Good News Friday: A study shows that Dad jokes are good for kids’ health and development, the best news I’ve heard all year. A 9-year-old girl catches her first fish and has the most excited reaction ever. And an MLB pitcher had a very cool request for autograph seekers.

Hello humans! And hello to any AI robots reading this (I don’t want them to feel left out). Spring has sorta kinda sprung, it’s Final Four weekend in college basketball (if you can, watch the South Carolina vs. Iowa women’s game at 9:30 tonight it’s going to be superstar Caitlin Clark against undefeated USC, it’s going to be amazing!), baseball season has begun for those who are into it, and April is starting this weekend, whoop whoop!

We are mere days away from Passover and Easter, too, so get into the spirit and buy some Peeps or some matzoh this weekend.

Let’s start Good News Friday with one of the most personally-helpful stories to me in a looong time. I am, not surprisingly, a HUGE fan of Dad jokes, because a, I’m a Dad, B, I’m silly, and C, I live to embarrass my children, as almost all Dads do.

So as I sit here asking you why a nose can’t be 12 inches long (because then it would be a foot, ha!), I present this wonderful research study that got a lot of attention this week, that proclaims that Dad jokes are good for children’s development. Seriously, these jokes are healthy for them!

Marc Hye-Knudsen, a humor researcher (seriously, that’s a real job) and the lab manager at Aarhus University’s Cognition and Behavior Lab, wrote an article in the British Psychological Society that explains how dad jokes teach children how to be resilient.

Dad jokes? That’s the way eye roll…” (ha! I love it!) is the title of the paper, and here’s some insight from it:

“In the article, Hye-Knudson shows how dad jokes are an extension of a father’s more aggressive parenting style. Dads are often the parent to initiate playfighting, which seems social at first glance, but on a deeper level, helps to train kids to be stronger, more resilient and discover personal boundaries.

In the same way, dad jokes work to teach children how to handle embarrassing situations for themselves and their parents. (and trust me, I embarrass the heck out of my 8-year-old with my Dad jokes, even as he laughs)

“Ideally, fathers’ rougher style of joking fulfills a similar function: by teasingly striking at their children’s egos and emotions without teetering over into bullying, fathers build their children’s resilience and train them to withstand minor attacks and bouts of negative emotion without getting worked up or acting out, teaching them impulse control and emotional regulation,” Hye-Knudson quotes Dr. Peter Gray.

This badgering is even more helpful when children reach adolescence and are more prone to embarrassment. “In this sense, dad jokes may have a positive pedagogical effect, toughening up the kids who are begrudgingly exposed to them,” Hye-Knudson writes.

So my fellow Dads out there, it’s fine if you tell jokes like “My neighbor gave me a new roof for free. He said it was on the house!” because we’re strengthening our kids! So the solution here is to tell MORE Dad jokes.

I will do my part. Here’s the whole study article here if you want to read it.

Because it's been a tough week, this is the moment 9-year old Ali caught her first fish.

Her reaction is the best 30 seconds you'll see today. pic.twitter.com/Iy6Y6GWcq0

— Goodable (@Goodable) March 28, 2023

**Next up today, this is 30 seconds of pure adorableness, as a 9-year-old girl catches the first fish of her life. Love the Dad hug at the end, too. And how the kid says “thank you, fishy!”

**And finally, here’s a sweet story of a major league pitcher making kids who idolize him, feel special in their own right.

San Francisco Giants hurler Sergio Romo was getting lots of autograph requests from kids at spring training this March, like always. But Romo had a unique idea: he told the kids that sure, he’d sign for them, but he also wanted them to sign his baseball cap as well. Romo knew he was retiring after spring training this year, so he wanted to go out in style.

“I know I was only there for roughly a week, but I was trading autographs with kids,” Romo explained. “They asked me, ‘Hey, can you sign this?’ I’m like, ‘Well, can you sign mine first?’ I figured if this was the last hat I was going to wear in the big leagues and be able to compete in, I figured it would be nice to not go in there alone.”

So, so cool for these kids, and for Romo to do this. A true class act.

Bibi Netanyahu is trying to turn Israel into an autocracy, and I am steaming mad about it (as are millions of Israelis). The bizarre, fascinating sport of chess boxing, which is what it sounds like. And a super-fun story of how the Yankees charge their players for Wi-Fi on flights.

I have been disgusted for many years now with the actions of the former and sadly current again Prime Minister of Israel.

Benjamin Netanyahu is so many things that I despise in a leader: Egotistical beyond measure. Arrogant. Unwilling to listen or compromise. Fully dismissive of his opponents or anyone who disagrees with him. And a man for whom facts hardly matter. And a man who is a criminal, who for years has been on trial in Israel for corruption.

There are many American Jewish people who swear by him. Who will defend him until the cows come home, simply because he talks about Israel sovereignty and says all the right things about peace with the Palestinians, yet never actually does anything to promote or move closer to that peace.

Netanyahu has nine lives, it seems. It looked like his political career was finally over in June, 2021 when he lost an election as his corruption trial continued (it’s now been going on for THREE years!). Finally, this right-wing tyrant would be gone from the scene, and not a moment too soon.

But no, like so many evil politicians, he continues to survive, and a little more than a year later, he was back in power. Since returning, he has moved Israel closer and closer to being a dictatorship, an autocracy, whatever words you want to use.

As you have likely heard, the tyrant called Bibi is trying to force through legal changes to the Israeli judicial system, which would give his allies the final say in appointing the nation’s judges.

