In honor of our 20-year High School Reunion, I've dug out a very special, never before seen show. Set that Way Back machine for September-ish 1982 and sit back for 47 or so minutes and enjoy the complete, un-cut:
Scary, huh? You just never know what's lurking in someone's attic, now do you? ;)
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BackgroundAllow me to give you a little back-story on this particular production. During our senior year, I was overly involved in taping a number of events at school and around the city with a few others and airing them on the public cable access channel and in the hands of various school departments. For instance, we covered concerts, soccer games, parades, city council meetings, the closing of Worden school, and so on. Several of these productions did not make it to the air for various reasons, mostly because even "state of the art" consumer equipment in 1982 yielded very low quality video and playing it through the cable system made it look even worse! Especially when it was taped at the six-hour, SLP speed. (Video tape was very expensive for a high school senior in 1982.) My memories of how I became involved with the Powder Puff Football Game are about as fuzzy as the videotape. I remember the high school's administration being very concerned by what happened at the game last year and wanted a scripted event. (What happened, I don't recall.) I must have calmed their fears by actually writing a script for this game. The proof of which is the script, which I still have and have posted for you on this site below, and the very, very odd sign a clown is holding on page 9 of the 1983 yearbook. It has the title of the script which was "Fun and Frolics" or "Which Way to the Refreshment Stand," apparently. Sounds very much like something I would write even now. Fortunately, sanity prevailed and the coaches threw out the scripted event idea. I remember not caring except for the fact that there wouldn't be medical personnel standing by in case of injury, hence the scripted event requirement. When and how the game actually turned into tackle from flag football seemed to happen really fast. And, I wound up caring a great deal that it wasn't a scripted event when Annette Lastoria got the stuffing knocked out of her from a broadside sack. I was also in charge of the personalized shirts. The decision to go with blue and red with one labeled "Blue Devils" and the other "Tigers" is one I regret to this day. I hope that I am finally forgiven; and please stop beating me with those shirts in my nightmares. Dan Tischler announced the game and I was in the box with him adding some color commentary, monitoring the game on some TVs we had set up, glassing the field, and maybe running the scoreboard. (How I got to do color is really strange because I think I know even less about football now than I did then. I think Mr. Bailey gave me a few pointers ahead of the game. Maybe we watched a game or two as well.) In the announcer's box above us, Tom McCartney and Dave Munoz ran the camera for the production; their voices are clear on the tape in certain spots. There was at least one other camera crew there. Maybe two. I cannot identify the other voices. The game came and went without serious incident, thank goodness. Although, I seem to remember a not so good natured chewing by then Principle Armon the next day about not following the script. But, that didn't and still doesn't really matter. What mattered was the good time that transpired and, despite what Dan said in one of his comments, the real responsibility and credit for that for that belongs to the players, coaches, and attendees. I was and am happy to have just been there. The Production Then and NowBefore you sit down to watch the game, allow me to explain that the state of the art in in video equipment in 1982 is nothing like what we have now. We had an RCA video camera that was top of the line when compared with others. Why, it had the best Newvicon tube money could buy! (At least, I think it was a Newvicon tube.) Anyway, it was color and low light. But not quite as low light as we measure it today. Light on the field may seem awfully bright to you; but to the tube in the camera, it was barely adequate to distinguish primary colors from. The game was recorded at 6 hour speed, which is not even close to what was needed to achieve broadcast quality. But as I said before, videotape in 1982 was expensive. Unfortunately, the resulting images are distinct but details are blurry. At least Dan's play-by-play lets you in on the fuzzy action. :) The show opens with four pictures that were not taken by me. Actually, I don't know who took them or distinctly remember how I wound up with them. Obviously, someone thought enough of me and my involvement in the game's production to give them to me way back when. I don't think they've ever been published before and really do make a nice intro to the piece. Thank you whoever you are! :) Get the Big Game 'n ScriptI'm making the game available only to members of the Wickliffe High School Class of 1983 - that means you - in two formats. You can download it and view it on your computer, get a VHS tape or DVD, or both! If you would like a copy of the actual game on VHS or DVD in the best 1982 technology can provide, absolutely no problem. All you have to do is send me (or bring to me at the reunion) a blank VHS tape or DVD-R. I will gladly mint you your very own to have, hold, and replay every time you get those sentimental feelings. Just send your blank VHS tape or DVD-R with return postage to: Thomas McLaren To enjoy the game on your computer, you will first need the free QuickTime viewer to see it. To download the viewer if you don't already have it, click here and get it for free! :) The download is the 47 minutes long show but digitally compressed to about 15 megabytes. Digital compression