# Things that were better back then. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 27, 2007, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-better-back-then/401848 "2007-04-27T08:33:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-better-back-then/401848/21 "2007-04-27T17:13:42Z")
[QUOTE=Bobotheoptimist] I can’t recall the last time I had a pepperoni pizza that didn’t have **too much pepperoni** and pools of grease. [/QUOTE] 😕 I don’t understand. I recognize the words, but not the sentence. Coke before corn syrup. Driving before cell phones. Baseball before the designated hitter. Wrigley before lights. ---
**Author:** ![Cowboy8467](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b5e925/32.png) [@Cowboy8467](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cowboy8467)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-better-back-then/401848/22 "2007-04-27T17:15:20Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] 😕 I don’t understand. I recognize the words, but not the sentence. [/QUOTE] What is there not to get? He always gets too much pepperoni on his pizza when he orders it 😕 ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 5:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-better-back-then/401848/23 "2007-04-27T17:19:52Z")
Talk radio - in the early 80’s, there was one talk radio station around here and all its programming was local till Midnight to 6 AM when it was paid shows by strange &/or interesting radio preachers & hoodoo men. Now we have three talk stations, only one of which has local programming (5 AM-11:45 AM; 3 PM-Midnight), and no weird ministers, but it’s only two syndicated shows are Rush & CoastToCoastAM. By “strange & interesting preachers” btw, I mean such things as America’s Promise w/ the late Rev. Sheldon Emry, Scriptures for America w/ Rev. Pete Peters, the late Veronica Lueken’s “Our Lady of the Roses”, Elder Jacob O. Meyers of the Assemblies of Yahweh, the Southwest Radio Church, Brother R. G. Stair, and Roy Masters’ Foundation of Human Understanding. I know I can find all these things & even weirder on the Net but it just isn’t the same. ---
**Author:** ![fachverwirrt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/94ad74/32.png) [@fachverwirrt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fachverwirrt)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-better-back-then/401848/24 "2007-04-27T17:54:03Z")
[QUOTE=What Exit?] Baseball was on local independent stations. [/QUOTE] Speaking of baseball, there once was a time when expansion hadn’t so watered down the pitching talent that home runs were still exciting, and people actually had to occasionally bunt. And then there was the '80s, when the Yankees sucked > [@silenus](#): > > Baseball before the designated hitter. I’m an American League fan, and I was born after the advent of the DH, and I say: A-FUCKING-MEN (see above). ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-better-back-then/401848/25 "2007-04-27T18:04:49Z")
[QUOTE=Cowboy8467] What is there not to get? He always gets \*\*too much pepperoni \*\* on his pizza when he orders it 😕 [/QUOTE] Again, I’m not comprehending this phrase. “Too much pepperoni?” I don’t think such a thing is possible in a Euclidian universe. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-better-back-then/401848/26 "2007-04-27T18:09:54Z")
Local TV that was more than news and was worth a shit. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-better-back-then/401848/27 "2007-04-27T18:12:14Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] … Baseball before the designated hitter. Wrigley before lights. [/QUOTE] I just barely remember the days before the DH. I do remember Mel Stottlemyre laying down some nice bunts and the day Ron Bloomberg had the first plate appearance as a DH. While we are on baseball, I miss starters that regularly went 7 or 8 or god forbid 9. I also remember fondly when closers pitch 3 innings and the staff was only 9. I miss 3rd catchers that could also play 1B and LF. I miss double-headers on Holidays. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Bobotheoptimist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/919ad9/32.png) [@Bobotheoptimist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bobotheoptimist)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-better-back-then/401848/28 "2007-04-27T18:14:32Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] Again, I’m not comprehending this phrase. “Too much pepperoni?” I don’t think such a thing is possible in a Euclidian universe. [/QUOTE] Ah! There’s the problem. Don’t be a slave to Euclid (although his 47th problem will always hold a special place in my heart, I think sacrificing a hecatomb was a trifle excessive) Ph’nglui mglw’nafh pepperoni R’lyeh wgah’nagl fhtagn ---
**Author:** ![Sailboat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sailboat/32/461_2.png) [@Sailboat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sailboat)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-better-back-then/401848/29 "2007-04-27T18:26:56Z")
[QUOTE=Darth Nader] Grump grump grump. My [son](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=282128) is keeping me awake tonight , and all I can promise him is the world my father dreamed about. If we’re lucky. Well, I can make him some chocolate milk, too. [/QUOTE] Making chocolate milk for your son is no small promise. Sailboat ---
**Author:** ![Nancarrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c37758/32.png) [@Nancarrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nancarrow)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-better-back-then/401848/30 "2007-04-27T19:07:29Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] Again, I’m not comprehending this phrase. “Too much pepperoni?” I don’t think such a thing is possible in a Euclidian universe. [/QUOTE] Mmm, I luuurrrves me some Lobachevskian pizza! Lovely crust, all parallel to itself… ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-better-back-then/401848/31 "2007-04-27T22:59:27Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] Baseball before the designated hitter. [/QUOTE] I’m in my late 30s, so my awareness of baseball before the DH comes from starry-eyed recollections by fogies. 