The Big Fib

by Jimmy Johnson


Buy the new book, "Beaucoup Arlo & Janis!"Today's "Arlo & Janis!"
From 1994, Arlo & Janis gets serious. Well, not really. Or not. Really. Yesterday, I tuned in to the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, and it stirred an old memory from my boyhood. It was a bit surreal. I wasn’t sure memory was serving me well, so I looked it up online, and there it was confirmed. The 1964 Liberty Bowl, featuring the Utah Utes and the West Virginia Mountaineers (one of the teams in the 2014 version), was played in Atlantic City. Indoors. So what, you ask? I’m glad you did. This was before the era of domed stadiums. The Astrodome had not yet opened. This was the first indoor college football game ever. It was played in the Atlantic City Convention Hall, a cavernous building that had hosted, among other things, a national political convention, but it was not a sports stadium. Four-inch-thick sod was brought in to build the playing surface over a concrete floor, and the end zones were shortened from the regulation 10 yards to eight. And I remembered watching that on TV. I guess it would make an impression on a young sports fan. Utah won, 32-6. The next year, the bowl moved to Memphis, where it has remained. You could look it up.

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68 responses to “The Big Fib”

  1. Jackie Monies Avatar
    Jackie Monies

    HI am sneezing my head off in Louisiana where I am allergic to everything and I forget. All is going well so far but we are lucky to have sold some property with which to pay for everything.
    It is not cheap to die.It will hopefully be a lovely and tasteful service. I have to get the funeral home to play music I like Friday night and for services.

    I really liked the funeral home staff and the florists, but that was my business for so long, you never forget, especially if you were professional, learned and taught what to do to be so. And I always cared, and these people do too. It is all going well.

    Wished you all happy new year with love but I think it disappeared.

    lLove, Jackie

  2. TruckerRon Avatar

    My mother-in-law passed away yesterday just 8 days shy of her 91st birthday. I’m sure it was a relief for her in many ways to pass on. She was quickly losing her memories during the last few weeks, which left her feeling lost and forgotten. I had the experience of going, at her request, to the kitchen to get her a snack and being questioned, when I returned, who I was and could I go get her a snack?

    During our last visit she recognized my wife but not me or our 16 year-old daughter.

    We tried to visit last Friday, but the nursing home was under a quarantine for influenza… which she didn’t have, but she did have congested heart failure again.

  3. Charlotte in NH Avatar
    Charlotte in NH

    Dear Jackie, hearing from you is a happy feeling. You are a wonder, so good natured and cheerful in spite of the sneezing and having so much to do. Happy New Year, and I can imagine the satisfaction of arranging everything perfectly to honor Mike and your mother. And you will be greeting friends and relatives and sharing the love.

  4. Trapper Jean Avatar
    Trapper Jean

    Trucker, condolences to you and your family on your loss.

  5. Trapper Jean Avatar
    Trapper Jean

    Happy New Year to all my fellow Villagers! May 2015 be better than the previous year.

  6. Mindy from Indy Avatar
    Mindy from Indy

    Popping in – today’s real-time strip is a hoot! Best luck to all, hopefully today goes well.

  7. Debbe Avatar
    Debbe

    And a blessed New year to all……………..

    Jackie, you made me smile with “It is not cheap to die.” You will be in my thoughts today.

    Llee and Miss Charlotte…thank you for caring.

    Mark….will have to listen later…over slept….don’t really want to work today, but at time and a half……cockle doodle doo…………………………………………….

    ….and hold on tight to your dreams.

  8. Outlander Avatar
    Outlander

    Emeritus:

    Once, I ran for office as a member of one of the major political persuasions.

    Not too long after that, I changed my registration to unaffiliated.

    I decided that neither party has any interest in following and protecting the Constitution, and they care even less about showing respect for the citizens’ natural rights.

  9. sandcastler™ Avatar
    sandcastler™

    Happy New Year!

    Another little known cartooning secret revealed, the magic will never again be the same. 😉

  10. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    I thought for a second Arlo was going to show us his and Janis’s “other” New Year’s Day ritual. 😉

  11. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    Ghostly Observation #12

    Periodically pouring a cup of household bleach into the toilet bowl and letting it disinfect for about thirty minutes–good idea. Forgetting to flush the bleach before peeing in the bowl–bad idea.

  12. sandcastler™ Avatar
    sandcastler™

    GR6, the “sheet dance” is tradionally perform on New Year’s Eve.

  13. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    Ghostly Observation #1 – It is better to have a Happy New Year than not. So, Happy New Year everyone.

  14. Ghost Rider 6 Avatar
    Ghost Rider 6

    Yeah, sand, but when he said “share”, I thought he was referring to video.

    Remember when Arlo found the old Polaroids in a book?

  15. nodakwayne Avatar
    nodakwayne

    Time to move on to the next page

  16. David in Austin Avatar
    David in Austin

    Happy new year to all

  17. Craig T Avatar
    Craig T

    Jimmy, did you see this article about Legion Field? You probably saw a lot of games there, since I believe Auburn played a lot of home games there until the expansion of Cliff Hare in 1970. I was checking to see when my Yellow Jackets played at Legion Field, and all of the away games against Auburn and Alabama were played there (through 1983 for Alabama). Also of note was that, of the Tech vs Auburn games from 1910 through 1969 54 were pplayed in Atlanta. The train track greasing must have happened before then. I think played Georgia in Columbus a lot.

    http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/index.ssf/2015/01/legion_field_time_is_not_on_th.html