1987: Very helmet hair, denoting that Marv still wanted to wear a hairpiece that said “you know, this is what a big-market sportscaster is supposed to look like." But still acceptable within the realm of hairpieces because it is fairly plausible. That's a hairpiece that says “ok, I’d rather no one know I’m bald because I’m a little vain and I’m in television. But I’m not going to exactly make it obvious, either. Because I’m vain about that, too.”
1993: Still unkempt. Perhaps a homage to Ringo and the rest of the Fab Four. Also, in this photo, giving a very weird vibe like you’d see from Isaac when he served a cute lass on the Love Boat.
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1997: While incarcerated, confirmed what everyone in America knew for some time but was shockingly rarely public acknowldeged. Marv is bald. Has been for some time. But, here’s the thing, he wore the piece in his mugshot. Say what you will, but that’s the ultimate in “Person Tries To Establish Brand.” You are arrested for sodomy and assault, something went horribly wrong, it was your fault and you will have “infamous” attached as an adjective to your name in a lot of upcoming articles. But dammit, at this point, Marv wanted to convey to the world “NO! I HAVE HAIR!”
2001: Marv returns to announcing the NBA on NBC. Decides to go clean-cut as he clearly needs to show the public that he wants to announce basketball with the least audacious hairpiece imaginable. It is what I like to describe as “toupee penance.”
Today: Marv continues with the premise that he has hair AND, BY GOD, HE ALWAYS HAS. He's also changed colors and decided to become modern and sleek. This is truly the mid-life crises of toupee changes. It's "I'm in a rut. I don't know what will change it. I'VE GOT IT! TOUPEE CHANGE!" Also, to boot, he’s decided to go with a change in color. This, I contend, is remarkable.
Think about what he’s doing. He’s continued the fiction of “I have hair” to a all-too-suspecting public for over three decades. He’s still doing it and has decided, “meh, I’ve decided to pretend I have hair and I’ve decided to look good, anyway.” This is a double-down of vanity that is truly remarkable.
Or he’s decided “well, yeah, I am going to wear a more audacious hair piece because, dammit, that’s what the public wants.” This is a remarkably post-modern critique of American celebrity culture that really is far beyond anything Buck Henry wrote in To Die For. It is celebrity-savvy. It is image-obsessed. Like Lady Gaga, he almost says "well, yeah, I'm going to be outrageous and audacious because I can."
It is remarkable. It is New York television, where image is everything. It is America. It is Marv.
2 comments:
Get a life. Stellar career, has called play by play on virtually every sport
Please add another section with current photo & update. His current piece de resistaaance is even further “highlighted” into a 1986 surfer gradient of color & sweep. It is incredible, and since 10 yrs from last update, he has proven to triple, nay, quadruple down on this because his face looks like an octegenarian, and there is not a single 80yr old on earth that has hair as youthful looking as Marv. It’s amazing. Love the post.
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