The Good Ol' Days

The financial crisis got ya down? Think the whole world is lookin' to slug ya in the groceries? Say, bub, that's just applesauce! As far as sports go, bad times can be good times, as sure as Carter's got liver pills:

. . . largely through necessity, the 1930s was the decade when sport became both mass entertainment and recreation in the United States, Europe and the British Empire . . .

. . . Roosevelt's New Deal helped to spread sport throughout the community. Organized games and sports were encouraged with gymnasiums, swimming pools, tennis courts and golf courses built as well as dams, bridges, highways and public buildings. Government and private enterprise combined in 1932 to build the Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Its 80,000 capacity was easily the biggest in the United States . . . Sport was an inexpensive hobby and soccer, swimming, athletics, boating and camping became popular. The Nordic countries practiced winter sports, the French cycled and the Germans specialized in gymnastics.

And by specializing in gymnastics with such a fierce determination, the Germans pulled themselves out of the Depression and into the late 1930s and 40s with just the kind of can-do moxy a fella can be proud of!