Happy Friday and happy October, my people! First want to say how so many of us around the country are thinking and praying for the people of Florida right now; Hurricane Ian was absolutely awful, and the videos of the devastation Thursday were hard to watch without wincing. Last death toll I saw was 15 people, and the destruction of property was immense. Hoping all my Florida friends are safe and sound. I lived down there for five years and learned hurricanes on the coast are no joke.
Alrighty then, it’s Friday and how about some good medical news! As you know I’ve written many times in this space about Alzheimer’s Disease, and how awful it is. It’s affected my family (my beloved grandmother died from it, as did a great-aunt) and I’ve seen it destroy so many millions of other lives, that any medical development about it is trumpeted by me.
This week came fantastic news, that I know we should be cautious about, but it’s good news nonetheless.
“The pharmaceutical companies Biogen and Eisai said on Tuesday that a drug they are developing for Alzheimer’s disease had slowed the rate of cognitive decline in a large late-stage clinical trial.
The strong results boost the drug’s chances of winning approval and offer renewed hope for a class of Alzheimer’s drugs that have repeatedly failed or generated mixed results.
Cognitive decline in the group of volunteers who received lecanemab was reduced by 27 percent compared with the group who received a placebo in the clinical trial, which enrolled nearly 1,800 participants with mild cognitive impairment or mild Alzheimer’s disease, the companies said.”
Now, this is excellent to see a drug actually slowing decline, and giving Alzheimer’s patients more time. The more I dug into the study, the more I found caution, like in this Tweet I saw from a scientist named Bruce Booth:
“A typical AD patient progresses 1 pt on CDR-SB per year (0.5-1.4). So a 27% reduction implies a few months delay in dementia progress. I lost my grandmother to AD, and a few months would have been meaningful – but not transformative.”
I totally get the caution, and that this is just one step in a huge fight to eradicate Alzheimer’s. But it’s a big step, it’s a drug that on a scale of 1,800 patients has worked, and maybe it’ll spur more and more research $$$, which is what all diseases need.
Read more about the study’s results here. Wonderful news, with still a long way to go.
**Next up today, another fabulous Steve Hartman story that brought tears to my eyes. A 9-year-old California girl named Carsyn Majors was diagnosed with alopecia a few years ago, and as you can imagine losing all your hair can be devastating to a child’s self-confidence and image. As her hair fell out and she looked very different from other kids, Carsyn struggled.
But then she met Scarlett Hall, and well, her whole life changed, for the better. Take it away, Steve.
**And finally today, 20 seconds or so of two brothers, one a big bro and the other a little bro, making each other laugh uproariously.
I don’t know if it’s the best sound in the world, but it’s pretty damn great, and it reminded me of when my two boys crack each other up. Now I’m going to finish this post and sneak into their rooms while they’re sleeping and give them a hug.
There is SO much television out there these days, it’s impossible to keep track of all the good stuff. All you can do is read some blurbs, watch a few trailers, and hope that nothing too amazing slips on by.
I feel lucky when I discover a great new show because honestly it’s so easy for everything to get lost in the shuffle. But when I read about the new Hulu sitcom “Reboot,” I saw it had a whole bunch of elements in it that added up to me definitely thinking I’d like it.
First, it comes from Steven Levitan, who co-created “Modern Family,” for my money just about the funniest, most consistently excellent show on TV for its first five seasons or so. It was on ABC, it had a stellar cast, and the writing was so damn sharp. So if Levitan is involved in something new, I’m betting it’ll probably be funny.
Then the cast of “Reboot” must be considered, and so many people I like are in it: Keegan-Michael Key, who has been fabulous in everything I’ve ever seen him in, is one of the stars. Rachel Bloom, the brilliant comedic mind behind “My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend,” is another. Judy Greer, who’s guest-starred on every show ever and is always funny, is in “Reboot,” and then there’s Paul Reiser, who I loved in “Mad About You” and most other stuff I’ve seen him in.
So all these good people are in it. And the premise is pretty good, too: Greer and Key were two of the stars of a TGIF-like wholesome sitcom called “Step Right Up,” and two decades later Bloom’s character, an edgy TV writer, wants to reboot it but in a much different sensibility. She wants to make the show edgier, the characters darker and more sarcastic, but do it with the whole original cast, including child star Zack who’s no longer 8 but now like 25 years old.
I don’t want to give away much, but the first three episodes available on Hulu (they released the first three, now are doing the rest one week at a time) have been sensational. Funny, funny, funny. Really strong writing, even Johnny Knoxville (whose character also starred in the original) looks like a real actor here.
There’s a ton of terrific arguing between Bloom and Reiser, the story zips along, and it’s just a very fast 30-minute experience. The wife and I really love this show so far, and can’t wait to see more episodes.
