My Sunday column

Some of my favorite columns are the ones where I ask readers for input.
This is one of those.
At 47, I have become one of those guys who grumbles about the old days. I’m not a full-fledged fuddy duddy — recognizing that in most measurable ways human life is superior to 30 years ago — but there are certain aspects of modern existence I find less fulfilling than “back in the day.”
An obvious example?
Professional wrestling. While I still watch a few minutes of the old grunt and groan show, it just doesn’t cast the same spell. Back in the day — what a handy phrase that is — wrestlers swore a blood oath to pretend the business was real and despite the obvious absurdities that sometimes led to, their earnestness in delivering or receiving a pile driver or brain claw added immeasurably to the drama.
Now wrestlers spend much of their time winking at the fans — letting us know that they know we know.
That fine old-school wrestling bad boy Jim Cornette summed it up well recently when he wrote “Twenty years ago we pretended to hurt each other, and the fans believed it. Today we really do hurt each other, and the fans think it’s fake.”
I liked believing, even if I knew I was choosing to believe.
There are other things from “back in the day” I miss.
Didn’t there used to be more giant flocks of birds flying over? As a kid, I remember my parents pulling over on the side of the road and us getting out of the car and watching these sky-filling herds of birds working their way either north or south. Seemed like billions of ‘em.
I see the occasional big flock, but not nearly as many as before. What do you think?
Remem-ber when TV Guide was the coolest magazine? It would come in the mail on Tuesday and I would immediately check to see what was on Shock Theater that Saturday night.
You got the movie and TV show listings in an easy-to-read and easy-to-highlight format, a funny article abut Doodles Weaver and a crossword puzzle a knucklehead could conquer.
Last time I saw a TV Guide it looked like a People Magazine and didn’t have the first monster movie listing in it.
Whatever happened to summer vacation for kids? When I was a young nipper the first day of summer felt like Page One of “Tom Sawyer.” There were adventures sure to come and time to enjoy them.
Now on the first day of summer “break” most kids have to go to the mall with their moms to buy their back-to-school supplies for the following year.
There’s no time to build a raft, sneak off with the circus or cruise the Spanish Main on a pirate vessel.
And what happened to adult softball?
Men’s softball used to be huge. Church teams, Industrial teams. Renegade teams. It was a vibrant, exciting sub-culture that produced local sports legends (and a good fight or two) in every town where it was played.
Where’d it go?
I went to bed one night, got up and it was gone.
Albums.
I’ve experienced eight track, cassette, CDs and now the Internet as a musical source. But none was better than the good old vinyl album. Not so much for the record itself, but for the cover man, the cover!
Rich Corbin’s fantastic art helped propel Meatloaf on “Bat Out of Hell.” Frank Frazetta did the same for Molly Hatchett. Who can forget the Rolling Stones “Sticky Fingers,” Fleetwood Mac’s “Rumors” or Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon?”
My personal favorite: the ferocious “London’s Calling” from The Clash.
The covers were great but inside there was often more art, more pictures, lyrics, credits and best of all, inane musings of rock stars.
Many a lonely evening I sat poring over the treasure trove of a Fleetwood Mac album, searching for some proof that Stevie Nicks recognized and returned my love.
What you think?
No, not about my chances with Stevie Nicks. What do you think about my list of things I miss from the good old days?
There’s a lot more.
How about Cokes made with real sugar, Po’ Folks, Vincent Price, chain gangs, Boys Life, playing kick the can, summer reading clubs and Bruce Lee movies. And I’m just getting started.
Now, what do you think?
What do you miss from “back in the day?”
Send your comments to jimmyespy@daltoncitizen.com, or call me at 706-272-7735 and leave a message.
Happy trails.

Jimmy Espy is executive editor of The Daily Citizen. He blogs at Espysoutpost.blogspot.com