A few thoughts on Vladimir Putin, an incredibly stupid war, and what a real ex-reality show President can look like. A moving “SNL” cold open with some Ukranian singers. And a historic Supreme Court nominee will make a great justice.

The major international news of the past week has been, of course, Russia’s reckless, arrogant and hopefully not catastrophic for the world, invasion of Ukraine.

You’ve surely read and seen more than enough on the terrifying situation, and I don’t have anything mind-blowing or Earth-shaking to add. But a couple thoughts that have been rattling around my brain for a few days:

— Putin is what he is, and always has been: A ruthless dictator who has basically erased all the democratic gains the former Soviet Union had made under Gorbachev and Yeltsin. This invasion is completely consistent with his attitude of Russia being a superpower again, and he being able to do whatever he wants. If and when he succeeds in overthrowing the Ukraine government, and I feel like it’s a matter of time, the domino effect will be huge. He won’t stop at just Ukraine, is what I’m thinking.

— The cries for America to intervene militarily will only grow louder, but I wonder how much of a stomach any of us have for the U.S. getting involved in yet ANOTHER foreign war. It’s not like our involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq and Syria went swimmingly, ya know?

— Of course our former “President” Donald Trump enabled and sucked up to Putin, cheering him on, doing everything he can to curry favor with a dictatorial madman, for four years comes to mind now, with Putin doing whatever he wants. I’m not saying, at all, that Trump’s coddling and support of Putin from 2016-2020 is the reason Ukrainians are under attack right now. But it sure as hell didn’t help, and it’s fascinating to now see those on the GOP try to simultaneously defend Putin and blast President Biden for not being stronger standing up to him.

The knots they’re tying themselves into, not even Eagle Scouts could undo.

— I thought this was an excellent thread by Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo, on the many challenges facing Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

— And finally, speaking of ex-actor and reality show president Zelenskyy, who really is a former reality show star and actor (check out this amazing performance on Ukraine’s version of “Dancing With The Stars”),  what an incredible speech he gave on the first night.

This is a man who never thought he’d be in this position, who was bullied and pressured, unsuccessfully, by Trump to investigate the Biden’s in that “perfect” phone call that ended up getting Trump impeached, and now here he is, standing and fighting bravely in a war he had nothing to do with, and one that will see so many of his citizens killed.

He deserves the support of the world, and I hope he gets it. I don’t know how many days or weeks he’ll remain alive, but what courage he’s showing while he’s still with us.

**Next up, I thought this was a brilliant idea, well executed, by “Saturday Night Live” the other night. Instead of their normal, humorous Cold Open to the show, we got Cecily Strong and Kate McKinnon introducing the Ukrainian Chorus Dumka of New York, singing a song called “Prayer for Ukraine.”

**Finally today, Friday was a historic day for America, as President Biden nominated the first African-American woman to the Supreme Court.

Listening to the qualifications and sterling reputation of Ketanji Brown Jackson, a few things struck me: 1, she’s only 51 years old and it’s incredible what she’s already accomplished:

She went to Harvard College, and then Harvard Law School. After earning her JD, she clerked for a Bill Clinton–appointed judge on the US District Court, then for a Ronald Reagan–appointed judge on the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, before eventually clerking for Stephen Breyer himself on the Supreme Court. Along the way, she scored big-time legal jobs at well-respected private law firms, and she could have easily had a comfortable life of getting rich while representing wealthy clients. But she didn’t.

I loved the story that when Jackson graduated from Palmetto HS in Miami, she had told her counselor she wanted to go to Harvard. The counselor replied that she shouldn’t “set her sights too high”.

Judge Jackson graduated Magna Cum Laude from Harvard and Cum Laude from Harvard Law.

I’m thrilled that the Supreme Court will finally be getting, hopefully, an African-American woman. It’s long past time they were represented on the highest court.

Jackson seems wildly qualified, and will make an excellent Supreme Court Justice. 

Good News Friday: One of the craziest tennis stories in years, as a career journeyman gets a chance to play Nadal. A Spanish triathlete helps a competitor and allows him to win the race. And a woman has her grandparents be flower girls and a ring bearer, and it’s adorable.

Happy Friday! Hope all is well in your world, we are mere days away from the month of March, which always fills me with such joy (March Madness!). This was a particularly terrible week in the news, with of course Vladimir Putin’s disgusting invasion of Ukraine, the governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, criminalizing parents of trans children, and more nastiness coming from the mouth of the Former President of America.

But as always, we focus on the good here, and I want to start with a pretty insane and fantastic story from the world of pro tennis. It has nothing to do with Novak Djokovic and vaccines, I promise.

OK so this will take a little explaining but I promise it’s worth it: There’s a journeyman American player named Stefan Kozlov, who was once a junior phenom but over the past 10 years has never quite made it as a pro, his ranking in the triple digits constantly.