“Reboot,” on Hulu. Trust me, there’s so much bad TV out there, take my word for it, this is one of the good ones.
Michael Sheen — with another incredible speech to the Wales national team.
**Next up, this is 14 kinds of fantastic. So the actor Michael Sheen, who was in “Masters of Sex” and the great movie “Frost/Nixon,” and a bunch of other stuff, is from Wales. And he’s also a hell of a dramatic actor and speechmaker.
He’s combined those two talents lately by giving motivational speeches to the Welsh national soccer team, who oh by the way will be in the World Cup this November and is in the same group as the United States.
Check out this spine-tingling speech Sheen gave to the team recently, and tell me after watching this you wouldn’t jump in front of a moving freaking train for Michael Sheen.
This is so amazing I want him to give me pep talks for the rest of my life. Also I want to be Welsh now.
**And finally today, it’s rare I see something in sports I’ve never seen before, but here it is. This is a college softball fall game last week at North Dakota State, there was close play at the plate, and two umpires are there and see two VERY different things.
The first time I watched Roger Federer on a tennis court, live, I had no idea who he was and barely paid attention.
It was 2002 at the U.S. Open, and I was there with some childhood friends, and it was late in the day, and we saw Michael Chang was due to play on Armstrong against some Swiss guy. I had vaguely heard of Federer, I knew he was somewhere in the Top 20, but mostly we wanted to see Chang, one of the great Americans from the early 1990s who was on the back end of his career.
We were joking around in the stands, and every so often would look up as Federer ripped a gorgeous backhand past Chang. As the dominant match wore on, I paid more and more attention. This Federer kid with the bandanna and gorgeous strokes was just killing Chang, and his game was beautiful. Wow, I thought, maybe this guy will amount to a champion one day.
Twenty years and a month from that day, “that guy” played his final match Friday night, in front of a sold-out arena full of adoring fans and celebrities in London. It was an exhibition match, at the Laver Cup, an event Federer created that pits the best players from Europe against the best players from the rest of the world.
It was as emotional a tennis scene as I’ve ever seen. People were crying before the match Federer played alongside doubles partner, and all-time greatest rival, Rafael Nadal. And then afterwards, when the crowd wouldn’t stop applauding, when his opponents all but apologized for sending the great one out with a loss (I would’ve bet every dollar I have that Frances Tiafoe and Jack Sock would’ve lost that match, but dammit they won it), the tears were flowing like water through the Mississippi.
I’m going to try to put into words what Roger Federer has meant to me, but it’ll be tough. Tennis is my all-time favorite sport, and I’ve watched thousands of matches and thousands of players over the years.
None of them, none, have played this sport I worship with such beauty. None have made me gasp, shout, scream, drop my jaw in astonishment, or just revel in sheer enjoyment at watching someone work as Roger Federer has.
The late and legendary David Foster Wallace wrote a famous essay about Federer once, and one of the many wonderful passages in it says that (and I’m paraphrasing here) the more you know about tennis, the more you’re amazed at what Federer does. That he’ll hit some incredible angled forehand on the run, and we tennis nuts will turn to our non-tennis friends or spouses or whoever and say ‘oh my God, do you realize how hard that was, what he just did?” And then we’ll try to explain it and it’s impossible.
He was such a beautiful player, with every shot in the book, that even when he dominated and crushed all others, he was beloved. When he started having rivals, like this Spanish kid Nadal and the Serbian superstar Novak Djokovic, Federer raised his game even higher.
Sure, he suddenly lost a lot more than he had, but even his defeats were epic, and memorable. His agony of losing, like in 2008 Wimbledon and 2019 at the same venue, and his excruciating defeats to Djokovic at the U.S. Open in 2010 and ’11, just made Federer seem more human, more relatable to us.
His beautiful game was matched only by his beauty off the court, and his sportsmanship. Federer was always willing to talk to fans, reporters, anyone who wanted a few minutes. Generous to a fault, always, he showed you could be a cutthroat champion but a role model and a mensch off the court as well. There are SO many stories of Federer’s kindness, to list them all would take months.
I laughed out loud Friday night when Martina Navratilova, calling the final few minutes of Federer’s final match for Tennis Channel, said something to the effect of “I’m so torn, I don’t know how to root, I want Federer to win the match, but I want it go on for a while, I don’t want it to end, but I don’t want him to lose…”
That’s exactly how we all felt, Martina. This amazing champion, this incredible sportsman, was in his final moments, and we just didn’t want it to end.
Sigh. But it’s over now. The man I will always be grateful to, for choosing tennis as a kid and playing it as beautifully as anyone ever has, is riding off into the sunset.
Adios, Roger. It has been OUR honor to watch you play.
**Speaking of some of my favorite things like Roger Federer, I was alerted Sunday that “The Princess Bride” turned 35 years old this weekend.
