Then alot of 'money' must have flowed big time at OU when Stoops took over. Because he generated a tremendous amount of excitement for the program.
Read this CBS piece yet on the Pharisees down in Waco?
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Then alot of 'money' must have flowed big time at OU when Stoops took over. Because he generated a tremendous amount of excitement for the program.
Soonersincefitty
Sooner starter
Eh, that some may perceive others that might be circumventing the compliance rules isn't making history at all. That's been going on since before the forward pass was made legal
It is curious that it is such an affront to some peoples sensibilities though.
It is curious that it is such an affront to some peoples sensibilities though.
Oh, I get it & fully understand. What's amusing is when payola to players is mentioned, it's always about the 'other' teams, never the good guys.
Soonersincefitty
Sooner starter
Oh, I get it & fully understand. What's amusing is when payola to players is mentioned, it's always about the 'other' teams, never the good guys.
Well, I personally have to believe that Stoops is so above reproach, and he has his feelers out there all the time trying to keep his program squeaky clean.
I just have to believe that...otherwise I don't think my fandom would survive it.
That's just me though.
To be clear, I didn't mind it when Switzer bought a kid a plane ticket to go home for the Christmas holidays. That's just being a decent human being.
However the wholesale purchasing of players is a whole other animal.
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The lawyer I used when I incorporated my business, and who did my 33 year old will, played football at Baylor in the early 60s. He told me there were $100 handshakes in the dressing room back then. So I don't know about as far in the past as the forward pass, but at least 50 years.
Very true. What is amazing to me is the idea that others must be doing it, just because...
Soonersincefitty
Sooner starter
It's bad business.
Like that trite, oft used line...when you pay players, you don't own them, they own you.
An old aTm alum that fought with my dad in WWII had a dealership north of Dallas. He supplied cars to the coaching staff and had nice box seats for all their home games. He told stories of putting $5000.00 in cigar boxes that were then placed in brown paper bags and dropped off under bridges and such, but only when Jackie Sherrill had requested he do so...
It happens, just like players who don't work at the jobs they get paid for in the off-season. Some is directly associated with the program, while some are not.
Maybe the best A&M recruiting story was when they bought Eric Dickerson a car a day or two before signing day. TransAm I think. And then Dick signed with SMU as part of the Pony Express eventually. The people of Collin County remembered Dickerson and Craig James well.
James' Houston Stratford beat Plano pretty easily in the state AAAA championship game in the dome, the same day in December 1978, Dickerson's Sealy Tigers were doing the same thing to Wylie in the AA championship game. Both Plano and Wylie were defending state champs.
Then as sophs, they beat Texas in Austin, 20-6 I think and in less than a week, the NCAA started investigating them. Ron Meyer was more than a little peeved. Did SMU cheat? Uh, yes. But so was Texas, and they weren't touched.
And before somebody goes asking where is the truth? Edwin Simmons was the poor kid from I think Hawkins, a little town in Texas and had to take summer school to be eligible. And yet somehow, he was driving a $400 a month lease car when he screwed something up enough to draw uh police involvment. Beamer I think. No NCAA investigation ensued.
James' Houston Stratford beat Plano pretty easily in the state AAAA championship game in the dome, the same day in December 1978, Dickerson's Sealy Tigers were doing the same thing to Wylie in the AA championship game. Both Plano and Wylie were defending state champs.
Then as sophs, they beat Texas in Austin, 20-6 I think and in less than a week, the NCAA started investigating them. Ron Meyer was more than a little peeved. Did SMU cheat? Uh, yes. But so was Texas, and they weren't touched.
And before somebody goes asking where is the truth? Edwin Simmons was the poor kid from I think Hawkins, a little town in Texas and had to take summer school to be eligible. And yet somehow, he was driving a $400 a month lease car when he screwed something up enough to draw uh police involvment. Beamer I think. No NCAA investigation ensued.
Soonersincefitty
Sooner starter
Just a wild guess but, human nature being what it is, I'd imagine the NCAA compliance office gets literally thousands of 'notices' of cheating every year. In light of that a program would have to be doing something pretty flagrant and egregious, and of course provable for them to take action.
So, a lot of it goes unpunished.
Is a kid who is the stud hoss running back at the name program in the most football reliant state in America, driving a vehicle with payments higher than his mama's house payment, maybe by twofold, be worth an investigation? It certainly would be for SMU. The perception is likely pretty accurate that Texas gets protected and whomever they turn in, goes onto the top of the list of who gets investigated.