is needed to shrink the physical size of the original show, which weighs in at 9 or so gigabytes; but unfortunately, compressing cuts the quality of the video down a great deal. It's about half as clear as the video captures running on the left and right of this column. Now, remember, this is a 15 megabyte download. For those of you with a dial-up connection to the Internet, downloading this will be an all-night affair so be prepared! For a scant few of you who are bandwidth blessed, what's 15 megs? 30 seconds or so? (You know who you are, and I am so jealous! :) Now, there are two ways to download. If you click on the link below and you have QuickTime installed, eventually QuickTime will start and show you the movie. Or, you can use the right mouse button and click on the link. (This is also known as "right clicking.") You will see a little menu appear right next to where you right clicked. Select "Save target as..." and save the file so that you can watch it at your own convenience. (I suggest that everyone download by right clicking.) Click here to download the Powder Puff Football Game. A very few of you will be interested in the original script, so here it is in picture form. All five pages... Just click the links below to see them. Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 I'll maintain this page and create game tapes and DVDs for all who ask and send media until August 31st, 2003. Sorry, but, I gotta draw the line somewhere... (By the way, the only way to get here is to know this page exists and the direct address. It ain't on no Google or Yahoo search. It'll be our little secret, k?) Again, my many thanks to all of you who made this game a particularly special event. If you want to know why we had a great time our senior year, just look at the game again. It's all in there!
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The following two pictures are from my archive of Blue Blaze newspaper and Yearbook pictures. Enjoy!
Ah, an excellent question! Well, to make a 20 year story very, very short, he fought growing up every step of the way and ended up growing out much more than he expected. And from what others have told him that even though he's a "nerd who made it mostly out of nerd-dom," you can still see that 18 year old quite easily from time to time.
Well, there's just no denying or fighting that. :)
Anyway...
Little did I know that when I left Wickliffe High School, thoroughly fed up with classes and homework, that I would be spending the next 9 years of my life in and out of Bowling Green State University in Bowling Green, Ohio collecting one bachelors and two masters degrees. Finally in 1991, I realized that I had to give up this quite expensive hobby and go to work. I said to my advisor just before he announced my name in 1992 before a packed auditorium to pick up the last one, "This is it. I'm not coming back." He chuckled through the announcement of my name.
I'm sure many of you remember all the amateur, science-fiction, parody films that I and several of you made with me. So why am I not the next Steven Spielberg or writing Star Wars 3? Let me tell you first that they were a great deal of fun to create. And in case you're wondering if they're ever going to be released again, they were! But, only to the actors and production team around 1986 or so. They now quietly rest in the deep dark recesses of my closet, even though they are mostly talkies. :) To the sighs of relief I can hear from several of you associated with their production even as I write this, they won't be going anywhere else for quite a while. ;)
The business of television and filmmaking seems glamorous and exciting from the outside. But from the inside... Believe me, you don't want to know how the sausage is made. I had more than a taste of it in college as Mass Communication was my major twice. I did the college radio thing for 3 years and ran camera for the local PBS affiliate for a year. I taught television and radio production for majors and non-majors. I was easily roped into quite a few student productions, television and film. (I loved editing. I mean really loved editing.) But in the end, this particular hobby didn't make a good career choice for me. I was unwilling to make the kind of sacrifices one must make to get anywhere in the biz, so I moved into computers which was and is another hobby of mine.
Actually, I was quite into computers and communications while I was in graduate studies at BGSU. Around 1991, I proposed doing a my dissertation on the potential of melding computers and communications. The professors at the time were very kind, but told me they didn't share the epiphany I had and thought I should study the people interact with VCRs or their telephone answering devices. (No, I'm not making those research topics up.) We agreed to disagree, and I left with my masters. But, I still had to teach the next year. (I also really enjoy teaching! Like mother like son? :)
After college, I worked at a quaint computer company in Bowling Green for a little over three years. I was the third employee and only the second full-timer. Even the Vice President was part-time! The President of the company and myself worked hard to take it from literally his kitchen table to a thriving little computer consulting business eventually employing about 8 people. (The VP even got to join full-time!) The experience was very much like a paid internship. I learned to work work with clients, vendors, hardware, software, licensing, technicians, CEOs, cutting edge technology, programmers, network engineers, and so on. And if you think computer work is glamorous done in gleaming white, perfectly clean rooms, you haven't met the guys who ran the cable in the 3 foot wide crawlspaces scooting about with their elbows and knees on visquine and up to their butts in dead bugs. (Uh, that would have been me. Greetings...)