An absolutely perfect film that I can’t watch enough, “The Princess Bride” is a wonderful, beloved classic that I can’t wait to show my kids one day (Right now I think the ROUS and the torture machine would be too scary).
So many scenes I could’ve picked for this post, but since it’s Rosh Hashanah, let’s go with wonderful Jewish comedian Billy Crystal’s scene as Miracle Max, along with Carol Kane as his wife, Valerie.
“Liar!”
**Finally today, we’re three weeks into the NFL season and here’s a sentence I did not think I’d be writing: The Miami Dolphins and Philadelphia Eagles are the best teams in the league.
They’re both 3-0, and the Dolphins had the most impressive win of anyone Sunday, beating the Buffalo Bills, 21-19.
The Fins defense harassed Josh Allen, Tua Tagovailoa played a terrific game, and Miami may actually have found the next wonderboy head coach in Mike McDaniel, who’s a refreshingly weird, different kind of dude. As a Jets fan it would really bum me out if after finally getting rid of Belichick dominance, I’ve got to watch Miami dominate the division.
The Eagles, meanwhile, just crushed Washington, 24-8, and while OK that’s not that impressive, they clearly seem to have a star in QB Jalen Hurts. They’ve got two stud receivers in A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith, an aggressive defense, and they play in a weak division. They’re looking like an 11 or 12-win team to me.
— Speaking of the Eagles, their old coach, Doug Pederson, is working some magic down in Jacksonville. Who had the Jaguars at 2-1 so far this season? I don’t see any hands up. Jason Mendoza’s favorite team absolutely throttled the Chargers Sunday, Trevor Lawrence is looking like the No.1 overall pick and the future star we all thought he was, and their defense looks feisty, too.
— Meanwhile, the hell is wrong with the Chargers? I know Justin Herbert was hurting Sunday but wow did L.A. get throttled. This is a team many thought could go to the Super Bowl, and now they’re 1-2 and look terrible.
— Finally, oh yeah, my Jets got back to stinking Sunday. In three games, they’ve led for 22 seconds this season. Joe Flacco reverted back to what we knew he was at this stage, the defense was atrocious (wait, it’s NOT recommended to leave the other team’s star receiver open in the end zone, as the Jets have done for three straight weeks now?), and the coach I’ve had such high hopes for, Robert Saleh, is starting to sound like so many other Jets coaches of my lifetime.
Sigh. The franchise QB Zach Wilson is due to return next week. Maybe good times are somehow ahead.
Happy Friday, my humans! I write here before you on hopefully my final day of Covid-isolation up in the master bedroom, where I’ve spent just about the entirety of the past two days. Hoping that by the time you read this, I’ll have tested negative and be out free in the world (I’ll be 6 days past first symptoms on Friday).
Not going to hijack GNF with my Covid talk, but this has been much milder than the first time I had it, so I’m thinking the vaccines and boosters I’ve had have helped. In the words of the great philosopher Jesse Pinkman, “Yeah Science!”
Anyway, it’s Friday, it’s officially autumn, Aaron Judge is going to break Roger Maris’ Yankees home run record this weekend, and let’s get to some good news.
First off, check out this crazy story that happened at a Spanish soccer game. With less than 10 minutes left in a game between Cadiz CF and the legendary FC Barcelona club, a fan was suffering cardiac arrest in the stands.
Cadiz goalkeeper Jeremias Ledesma ran across the field to deliver a medical kit to bystanders who had started helping the man.
Soon, team trainers brought over a defibrillator and the man was able to be revived and taken to a hospital.
Great job by Ledesma.
**Next up, this was a beautiful story from ABC News World News Tonight’s “America Strong” segment. A man and woman who never knew they were siblings were in the same building numerous times over the years. Christina Sadberry walked by Raymond Turner’s office every time she visited Cook Children’s Hospital for seven years, but had never met.
Until both started looking through their ancestry history. What an amazing story.
**And finally today, Cincinnati Reds superstar Joey Votto has always been a class act, and what he did Wednesday night just fit right in with that image.
Votto has been on the injured list for a while and Wednesday night decided spend much of the game roaming the stands, hanging with Reds fans who’ve had to endure a miserable season from the team.
Can’t remember last time I ever saw that, a superstar just walking around the ballpark making friends. Votto is one hell of a dude.
Hi folks, sorry for getting this post up late today but I was busy last night heaving my guts out, and then this morning testing positive for Covid. Yay! Good news is, I’m 3-4 days into my symptoms so I only have to isolate today and tomorrow, and this Covid is MUCH milder than what I had back in Nov. 2020. So yay for vaccines and boosters, they work!
Anyway, I’ll be fine, no worries.
It feels like 1,000 years ago, but in 2014 a small podcast named “Serial” took America by storm. Millions of people listened, “Saturday Night Live” spoofed it on more than one occasion, and for months people were riveted by the tale of convicted high schooler Adnan Syed, who allegedly murdered his ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee back in 1999.
