The new season of “Fargo” is as good as any they’ve done. A toddler with a fantastic national anthem performance. And the folks at Serial with a devastating new podcast about a wildly overreaching judge in Tennessee.

The movie “Fargo” is an absolute classic, from the opening seconds to the final credits. One of my all-time favorites, in the Top 10 for sure. That my wife hates the film is just about her only flaw.

The TV show “Fargo,” which having not much in common with the Coen Brothers masterpiece except for the name, has been on for five seasons now, with years-long breaks in between. There have been terrific seasons, like the first two, when Billy Bob Thornton (Season 1) and Kirsten Dunst (Season 2) absolutely stole the show, and supporting characters were amazing.

Then there have been some not so fabulous seasons, like the mess that was Season 3, and the maddeningly inconsistent Season 4, with Chris Rock and many others being great one week, terrible the next.

The TV “Fargo” is a potluck stew where you never know what you’re going to get. Still, with the brand-new season starting a few weeks ago, I had high hopes. The cast is terrific, with “Ted Lasso” beauty Juno Temple and everyone’s favorite, Jon Hamm, playing the two leads. The story sounded fascinating: in 2019 Minnesota, a seemingly-normal housewife named Dot Lyon (Juno Temple) has a crazy week, with her tasing a cop at a school board meeting, then getting abducted and escaping from two kidnappers.

For reasons that become clear during the first episode, Hamm’s character, an arrogant sheriff from North Dakota, becomes very involved in looking for Dot, and the storylines intersect.

Two episodes in, I’m completely riveted. Temple looks nothing like Keeley from “Ted Lasso,” but her steely gaze and ability to completely shift tone and feel from moment to moment are remarkable. Hamm is at his arrogant, hilarious, likable self, and the supporting roles are equally wonderful (especially Jennifer Jason Leigh as Dot’s mother in law).

The dialogue sparkles, there have been quite a few surprises already, and I can’t wait for more. Highly, highly recommend diving in if you’ve seen other “Fargo” seasons, or just want to be entertained. Tuesday nights on FX, and also streaming on Hulu.

So, so good so far. The season trailer is above, and here’s the Rotten Tomatoes critics page for the new season.

The pre-game anthem always gives me chills, but never anything close to this. Proudest of proud Dad moments. MVP of yesterday’s game… Bella Howland! pic.twitter.com/MFRRpMUIVQ

— Mike Howland (@CoachMHowland) November 26, 2023

**Next up, this may be the best national anthem performance by someone so young I’ve ever seen. At a College of William and Mary basketball game last weekend, the daughter of assistant coach Mike Howland sang “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

And though she could barely reach the microphone, Bella Howland did a whale of a job. What a poised performance!

**Finally today, the “Serial” folks are back with yet another wonderful podcast, a four-part audio gem called “The Kids of Rutherford County.”

You may remember back in 2016 there being a small national furor over revelations that a juvenile court judge in Rutherford County, Tennessee had jailed a bunch of very young children (some as young as 7) after a fight at a playground.

Well, as reporter Meribah Knight found out, this was no isolated incident. Judge Donna Davenport and other juvenile justice officials in the county were jailing hundreds of kids, every year, for incredibly minor offenses. They used solitary confinement and other punishments, things that were way, way, WAY unconstitutional.

Davenport was in her own isolated fiefdom, allowed to do what she wanted, and openly bragged in public about the methods she used. Finally, thanks to some dedicated lawyers and brave now-adults willing to speak out, things changed in Rutherford County.

The podcast grippingly tells the story. It doesn’t have a completely satisfying or happy ending, but it sheds light on how little attention some states pay to juvenile justice, and the damage that can be done to children.

“The Kids of Rutherford County” is out now, wherever you get your podcasts.

Tales from a week visiting our nation’s capital (it’s still open!) and Baltimore over the holidays: So much time together, we need a break. But the museums were awesome! Dolly Parton, age 77, is still amazing. And in the NFL, the Bills and Eagles play the game of the year, and the Jags and Colts look very frisky.

There is a moment in every family vacation where all of you need a timeout.

Where the stress of being together 24/7, for days and days on end without a break (except when you’re sleeping), just gets to all of you at once.

That moment happened for my family late last week one night at the Residence Inn Hunt Valley (Md.), a lovely little hotel with a great waffle-maker as part of the included daily breakfast (truly the ability to make waffles/pancakes for yourself makes or breaks the quality of the hotel breakfast). I don’t even remember what we were arguing about, one of us was mad at the other, a third person intervened, and soon we were all yelling at each other and it was glorious.

But a few minutes later we were laughing again and had completely forgotten why we were mad.

Yes ladies and gentlemen, family vacations rule! Even if we’re all sick of each other today upon our return. We took the boys to Washington, D.C. for five days before Thanksgiving, then spent a few days with relatives outside of Baltimore.

I have thoughts, I have many thoughts on a fun trip filled with 14 hours in the car back and forth, and lots of highlights in-between:

— So first I want to talk about Washington, D.C., and how cool I still think it is. As a kid I was mesmerized by all the fancy, important government buildings, the history and monuments, all of it. And as a 48-year-old man, I still loved it. The Washington Monument is majestic. The Lincoln Memorial, which we only saw from afar, is beautiful. The Capitol, the White House (which, sadly, we tried to arrange a tour in but were turned down weeks ago due to they said an “overwhelming volume of requests”), all of it, I just love that city.

