I wouldn't mind getting my Flying A back.
Posted on 02/23/2006 11:52:38 AM PST by kaktuskid
Can we have our balls back, please? By Chris Vallance BBC News
The 76 Union ball has become an American icon All over the west coast of America, giant orange balls have been disappearing.
The so-called "76 Balls" are the distinctive signs of Union 76 petrol stations, but the historic spheres are under threat, prompting a web-based plea for their preservation reminiscent of the effort to save London's double-decker Routemaster buses.
The www.savethe76ball.com campaign, brainchild of Los Angeles-based bloggers Kim Cooper and Nathan Marsak, criticises ConocoPhillips, the new Texan owners of the Union 76 gas stations, for removing the iconic spheres and replacing them with more conservative flat signs.
In spite of repeated requests, ConocoPhillips have not commented on the bloggers' campaign.
Now Kim and Nathan have appealed to consumers to boycott the chain in an effort to get the balls back.
"We want them to stop pulling down the balls and replace those that have been removed," Kim told the BBC News website.
"We would be mortified if by Halloween - when traditionally the station owners decorate their balls as smiling pumpkins - they're all gone."
West Coast favourite
The campaign has attracted at least one key supporter.
The designer of the 76 Ball, Ray Pedersen, has taken up the cause with a plea to "Save My Ball". Mr Pedersen created the design in 1955 for the Seattle World's fair.
His prototype ball was made out of hand-blown glass.
"He conceived of the 76 Ball and spent $50,000 to have one crafted, then hand-painted the numbers," Kim said.
"His boss fired him over the phone when he heard what he'd spent! But then the boss and Fred Hartley, the head of Union Oil, came up to have a look. Ray heard them coming up the fairgrounds and Fred yelling 'Goddammit, we're gonna put one on every station we own!'
"Needless to say, Ray was not really fired. And it's been a favourite of West Coast folks ever since."
Vintage Americana
Since then, the 76 Ball has become a key part of the American roadside.
The distinctive orange logo with bold blue numerals was a feature of Nascar races, which Union 76 formerly sponsored.
Smaller versions of the ball designed to adorn car aerials have sold in their millions, and the balls have even had cameo appearances in Hollywood movies: One was knocked down by a rampaging T. rex in the film Jurassic Park: The Lost World.
The spheres are being replaced by flat signs. Photo: FranklinAvenue.net
Yet one mystery remains: Where are the missing balls?
"I have a fantasy that there's some kind of ball repository," campaigner and neon sign historian Nathan Marsak said in an interview with BBC Radio Five Live.
Las Vegas already has a dump for old neon signs, the so-called Yesco graveyard.
But Nathan hopes that there won't be similar necropolis filled with 76 Balls, and he is clearly ready for a protracted battle.
"It's almost like you're carving out part of our body or soul. You've got to get on the battlements and fight the good fights."
76 moved out of Michigan many years ago. Same for Texaco. Brings back memories.
Can't you just see this guy carrying this sign around outside their corporate office?
Or even better.
"GIVE MY BALLS BACK"
And why are they blaming it on Texas?
It's still a publicly traded company isn't it?
So9
Is Sinclair still around? The dino was cool.
I wouldn't mind getting my Flying A back.
I've got a styrofoam 76 ball on my car antenna.
They're not taking it away from me.
Believe it or not, I still see a Sinclair sign every once in a while. Usually in rural areas. (I live in Tennessee, and often drive in Mississippi and Alabama.)
One of my fondest memories as a kid is my parents buying me an inflatable Sinclair dinosaur one time when we filled up the car. Simple times.
Aerosmith had a gas company?.......
...yeah, don't we all
Cities Service disappeared. Deep Rock disappeared. Sinclair disappeared. Humble disappeared. Either these companies were bought out, or simply recast their logos.
Cities Service became "Citgo", Deep Rock became Kerr-McGee, Sinclair mutated into ARCO, Humble was absorbed by Esso or Standard or somebody.
I always wondered about "Humble Oil". That had to be a PR ploy, could you imagine any refiner caling themselves "Arrogant Oil Company"?
"Got Balls?"
I'm ever upper class high society
God's gift to ballroom notoriety
I always fill my ballroom
The event is never small
The social pages say I've got
The biggest balls of all
CHORUS:
I've got big balls
I've got big balls
And they're such big balls
Dirty big balls
And he's got big balls
And she's got big balls
But we've got the biggest balls of them all
And my balls are always bouncing
My ballrooms always full
And everybody cums and cums again
If your name is on the guest list
No one can take you higher
Everybody says I've got
Great balls of fire
CHORUS
I've got big balls
I've got big balls
And they're such big balls
Dirty big balls
And he's got big balls
And she's got big balls
But we've got the biggest balls of them all
Some balls are held for charity
And some for fancy dress
But when they're held for pleasure
They're the balls that I like best
My balls are always bouncing
To the left and to the right
It's my belief that my big balls
Should be held every night
CHORUS
I've got big balls
I've got big balls
And they're such big balls
Dirty big balls
And he's got big balls
And she's got big balls
But we've got the biggest balls of them all
Sinclair Oil is now owned by a guy in Salt Lake City. They have refineries in Tulsa, OK, Casper and Rawlins, WY.
LOL!
I have no idea why they blame it on Texas. Just as good as any scapegoat I guess....
GE
"NO!!!!"
Was the answer from the old crone who lived next door to the schoolyard into whose yard, over the fence, I accidentally tossed the ball.
LOL -- I looked at the title and thought it said "Can We Have Our Balls Back" and immediately thought it was a story about the Republican Congressional Leadership.
That would indeed be a sight to behold...
do they decorate their penises as happy little autumn gourds, I wonder?
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