Many of us listened raptly to the incredible investigative reporting Sara Koenig and her “Serial” team did, and many of us also were pretty convinced that, if Adnan was not necessarily innocent, there was at least a lot of reasonable doubt that he did it, which in our justice system should have meant an acquittal.
But Adnan was convicted, and for the last two decades (with much more attention on the case since 2014’s “Serial” of course) he and his attorneys have been fighting to free him.
Monday afternoon, it finally happened. The Baltimore Co. prosecutors office cited new evidence, as well as other disturbing details from his trial, and a judge ordered Syed freed. Baltimore Co. has 30 days in which to decide to try him again (which seems unlikely) before Syed can truly be free.
It’s a crazy twist to a case that has been crazy from the start, and if you’re one of the few humans who never listened to the original “Serial,” I cannot recommend it highly enough.
Eli Manning went undercover at Penn State as walk-on "Chad Powers" and it's absolute gold. pic.twitter.com/jaEYqBRcMh
**Next up, Eli Manning has shown WAY more personality in retirement from the NFL than he ever did as a star Giants quarterback. Here’s yet another example: For his TV show “Eli’s Places” he went undercover last year at Penn State, trying to walk on as a quarterback during tryouts, as a guy named “Chad Powers.”
I thoroughly enjoyed “Chad”‘s dialogue to himself throughout.
Here’s the clip where Eli reveals who he was the whole time, if you want to see some shocked expressions.
**And finally today, oh my goodness do I love this story. A nursing home in Taiwan got in some trouble last week after word got out that a local stripper was hired to entertain the patients.
And thank the Lord, there is video of it. Just watch and … wow. What a thrill for those old codgers!
There are so few reasons for joy as a Jets fan, especially the last 10 years, which has been an especially dark period for a franchise that pretty much as ONLY seen dark periods over the last 60 years.
So you’ll forgive us if we go a little crazy over the small morsels of happiness we get. Sunday afternoon in Cleveland, against a franchise just about as tortured as the Jets are, my boys in white and green played pretty well on offense, miserable on defense, and looked to be on their way to another September defeat, what would be their 14th in a row, a truly mind-boggling number.
They were down 30-17 with 1:55 left, and CBS was showing graphics like “the last time the Browns were 2-0, Bill Clinton was in his first year as President” and stuff like that. The game was basically over.
Only it wasn’t. The Jets miraculously scored two touchdowns in the final 80 seconds, sandwiched around a crazy-good onside kick recovery, and stunned the Browns, 31-30.
The best part, for me? I slept through it live. Was feeling very ill, stomach-wise all night Saturday night and then most of the day Sunday. Watched/listened to some of the first half while running around with the kids, then got home and watched a few minutes of the third quarter before realizing I needed to sleep.
I set the alarm for 4:20, knowing that I’d miss the rest of the game but let’s face it, no one, ever, has felt sick and then watched the Jets play and felt better. I felt like I was just sparing myself some misery.
I woke up and had a whole buncha texts from friends and relatives saying “Incredible!” “Oh my God, Jets!”
So of course I then re-wound the ole’ DVR and enjoyed the miracle. Joe Flacco (the pride of University of Delaware, baby!) throwing darts. Garrett Wilson, maybe (gasp) our second stud wide receiver draft pick in a row, catching the winning score. And the defense making a big stop at the end.
Does it signal a new, successful era of Jets football? Probably not. But it was sure exciting to see! 1-1 looks a whole lot better than 0-2.
Some more thoughts from a wild Week 2:
— The Dolphins would be getting all the headlines nationally for their comeback if not for the Jets win. Miami scored four TD’s in the final quarter to shock Baltimore. It’s possible Tua Tagovailoa (he threw six TDs Sunday) might turn out to be pretty good.
— Wild finish in Las Vegas, as Arizona scored on the last play of regulation to get within 2, then tied it with a 2-point conversion, then won on a defensive TD in overtime. Crazy stuff.
— Proof no one knows anything: The Dallas Cowboys, without Dak Prescott, face the Super Bowl runner-ups and beat them. Bengals are now 0-2 and have lost both games in 2022 on the final play of the game. Ooof.
— I talked last week (or another time) about how much I loved Dan Campbell and the Detroit Lions on HBO’s “Hard Knocks” this summer. Really wonderful to see how he’s trying to change the culture there. Well, the Lions got their first win Sunday, and a backup practice squad lineman named Dan Skipper had to start, and just look at his face at the 1:09 mark of this video, the tears coming.
VIDEO: Dan Campbell led a postgame speech after the Lions win that had Dan Skipper in tears.
The whole team chanted the name of the guard who started — after he was cut following camp.