I believe that there is a reasonable way to deal with this, which would lead to alums being able to legally give money to recruits. Let the kids have access to income for their personal images and products. So allow players to be able to sell their autographs legally. There will been to be some compliance people in charge of counting the money they get, so there won't be IRS problems like Pete Rose and other pro baseball players.
But this would get the NCAA out of the business of giving everybody the same funding. The women's rowing team doesn't deserve equal income as football, because the latter is already paying for the former. And if players can earn a grand a month, selling their autograph, let them. I mean the university is already making a ton of money off of them. Even let the university provide the location.
And if some alum wants to give the best runner a thousand dollar tip, then so be it. And tell the Title IX advocates whose sports get subsidized by elsewhere, let them go take a hike. True fairness comes from the free enterprise system. Except in China and in the mind of one of our presidential candidates.
I believe that there is a reasonable way to deal with this, which would lead to alums being able to legally give money to recruits. Let the kids have access to income for their personal images and products. So allow players to be able to sell their autographs legally. There will been to be some compliance people in charge of counting the money they get, so there won't be IRS problems like Pete Rose and other pro baseball players.
But this would get the NCAA out of the business of giving everybody the same funding. The women's rowing team doesn't deserve equal income as football, because the latter is already paying for the former. And if players can earn a grand a month, selling their autograph, let them. I mean the university is already making a ton of money off of them. Even let the university provide the location.
And if some alum wants to give the best runner a thousand dollar tip, then so be it. And tell the Title IX advocates whose sports get subsidized by elsewhere, let them go take a hike. True fairness comes from the free enterprise system. Except in China and in the mind of one of our presidential candidates.
OK... naiativity (sp) or denial run a muck. All these stories about other schools and nothing about OU. Come on Plaino, you worked around these guys... you have stories on A&M, Baylor, & Texas but nothing on OU?
Hey, he was just a nudist who was trying keep Austin weird... as if they needed any help...
Well here's a story: Barry Switzer kicked Hart Lee Dykes out of his office after Dykes told him Jimmy Johnsons offer. Did this happen? It sure has some smoke............
I had a friend and boss for a couple of years, who told me that he knew for a fact that Joe Washington was being paid. I thought he was full of prunes. I know his son was being recruited and went to Baylor, and I know he wouldn't have been above taking money. I think what he knew about Joe was third or fourth hand info.
I had zero first hand info about OU players. I don't know, but I suspect that it's something that they don't even talk to each other about, unless they are REALLY close.
I will say two things. The "jock dorm" was Washington house during my four years and I lived in the basement of Washington House for three. We called it the hole. No windows made it really easy to sleep through an 8:00 class. It was built as a bomb shelter during the time of the cold war. Even had at least two dozen 55 gallon Civil Defense water drums stored next to the short hallway at the bottom of the stairs. I snuck down there less than a decade ago, not now that girls now lived in that dorm. They thankfully weren't there, but the water cans still were.
Anyhow, all that to say that I parked in that parking lot for three years. And there were only two players that didn't have a very recent, very nice vehicle. And they were both born again kids who likely would have been turned off by anything under the table. One of them was the top recruit in his class.
The other thing is no big deal, just a curiosity. I saw a back up player writing a check one day. I don't even remember the circumstances. I'd tell you that I paid all my own expenses while a student, by earning money during the summer and then Christmas break and I could live on $500 for the semester. When I saw the players check register just for a moment, I was really surprised at the balance. It was in four figures and not low. His dad may have been a wealthy guy. I don't know. And I don't ever remember the specific number. I just knew that it was a lot more than I'd have accumlated in four years.
One other small thing, which was a factor. It has since been very targeted but wasn't back then.
The night before any home game, the traveling squad, which back then was 50 guys, would stay in a hotel room either in Norman or OKC. I was sitting in the lounge Wednesday night before the GOTC with a third or fourth team linebacker who wasn't on the traveling squad. Some guy in a suit came into the lounge, which except for the two of us was empty. And the guy was asking any player he could find, wanting two good tickets to the game and the guy next to me did. I can't remember whether he sold them for $200 for the pair or $200 apiece, but either was a ton of money in 1971.Face value was under ten bucks I believe. Maybe $6 or $7. So a 15 or 16 times face value was a pretty good take. Much less 30 times if the upper number was true.
That's all I got.