More importantly, it would give parliament, controlled by his loyalists, the authority to overturn Supreme Court decisions, and limit the court’s ability to review laws.  

This is what dictators do. This is how dictatorships happen. It is a disgusting, naked grab for even more power than he already has, and the only thing that gives me hope is the massive amount of protest this caused.

According to this AP article, “the proposal has plunged Israel into its worst domestic crisis in decades. Business leaders, top economists and former security chiefs have all come out against the plan, saying it is pushing the country toward an autocracy. Fighter pilots and military reservists have threatened not to report for duty, and the country’s currency, the shekel, has tumbled in value.”

We have also seen massive protests in the streets of Israel, tens of thousands of people who believe in democracy rising up in opposition.

Monday night, Netanyahu finally backed down. A little. he said he would try to avoid civil war and come to a peaceful resolution.
But this is only temporary. The Donald Trump of the Middle East will try this again soon, or something equally draconian.

He is a small, small man, just like Trump, and he’s trying to turn a country so many of my fellow Jews love into something completely unrecognizable.

I hope this latest major overreach leads to his downfall. But he’s the ultimate cockroach: He never seems to be terminated.

 

**Next up today, thanks to this wonderful sports book my oldest son and I have been reading lately, I’ve learned about the wacky sport of chess boxing.

It’s chess, and it’s boxing, two activities that would seem to have as much in common as Sean Hannity and the truth. 
The way it works is this: Two combatants sit down and play chess for a pre-determined amount of time. Then they strap on boxing gloves and headgear and step into the ring for a round.

Then they go sit back down after bashing each other for a few minutes and try to move bishops and rooks and pawns.

It’s completely absurd and yet fascinating to watch. Here’s a YouTube video of a chess boxing match.

 

**Finally today, this was a delightfully entertaining story by Stephanie Apstein of SI.com, who took a trivial problem for a major league baseball team and did a very fun deep-dive on it.

The New York Yankees are worth billions of dollars, and are maybe the most valuable franchise in all of sports. So you would think they could spring for basic necessities for their players when they travel to play 81 road games a year.

 But nope, it turns out the Yankees are one of two teams that charge their players for Wi-Fi service on flights.

This seems preposterous. Of course the players can afford it, but still! Apstein takes such a wonderful, fun tone in this story, talking to players on the Yankees, and other teams, about this. Some excerpts from a delightful piece:

— “A very serious and embarrassingly exhaustive survey of the 30 MLB teams could identify only one other team that regularly makes its players pay: the Reds. (Some teams provide free Wi-Fi on their usual jet but do not cover the cost when they fly a different plane.)

Of the world’s problems, this ranks, obviously, near the top. A couple dozen millionaires have to scrape together some $350 annually if they want full connectivity in the air. So you can understand why many of them have tried to work around the issue.

“I’ve got T-Mobile,” said right fielder Aaron Judge, who is coincidentally a spokesman for that company. T-Mobile offers customers free Wi-Fi on Delta flights.

So does reliever Michael King—and crucially, so do his parents, whose family plan he still uses. Last season, reliever Lucas Luetge, now with Atlanta, sat next to him on the plane and realized King was blessed with the luxury of Googling anything he wanted for nothing.

So I gave him my sister’s phone number,” said King. “My sister got a text saying, ‘Are you authorizing this?’ ‘Yep!’ I got the code for my sister’s number to give to Lucas.”

The New York Yankees, brought to you by Michele and Jim King.

Unfortunately, the Kings have only the two children, so the other players have to make their own decisions.

–Reliever Clay Holmes said he too enjoys the opportunity to spend an hour or two unplugged. He does sign up for the free iMessage, though, because, he said, “My wife sees other wives getting texts and she’s like, ‘You must have Wi-Fi!’”

— As for the other flights: Manager Aaron Boone, who pays for and does not expense a monthly Gogo account, said he was unaware many other teams cover the Wi-Fi. He wondered gravely whether the Yankees’ policy might cost them free agents. “We’re gonna have to get on that,” he said. Journalism changes lives. 

https://www.si.com/mlb/2023/03/15/yankees-no-in-flight-internet

A delightfully wacky and unexpected quartet of teams makes the Final Four: All hail FAU and San Diego State, who’ve never been here before. Martin Short cracks me up, still. And in Georgia, criminals caught in a way that couldn’t have happened 40 years ago

We started with 68, now we’re down to four.

And what a sensational four days of college basketball just finished up, with almost every game being close and well-played.

And dust, it has settled. We’ve got a Final Four with newness almost unprecedented; three of the quartet have never been this far.

Florida Atlantic, a school 90 percent of America had never heard of until three weeks ago, is in there. San Diego State. Miami. And old powerhouse Connecticut, the only one of the four with championship pedigree.

Three outstanding offensive teams, and one whose games won’t ever be hung in a basketball museum but who play defense like their life depends on it.

A Final Four no one predicted, but one that should be awesome. Some scattered thoughts from another weekend of watching scintillating NCAA Tournament action:

— Florida Atlantic is such a sensational story. They have no basketball tradition to speak of, a tiny school whose previous claim to athletic fame was, maybe that former University of Miami football legend Howard Schnellenberger coached there?