Kozlov was in Acapulco trying to qualify for this week’s ATP Tournament there; as a low-ranked player he’s got to fight his way into everything. He lost in qualifying, but hung around hoping to get into the main draw as a “lucky loser,” a player who gets into main draws when other players withdraw at the last minute. Plus, you know, Acapulco in February, not the worst place to be.

Kozlov went jet-skiing on Monday in Mexico, had a little mishap with some rocks, was stranded in the ocean for about 20 minutes, and all was fine.

Rafael Nadal had asked him to practice with him later that day (to simulate Nadal’s upcoming opponent), so Kozlov came in from the beach and hit the practice court with one of the all-time greats.

 “I had a slight problem with a jet ski. I capsized it and crashed into some rocks. So I was stranded out there for 30 minutes, just swimming to get away from the rocks,” recounted the No. 130 in the ATP Rankings. After being rescued [by the jet ski manager], I was expecting an intense practice session with Rafa at 6 o’clock.”

They started playing a practice set, and then this happened, according to the ATP website:
“When Nadal was serving at 3-3, 0/15 in the practice set, the Spaniard broke a string. While Nadal was looking for a new racquet in his bag, Kozlov took the opportunity to check his phone. Much to his astonishment, his phone was brimming with WhatsApp messages telling him that he had to be on court in the next match in the stadium instead of Maxime Cressy, a last-minute withdrawal from the Acapulco ATP 500.

How could he do that? He didn’t even have the right outfit to play in. “All of my clothes were wet because they were at the laundry,” Kozlov told ATPTour.com. Additionally, he would have to abandon his practice with the man with more majors than any other. “He jokingly told me ‘You can’t go, we have to finish the set.’ I quipped back: ‘No Rafa, I have to go, but I’ll put this down as a win because I was one point ahead’.”

Kozlov’s smile disappeared as soon as he had said goodbye to Rafa. He was overcome with worry. “I went as quickly as I could to prepare as well as possible. And I had to borrow clothes from the tournament staff, as many clothes as I could get my hands on to be able to play because I didn’t have anything that was dry,” explained Kozlov.

I’m already laughing at Kozlov running around the tournament site trying to get some shirts and socks from ballkids and tournament staff.

But wait, it gets better! Kozlov makes it to the tournament site on time, and then plays an epic 3-plus hour match against Grigor Dimitrov, former World No. 3 and still a Top 30 player.

Kozlov gets severe cramps and collapses to the court late in the second set (check out the video of it here, starting at the 1:05 mark).

Kozlov manages to win, and then in the next round got to play … Rafa Nadal, a man who, had he not broken a string during practice, Kozlov never would’ve made it into the tournament in time.

Absolutely nuts! But a wonderful story of a kid struggling in pro tennis getting the craziest of chances and making the most of it.

“Yesterday, I thought I had no chance of playing; now I’m in the best tournament of my career and close to facing Rafa Nadal. Sometimes God works in mysterious ways.”

On Wednesday, reality hit, and Nadal crushed Kozlov, 6-0, 6-3. But still, what a wild, wonderful couple of days.

Good on Kozlov for surviving this crazy day, and earning some money in the process.

When Spanish triathlete Diego Méntriga noticed that British triathlete J. Teagle went the wrong way before the finish line, Mentriga waited for him so he could take his deserved 3rd place.

“He was in front of me the whole time. He deserved it.” —Méntriga pic.twitter.com/hdoFwYrcEe

— Vala Afshar (@ValaAfshar) February 21, 2022

**Next up today, check out this wonderful display of sportsmanship in a recent triathlon.

When Spanish triathlete Diego Méntriga noticed that British triathlete J. Teagle went the wrong way before the finish line, Mentriga waited for him so he could take his deserved 3rd place. “He was in front of me the whole time. He deserved it.” —Méntriga

What wonderful sportsmanship, that’s a lot more common in this world than many would have you believe.

 

The bride's grandparents are the flower girl and ring bearer.💍💐 💯❤️🤗❤️💯💐💍
(🎥:emilycorbettabney)

pic.twitter.com/y8zGIabKdU

— GoodNewsCorrespondent (@GoodNewsCorres1) February 24, 2022

**And finally today, a sweet little video from @GoodNewsCorrespondent, who brings the joy again and again. This is a recent wedding of a woman named Emily, who had her grandparents, Barbara and Larry Johnson, walk down the aisle as flower girl and ring bearer.
The Johnsons have been married for 57 years, and watching them walk down the aisle, the love shines through.

Have a great weekend.

After receiving another honor, Shaquille O’Neal with a heartfelt speech on who helped him get here. A TV news anchor does reports in SIX different languages. And Marvin Gaye’s music used to help animals mate

Hi all! Apologies for no post on Monday; I meant to have my usual blog that day but we had a super-fun weekend at Mount Peter, tubing and skiing and getting caught in my first snow squall (not fun, in case you’re wondering: It’s like a snowstorm blowing sideways into your face) and by Sunday night I was plain wiped out.

