Hockey Goalie Mikayla Demaiter Declares Beach Season Is Over, Marlins Man Skips Marlins Game & A Taylor Swift Skeleton
The days of asking the woke Chipotle worker for a little more chicken appear to be coming to an end
In another decade, Screencaps millennials will be sitting around a campfire in a suburban backyard and someone will bring up how humans used to make the bowls at Chipotle and it's going to be cause a rush of nostalgia amongst the group of nearly 50 year olds in 2033.
Folks, the robots are close.
I'm worried the millennials will miss out on the little things about the robot-less world like the DoorDash guy delivering weed with the Thai takeout. These robots -- I've watched robot delivery vehicles (picture a cooler on four wheels) called Starships roll around the Bowling Green State University campus for like five years, so I have a good idea on how these things roll -- aren't going to deliver weed AND the Thai takeout.
The millennials will miss the finer points to life when Chipotle robots fail to respond to questions like, "Can I have a little more sour cream?"
Mark my words.
Name one thing that's underrated in life in 2023
I need more of these:
Email: joekinsey@gmail.com
How'd you pick the teams you root for?
• Bill C. writes:
I’m kind of an oddball as a Detroit Tiger fan here in the Deep South among all of the Braves and Cardinals fans. But my fandom for the motor city Tigers is deep rooted. In July 1968 we went to go visit relatives in Grosse Pointe Michigan.
On a Saturday afternoon we traveled downtown to Tiger/Briggs stadium at the intersection of Michigan and Trumbull. The Tigers were playing the Orioles and it was the NBC game of the week. I know you millennials will find this hard to believe but those NBC games were the ONLY ones broadcast nationally at the time. It was my first MLB game to attend. Denny McLain was on the bump for the Tigers and Dave McNally for the O’s.
It was a hard fought game that found the Tigers trailing 5-3 in the bottom of the 9th with 2 on and two out and Norm Cash at the plate. He hit a shot down the right field line and we all rose from our seats in the upper deck down the first base line in anticipation of a game winning home run. However, it curved foul and Norm popped out on the next pitch to end the game.
Of course McLain went on to win 31 games and is the last pitcher to win 30 in a season which no one will do again but he lost that day. One of his 6 losses on the season and I happened to be there for it. The Tigers did however go on to make a magical run to the World Series and beat the Cardinals after trailing 3 games to 1. That cemented my fandom and sustained me for the next 16 years until 1984. It’s time to make another magical run.
PS: All during the game a plane was flying around the stadium pulling a banner that said “Rosemary’s baby is coming”. As a nine year old it was very confusing to me. Who is Rosemary and what’s so special about her baby?
• Michael J. in Chiraq writes:
I've posted this before that a person shouldn't be forced into a fandom because of where they were born.
Born and raised in the Chicagoland area. I root for zero Chicago teams. Let me explain.
1. Craig Biggio was easily my favorite player growing up. Always hustling, getting dirty. Leaving it all on the field. End result...Go Astros!
2. Jim Everett, Henry Ellard and Flipper Anderson were so much fun to play with on Tecmo Super Bowl. So I became a Rams fan.
3. Blackhawks in the 90s and early 00swere terrible and not on TV. So when I started paying attention to hockey I picked the team my brother had season tickets too. Go Hurricanes.
4. I love green so I picked Michigan State and I've rooted for them every since. I never went to anything other than community College. So I never changed.
5. NBA sucks and I don't care about any of them.
My dad has 4 children and all he got out of that is one White Sox fan. Frustrating for sure.
• Alex R. writes:
When someone asks who I root for my wife loves to interject with "just know he was dropped on his head as a kid". I moved all over the Midwest (KC, Dallas, Springfield, MO, Atlanta, NW Arkansas) as a child and was never in any location longer than 2-3 years and the teams in the places I lived were never really good when I was there so there was no bandwagon to jump on. What I can say is that the teams I locked onto as a kid are the teams I have stood with for 40 years.
I was a Mattingly fan in Little League so I root for the Yankees, I was a Riggins fan so I root for the Redskins(oof that has been a hard one), I latched on to Bosworth back in his glory days and have rooted for OU football ever since. I lived in NW Arkansas for 20 years and you can't live there and not be a hog fan (unless you came from Texass then you are just lost) especially the baseball team I mean lets face it Arkansas is a baseball school now.
On the casual side if you move somewhere I think it is ok to pick up teams you favor. We moved to NC from Arkansas and so of course we hate Duke and root for UNC (as long as they are not playing our teams of course) and my kids have both gone to ECU so we are now pretty big Pirate fans.
You basically have your core and you stick with them and maybe add a few you favorite along the way but the core is the core you stand with them through thick and thin.
• Mike in Westerville, OH writes:
The "fan retirement" talk has been on my mind a lot, and today's question of how you became a fan pushed me over the edge to need to comment.
I was born in the Chicago area but moved to Columbus when I was 5. Both parents had grown up and lived in Chicago their whole lives to that point. My Dad is a huge sports fan, and we stayed loyal to the Bulls, Bears, and White Sox (plus Notre Dame, as good Catholics). I have stayed loyal as well, now 38 years old. Only in recent years have I become a hockey fan, and have become a pretty big fan of the Blue Jackets. Having grown up out of state from my teams, there really is something to a home-town team. My ND fandom has waned, but that's where I have the least connection. I also went to Dayton, and was actually the mascot, Rudy Flyer, all four years. I'm probably as big a UD basketball fan as you will find. Cancelling the 2020 NCAA tournament, with UD entering the conference tournament ranked #3 in the country, is still hard for me to talk about.
