NFL Week 6: The $25,000 Pyramid

"Ok, I'll give you 5 seconds to get your thoughts together.......

....ok. Concentrate and Relax.

For $25,000, here is your first subject. Go!"

What more needs to be said about the Pyramid? What a game show. Probably the most serious, smartest, and most rule-focused out of all the 80s game shows. It was must see TV, especially at 10:38 and 10:51 for the bonus rounds. Possibly the most perfect bonus round in the history of TV.

For those that may not know, the Pyramid was a partner game, two celebrities paired with two contestants. The celebrities could be well known people - like Betty White, Vicki Lawrence, or Nipsey Russell - or co-starts from nighttime soaps that I never watched, like "Hotel".

The first part of game was more informal, where a giver had to make the guess say 7 related words in 30 seconds - and they could do almost anything to get them to say the word - blanks, opposites, hand gestures, physical somersaults, etc.... 3 rounds were played with a possible total of 21. If there was a tie, a 4th round was played. However, if you said any part of the word, you heard the inimitable "cuckoo" sound, meaning an illegal clue.


The winning pair went to ....the Winner's circle. Here's where the high drama began. The lights darkened and one lone light shined onto the center stage; 6 subjects appeared on the board, and the giver had to give a list of items that fit a subject; once the guesser guessed the correct subject, they moved on. There were various rules in this stage that were never exactly clear, and we can talk about them below.

For the first trip to the winner's circle, the contestant played for $10,000; if they made it there the second time, it was for $25,000 - no matter if you won the first time or not.

This was a fun game to play with a partner at home - many instances I would make Layup sit with the back to the TV, mute the sound, and play the bonus game. After about 35-40 seconds or so, Layup would say "this is stupid" and go play Micro League. I did find a willing partner to play full episodes with another reader of this blog, whom I had to babysit in their home in Phoenix, MD while his parents were out of town.....

Dick Clark was the perfect host for this game. He's very formal, a stickler for the rules, and who can ever forget him running over to the winner's circle after a failed attempt. He'd pick one of the categories after the time was out and give the perfect clue. The contestant would then guess the correct answer. Dick would say "Yes, you got it" and look disapprovingly at the celebrity. "Why couldn't you say that? Idiot..." Dick would seem to mutter.

He would also give words of advice at the beginning of the winner's circle to the pair. I never thought this helped.
"Relax" - as the spotlight shone on them and the big $25,000 is flashing....
"Focus on your partner, get a picture of what he is trying to say" - nice, but when it's Soupy Sales, it's hard to get any pictures from the clues
and my favorite...
" Let me give you a rub down" - a 5 second massage that was mildly creepy and didn't help at all.

Some random comments/questions I have on the show:

- Why were you not allowed to pass clues in the first round but you were able to pass subjects in the winner's circle? That always bothered me.
- If there was a 21-21 tie in the first game, the tiebreaker was played for $5,000 of bonus money. That's nice...so the winner of the tiebreaker wins $5,000 and gets to play for $10,000 or $25,000....and the loser of the perfect game gets nothing. Seems fair.
- Love the hand straps in the winner's circle. You were not allowed to use hand gestures there. There would be no way I could play without those. Within 10 seconds I would be all over the place and disqualified.
- The rules in the winner's circle were nefarious. You could only use a list. You could not describe things - although you could use adjectives before the noun. For instance, "old women's breasts" is acceptable, but "breasts of women that are old" is not.   No prepositions. I'm an adult, I have no idea what a preposition is any more.
- The celebrity could either give or receive, but 95% of the time the celebrity gave, as he/she is trying to paint the picture for the nervous contestant. I would have liked to try giving if I made it to the stage.
- The second winner's circle was always harder than the first - which makes sense if the same person made it and the second time was for $25,000. However, if it was the other contestant, he/she got screwed! Playing the board for $10,000 with significantly harder categories.

It's a special Saturday edition of the blog since we - all of us! - are heading to the Cleveland game Sunday! Martin is in first grade, and that's our rite of passage - the Zahn boys attend their first game in 1st grade. We did this in the magical fall of '07 with Freddie, when the Tribe was in the playoffs and the Browns went to 4-2 with a shootout win over the Dolphins. We did this in '09, when the awful Browns took the Bengals to overtime but lost in the last 2 minutes of overtime. And now in '15 with Martin......hot dogs, brats and chili are being made today and we are meeting another reader of the blog up there for his kids' first game.

I feel like we are in the second winner's circle for the Browns here...this is a big game. We just beat the Ravens in Baltimore - hasn't happened in 8 years - and won the $10,000. But now, this is a game against Peyton, at home, to get back to .500.

At 4:00, will the Zahn family be doing this in the aisle of Cleveland Browns Stadium?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vj-ZsYdc8ko

or - will the phrase "Cleveland Browns Defense" be a perfect clue for this category on the right?

On to the games:

Buf 23, Cin 17. Saw cracks in the Cincinnati armor last week. I know they made a great comeback, but they can't keep being at an emotional high week after week. Ryan's defense may have something for Dalton.

Ten 24, Mia 20. No clue what Miami will look like here. I think the  Miami defense will be vanilla enough for Mariota to take advantage.

Det 30, Chi 20. If the Lions don't win here, they may go 0-16. I think they will be able to pass enough on the Bears' D and they will get enough rush to hassle Cutler.

Jax 27, Hou 20. I can't pick Houston until further notice. Hoyer does seem to look better, but Bortles and the Jags can move the ball against mediocre D - and that's what Houston is right now.

Min 24, KC 17. How devastated are the Chiefs after last week? That's the question. I think they will be able to run, even without Jamal, but Alex Smith looks horrible.

NYJ 20, Was 10. Cousins is good vs. a mediocre D, but I'm scared of what the Jets will bring - and pressure will be bad for Cousins.

Az 31, Pit 20. Did anyone really watch the game Monday night? San Diego could do anything they wanted on Pittsburgh. And the Pit offense is inconsistent. If Vick has to throw against that Cardinals' secondary, look out.

Sea 20, Car 16. Boy, not sure how this one will play out. The home field advantage will pull Seattle through - barely.

GB 31, SD 24. San Diego keep piling up offensive numbers - and I'm not sure how good the Pack is defensively. They are good, but maybe not elite. I think San Diego will score enough to keep it close.

SF 27, Bal 20. Wow, the Ravens fell apart against us last week. No pressure - so Colin should have a good day.

NE 34, Ind 20. How many points can the Pats score? 34? 41? 51? Not even considering the revenge factor, how will Indy keep up?

NYG 27, Phi 24. Philly beat the worst team (or bottom 3 team) at home last week, after the Saints gave them so many turnovers. Let's not think the Eagles are back yet.

Best bets: 15 of them. Last week: 8-4-1; overall: 42-26-1.

Buf +3
Det -3
Chi/Det over 44
Jax -1.5
Min -3.5
NYJ -7
Was/NYJ under 40 1/2
Az -4
Az/Pit over 45
Car +7
SD +10.5
SD/GB over 50 1/2
SF +2
NE -7 (I got a -7 wager in last Sunday night. I would still take them at -10).
NYG +5

Supercontest: Last week: 4-1; overall: 18-7.

Buf +3.5
Det -3
Az -3
NE -7.5
NYG +4.5