😉 Still, it sounds pretty good, and my limited exposure to NL games (TV, mostly; I’m in an AL city) has convinced me that getting rid of it would be a positive move. But for people of my age, buddy, interleague play is the vodka poured on the paper cut. Re the list of things that are better now than they used to be: TV. Yes, the networks suck, generally speaking. But can you imagine what “Lost” would have looked like 20 years ago? And don’t get me started on “Battlestar Galactica.” Or “Rome.” Or “The Office.” It’s a new golden age and we shouldn’t take it for granted. Also: eating. We are abandoning, en masse, the experiment with industrialized, pre-processed food products, because we are realizing it makes us fat and tastes like ass compared to the freshly prepared alternative. In any given week, I can enjoy three squares a day from different world cuisines and not repeat a single one. And I can go to the grocery store and buy anything from fish sauce to Buddha’s hands to thirty different kinds of fresh or dried peppers. When I was a sprout, there was only one kind of sprouts. Now there’s half a dozen. It’s a food revolution in the making, and it’s a very, very good thing. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-better-back-then/401848/32 "2007-04-27T23:16:47Z")
My youthful sense of optimism. The number of buildings in NYC. Cars _looked_ better way back when. Yeah, the 70s and 80s were pretty much the nadir of automotive design, but there are a _number_ of standout designs from the 1920s to the 1960s, and there’s hardly a modern car (in _any_ price range) that can match the beauty of those old cars. They had beauty and _style_. Software was written better in that the programs were small and weren’t bogged down by bloat. Star Wars was better before George came up with the Ewoks and started rubbing his crayons over everything. ---
**Author:** ![Gleena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b3f665/32.png) [@Gleena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gleena)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-better-back-then/401848/33 "2007-04-27T23:23:49Z")
[QUOTE=Cervaise] TV. Yes, the networks suck, generally speaking. But can you imagine what “Lost” would have looked like 20 years ago? And don’t get me started on **“Battlestar Galactica.”** Or “Rome.” Or “The Office.” It’s a new golden age and we shouldn’t take it for granted. [/QUOTE] Um…cause, “Battlestar Galatica”… Nevermind. 🙂 Cheers, G ---
**Author:** ![Subterraneanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Subterraneanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Subterraneanus)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2007, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-better-back-then/401848/34 "2007-04-27T23:59:49Z")
Fewer hominids. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2007, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-better-back-then/401848/35 "2007-04-28T00:19:44Z")
I miss the good old days when I could smoke dope. Of all the vices I’ve tried and left behind, I really miss grass the most. Not in any physical sense, or any “I gotta get stoned” way, but I have fond memories of movies made funny by THC, and new culinary combinations that taste really kewl, and the sheer ecstasy that Thai food could bring when you’re faded. Alas and alack, I put those days behind me 20 years ago. Where did my youth go, and why did it take my knees with it? ---
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2007, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-better-back-then/401848/36 "2007-04-28T00:47:23Z")
[QUOTE=OtakuLoki] Two words: **Sesame Street**. Elmo is a pustule on the ass of public broadcasting and will be among the first against the wall when the Revolution comes. [/QUOTE] Another yea vote for this one. I just like imagining Elmo lined up against the wall, protesting that he was working to undermine the system from within the whole time. Pan back and we see Grover flick his furry hand dismissively as he walks away and Harry Monster nods gravely and snaps the bolt back… Also, all DHs, and all pitchers who don’t hit, suck. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2007, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-better-back-then/401848/37 "2007-04-28T00:57:35Z")
Worse Today: 1. Air travel 2. Rapid loss an anonymity 3. More rules = less freedom Better Today: 1. The economy, interest rates, job options. Check out the stats for the 60’s and 70’s some time. :shudder 2. Terrorists replaced Mother Russia and Civilization Ending Thermonuclear war. That is actually a good trade. 3. The overall quality of food options. It was pretty appalling even 20 years ago by today’s standards. ---
**Author:** ![Equipoise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/equipoise/32/151_2.png) [@Equipoise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Equipoise)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2007, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-better-back-then/401848/38 "2007-04-28T03:37:04Z")
[QUOTE=Slacker] Back then the SDMB didn’t advertise for dumb ass ignorance-embracing websites (Democrats Suck, Cover Barack’s Face, etc). [/QUOTE] Oh god, YES, THANK YOU! Up at the top left the page proudly declares “Fighting Ignorance Since 1973” but down at the bottom of the page it far too often screams “IGNERENCE RULZ!!! UND PAEYS GOOD MUNEE TO!!! WHOOTDAMN!!” It’s fucking embarrassing. ---
**Author:** ![Obeseus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/bbce88/32.png) [@Obeseus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Obeseus)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2007, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-better-back-then/401848/39 "2007-04-28T03:49:44Z")
Worse today – Swiss Rolls They used to be a darker, more moist cake. They disappeared, then came back as nothing more than the same cake as Devil Dogs. Then they shrunk them and covered them with chocalote coating. ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [April 28, 2007, 7:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-better-back-then/401848/40 "2007-04-28T07:11:57Z")
[QUOTE=saoirse] Pan back and we see Grover flick his furry hand dismissively as he walks away and Harry Monster nods gravely and snaps the bolt back… [/QUOTE] “Vun! Vun final cigarette. Ha ha ha.” [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-better-back-then/401848.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/things-that-were-better-back-then/401848.md?page=3)