In honor of Bob Barker leaving The Price is Right after about 304 years of hosting with that tall white microphone, I thought I'd reflect back on all that the show has meant to me from youth to today. With my schedule allowing it, Val and I have gotten much entertainment every weekday morning during our first seven months of marriage watching Bob, his mute models and wacky, frenzied audience.
- Based on the crowd, the only people at home watching TV in the mornings are college kids, the elderly and housewives.
- When you make a shirt specially for the show, leave room for the big honking name tag on your left shoulder. "I (heart) BO" doesn't look as great.
- If you're the fourth and final bidder and want to bid highest, just go one dollar over. For example, if the highest bid is $840, say $841, not $900. If you are the third bidder, don't do that, because the last person will just go one dollar above you (if they're smart - which is definitely not a given). If you're unsure, just say $1.
- If you spin the big wheel first, if you have at least 60 cents, stay. Chances are just as good that the folks behind you won't beat you. Go ahead and give a shout out to friends and family while you spin the wheel, not before. Either way, you're still annoying, and the equivalent of the guy behind home plate with the cell phone who spends the whole doggone game waving at the camera.
- Place the Plinko chip slightly off-center for the $10,000 slot, but be prepared when it takes a sudden last-minute hop to the $0 slot. You might want to get something to the sides first so you don't go home broke.
- If you play the game where you have to find the two halves of the car, the two numbers in the second half are NEVER common, such as 95 or 50. It's always the more obscure 76 or 34.
- Don't take Bob's microphone. Don't tell him you've been watching him since you were little. We ALL have.
- Don't worry, you get two putts now. Use your first to test the break of the turf.
- Before you go, it's good to price cars, dog food and mouthwash. Tweezers are always $9.99, soup is always $1.07. Cars range in price wildly, but if you get something like a Chevy Cobalt it's only about $13,000.
- Life isn't fair. Even though one guy already won a car, he gets the final turn of the big wheel, and if you go against him in the Showcase, he gets to pick which one to bid on, including another car, while sticking you with the crappy bedroom set, swimsuits and cheap hot tub.
- Should you be the lucky one, in the final Showcase, if you're first and there's not a car, camper or boat, pass. You'll get it in the next one. Your chances of winning go down, though.
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I can help control the pet population.