Listening to the post game commentary on ESPN Radio one of the announcers just commented that his take from today's Final Four was how great "The River Walk" there in San Antonio was. He added that San Antonio was a great city for The Final Four and he would welcome it being held there every year.
He then went on to comment how cold it was in the northern city where the Final Four is scheduled to be played next year and then capped it off by mentioning that today it was 35 degrees in Chicago and raining. (That's actually several degrees colder than it was here in Alaska today where it was sunny.)
Northwestern fans can certainly appreciate those sentiments having played two of our bowl games there. While I was able to attend the first of those two and fully enjoyed the River Walk experience, it is probably just as well that my photo archives don't include shots from the game itself.
That said, here is a reposting of a past post from over on the Rant Board that summarizes my memories of another River Walk experience.
"Having just acquired a DVD, for the first time since its TV airing on December 20, 1992, I was able to watch the "Bob Hope's Four-Star Christmas Fiesta from San Antonio" Christmas Special that I had been present at for its filming late that Fall during the first week of December.
Here are some screen shots from the DVD. They actually include those of us lined along the River Walk and if you look closely you can see in the first photo (on the far left) one of the spectators with his video camera filming the filming.
Little did I know at the time that we were being included as background.
As described in the quoted post, the photos include Bob Hope and Phylicia Rashad as they serenaded each other singing "Silver Bells" as they floated down the River of the San Antonio River Walk.
FWIW, here is a summary of my recollections from that day:
I became partial to "Silver Bells" when by chance I got to watch Bob Hope and Phylicia Rashad (the Cosby show mom) serenade each other in a boat on San Antonio's River Walk during the filming of one of, if not the last, of the Bob Hope Christmas Specials. (I believe it was the last one where he went to visit "The Troops" though there was at least one other filmed from his home.) I was in San Antonio on business and had my video camera with me back before camcorders were common place. I was allowed to video tape the multiple takes and somewhere I still have the footage on tape. Although it was still late Fall, the whole Riverwalk had been lit up with Christmas lights for the taping of the Special.
One of the things about that magical evening that has stayed with me over the years was watching Bob Hope escort his wife Dolores over the arched bridge that crossed the waterway in front of their hotel on the Riverwalk. Despite their evident impaired mobility it was touching to see them ascend the arched bridge together arm in arm. Another thing that impressed me was how gracious Bob Hope was to the film crew when the cameras were turned off. He was more concerned about their comfort and well being than his own on that somewhat chilly evening. His eyesight was so poor at that point that the cue cards contained at most two or three words on each one so that the words could be big enough for him to read them.
So when I now hear "Silver Bells" it takes me back to that memory of a man from "The Greatest Generation" (as so termed by Tom Brokaw,) and how he exemplified the Christmas Spirit on that enchanted evening.
(The song itself was first performed in 1951 when Bob Hope and Marilyn Maxwell sang it in the Christmas movie, "The Lemon Drop Kid." Over the years it was a mainstay of multiple Bob Hope Christmas Specials.)"
He then went on to comment how cold it was in the northern city where the Final Four is scheduled to be played next year and then capped it off by mentioning that today it was 35 degrees in Chicago and raining. (That's actually several degrees colder than it was here in Alaska today where it was sunny.)
Northwestern fans can certainly appreciate those sentiments having played two of our bowl games there. While I was able to attend the first of those two and fully enjoyed the River Walk experience, it is probably just as well that my photo archives don't include shots from the game itself.
That said, here is a reposting of a past post from over on the Rant Board that summarizes my memories of another River Walk experience.
"Having just acquired a DVD, for the first time since its TV airing on December 20, 1992, I was able to watch the "Bob Hope's Four-Star Christmas Fiesta from San Antonio" Christmas Special that I had been present at for its filming late that Fall during the first week of December.
Here are some screen shots from the DVD. They actually include those of us lined along the River Walk and if you look closely you can see in the first photo (on the far left) one of the spectators with his video camera filming the filming.
Little did I know at the time that we were being included as background.As described in the quoted post, the photos include Bob Hope and Phylicia Rashad as they serenaded each other singing "Silver Bells" as they floated down the River of the San Antonio River Walk.
FWIW, here is a summary of my recollections from that day:
I became partial to "Silver Bells" when by chance I got to watch Bob Hope and Phylicia Rashad (the Cosby show mom) serenade each other in a boat on San Antonio's River Walk during the filming of one of, if not the last, of the Bob Hope Christmas Specials. (I believe it was the last one where he went to visit "The Troops" though there was at least one other filmed from his home.) I was in San Antonio on business and had my video camera with me back before camcorders were common place. I was allowed to video tape the multiple takes and somewhere I still have the footage on tape. Although it was still late Fall, the whole Riverwalk had been lit up with Christmas lights for the taping of the Special.
One of the things about that magical evening that has stayed with me over the years was watching Bob Hope escort his wife Dolores over the arched bridge that crossed the waterway in front of their hotel on the Riverwalk. Despite their evident impaired mobility it was touching to see them ascend the arched bridge together arm in arm. Another thing that impressed me was how gracious Bob Hope was to the film crew when the cameras were turned off. He was more concerned about their comfort and well being than his own on that somewhat chilly evening. His eyesight was so poor at that point that the cue cards contained at most two or three words on each one so that the words could be big enough for him to read them.
So when I now hear "Silver Bells" it takes me back to that memory of a man from "The Greatest Generation" (as so termed by Tom Brokaw,) and how he exemplified the Christmas Spirit on that enchanted evening.
(The song itself was first performed in 1951 when Bob Hope and Marilyn Maxwell sang it in the Christmas movie, "The Lemon Drop Kid." Over the years it was a mainstay of multiple Bob Hope Christmas Specials.)"
