V 13 N. 91 An Interesting Find from L.A. 1932 and Mad Magazine View on Running 1980

 Yesterday was a day of ups and downs,  started down but went up.   I was expecting some bad health news before going to see a 'specialist' who I thought was going to tell me I was looking at a new bout with the big C but the news was better than expected.  There is definitely something there in the pancreas, but it is too small to deal with, come back in a year.  We don't do 17mm only 20mm and bigger.  

So with that revelation I treated myself to something I had seen in an antique store 6 months ago.  Back then I thought $75 dollars was too much for some frivolity.  No, Ernie, it was not the first edition of 'Playboy'.  But it does relate to the subject of this blog.  It is an aluminum casting of some sort of decorative item from the Los Angeles Olympics of 1932.  I've seen this logo on some items from those games but never in this particular form.  It may have been attached to a plaque or it may have been some kind of decorative item for a door or a mailbox,  your guess is as good as mine.  I've scoured the internet and not seen anything similar other than the discus thrower on a poster.   Maybe you SoCal lads might have some ideas?   Below is a picture.

   There are two pin holes under the 'L' and the 'A' probably to nail to a flat surface. On the                      reverse side the number 13 is inscribed, possibly a limited edition?  Could a Canadian athlete have pried this off a door in the Olympic village and brought it back to British Columbia?  So un-Canadian an act.  Who knows?

This may remind you of the plaque from the British Inter Counties Championships of 1951 I found several years ago and tracked down to it's possible original owner and then wrote about: link  

                                                     A Winter's Tale        

If you have any ideas please share with me at   irathermediate@gmail.com     Thanks,  George Brose

                                                            Mad Magazine on the Running Boom

Now on to less serious frivolity.  I also recently found an old copy of Mad Magazine recently dated January, 1980.  You may remember those  days of the Jimmy Carter presidency and the American withdrawl from the Olympics because of the Russian invasion of Afghanistan.  Now we've been there and done that, and the Russkies are banned for cheating and probably should be for their current international behavior.   But wait, didn't we do some unprovoked invasions too?  I can't keep up with the politics of the IOC.  

Anyway by January, 1980 the Running Boom was well underway.  Gosh that was 43 years ago?  And 'Mad' in their satirical way with all the usual due diligence had a few pages about it.  Some of these observations about running have been made millions of times since then, but this was probably pretty funny stuff at the time.  Just being recognized in 'Mad' was an honor,  I think.... maybe?....well I dunno.    Below is the cover of that issue and the cartoons.

 

FYI   Spider Man also got the needle in this issue.  GB

I actually like the article by mad magazine on running.    who knows if the article got people prompted to......jog   Mike Waters

 Loved the Mad magazine comics.  Mad and SNL have been the best sources of humor during our lifetime, cutting out the extra and getting to the point.  All of them are true.  I'm trying to decide which is worse, a new runner or a new parent.  Bill Schnier

 

 I remember seeing Mad the first time, about 4th grade,  and thinking that I could not let my teachers or parents see me reading this, but then it gradually became a very accepted form of humour in America teaching us that we could  laugh at ourselves.  I always looked forward to the Spy vs. Spy page.   George