And yet here they are in the Final 4, with a coach who looks like he’s just wandered in from the farms of Indiana but has got his team playing so hard, and so well. They don’t have any stars, just a bunch of guys overlooked by the major powers, who went down to Boca and got coached by an Indiana kid named Dusty May, and they beat Michigan State and Kansas State and now they’re two wins from the most improbable national title, maybe ever.

So great.

— Game of the tournament for me was Thursday night’s Kansas State-Michigan State classic, two teams getting up and down the floor so fast, with great shotmaking, and an incredible performance from Kansas State’s Markquis Nowell.

How can you NOT love that kid? He’s barely 5-foot-8, straight out of New York City, who plays with such flash and love and unselfishness. The alley-oops, the no-look passes, the verve with which he plays, just so beautiful.

He had a chance to be a hero again on Saturday night, when the Wildcats were down by three in the final seconds. Nowell passed to a teammate, and they couldn’t get a shot off, and I just felt bad for the kid.

— Meanwhile, how classy is Kansas State coach Jerome Tang? Loved this after the game Saturday.

"Y'all the toughest son of a guns we've played all year long."

Jerome Tang went to the Florida Atlantic locker room to congratulate them and wish them luck in the Final Four 🤝#MarchMadness pic.twitter.com/jiF2N2Wl0U

— NCAA March Madness (@MarchMadnessMBB) March 26, 2023

— Connecticut looks like a juggernaut. In four games their smallest margin of victory was 15, and they just blitzed Gonzaga Saturday. Never been a fan of the Huskies but wow do they look strong.

— Speaking of UConn, a moment of praise for one of the most incredible streaks in team sports history: The Huskies women lost in the Sweet 16 this weekend, ending a streak of 16 straight Elite 8’s, and 14 consecutive Final Four appearance.

FOURTEEN Final Fours in a row!!! That’s unbelievable. Kudos to UConn for that sustained excellence.

— San Diego State doesn’t play pretty basketball, I get that. The Aztecs are a defense-first team, and they make everyone they face play ugly and get down in the dirt with them.

But man, those guys compete. They scrap and clawed their way to the first Final Four, beating Creighton on a free throw after a slightly-controversial foul call with 1.2 seconds left (it was a foul on Creighton, not a huge one, but a foul).

— And finally, Miami. I love their coach, Jim Larranaga, who’s now taken two programs to the Final Four, I love their up-tempo style, I love that their players got big-time NIL money from boosters, legally this time (you know how much those Miami football players must’ve been making in the 1990s?), and I love that they’re fun to watch.

“TV makes money, right? The shoe companies make money,” Larrañaga said Saturday. “The universities make money. The athletic directors, they run the program, and they benefit from their relationship with the shoe companies. And the coaches make a hell of a living. Well, what’s wrong with that filtering down? It’s a natural progression to our players.”

Exactly. Good for Miami.

We’ve got a really fun Final Four coming up.

https://twitter.com/TSting18/status/1640057111672438784

**Next up, it was Martin Short’s birthday Sunday, and this montage of him interviewing celebs as his character Jiminy Glick came into my Twitter feed and I laughed pretty hard.

When you can get Mel Brooks laughing like this, you’re pretty special.

**And finally, this story made me chuckle, about a crime that was solved in a way that 1970s police officers never could’ve.

Some thieves recently in Buford, Ga. are accused of stealing more than $8,000 of merchandise (mostly gaming systems and electric toothbrushes, which go together well since if you’re sitting playing Xbox for 12 straight hours, at some point you’ll need to clean your teeth) and tried to make off in a Tesla as a getaway car.

Except the geniuses didn’t remember to charge the electric vehicle’s battery, so they were caught 15 minutes down the road after stopping to charge their vehicle.

“Gwinnett County Police told Insider that the suspects were arrested around 10 miles away while attempting to charge the car near the Gas South Arena venue on February 19.”

Oh man, would I have loved to be in the car with those fellas after they were caught, and here the argument that ensued.

“Dude, YOU said you were going to charge the Tesla!”
“No, I asked YOU to do it last night!”

Too damn funny.

 

Good News Friday: A soccer player shows great kindness on World Down Syndrome Day. A female college baseball player makes some cool history. And a 90-year-old Holocaust survivor cooks for fellow seniors.

Happy Friday, humans! We are officially into spring now, the NCAA Tournament continued its amazingness last night (how about that 5-foot-8 Markquis Nowell from Kansas State, my guy had 19 assists last night!) and we are still waiting for that Trump fellow to get indicted (Tom Petty was so right, the waiting IS the hardest part).

We’ve got a whole heaping full of good news for you this week, starting with this wonderful video that celebrated World Down Syndrome Day.

A pro soccer player for Newcastle United in England named Bruno Guimaraes decided to play some futbol with some children suffering from the disease.

One day in his life that these kids will remember forever. I love it.

World Down Syndrome Day is today (March 21st).

It’s a global awareness day that has been officially observed by the United Nations since 2012.

Please check out Newcastle United's Bruno Guimarães, who spent his day showing and spreading some love…pic.twitter.com/g3iQX1M3lx

— Rex Chapman🏇🏼 (@RexChapman) March 21, 2023

**Next up today, you might remember several months ago I wrote about Olivia Pichardo, a female baseball player who was the first woman to make a Division I baseball team.

Well, last week the outfielder made her debut for Brown, grounding out in her first at-bat.

Pichardo has been fully accepted by her teammates, and she’s just another member of the team. That’s exactly what gender equality is all about.

I hope Pichardo has a great year.

Bert Kotlarczyk is a 90-year-old Holocaust survivor.

