Hockey Goalie Mikayla Demaiter Celebrates Canada's Win In the Snow, ESPN Woke Masks Up & Spirit Chaos In ATL
Let's start with the Hooters news that rocked the Internet on Friday
Hooters of America is facing bankruptcy.
Yes, it hurts to even type those words based on what Hooters has meant to the Screencaps experience over the years. The brand has meant more than just content with the world-famous Hooters Girls. For this column, Hooters has meant a vibe of fun, nostalgia and Americana.
In its entire history dating back thousands of years, England has never provided us with a vibe like Hooters. France? I don't think so. Germany has provided us with Oktoberfest waitresses, so they have contributed to pop culture. I'll give that to the Germans.
As I noted in my Friday post, cultural shifts were bound to hammer Hooters and here we are. Gen Z, as you'll read in the post, just doesn't care about in-person experiences like you and I. They've grown up having a relationship with YouTube and OnlyFans, if they even care about that.
Going back to 2023, scholars were warning that Gen Z's relationship with AI sex bots was a serious issue.
"Approaching women, and making them feel safe, is a skill," NYU professor Scott Galloway said on a podcast. "We are developing these digital analogs of life that create low-entry, low-risk relationships. You think that’s not a bad thing, well it is because it leads to loneliness and depression."
Instead of having to interact with a Hooters waitress and telling her that you'll take 10 traditional spicy garlic wings, a pitcher of Coors Light & a round of Fireball shots, Gen Z is "bed rotting," according to Galloway.
The professor, in 2023, was warning that males were discouraged from going "out in the physical world" and "risking rejection."
The results: Hooters is out.
AI bots and sex dolls are in.
"Chinese sex doll maker sees jump in 2025 sales as AI boosts adult toys' user experience" the South China Morning Post boasted in a headline last week. Sex doll sales are expected to jump 30% this year for one of China's biggest sex doll makers.
Throw in the news that 4% of Gen Z now believes that it is trans and you have the perfect storm for a Hooters bankruptcy.
I hate to get serious on a Saturday morning, but when we start losing pop culture icons like Hooters, it raises my alert system because society becomes less interesting and fun. This column is fueled by America having fun and feeling alive.
Where does this all lead in the next 15-20 years?
I haven't thought that far ahead. I'm just thinking about throwing together a big protein breakfast for my kids here in about 45 minutes.
Email: joekinsey@gmail.com
Losing a brother to cancer and requesting his dying wish to take his kids to Canada on a fishing trip: Help a Screencaps reader
— Jonathan in Denver needs suggestions on where to take the kids:
Hey Joe, glad to see Screencaps doing what we all know it was going to do, bring together people from all walks of life, whether it’s the T’s taking their yearly sabbatical to Europe (good for them, do what makes you happy!), or debating the merits of getting plowed at travel ball weekends (do what makes you happy! But be safe) or finding the humor in blue-haired cat ladies doing interpretive dances in protest (do what makes you happy, I guess?!).
Or being Canadian.
I’ve been reading Screencaps since b.c. (before covid…) and have always enjoyed feeling a part of a community. Obviously not a like-minded community (sunrise/sunset), but having a platform to converse in a respectful manner. Always loved this phrase- I may not agree with your opinion, but I will fight for your right to have it.
That’s the community you have nurtured (Merica F-yeah!). And it's this sense of community that makes me think of Vern, and how his winter is going in AZ, and the loss he had to deal with when life happens-He seems like a guy that you would sit next to at the bar sucking back beers, and learn some real keys to life, if you listen.
Or living vicariously through a defense contractor’s trip to Russia and wondering if I would have the will to not get herpes from a Russian lady-of-the-night.
This brings me to my ask…I had some life happen these past few months. My oldest brother recently passed from bone cancer after battling for a year. (FU*K cancer, seriously). Prior to his health taking a drastic and severe decline in Nov and finally succumbing 2 weeks ago, a group of us took a fishing trip to Eagle River, WI in Sept and created memories we will look back on and smile and shed tears and smile some more.
Shout out to Andy’s Pontoon Saloon (Not Sponsored) for a great Packer environment, brats, and beer…(local insider knowledge is to grab a tub of popcorn from the local movie theater next door!) and O’Brien’s Pub (Not Sponsored) for putting up with us and the pull-tabs, beer, darts, shots, beer, more shots, more beer, and pool (when we finally left after WAY too many hours, I walked up and handed the bartender a Benji (pull-tab proceeds) and told him to buy the bar a round because of Screencaps!).
