ABC's Wide World of Sports

... to appreciate "the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat".

I was half-decent at a couple of track and field events back in schooldays, but I was never ever one of the serious sports fanatics. Even so, I always liked this show. With its magazine format, you never knew quite what you were going to get, but it was usually something exciting.

I hadn't thought of that name "Jim McKay" in years, but as soon as I saw it here I was immediately thinking Mexican cliff diving! Not to mention luge, and speedboat racing. You could always count on a bit of travelogue to go along with your sports, making this the best show outside of the Olympics, especially before the Olympics got really, really, really commercialized. (I don't watch the Olympics myself anymore.)

Isn't this show where I first heard Aaron Copland's thrilling "Fanfare for the Common Man"? Yep, "Wide World of Sports" was a class act all around.