Headed out for a walk to WaWa after the Toons ended. I needed rent money and wanted to use up some of those gift cards from Christmas I still have on lunch. I ended up walking in the street a lot. The sidewalks were mostly clear...from homes and businesses that are frequently used. Some sidewalks on the White Horse Pike haven't been shoveled. Snow and ice scraped against the edge of the street often made it hard to get on the sidewalk. I had to drop off three books in the kiosk on Johnson Avenue, so I just dodged ice on the street until I turned and crossed the White Horse Pike to WaWa.
WaWa was surprisingly not that busy at quarter of 1. I ended up with a chicken cheese steak junior hoagie on a whole wheat roll, broccoli-cheddar soup, a peppermint mocha hot chocolate, and a soft pretzel. The hot chocolate was more sweet than it was minty or chocolaty. The chicken cheese steak was tasty. I'd added spinach and tomato for more vitamins. Neither the lines for the register nor the ATM machine were all that long.
I was almost home when I stepped wrong on a crack on a driveway and bent my bad knee back. Owwww, that hurt! I let out a long yell when I did that. Thankfully, it didn't hurt so much that I couldn't walk the rest of the way home, but I did need to put it up and put a heating pad on it when I got in.
Watched Remember WENN when I was home and having lunch. Hilary is "Courting Disaster" when Jeff's supercilious lawyer Drake Stanley (Andrew Seear) claims he wants $100,000 in damages. Scott acts as her lawyer and Mr. Eldridge takes the stand on the WENN court program Tell It to the Judge. Betty, Maple, and Gertie trick Stanley into appearing on the show, then manage to ring up Jeff to get his side of things.
The cast is thrilled in "And How!" when they're chosen to broadcast an episode of the network western The Strange Loner. The show's notorious playboy star is leaving to appear in films and turns up at the station drunk and unconscious right before it's supposed to begin. All of the men argue over his role, while Betty talks to Joseph Grayhawk (real-life Native American activist Russell Means), who is the voice of the Strange Loner's sidekick. Eugenia's more interested in her food discovery from Italy - pizza!
Called Uber soon as the show ended. Thankfully, no trouble there again. In fact, while still not where it should be at this time of year, it was much warmer than it has been in the last week and a half, sunny and breezy but not blustery. I got the first in 10 minutes, but had called early. The one going home came in 7 minutes. Got me there on time in less than 5 minutes.
The kids honestly could have been worse. They did get rowdy at the bathrooms, and the custodian scolded them a bit for blocking the door to the boiler. (Which is rather important at this time of year, especially in a 120-year-old building.) We also had a new kid, who was thankfully pretty quiet and not any trouble. After snack time, one little girl brought me an old 101 Dalmatians book from what had been a book-and-cassette...and then, another brought me another book. So many wanted to sit on my lap (and my sore knee) and see the pictures, I stood up and read it to them instead.
I did have to separate a girl and a boy when we were in the library. The girl kept shoving her chair too close to her guy friend, and she has the habit of drawing on other people's artwork. She threw a fit when I told her he wanted space. Thankfully, the head teacher brought in the speaker at that point, and she joined the kids dancing to "Pink Pony Club" and the soundtracks from Lilo and Stitch and Trolls while I colored with the boys. They really loved the artwork I did of my (hopefully) upcoming superhero based Remember WENN fanfic Captain Victor, Man of Power, depicting Victor, Jeff, Ceila, and Grace Cavendish in superhero and villain costumes.
Took a shower when I got home, grabbed dinner, and put on Match Game Syndicated. Gary Collins, Susan Richardson, Richard Paul, and Joyce Bulifant finished out their week in these episodes. Joyce had a tendency to ramble on about her answers. At one point, she talked for so long, all of the panelists got up and left! She ended up in (mock, I hope) tears.
Finished the night with sports game shows in honor of the Super Bowl next Sunday and the Winter Olympics on Friday. The granddaddy of all sports-based quiz shows is Sports Challenge from the 70's. This is what it says on the tin, a long-running syndicated sports quiz show that pit two then-popular teams against each other. It's a battle of football titans from opposite ends of the US as the New York Giants take on the Los Angeles Rams in the episode I have here.
ESPN isn't the only network that runs sports-based quiz shows. Baseball IQ from the MLB Network pit coaches and players against each other in a test to see who knew more baseball trivia. This tournament-style show only ran a month in January-February 2012, making me wonder if it was just intended to be filler programming during the off season.
Bowling was at its zenith of popularity in the 60's and 70's when Jackpot Bowling debuted on syndication in 1961. Host Milton Berle's jokes fit rather awkwardly between rounds of semi-pro players competing for a $30,000 pot. Berle had more fun introducing the celebrity who bowled for charity between games. British bombshell Diana Dors was the celeb donning bowling shoes in this episode. Keep a close watch out for her then-husband Richard (then "Dickie") Dawson in the audience.
Baywatch was the most-watched show in the world when Sandblast debuted on MTV in 1994. Two couples compete in a series of beach-based mini games and obstacle courses to see who is top dog of Disney World's water parks. I can see why this ran for two years. The games are honestly a lot of fun, and the energy is electric. Swimmer Summer Saunders was the host in this episode.
50 Grand Slam was a unique stunt show/quiz show hybrid from 1976. Eight contestants competed on the show, two at a time, and were matched up based on their expertise in a certain category. One contestant would be asked questions while the other was in an isolation booth. Whomever answered more questions correctly usually had the option of taking the money or facing an opponent in the next episode. Although we don't see it here, some episodes had a sports theme or a game played. We have the finale here, one of only three episodes known to exist.
ESPN didn't just do sport quizzes. They occasionally had the sports personalities playing stunts, too, as in Battle of the Gridiron Stars from 2005. Football stars of the mid-2000s went up against each other in games based around other sports besides their usual one. If you remember football in that time period like I do, it's actually kind of fun to watch these big guys attempt tug-of-war or dodgeball.
Celebrate guts and glory in all their forms with these delightfully sporting games!