But we’re back today with yet another reason I love the man called Shaq: He always remembers to thank who got him where he is today.

At NBA All-Star Weekend in Cleveland last week, Shaq was named one of the NBA’s 75 greatest players, in honor of the 75th year in the league.

And so when he was asked by Kenny Smith who he was most excited about meeting at the ceremony honoring the 75, Shaq launched into a wonderful, Oscars-like speech thanking so many people who helped him along the way.

It was warm and wonderful and filled with gratitude, and it made me love Shaq even more. Watch it and realize, yet again, how many people it takes to shape a life.

Six-language coverage from #Kyiv with @AP_GMS. In this order: English, Luxembourgish, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German. pic.twitter.com/kyEg0aCCoT

— Philip Crowther (@PhCrowther) February 21, 2022

**Next up, I think I’ve now seen the most impressive TV reporter ever. Meet Philip Crowther, a reporter for the Associated Press who Tweeted out six reports about the current Russia-Ukraine kerfuffle in SIX different languages.

Guy is incredible to be able to do this. Just watch one minute of pure eloquence in a half-dozen tongues.

***Finally today, this story cracked me up and is exactly the kind of story I started this blog for, because it’s all kinds of awesome.

So the Stafford Zoo in the United Kingdom had a problem: They had some Barbary macaque monkeys who were endangered living in the zoo, and the monkeys were not mating as they were supposed to. I don’t know if the monkeys had a headache, had a rough day at work, or what have you.

Anyway, the zookeepers at Trentham Monkey Forest had tried everything, before finally hitting on a brilliant idea: They hired Dave Largie – described as “a highly experienced love song guru” – to serenade a group of Barbary macaques in the hope that he could help “boost the monkey love” this mating season.

And Dave happens to be a Marvin Gaye impersonator, so he gave the animals some “Let’s Get It On” and “Sexual Healing” and all the greats from the late great singer’s catalog.

“Macaques are vital to disperse seeds in the forest. Without them, the very composition of the forest would change dramatically. Its disappearance could also affect the economic situation in Morocco as Barbary macaques attract a large number of tourists every year,” Astrálaga said.

And since I know you want to see this performance, loyal readers, here’s a clip the Zoo shared. If Marvin Gaye music can’t get them to mate, there’s no hope!

Over the weekend, Monkey Forest had a VERY SPECIAL GUEST 😯!

The monkeys were treated to a LIVE PERFORMANCE from love song legend 'Marvin Gaye' to help boost the monkey love at the forest this mating season 😍

Read the full story here: https://t.co/sWUjkuzjgb pic.twitter.com/Hr88bISHhI

— Trentham Monkey Forest (@Monkey_Forest) February 7, 2022

Good News Friday: A basketball team honors a fallen teammate, in a heartwarming way. A fantastic and funky Lunar New Year dance, set to James Brown. And Steve Hartman with a story of a Kentucky choir tradition in a hotel that’s just beautiful.

Happy Friday! We had a completely out of nowhere 60 degree day here on Long Island, one of those days you’re just grateful not to have to bundle up for once, ya know?
Hope all is well in your world, as we finally can start thinking about March and warm weather and spring, I hope.

We start today’s Good News Friday post with a powerful example of friendship and teamwork.

Her son died in a car crash last year. Her son’s teammates he had played with since elementary school run over to hug her before each game❤️

His teammates were by her side at the hospital and are committed to always being by her side.(🎥:jennnifernebte6)pic.twitter.com/TIDM9ngXPL

— GoodNewsCorrespondent (@GoodNewsCorres1) February 11, 2022

From the always-uplifting Twitter feed of Good News Correspondent, comes this video and message:

At Sumner-Eddyville-Miller High School in Sumner, Neb., there’s a tradition at boys basketball games this season. A tradition no one wishes was necessary.

In a tragic car accident, 14-year-old Ely Dehart of Ansley, Neb. lost his life in November of 2020. He was a basketball player just like everyone else on his team, and his loss is felt every day by his teammates and of course by his mom, Jennifer.

Before each game now, there’s a tradition during the starting lineup announcement: After each player’s name is called, he runs over and hugs Jennifer.

A reminder that her son will never be forgotten by them.

An unbelievable tragedy, but a wonderful gesture by this team of good young men.

@danceon

We’re feeling good and ready to have a funky time 🎶💃🕺 #Moga_almeri

♬ Doing It To Death – Pts. 1 & 2 – The J.B.’s

Next up today, this was all kinds of fun. From the Instagram feed of @danceon, a group of Asian-Americans celebrating Lunar New Year, dancing to James Brown.

I love America sometimes. Also, they’re really good dancers!

**And finally today, the great Steve Hartman of CBS News with a story about a group of 600 of Kentucky’s best high school choir singers, who congregate every year in Louisville for a performance, and a wonderful ritual “performance” that sprung up at a local hotel 35 years ago, and continues to this day.