— My favorite museum on this trip, and one I don’t remember visiting as a kid, is the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. So much incredible stuff there, from info about Presidents (that’s my 6-year-old, above, pretending to give a speech at a lectern, he loved it), to the migration of African-Americans from the South, to histories of American Indians and how awfully they were treated. Ron DeSantis would’ve had the whole place shut down if he could, so honest was it about our history. And it was all free, since it was a Smithsonian place! Such a great time we had there.

— One feature of D.C. my 9-year-old loved? The Metro system. We came here when he was 3 and he loved the trains. Now, six years later, he loved memorizing the stops, the lines, all of it. Within a few days he was telling me where we had to transfer on the Orange line to get to L’Enfant Plaza, and no, Daddy, to get to Federal Triangle we needed to go a few more stops on the Silver line and my goodness, that boy loves maps and directions. He was absolutely in heaven.

— Of course, there’s one problem with the D.C. Metro: You don’t know if you have enough money on your fare card until you try to exit the system, and one day we miscalculated and I didn’t have enough money to exit. I walk over to an “Exit Fare” machine and it says it won’t take bills, won’t take credit cards, and with my family safely on the other side, I have no earthly idea how I’m going to leave this station.

Fortunately my wife had enough coins to free me, and I was thrilled to be out and to also have reason to tell my kids that a group called the Kingston Trio wrote a song about this VERY thing, and it’s an awesome song! Take it away with “MTA,” fellas! (My eternal question: If his wife brought Charlie a sandwich every day, couldn’t she have put enough coins to leave the train in his lunchbox?)

— One of the many hidden gems of Washington is the National Building Museum, a fascinating place that talks about architecture, design and history all in one place. We were fortunate to be there during the annual Can-struction competition, which features design firms from the area making beautiful structures out of food cans, all to benefit the fight against hunger in the D.C. area. So many creative entries, but this one was my favorite:

I mean, how cool is that mixing bowl? You know how many hours that must’ve taken the team to build that? Check out more of the cool entries, and past winners, here.

— Finally, there is no disappointment in life quite like that of knowing a rest stop with food and bathrooms is coming up on the Turnpike, telling your kids they just have to stop whining and hang on for 10 more miles, and then you get closer to the rest stop there’s a giant “Closed” marking on the blue sign that tells you it’s up ahead on the right.

Just such a gut punch to know you need to drive 30 more miles for Dunkin/Starbucks and bad fast food.

**Next up, of all the amazing things I saw in the past nine days, not sure anything was as jaw-dropping as this. Dolly Parton is 77 years old (SEVENTY-SEVEN) and still put on this Dallas Cowboys cheerleader uniform and sang “Jolene” at halftime of the Cowboys-Commanders game Thursday and looked damn good doing it.

She’s 77!!! Unbelievable. What an American icon she is. You can watch her whole performance here.

**Finally, since I realize this is a super-long post, some quicker-than-usual thoughts on Sunday’s NFL action, while still trying to digest the Lions’ poor performance on Thanksgiving:

— The game of the day, maybe the game of the season so far, was Philadelphia’s 37-34 overtime win over the Bills. The Eagles had NO business winning this game, as Buffalo held the ball for more than 40 minutes, kept the Eagles offense bottled up for most of the day and had the Philly fans booing their team.

But Jalen Hurts pulled off some magic, the Bills defense collapsed as it often has this year, and Josh Allen couldn’t quite score the TD in OT when he needed. Buffalo is 6-6 now, and it’s going to take a ton of work and luck to make the playoffs.

— How about if I told you in August that the Colts would be in better playoff position than the Bills entering December? Something about this Indy team seems frisky and dangerous to me, even with Gardner Minshew at QB. They’re 6-5 and looking good.

— The Giants and Pats played a game it was a shame someone had to win. It was the Giants, as New England fell to 2-9 and people were talking about the awful Pats teams of the late 1980s/early 1990s, and it’s glorious, isn’t it?

— Jacksonville is 8-3 and it still doesn’t feel like they’ve played their best yet. Crazy.

— Finally, the Ravens look like the best team in the AFC to me, since the Chiefs keep stumbling along and finding ways to win. I think Baltimore gets home field and will be very tough to beat in the playoffs.

It’s Thanksgiving! Which means I show you the classic “Cheers” Thanksgiving food fight. Jed Bartlet calls the Butterball hotline. And an NFL player doing great for hungry kids in his town.

It’s Thanksgiving Eve, y’all! I hope wherever you are, you’re going to be with friends, family and loved ones tomorrow on my favorite holiday of the year.

Eat up, hug each other, watch some football if you so desire, and most importantly, remember to be thankful for all that you have. You may not have as much as some, but you surely have more than others. I am as always so grateful for you all, my readers, for making this blog so much fun for me to write.

Probably will not be a Good News Friday post this week, as I’ll be traveling back from Washington, D.C., so I’m sneaking in a GNF-inspired item today.

But first, as I’m legally required to do here at World Wide of Stuff, my annual tradition of posting the best Thanksgiving scene from any TV show ever, the “Cheers” food fight.

