DGS49
Diamond Member
I seem to recall watching "ABC's Wide World of Sports" on Saturday afternoons when it was too cold or miserable outside to play. The show featured people in other countries playing oddball sports, unfamiliar to most Americans. For example, people in India playing polo on elephants. [More below].
Also, on Saturday afternoons, we would watch pro bowlers - Ray Bluth, Don Carter, Dick Weber, Carmen Salvino, etc., then around dinner time we would watch "Studio Wrestling," a local professional wrestling show in Pittsburgh. The main draw of Studio Wrestling was Bruno Sammartino, who gained some fame in pro wrestling circles around the country.
There was one particular episode of ABC's WWS that has always stuck in my mind, because it taught a universal lesson...which you can elicit for yourself. The "sport" was ice-lake racing on a frozen lake in northern Canada. It was auto racing around an oval, and the cars had tires with big metal spikes sticking out of them, for better traction. Around and around and around, for what seemed like hours.
Well, part of the program was that they would always have a local expert in the event for "color commentary." In these races, there were all sorts of cars, but two of them had a particular advantage. There were Saab's, which at the time were about the only front-wheel drive cars sold in North America, and Corvair's, which of course had rear engines and rear-wheel drive. Everything else was front-engine, rear wheel drive, and "hold on to your hat."
Early in the race, there were leaders in all three types of cars and we, as the uninitiated, didn't know who would win. The announcers turned to the local expert, and breathlessly asked, something to the effect of whether the American cars, or the Corvairs, or whatever would win, and the local simply said, "The Saab's are gonna win." Well then. So over the two hours or so of the program different cars were crashing and falling out for whatever reason, and gradually the Saab's and Corvair's were coming to the front. And again when they turned to the local guy, "he Saab's are gonna win."
Well, he said this so often that they just stopped asking him, and, sure enough, by the time the race was over, the first five cars were Saab's, there was a Corvair or two, then nothing but Saab's rounding out the top ten.
Many times over the years, I have been watching a sports event where there was no question who was going to win but the announcers kept talking up one underdog or another, if only to generate some interest for the viewers. And when I watch them, the expression, "The Saab's are gonna win," keeps popping into my mind.
Also, on Saturday afternoons, we would watch pro bowlers - Ray Bluth, Don Carter, Dick Weber, Carmen Salvino, etc., then around dinner time we would watch "Studio Wrestling," a local professional wrestling show in Pittsburgh. The main draw of Studio Wrestling was Bruno Sammartino, who gained some fame in pro wrestling circles around the country.
There was one particular episode of ABC's WWS that has always stuck in my mind, because it taught a universal lesson...which you can elicit for yourself. The "sport" was ice-lake racing on a frozen lake in northern Canada. It was auto racing around an oval, and the cars had tires with big metal spikes sticking out of them, for better traction. Around and around and around, for what seemed like hours.
Well, part of the program was that they would always have a local expert in the event for "color commentary." In these races, there were all sorts of cars, but two of them had a particular advantage. There were Saab's, which at the time were about the only front-wheel drive cars sold in North America, and Corvair's, which of course had rear engines and rear-wheel drive. Everything else was front-engine, rear wheel drive, and "hold on to your hat."
Early in the race, there were leaders in all three types of cars and we, as the uninitiated, didn't know who would win. The announcers turned to the local expert, and breathlessly asked, something to the effect of whether the American cars, or the Corvairs, or whatever would win, and the local simply said, "The Saab's are gonna win." Well then. So over the two hours or so of the program different cars were crashing and falling out for whatever reason, and gradually the Saab's and Corvair's were coming to the front. And again when they turned to the local guy, "he Saab's are gonna win."
Well, he said this so often that they just stopped asking him, and, sure enough, by the time the race was over, the first five cars were Saab's, there was a Corvair or two, then nothing but Saab's rounding out the top ten.
Many times over the years, I have been watching a sports event where there was no question who was going to win but the announcers kept talking up one underdog or another, if only to generate some interest for the viewers. And when I watch them, the expression, "The Saab's are gonna win," keeps popping into my mind.