My brother’s request for his surviving brothers was to take his kids on a fishing trip to Canada, where every cast is a catch (My Brother was the eternal optimist) and we three remaining brothers agreed to do so.
So back to my ask of Screencaps Nation, where in Canada should we go, and when?
We’re talking fly-in, guided, 5-star experience, just like my Brother asked, who lived his life with a passion for connecting with people and enjoying life, just like the Screencaps community-Real Salt-of-the-Earth Folks.
Kinsey:
Jonathan, first, condolences on the loss of your brother. It sounds like he was one of us.
I would like to offer my advice for a Canadian adventure. My father has been going on a variety of Canadian fishing trips for over 40 years. I've never heard him talk about a place like Watson's Windy Point Lodge which is about 400 miles north of Mackinaw City, Michigan.
#notsponsored
Between my dad, his buddy Mike, Ben and another guy, they caught over 1,000 fish in six days.
It's worth a look.
My dad and a group of around 12 will be there in late May.
Email: joekinsey@gmail.com
You know Hurricane Karen will want to speak to a manager at a Holiday Inn Express on Fort Myers Beach
Do any of you guys have gambling games created via hurricane names? I feel like some of you degenerates gamble on this stuff.
My dad worked in construction and I worked with those guys in the summer. I know how bad some of you are.
I used to go to the horse track with a guy who worked with my dad who would bet on ESPN Classic games.
One of you runs a pool on hurricanes. Speak up.
Email: joekinsey@gmail.com
Who was the hot woman next to Kash Patel?
— Donny just threw this out on a Friday night:
Have you noticed the hot chic to the left of Kash Patel when he spoke today at his swearing in?
She is in white and stunning...
Kinsey:
Let me help you on this one, Donny. That's Alexis Wilkins, a country singer who is still relatively unknown. As I type this, she has 63.3k Instagram followers. That number will be going up.
Screencaps readers on beer at Chuck E. Cheese
— TJ in AZ had to respond to Gary S. and drinking beers at Chuck E. Cheese:
Good Afternoon Joe,
1st time, long time.
I got fired up reading that email from Gary S who got all uptight about his brother in law drinking a beer at a kids party. What a buzz kill! If his sister is anything like him, it's no wonder the guy dumped her. When my boys were growing up we went to Chuck E Cheese a couple of times but opted for Peter Piper Pizza (Southwest US) because they had beer! Many birthdays were celebrated at PPP.
As for Coach Zak - dude is making money off the travel ball teams. I know of guys here in AZ that make their living off these teams.
Lastly, driving slow in the left lane tries my patience! It's worse here in the winter with snowbirds coming into town driving 45 on the freeway and their blinkers on for 7 miles.
— Brad S. clocks in:
Gary S (no relation, I hope) needs to lighten up. He's obviously never spent more than five minutes in Chuck E Cheese. He's upset they sell beer? He'll be apoplectic when he learns they also sell wine.
As a father of six, I've been 'sentenced' to a LOT of birthday party time in that scary animatronic, light and sound hell hole.
I recall getting an online survey from CEC's corporate office after a very expensive birthday party I funded. They asked for suggestions on how to make my next visit more enjoyable. My response was two words: "Serve Tequila."
I, for one, appreciate that even though you're busier than a one-legged man in an ass-kicking contest, you're still able to dish our amazing content every day!
By the way, I love the updates from the T's!
— Jim T. in San Diego checks in:
As far as I know, Chuck E Cheese has ALWAYS sold beer. I go back 30 years with Chuck E with my oldest kids, and there was always beer there. And there was always a dad (or two) who overdid it and embarrassed everyone.
Growing up in the late '60s, early '70s, the dads in our neighborhood would nearly always have a beer on Saturday afternoon while doing yard work, and we never thought anything of it. Heck, at our parish picnic when I was 13 or 14, one of the men at the German men's club sausage sandwich booth handed me a plastic cup with beer and told my dad I was too old to be walking around without a beer. (I would point out that this being Dayton, our parish also had an Italian men's club sausage booth, a Czech men's club sausage booth, a Croatian men's club selling sausage sandwiches,- that had to be the tastiest fundraiser ever ...)
— Daren R. shares:
Totally off topic but the name gave an old memory. Managing a Domino's in metro ATL 1 Fri
Mgr call. A local C-E-C mgr calling cause their oven broke and needed 12 pies asap. Said, you know I have to call you back. Was him, he brought their boxes, asap, cut them like he wanted, and sold them for $6/per. Possibly the most unusual order I ever had. Helped us both out though.
