Wait, Southwest Airlines Was Around In 1948? (UPDATED)

Thursday, June 12, 2008


Here's an update and video in regards to the WGN telecast which is rewinding back to 1948 today. It's been a fun couple of innings with only a few camera angles and everyone seems to be playing along. Bob Brenly has already complained about the heat in his "burlap suit" and they even have a typewriter that someone has been hammering away on.

Here's the opening of the telecast and the first pitch....



It really is awkward to watch a game without multiple camera angles. I think my mind is so trained to be focusing on multiple images that I noticed my A.D.D. kicking in halfway through that first inning. Good stuff though WGN.

Update: I stopped back in during the top of the ninth inning and Len Kasper was talking about the old "Hey Hey" graphic that WGN had back when the late Jack Brickhouse was the announcer. Kasper said they were waiting to use it during a Cubbies homerun in an homage to Brickhouse, but they hadn't hit one. Bob Brenly said that they should wait until the bottom of the ninth and that you never know what could happen. Well they did and this happened....



How awesome was that? And the Cubs even went on to win in the eleventh, 3-2.

Turn Back The Clock Broadcast Today On WGN (Awful Announcing)

27 Comments:

What is a .com!

Anonymous said...
Jun 12, 2008, 3:39:00 PM  

That's really cool. Did they have color commentators in 1949? They should have kicked Brenly out of the booth for the first 2 innings.

Jay said...
Jun 12, 2008, 3:46:00 PM  

thats pretty sweet. They should do that with more teams more often

Anonymous said...
Jun 12, 2008, 3:51:00 PM  

Way to do something cool and do it right. Congrats WGN!

OT: I loved watching Cubs games as a kid on WGN, because they'd be on when I got home from school and WGN was a "super-station" back then. Viva la late 80's!

testing thing said...
Jun 12, 2008, 3:54:00 PM  

Yeah, I liked that. I've actually been watching that game, but I didn't turn it on till the 3rd and sadly missed the fun... Damn you, summer classes.

Anonymous said...
Jun 12, 2008, 3:55:00 PM  

The Dodgers did this 3 years ago to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the 1955 Brooklyn Dodgers' championship. It was pretty cool, especially because Vin Scully was able to talk you through all the progression in broadcast technology.

Anonymous said...
Jun 12, 2008, 4:01:00 PM  

Has there ever been a worse champion manager than Bob Brenly???

GMoney said...
Jun 12, 2008, 4:06:00 PM  

dusty baker. oh wait...

Michael said...
Jun 12, 2008, 4:10:00 PM  

Holy crap, Celtics just fired Doc Rivers and replaced him with Vinny Del Negro's cousin Sal.

Anonymous said...
Jun 12, 2008, 4:15:00 PM  

ESPN did a gimmick kind of like this a couple years ago for an Indiana-MSU basketball game - although that was only celebrating 25 years of ESPN, not 60, so it was still in color, and they stuck with the retro setup the whole time.

Anonymous said...
Jun 12, 2008, 5:08:00 PM  

Very cool, WGN. It's way better than the 'Turn Ahead The Clock to 2027' game the Mariners (and I think the Royals) did in 1997.

Jun 12, 2008, 5:59:00 PM  

Wow, here in New York, FSN once used 1973 graphics and camera angles a few years back when Bob Murphy and Ralph Kiner did one last Mets game together at Shea before Murphy retired and croaked the following summer...

Well done, WGN, even though dotcoms weren't around back in 1948...

Anonymous said...
Jun 12, 2008, 7:22:00 PM  

I swear I could hear the pop of the baseman's mitt much better than I can in normal broadcasts. That's what really made this intriguing to me.

I love the throwback broadcasts. Any reason's a good reason to have one.

Owen Good said...
Jun 12, 2008, 7:45:00 PM  

And ESPN, spoilsports that they are, used TBS...er, peachtree TV highlights from that game today.

Asshats.

JamesCraven said...
Jun 12, 2008, 9:05:00 PM  

I watched that game today. It was pretty cool. The Edmons homer and Kasper's call was the highlight of the day by far, though.

Anonymous said...
Jun 12, 2008, 9:24:00 PM  

Yeah, the Pistons did something like that a couple of years ago.

Anonymous said...
Jun 12, 2008, 9:31:00 PM  

There's a reason they don't use those camera angles today.

They suck.


Still a fun watch, though.

Anonymous said...
Jun 12, 2008, 9:34:00 PM  

That Edmonds home run almost makes me wish I could take back all of the Old Style/Bud Light fueled venom & vitriol I've hurled at him when he was in center for the Cards. Almost.

Jun 12, 2008, 10:05:00 PM  

Fox did a telecast a few years back to with a camera angle that was just behind home plate.

Don't remember the reason or the teams, just remember it was FOX.

therod said...
Jun 13, 2008, 12:16:00 AM  

The AT&T ads shoudl have been for Ma Bell.

odessasteps said...
Jun 13, 2008, 2:25:00 AM  

I believe it was the Cubs/Dodgers, and it was around 2000 or so at Wrigley Field.

Anonymous said...
Jun 13, 2008, 9:39:00 AM  

Did you people even watch the game?? Anyone who had to sit through those first 2 innings had to be IRATE!!! I tried watching it, but I could not see the ball except for on Chipper's infield groundball hit. There is a reason the TV industry developed color and extra camera angles. Its to keep the viewer away from crappy broadcasts like what WGN provided us with.

Anonymous said...
Jun 13, 2008, 5:30:00 PM  

The typewriter was heard in the background of WGN telecasts until the late 1980s.

Soon, every outlet, will offer the wide, upper deck angles on an secondary channel. I hope.

Anonymous said...
Jun 13, 2008, 5:33:00 PM  

Irate? Nah. I'm glad only the first two innings were in B&W, but it was hardly anything to get too worked up about. The ball was really hard to see. Love the throwback unis though, and I'd love to see throwback games more often, especially since some of today's uniforms are so damn ugly (hello, Blue Jays and Angels).

Dave said...
Jun 13, 2008, 5:47:00 PM  

It was fun and nostalgic, ATLn. Calm the F down.

Jun 13, 2008, 6:25:00 PM  

If you couldn't find any fun in this telecast, you are too young to actually understand. Antiquity was the damn point! You were given a quick, painless history lesson about TV in its' infancy.

But, no, all some can do is whine....can you imagine how excited Ma & Pa Kettle were back in 1948 -- to see these flickering 'images??'

Hell, I grew up with Jack Brickhouse and until this game -- I NEVER knew why I heard that typewriter in the background, every damn game!

This 10-year-old kid in 1965 never found out until this WEEK what that was all about....

It was...."TV You Can't Ignore..." But, for those who don't have a sense of history, I feel sorry for you.

Anonymous said...
Jun 15, 2008, 2:20:00 AM  

Look, I know people in my generation, the Millennials (formerly known as Gen Y), have the general feeling that "we're entitled to everything." But dammit, at times we need to put away our me-first attitudes and learn to RESPECT the trial-and-error efforts of previous generations, because if it weren't for them, we wouldn't have any of the spoils we take for granted. (And then I wonder why some of my peers don't understand me...)

Anonymous said...
Jun 15, 2008, 4:29:00 PM  

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