Watching the many football bowl games televised on so many networks for the past six weeks brought back some very fond memories of time spent with my grandfather. We used to sit in front of that old black and white TV over the holidays watching the bowl games we had waited for all year. Popcorn, soda, and time with my grandfather made those games so special to me.
However, there was a major difference in those days compared to what we see today. I was just thinking about that over the weekend. If, by some miracle, Grandpa could return for an afternoon of football with his grandson, how in the world would I possibly explain the many things we take for granted today? Things that I know would blow his mind. How would I explain the following:
- A color television … with a screen 10 times larger than the one we used to watch at his house … hanging on my wall … with picture in picture … HDTV … stereo sound … instant replay and 375 channels (he had 8 channels)! Where would I begin?
- How would I explain that we had our choice of 34 college bowl games to choose from this year? Back then he and I had only four choices and of course we watched them all. We had only “The Fab Four” … Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl, and Cotton Bowl. In those days, we felt it was hard to keep track of them all. Little did we know that the “Fab Four” would someday grow into the marathon of chaos we witness today!
- After explaining our many choices, how would I explain the crazy names? Rose, Orange, Sugar and Cotton are pretty simple compared to this year’s offering. What would Grandpa think when he saw these names?
- GMAC Bowl
- Brut Sun Bowl
- Outback Bowl
- Chick-fil-A Bowl
- Eagle Bank Bowl
- Capital One Bowl
- Little Caesars Bowl
- Tostitos Fiesta Bowl
- MAACO Las Vegas Papajohns.com Bowl
- Sheraton Hawaii Bowl
- AutoZone Liberty Bowl
- Meineke Car Care Bowl
- Emerald Bowl (snack nuts)
- Konica Minolta Gator Bowl
- Valero Alamo Energy Bowl
- Gaylord Hotels Music City Bowl
- Insight Bowl (technology solutions)
- Champs Sports Bowl (Foot Locker)
- Beef O’Brady’s St. Petersburg Bowl
- Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl
- Pacific Life Holiday Bowl (insurance)
- San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl
- Texas Bowl (Lone Star Sports and Entertainment)
- Roady’s Humanitarian Bowl (Roady’s Truck Stops)
- R&L Carriers New Orleans Bowl (global transportation)
- AdvoCareV100 Independence Bowl (energy drinks and nutritional supplements)
And they even butchered our “Fab Four” bowl games of yesteryear. They have become the Citi Rose Bowl, MetroPCS Orange Bowl, Allstate Sugar Bowl, and AT&T Cotton Bowl.
Yes, I’d have a difficult time trying to explain today’s world to Gramps! If you think the world of televised football would be a challenge, can you even imagine trying to explain:
- 9-11
- GPS
- TSA
- iPods
- Katrina
- Afghanistan
- Health Care
- Cell Phones
- Satellite TV
- Banking Bailout
- Global Warming
- Big Three Demise
- A Black President
- A Woman Running for President
Yes, things happen much faster than we sometimes realize. Maybe it takes an exercise like imagining your grandpa coming back for a visit to realize that fact! Of course, you can always reverse that process and imagine what it would be like if we came back 35 years from now. Can you even begin to imagine what might await us?
About Harry K. Jones
Harry K. Jones is a motivational speaker and consultant for AchieveMax®, Inc., a company of professional speakers who provide custom-designed seminars, keynote presentations, and consulting services. Harry's top requested topics include change management, customer service, creativity, employee retention, goal setting, leadership, stress management, teamwork, and time management. For more information on Harry's presentations, please call 800-886-2629 or fill out our contact form.