— We are TWO weeks into the season, and there are only four 2-0 teams (the Bills could be the fifth if they win tonight). That’s crazy to me. Everybody likes parity, I guess, and it’s fun when everyone is at the same level, but wow, only four 2-0 teams?? Seems nuts.
–Finally, I rarely write about college football because it’s not my thing, but this Hail Mary pass leading to a win by Appalachian State on Saturday was awesome, along with the completely hysterical radio call from the home booth. (Might want to make sure your volume isn’t up too high on this one).
**Next up today, I would never inflict a Donald Trump rally clip on you nice people unless there was a good reason for it. But oh my goodness, we have reached a creepiness level I didn’t think possible. Watch this two minute clip and tell me you’re not scared. The hands in the air, the music… I’m going to hide under the covers.
this is one of the most bizarre things I've seen at a Trump rally. All it is missing is passing around Kool-Aid right after. pic.twitter.com/BmPOztb7kA
**And finally today, a remarkable piece of journalism from the N.Y. Times’ Michael Wilson last week. For the last couple of years, the NYPD has been getting thousands of calls about crimes in progress at 312 Riverside Drive. Stabbings, shootings, robberies, a caller would report it all.
But every time the police went there, there was no noise, no crime, nothing. 312 Riverside Drive isn’t even a real address in New York.
So what’s going on? Well, the calls were traced back to one man, named Walter Reed, and his story is tragic and fascinating and wonderfully told. This is really so, so good, most certainly worth your time.
Detectives eventually traced the calls to a single cellphone in a building on West 43rd Street that had once been the Hotel Times Square, but for years has offered affordable housing and counseling to vulnerable men and women in the city.
The police found the phone on the 14th floor, and with it, the man behind every call.
And so the mystery became a puzzle — one that has confounded an entire team of lawyers, caregivers and social workers. His remarkable case is an extreme example of a familiar dynamic. It is one that plays out all over New York when the city’s law enforcement apparatus is confronted with people whose behavior is erratic or delusional, but who do not seem to pose any real danger to others.
This tension feels immediate in New York City, where people returning to their offices after months at home are facing reminders of some of the most visible ways mental illness manifests itself on subway platforms or street corners. A vein of behavior outside the norms runs through the streets, not easily addressed by handcuffs or medication.
One man with a cellphone has created enough havoc to be hauled over and over into court, but not enough to warrant a prison cell. He knows it’s wrong, and he apologizes to the judge, but he won’t stop.
Happy Friday, world! We are in mid-September somehow already, the weather is getting chillier here in N.Y., I’m recovering from post-U.S. Open afterglow, and I’m saddened as I write this because today is the day one of my all-time sporting heroes, Roger Federer, announced he’s retiring.
I’ll probably have much more to say on Rog next week, when he plays his last “official” match, but needless to say, I enjoyed watching him more than any other athlete in my lifetime, and he will be very deeply missed by me and millions of other tennis fans. Also, was reminded by the great Jimmy Traina of SI.com of this fantastic rooftop tennis commercial Roger filmed in 2020, with two stunned and happy Italian girls.
OK, just had to get that out there. On with the show!
Watch how strangers in Argentina help reunite a lost boy with his father in a crowd. 🥲
We lead off Good News Friday today with this video that hit me in all the right places. It’s of a lost boy in Argentina, who got separated from his father in a crowd. He starts telling strangers that his father, Eduardo, is missing and they get a local band who’s playing outdoors to start singing “Eduardo, come and find Juan Cruz!”
And after who knows how long, a boy and his dad are reunited. I just love all of this, just the humanity, the spirit of togetherness.
**Next up today, a man named Yvon Chouinard did something extraordinary this week. Chouinard is the founder of the sportswear/outdoors company Patagonia, which does like a bazillion dollars in sales every year. For five decades he’s led Patagonia, and has always had a socially-conscious bent to him.
Well this week Chouinard decided to forfeit ownership of the company.
From the NYT: “Rather than selling the company or taking it public, Mr. Chouinard, his wife and two adult children have transferred their ownership of Patagonia, valued at about $3 billion, to a specially designed trust and a nonprofit organization. They were created to preserve the company’s independence and ensure that all of its profits — some $100 million a year — are used to combat climate change and protect undeveloped land around the globe.”
Kind of amazing. So the company will now be owned by a non-profit that will spend the $100 million a year in profits Patagonia makes to fight climate change and protect land.
That’s one hell of a great legacy Yves and family are leaving. Bravo.
Mayah Nicole Zamora is a victim of the Uvalde shooting.
Mayah, 10, lost many of her closest friends, two of her teachers and she was also severely injured in the shooting. Her doctors said it was a miracle she survived. She was shot in her hands, arms, chest and back and underwent more than 20 surgeries. Her hospital stay lasted 66 days.