As I’ve mentioned before, my kids now love this scene so much, and request me to play it for them every once in a while. I’m so proud. Sam’s face after he hits Diane, gets me every time.

**Next up, this year I want to post another fantastic scene, Jed Bartlet in “The West Wing” discovering there’s such a thing as the Butterball Hotline.

Every word, every note of this is perfect, especially when Martin Sheen thinks the operator is making the second bacteria up.

So damn funny.

**And finally, I love it when athletes give back. Jalen Pitre Jr. of the Houston Texans has partnered with a Texas-based food insecurity organization called Kids Meals, Inc. Before last week’s game Pitre drove this meal delivery truck to the stadium, to bring attention to hunger in his state.

Good on ya, Jalen. The Texans are a heck of a rebirth story this season, from an organization that was an embarrassment the last few years, to one that’s truly shining.

The Frito-Lay people have done it again: They’ve come up with a way to make people less bothered by Doritos crunching sounds. A funny story from Ian Eagle on almost missing a game. And in the NFL, play “Taps” for the Jets season, the Browns win a big one, and are the Broncos back from the dead?

I love it when companies come up with solutions to problems I never even knew existed.

Sure, Fortune 500 organizations could try to solve the myriad real problems that exist in the world, but nope, sometimes it’s easier to get to the bottom of one that only bothers a few people.

In this delightful case, it was the Doritos people trying to placate online gamers. It seems that gamers spend many hours playing their games, often with headphones on, and apparently it was becoming a big problem hearing rival players making really loud “Crunch!” noises while eating Doritos and destroying civilizations (or building them, I don’t know what the hell gamers do all day and night).

So what to do? Stop eating Doritos while playing? Pshah, that’s no solution. Learn to live with a little noise? Please.

So here’s what they did, as I first heard about on NPR’s “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me.” They created something called Doritos Silent, a crunch-cancellation technology.

From this story on Yr.Media:

“The company recently debuted Doritos Silent, a crunch-cancellation technology, designed specifically for PC gamers. This move not only highlights Doritos’ commitment to innovation but also underscores the unique bond between the brand and the gaming community –  90% of which is Gen Z.

While it may seem like a funny concept at first, ‘Doritos Silent’ addresses a genuine issue for gamers around the world. According to PepsiCo’s release, a recent study shows that 85 percent of gamers consistently choose Doritos as their snack of choice, but at the same time, many gamers are annoyed by the disruptive crunching sounds of chips entering their headsets while gaming.”

How does it work? From Gamerant.com: “While it might seem like a joke, the software is very real and can be downloaded from Doritos’ website. Currently only available on PC, the tech is powered by AI that has been trained to recognize over 5,000 different crunching sounds and filter them out while still allowing players to chat with their squad.”

What a joy to be alive in the year 2023. Separately, while we’re on the topic, shout-out to my childhood best friend’s Mom, Judy, who used to make us the most delicious Doritos with melted cheese snack after school when we’d come to their house. Seriously, they’d come out of the toaster oven and I’d want to eat 50 of them.  Love you, Judy!

🎧SI MEDIA PODCAST with Ian Eagle

-The one time he almost missed a game
-Why he still calls NFL preseason games
-Travis Kelce-Taylor Swift craziness
-Dinners with Bill Raftery

Apple: https://t.co/ck0BFM7TyA
YouTube: https://t.co/Q69dWCmpk5 pic.twitter.com/f05SBYtO7m

— Jimmy Traina (@JimmyTraina) November 18, 2023

**Next up, Ian Eagle is one of my favorite sports broadcasters. He’s so smooth, he’s funny, he doesn’t take himself too seriously, and always has some great one-liners (he referenced “They’re real, and they’re spectacular” from “Seinfeld” once on a night when Jerry was at a game, and it was brilliant.)

He was on the SI Media podcast with Jimmy Traina recently, and I enjoyed this story of how Ian very nearly missed a game broadcast once. Jimmy the Valet, always reliable!

**And finally today, there were a few thrilling games in the NFL on Sunday, and as usual, my New York Jets didn’t play one of them.

Yes my friends, time to play “Taps” on another Jets season, after a despicable 32-6 loss to Buffalo Sunday. I didn’t watch much of it, as we’re out of town on a family vacation, but it was the same old story: Miserable QB play from Zach Wilson, boring play-calling, poor offensive line work, and a defense that finally gave up a few big plays. The Jets are 4-6, Aaron Rodgers would be even crazier than he already is to rush back from Achilles surgery to play this year, and I’m thoroughly disgusted.

So everything’s right where it normally is for me and the Jets around Thanksgiving!

— In happier NFL news, the two teams that I really want to meet in the Super Bowl both had fantastic last-minute wins. The Lions futzed around all day and trailed the Bears by double-digits late in the fourth quarter, but rallied to win on a David Montgomery TD run, while the Browns, with DeShaun Watson injured and out for the year, rallied behind their rookie QB and won, 13-10 over the hated Steelers at the last second.

I’m telling you, two fan bases that have suffered so much, see their teams 8-2 (Lions) and 7-3 (Browns) and Super Bowl dreams are dancing in their heads. Would be so, so awesome.

