The idiom says you can’t do it…. “You Can’t Make a Silk Purse out of a Sow’s (pig’s) Ear”.  You can’t make something very good out of something very bad.  I guess the opposite would be “when life gives you lemons, make lemonade”.   So which is true?  Based on my experience today, you CAN make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.  I drank some delicious “lemonade”.

Today with friends and relatives visiting, the whole group ventured to the West Bottoms of Kansas City to partake of the monthly experience of thrift shop/ flea market/ antique shopping.  This is not one of my favorite ways to spend a beautiful spring Saturday.  I was definitely anticipating a “sow’s ear” type of day.

At the very first antique store we went popped in, there it was … the “silk purse“.  It was a program from the 1957 (my birth year – yesterday was my birthday!) 24^th Annual All-Star Football Game.  The College All-Stars were playing the World Champion New York Giants.  This program was a treasure to me for several reasons.  Two of the Giant assistant coaches this season were Offensive Coordinator Vince Lombardi, and Defensive Coordinator Tom Landry.  In less than three years Lombardi would be leading the Green Bay Packers and Landry the Dallas Cowboys in what would be Hall of Fame coaching careers for both men.

Playing for the All Star team were the likes of future Hall of Famers Len Dawson (Chiefs) from Purdue, John Brodie (49ers) from Stanford, Jim Brown (Browns) from Syracuse, and Paul Hornung (Packers) from Notre Dame.  Paul Wiggin from Stanford, who would later become the Head Coach of the Kansas City Chiefs played in the game as well.

I snatched up the program immediately and have since flipped through the entire 152 pages.  By the way, the Giants won the 1957 game 22-12.

Attitude is everything.  It was a great, “silk purse” day with family and friends thrift shop/ flea market/ antique shopping.

Questions and Comments are always welcome

Jeff Floyd – youcandomore1@yahoo.com

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