My friend and I tried a rock. A big one, about a 20 pounder. It
probably didn't help that it was so hard to throw, but that and our
lousy aim from "safe distance" outside the "blast radius" made for an
exhausting ordeal.

I remember that we knocked the phosphor off the inside surface of the
tube with one blow in a very interesting star-shaped pattern. I wonder
if anyone's modeled a CRT with Bessel functions before.

We eventually did smash the front in, and it was quite a celebration
that ensued, but we never tried it again because bashing a TV in is
just too much work.