— Hey how are things going in Washington, you ask? Well, someone named Tommy DeVito threw three TD passes against them Sunday as the Giants beat them. And yeah, their stadium is working great! Who needs hot water, anyway?

— Don’t look now but the Denver freaking Broncos are like 5-5 and in the playoff race. They somehow beat Minnesota Sunday night and the defibrillation of Russell Wilson’s career continues. Wow.

— Oh yeah, the Chargers stink, lost another one-score game (they’re 0-5 in them this year!) and their doofus coach, Brandon Staley, is now sniping at the media for questioning his brilliance. Things are going great!

Good thing they don’t have any fans out there in L.A., they’d be real mad.

Good News Friday: Reason No. 4,323 that the singer Pink is awesome: She’s giving away free banned books. Two “Ted Lasso” cast members do a fabulous cover of “Shallow.” And six remarkable sisters at a New York college living their dreams.

Happy Friday, world! Hope everyone has had a good week, I can’t believe this happened again but I apologize for not having my usual post on Wednesday; unlike the time a few weeks ago when I simply forgot to write it, this time I started it Tuesday afternoon, then completely forgot to finish it Tuesday night and around Wednesday afternoon realized my error.

Trust me, I’m fine! My brain is OK! It’s just been a hectic few weeks, is all. All good! 

Anyway, it’s mid-November, George Santos will be out of our life by this time next year (whoo-hoo, he’s not running again! Goodbye to MY Congressman!), the government will NOT be shutting down this weekend which is excellent news for the Lewis family, as we head down to D.C. for a pre-Thanksgiving trip with our boys, and the leaves are looking beautiful as always.

Let’s kick off Good News Friday this week with maybe my favorite singer/dancer in the whole world, Miss Alecia Moore, aka Pink. I love Pink for many reasons, as detailed in this space many times before, because she’s wildly talented, she’s a badass, she seems genuinely kind and decent, and she makes awesome music (Seriously, how great is this song off her new album “When I Get There?” So beautiful.) 

This week I love her for her fantastic move she’s doing at some Florida concerts. Because book-banning has become a scourge of our nation, and because Florida is where a huge number of school libraries have had to remove brilliant, thought-provoking works lest (gasp!) children have their views challenged and minds opened, Pink decided to give away 2,000 banned books at her shows this weekend in Orlando.

From NPR:

In collaboration with PEN America and Florida bookseller Books & Books, the Grammy-winning pop musician is giving away 2,000 challenged books at her concerts in Miami and Sunrise Florida this week.

The books, which have appeared in PEN America’s Index of Banned Books, include Beloved by Toni Morrison, Amanda Gorman’s The Hill We Climb, Girls Who Code by Reshma Saujani and Todd Parr’s The Family Book.

“It’s confusing, it’s infuriating, it is censorship,” Pink said in an Instagram video announcing her action on Monday.

“Books have held a special joy for me from the time I was a child, and that’s why I am unwilling to stand by and watch while books are banned by schools,” P!nk said in a PEN statement about the giveaway. “It’s especially hateful to see authorities take aim at books about race and racism and against LGBTQ authors and those of color. We have made so many strides toward equality in this country and no one should want to see this progress reversed. This is why I am supporting PEN America in its work and why I agree with them: no more banned books.”

Love Pink! Good for her. Hope more artists do this, too.

**Next up, this was absolutely wonderful. At a charity event for something called Thunder Gong (which by way would be a fantastic name for a rock band), Jason Sudeikis and friend/comedian Will Forte were prepared to sing a cover of “Shallow,” when a certain blonde theater star showed up and blew them off the stage.

Hannah Waddingham, you are a vocal goddess. So, so great.

**And finally, this story sent to me by my sister is pretty awesome. Six sisters in New York City all have come together after pursuing other careers and have gone back to nursing school.

The Lawrence sisters, who survived being homeless in childhood, are studying to become nurses, working on their Master’s degrees at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University in Brooklyn.

“Coming into college, she wanted to be a writer, an artist. She wanted to be a fashion designer. We all had different interests,” Alecsandria Lawrence said.

Instead, the siblings all came to find a passion for helping others and they all say it’s because of what they’ve lived through.

Ten years ago, their family built a life living in a multi-generational family home in Rosedale, Queens until they lost it to other relatives.”

Read the rest of their inspiring story here. Lord knows there’s a major nursing shortage in America, so six sisters all deciding to become nurses? That’s very good news.

 

https://abc7ny.com/nyc-sisters-homeless-nursing-degrees/14035478/?ex_cid=TA_WABC_FB&utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook&fbclid=IwAR35hz8qk3fXHj6ufU-cGbShqlKx3mB9r2TZ40AT_O-V-gV7XLO0QmRJftA_aem_AbclL8L9ALc8Z3GtRa3HUtt1bDuW0wof9F0aFBezQZPVRaGmpENCAAF1dn7FVNwniRw#lp1jlslwhjniret8ze5

A ton of last-second wins in a crazy NFL Sunday, with the Browns and Texans leading the way. And the Jets … played. J.J. Redick is all of us, ranting about Google Docs. And the first trailer for the “Inside Out” sequel is out and it looks terrific.