Mayah also learned that the shooter lived blocks away from her home, making the healing process even more difficult. She hasn’t been able to go back to her childhood home for that reason.
“We have secured the funding to build Mayah and her family a new home in a location where she feels safe and comfortable,” the Correa Family Foundation wrote in an Aug. 24 Instagram post. “We hope this will be an opportunity for Mayah and her family to rebuild their lives, make new memories, and look towards a bright future.”
The Puerto Rican musician also hosted Mayah and her family at his Sept. 9 concert in Dallas, Texas. In sweet backstage photos posted on Instagram, Mayah is seen posing with the “Ojitos Lindos” singer and holding up merchandise signed by him.
According to Fuse TV, “Bad Bunny and his team treated Mayah and her family to a private suite, dinner, and met backstage before his show.”
The Emmy Awards were held Monday night, and yes I know it’s Wednesday but I love awards shows so much I still want to give you my thoughts a day late.
I almost always try to find the good side of these awards shows, and almost always enjoy them for the most part. But man, this was NOT a good telecast. Forget about the winners and losers for a minute, let’s just talk about the actual show. Why oh WHY do we need so many lame jokes and sketches? Is there a law in the Constitution I’m not aware of that says we need to have five or six of these things?
They weren’t funny, they’re never funny, and instead of forcing winners to race through their speeches in record time, maybe we should cut the stupid comedy bits and just let winners talk?
Linda Holmes, the brilliant NPR critic, Tweeted this Monday night, and I cannot endorse it enough:
“I really want to see an awards show sometime that genuinely just brings someone out, has them read the nominees, gives the award, and has the speech, and then goes to the next award. The whole night, just that. Nothing else,” Holmes Tweeted.
Is that so hard?
— OK, onto my other big problem with Monday’s show: The In Memoriam montage is such a simple thing: You play a song over a scrolling of names and faces of those we lost in the past 12 months. Why then did we need to see John Legend performing, some crowd shots, and some deceased honorees’ names and photos so far away from the camera you couldn’t even read them? Estelle Harris, one of three “Seinfeld” affiliated people honored in one frame, I had to squint to see her name! And I have a big television!
Ugh just made me so mad.
— OK there was some good stuff, nothing better then acting veteran Sheryl Lee Ralph’s pure shock upon winning, then her highly unusual but wonderful song/speech when she got up on stage. This was amazing.
— I also was very happy to see Jason Sudeikis and Brett Goldstein win again for “Ted Lasso,” and pleased to see some diversity among winners (I’m looking at you “The Squid Game” even though I’ve never seen it, I’m glad some non-white people won.)
— As always, there were some superbly-dressed people, like Hannah Waddingham and Amy Poehler, and Oprah looked fantastic as well.
— On the worst dressed, well, I’m sure I’m in the minority here, but Lizzo’s dress was a mess to me and the wife. And Jerrod Carmichael, with the shirtless/fake fur coat look? I’m sorry, Dirk Diggler called and is looking for his wardrobe back.
— I was thrilled that Rhea Seehorn got nominated, and really thought she would win. but of course she didn’t, because the Emmy voters somehow hate “Better Call Saul” an incredible show that’s had more than 50 nominations and yet NEVER won an Emmy. I am mad.
— Finally, at first I thought it was super-odd that they ran that scroll on the bottom of the screen while winners were talking, with lists of people they wanted to thank but might not have time for. But then I realized, hey, at least those people get thanked! If they’d just let the winners talk for 2 minutes each, they wouldn’t need that scroll.
**OK, next up today, this came across Twitter today and it made me laugh and feel happy to be a New Yorker. Sure, this could happen in other cities, but it just “feels’ New York to me.
The only thing better that could be in this fantastic clip is if the basketball shooter got run over by a latte-drinking bike messenger at the end here.
**Finally today, for the last 25 years or so, I’ve had a secret dream. Actually, it’s not a “secret” dream because I’ve told my friends and family about it quite a few times.
I want to learn to be an actor. Not to be on Broadway, not to suddenly start going on auditions like Joey Tribbiani, but to just dip a toe into learning the craft of acting.
My desire goes all the way back to college, when my senior year I was excited to take an acting class at Delaware. It was terrible. My professor taught us nothing, yammering on and on about himself for most of the semester, and I felt like it was a huge opportunity lost.
Over the years I’ve always said I would take an acting class one day, when I had the time. But things always got in the way, life and marriage and kids and all those things are wonderful. But I still had the itch. I don’t want to be famous or anything, I just have always been fascinated by the craft, and to learn at least a little bit how to do it.
Well, tonight I finally scratch the itch. This summer I went poking around my town and surrounding cities, and found an adult acting class that meets on Wednesday nights, for 90 minutes, for seven weeks, about 15 minutes from my house.
I don’t think I’ll turn into DeNiro or Streep in two months. But I’m very excited to begin to try to learn something new.