His favorite way to spend time?

Cooking for seniors.

Give yourself 60 seconds.pic.twitter.com/NOqJ7XZd4C

— Goodable (@Goodable) March 21, 2023

**Finally today, a 90-year-old Holocaust survivor named Bert Kotlarczyk likes to cook for seniors.

It’s what gives him joy, and when you’ve lived as long and survived as much as Bert has, I’m all about that.

Just a man doing what he loves to do. watch him for a minute and know happiness like him one day.

Have a great weekend.

As we wait for the Trump arrest, a few thoughts on what may come next. R.I.P. Willis Reed, who had one of the great sports moments ever. And a hilarious competition in Japan for bald men like me, a “suction cup tug of war.”

As you read this Wednesday morning, a former President of the United States may be heading to a courtroom in Manhattan, or Florida, having been indicted for the crime of falsifying business records connected to hush money payments to a former porn star.

I know we have become so numb to the craziness that has been Donald Trump as a major political figure, but it’s still a jaw-dropping sentence to me, that I just wrote.

The idea that we elected a man who was not only capable of such behavior, but did it so enthusiastically and most likely paid off so many other women, still boggles the mind a little bit.

It is, finally it appears, a day of reckoning for this orange grifter who has conned millions and millions. We don’t know whether Trump will be arrested today, tomorrow or next week. We do know he will be indicted, and this will be a first in American history, and he seems to be enjoying this whole spectacle immensely, because A, Trump has never actually truly been made to account for his many, many crimes, and B, ANY attention he gets is good attention.

What does this mean for his election chances in 2024? A good friend of mine gave me a hearty laugh the other morning while we were discussing how Trump’s arrest would play among his supporters.

“They’re going to turn him into Nelson Mandela!” he said, totally seriously, “and rally around him and make him out to be this tragic figure who’s totally and unfairly being persecuted.”

First of all, that has to be the first time in history that Donald Trump and Nelson Mandela have been mentioned in the same sentence.
Second, I don’t think that’s right. Of course he still has millions and millions of followers, but they already think he walks on water and is always being unfairly persecuted. This just adds to their fuel. No one who was against Trump previously is suddenly going to see him get indicted and feel sympathy for him. And I do think his grip on the Republican Party is loosening, as more and more GOP “patriots” start to take shots at him.

I do believe this might finally be the beginning of the end for Trump, especially as more and more grand juries begin to indict him (the case in Georgia seems particularly strong). Running for President while under indictment seems like a very difficult task, and winning seems even harder.

I know its premature to dance on Trump’s political grave. But start the music and get your tap shoes ready.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-potential-arrest-inspiring-violent-threats-1234700762/

**For people of my generation and older, there is one moment that comes to mind when the name “Willis Reed” is heard.
Game 7, 1970 NBA Finals, Los Angeles Lakers vs. New York Knicks. Reed had been injured in Game 5, missed Game 6, and the series was now knotted at three games apiece.

The Knicks had never won the NBA championship, and now they were at home in Madison Square Garden, and no one knew if Reed would play. He was the star center, the emotional leader of a very good Knicks team, but would he be able to play? It turns out he had a ruptured muscle in his thigh, and took a shot of some anesthetic in the locker room before the game.

It was completely unclear to the 18,000 in MSG if Willis would play.

And then, there he came through the tunnel, and those who were there said the noise was as loud as they’ve ever heard. Reed faced off against the legend, Wilt Chamberlain, and hit his first two shots.

They were the only baskets he scored all night, but it didn’t matter. Buoyed by Reed, the Knicks led by 27 at halftime and coasted to the victory.

Reed was on the floor when his team needed him most, and the Knicks won their first championship.

Willis Reed died Tuesday at age 80. An all-time basketball legend, who in one heroic display etched his name into history.

**Finally today, I got a big kick out of this story I heard on “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me.”

It involves those of us who are follically challenged. Lacking hair. Bald up top!

In the town of Tsuruta, Japan, they are known for hosting a famous competition called “Suction Cup Tug of War,”

Here’s the delightful explanation: Thought up by the Tsuruta Hagemasu Association as a way of shedding a positive light on baldness, suction cup tug-of-war is a fun game in which two people sitting opposite from each other attach suction cups connected through a string to their heads and pull. The person whose suction cup detaches first loses.”

I mean… how is this NOT in the Olympics??? I feel the Hungarians and, of course, we Americans (with SO many bald men) would be excellent at it. I’m going to start training immediately, because for sure this will eventually be put in the Olympics.

Besides, I was never that good at actual tug of war, so this seems like a way to redeem myself.

I also loved this explanation from this article about it: “Suction cup tug-of-war can be played by men with hair, and even women who attach the suction cups to their foreheads, but it’s clear to see why baldies dominate the sport. The smoother and flatter the surface, the better the suction. ”

Baldies rule!

The first four days of March Madness are done! Fairleigh Dickinson! Princeton! Furman! My Duke boys lose! And more thoughts on an as-always great first two rounds. And R.I.P. Lance Reddick, a terrific actor who’ll be missed.

Glorious, glorious exhaustion.

That’s what I’m feeling tonight, and what I feel on the first Sunday evening of the NCAA Tournament every year. My brain is fried, I can’t remember who beat who, it’s all blending together into one glorious tapestry of basketball brilliance.

The first four days of March Madness never, ever disappoints. Some years there are more upsets than others; some years there are more classic games (bizarrely we had zero overtime games this year through the first two rounds).

