...I'm currently listening to episodes of Murray Woroner's 1968 syndicated radio series, The All-Time Heavyweight Champion Tournament. This was where Woroner took several World Heavyweight Champion boxers from John L. Sullivan to Cassius Clay/Muhammad Ali, set several fantasy matches, fed the boxers' data through a Univac 1005 computer to concoct each match, and produced the resulting "action" as radio plays narrated like actual bouts by Guy LeBow. Ali's semi-final loss to Jim Jeffries led Ali to file a defamation lawsuit against Woroner, which was eventually settled with the film production of a computerised match between the only two then-undefeated champions, Ali and Rocky Marciano, in The Super Fight. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065050/ The original radio plays are bonus features in the movie's 2-DVD set. The claim in the DVD is that these were broadcast worldwide, but I'm wondering exactly how well-distributed these things actually were. Does anyone here recall actually hearing them on radio back in '68, and if so, on what station(s)?...
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The All-Time Heavyweight Champion Tournament
- Thread starter Ultimajock
- Start date
C
cd637299
Guest
Honestly I never heard it, but there was something kinda similar in 1981......
While there was the huge baseball strike, which wiped out a third of the season, somebody in radio decided to broadcast the Strat-o-Matic (brand name) version of the 1981 All Star Game. It was heard here locally---WIOD 610 I am quite sure.
This had to be one of the most ludicrous, um, sporting events ever done for radio. Strat-o-Matic Baseball, for those who don't know, is a card/dice game, where "you're the manager"....you pick the lineups with individual player cards & pitcher cards, and there are charts for results, which vary depending on the batter-vs-pitcher & pitcher-vs-batter. Also you have an extra fielding chart where there'd be the possibility of an error......too much more to list here.
As I recall, the final score was 15-0. I think the National League was the winner....but when the real 1981 ASG was played, as I recall, it was quite the opposite., with the American League winning, but not quite 15-Love.
I do own Strat-o-Matic, but as far as being taken seriously, welllll.....
Sorry if I hijacked there. The post reminded me of it.
Back to the Tournament!
cd
While there was the huge baseball strike, which wiped out a third of the season, somebody in radio decided to broadcast the Strat-o-Matic (brand name) version of the 1981 All Star Game. It was heard here locally---WIOD 610 I am quite sure.
This had to be one of the most ludicrous, um, sporting events ever done for radio. Strat-o-Matic Baseball, for those who don't know, is a card/dice game, where "you're the manager"....you pick the lineups with individual player cards & pitcher cards, and there are charts for results, which vary depending on the batter-vs-pitcher & pitcher-vs-batter. Also you have an extra fielding chart where there'd be the possibility of an error......too much more to list here.
As I recall, the final score was 15-0. I think the National League was the winner....but when the real 1981 ASG was played, as I recall, it was quite the opposite., with the American League winning, but not quite 15-Love.
I do own Strat-o-Matic, but as far as being taken seriously, welllll.....
Sorry if I hijacked there. The post reminded me of it.
Back to the Tournament!
cd
I recall hearing a show or two from that heavyweight champion tournament back then on a station in this area although I can't recall which one. It may have been WPFB-FM out of Middletown, Ohio, but I'm not sure.
Just discovered this thread....
I remember the computerized fight series.... IIRC it was broadcast here in the Chicago market on WIND/560 in an evening time slot and drew a fair amount of attention. I was in college at the time and out of range of WIND's 5kw nighttime signal, so I only heard small snippets at best. But I do recall Ali losing in the "final". IIRC, there was also a filmed simulation of this (made with multiple possible scenes and outcomes that could be splced together). I also seem to remember Ali griping about the "outcome".
I remember the computerized fight series.... IIRC it was broadcast here in the Chicago market on WIND/560 in an evening time slot and drew a fair amount of attention. I was in college at the time and out of range of WIND's 5kw nighttime signal, so I only heard small snippets at best. But I do recall Ali losing in the "final". IIRC, there was also a filmed simulation of this (made with multiple possible scenes and outcomes that could be splced together). I also seem to remember Ali griping about the "outcome".
I remember listening to an old KFWB aircheck on reelradio.com that had a promo for the tournament.
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