Good morning all and Happy Thanksgiving!
If you are a football fan - and I am - this is your time of year. It is wall-to-wall football between now and the break between the NFL conference championships and Super Bowl. Above is my weekly Picks for Kicks episode. It could be an interesting stretch of games in the NFL.
Just a brief note: There will be no newsletter on Friday, but the intent is to be back on Saturday!
Here are some other thoughts as I remember the days, when a Thanksgiving Day newspaper would be mucho thick with inserts promoting Black Friday sales. Then along came the internet:
There is a misleading television ad being targeted toward football fans and in a nutshell it is about a failing industry - linear television - trying to gouge its diminishing subscriber base. My friend Lon Seidman writes all about it on his blog. Here is the link.
Thanksgiving Day use to be a busy sports day for me. For twenty years I broadcast the Manchester Road Race, one of the most popular races in the country. Annually, the race used to attract some of the world’s top runners. The station for which I worked, WDRC-AM Hartford, CT, had the broadcast rights to the race. Legendary broadcaster Brad Davis and I would arrive early to begin our broadcast at 5:30 a.m. from Carter’s Chevrolet in downtown Manchester. Road race officials, runners, celebrities, politicians, would all join us for interviews. It was a great time. Then I would call the race with road race director Dr. David Prindiville and Manchester road race icon P. J. Tearney.
Before the DRC days, there use to be the annual Thanksgiving Day football game. I would broadcast the Torrington High vs. Watertown games with my dear friend, Torrington High coach Lou Moscaritolo on WSNG in Torrington, CT. After those days, I switched to WKZE in Sharon, CT, where I broadcast the annual Thanksgiving Day game between Housatonic Valley Regional High School and the Gilbert School of Winsted, CT. with Marshall Miles and Bubba Smith. That was a time long ago, but the memories will last forever.
I remember broadcasting a Torrington High-Watertown football game, when the game time temperature was below zero. I brought an electric heater into the broadcast booth, not that it helped. Then there was the Berkshire Bowl game between Gilbert at Housatonic, postponed to the day after Thanksgiving because of a snow-ice storm. The field was still partially covered with ice but the game went on.
Torrington-Watertown had some legendary matchups. I remember the 1984 game, when the teams battled tooth-and-nail at Torrington’s historic Fuessenich Park. Watertown had a legendary quarterback and kicker. Maybe you heard of him: Rico Brogna. He went on to a darn good career in the major leagues, playing for the Detroit Tigers and New York Mets among others.
Gilbert and Housatonic also had some donnybrooks. I recall 1991, when Housatonic needed to win to advance to their first-ever state title game. They won. Gilbert also had a gritty fullback named Mark Archelaschi. Years later, going by his radio name Mark Andrews, he and I would broadcast football games, involving Catholic high schools on the Catholic radio station in greater Hartford. In particular, we would broadcast the Archbishop Cup on Thanksgiving Eve between East Catholic High School of Manchester, CT and Northwest Catholic High School of West Hartford, CT. Invariably, Tom Mahon, the athletic director at East Catholic, would always bring Mark and me a Thanksgiving pregame meal of turkey, cranberries and mashed potatoes. Those were great days.
They are saying we could have a record viewing audience for today’s clash between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Dallas Cowboys. It would not surprise me. Remember, if you watch the game, think of legendary Cowboys GM Tex Schramm. It was tradition for the Detroit Lions to play on Thanksgiving Day to piggyback with the parade through downtown Detroit. Looking to gain recognition for his team, Schramm went to the NFL to convince the league to allow Dallas to host a second game, late in the afternoon. The proviso was Dallas had to host the game in the same time slot, every Thanksgiving. The league gave the Cowboys the thumbs up and they have been playing on Thanksgiving Day since 1966.
In my profession Thanksgiving always started a week early. Cal Miller from Miller Foods in Avon, CT, would prepare a huge Thanksgiving meal for everybody at the radio station and bring the meal and fixings to the station a week before Thanksgiving. In return Cal would come on the morning radio program with Brad and me and promote her business, including the fresh turkeys that Miller Foods sold. Yum!
By the way, I miss Pat Summeral and John Madden doing the games and Madden’s famous turducken. Don’t you?
Wherever or however you spend your Thanksgiving, I hope it is a joyous one.
As always, thank you for subscribing and once again, Happy Thanksgiving!
DAN