Well that was a wildly entertaining day of NFL football, right up until the Jets-Raiders game kicked off (not going to talk about that one, my stomach just settled down after the nausea my Jets caused).

We had five games, FIVE, that came down to the final play. Which is a lot.  Most in NFL history on one day where game-winning field goals on the final play happened.

Crazy, crazy stuff. Some quick thoughts on those five, and a few other scattered musings…

— The Cleveland Browns, ladies and gentlemen! The Cleveland Browns! Got down big early to Baltimore, 24-9, made a little comeback noise, then were down 30-17 in the fourth quarter and oh my goodness, is that Deshaun Watson’s music??? Cleveland fans been waiting a long time for this former franchise QB to show up and earn the enormous, ridiculous contract the Browns gave him, and well, he did good on Sunday.

Led the Browns to two late touchdowns, and then a game-winning field goal, and Cleveland is 6-3 and wow would I love a Super Bowl between them and the team  I’m going to praise next.

— We had an old-fashioned AFC West-style shootout with Detroit and the L.A. Chargers Sunday. Justin Herbert and Jared Goff were slinging the ball all over the field and scoring a whole buncha touchdowns, and with the score 38-38, I loved the call by Lions coach Dan Campbell. It was 4th and 2, under 2 minutes to go, and Detroit was in field goal range.
But if they kick the field goal there, they go up by 3, but the Chargers get the ball back. And the Lions defense hadn’t been stopping Herbert at all. So Campbell goes for it, picks it up, and bleeds the clock down to the final seconds before kicking the winning points.

The Lions are so much fun, a phrase that has barely ever been spoken in human history. Seriously, wouldn’t Browns-Lions in the Super Bowl be awesome?

— Washington is this year’s “play so many close games and lose just about all of them” team. Sam Howell led a stirring tying scoring drive with under two minutes to play, but Geno Smith and the Seahawks marched down the field and tied it, then won it with a game-ending field goal.

— Brief college football interlude: the refereeing was absolutely atrocious in the Duke-UNC fourth quarter Saturday night, and I’m still mad about it.

— OK back to the pros: Kyler Murray is back! Can’t say that I missed him, but hey, it’s great that he’s back from his ACL tear. His first game in a year saw him lead the Cardinals to a last-second field goal win over the Falcons, who also seem to play thrillers every week (I just looked it up: Atlanta has had seven of its 10 games decided by eight points or less).

— And finally, my man C.J. Stroud, who I’ve been writing about in space seemingly every week, had maybe the most impressive of the last-second wins. The Texans rookie had the Bengals on the ropes, 27-17, then saw the lead slip away (partly due to Stroud’s INT deep in his end), and with the score tied led Houston on a game-winning field goal drive. Man, Stroud is something else.

—- Finally, I guess the 49ers are back. They just destroyed the Jaguars on Sunday and even though Christian McCaffrey’s incredible 18-games-in-a row touchdown streak ended, they looked like they snapped out of their slump.

Here’s a classic @jj_redick rant … on a Google Docs feature pic.twitter.com/SOBFElAbw2

— TheOldMan&TheThree (@OldManAndThree) November 11, 2023

**Next up, this had me laughing pretty hard, since I’ve had this exact same experience and I’m sure you have, too. Former NBA star/current broadcaster is a little upset about the permission access feature of Google Docs, and has a few things to say about it.

You go, JJ.

**And finally, I am super-excited to watch the new special on HBO that debuted over the weekend, on the great, legendary Albert Brooks, but I saw this trailer over the weekend for another thing I’m super-excited about, so wanted to share.

“Inside Out” was one of the absolute best Pixar movies ever made. So full of heart, and humor, and oh my goodness that scene with Richard Kind’s Bing Bong character being left behind, I’m choking up just thinking about it.

Well, if you loved that wonderful journey into one little girl’s emotions, the sequel looks pretty fantastic, too. The first trailer for “Inside Out 2” was released last week, and it should be fantastic.

It’s out next summer, and based off these 90 seconds, I can’t wait.

Good News Friday: A college basketball standout is also a first-year law student, an amazing accomplishment. Mr. Beast is at it again, now building wells for people in Africa. And Peyton Manning acting silly brings me joy, as does Damar Hamlin’s generosity

Happy Friday, world! It’s Veterans Day, observed, so of course first a shoutout to all the men and women who have served our country over the years. Whether you were on the front lines during wartime, or served quietly but proudly during peacetime in a non-war zone, we appreciate you all very much.

Now on with the show, but oh yeah, how ’bout those New York Rangers? My favorite hockey team is now 10-2-1 to start the season and they’re the perfect antidote to my sadness over the New York Jets.

First up on Good News Friday, it’s officially college basketball season, I’m super-excited about it as always, and I read a wonderful story I wanted to share to lead off today (if you don’t have a Washington Post subscription, no worries, I shared that link as a gift subscription so all can read it). Candace Buckner of the Washington Post brings us the tale of Joshua Strong, who is the starting point guard at Howard University in Washington, D.C., a strong low-major Division I program.

Strong is also a first-year law school student at Howard. Two “jobs” both requiring 60-80 hour work weeks, at the same time, for a college kid.

Unbelievable.