Soonersincefitty
Sooner starter
Plaino is so old I'll bet he remembers when they had a bucket of amphetamine pills at the door during Buds era. (they were a new thing, no one knew how lethal they could be)
Just kidding Plaino.
I like to bring the party with me.
Plaino is so old that he knew the Dead Sea when it was still sick.
It's all good Plaino, I'm just messing around.
It's all good Plaino, I'm just messing around.
Much more than you're probably capable of grasping.Then alot of 'money' must have flowed big time at OU when Stoops took over. Because he generated a tremendous amount of excitement for the program.
Always makes me shake my head. The same people think WWF is real I'll bet. Hope I didn't just ruin someone's day by pointing THAT one out too.
Always makes me shake my head. The same people think WWF is real I'll bet. Hope I didn't just ruin someone's day by pointing THAT one out too.
Now that'd be a bet you'd most likely lose. But I'll admit at one time I did subscribe to the WWWF. Women's World Wrestling Federation and I never even cared if it was real.
I used to post on OB a lot. You can read a LOT about it there, and the Poke board. OU fans that want to discuss the topic can really get engaged on those boards.
I was on the Poke board a couple of times and never really enjoyed that board. Visted the Horn board when they were relevant. I was just curious as to why the topic would be brought up on this board about other teams while ignoring OU. Seems hollow to me as there are many other better topics to best discuss.
Plaino is so old, the he remembers when his family's two vehicles were Studebakers with no A/C and a back window less than one square foot. Instead of rolling down, it popped out at an angle. And had a little stiff wire about a foot long that stood out from the side behind the front tire, to tell the drive when he was scraping the curb.
Plaino is so old that until he was eight, his mother didn't drive because his father didn't think a woman should drive and his mother, my grandmother, never did. Plaino is so old, that he remembers time before OSU joined the Big Seven and before Texas Tech was in the Southwest Conference. And there were no black athletes on my high school football team or in the SWC.
Plaino is so old, that his freshman year, Bill Elfstrom was the last Sooner starter in the offensive line under 200 pounds, and blocked for a Heisman winner who was bigger than he was. And when tv was grainy, black and white and there were rabbit ears on the top that didn't work very well. And we only had one bathroom, a one car garage, and bedroom closets so small that there was no room in his, because the master closet was too small for dad's. And we had no A/C in the house either.
And there was no instant replay in any sports event. And when Bill Hancock was the sports editor of the Oklahoma Daily. And my new school was named for a first term president. Eisenhower. And there were 12 teams in the NFL, 16 in Major League Baseball and eight in the NBA, which included one in Syracuse, one in Cincinnati and none in California or anywhere else west of Minneapolis.
And NFL teams always played the Rams and 49er's back to back, because they took a train and stayed two weeks.
And the eight original AFL teams.
I could go on for a while. But I also remember Mazeroski's home run in the bottom of the ninth to still be the only one ever to do that to win the series in that inning in game seven. And my first time to watch the Sooners on tv and lost a bet to a Catholic kid when Notre Dame won 19-6.
And Bud's little men. Perry Como on tv weekly and Arthur Godfrey daily. And Clayton Moore Lone Ranger episodes that were black and white and not a rerun.
Plaino is so old that until he was eight, his mother didn't drive because his father didn't think a woman should drive and his mother, my grandmother, never did. Plaino is so old, that he remembers time before OSU joined the Big Seven and before Texas Tech was in the Southwest Conference. And there were no black athletes on my high school football team or in the SWC.
Plaino is so old, that his freshman year, Bill Elfstrom was the last Sooner starter in the offensive line under 200 pounds, and blocked for a Heisman winner who was bigger than he was. And when tv was grainy, black and white and there were rabbit ears on the top that didn't work very well. And we only had one bathroom, a one car garage, and bedroom closets so small that there was no room in his, because the master closet was too small for dad's. And we had no A/C in the house either.
And there was no instant replay in any sports event. And when Bill Hancock was the sports editor of the Oklahoma Daily. And my new school was named for a first term president. Eisenhower. And there were 12 teams in the NFL, 16 in Major League Baseball and eight in the NBA, which included one in Syracuse, one in Cincinnati and none in California or anywhere else west of Minneapolis.
And NFL teams always played the Rams and 49er's back to back, because they took a train and stayed two weeks.
And the eight original AFL teams.
I could go on for a while. But I also remember Mazeroski's home run in the bottom of the ninth to still be the only one ever to do that to win the series in that inning in game seven. And my first time to watch the Sooners on tv and lost a bet to a Catholic kid when Notre Dame won 19-6.