But there is always so much drama, so much joy, so much anguish … it’s just perfect.

A Tweet from a sportswriter named Myron Medcalf summed up my feelings perfectly: “Please don’t touch this tournament. Don’t expand it. Don’t switch it up. Don’t do anything. Just leave it just like this. Please. — Sincerely, Everybody.”

Oh man, so many thoughts. Where to begin?

— Well of course we have to begin with history, with an epic choke job by a No.1 seed and an incredible victory by a 16 seed. Only once in NCAA Tournament history had a top seed lost to a 16, and that was of course Virginia losing to UMBC five years ago.

Well move over Retrievers of UMBC, a tiny commuter school in Teaneck, N.J., has joined a very small club. Fairleigh Dickinson, who didn’t even win their conference tournament and only got to play in the NCAAs because conference champ Merrimack was ineligible, shocked Purdue on Friday night. It was stunning, it was incomprehensible, and it was glorious.

The heavily-favored Boilermakers played terribly. Their star, 7-foot-4 Zack Edey, was almost a foot taller than all the Knights players, and yet Purdue couldn’t get him the ball in the final 10 minutes. Broadcaster Steve Lappas said it best: No one on Purude wanted to shoot.

But let’s focus on FDU, the glorious story that almost continued for TWO wins, as Sunday night it battled Florida Atlantic to the wire before losing.
FDU is coached by a former Division II coach, Tobin Anderson. He brought three players from his D-II job last year with him to FDU. The Knights won FOUR games last season.

And Friday night they knocked off a perennial powerhouse. Check out the “wild” scene on FDU’s campus after the win 🙂

— Something about New Jersey, man. Last year, it was tiny St. Peter’s that went to the Elite 8, from New Jersey. Maybe it’s the Tony Soprano or Bruce Springsteen effect, or all the jokes from New Yorkers like myself about what a sad place that state is.

But as Nicole Auerbach said on Twitter said, Cinderella is a Jersey Girl.

— Which brings us to Princeton, also in New Jersey!. The No.15 Tigers are maybe as good a story as FDU. Princeton knocked off No. 2 seed Arizona ( a rare upset pick I got right in my bracket, ahem ahem), then followed that up by thrashing Missouri on Saturday. The Tigers play smart, veteran ball and are also crazy athletic, which is not usually a trait of Ivy League teams. Their coach was on the last Princeton team that won a first-round game, which is the kind of thing that always seems to happen in this glorious Tournament. The Tigers play Creighton on Friday and absolutely could win that, too.

MARCH MADNESS!!! THE STEAL AND THE GO-AHEAD 3 WITH 2.2 SECONDS LEFT!! (13) Furman leads (4) Virginia pic.twitter.com/9qqiCS9qbT

— NCAA Buzzer Beaters & Game Winners (@NCAABuzzerBters) March 16, 2023

— A quick word about Furman, a 13 seed who beat Virginia on Day 1. They gave us one of the few game-winning shots we got in the first round, when Virginia’s Kihei Clark, who’s played about 12 years in Charlottesville, made a horrendous decision to throw the ball way down the court without having any sight of who he was throwing it to.

This play was perfect from the Paladins, and was my favorite single moment of the first round.

— Always a different Cinderella, which makes the tournament so great: Saint Peter’s. Florida Gulf Coast. Norfolk State. North Texas. I could go on and on. The names and faces and jersey colors change, but the main idea, that anyone can beat anyone else on any given day, is what makes this Tournament so special.

— A few words on my Duke team. Ugh. A very disappointing end to the season on Saturday. Tennessee just physically manhandled the Blue Devils, as we saw again what a difference it is in strength when a senior/junior team plays a freshman-dominated team. Duke had awful timing with a last-minute injury to starter Mark Mitchell, it shot the ball poorly, had foul trouble, everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. It was such a weird season for Duke: high expectations at the start, then so much poor play that made us think it would be a terrible season, then a fantastic final month, followed by a rough ending.

On to better days next year.

— Most impressive second-round team: Miami. Boy did the Hurricanes destroy a good Indiana team Sunday night.
— Least impressive second-round team: Houston. I don’t believe in this team at all. But they are tough as all get out.

— Sweet 16 games I’m most excited about: Michigan State-Kansas State should be a fantastic game. UConn-Arkansas will be a track meet, first team to 80 points wins. And UCLA vs. Gonzaga, hmmmm, where have we seen that recently?

— Finally, this moment, from Arkansas Coach Eric Musselman and one of his players, Devo Davis, was beautiful, and what this Tournament is all about.

“I love you, man!!” 🥲🐗

Eric Musselman embraces his family and holds Devo Davis with tears of joy after Arkansas knocks off #1 Kansas. pic.twitter.com/6aqaVmKyV7

— Nick Walters (@nickwalt) March 19, 2023

**Finally today, we lost a great actor on Friday, as Lance Reddick, who was Lt. Daniels on “The Wire,” who also starred in movies like “John Wick” and a bunch of other shows, died at the age of 60.

Reddick brought such quiet intensity to his roles, on shows like “Fringe” also. He was so, so good as Daniels on my all-time favorite show, caught between bosses at the Baltimore Police Dept., and at City Hall, while dealing with rule-breakers whose heart was in the right place like McNulty. Just his facial expressions alone could show so much.

He died way, way too young. A couple of my favorite of his scenes from “The Wire.” Rest in peace to a fantastic actor and good man.