Carlos Alcaraz is 19 years old. Carlos Alcaraz is 19 years old.
He’s 19.
I have had to keep telling myself that over the past two weeks, watching the Spanish phenom outlast, out-hit and out-tough all seven opponents he faced.
The kid is unbelievable. I saw Pete Sampras at 19, and Rafael Nadal at 19, and I’m telling you, this kid is better than both of them at that age. He’s a complete player, incredible at offense and defense, on all court surfaces, no matter the situation.
Alcaraz won his first U.S. Open singles title Sunday, beating Carlos Ruud in four sets, and I will be gobsmacked if he doesn’t win a bunch more Open titles. And a bunch more Grand Slam titles. He has everything you could want in a new superstar: He’s humble, he’s got charisma, he’s hungry and never gives up on a point.
Lots of people have been saying this, but it’s true: How incredibly deflating it must be for Alcaraz’s opponents, having to hit three, or four winners on the same point, because somehow he’s gotten the ball back after you thought you’d ended it. Alcaraz’s match with Frances Tiafoe Friday night, which I was fortunate to be in the stadium for, was sensational, and the number of times the crowd erupted when it thought the American had hit a winner, only to be quieted again when Alcaraz hit it back, had to be at least a dozen.
I cannot say enough about how fully-formed Alcaraz’s game is, at this age. To be this good, this young, ought to be illegal. And the stamina! He played three consecutive five-setters last week, and didn’t look tired in any of them. Just extraordinary.
Barring injury, I see at least 10-15 Slam titles in his future. Spain going from Rafa Nadal to this kid was like the Packers going from Favre to Rodgers.
On the women’s side, Iga Swiatek showed she’s the best player in the world this year, with a strong victory in the final. Like with Alcaraz, the semifinal battle for Swiatek proved more difficult, as she had to rally from 2-4 down in the third set against Aryna Sabalenka on Thursday to advance.
Swiatek is a terrific leader for the women’s game; she’s smart, she’s funny, and she seems to have a big heart, talking about Ukraine as much as possible (she’s from neighboring Poland). I was rooting for her opponent Saturday, Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur, because she plays a beautiful game and it would be awesome to have a first tennis Slam champ from Africa.
But Swiatek absolutely deserved it. She uses her big platform to discuss mental health and other topics, and seems to have the poise and the game to reign for a while. (she’s only 21).
Two great champs, two worthy champs. Oh and while I’m here, let me plug my own work: I got to cover the Juniors championships last week for ITFTennis.com, and their events also were terrific, with two worthy champions. Check out my stories here.
**Next, Sunday was the 21st anniversary of 9/11, which seems impossible, of course. But it has been 21 years, and on Sunday there were commemorations, and as always on this day I watched about 10 minutes of TV Sunday morning as the names of those who died in the World Trade Center were read aloud. I am so glad they do that every year here in New York, and broadcast it, so we all spend some time thinking about what happened that day.
As always on or about 9/11 here on the blog, I want to share the above video, which moved me more than anything else in the weeks after the 2001 attack. The singer is Victoria Williams, the video was created by a man named Jason Power, and the song is called “Can’t Cry Hard Enough.”
**Finally today, it was, as usual, a completely crazy and bananas Week 1 in the NFL on Sunday, with multiple overtime games, a few stunning results, and the only thing we can ever count on life: the Jets being terrible.
My boys actually played a pretty good first half on defense, but the pride of the University of Delaware, Joe Flacco, and the offense were miserable, and by the fourth quarter I was watching the other riveting games.
The Jets have now lost 13 straight September games. THIRTEEN! That’s hard to do.
OK, on to the way more interesting action:
— The New York football Giants went on the road to the powerful Tennessee Titans and somehow came out with a win. Saquan Barkley looked fully healthy for the first time since he was a rookie three seasons ago, the Giant defense was just good enough, and new coach Brian Daboll went for two down by 1 with a minute left, and his ridiculous gamble paid off, as the Giants took the lead, 21-20. (I don’t care if it worked. It was a terrible decision. Kick the extra point, get a defensive stop, and go win in overtime.)
I don’t think the Giants will be any good this year, but this was a huge victory.
— The other big upset was pulled by the Vikings. Minnesota creamed Green Bay, 23-7, and I guess Aaron Rodgers must’ve run out of that acid he enjoyed in South America, because he and the Packers offense looked horrible.
I feel like the Packers often take a few games to get started, but wow this was bad.
— Speaking of awful, the Bengals and Steelers tried really hard to give each other a win Sunday, playing 60 minutes and then an entire overtime before someone finally won (it was Pittsburgh). The Super Bowl runner-ups scored a touchdown to (theoretically) win the game at the end of regulation, but the extra point was blocked. Lots of teams have hangovers after losing the Super Bowl, and it looks like the Bengals might be one of them.