If you’re not a little moved by the end of this short video, check your pulse to make sure you’re still alive.

Have a great and safe weekend.

A bizarre story from Seattle, where dozens of Mazda cars got their radios stuck on NPR, and can’t get it off. A pretty amazing moment for a Super Bowl champion player. And some Olympics thoughts, including sympathy for Mikaela Shiffrin, and man do I love curling!

So you know that old thought-provoking starter people ask their friends, about “if you only could hear one song on a deserted island, or read one book, etc., what would it be?”

Well, this next strange story is kind of an offshoot of that, answering the question “what would happen if your car radio was stuck on the same station forever?”

Check this out, from the Seattle Times:  “It was on Sunday afternoon, Jan. 30, driving in Ballard, that Dave Welding entered the world of car computers gone amok.

He drives a 2016 Mazda hatchback. It turns out that about the same time, the same thing was happening to other local Mazda owners who had this in common:

They drove a 2014 to 2017 model Mazda, and they had tuned into KUOW, 94.9 on the FM dial, the NPR station.

That’s all it took.

Somehow the signal the station sent to the modern HD Radio that’s part of the Mazda infotainment center had, as Welding puts it, “fried” a major component.

That frying made the radios only play KUOW. No chance of catching a little classic rock or some Dori soliloquies. KUOW. Forever.

Also gone from the infotainment center were such features as Bluetooth, navigation, the clock and vehicle stats — “Many of the features I paid for when I bought it new,” Welding says.

This is hilarious, and nuts, right? I mean, your radio dial permanently stuck to NPR doesn’t sound too bad to me, but come on, sometimes you need some Aerosmith or Taylor Swift!

More from the story: “Welding says that when he contacted Lee Johnson Mazda of Seattle, “They told me that there’s nothing they can do about it, that I needed a new CMU unit, that it cost $1,500 and that they didn’t have the part.”

The Mazda dealer referred calls for comment to Mazda corporate headquarters.

Lorenzo Pieruccioni, service manager at Mazda of Olympia, says he’s had seven to 10 customers with the rebooting problems. He tells them their CMU is corrupted.

That stands for “Connectivity Master Unit,” and it controls the video and audio signals to that infotainment system. That’s the $1,500 gizmo that is not available and who knows when it will be.

His assessment: “It’s just weird.”

SO weird. I mean, it could be worse, the radios could’ve all fried and landed only on KIDS Bop station, which is where my kids make my radio go most of the time.

On the other hand, think how much news these drivers’ brains are now getting? They will be able to imitate Robert Siegel or Mara Liasson in no time!

"I made it. I made it to the NFL, Big Whit."

An unbelievable moment during Andrew Whitworth's Walter Payton Man of the Year acceptance speech. | 📺 ABC/NFL Network pic.twitter.com/YS8fScKQbZ

— Los Angeles Rams (@RamsNFL) February 11, 2022

**Next up today, before we leave the Super Bowl behind, I wanted to post this video of Rams 40-year-old offensive tackle Andrew Whitworth, who was just named NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year, for his many off-field community service efforts.

It’s a quick story told by Whitworth about helping a young man a long time ago, and what that meant.

Just beautiful.

**Finally today, we’re in the homestretch of the Winter Olympics, with four days left as we sit here on Wednesday, February 16.

As I suspected, I have gotten more into it than I thought, simply because there are four channels of Olympic coverage and my boys like watching the cool sports they’ve never seen (the 7-year-old was blown away by mixed team aerials, that crazy ski jumping/acrobatics thingie that looks like it would leave 95 percent of the world’s population in the hospital if we tried it).

Some scattered thoughts on what has been a pretty fun Winter Olympics, even though there are no fans in the stands:

— Mikaela Shiffrin was supposed to once again be the “it” athlete at these Games, a dominant skier who has won three medals at her previous Olympics.

But much like with Simone Biles last summer in Tokyo, Shiffrin has struggled under the weight of huge expectations. Stunningly, she didn’t even complete her first two ski events in Beijing, then came in 18th in the downhill.

“It is failure. It’s okay to say that,” Shiffrin said a few days ago, and she’s been stunningly candid and honest about her lack of success.

It’s OK for people not to live up to expectations, and it’s great to see Shiffrin embrace the disappointment and not shy away from it.

— I’m super pumped for the USA-Canada women’s hockey gold medal match Thursday night, except it starts at 11:10 p.m. Eastern time and that’s crazy late for me to watch a full hockey game.
This is a wonderful rivalry, and this will be the fourth consecutive meeting in the gold medal match. I just wish I could watch more of it live.

— I say this every four years, but curling totally rules. I’ve watched quite a bit of the USA men’s team, and a few other matches, and one thing the announcers never talk about but amazes me is how the sweeping guys (sweepers) are walking backward and furiously doing their thing and they NEVER accidentally touch the other rocks on the ice while they’re doing it. I mean how can they see exactly where the rocks are? I know they look before the shot but still, they never ever accidentally brush the rocks.

