Elizabeth Hurley Invades The Caribbean, Michelob Guy Still Going Strong & Nick Saban's Annual Boating Day
It felt like Monday was a breaking point day for Americans and the gas prices
I like to gauge American sentiment based on how long it takes for something to really grab the attention of the Facebook world. Twitter is full of immediate reactionary forces that think the world is crumbling five minutes after something happens. News is old in a matter of 10 minutes on Twitter.
It's much different over on Facebook where moms, dads, great-aunts, great-great-aunts and uncles are approximately 24-36 hours behind on news. Monday, the gas price emotion floodgates burst open, at least here in Ohio, where southwest and central Ohio found out that its gas prices had hit $5.09.
Instant mental brick wall. It's officially time for many to make business decisions.
As of early Tuesday morning, the national average was hovering at $4.919 for regular and $5.684 for diesel.
The Summer of the Patio thing we came up with last week was half-serious, and partly a joke pointing out the absurdity of the times we're living in. Here we are less than a week later and it's a reality for many Americans who continue to be squeezed by a government that has pretty much disappeared.
Have you seen a White House official stepping forward with a solution? Maybe they activated their own Summer of the Patio. That's what it seems like from what I'm seeing.
In the meantime, we have people making business decisions who are staying home, stuck on their phones stewing, watching awful news being pumped into their brain and being squeezed more and more by the day.
If there's any good news today, it's that you'll soon be able to buy 'sale' items at Target because they have inventory piling up as people continue to make those business decisions.
College baseball's middle finger
• Galen in TN writes:
Just following up on your Outkick submission regarding Tennessee's Jordan Beck and the bird he directed towards the Georgia Tech outfield during Sunday's Regional Championship Game. You are well aware from my previous posts that I am a dyed in the wool Vol...born there, went to school there, live there, and bleed orange.
I do not condone this type of behavior, but I understand. The gravity of the moment that engulfs you and your team. The adrenaline, the anxiety, the exhilaration of coming off the deck after being down 4-0 in the 9th and you knock in the tying runs. He will remember that moment forever, but he will also have to live with his reaction as well.
MLB has adopted the slogan "Let the kids play" in their attempt to bring younger people back in to baseball. I know that I am one of your more "seasoned contributors" and you probably expect the "Get off of my lawn" response. Nope, let 'em play! Not so sure about the bird, but let kids be kids...within reason.
Alright Screencaps/TNML bruhs, make sure you mow on Thursday so that the weekend can be spent crushin' patio beers, grillin' meat, and watching the Super Regionals. You may listen to Yacht Rock...but only in between games!
• Duncan N. writes:
I have to disagree with your thoughts on Tennessee baseball, when one of your players flips the double bird while rounding first, that’s a problem! They are a great team, but they have no class. If my kid flips the bird while heading to second, I’ll pull his butt off the field! But keep up the good work, my day doesn’t really get started until I read the screen caps.
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To be fair & balanced, it was a single barrel middle finger from Beck.
Look, this was going to be an emotional subject and people were going to pick sides. I'd just like to remind college baseball fans that college baseball has pretty much turned into WWE/AEW and you're going to start seeing even more of this stuff over the next couple of years as the sport enters its Wild West stage.
We have 18-22-year-olds with time on their hands to concoct new ways of being baseball bad boys. We have new money pouring into college baseball as small college towns across the south see that they can sell thousands of tickets, pack bars and fill parking lots for multiple spring weekends and crank it up even more with the regionals and super regionals.
By the way, did you guys see the emotions in Hattiesburg, MS last night? What an atmosphere. You don't have a pulse if that didn't cause the hair on your arms to stand at attention.
More emotions are boiling up over college baseball
• Bill H. is furious:
While watching one of the regional NCAA with Texas A&M vs TCU, during one of the letter innings, Dylan Rock cranked out a homer trotted about five paces and launched the bat high over his head in an exaggerated bat flip, F@!< YOU to the Horned Frog players and fans. I didn't have a dog in the hunt as far as who should have won, until… except now for the team that doesn't have bat-flipping assholes.
Just between you and me, when I see such an action henceforth it shall be known as the Prick Flick.
Great skit! If you don't have the time to watch it all, go to the 5:50 mark."This is a nice baseball bat. I wonder what it would look like buried in your ass!":
My sentiments, exactly!
AR coach, Dave Van Horn, subbed a pitcher while facing an OSU batter in last night's game. Once the reliever was in, the UMPS asked for a review and, after so, told DVH that the former pitcher had to go back out on the mound to finish up the batter. What?!?!
