Brimley Line & Old School Nostalgia
Wilford Brimley was 50 years, 9 months, and 6 days old when Cocoon hit the theaters on June 21, 1985. When I hit my personal “Brimley Line” this past summer, nostalgia did not plow me over like a runaway train, but it did reach out its tentacles.
I grew up in the 70’s and 80’s, played high school and college lacrosse in the 90’s. For most of my career, lacrosse helmets were paneled, and you used shoelaces in the back to tighten or loosen the fit. Riddel had attempted to modernize the helmet with a product that looked like a batting helmet but it seems my high school team was the only poor saps who had to wear them. The experiment lasted a season and then we shoved them off on the JV team. The next year, I slipped back into my trusty old Bacharach 33LH. It fit like a broken-in ball cap (and was just slightly more protective). A week after high school graduation, I got popped in a summer league game, the chin strap buckles left the scene immediately, the double face mask pad (that’s right) exploded into my face, and my front teeth punctured my upper lip and got a bit stuck there as blood poured down my chin. As my assistant high school coach beckoned someone to drive me to the hospital, he added, “You’ll sport a mustache the rest of your life now.” And I wondered briefly what deformity his mustache covered.
The artist back in 1992 wearing his beloved Bacharach against the Vestal Golden Bears after the Riddell debacle of 1991. Photo: Dave Grewe, The Ithaca Journal
When I got to college, safety regulations replaced the flimsy but super-cool old Bacharachs with these Sport Helmets that weighed a ton. They were technically still paneled buckets, but the era was one. Change was coming. The classic lax bucket was sent to the dustbin.
But, ahhh, nostalgia.
They were so damn cool.
I have no reason to wear one again, to slide the thin, yellowed, sweat-stained padding over my head, or to tilt the mask down. But I can put it on a cap, a t-shirt, or a poster.
