Banana Formula: Parts 11-12

. . . Bullwinkle Show fanatics have been trying to puzzle out what exactly this episode's rendition of "Bullwinkle's Corner"--that is, JACK BE NIMBLE--has to do with the ongoing Paris Olympics. Quite a lot, as it turns out. Many of the U. S. Women's Soccer Squad grew up on Bullwinkle, and most remember that Jack--played here by Boris Bad-Enough--is a card-carrying member of the Hop, Skip and Jumpers' Union, Local 89. Therefore, it was not much of a stretch for these gals to strike a few summers ago to gain pay equity with their less successful male counterparts. Of course, since Boris' day, minimum wage has risen from a dollar an hour to $15 or $20, and the female football kickers can rake in a per diem far higher than that with a Gold Medal, not to mention a slice of the Eiffel Tower.

Another story ends with Boris's incompetence front and center. The episode ends with he and Natasha arrested for a very serious crime. Nothing terribly new here. More interaction with William Conrad who narrates these stories. The Fractured Fairy Tale is "The Boy Who Could Not Shudder", where a young guy has to leave his family because nothing scares him. Peabody's Improbable History has an encounter with "Cleopatra"

. . . called Banana Formula contain a sports reference sure to puzzle anyone younger than 30. The phrase in question is "the Kansas City Athletics." In order to make sense of this arcane term, one needs a crash course on the sordid story of the sad sack A's. Originally located in Philadelphia, the hapless A's suffered for decades under crazed owner\manager Mack the Con Man. When the Athletics won their first World Series Championship in Philly under Mack and demanded their well-earned standard cut of the winner's loot, Mack traded them all to other teams and kept the coin for himself. Then he manipulated guys cut from their high school jayvee teams, racking up more losses than anyone else in baseball history. After he passed away, some guy named Charlie bought the A's, moved them first to Kansas City and then after broadcaster Rush's pot bust, to Oakland. In 2025 the A's are moving to a tiny minor league park in Sacramento.