"Merry Christmas In The NFL" - A Lost Christmas Classic

When I was back at my childhood home over Thanksgiving, I came across a few cassette tapes I had made as a kid where I had recorded songs off the radio from the late 70's and early 80's.    

As I was playing back the tapes, one of the songs I had recorded was a Christmas song I hadn't heard in probably over 35 years. 

The song is "Merry Christmas in the NFL", which was released in 1980.  It was recorded by Jerry Buckner and Gary Garcia, who would have a hit a couple of years later with  "Pac-Man Fever".

The song is a parody of the poem The Night Before Christmas, but instead of Santa, it is Howard Cosell who comes bearing gifts. Instead of calling out the names of Santa's reindeer, he calls out NFL cities.  He brings a helmet, autographed pictures of cheerleaders, and highlight videos on Betamax!

If you'd like to take a listen, here is the lost Christmas classic:

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Time Is Here Again - Vintage Sears Wishbook Catalog Style

Once again its time to put together my wish list after going through the Christmas catalogs. I haven't been going through the catalogs that came in the mail though, I've been putting together my wishlist after reading WishbookWeb's treasure trove of vintage Christmas catalogs:


One of my most popular posts was the post I did right after Christmas last year featuring a number of NFL (and a few MLB) items from Sears Wishbooks and JC Penny's catalogs from the 1960's, 1970's, and 1980's which I found on WishbookWeb.

Lets see what goodies I'd like to find under the tree this year:

I could use a jersey or two:






Of course the jerseys are much better when you've got the matching pants and the helmet:

Since its getting cold, a sweatshirt would be great:


Speaking of cold weather, I could use a jacket and a cap and some gloves:




or maybe a vest:

and definitely a parka for those really cold days:


Some new pajamas with a matching robe would be nice:

I'm not really big on sweaters, but if it had my favorite team I would probably wear one:



Of course if I could look as good as Sweetness in Da' Bears sweater, I'd wear one all the time:


I could use some new shirts for work:


as well as a new pair of jeans:


Since my gym clothes are pretty worn, I'd like to get some new workout clothes:




Some new socks and shoes would be good:



I might as well get some boots too:


The house could use a little redecorating. Perhaps a new bedspread and a nice door mat:


and some new lamps:


and a new trash can:


Come to think of it, I need a new bike:


as well as a new sleeping bag or two:


Since I need to be better about bringing my lunch to work, an NFL Lunchbox might just do the trick:


And finally, it would be fun to have the "Beyond Thunderdome" version of electric football under the tree:


If there is still room in Santa's sleigh, I would like a baseball jersey and some basketball gear as well:


What amazes me in looking at these old catalogs is how NFL Properties saturated the market with their "brand", and put their logo on just about anything a kid (or an adult) could need.

The NFL was (and still is) heads and shoulders above the other leagues in marketing their product. The MLB and NBA pictures above are the only 2 pages I found in my searches, compared with a ton of NFL items.

If you have some spare time and want to take a trip back in time, I highly recommend taking a look at WishbookWeb. Just make sure you've got some time as once you start going through the old catalogs you'll find it hard to pull yourself away.

All I Want For Christmas Is.....

I know that I'm either really late or really early with getting my Christmas list ready, but after taking a look at the vintage Christmas catalogs at WishbookWeb.com, you'll have to forgive me for feeling like I'm a kid getting ready for Christmas. If you are ever in the mood to relive Christmas Past, you need to check out

http://www.wishbookweb.com/

This site has scanned a number of Christmas catalogs (or Wish Books as Sears called them) from the 1940's through the 1980's. If you were a kid in the 60's, 70's, or 80's you'll find lots of things in the toy sections of these catalogs that you remember from your childhood. Fisher Price, Legos, GI Joe, Mego Super Heroes, Evil Knievel, Star Wars, Hot Wheels, etc. Taking a look through the catalogs, I came across a number of toys I had forgotten about which instantly came back to me when I saw the pictures.

One thing that a number of these catalogs have are team logo items. Most of the items were NFL items, which to some degree would make sense given that the NFL is in season leading up to Christmas, but it is a striking difference between how many NFL items were in the catalogs (often a number of pages worth), while in many catalogs there was no MLB merchandise at all.

One thing that the NFL has done very well over the years is utilize NFL Properties to promote the league. And who better to promote it to then kids - your future customers. As these catalogs show, the NFL was very aggressive in getting kids at an early age to identify with their teams. MLB on the other hand, seems to have done very little with its licensing and promotion to kids - at least in terms of team merchandise available though department stores like Sears and JC Penneys.

I wanted to share some of the more interesting catalog pages I came across while perusing the catalogs.

The first appearance of any logo related items shows up in the 1970 JC Pennys catalog.

Check out these NFL uniforms:


Is it just me, or do these uniforms look a little creepy?

In 1971 the Sears Wishbook had some great NFL items like pajamas:

Jackets (check out the great patches):

Sweatshirts (has anyone ever seen the Browns logo on the shirt before?)

Hooded sweatshirts:
And Watches & Jewelery:


Moving on to 1975, the Sears Wish Book had even more NFL items, like Cardigan Sweaters & Bobble Heads:
NFL Helmet Buggies (similar to the MLB Bullpen Buggies):

Jackets & Knit Caps:
Belt Buckles:
Sweatshirts & Mini-Helmets:
Robes & PJs:
Watches & Clocks:
Pennants & Trash Cans:
Bedding & Curtains:
And finally Sport Bags:

No trip back to 1975 would be complete without taking a look at the latest in home entertainment - 8-Tracks & Pong Rule!



The 1976 JC Penney catalog had much of the same type of NFL Logo apparel as the 1975 Sears catalog, along with a few more items like Raincoats:

Football Helmet Radios:
And NFL and MLB (!) Watches:


The 1979 Sears Wish Book had even more NFL items:

Beanbag Chairs & NFL Logo Bedspread:
Mugs:
NFL Action Team Mates (which appear to be similar to Kenner Starting Line-ups):
Jeans & Shoes:
Helmet Lamps:
And all 28 Helmets & Uniforms (which don't look as strange as the 1970 pictures):


Moving into the 1980's, we finally see cards show up in the catalogs:


MLB finally gets 1 page of items (1983 Sears):


And we get some more football uniforms (1986 Sears):

For my money, the 1979 NFL Helmet & Jerseys are by far the best of the 3 that I found.

My thanks to the folks behind WishbookWeb.com for all the work they have done in tracking down these catalogs and scanning in all of the pages. Its a really fun site to visit and travel back in time. Check it out - you won't be disappointed!

UPDATE: If you enjoyed this look back at vintage Sears & JC Pennys catalogs, please see my 2nd posting with more great NFL items from the 1970s & 1980s:

http://fleersticker.blogspot.com/2008/11/christmas-time-is-here-again-vintage.html