Amazing.

— Finally, this controversy about the 15-year-old Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva, who is incredible and miles ahead of the rest of the field, but tested positive for a banned drug early in the Games, yet is being allowed to compete, sums up everything that is crooked about the International Olympic Committee.

So first it looked like she would be disqualified, then they found some ridiculous loophole that because of her age she is a “protected person” and somehow isn’t responsible for what goes into her body, and now she’ll be allowed to compete, but hilariously won’t be allowed to have a podium medal ceremony if she wins (because, you know, that would look bad).

And of course it involves a Russian athlete, but wait technically Russia is banned from the Olympics because of past doping scandals, so technically athletes from there are competing for the “Russia Olympic Committee” and man my head hurts just typing all this.

Don’t ever change, Olympics. The IOC is so corrupt it makes FIFA look like a Girl Scouts troop.

In the Super Bowl, the Rams squeak by the Cinderella Bengals, while the commercials were kinda meh but with a few great ones (Larry David rules!).

Well that was a pretty darn entertaining Super Bowl!

It didn’t end up the way I wanted it to: I was really hoping the better story would win out, and that’s definitely the Cincinnati Bengals. Long-downtrodden franchise, loser of two previous close Super Bowls, having a magical run through the playoffs, and finally winning a championship. Would’ve meant so much to their loyal, long-suffering fans.

Instead, nope, we get the crappier outcome: Transient franchise with an owner who completely abandoned the city of St. Louis, with very few actual fans in their home city, gets the Lombardi Trophy.

It was a terrific game, back and forth, great plays by stars like the Rams’ Cooper Kupp and Aaron Donald coming through in the clutch, and the Bengals just not making any offensive plays in the fourth quarter.

I’m happy for players like Matthew Stafford, who played for so many horrible Detroit Lions teams over his career, finally getting a taste of winning. And Aaron Donald, who’s been as good as any defensive player the last 10 years.

And Andrew Whitworth, a Rams star offensive linemen who’s 40 years old, been playing for 16 seasons, and finally gets a title. Watch this short piece of his speech when he won Walter Payton Man of the Year a few days ago and try not to be happy for him.

But I definitely feel for the Bengals. Joe Burrow is a superstar quarterback, their defense was terrific for most of the night, and you have a feeling they’ll be back in this game someday soon.

Still, you’ve got the Chiefs, the Bills, the Ravens, lotta great teams in the AFC with great quarterbacks of their own. You never know when you’ll get this chance again.

Terrific end to the season. Some thoughts about the game, and then some thoughts about the commercials, also the highlight of some Super Bowls:

— The Rams started and finished great on offense, but for most of the game Matthew Stafford looked just kind of “meh.” After two great scoring drives, Stafford looked tentative, his team couldn’t run the ball, and it looked like a missed extra point at 13-3 would loom large and maybe cost them.

–Neither team could run the ball, actually, which helped both defensive lines terrorize the quarterbacks.

— Odell Beckham Jr. was having a great first half, then got hurt, and then the great Al Michaels (more on him in a sec) and Cris Collinsworth spent the next three quarters deifying him, trying to make us feel SO sorry for him, talking about what a wonderful guy he was … give me a break. OBJ was a selfish ass with the Giants, a selfish ass with the Browns, and I’m sure he’ll be a selfish ass with the Rams in due time.

The guy is all about him, him, and him.

— So Al Michaels is 77 years old and still the best play by play announcer in football, and yet NBC is not renewing his contract to make way for a younger man, Mike Tirico. Absolutely nuts that Michaels is still at the top of his game, and he’ll not be working for NBC anymore (Apparently he’ll be doing Thursday night games over the Internet for Amazon).

— After hardly calling a penalty all night, the Super Bowl referees sure blew their whistle a lot on the Rams’ winning drive, eh? All seemed penalties on the Bengals but man, holy inconsistency, Batman.

— Finally, the Bengals’ last drive, which could’ve gone down in history, was a disaster. After a terrific first play to J’Marr Chase, their play-calling was awful. On 3rd and 1, they gave the ball to their backup running back, Samaje Perine, who was stopped (although Cincy got a terrible spot there, Perine looked to be much closer to the first down than he was given credit for) and then on 4th down, Burrow, who was under siege all night, waited far too long to try a pass and was hit by Donald. At that time, with game on line and only one yard needed, you have to have your best RB in and you have to get a quick-hitting play to gain the one yard.

Frustrating.

Anyway, football season is over, bring on March Madness, baby!

— I thought most of the commercials were pretty blah during the Super Bowl. Way too many crypto commercials but hey, that’s who’s got the money these days. The Bud Light commercial was terrible, and the Expedia and QR Code

— So there were a few outstanding commercials, so I don’t want you think I disliked all of them.

