Denise Richards Stops By, Kirk Cousins Completes An Arm Punt & Chaos At Miami International
Deep thoughts as we near Christmas and I still have plenty of shopping to do
I went into a local brewery last night to grab some sixers for my brother and there was the widest Rottweiler I'd ever seen enjoying a night at the bar with his owner. The Rottweiler was eyeballing a massive St. Bernard that another guy brought in and you could just tell that this wasn't the first time they'd spent a Monday night at a watering hole.
There's something about dogs walking into a bar that gets me every time. I was once in an Omaha dive bar and the owner had his dog sitting in a barstool like you see in the movies. It's like these dogs have a deep understanding of how to handle themselves at these places and it should be respected.
-- I'm out on the whole white Christmas thing. This year it's supposed to be near 50 on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day and I couldn't be happier, especially because we drive 140 miles from Dayton to our house on Christmas Eve night. The suburban moms might want the snow falling so they can take some Facebook photos of their kids in Christmas sweaters, but I'm out on it.
-- Which brings me to those of you who live in locales where it never snows on Christmas. Are golf courses open? Go play frisbee golf? Flag-football games on the beach?
Email: joekinsey@gmail.com
-- How many times is too many times to play Mariah Carey this time of year? The local iHeart station's algorithm has to be playing her at least every 30 minutes. Do your wives ever tire of Mariah belting out her money-making hits for 45 straight days? My kids would appreciate if the algo would pump out the Chipmunks' Christmas songs a few more times.
-- There are two college football bowl games and two NFL games today. While it's probably not great for the guys who have to play tonight and Sunday, I could get used to Tuesday NFL games in December. Multiple games, multiple TVs. Command center. IN, IN, IN!
-- I hope my mom doesn't mind that my Christmas gift-buying plan for her is to send beach items that she can use and then my family can use when we visit. She might be reading this, so I can't reveal this year's purchase, but I get the sense that she's going to be fully loaded for beach bashes after I fill up her utility shed behind the lanai.
-- I've very happy for my wife this Christmas. She's been stockpiling vacation time and this is her final day of work for the year. Her plan over the next 12 or so days is to play video games, watch movies in the basement, sleep in and not much else. For the first time in a long time, both kids can handle themselves in the bathroom, they can get themselves a cup of water & they don't need hands-on attention 24/7.
Congrats to all the mothers out there in a similar situation. Enjoy those comfy pajamas and blankets. You've earned it.
• Sean C. in Granger, IN writes:
I know it's been a while since I emailed. No worries, I still read every day, if not multiple times a day. But as the year comes to a close, I wanted to just say thank you for your commitment to the daily screencaps. In the last year and a half, it's the foundation of my morning routine, and amongst other guys in my office, a great debate on which days/caps are better than others. Depending on when different guys get to the article, the discussion is relived several times a day. Thanks again for doing your best to keep us focused on the things that really matter in life.
But you mentioned something yesterday that I can sympathize with you on.....the line at Walmart. On Sunday, I had the exact same experience at our local Meijer store, which for those outside the "Great Lakes" area, is a Walmart-type superstore. I was doing some last-minute gift card shopping and decided to pop in to get some food items for Saturday. The self-check-out line was about 35 people deep, and every other traditional check-out line was backed up deep into the clothing area. I stopped, evaluated the situation for about 5 seconds, and promptly turned around. There was no way I was dealing with that. Out of maybe 20-25 available check out lines, 5 were open. 5!
The week before Christmas. I went to my (more expensive) local grocery store (Martin's Supermarket). They were fully staffed and had ALMOST everything I needed. But I'll be curious to see the retail numbers for this Christmas season. The numbers always seem to go up every year but based just on our two experiences, I can't imagine we're the only ones who just walk out. Ridiculous times we live in.
Merry Christmas to you and your family! I'll be honest, I'm not hating this potential 50-degree Christmas we may be getting this year!
• JW in Canada, who I believe is the very first Canadian to drop an email, writes:
I have to admit that these last few weeks have been so busy that I've barely skimmed through screencaps, so while others are commenting on dive bars and plastic surgery, I want to go back to memorable sporting events. It was 1981, and the Montreal Alouettes were coming into Winnipeg stadium featuring three fairly well-known American players on their roster, Vince Ferragamo, David "Fumble" Overstreet, and Billy "Whiteshoes" Johnson. As a 12-year-old, I was eating up the hype and couldn't wait to see how the Blue Bombers would fare.
The crowd spent the last few minutes chanting "we want 60" as the Big Blue destroyed the Als 58-2. Three-down football often didn't work out for some NFLers, unlike the way MLS seems to for many aging European stars. And speaking of Winnipeg, you mentioned meeting Joe Daley a while back. He is still a legend in these parts after backstopping the Jets to 3 Avco Cup wins back in the WHA days (the WHA was to the NHL what the USFL was to the NFL).
Bobby Hull also played for the Jets back then when a cool million lured him out of the NHL. My pops took me to a number of games, including when the Soviets came through town, well before Russians became a fixture in the NHL. I went to school with Joe's boys, which was really cool when you are 8 years old and completely starstruck. He still runs a sports card business here in Winnipeg.
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For those who haven't been following along, the Joe Daley mention is in reference to my Florida Thanksgiving trip where I was playing golf at the 9-hole course where my mom lives and one of my playing partners saying Joe Daley is the club champion at that course in Largo.
Several people emailed me about mentioning Daley, but J.W. is the first Canadian to chime in on the goalie.
• Mark in Frisco, TX enjoyed Monday's dive bar mention:
Thanks for posting the pictures from Adair’s in Dallas. Way back in the dark ages, when I was young and single and the Cowboys were worth a crap, that was my go to bar. Terry Bradshaw used to have ownership in that place and would show up from time to time. I might’ve shared a pitcher of beer(or two) with the man. The best hamburger in Dallas is a couple blocks over at Angry Dog. Wolf down a burger, head over to Adair’s, and you’re in for a good time.
• And in case you didn't realize, lumber prices are UP again: