80's Super Bowl Weekend

It's Super Bowl weekend!  Ravens v. 49ers.  Harbaugh v. Harbaugh.  I don't particularly care for either team, so I'm just hoping for a good game, and some funny commercials.  Thirty years ago we had the Redskins against the Dolphins in Super Bowl XVII.  Check out the highlights and I hope your team wins on Sunday...

Well My Friends, The Time Has Come

It's a special Sunday edition of The Excellent 80's for you this week! It's been a glorious two weeks for you sports fans or fans of the Olympics out there. I include myself in those categories, and I've enjoyed it as much as ever and I always look forward to it every four years. It's every four years that I get my fill of badminton, table tennis, swimming, gymnastics, handball, water polo, etc., etc. So, remember back with me to the 1984 closing ceremony in L.A. and enjoy the break-dancing, and enjoy Lionel Richie closing it down with "All Night Long"...

To the Hoop Ya'll

Tonight is game four of the NBA finals between the Miami Heat and the OKC Thunder. Neither one of these teams even existed (in current form of course) 30 years ago in 1982 when we had the L.A. Lakers and the Philly 76ers battling it out in the finals. Check out the cool high-tech graphics in the intro from Game 6 of that series...

80's Television

It's officially opening day for the 2012 Major League Baseball season. I love me some baseball, so, in honor of the kickoff of a new baseball season, here's a few baseball related videos from the 80's...

Remember Intellivision? My best friend in 5th grade had an Intellivision and had this baseball game which was awesome at the time!



An NBC sports promo for baseball...

80's NCAA Flashback

With the NCAA championship game upon us, let's take a look back 30 years ago when a youngster named Michael Jordan helped lead the North Carolina Tarheels to a national championship over Patrick Ewing and the Georgetown Hoyas. Neither team made it back to this year's final, but here is the 1982 classic condensed into about 10 minutes...

Super Bowl Weekend

Thirty years ago Joe Montana and the San Francisco 49ers took on Ken Anderson and the Cincinnati Bengals. I can't believe it's been 30 years! Anyway in honor of the Super Bowl tomorrow, here is a look back to 1982's Super Bowl XVI battle...

Let's Go Bowling

Tonight marks the highly anticipated national championship game which rematches SEC powers LSU and Alabama for the title. Let's take a look back 30 years ago to the game which settled the national championship for the 1981 season - the 1982 Orange Bowl featuring #1 Clemson against #4 Nebraska.

Here is the intro...



part of the 1st quarter which features a TD pass by Nebraska tailback Mike Rozier...



By the way, Clemson goes on to win the game 22-15, and claim their first national championship.

And A New Hat for Coach Landry

Wow, this is some mangled Christmas version of The Twelve Days of Christmas as done by a group of 1980's Dallas Cowboys that still featured Tom Landry, Tony Dorsett, Bill Bates, and Danny White among others. Check out the Dallas Cowboys and this classic 12 Days of Christmas rendition...

We Need More of This From the NBA

Less bickering, more music videos from NBA players I say!

OK, for those of you that didn't grow up in the 80's, you have to remember that it was the thing for teams to get together and shoot music videos. We had the Seattle Seahawks "Cuz the Blue Wave is on a Roll," the New England Patriots with "Skin the Bears," and "New England, the Patriots, and We." The Cinci Bengals brought us the "Who Dey?" rap from 1989, and of course who can forget the most famous - the Chicago Bears "Superbowl Shuffle."

Well, we might not have any NBA yet, but I can at least bring you the 1987 Lakers with an important public announcement in the form of a rap... just remember that when it comes to drugs, "Just Say No!" Just say no to colorful tight tank tops and short shorts...

80's Television

With the new NFL season right around the corner, and the ending of one of the best series ever on television - "Friday Night Lights," it got me to thinking about other great football television series. Unfortunately, once you get past the likable comedy "Coach," there's not much else for you out there. There was, however, an HBO series that ran for seven seasons and starred everyone's favorite double murderer, O.J. Simpson as "T.D. Parker." The series also featured Delta Burke, former porn star Shannon Tweed, Chris Meloni for 11 episodes ("Law and Order SVU" fame), and Ogre from "Revenge of the Nerds" fame (he shall always be "Ogre.")

the intro from season 5...



check out a young Chris Meloni as Johnny Gunn and the great 80's laugh track that accompanies the piece...




1st & Ten

Format Comedy/Sport
Starring Delta Burke
O. J. Simpson
Shannon Tweed
John Matuszak
Jason Beghe
Geoffrey Scott
Keith Amos
Paul Tuerpe
Prince Hughes
Shanna Reed
Reid Shelton
Country of origin United States
No. of seasons 7
No. of episodes 80
Production
Executive producer(s) Donald Kushner
Peter Locke
Camera setup Single-camera
Running time 25 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel HBO
Original run December 2, 1984 – January 23, 1991
Status Ended

Cheesy 80's Sports Posters

I had this poster on my bedroom wall growing up. Yes, I was a big fan of two steroid needle sharing teammates in my teen years. As far as I knew at the time, they worked out in the weight room 24/7 and took special supplements to help them grow to mammoth, cartoonish proportions. Hey, it was blind innocence on my part back then, ok?


I also owned this sweet poster of "The Boz." I lived in Norman, OK at the time and there was no bigger star than Brian Bosworth during his days at OU and his early days with the Seattle Seahawks (pre getting run over by Bo Jackson). Plus, the chick in the poster was the hottest Dorothy ever!