And Bud's little men. Perry Como on tv weekly and Arthur Godfrey daily. And Clayton Moore Lone Ranger episodes that were black and white and not a rerun.
Oh my, didn't realize the reasoning was that complicated. Some of us enjoy the banter and jocularity associated with the topic, we have for years. Hopefully it's clearer now and if one finds it hollow, can just avoid it. Great talk.
Plaino, you're not old, you're experienced...and you're wisdom is appreciated more than you know.
OK, you're not naive, you're not in denial, you just don't think it's hollow to discuss OU when discussing the like of payola when mentioning UT, A&M, SMU, & Baylor. I understand now. It's cool. Really is ST.
Absolutely not naive, or in denial and you bet it's cool. It's a Sooner board. Logic and a little common sense should explain why it's not discussed much here. Obviously, more than a few of us don't have an issue with it. Again, if you want to discuss the topic regarding OU, I've given you some advice on where you can go. Just trying to provide options.OK, you're not naive, you're not in denial, you just don't think it's hollow to discuss OU when discussing the like of payola when mentioning UT, A&M, SMU, & Baylor. I understand now. It's cool. Really is ST.
I'll tell you a couple of other things I remember. I remember when the best pitchers on a pennant winner started three games in a seven games series, sometimes, by necessity after not starting game one. Koufax in 65, Lonborg in 67 and Lolich in 68. Only Lonborg lost game seven. And I remember the 15 inch mound which combined with a bigger strike zone to create Bob Gibson's 1.12 E.R.A. in 1968. And when a splitter was called a fork ball.
And when Tommy McDonald and Bobby Layne and Norm Van Brocklin were allowed to play without a face mask in the NFL after it became required, because they grandfathered the rule to allow those who never had, to continue that way.
I remember when the NCAA outlawed dunking in games because of a UCLA player named Lew Alcindor. John Wooden called him Lewis. And hearing the reports of when Wilt scored 100 against the Knicks. And when Frank Budd ran the first 9.2 hundred yard dash. And then got drafted by the Eagles even though he'd never played football.
I remember riding in the front seat without seat belts, and my sister sitting in my dad's lap while he was driving. And when there was a north end zone in Skelly Stadium where the Tulsa Golden Hurricane played. And when the US beat the Russians to win the Olympic gold medal in hockey in Squaw Valley, California.
And Arnie's Army before most people even heard of Jack Nicklaus.And the Missouri Valley being a great basketball conference.
And Howdy Doody on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning. And no such thing as trash talking. And kid's baseball games with no adults, where you called enough guys to play five on five, and made your own rules and enforced them.
And reciting bible verses daily in public schools, which had no air conditioning. Afternoon newspapers, one platoon college football, the strange animation of Clutch Cargo, and a 6'5 center on a national champion NCAA basketball team.
Keeping your own score at the bowling alley, trophies only for the team that won, worrying more about your kid being respectful of authority than that we didn't hurt his self esteem... er mine. And when teens were encouraged to wait until marriage. And often did. And never seeing a movie or any public discourse including the F word. And when it ain't braggin' if you can back it up, was still considered bad form. Just plain rude.
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I cannot tell you why I remember this, but I remembered that the 1960 NFL title game, when Van Brocklin's and McDonald's Eagles beat the Packers for Lombardi's only post season loss was played on a Monday. My father called me from work to find out if McDonald's Eagles won. I didn't know why it was Monday, until I looked it up. The season had added a week because there were 13 teams which meant a new 12 game but a 13 week schedule. And Christmas was on Sunday, so they played on Monday.
And I also remember that for decades there were no college contests in any sport on Sundays. And the US Open Golf championship was also not played on Sundays. Th, F and 36 holes on Saturday.
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I remember riding above the back seat looking out the back window. Remember watching the '67 World Series on TV...at school. Saying the Lord's Prayer every morning...at school. Eating popcorn balls and caramel apples made by neighbors, at Halloween. I remember watching my first color TV at a neighbor's. "The Birds" was on. The manual adjustments required were a little complex and the blood was green. I remember walking to the store to buy candy with my brother when I was 6...alone. I remember we left the windows opened and doors unlocked...and had attic fans.
I remember visiting my grand parents outhouse and the smell. Transistor radios with ear plugs during the world series at school and the teacher asking you the score instead of taking it away. During deer season and certain planting season certain students were excused from school to help the family provide meat and produce for the upcoming season.
