There In Black and White

Miss TigerBlog is into this show "The Goldbergs."

TigerBlog has seen it once. It didn't take, which is a bit surprising, since a sitcom set in the 1980s figures to be right in TB's wheelhouse.

TigerBlog did tell MTB about a show that he loved awhile back, one set in the late 1960s and early 1970s. He told MTB that if she liked "The Goldbergs," then she'd love "The Wonder Years."

And what did she say?

Did she ask if it was still on? If she could see it someplace online? What the story was?

Nope.

Here's what she said: "Was it in black and white?"

It was one of those glorious moments when your child basically says "you're old."

No, "The Wonder Years" wasn't in black and white. TB hates to admit this though, but it was back when he was a kid first starting to watch TV that many shows were in black and white and just starting to be filmed in color.

In fact, it was a big deal back then to advertise a show as being "in living color." TB remembers some shows that were in black and white in their first seasons and then color later on.

The college football marathon on Turner Classic Movies that was on last week was all in black and white, and why wouldn't it be? Every movie that was on was from the 1930s or early 1940s.

TB loves moves from that era about college football, even if they do serve as a reminder that the game back then was played by rich white kids. On the other hand, they either involve actual football powers of the time, such as the Ivy schools, Army, Navy and Notre Dame, or they're about fictional colleges that are sort of Ivyish.

The game sequences are tremendous. They're either actual film of contemporary college football games, complete with great crowd shots, or completely awful staged shots that don't exactly look realistic.

Of course, that's always been the biggest problem with sports movies, but that's a whole different story.

TCM had a full day of college football movies, and TB watched some of them. He DVRd only one though, and that was the best of all of them, "Knute Rockne All-American."

If you've never seen it, then you should. It's tremendous.

Pat O'Brien plays the title role of the longtime legendary Notre Dame coach. Ronald Reagan plays George Gipp, who died in 1920, two weeks after he was named Notre Dame's first All-America. Legend has it that Gipp said this Rockne on his deathbed:
"I've got to go, Rock. It's all right. I'm not afraid. Some time, Rock, when the team is up against it, when things are wrong and the breaks are beating the boys, ask them to go in there with all they've got and win just one for the Gipper. I don't know where I'll be then, Rock. But I'll know about it, and I'll be happy."

Speaking of college football, here are a few numbers to consider from the 2013 season:

Player A completed 68.0% of his passes. Player B completed 67.9% of his passes.

Player A had 43 touchdowns. Player B had 42 touchdowns.

Player A had 270.7 yards of total offense per game. Player B had 308.7 yards of total offense per game.

Player A averaged 5.0 yards per carry. Player B averaged exactly half of that, 2.5.

So who are these two guys with such fairly even stats?

Player A is Quinn Epperly, Princeton's quarterback and the Ivy League's Offensive Player of the Year, the one who led Princeton to an 8-2 record and a share of the Ivy League title.

Player B is Jameis Winston, Florida State's quarterback and the Heisman Trophy winner. Winston will play in the BCS championship game with the Seminoles against Auburn.

Okay, TB isn't suggesting that Epperly is better than Winston or that Epperly should have won the Heisman Trophy. Of course, Epperly's 43 touchdowns (25 passing, 18 rushing) came in three fewer games than Winston's 42 (38 passing, four rushing).

Oh, here's an interesting fact of Winston vs. Princeton, which rhymes, by the way:

Winston averaged 293.8 passing yards per game. Epperly averaged 213.7 passing yards per game, which isn't really close to Winston's.

Except Epperly spent most of the year splitting the position with Connor Michelsen. So how many passing yards per game did Princeton as a team average?

Winston - 293.8. Princeton - 293.8.  The exact same amount.

Anyway, TB wasn't sure what he'd find when he started comparing Epperly and Princeton. He certainly didn't expect it to be as even as it was.

Hey, it's all there.

In black and white.