“It’s a beast,” says Braeden Anderson, who is believed to be the first Division I men’s basketball player to simultaneously attend law school, which he did at Seton Hall during the 2015-16 season. “There is a widely known picture that’s painted of law school and how difficult it is and how stressful it is, and it certainly lives up to all that and more.”

This pursuit, this balancing act, this … this beast is so rare that only a handful of student-athletes have been known to take it on. Benjamin Bosmans-Verdonk, a redshirt senior for South Carolina, is in his second year of law school. Strong remembers being in middle school and reading about Anderson. The seed of possibility was planted, and that’s all he needed. Anyone who would dare say otherwise, they just didn’t understand this young man who never liked hearing “no.”

Buckner gives us great insight and colorful details into Strong, such as this passage deep in the story:

“After two years attending and playing at Division II Minnesota Duluth, Strong graduated summa cum laude while receiving his bachelor’s degree in entrepreneurship. For six weeks last summer, he lived in Morocco for an independent research study and learned about the cooperatives for widowed and divorced women who attempted to make a living as artisans.

In Morocco, Strong let his hair knot up and grew it long, learned a little Darija, avoided the tourist traps and instead connected with the people living there. But he also witnessed exploitation of women. Strong was raised in a biracial home, but he identified as a Black boy. He saw himself in the artisans.

The summer camp kids in awe of a house. The high school boys discouraged from a challenging academic program. The Moroccan women taken advantage of by middlemen. They were flickers in his life, which kept bending toward a career with a purpose. Law might be finite, but Strong sees it as a vehicle to help people. His people.

“I always had a passion for social justice. I guess early I kind of conceptualized law as the way to attack that,” Strong says. “I was always smart, and people would say, ‘Oh, you’re going to be a doctor, engineer.’ Well, how am I going to help Black people?”

Just a terrific young man, is Joshua Strong, and someone I’m thrilled to be introduced to through this wonderful piece. Someone to root for, indeed.

**Next up today, it’s my 9-year-old (and millions of others) favorite YouTube star, Mr. Beast, at it again, doing wonderful things with his money.

Jimmy Donaldson (his real name) posted a video last weekend showing that he and his team built 100 new clean drinking wells in African countries Cameroon, Kenya, Somalia, Uganda and Zimbabwe, which will provide clean water for 500,000 people.

From a CNN.com story: Donaldson’s 10-minute video also showed him donating supplies to Kenyan schools, such as new furniture, soccer balls, computers, whiteboards and projectors; building a bridge across a river to safely connect a village with the local schools and hospital; and donating bikes to a village in Zimbabwe to help children get to school.

And I know Mr. Beast will get criticized as an attention hog, and that he’s a “white savior” dude zooming into situations like this one and using his money to garner headlines and promote himself.

My answer to that has been, and will continue to be: SO WHAT? The man is using his vast fortune and helping blind people see, helping poor people get clean drinking water that won’t make them sick, etc.
I don’t care what his reasons are for doing what he’s doing, all I care is that he’s doing it.

Good on ya, Mr. Beast.

Peyton Manning deserves a damn Emmy!!! 😂 #ManningCast #MNF pic.twitter.com/9XLdFVZdou

— BigHeadBS💨 (@BigHeadBS) November 7, 2023

**And finally today, Peyton Manning is just a joy to watch do anything, but acting silly without even realizing he is doing it is my favorite Peyton.

Here he is last Monday night, telling brother Eli what some of his play-call words were when he was in the NFL, and what the signals for them were.

I think my favorites are “dolphin” and “Travolta.” Turn up your sound, it’s worth it.

I love Peyton Manning so much. And I also love Damar Hamlin, the Buffalo Bills player who almost died on the field last season. This week he announced he’s launching a new scholarship program — The Cincinnati Heroes Scholarship. It will award money to underserved Cincinnati students in the names of 10 people who helped save his life after the Bills-Bengals game last season.

Just so fantastic.

Have a great weekend.

One more reason to be confused by Gen Z: Apparently they don’t like sex scenes in movies. A college marching band member shows why you shouldn’t trash talk him while playing. And on an off-year Election Night, Ohio makes positive steps on abortion and marijuana, and a good night for Dems elsewhere.

I must admit that I really don’t understand a lot about Generation Z people.

They’re a strange breed, these under 30’s. They vote like crazy, which is awesome but very different than past generations. They shun things like cable TV and chain restaurants and a lot of things that are staples in my life (hey, I wonder if they shop at Staples! I just got a snazzy new computer bag there the other day, I love it. Sorry, where was I?)

Oh right, Generation Z. They’re going to take over the world someday, and I hope by then I understand them. Because this week I saw yet another story about their preferences that confused me.

From Futurism.com: “A survey of 1,500 Gen Z-ers has found that more than half of them want to see more content focused on friendship and less on, well, getting it on.

Titled “Teens and Screens,” this new survey conducted by researchers based out of the University of California Los Angeles included findings that won’t be surprising to anyone who’s ever witnessed the online trend among Gen Z, or those roughly between the ages of ten and 24, of decrying sexual situations in film and on television.

The survey, which was done on behalf of UCLA’s Center for Scholars and Storytellers (CSS), found that 51.5 percent of respondents want more content on platonic relationships depicted in the media they consume, a trend the researchers labeled “nomance.”

