Cleaning out the Inbox

    The inbox cleaning starts with The Athletic's celebration of the 35th anniversary of the release of Tecmo Bowl for the original Nintendo.

Super Tecmo Bowl was a better game since it included every team (Tecmo Bowl did not) than the original but there's always a special place for the groundbreaker in any field!

The Athletic picks the best players from the original game, and Bo Jackson is included!

The Athletic wrote this article before the college basketball season on then-new Texas Tech basketball coach Grant McCasland.

My college basketball interest has waned through the years, so I didn't know very much about McCasland, who was hired away from North Texas after winning 135 games for the Mean Green and last season's NIT championship. Still, the article is fascinating on the Red Raider coach.

Texas Tech finished dead last in the Big 12 last season but in their first season under McCasland, the Red Raiders are 16-5 and appear headed to the NCAA tournament.

FanBuzz writes of the legality of the famous Happy Gilmore putt that won Gilmore the fictional Tour Championship and broke the hearts of Shooter McGavin fans everywhere.

The article discusses the situation involved, the film ruling by the rules of golf, and whether Gilmore should have been forced to take the shot then and there.

After all, those are the rules- I didn't write them.

The Athletic writes of the making of the film Slap Shot and of the parallels between the real-life Johnstown Jets that inspired the "Charlestown Chiefs" in the film.

The article covers the screenplay, the film, and just how much of the film is pretty dead-on compared to the stories of the actual team!

And yes, that includes the Hanson Brothers!

Snowed in

Snow.
It used to mean fun and I don't mean just as a kid either.
Even after I got married,snow used to mean snow football on the covered mean streets of Hagerstown or depending on the company,long campaigns of board games like Statis Pro football or Strat O Matic baseball or Nintendo season on Super Tecmo Bowl.

Names like Bruce Harper in Statis Pro,Brant Alyea in Strat O Matic and Heath Sherman in Super Tecmo Bowl are long forgotten by many sports fans,but each has their niche in my memory for their performances on so many late and often snowy nights.

Some evenings even featured long cards of Wrestling Superstars,which was a dice game that treated pro wrestling as if it was legitimate.
After my brother and I bought the game,I discovered that as much as I liked the code,I could do a better job creating the wrestlers and for years I made new wrestling cards for the game.
I remember one night that Shane,Greg and I spent playing that game and every time that a wrestler put on the abdominal stretch,we had to jump up and slap the move on the person using the affected grappler.
Good times!

I also remember plopping a young Ryan down outside in snows that he could dive on the street and fly for thrown footballs and never touch the ground and therefore never get hurt.
I don't take a lot of pictures and even fewer in those days because we never seemed to get around to developing film,but I think there are pictures somewhere of Ryan "standing" in a snow that his feet never touched the ground in!

Those times are passed now,mainly because my son has moved out, my friends have gotten married,have families of their own and in some cases moved on.
Friends transition in our lives,but through good,bad and indifferent times,I always think of certain things.
I've seen my friend Joe one time in the last 5 or 6 years,but watching the Super Bowl halftime show (bleech) and the appearance of the Red Hot Chili Peppers,Joe was the first person that came to mind because when he was younger and first hanging around,it was the time of the Peppers hitting it big and they were a part of the music of his teenage years.

As the snow cascades down at the work office (I'm hoping to get out with some luck),it's funny what comes to mind.
Sitting around a long gone table flipping cards for an obscure running back for a long TD run,an 8 bit back shaking tacklers off on a console or even catching a pass yourself with a nerf ball in the snow and of course the guys that you did those things with.
Some are still great friends in my life,others are doing their own thing and I only see them occasionally others are living elsewhere and still others are only memories,but in the overall when you put things in their time and place-what you recall are usually good thoughts.

If I get home,maybe I'll get some dice rolling or fire up some video golf.
After all,even at 45,you gotta keep the faith.
Here's to you guys for the great times!