Good News Friday: A Steve Hartman story about the high school football star who raised money for foster kids like him. YouTube star Mr. Beast does more amazing charity work. And a Minnesota kid gets a prom date in a very unusual way.

Happy Friday, my people! In my world it’s like Christmas and New Year’s and Hanukkah and the 4th of July all rolled into one, because it’s Day 2 of the NCAA Tournament! If all goes well I’ll spent about 10 hours today eating crap food and watching game after game while ignoring my family (they won’t mind, they get sick of me sometimes.)

While I’m wondering why Long Island got NONE of the snow the rest of N.Y. state got this week (my kids wanna go sledding at least once this winter, Ma Nature!), here are three fantastic stories highlighting the good news in the world.

We start with a fabulous piece by the great Steve Hartman of CBS News, who brings us the tale of a high school football star who had an angry childhood, spent mostly in foster care, and how the love of a good family, and one simple kind gesture asked of him by his new Mom, led to an incredible new purpose for him.

I had never heard of Malachi Coleman of Lincoln (Neb.) East High School before this, but you can bet I’ll be rooting for this young man at Nebraska.

One simple gesture of good has turned his whole life around. That’s all it takes sometimes.

**Next up,  my  8-year-old’s favorite YouTube star Mr. Beast is at it again, doing more good for the world. He teamed up with a charity in South Africa called Barefoot No More to buy 20,000 pairs of shoes for underprivileged kids in that country, kids who had to walk barefoot before this.

Just another example of someone who has a lot, giving to those who have so little. Good on ya, Mr. Beast!

**And finally today, I thought this story was all kinds of adorable. At the Minnesota high school hockey state tournament, which is as big in that state as basketball tournaments are in Indiana and Kentucky, a player named Brady Bork decided on a very unusual and fun way to ask a girl to the prom.

Hockey players write all kinds of messages on their stick tape before games, and get a few seconds on camera during player introductions.

So Brady decided to ask Sarah Stegenga to the Luverne High School big event, and she saw it and said yes. She hilariously ran to the merchandise stand to get a stick (the people from Bauer Hockey lent her one and let her keep it), and she wrote “Yes!” on some tape and showed it to him.

I love hockey. I love this story. Hope Brady and Sarah drive a Zamboni up to the prom.

How would every President of the U.S. look with a mullet? I’m glad you asked! Happy Ted Lasso Day! The Apple TV show is back for Season 3. And my NCAA Tournament picks, finalized, with a “guaranteed to be right” Final 4.

As you may know, artificial intelligence programs are taking over the world.

Well, not quite yet, but it seems to be getting there. The new “writing” program ChatGPT has scared the heck out of many of my fellow writers, since it can write stories and interviews in an interactive style that sorta kinda resembles human writing.

Robots will one day completely replace factory workers, we’re told, and self-driving cars are already here.

It’s all a little scary. But hey, sometimes A.I. can be used for fun! Like take this dude here, who decided it would be fun to see what every American President looked like with a mullet.

From George Washington to Joe Biden and everyone in between! From Newsweek.com:

“Using Artificial Intelligence (AI), Cam Harless, 34, who lives in Florida, has put a fun spin on pictures of historical and well-known figures in a Twitter thread featuring all 46 U.S. presidents with mullets.

Harless created the pictures using popular artificial intelligence program Midjourney. From Thomas Jefferson with flowing locks and orange-tinted sunglasses to Bill Clinton rocking the style famously representing business up front and party in the back.”

I think these are awesome. The Obama one is just perfect. See? AI can be used for fun stuff! Here’s the whole group of them, and George Washington’s is fantastic as well.

**Today is National Ted Lasso Day, so of course me and the millions of others who worship the Apple TV show “Ted Lasso” are eagerly awaiting the drop of the first episode (or episodes?) of Season 3.

This may in fact be in the final season, that’s what we’ve been told all along, but I can’t believe it will end this soon. There’s too many fans, too much money to be made in a Season 4.

Anyway, I’m super excited about this season, with Nate and Rupert now allies, Ted and the Richmond boys back in Premier League, and lord knows who Rebecca will shtup from the team next.

Futbol is life!

**Folks, I’m going to be honest with you.

I have very little feel for this NCAA Tournament bracket. Every year I normally feel at least somewhat confident in my Final 4 picks, or feel good about two or three of them.

This year? I feel confident Alabama will get there, because even though their star, Brandon Miller, shouldn’t be playing at all after his involvement in allegedly supplying a gun that was used in a homicide. Alabama’s bracket is softer than cheese that’s been left out for a week.

But the rest? I’m doing my best here but I’m not feeling good.
OK, first off, first round upsets I’m picking:
SOUTH: No. 12 Charleston over No. 5 San Diego State (most of America will have that one), and a shocker of a 15 over 2, because lately there’s been a 15-2 upset most years: Princeton over Arizona (somewhere, Pete Carril will be smiling). I just don’t love the Wildcats lately. Then I’ve got Bama over a surprise Missouri team in the Elite Eight, to go to the Final 4.

EAST: This is a bracket loaded with landmines for top-seeded Purdue. I’m not picking my beloved Duke Blue Devils, because as well as they’ve played the last month, I just don’t think this team can shoot well enough from the outside, nor has enough bench scoring, to win four games to get to the Final 4. I thought about Marquette, but they’ve made a big jump this year and while I love Coach Shaka Smart, I don’t think they can beat Purdue.