My favorite was definitely the Larry David ad for FTX, some kind of cryptocurrency company, with Larry being put in historical scenes from the last 300 years and disagreeing and being wrong on every major decision (arguing during Constitutional times that people shouldn’t have the right to vote. “Even the stupid ones? was a great line!)

— But a close second was the wonderful reprise of “The Sopranos” series finale, with Jamie Lynn-Sigler again trying to parallel park (this time an electric Chevy Silverado) and then getting out after finally succeeding, and hugging her TV brother Robert Iler at the end. Wonderful.

— I also loved the Peyton Manning/Serena Williams Michelob bowling commercial, and the Mary J. Blige ad for health company Hologic was cool. And I very much liked the Scarlett Johannsen/Colin Jost ad for Amazon Prime Alexa, with the speaker saying the absolute wrong thing each time, to burn the other person. Very funny.

— Oh and the Paul Rudd/Seth Rogen Lays chips commercial was terrific.

— So the halftime show: Definitely not my kind of music, as I’m not a hip-hop guy. But I thought it was a terrific show. Mary J. Blige still looks amazing, Eminem did a great version of “Lose Yourself,” and Snoop and Doctor Dre were both excellent.

Like I said, not my thing, but still highly enjoyable.

— Nuts to me that my good buddy Jeff Pearlman’s book was turned into an HBO show, “Winning Time,” and there was a commercial for it during the freaking Super Bowl. It comes out March 6 and you can be sure you’ll be reading more about that show in this space. So damn proud of my boy.

Good News Friday: Dolly Parton is amazing and kind, example 4,232. A 4-year-old is mic’ed up while snowboarding and it’s hilarious. And sensational kid drummer Nandi Bushell is at it again, with a classic Rush cover.

Happy Friday! It’s Valentine’s Day weekend, the Brooklyn Nets that I love made a (maybe) great trade Thursday (watch how fast James Harden’s hamstring heals now), I watched a gripping USA vs. Great Britain Olympic curling match Thursday night, I’m going to a live music concert tonight with my beautiful wife, and it was like 50 freaking degrees in New York today!

In other words, life is good.

So much goodness this week I can’t cram it all in, but I want to start with a pretty amazing gesture by a true American icon, Dolly Parton.

What more can we say about this woman? She’s generous beyond belief, she’s got very little ego, she inspires young girls and she’s got a voice like an angel. She doesn’t take herself too seriously, and she continues to make the world a better place.

This week’s example was the news that Parton and her company that runs the theme park Dollywood have said that if any of its employees want to continue to pursue their education, they’re more than happy to foot the bill.

From this article on VanityFair.com:

“Herschend Enterprises, the operating partner behind Dolly Parton’s Dollywood, Dollywood’s Splash Country, Dolly Parton’s Stampede, Dollywood’s DreamMore Resort, Dollywood Cabins, and Pirates Voyage Dinner & Show, announced that starting this month they will start covering 100% of tuition, fees, and books for any of their employees who wish to further their schooling. Herschend will begin offering this workplace perk through its pilot program GROW U launching on February 24 for all seasonal, part-time and full-time employees. Hosts will be able to enroll starting on their first day of work in diploma, degree and certificate programs offered through 30 learning partners and in subjects such as business administration and leadership, culinary, finance, technology, and marketing. The company will also provide partial funding, up to $5,250/year, for 150 additional programs in fields like hospitality, engineering, human resources, and art design.

The president of The Dollywood Company, Eugene Naughton, told local Tennessee news outlet WATE, “We know when our hosts are happy and feel cared for that they are going to pass that along to our guests. The creation of the program allows another avenue for us to care for our hosts.” He continued, “One of The Dollywood Foundation’s key tenets is to ‘learn more.’ This program is created with that very tenet in mind. We want our hosts to develop themselves through advanced learning to fulfill the foundation’s other tenets: care more, dream more, and be more. When our hosts strive to grow themselves, it makes our business and our community a truly better place.” 

Just phenomenal. The kind of investment in people, in human capital, that all companies should make. 

Bravo, Dolly. Now all of you go listen to “9 to 5” or “Jolene” in her honor.

https://twitter.com/indigogloves/status/1491819164595539972

**Next up today, OMG this made my wife laugh so hard I came into the room to make sure she was OK. Then I watched it 3 times and I bust a gut laughing as well.

So the family of 4-year-old Aubrin Sage decided to put a large dinosaur costume on him, and a microphone, as she was going down a hill snowboarding recently.

And the results are exactly as wonderful as you’d expect when a 4-year-old does a running commentary.
The ending line, with what type of dinosaur she became, absolutely slayed me.

You go, Aubrin!

**And finally today, we’ve written about the exploits of the fantastic British kid drummer Nandi Bushell before; she’s the little girl who challenged Dave Grohl, eventually went on stage and played with Foo Fighters, and is just all-around 11 kinds of awesome.

