrial Foundation was none other than Rudy Schaefer, the owner of Schaefer Beer.

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.

1920: The Corona Personal Writing Machine

I have to admit that this possibly looks like the most perfect job either. Imagine sitting up close to the game with your portable, typing copy for the late edition’s sports section, and getting paid for the privilege. I know, the life of a sports writer isn’t week-day double-headers and enjoying the game, but I can’t help hearing the sound of the peanut vendor and smelling the freshly cut grass and thinking it’d be a pretty good job to have.

 

This Corona ad comes from the August 1920 issue of Popular Mechanics, hence the male-centric sports writer angle. Corona produced a number of customized small typewriters with a variety of accessories including a tripod with a folding note table that would let the typewriter literally be used in the field. In 1926 Corona merged with the L.C. Smith Typewriter Company and form the Smith-Corona company was born. In 2000 Smith-Corona would file for bankruptcy and by 2005 a nearly 100 year history of producing typewriters came to an end.

Nothing stays the same. Mechanical typewriters gave way to electric ones, then came the era of computer-typewriter hybrids, finally the personal computer killed the typewriter all together. Somehow this ad wouldn’t be the same if our straw-hatted sports hack was one-fingering a laptop and uploading his copy to some corporate-owned server via the internet. Sure, I’ll admit that I don’t want to go back to the era of whiteout and correction tape, but I can’t help feeling that the wheels of progress crush the good along with the bad. Mental note to enjoy a day game, a box of Cracker Jacks, and a warm summer day before every game is played on an air-conditioned holographic field under a simulated sun.

An interesting note about this ad, the scrap of text shown mentions Kopf’s triple in game two of the World Series. This is the infamous “Black Sox” game when members of the Chicago White Sox were accused of throwing games. Larry Kopf played shortstop on the opposing Cincinnati Reds during that series and a quote given in his obituary indicated he had doubts about the validity of the scandal. When this issue of Popular Mechanics hit the racks the controversy about the Sox hung in the air over any park where the Chicago team played. Eventually eight Sox players would be banned from professional baseball for life.

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.

1950 Indy 500 - The Drink of Champions, Blatz

Our first color ad comes from 1950 and, as the big day is very near, I thought I'd go with a beverage that will be consumed in quantity between the green and checkered flags - beer.

Blatz, Milwaukee’s first bottled beer…not its best, not even the middle of the road, but put in a glass container first. Myron Fohr, the gentleman wearing the grease, never led a lap in the one Indy 500 in which he raced. Looking at him he has the appearance of a guy who drives a bar stool, not a race car. He probably fit into the cockpit a little like the cork in the fifth of thunderbird he kept tucked under the seat for emergencies. And take a quick look at those nails…apparently the folks at the ad agency spent some time caking crud under Myron’s nails (or gave up on removing it out and decided to go with the dowdy grease ball look).

The small ad in the lower left is for NBC’s television adaptation of the radio show Duffy’s Tavern. The series centered around an Irish tavern in New York and the misadventures and get-rich-quick schemes of Archie, its manager. The show opening featured a rendition of When Irish Eyes are Smiling played on a tinny piano. The music always was interrupted by the ring of a telephone and Archie spinning the catch phrase “Hello, Duffy's Tavern, where the elite meet to eat. Archie the manager speakin'. Duffy ain't here—oh, hello, Duffy..." Here's a bit of the radio show.

 

And here's some of the television show.

1947 - Boy's Life Goes to the Track

Every magazine gives its own take on what’s important about the race. For Boy’s Life that means an emphasis on the Boy Scouts and in Wilbur Shaw, a life-long Scout, they found an icon. Shaw ascended from running errands in the pits to win the 500 twice and eventually become president of the Speedway. I wonder if there is a badge for lifetime achievement.

1937 Indy 500 - The Purse Includes Time

I’m a fan of old fashioned watches and that fascination drew me to the ad for this double-faced design by Gruen. The ad mentioned Wilbur Shaw received a similar watch as part of the winner’s purse for his first 500 win in 1937. Shaw went on to win three times in four years. Got to love it when a local boy makes good!

1939 Indy 500 - The Sport of Death

Auto Racing - the Sport of Death?

Life Magazine took a harsh line when reporting on the 1939 Indy 500, kicking their article off with the headline “145,000 Patrons Watch the Sport of Death at Indianapolis Speedway”. After reading that, one could be forgiven for thinking the Speedway hosted gladiatorial matches culminating with a Ben Hur style chariot race after the morning's bouts and executions had warmed the crowd up. Nobody can deny that racing is a dangerous business. In the history of the Indy 500 fifty five drivers, mechanics, and track personnel who have died during the race or practice. Death never has been satisfied to focus on participants, though. Ten spectators have been killed while watching the race and possibly the most tragic case is that of Wilbur Brink, a 12 year old boy who died instantly when the wheel of Billy Arnold's car bounded over the fence, crossed the street, and struck the youth while he played in the yard of his house.

Newsreel Stills of Floyd Roberts' Wreck

The 1939 race saw the death of veteran racer Floyd Roberts in the 106^th lap, a death captured by newsreel cameras. It might be the humanization of death that spurred Life to make the assertion “With automobile testing moved to the safer proving grounds of the manufacturers, even hard-boiled sports writers now protest racing’s needless risks.” Of course Life's theory has a couple problems. Firstly, after making a statement that implies a broad consensus of the sport-writing community, they cite only one columnist (Hearst’s Bill Corum). Also they make the bogus assumption the purpose of the sport of racing is the testing of automotive product. I wonder if they'd also claim the purpose of baseball is the testing of clubs, football the testing of helmets, and soccer the testing of nets?

Still, it would be ignorant to pretend that racing didn't involve real danger. It’s easy to see the drivers as part of the machines they drive, at least until someone perishes. Every death brings calls for safety improvements, and even the geometry of the track itself has been modified since 1939 to help prevent fatalities. Nothing can make any race absolutely safe, though, and when the engines roar on Memorial Day weekend take a moment to think of the men and women who drive the oval. Remember, the specter of death always hovers over the Speedway among the cheers and gasoline fumes, waiting for the next tragedy.

1926 Indy 500 - Built for Speed

1926 issue of Popular Mechanics featured an article on race car builder Harry Miller. Reading this piece brought back memories of my grandfather telling stories of how drivers and their crews would stay with families in Speedway so that they would be close to the track. Simpler times, now there isn’t a driver or owner who isn’t a millionaire several times over.

I found the picture of cars lining up for the start of the race interesting. My grandfather lived about five blocks from where this photo was taken and for a while my aunt lived about a block away from the start line. The line of trees and buildings behind the grandstand marks Georgetown Road, the long-time scene of pre-race debauchery and source of lurid pubescent fantasies. The field beyond is the Coca-Cola field where fans camp, grill, and generally make a mess of things before the gates open on race day. The structure in the infield is the Pagoda, which used to house the flagmen and time-keepers.