Back in my day, the local baseball lot was the gathering place for every kid in the neighborhood. Fathers built the chicken wire backstop and the kids kept it mowed. Every kid, regardless of age were included and teams were picked\divided into teams by the two best players.
My older sister blasted some great music in those days and my favorite were Elvis Presley. Buddy Holly was second. I loved those songs and still do today.
BTW,I remember couples waiting for marriage, but I wasn't one of them...HA!
Back in my day, the local baseball lot was the gathering place for every kid in the neighborhood. Fathers built the chicken wire backstop and the kids kept it mowed. Every kid, regardless of age were included and teams were picked\divided into teams by the two best players.
My older sister blasted some great music in those days and my favorite were Elvis Presley. Buddy Holly was second. I loved those songs and still do today.
BTW,I remember couples waiting for marriage, but I wasn't one of them...HA!
Well, you guys are old... I remember going to vote in the primary with T.O.M. (the old man). There was amazement when he showed his registration card, because of a typo on his birthday. It gave the year as 76, and this was in 1988. They were amazed that a man 111 years old was there voting, and that he walked in. He was really in his mid 60's, but they didn't know.
My brothers and I would tease him about this for years, and his response was always the same. "I'll never be too old to kick your ass..." and he probably would have.
My brothers and I would tease him about this for years, and his response was always the same. "I'll never be too old to kick your ass..." and he probably would have.
OId? I remember the cannons going off at Fort Sill as they practiced. There were always all of these soldiers on the bus in Lawton. The gas ration card was great, but we had a 38 Packard, almost a gift because nobody could go very far in a car that only got about 8 mpg with its straight-12 engine. I remember buying a 46 Nash 600 brand new. My father loved Nash. I can remember the ration cards that we had to take to get sugar, butter, etc. My father being a vegetarian, we traded the meat ratiion card for something else, not that there was any meat to be had.
The first sports team that I can remember being a fan of, other than the Lincoln A's, a minor league team in the Western League for the Philadelphia A's, was the 52 Indians who had such colorful names that you had to love them: Luke Easter, Harry "the Hat" Simpson (I have no idea why he was called the Hat, may have been a copy of Harry the Hat Walker), Larry Doby, Bobby Avila who had some colorful Hispanic name, Bullet Bob Feller, Mike "The Bear" Garcia, Bob Lemon, and Early Wynn. Baseball had some names: Vinegar Bend, The Wild Horse of the Osage, Pepper, Big and Little Poison, Harry the Cat, Spahn, Sain, and Pray for Rain. I later became a Dodger fan, again because of the names. We never saw them. They were on radio, Mutual Game of the Day with Old Diz. Eventually, I became a lifelong Card fan.
First time I ever thought of being an OU fan was when a former U Nebraska All-American DT, Tom Novak, got my father and I tickets to see OU at Nebraska in 1953 or 54. OU won at Nebraska with Lester Lane playing point. I became and Okie fan, despite living in Lincoln. Followed the football team the way that most of us did, trying to get some radio broadcast that was often too weak to hear and reading the newspaper reports. Back in rural Oklahoma, I bought the OU press guides every year, which requred that you order them from the local drug store.
The first sports team that I can remember being a fan of, other than the Lincoln A's, a minor league team in the Western League for the Philadelphia A's, was the 52 Indians who had such colorful names that you had to love them: Luke Easter, Harry "the Hat" Simpson (I have no idea why he was called the Hat, may have been a copy of Harry the Hat Walker), Larry Doby, Bobby Avila who had some colorful Hispanic name, Bullet Bob Feller, Mike "The Bear" Garcia, Bob Lemon, and Early Wynn. Baseball had some names: Vinegar Bend, The Wild Horse of the Osage, Pepper, Big and Little Poison, Harry the Cat, Spahn, Sain, and Pray for Rain. I later became a Dodger fan, again because of the names. We never saw them. They were on radio, Mutual Game of the Day with Old Diz. Eventually, I became a lifelong Card fan.
First time I ever thought of being an OU fan was when a former U Nebraska All-American DT, Tom Novak, got my father and I tickets to see OU at Nebraska in 1953 or 54. OU won at Nebraska with Lester Lane playing point. I became and Okie fan, despite living in Lincoln. Followed the football team the way that most of us did, trying to get some radio broadcast that was often too weak to hear and reading the newspaper reports. Back in rural Oklahoma, I bought the OU press guides every year, which requred that you order them from the local drug store.