Well she’s out with a new drumming video, to Rush’s classic song “Tom Sawyer,” and it’s incredible.

What a talent. Enjoy the weekend!

A new Arthur Ashe documentary beautifully recounts his powerful, too-short life. Two more UCLA gymnastics do jaw-dropping, fun routines. And the Academy Award nominations come out, with some major movie stars set to have big nights.

There is a story, the basics of which are true but the exact details of which may be apocryphal, that I love about Arthur Ashe (hat tip to my friend Dave M. for reminding me of it).

After Ashe died in 1993, when AIDS tragically cut his life short at only 49, the political leadership of his hometown of Richmond, Va., discussed putting up a statue of a man who stood for so much, and made such a difference.

There were open hearings and public discussion, and the politicians thought the Ashe monument should be placed on Monument Ave. near those of five Confederate generals.

Many members of the black community thought that was a bad idea. One man allegedly stood up at a public hearing and said “why would you want to put him up next to an avenue of losers?”

As it turned out, Ashe was placed near the generals, but he absolutely was a winner, in all ways.

I have admired Arthur Ashe since I was a tennis-loving kid and first learned about his amazing life, and my admiration for him has only grown as I’ve devoured more and more about him.

There’s a new documentary out about this towering figure of American history, called “Citizen Ashe,” and it’s streaming on Amazon Prime right now.

It was stirring, and deeply-reported, and so well done. The film of course tells the basics of Ashe’s story, how he was a young tennis-loving kid in Richmond whose talent was nurtured by an African-American coach named Robert Johnson.

Ashe faced discrimination and racism as he grew, of course, but continued to thrive in junior tournaments, at college at UCLA, and on the fledgling new pro tennis circuit.

The film reminded me of so much that was great about Ashe: His dignity in the face of oppression, how he managed to stay true to himself despite being at odds with so many 1960s black athletes, who were much more militant than he was (sports figures like Muhammad Ali and Harry Edwards were quite bothered that Ashe refused to speak out more on racial issues in the ’60s), and how in a lily-white sport, Ashe was able to shine.

The documentary, told through all the right voices, like his brother Johnnie, his widow Jeanne, and people in the sport like Donald Dell and John McEnroe, reminded me of much I already knew, and informed me of much I didn’t.

I learned for the first time, for example, that Johnnie signed up for a second tour of duty in Vietnam just saw Arthur could continue his young tennis career and wouldn’t have to go into battle (the Army has rules that brothers can’t be enlisted and fighting at the same time).

That sets up a poignant scene where Johnnie recalls watching, in his Army barracks, watching Arthur win the ’68 U.S. Open crown, and weeping.

As the 1970s progressed, Ashe became more active in civil rights issues, and his tennis career rose to new heights. The peak was in 1975, when against a brash, obnoxious, oh-so-hateable Jimmy Connors (and God was he an a-hole back then), Ashe completely changed his strategy and mentality to frustrate and beat Connors in the Wimbledon final.

Heart problems forced him to retire from tennis a few years later, but his stature only grew. He fought against apartheid in South Africa, racism here in America, and so many causes. What he would’ve done the rest of his life if AIDS from a blood transfusion hadn’t led to his death in 1993, we can only imagine. But I’m certain he would’ve continued to fight against injustice.

“What I don’t want is, to be remembered for, when all is said and done, is to be remembered as a great tennis player,” Ashe said. “That’s no contribution to make to society.”

Believe me, Arthur, you are remembered for MUCH more than that. Check out “Citizen Ashe” when you can, it’s wonderful.

 

**Next up today, you know I love a good kick-ass gymnastics routine, and once again the highly-ranked team from UCLA has given us a few incredible performances lately.

In addition to this amazing routine to DMX songs by UCLA’s Sekai Wright, check out the phenomenal freshman Jordan Chiles (above), shaking and grooving and jumping her little heart out.

As always, my favorite part of these routines are the teammates on the sidelines doing every move with Jordan. So damn fun!

**And finally today, the Academy Award nominations came out Tuesday, always an exciting day for movie buffs and awards-show junkies like me.

There were a few surprises, as always: Aaron Sorkin not getting nominated for Best Screenplay, for “Being The Ricardos” was a surprise, but like I said at the time I saw the movie, I don’t think this was his best work. Still, Sorkin seems to ALWAYS get nominated when he writes a film. I love that Nicole Kidman, Javier Bardem and J.K. Simmons all got acting nods because all were fabulous in that film.

A couple of movies I’d never heard of lead the pack of nominations, with Benedict Cumberbatch and “The Power of The Dog” getting 12 noms, and “Dune” getting 10 picks.

I was very happy to see “King Richard” get honored with six nominations, including Will Smith for Best Actor, and the film for Best Picture. It was an excellent look at The Williams sisters improbable rise in the tennis world.