— Very impressive win by Miami over the Patriots. Very impressive performance by Kansas City, absolutely destroying the Cardinals, 44-21 (who needs Tyreek Hill, anyway?)
— HBO and the Lions suckered me into thinking they’d be good, after five weeks of “Hard Knocks.” Turns out they’re still the Lions, losing to the Eagles, 38-35.
— Finally, the Dallas Cowboys lost and QB Dak Prescott got hurt and is out for several games, and as my friend Frank on Twitter pointed out, isn’t it about time the NFL and the networks stop treating the Cowboys like they’re an important team? They haven’t been relevant for two decades now, they’re just as ordinary as 28 other squads.
You know, Daddy, the guy who’s always driving you to all your activities, who lets you use his phone to check sports scores first thing in the morning, and who always seems to be there with the ice pack when you inevitably walk into the walls of our house.
We have gone through another year of your life, and somehow you’re now 8 years old. You just started third grade, and unfathomably, you’re now closer to middle school than you are to kindergarten.
Nate, as always in these letters which I hope you’ll cherish one day, first let me tell you how proud of you Mommy and I are. In the last 12 months you have continued to be a wonderful son to us, a magnificent and loving brother (you still want to hug him first thing in the morning, and his “running hug” to you always makes us laugh), and a great friend.
You are destined to be one of those kids, Nate, who can fit in with any group of people. We see it in the diversity of your friends, and how whenever you start a new activity, you make new buddies so easily. You are such an optimistic, friendly guy who other kids gravitate toward, and it makes my heart so happy to hear of new pals you make.
What a year it’s been, Nate, as the world has returned a little bit to normal, masks have come off in school, and you’ve grown in many ways.
For one thing, you’ve become much more adventurous this year, and willing to try new things. You challenge yourself at ninja warrior class, to go higher and higher on their dreaded big wall, and you’ve aced the deep-water test at North Shore Day Camp, your favorite place on Earth.
You’re still not big into roller coasters or trying new foods, but you’re getting there.
You continue to be obsessed with sports, and we had such a good time at your first live New York Rangers games this year. I was amazed that when we took you to a minor league baseball game this summer, for the first time you said no to playing in the bouncy castle and instead wanted to stay to watch the game.
I beamed.
You have decided the Buffalo Bills are your favorite football team, and since they’re favored by everyone to win the Super Bowl this year, I applaud that choice. It has been among my Top 3 jobs as your father to dissuade you from rooting for my sad-sack Jets, so I have at least succeeded in one area.
Your love of playing sports has continued, as basketball has become your favorite, with tennis a close second. What a thrill that you got to play on the U.S. Open courts during the Open last week! No pressure, but I expect you back there in about 15 years playing for the men’s singles championship 🙂
You have continued to do well at school, loving your second-grade teacher Mrs. Phillips, and you continue to be a perfectionist. Nate, you still get so upset when you think you haven’t done your homework right, or that your teacher won’t be pleased. I hope you stop being so hard on yourself when a drawing doesn’t come out exactly right. You are such a tough critic on yourself, and I worry about that as you get older and schoolwork gets harder.
You SO want to please all the grown-ups in your life, whether it’s me or Mommy, an instructor at one of your activities, or a grandparent.
You’ve learned the piano this year, along with Daddy, and I love how easily you’ve taken to it. Your mother is highly amused when I ask you a question about something on the piano and you come down and show me how to do it instantly, barely looking up from your iPad.
You also started Little League Baseball this year, and while you weren’t the best player on your team, you tried hard every game and loved being a good teammate.
And of course, Nate, you continue to be such a great big brother to Theo. You were so helpful to him in his first summer at day camp with you, walking him to this group each morning, checking on him when you could during the day, and giving him big hugs at all times.
You are so patient with him, and loving, and whether you guys are playing some silly running game you invented during after-dinner “run around time,” or working on a project in the basement together, your love for him grows every year.
Do you two fight? Of course. And it’s always “fun” for Mommy and me when you two are crying simultaneously because one of you hit the other, then the other brother hit back, and now you’re both hurt.
But it’s only temporary, and being your brother’s hero is the best role you will ever have.
In closing, my beautiful 8-year-old son, I want to say how lucky I am to be your father. This third-grade year is going to be great for you, as you start Hebrew school, get your first set of braces from the dentist, and take on new challenges everywhere. Keep smiling, keep being as insanely curious as you are (no kid ever asks more questions than you!), and keep being the kind, sweet child that you always have been.
Happy birthday, Nate. We love you so much! And now you’re halfway to being old enough to drive a car! (oh God, why did I put that into the universe.)
Love,
Daddy
P.S. Oh, one more thing: It’s not illegal to turn off the lights when you leave a room. Try it sometime, it’s super fun.
Wide World of Stuff 