Charles Synyard (@CharlesSynyard)

4/4 “Tony flashed her a quick smile... ‘Hey, all right!’ he cried suddenly. ‘Did you guys see that?’ He leapt off the sofa. ‘Did you guys see that play Canseco made? Man, he’s out of sight.’ ”Randy Kirwan pounded his fists on the floor, where he was stretched out on his stomach in front of the television. ‘He’s the greatest. I bet he’s the best player of all time.’” (2) “How the mighty have fallen!” A couple moments of nostalgia in The Great TV Turnoff, the April 1991 twenty-fourth book in the Fabulous Five series by Betsy Haynes that I couldn’t squeeze in elsewhere. Also I note, the volume is dedicated to Susan Johnasen Smith, whose name only appears online commenting on a few other people’s obituaries and seemingly resides in Illinois. I expect she’s a relation to the late Rosemary Johnasen, to whom the author was an aunt by marriage, and to whom the thirteenth book, The Christmas Countdown, was dedicated. Anyway, it’s 1991, it‘s baseball season, and whom do Katie and Jana’s boyfriends, Tony and Randy, both idolize? Jose Canseco! While not a sports fan, his reputation, sadly, now precedes him. At the time Canseco had been an Oakland A’s player his whole career, but he’d be traded among a number of teams during his major league career, before publishing a tell-all book that exposed the extent of steroid use in the national pastime. While the problem of doping in professional sports deserved attention, it is disconcerting that admitting to plenty of wrongdoing became just one more way of making a buck when Canseco was only playing for independent leagues. But in 1991, Canseco of the Oakland A’s was looked up to by many boys as perhaps the greatest to ever tread a baseball diamond. The problem of modern boys holding up professional athletes as role models, when for all their strength and talent they are really just paid entertainers, has been taken up many times. Many sportsmen show more integrity and don’t cheat with performance-enhancing drugs, and some even use their star power and wealth to help the needy (think of Roberto Clemente, who died in a plane crash delivering aid after an earthquake in Nicaragua, and whom there are even efforts to canonize). But Tony’s hero, later making his own mea culpa just another opportunity to make everything about himself, sends the wrong message. I don’t think Tony plays any sports, but Randy is a star on Wakeman’s football team. Also making a cameo is that old science fiction TV series that never goes away, Star Trek. When Katie can’t pull her boyfriend away from the TV, she seeks out Melanie for some advice on boys, only to find Melanie is also glued to the boob tube. Melanie describes an episode from what we now call The Original Series where the Enterprise crew find a place where grown-ups are all but forgotten about, called “grups” (4). Maturity isn’t a big theme in The Great TV Turnoff, so that seems rather random. Looking it up, I find Melanie’s describing “Miri”, episode 8. I’ve never watched Star Trek apart from the 2009 movie, though come to think of it I probably saw The Animated Series many times when I was little. Despite me, and its reputation as a Baby Boomer interest, it keeps popular. I understand it even has a Magic: The Gathering set now! So along with Canseco, have included a pic from the “Miri“ episode. A whole world without adults? Tell us more. #BetsyHaynes #TheGreatTVTurnoff #FabulousFive #JoseCanseco #OaklandAs #doping #baseball #sportsball #rolemodels #rolemodel #StarTrek #sciencefiction #television #TV #nostalgia #childrensliterature #childrensbooks #literature #books