Know Your Colts History: My, How Times Have Changed

by Jake Whitacre on Jul 3, 2009 5:00 AM EDT

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Back in the 1950's and 60's, there was a game show called "What's My Line?" where a panel of celebrity judges tried to guess the occupation of a guest. On one night in 1958 (no, not that night) one of the guests was a professional football player that you might be familiar with. Here's how his TV appearance went:

There's so many great things in this video that you would never see happen nowadays. Let's try and recap some of the best ones:

- The man was able to spell out his whole name and not have people automatically know that he was a star wide receiver on an NFL team. Marvin Harrison wouldn't even get to the letter v before someone could identify him, and he's one of the most anonymous star players the game has ever seen.

- While in the NFL, Raymond Berry was a member of an army reserve unit. I repeat, Raymond Berry, one of the top players in the NFL, was a member of an army reserve unit while he played in the NFL. You will never see this happen again.

- The whole Q&A would be so absurd nowadays that it would be borderline insane. Just imagine if Terrell Owens had to deal with these questions:

Do you now work for a profit-making organization?

Baby, I am a profit-making organization.

Do you deal in services?

What?!? Do you have a TV?

Is there anything entertaining or amusing about what you do?

No seriously, do you have a TV?

Are you engaged in any sport?

I'm 6'3, 225. Does this look like the body of an IT specialist?

Is it a sport which entails a team rather than going it on your own?

HOW AM I SUPPOSED TO ANSWER THAT?

Is it team which has fewer than 11 members?

Let's see, there's me, myself, I, T.O., Terrell, #81, Mr. Owens, The Showstopper, I love me some me, Mr. Popcorn, and Terrell Owens. That's 11, right?

- Near the start of the video, Raymond Berry says that he's from the town of Paris, Texas. Paris is also the hometown of Robert Van Winkle. You might know him better as the lead man in this video:

Oddly, I feel older watching that Vanilla Ice video from the early 90's than I do watching the Raymond Berry video from 1958.

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Anyone else notice...

That the host said that the Giants won the Greatest Game Ever Played? I bet Unitas, Berry, and Ameche would have something to say about that.

I also wish I had time and motivation to blog at Speed Blue Nation

by Bullard47 on Jul 3, 2009 9:24 AM EDT reply actions

That's because the Giants did win the game

That segment was filmed after a November 9th matchup that the Giants won by a field goal.

Bullets Forever: A blog dedicated to the Washington Wizards with analysis, commentary, and more YouTube videos than your eyes can handle.

by Jake Whitacre on Jul 3, 2009 10:21 AM EDT up reply actions

DIRTY

I look like a fool because I didn’t know the date. Sorry about the call out.

/shows self out

I also wish I had time and motivation to blog at Speed Blue Nation

by Bullard47 on Jul 3, 2009 11:12 AM EDT up reply actions

"Did you miss YOO-ni-tas today?"

Not only did he show up on a nationally televised show after a game the same day, he looks fresh out of the washer.

Honestly, I think the clip is already starting to show the popularity of the game. The game show producers still think they can pass Berry off as a white-collar desk jockey think his profession far enough out of the ordinary that the panel will have a hard time pinning it down. But not only can the panel guess his profession, they remember his name, position, and a specific play. For comparison, Dwight Freeney wasn’t recognized by the two golddiggers he met on the Dr. Phil Show just a few months ago. I’m amazed that celebrities on this panel were already among those who had taken an interest and had seen the previous year’s championship. Seems like it surprised the game show producers too.

by CooperManningsNotTrying on Jul 3, 2009 9:37 AM EDT reply actions