I watched a black and white episode today ( A Medal for Opie) and a color episode ( Opie's Girlfriend ). Both had a good story line regarding sportsmanship. In "A Medal for Opie" Andy told Opie that he was very disappointed in him because he was such a poor loser. Andy went to great lengths to try to teach Opie how to be a good loser when Opie was beat by his friends in the track and field competition. In the end, Opie learned what Andy was trying to teach him and Andy was once again proud of his young son.
However, in (Opie's Girlfriend), Andy seems to have forgotten all that he taught Opie. When Helen Crump beat Andy in bowling, rather than being a good loser and taking it in stride because more disappointments would come his way, Andy was a very poor loser and blamed his loss on the fact that he did not have his own bowling shoes. There was no way he would admit or accept the fact that he was beaten by a woman. He even defended Opie getting in a fight with Helen's niece because he did not like the fact that Opie also was outplayed by a member of the gentler gender. I just found it interesting that the two episodes I happen to watch by chance turned out to have such interesting and contrasting sides of Andy. -- Ken Anderson The Mayberry Guru 2906 May Street Eau Claire, Wisconsin 54701 www.themayberryguru.com www.mayberryreflections.com _______________________________________________ WBMUTBB mailing list [email protected] http://www.mayberry.com/tagsrwc/wbmutbb/