What’s more, 44.3 percent of respondents said they think romance in media is overused or overrated, while 47.5 echoed the common Gen Z sentiment that sex isn’t necessary to continue plotlines.

“When there’s media with too much sex, me and my friends often feel uncomfortable,” Ana, one of the survey respondents, said in a UCLA video about the study.”

I don’t get it. When I was a kid, often the whole POINT of watching a movie was hoping for a sex scene. So many blah movies were livened up by seeing some flashes of skin, some characters getting it on. We would wait a full hour sometimes through boring plots and wooden acting that even Pinocchio would find fake just to see a couple of good-looking people between the sheets!

But Gen Z is not interested. They want depth, they want friendships, they want deep, meaningful relationships, and sex scenes make them uncomfortable.

I wonder if part of this is just that Gen Z has had such easy access to sex and nudity on the internet their whole lives, that there’s no excitement to seeing it on screen.

Or they’re just strange, mysterious people. Who knows?

TEXAS SOUTHERN WHAT YALL GOT GOING ON 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/WvIuPp3h3y

— kayla. (@theekaylan) November 5, 2023

**Next up today, this clip went a little viral over the weekend and I totally understand why. Meet a member of the Texas Southern University marching band, who was playing tuba during a football game.

Apparently a fan at the game was talking some serious smack to our Tuba Hero, and well, take a look at what happened.

You do NOT mess with a member of a marching band during a piece, especially if it’s an HBCU marching band, which are the finest marching bands in the land.

Tuba players are fierce, man!

**Finally today, it was Election Day in America on Tuesday, an off-year election when no Senate races, Congressional races or of course a Presidential race was on the ballot. I spent 16 hours or so as a poll-worker in a local elementary school here on Long Island; it was as usual exhausting but enlightening: A few highlights included one man asking “who makes the voting machines we’re using?” which was not something I had a prepared answer to, so I walked him over to a machine and showed him the manufacturer name on it, and another woman who said “all voting is fraudulent, there’s no reason we should be doing it,” which was lovely.

All in all though the vast majority of voters were kind and friendly, as were the poll workers I was alongside.

Anyway, so while we are a year away from what, depressingly, looks like Biden-Trump II, there was still some interesting stuff voted on, passed or rejected Tuesday night. A couple of things caught my eye:

— The good folks of Ohio passed Issue 1, enshrining the right to an abortion in the state’s constitution. Every single state that’s had an abortion amendment on its ballot since Roe v. Wade was overturned has voted for the pro-choice side, which just angers me more and more that six goddamn people on the Supreme Court decided to overturn the will of the American people.

— Ohio also voted for legalized recreational pot, which is good.

— Kentucky re-elected its Democratic governor, while key results in Pennsylvania and Virginia put at least a little bit of a firewall on GOP gains.

There is hope for our land, at least after this election night.

–

Chris Christie’s lonely quest to speak the truth about Donald Trump: Why aren’t the rest of them joining him? A little girl and her siblings groove to The Beatles and it’s delightful. And in the NFL, the Cowboys and Eagles play a great one, C.J. Stroud is a star, and the Vikes new QB doesn’t know teammates’ names, wins anyway

We are, and have been since 2016, at a strange place in Presidential politics on the Republican side. Every so often I like to step back and analyze this from a distance, as if you were an alien just landing in America these last few years:

There is one man in the Republican party who is so far ahead of all others, in terms of name recognition, media air time, fundraising acumen, poll numbers and whatever other metric you want to use. He has commanded and sucked up so much of the support, that one would have to figure he’s an incredibly impressive, formidable man.

This man, however, is far from impressive. He is a serial sexual abuser, a compulsive liar, a con man, a fraud, one who’s lost a fortune, and one who turns on his friends as fast as anyone ever has, possesses zero self-awareness, sense of humor or a bone of kindness in his body.

And yet, with so, so much to attack him on, with more material than you could ever want, that man is running for President again and all candidates but one are afraid to say anything bad about him.

Donald Trump has so terrified every possible opponent, it’s simply incredible. None of them have any guts, any self-promotional instincts, any appetite for taking him on. There’s SO MUCH that can be criticized about him, yet there’s only one man who dares try it.

His name is Chris Christie. He’s no hero; he was a scandal-plagued governor of New Jersey, a failed presidential candidate, and a former devoted sycophant of Trump, who stayed loyal to him for years. Only recently since Trump cut him loose has Christie become the lone “voice of reason,” the only GOP candidate to point out what a scumbag Trump is.

“Your anger against the truth is reprehensible.”

Chris Christie lashed out at a MAGA crowd at Florida’s GOP Freedom Summit today. pic.twitter.com/zYjNlp8LHb

— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) November 4, 2023

I was fascinated by this clip over the weekend, with Christie getting booed and heckled at a Florida GOP Freedom Summit, while he told them that their “anger against the truth is reprehensible.”

Why is Christie the only one doing this? What the hell do the rest of the field have to lose? Are they hoping they’ll be nice to Trump, his supporters will love them, and that if Trump has a heart attack or goes to prison, they’ll be the alternative to his supporters?

I just don’t get it. I’m glad Chris Christie, who has many, many faults himself, is standing up and trying to speak the truth.