Can umps do that?
What are you doing for 5 hours tonight? Trying to watch an NCAA regional baseball game final.
You? Pull out my nose hairs.
What's the new drink fad of the summer?
• Stephen M. in Georgia writes:
Ranch Waters. They have popped up everywhere recently. Unlike seltzers, they are actually drinkable.
I haven't had a Ranch Water. Is there one that's better than another? Is Topo Chico where I should start?
Crawfish boil
• Paul T. has been trying to send this report for a couple of weeks, but email issues have been causing him all sorts of issues. Paul writes:
Good afternoon Joe...maybe the 3rd time is a charm...not sure why my ptimson4@gmail.com is not going through...(will ask my IT person, my wife, figure it out....2 weeks ago we had a boil in Galveston where we have a bay house...
we have a friend of about 35yrs who cooks crawfish professionally...we cooked over 800lbs for about 200 people...our neighbors across the street was kind enough to host party as they have plenty of room...we had a dj margarita machine...we asked our friend Greg (the crawfishman) on friday if had reserved the crawfish for the next day and he said he didn't...we asked him why?...he said he buys 3,000 to 4,000 lbs a week and did not need to reserve for a small boil like ours...he was not being arrogant...watching him and his assistant cook about 120 and 160lbs at a time look effortless....like watching a true craftsman...if he was pressed he could cook about 1,000lbs in an hour...at one point someone said we had over 75 golf carts in our culdesac...
it was a good time...it is now going to be an annual party...so in a round about way...if you are ever down our neck of the woods the week before memorial day...you and yours have a open invite (will put you up in a hotel too)...that's me narrating... Update on my meyer lemon tree I planted the day my father in law passed (3/14)...
pups have left it alone and have about 12 lemons coming along nicely...take care and keep up the good work! Paul... PS I read I screencaps today and you mentioned beverage trends...here in Austin seltzer sales have been flat...they oversaturated the market...vodka and tequila based canned drinks are the rage...too easy for bars to ice down....pop a top and probably $12 can sell then faster than making a cocktail..
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On a less than perfect yard
• Jay J. has a great reminder to those of us with kids who wear out a yard:
A quick (and kindly) comment for Louie.
Dear LouieYour yard doesn't look like crap, it looks worn...worn by kids and dogs. My parents front yard looked that way as we grew up. We wore home plate into all dirt, the other bases almost as bad. My Dad said nothing, because within 2-3 years of my moving out (I was the youngest), it yard looked twice as good. But if you asked him, he'd prefer the bare spots and kids playing on it. I have advice at church...The only sound worse than kids playing loud during worship is...the sound of no kids playing during worship.
Enjoy the fun, the thick yard can wait...
Final word on Clay vs. the ump
• Kevin A. in Deerfield, FL gets the final word:
Had to write about the umpire and the bad call. I have been involved in every level of league baseball through high school, never umped. I have seen some bad umpiring over the past 48 years.
First Clay was wrong. Umpires at the level his son is playing at always are little stricter as the kids are now starting to understand the rules and are getting bigger and stronger. The 2 issues Clay was complaining about (bat throwing & catcher interference) are rules to help eliminate injuries. Cursing and yelling at the ump, no place at a little game for a parent – never, no excuse. I would tell the parents to never say anything to the umpire you would not say to your own mother.
Paying umpires. We had an ump that umpired for over 30 years at my son’s LL Park, Artie. He was a blue-collar guy and not a wealthy man in the monetary sense. Great guy, not so great ump, missed a call or 2 every game, but we all loved him because he was so awesome with the kids. Back then the umps would get $10-$12 a game. Artie kept a pocket full of dollar bills in his pocket to give to the kids to buy a treat at the concession stand. Kid hits a home run (rare over the fence or typical error-filled around the bases romp) $1, kid makes a great play $1, kid gets a big hit $1, kid does anything worth rewarding $1. I swear he probably lost $5 a game. When we had travel games and we saw Artie was assigned our game, we would talk to the opposing team and give them a heads up about Artie. He knew most of the kids’ names (in the entire league!) He umped for the love of the game. When he walked through the park, nothing better than to hear all the little kids screaming his name.
Love your work. TNML 30+ years, subject baseball schedule.
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That should wrap it up for Tuesday. I'm closing in on the two-week mark until I disappear into the northern Michigan woods for four days of golf, no social media, no life responsibilities and I need it bad.
But until then, it's balls to the walls for OutKick. Let's give 'em hell at work today and keep the hammer down until those vacations kick in.
Email: joekinsey@gmail.com