Soonersincefitty
Sooner starter
I remember riding above the back seat looking out the back window. Remember watching the '67 World Series on TV...at school. Saying the Lord's Prayer every morning...at school. Eating popcorn balls and caramel apples made by neighbors, at Halloween. I remember watching my first color TV at a neighbor's. "The Birds" was on. The manual adjustments required were a little complex and the blood was green. I remember walking to the store to buy candy with my brother when I was 6...alone. I remember we left the windows opened and doors unlocked...and had attic fans.
Yeah, remember that too about the leaving the doors unlocked.
Actually remember mom saying something like..."the neighbors might need to borrow something."
Just crazy, those 50s.
I often hear people reminisce about the simple life, and I can remember a bit of that simple life. When I moved to Lincoln in 46, we had a wood burning range. Since there was a furniture factory about a half mile away, getting a pile of wood chips was easy. But, the pile was out by the alley, and it was buried beneath three feet of snow. I was probably about four when I was assigned to get a bucket of wood chips from underneath that snow before each meal so we could cook. It was cold digging under that snow to get chips, only to be sent back out because the ones you got were wet from the snow. I had to dig deeper in order to get dry wood chips. We also had a pot belly in the living room.
I liked visiting my aunt in Oklahoma because she had a TV. But, I only got to watch the baseball game onn TV if I churned butter as I watched. Her churn was a big jar with a paddle in it, all of which you hald in your lap. That was different from Grandma's churn which was a tall ceramic cylinder with a wooden stick that you moved up and down for a couple of hours. When they said you made supper, you actually made supper.
In order to cook supper, you had to start by going to the well and pumping up a bucket of water to cook with. It took a while if that pump wasn't primed. But, you also had to bring in enough water to fill the dishpan and the rinsepan, both of which were set on the cabinet before you cooked. The greenest grass on the lawn was just outside the kitchen door where you threw the dishwater and the rinse water. Wasn't enough wood in Oklahoma for a wood-burning stove.
In towns, milk was delivered in bottles. You had to shake the bottle before pouring in order to mix in the cream at the top. Otherwise, you had thick cream and skim milk. I guess homogenization began routinely in the early fifties. On the farm, we had separators which were nothing more than large, slow centrifuges that separated the cream from raw milk.
Let's see. Before you cold cook, you had to bring in the water,, bring in the wood, get the stove fired up, make the butter, separate the milk, and what else? Then, you had to throw it all out and hang up the dishpan and rinsepan. But, those were the good old days when everything was so easy. I think Grandma would have loved a microwave.
Everything was like that. Not a lot of people had their own washing machine. The laundry was full on Monday. Mowers were push. So were cars because we did have less reliable cars. I haven't had a thermostat go out in forty years.
What made those times easier was that we didn't have time to think about what we should be complaining about.
I liked visiting my aunt in Oklahoma because she had a TV. But, I only got to watch the baseball game onn TV if I churned butter as I watched. Her churn was a big jar with a paddle in it, all of which you hald in your lap. That was different from Grandma's churn which was a tall ceramic cylinder with a wooden stick that you moved up and down for a couple of hours. When they said you made supper, you actually made supper.
In order to cook supper, you had to start by going to the well and pumping up a bucket of water to cook with. It took a while if that pump wasn't primed. But, you also had to bring in enough water to fill the dishpan and the rinsepan, both of which were set on the cabinet before you cooked. The greenest grass on the lawn was just outside the kitchen door where you threw the dishwater and the rinse water. Wasn't enough wood in Oklahoma for a wood-burning stove.
In towns, milk was delivered in bottles. You had to shake the bottle before pouring in order to mix in the cream at the top. Otherwise, you had thick cream and skim milk. I guess homogenization began routinely in the early fifties. On the farm, we had separators which were nothing more than large, slow centrifuges that separated the cream from raw milk.
Let's see. Before you cold cook, you had to bring in the water,, bring in the wood, get the stove fired up, make the butter, separate the milk, and what else? Then, you had to throw it all out and hang up the dishpan and rinsepan. But, those were the good old days when everything was so easy. I think Grandma would have loved a microwave.
Everything was like that. Not a lot of people had their own washing machine. The laundry was full on Monday. Mowers were push. So were cars because we did have less reliable cars. I haven't had a thermostat go out in forty years.
What made those times easier was that we didn't have time to think about what we should be complaining about.