Yes, well, I left the spider webs behind when I was offered a position managing the computer systems of a medical care facility in Toledo where I got into writing programs. Writing programs and rolling out technology happens to be a lot like creating television less a lot of the pork, which must be why I enjoy it so much. I 'got it together' pretty much by age 30, as a book I once skimmed through said I should.
In early 1996, I moved back to Cleveland and gave up computer hardware management and took up programming and running deployment projects on as a career. After seven plus years of this, my official title is Project Manager / Software Architect. This means that I've designed and written a lot of programs and been on some really great, far reaching projects. (And a more than a few mundane ones, being honest here...) Since this is a summary, I won't go into them all, but if you buy BP's gasoline or are insured through Medical Mutual of Ohio, you can think of me. Hopefully fondly!
However if you have any issues with either of those companies, forget I worked there. Thanks! :)
But, we aren't just defined by our careers. (At least, I hope we aren't.) I still have a lot of the same interests I had in high school. For example, the TV in my den is constantly tuned to the Sci-Fi channel. Some have been augmented; I have a collection and interest in classic computers. However, some interests have dropped away such as my interest in getting elected to anything. But, I just don't have the time to indulge in them as much as I'd like. (When was it that anyone told us being an adult would be so much work?) Eventually, I hope to share my current and past interests with others through this personal web site. So, hey, keep your browsers tuned in to www.xartica.com. But, it's going to take a few years. Feel free to check in every 6 months or so. :)
What's going on with that pair of teachers, Mr. and Mrs. Bailey - or Mrs. Cicirelli, if you prefer to recall her that way - you ask? I am pleased to let you know that they have retired from teaching and are living happily in Northeast Ohio on the shores of Lake Erie. Should you bump into them shopping or at a restaurant, they are happy to see you though they might not remember who you are. In 25 or 30 years, they had a lot of students in their classrooms you know... :)
You might also be wondering about my last name changing. I think I can count the number of you knew that I actually had a girlfriend from Andrews through some of high school on one hand. In April of 2000, we finally married. Her name is Carole McLaren; she is a veterinarian, life-mate, and best friend. You see, I had to face reality. No woman really wanted to be Mrs. Cicirelli - not even my mom! But, I really wanted to be Mr. McLaren. As a side benefit, ordering take out food has gotten a lot easier. (Ever try spelling a last name with three "I"s over the phone, even to an Italian restaurant? It ain't easy!)
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Thomas, 1983, hamming it up introducing the one act plays. |
Thomas, 2002, acting silly with his prize dragon at Cedar Point. |
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Carole, 1983, beautiful and intelligent then as now. |
Carole, 2002, mildly amused at the antics of her niece. |
Carole and I share a lot of beliefs, views, and interests - even the nerdy ones - which means that life is good on our little three acres in Mentor, Ohio. We tend to spend a few hours of cool weather weekends at Cedar Point riding the coasters. If you go looking for us, we're the ones waiting in line reading books or playing Gameboys. We don't have any children, but we do like the pitter patter of little feet. We have 4 cats and a jumbo-sized, Shepherd-mix dog. More feet. Less potty training. And no backtalking! :)
Well, that about wraps it up for this little web page... I am looking forward to this reunion and seeing you - yes you the person reading this right now, whoever you may be - again. Feel free to saunter up, reintroduce yourself, and maybe open the conversation by saying, "Hey you bum, where's my tape of the Powder Puff Football Game?" I will probably plead ignorance or blame the slow mail service, but such is life. :) Then we can get back to reliving the past and looking forward to the future for a splendid, magical moment of time. If you can't make it, how about sending me an email by clicking here and catch me up on you. Maybe we'll end up visiting and exchanging Christmas cards yearly? You never know. :)
Looking back... Sure... I haven't done everything I thought I'd do. But, I've done a lot of things I never thought I'd do! I really try not to think about everything that might have been. I take comfort and strength in what was. I wouldn't trade my interests, experiences, careers, relationships, successes, and, yes, even failures because it's better to live as your own man than as a fool in someone else's dream. Life's not a only journey, it's an adventure. Live your own dream!
And, lest I forget...
'83 RULZ!
...ah, it's just like old times, eh? :)