So I’m going with the Boilermakers, who’ve been so close to making it to a Final 4 the last few years. Zach Edey (above) is unstoppable! Maybe this year they’ll finally break through!
No big upsets in that region.

MIDWEST: I don’t love any of these teams to get to Houston and the Final 4. Houston, the top seed, has injury issues with star Marcus Sasser, and Texas seems flawed, as does Indiana, which has so much talent but has underachieved. I like Drake from the Missouri Valley to upset Miami and then IU, because the Missouri Valley is an excellent league and Drake is good.

So in a flawed group, I’m picking Xavier. They’ve had a terrific season, have an excellent if morally-challenged coach in Sean Miller, and they’re experienced and playing well now. Wouldn’t shock me if Texas A&M got hot and became a sleeper Final Four team.

WEST: Finally, the West. Defending national champ Kansas gets my nod here, and it’s pretty amazing in this day and age that a champ can come this close to repeating. I like no big first-round upsets here, but watch out for Iona and Rick Pitino to beat UConn, who is very erratic. I could see Gonzaga or UCLA possibly going to the Final 4, but the Zags have lost some tough games to good opponents outside their league, and UCLA has injury issues. So I go with the Jayhawks.

In the Final 4, I’ve got a Midwestern dream of Xavier vs. Purdue (Alabama will have a bad night against the Boilers), and Purdue winning the national title.

Put all your money on these picks and you’ll need a loan in a few weeks 🙂

The 2023 Oscars had no violence on stage! And some good winners and touching speeches. And March Madness is here! First thoughts on the bracket, who got screwed, and the best first-round games to watch

I must admit upfront I was pretty unenthused by the Oscars this year. I saw zero of the Best Picture nominees, and very few of the movies that the acting nominees were in. We just don’t go to the movies much anymore, and haven’t been as active in streaming these flicks as we could be (although we wanted to see “The Fabelmans” last weekend in a theater and couldn’t find one near us playing it).

Still, as you know I absolutely LOVE awards shows, so I was definitely going to watch. Some scattered thoughts from my tired brain (damn you, Daylight Savings Time!)

— There was NO violence on stage this year! Already that feels like a win.

— Host Jimmy Kimmel was terrific, I thought. I always enjoy him. His monologue jokes were strong, as he obviously referenced the Will Smith/Chris Rock slap from last year but didn’t overload on it. His Spielberg/Seth Rogen joke about how they’re the “Joe and Hunter Biden of Hollywood” made me laugh, and I enjoyed the “five Irish actors are nominated, so the chances we’ll have another fight on stage tonight went way up” crack.

Kimmel kept the show moving along, and there were no stupid comedy bits, really (well the one with Malala wasn’t so great), and we got to hear more from the winners.

And unlike last time Kimmel hosted, they didn’t accidentally read off the wrong name for Best Picture!

— Brendan Fraser won Best Actor for “The Whale,” and Ke Huy Quan won for “Everything Everywhere All At Once”, and both gave beautiful speeches.

“Mom! I just won an Oscar!” Quan shouted. “This is the American Dream!” It was beautiful, the emotion in his voice.

— Two actors from “Encino Man” won Oscars tonight. Go tell that to someone in 1993.

— The death montage was solid, and having John Travolta introduce it in a year his “Grease” co-star Olivia Newton-John died. Raquel Welch got the hammer which felt right.

— Yes I’m biased because I love writers and I love teachers but I thought Daniel Scheinert, co-winner of best original screenplay for “Everything Everywhere All at Once”) had an awesome speech, calling out the great educators he’s had in his life who helped him along the way. God bless teachers! A cool moment.

Scheinert also said as a kid he “dressed in drag which was a threat to nobody!” Attention, GOP lawmakers. The two Daniels (Kwan and Scheinert) gave awesome acceptance speeches when they won best director.

— Loved the speech by Jamie Lee Curtis (above), starting with her screaming “shut up!” when her name was announced as the winner. A sweet, much-loved longtime actress who’s been in a lot of crappy films finally gets to show her acting chops and won an Oscar.

— Nicole Kidman and Idris Elba would have absolutely beautiful children together. Wow did they look gorgeous together.

— Other stunning dresses/tuxes from the Oscars: Margot Robbie, Jessica Chastain, Jennifer Connelly, and from the men, Andrew Garfield and Michael B. Jordan (you’ve come a long way, Wallace from “The Wire”), were fabulous, according to the wife.

Elizabeth Banks and Florence Pugh, the missus didn’t enjoy your looks.

— My wife also pointed out that the winners for best screenplays had great acceptance speeches, which you’d expect because they’re writers.
I think she just pointed that out because I’m a writer and she knew that insight would make me happy and I’d put it in the blog. Which I am now doing 🙂

— Finally, Lady Gaga’s performance was superb and I would listen to her sing the phone book or a Chinese food menu. She’s just a freaking powerhouse.

**Finally today, it’s the most wonderful time of the year! Sunday was Selection Sunday, a national holiday in my house, and I have to say this year the Committee did a pretty strong job with making the NCAA Tournament bracket. Duke and Texas A&M were seeded a little too low, Saint Mary’s and N.C. State a little too high, but otherwise I think they did a bang-up job.