Anyway, I hadn't thought about these posters in a long time until Sports Illustrated came up with this nice rundown of some more great 80's sports posters

Enjoy!

A Tradition Unlike Any Other

One of my favorite sports weekends of the year kicked off on Thursday with flowers in full bloom, green jackets, and "Amen Corner." As Jim Nantz will tell you, it's a tradition unlike any other. The Masters tournament moves into high gear today and concludes tomorrow. Augusta National golf course opened in 1933, but there was probably no better place to be then on the backside in 1986 - 25 years ago. It was on that afternoon that the Golden Bear rallied and overtook Seve Ballesteros to become the oldest Masters champion at the age of 46.

The video is not very good, but I still love to listen to the commentary and the fact that the highlights are to one of the best songs of the 80's, that doesn't hurt either.

The Ball is Tipped

There you are. You're running for your life. You're a shooting star.

The Road to the Final Four is over and only one game remains for the NCAA Men's Championship. At the end of the game, we will get to see our montage of the tournament with "One Shining Moment" as the soundtrack.

The song was written by David Barrett after watching Larry Bird's run to the NCAA title game in 1979. The first use of the song by CBS was after the Indiana win in 1987 and has played every year following the championship game and has been performed by Barrett, then by Teddy Pendergrass, Luther Vandross, and last year by Jennifer Hudson.

I was a senior in high school in 1989 and watched the finals between Michigan and Seton Hall at my high school basketball coach's house. It's a memory I still treasure to this day and this song is so nostalgic that it's become one of my favorite things about the NCAA tournament to this day. Here is the "One Shining Moment" montage from 1989...

80's Workout

Aerobics was a big deal back in the 80's, and here are some former NFL greats to lead the way today led by NY Giants QB Phil Simms. My favorite has to be Todd Christensen and all that curly hair and that sweet mustache.

Super Bowl Weekend

Tomorrow is the 25th anniversary of Super Bowl XXI that featured the John Elway led Denver Broncos and the Phil Simms led NY Giants. Simms was outstanding and the Giants pounded the Broncos.

The highlights with comments from Simms, Lawrence Taylor, and coach Bill Parcells...



Super Bowl XXI
Super Bowl XXI Logo.svg
Denver Broncos New York Giants
(AFC) (NFC)
20 39
1 2 3 4 Total
DEN 10 0 0 10 20
NYG 7 2 17 13 39

Date January 25, 1987 (1987-01-25)
Stadium Rose Bowl Stadium, Pasadena, California
MVP Phil Simms, Quarterback
Favorite Giants by 9½
National anthem Neil Diamond
Coin toss Willie Davis
Referee Jerry Markbreit
Halftime show "Salute to Hollywood's 100th Anniversary" with Southern California high school drill teams and dancers
Attendance 101,063
TV in the United States
Network CBS
Announcers Pat Summerall and John Madden
Nielsen ratings 45.8
(est. 87.2 million viewers)[1]
Market share 66
Cost of 30-second commercial US$600,000

80's NFL Weekend

Well, college football season is underway and now it's time for the big boys to start crunching pads and laying out suckas. NFL football officially kicked off on Thursday with the Minnesota-New Orleans matchup. This weekend features the first full weekend of NFL matchups. Wow, how things have changed on TV since 1980.

Check out CBS' opening music back then...



If you have some time, a look 30 years ago at the 1980 season is pretty interesting...

Part one...



Part two...



Part three featuring the conference championship games and Super Bowl...

Do You Believe in Miracles?

Well, today's gold medal hockey game at the Olympics won't be considered the spectacular upset that occurred in 1980 when the U.S. took down the Soviets in one of the greatest hockey upsets of all time, but a win today for the U.S. over the home turfed Canadians sure would be a nice cap on the most successful winter Olympics ever for the U.S.... just to get you pumped up for the championship game, let's go back to the final minutes of 1980's classic...

Super Bowl Shuffle

Man, I can't believe I've had this blog this long and this is the first time I've posted today's special Sunday post... it's Superbowl Sunday with the Colts and Saints dueling in South Florida for the right to be the NFL's best, but back in 1985 everyone knew who was best and Da Bears even had their own music video to back it up! I never get tired of watching backup QB Steve Fuller in this video and his lack of rhythm... classic! Here is the Chicago Bears Shufflin' Crew with "The Super Bowl Shuffle"...




Lyrics | Chicago Bears Shufflin' Crew lyrics - The Superbowl Shuffle lyrics

P.S. My Super Bowl prediction: Saints 34 Colts 31.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It's Thanksgiving and for most that means the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and some football... all you Cabbage Patch fans out there will enjoy Tim Conway and this Cabbage Patch performance from the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade in 1984...



And, to follow up the parade with some NFL football, here is a quick clip of one of the best Detroit Lions ever... Billy Sims scoring on a four yard run against the KC Chiefs on Thanksgiving Day 1981...



And, as a bonus, here's a special Thanksgiving minisode of a cartoon from way back... anyone remember the arcade game Q-Bert? Here's the cartoon that followed with a Thanksgiving special...

Bird or Magic

The NBA season kicks off tonight, so I saw it only fitting to bust out this classic 80's NBA video... to Loverboy's "Workin' For the Weekend," it's the classic Bird vs. Magic video to kick off the 2009-2010 NBA season... check it out...

Loverboy - Workin' For The Weekend
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