I just don’t know why this is a solo mission.

I could watch this all day.

pic.twitter.com/oj7CpRH8gi

— Scottacular (@Scottcrates) November 4, 2023

**Next up today, this was an utterly delightful way to spend a few minutes over the weekend. A man named Colt Clark and his family have been producing at-home music videos for a few years now, and this one just came across my feed a few days ago.

The little girl in front is just so awesome.

**And finally, we’re into the second half of the season now in the NFL, and some of the early contenders are being exposed as pretenders (we see you, Tampa Bay Bucs) and some of the teams we thought all along would be contenders have finally begun looking like them (see: Bengals, Cincinnati).

The game of the day Sunday was Cowboys vs. Eagles, and it reaffirmed a lot of what we already knew: Jalen Hurts is one hell of a player, and Dak Prescott puts up fantastic numbers but always comes up short in the end. The 28-23 Philadelphia win featured some great defense, some great offense, and a thrilling finish that saw the Cowboys get inside the Eagles 15-yard-line, before penalties and sacks set them back, and finally a Dallas completion to the 4-yard-line on fourth down.

Dak Prescott, man, he’s so good but just can’t seem to win the big games. Maybe this generation’s Dan Fouts?

— The Chiefs keep rolling along but man, they just don’t seem like themselves. I know, I know, we should all have such problems, being 7-2 and cruising toward another division title, but they squeaked by the Dolphins Sunday, 21-14, and the offense with Mahomes just hasn’t seemed quite right all year. They’re lulling us all into a false sense of security, maybe.

— C.J. Stroud, the Texans’ star rookie QB, continued to show he’s a star. Guy threw for a rookie record 470 yards and FIVE touchdowns Sunday, leading the Texans to a thrilling win over Tampa Bay in the final seconds. Man, this kid just has IT. Tremendously excited about his future.

— NBA interlude here: I am irrationally and fully excited about the Chet Holmgren-Victor Wembanyama rivalry that’s started in the league this year, and how amazing it will be over the next 15 years.  They have both been incredible the first weeks of this season.

— What a fantastic story Joshua Dobbs wrote Sunday. He started the year without any NFL experience, and did a pretty good job for the Arizona Cardinals the first eight games. Then he gets traded to Minnesota Tuesday, and wasn’t expected to play Sunday. But he was forced into action due to injury, an despite knowing just about none of the Vikings playbook, engineered a win over the Falcons.

I loved this from ESPN’s Kevin Seifert, from the Minnesota locker room after the game:

“Incredible stories from the Vikings’ locker room today. Josh Dobbs didn’t take a single rep with the offense in practice. No snaps from Garrett Bradbury. Had never thrown passes to anyone, and didn’t know most of their full names. “That’s for next week,” he said.

Sports, man. Sports.

Good News Friday: A terrific story from Steve Hartman on a breakfast meeting that helped a group grieve. A very funny “SNL” skit on our bizarre weights and measures system in the U.S. And a new mom gets so much support from strangers.

It’s Fri-yay! Happy November, my people! Hope all is well in your world, here in NYC we’ve got frigid temperatures, leaves falling all over the place, my beloved New York Rangers are in first place in their NHL division, and we’ve all made it through another week.
Hopefully your stomachache from eating too much candy has subsided by now, and you can digest some good news stories from the world (see what I did there?).

We start GNF today with another Steve Hartman gem: A 66-year-old woman in St. Louis has been hosting weekly breakfasts for students at a local high school, who have endured tragedy and are trying to heal.

Peggy Winckowski hosts the Wednesday breakfast club, where a bunch of kids remember a friend who was lost, and get so much love from a woman who’s healing just like they are.

Get the tissues out, it’s getting dusty in here. Love this story so much.

**Next up today, this sketch from “Saturday Night Live” last week hit the funny bone hard. It’s a scene from 1777, as George Washington and his mates are sitting around the campfire during the war, and they get to talking about the bizarre way we use weights, measures, and temperatures in this new country. It’s a hilarious take on something that’s right there in front of us and we take for granted, and I enjoyed it very very much. Especially the use of the word “random.”

**And finally today, a story about how strangers are helping new moms. From Upworthy.com and “Good Morning America”, this story of mothers in the Pittsburgh airport, helping each other.

From Upworthy: Jenna Dillulio is a mom of a toddler who also happens to have anxiety around flying who was flying solo with her toddler daughter to Pittsburgh.

While on her way home from her trip, she stopped in the nursing lounge to nurse her toddler before their flight and noticed something that brought her to tears.

Hundreds of sticky notes lined the walls of the nursing lounge. They were all from mother’s who had sat in that very room to nurse their own babies leaving sweet encouraging messages to other moms that may need a boost. Dillulio happened to be one of those moms and the messages came just when she needed them the most.

“Immediately when I opened up the door, I just was overcome with emotion. It was my first time traveling with her, so to walk in there and then to need the support and then you get it without expecting it, it warmed my heart to see all those post-its,” Dillulio tells Good Morning America.

Before catching her flight, the mom stopped to write her own encouraging note for another overwhelmed mom to find. The entire practice is beautiful in a place people least expect it. Watch the entire thing below.