I really need to see “Don’t Look Up,” the Adam McKay movie that seems to have a wild range of opinions on it; some friends have told me it’s amazing, others that it’s awful. Can’t wait to see who’s right.

The star power of this year’s nominees is immense: Denzel Washington, Kidman, Oliva Colman, Smith… just fantastic.

Here’s the full list of nominees; the Oscars telecast is March 27

 

I’m trying to get into the Winter Olympics, but failing so far. A fantastic local TV report on the dreariness of February. And a police officer arrests a DoorDash driver, then continues making the deliveries.

The Winter Olympics are here, there have been a few days of great competition so far, with women’s hockey, figure skating and slopestyle snowboarding all beginning.

And I’ve watched maybe 5 minutes of it. (Hey, I had to spend a few hours watching that beautiful Duke beatdown of North Carolina on Saturday night, in Coach K’s final game in Chapel Hill. It was glorious!)

I’m a big Olympics guy, always have been. I love the bravery of the athletes, the spirit of nation competing vs. nation, all the pageantry and music that NBC can throw at me.

But it’s been really hard this year, for a bunch of reasons. First, there’s what NPR’s Scott Simon Tweeted the other day, which hit exactly home for me:

“I just can’t watch these Olympic Games,” Simon Tweeted. “Just can’t watch without thinking of detention camps, squelched speech, imprisoned dissidents, genocide, and now, we learn, world athletes sequestered and cold. I’m missing some great performances. But I just don’t have that off switch.”

It’s hard to separate the repressive, anti-democratic regime of China from these Games. Maybe it should’ve been harder in 2008, at the Beijing Summer Games, but I don’t remember feeling the same way then.
China has done so much wrong, between treatment of the Uyghurs, crackdown of any dissent, the whole Peng Shuai situation, etc., that it’s hard to completely forget about all that.

Then there’s the lack of feeling at the venues; foreign fans were not allowed, and just the few minutes on TV I’ve watched and the highlights, things seem so antiseptic.

We’ve also seemingly got a dearth of big storylines on the U.S. side in some of the big events: Nathan Chen is favored to win men’s figure skating, but Mikaela Shiffrin has already crashed out of one of her ski events, and I can’t think of too many other American athletes at these games I’m excited to see (the lack of NHL players in the hockey competition is a big bummer).

I know I’ll probably get into them soon, amidst college basketball and hockey and the other things pulling at my pop-culture attention span.

Just finding it very hard to get into these Covid Games right now.

(Oh and by the way, I know that cartoon above has nothing to do with the Winter Olympics. I just thought it was really funny and wanted to share it.)

**Next up, this is one of my favorite local TV reports ever. A journalist named Kevin Killeen at KMOX in Missouri decided to do a two-minute report on how we all feel during the month of February: Dreary days, lack of motivation, etc.
But he did it in such a perfect way, walking around St. Louis, using an umbrella as a prop, that I finished watching this and thought it was just perfect.

February, you are blah. Thank you Kevin, for encapsulating this so perfectly. (Oh and I’ve discovered Kevin actually did this report back in 2016, but it was all over Twitter this week when many of us discovered it. Still holds up.)

**And finally today, I love this story so darn much. I heard it on “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me” last week and I instantly knew I wanted to share it.

“I know I’m not who you’re expecting, but your driver got arrested.”

Those were the words of Sioux Falls (South Dakota) Police Officer Sam Buhr, who two weeks ago had an experience I guarantee his predecessors on the job 50 years ago never had to do. (Also before I tell this story I’d like to point out that I’ve now had stories from Sioux Falls, S.D. on my blog twice in the past month! What the hell are the odds of that?)

Buhr was doing his rounds recently and stopped a DoorDash delivery driver on a traffic violation. It turns out the driver had an arrest warrant pending, so off the driver went to the pokey.

Not wanting customers who were waiting for their food to be disappointed, Officer Buhr took over the delivery schedule and completed the grub run.

According to People.com: “He was captured on a doorbell camera dropping off an Arby’s order to an unsuspecting DoorDash customer on Tuesday. In a video posted to the Tea Storm Chasers Facebook page, Buhr can be seen ringing the customer’s doorbell with the Arby’s order in hand.

“I know I’m not who you’re expecting, but your driver got arrested,” he said in the footage, before explaining, “I figured I’d complete the DoorDash for you.”

The customer laughed before telling Buhr, “Thank you so much.”

“While delivering food is not a normal part of police work, helping people is,” a spokesperson for the Sioux Falls police said.

I love so much about this story. But I also have questions: Did Officer Buhr at least help himself to a french fry? Did he try to arrest the Arby’s customer for excessive use of grease and bad taste?

Good on ya, Officer Buhr. Can’t wait to see what NEXT week’s Sioux Falls, South Dakota story will be!

Good News Friday: An 8-year-old writes a little book, sticks it in his local library, and now it’s super popular. A custodian gets a wonderful surprise from his school. And the Covid vaccine FINALLY comes for the littlest among us!