Golden Girls Sports

For the final episode of Golden Girls Sports, we'll finish our section on dog racing by highlighting many of the moral and legal issues that threaten the sport's future. But we'll also take a deep dive into The Golden Palace, the show's largely forgotten final spin-off, and look at its genesis, its one season on the air and its lasting impact on those involved.

To begin our two-part discussion about dog racing - a Florida favorite and one of the sports mentioned the most by the Golden Girls - we have to take a look at Coco, the ill-fated houseboy who appeared on the show's first episode and then never again. We'll also cover actors Charles Levin and Bridgette Andersen, dog racing's beginnings and rise in popularity, and the time Betty White tortured one of the show's crew members with talcum powder.

Yes, the sports jokes I missed were enough to fill two episodes. I am ashamed. Here, we finally get a chance to talk about a horse racing legend, a couple of Olympic favorites and one endearing goofball that was a staple of 80's comedies. But first, we'll have to see what Joe has to say about it...

Despite 29 episodes examining dozens of Golden Girls sports references, a whole bunch still got missed. So over the next two shows, we'll go through all of those, which include gags about mud wrestling, boxing and handball. We'll also talk about one-time Golden Girls guest star McLean Stevenson and a forgotten but prescient news program from TV's golden era.

Volleyball, soccer and jai alai are Florida favorites, and all came up frequently as jokes on The Golden Girls. We'll examine the international origins of one and why nudists love another. Topics also include actor Robert Culp and two radically different politicians, who may or may not have played volleyball together.

The Golden Girls didn't make a lot of jokes about auto racing, but the few they did make give a chance to dive into the racing exploits of Paul Newman and the career of Harold Gould, who played Rose's longtime boyfriend Miles Webber. We'll also take a minute to gaze with jealousy at people who can experience the Monaco Grand Prix in person.

Everybody loves The Harlem Globetrotters, and Peanuts comics and halftime treats - all of which were mentioned in jokes on The Golden Girls. We'll also look at the history of little league baseball and co-stars Kevin McCarthy and Lloyd Bochner.

The shocking downfall of CBS NFL analyst Jimmy "The Greek" Snyder was a big story in the late 1980's and it became one of the most topical jokes the Golden Girls ever made. We look at that, as well as the careers of important sports broadcasters Phyllis George and Bob Costas, who were also named-checked on the show.