— Charlie T. writes:
-Doesn't at least 1/2 the dads at kids games, after 3:00 pm, have a cooler full of cold ones they nurse in a Yeti during the game?
-Gary S sounds he needs laid and drunk; either order! Does this dude also go off on beer sales at baseball and football games? I'm guessing he won't be the cool uncle who slides the niece/nephew their first drinks at a wedding reception huh? Also guessing never been to a great wolf lodge to see how lit up all the parents are while the kids are swimming in the piss filled pools.
-What's up with John W, you have to wait on your kid to go travel abroad? What fake news is he referring to?
-Doesn't everybody use a coozy, to the point of even traveling with them? Part of being American is drinking cold beer-always!
-Since the other side disagrees with ANYTHING 4547 does, I'm hoping Trump does an EO that breathing air is good for you, so we can sit back and watch the other side hold their breath.
Parents drinking at travel sports events
— Homebrew Bill writes:
I see nothing wrong with partaking in an adult beverage while your kid is playing in a tournament. There are a couple volleyball facilities we've been to that actual bars inside them. One year after our daughter had played her first two games and had a couple hours break, us and some parents headed in as soon as it opened to have bloody Marys and hang out until the next game.
There were some early morning late fall soccer games where most parents had their big cup of coffee with their favorite warming fluid mixed in. As long as they don't get out of control, what's the harm?
I'm grateful for the Ts and their travel. They earned it and let them enjoy it. My mom said she wished that they would have retired from farming a few years earlier so she and my dad could have traveled longer before he was nursing home bound. We lost him a couple years ago, but fortunately my mom can still travel.
Sorry for the long post. Stay warm SC nation.
Fighting in sports and that bullshit racist narrative ESPN tried to push on us this week
— Derek G. writes:
I just read an article about fighting in sports and how it's accepted in predominantly white sports and not black sports. I won't name the sports outlet but it was about the hockey fights in NHL preseason and labeled as "optics".
The first rebuttal I have is that fighting is allowed, although punishable, in NHL hockey which is the only sport that I'm aware of that actually allows fist fighting.
The website also references MLB "storming the mound" as an acceptable practice in a "white" sport. What's missing is the act of protecting the QB in the NFL. Is the offensive line rushing to protect the QB when he gets hit late or out of bounds different from storming the mound? Is the NFL a "white" sport? No it isn't and fighting in sports is not a racial issue.
Fighting in sports is a result of Alpha Males, shout out Nick Adam's, competing at the highest level with the highest of stakes.
Everyone points to the "malice in the palace" as a racial component in this debate. That is a separate issue because that involved violence towards fans. Has there ever been a similar issue in any other sport? In the same league, NBA, did anybody ban Draymond Green for choking, body slamming, or spinning backfist other players?
The answer is no, because it is not a racial issue. Al Shaair for the Houston Texans is violent, served his suspension and nobody called racism because he isn't white. In fact they wanted him banned from the league. And if they banned him, people would have celebrated.
The double standard is infuriating. Competition is by definition a battle for supremacy, and when you add a country vs country aspect, especially when one country is booing the other's national anthem, you are inviting conflict which drives ratings, which is the point of professional sports leagues.
Honestly, as I read over what I just wrote, I realize that the whole point of this racial divide is to force us to "pick teams" and root for "our side". It is profitable to manipulate the masses into choosing sides, but the end game is not a Stanley Cup or a Super Bowl, the end game is social upheaval and hatred amongst countrymen. Its really disheartening.
Sorry for the long email, I blame the late night and six Blue Moons. Love what you and Outkick represent. Keep it up Joe
Music to check out this weekend
— Dan from AZ suggests:
Also wanted to contribute this. If anyone enjoys the bluesy, southern style of rock, they should check out Marcus King. This guy is some guitar player. Saw him live in December and can’t wait to catch him again next time he comes out my direction.
A $15 lunch in Catania, Sicily
— Mike T. sent this in earlier in the week:
3 pizzas, three beers €15
Delicious as old school as it gets!
— TV in Birmingham reacts to the Mike T. beer aisle photos:
After all the heavy artillery fired back and forth in these emails this morning I'm drinking everything on those shelves! Do they sell cigarettes too???
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And that is it! That is 20 straight days of Screencaps out of me. That might not sound like the hardest job in the world, but it's a grind to sit here and be interesting for that length of time. Hopefullly I accomplished that goal.
You guys get SeanJo tomorrow morning. I will be at the indoor batting cage with my boys getting ready for their rec ball seasons.
Let's have a great weekend. Send all correspondence to SeanJo until Monday morning. This computer is being turned off.
Email: joekinsey@gmail.com