Display a Vintage Football Calendar
Football memorabilia is cool. It can take you back in time and effect fond memories of a favorite player or magical season. It’s even cooler when it serves a purpose. A great example is an old, vintage football calendar. The fact that calendars repeat every few years is an excellent happenstance that allows a person to reuse calendars from the past. There’s something natty about displaying a venerable football calendar from years ago.
Except for leap years, calendars typically repeat every 6 or 11 years. For example, this year’s 2014 calendar is a repeat of 2003 and 1997. I.e., January 1st falls on a Wednesday in each of these years, and Christmas day is on a Thursday. They are all duplicates of one another, and hence can be reused. The only discrepancies you may find are a small smattering of differing holidays, most of which are related to the Easter and the Lenten season: Ash Wednesday, Palm Sunday, Good Friday, etc. A few sticky notes affixed to the calendar will cure that ailment. See figure 1 for a list of calendar years that are repeats of 2014, as well as repeats for the years 2015-2017 for you proactive types.
Figure 1. Repeating calendar years
Old football calendars can be found in many places – antique stores, Craigslist, used bookstores – but my favorite place to look is eBay. A quick search there turned up a Randall Cunningham-autographed 1986 Philadelphia Eagles calendar; a 1997 NFL calendar featuring players such as Troy Aikman, Barry Sanders, and Jerry Rice; and a 2003 Raiders calendar highlighting Tim Brown, Lincoln Kennedy, and Charlie Garner. (Remember him?) All of these calendars are repeats of 2014.
Oh my goodness! How did that get in there?
When I’m looking for a calendar online, I’ll typically use keywords such as “old football calendar”, “vintage football calendar”, “1997 Vikings calendar”, etc. Inevitably these searches turn up a smattering of risqué pinup girl calendars. Be patient if this happens to you too. It’s an unavoidable consequence. Although it will slow your search time, if you’re like me, you’ll find that some of those calendars require careful inspection. You know…. just to make absolute certain they aren’t football related.
Displaying an old football calendar is a gratifying way to relive old gridiron memories, and is a great conversation piece. Why not find an old football calendar to reuse for yourself?
As always, run to daylight.
~Randy