As always I need a few days to fully immerse myself in this bracket before I give you all my Final 4 picks. But some initial thoughts on the regions, best first-round games, and upset picks:

— Toughest region, at first glance, looks to be the Midwest. Houston has to deal with No. 2 seed Texas who is very hot right now, No. 4 Indiana who has an incredibly-talented roster, fifth-seeded Miami, and No. 7 Texas A&M who appears to be grossly underseeded. I’ll be stunned if Houston gets to the Final 4.

— The easiest region to me looks like the West. Kansas (led by star Jalen Wilson, above) would have to get through a Saint Mary’s team at No. 5 that seems overseeded, a UCLA team that’s No. 2 and has major injury issues, and No.3 Gonzaga who isn’t as strong as it was in past years. If Kansas can survive a possible second-round bout with Arkansas.

— Sooo many good first-round matchups this year. I highly recommend watching Utah State-Missouri, that game will be very high scoring (1:40 p.m. Eastern on Thursday on TNT); Charleston against San Diego State should be a doozy (3:10 p.m. Eastern Thursday on TruTV); and Boise State-Northwestern will be all kinds of fun (7:35 p.m. Eastern Thursday on TruTV).

I also love VCU-Saint Mary’s, a classic 12-5 game (Friday 2 p.m., on TBS), and FAU vs. Memphis is fascinating, since both teams are playing so well (9:20 p.m. Friday, on TNT).

And oh yeah, Duke vs. Oral Roberts will be very good, my Blue Devils are rolling right now (ACC Tournament champs, baby!)

— Upsets? You want upsets? Give me Charleston to beat San Diego State and then the Virginia-Furman winner to make the Sweet 16. I also love Iona over UConn in a 13-4 surprise, and VCU over Saint Mary’s in another 12-5 upset that always happens. Not sure I’m going to pick it yet, but I’m tempted to tout Furman over Virginia, and (yes this is nuts) Louisiana over Tennessee, a 4 seed.

— Sleepers? Wouldn’t shock me to see Texas A&M get to the Elite 8, and keep an eye on No. 3 East seed Kansas State, who have had an improbably successful season.

Let the madness begin!

Good News Friday: A woman pulls a disabled bus driver out of a burning vehicle, saving his life. A second-grader dresses up as her “superhero” teacher. And the Costco CEO responds to a kid’s school fundraising letter in an awesome way.

Happy Friday, y’all! Spring is almost here, we lose an hour of sleep this weekend thanks to the abomination that is Daylight Savings Time (seriously, why do we still have this again?), but the Madness of March is almost upon us! Can you smell those brackets, can you taste those upsets? I know you can. Check back here Monday for many thoughts on this year’s NCAA Tournament, which sadly falls on the same day as the Academy Awards this year (two of my absolute favorite things of the year happening on the same night!)

Let’s get right to the good news this week with a remarkable heroic effort from a Connecticut teacher.

A middle school educator at Illing Middle School in Manchester, Conn. saved an unconscious driver from a burning vehicle two weeks ago.

Heather Sica Leonard pulled a disabled driver named John, who has limited mobility and uses a wheelchair.

While driving his van down Main Street he smelled smoke, then moved a cup holder to find flames coming from his dash. He stopped the vehicle on the side of the ramp, suddenly finding himself in a burning car,” Manchester Fire Rescue EMS said, adding that the fuel tank of his van had ruptured.

Leonard, who happened to be driving down the highway ramp at the same time, spotted the emergency unfolding and stopped her car to help.

“She immediately stopped, approached the burning vehicle and selflessly got John and his wheelchair out of the car and moved him to safety, all at great personal risk to injury,” the department said. “Her actions averted an almost certain fatal outcome and prevented anyone from being injured.”

What an amazing gesture and quick-thinking by Sica Leonard. Bravo to her!

**Next up, I thought this was all kinds of adorable. A second grader in Bentonville, Ark. named Caroline Carlson had a wonderful twist on a common elementary school theme day.

At R.E. Baker Elementary School, students were asked to dress like their favorite superhero on a specific Friday.

Well, instead of going with Wonder Woman or Batgirl or someone else, Caroline chose to dress like her teacher, Jamie Deigh.

On Facebook the school wrote: “Forget the cape, throw on a jean jacket and change the world wherever you are, Bentonville!”

**Finally today, I love it when a CEO of a major corporation goes above and beyond to help someone. It’s rare.

A sixth grader in Los Angeles named Grant Cerwin wanted to help his school’s annual fundraiser, so he emailed Costco CEO Craig Jelinek. He asked Jelinek if Costco would donate one of their 93-inch teddy bears to the school to auction off for money.

In Cerwin’s sweet email, he asks “Is there any chance Costco might donate one? My dad has a truck and we could come get it at the store. I would make sure everyone knew you gave it to us in our school newsletter, on social media and with a big sign by the bear. I know it is a long shot but I thought it couldn’t hurt to ask.”

Jelinek not only saw the email but jumped into action, asking his colleague “Can we find him a teddy?” Then his lieutenant emailed their colleagues to quickly find a bear for Cerwin’s school, writing: “Do whatever it takes to find a Big Bear and set up pick up for Lesley. Keep me posted.”

Costco ended up delivering the bear to Grant’s school, and boom, so many future Costco customers now can feel even better about shopping there.

Listen to what Grant’s Mom said to Upworthy.com: “It speaks volumes about the leadership at Costco that Grant got the response he did,” she said. “He is a boundlessly optimistic child and as a parent you worry the world will chip away at that positivity. I’m grateful that the team at Costco reaffirmed my son’s belief that the world is full of good people.”