That said, just over the weekend I sent a text to my family saying the following: the Bears are on a franchise-worst loss streak, the White Sox just lost 101 games, the Bulls are happy being a perpetual 8-seed, but at least the Blue Jackets... Go Flyers!
I can't seem to give up on the Chicago teams, but having never really experienced being a fan in the city, I have lost some connection. Ownership is making it easier though, those franchises are all a disaster at the moment. However, I find myself having just paid for Sunday Ticket so I can watch all the train-wreck Bears games. It is the memories of getting to watch the occasional game on WGN or national broadcast with my Dad that make me hold on. One of my best memories was watching the Bulls with my Dad on a Thursday night on TNT, eating pretzels, and staying up just later than I was supposed to (1996 - that game was the Bulls first home loss in their 72-win season, still remember 26+ years later). Growing up a Bulls fan with the three-peats between the ages of 6-13 will go a long way. So, to answer your question - I think Dads and parents have a lot to do with it, followed closely by proximity.
Lastly, I'll add, I actually really enjoyed growing up in Columbus not being a Buckeye fan surrounded by crazy Buckeye fans. Made me dig in a bit deeper.
• Jason DeM. writes:
Love this topic because I’m all Chicago, living in SW Michigan. Kalamazoo is halfway between DET & CHI so growing up, we would always go to Chicago (where Dad was stationed in the Navy and was an original Bleacher Bum in the 60’s at Wrigley).
Add in getting home just in time from school to watch Harry on WGN, Cubs fan was a no-brainer. Bears fan because as a ten year old kid watching Walter Peyton, Jim McMahon and Co. doing the Super Bowl Shuffle, what a time to be a kid… Then came MJ and his domination through my teen years. It was just too easy to fall in love with Chicago sports. It finally paid off in 2016 when the Cubbies finally won it all. Called my Dad that night and we cried tears of joy together.
Ironically, I’m a huge Notre Dame fan but Dad despises the Irish. Something about growing up in Niles, MI right across the state line from South Bend and having his high school girlfriend stolen from him by a “rich kid from Notre Dame” really soured him on the Fighting Irish.
• Rob from NC writes:
As long as there is a connection to the team, then no one should fault anyone for rooting for that team. It could be a team close to where you grew up, the school you attended, the team your dad loved, the team in the city you ended up living in as an adult, or the school where your kids attended. Things change in life, and as those changes happen, there is nothing wrong with changing who you root for, as long as there is a connection to the new team.
I know a few guys who picked a team to root for when they were very young and were just getting into sports, and they picked that team because that team was good at that time. They wanted to cheer for a winner. I'm in my late 50's, and some of my good friends who grew up in the panhandle of Florida fell in love with the Reds back in the 70's. Most of them still root for the Red's. It's their life long team. I'm fine with that. If they picked a new team to root for in their 40's or 50's simply because the Reds were struggling, that is unacceptable. If they ended up living in Denver and became a Rockies fan, and dropped the Reds, no problem. That is a compelling reason to switch who you root for.
I also know some guys who picked new teams to root for when they were in their 20's or 30's and there was no connection to that team. They just wanted to root for a winner, and their favorite team was no longer any good. That's unacceptable. Once you are an adult, stop being a bandwagon fan.
For college sports, I still root for my dad's school because that was my team as a kid. I root for my college. I now root for the Tar Heels because my kids attended UNC. I have a connection to all of them. It does create a problem when they sometimes meet head to head, but I like and root for all three.
You are within 10 years of one of your boys possibly attending a college that you can't stand the football team (can you say Michigan). What are you going to do then Joe?
Kinsey:
I'm going to root for Ohio State to kill Michigan if my kids end up at Michigan just like I root for Toledo to crush Bowling Green where my wife went to school.
• Dan from AZ writes:
This is a simple answer for me having grown up in the Chicagoland area, it was always Cubs/Bears/Bulls/Illini. I’ve always been close to my dad so I really just gravitated to his favorite teams growing up. It was a no-brainer in my mind when you combine that with the geography aspect. Plus, I followed in his and my mom’s footsteps in attending the University of Illinois so we all bled orange and blue. I never understood some of my childhood friends who rooted for the rival of their dad’s favorite team. What happened to throwing a ball through a window or getting caught with beer if all you wanted to do was piss him off?
But this is an interesting topic, and that Ole Miss father-son video you also shared today got me thinking more deeply about it. When it comes to sports, I can’t think of anything better than the father-son bond during the big moments.
When the Cubs forced game 7 in the 2016 World Series, you better believe I was going home to watch that while sitting next to my dad. And when Anthony Rizzo caught the final out at first, did we scream like little girls, hug and shed countless tears? Of course, I mean, this was the freaking CUBS we’re talking about!
And to drive this point home further, the first thing each of us could think of saying (at least after we were able to collect ourselves) was “I wish Grandpa (my grandpa, his dad) could’ve been here with us." He lived his whole life, into this 80’s, without getting to see them win it all and then just missed it having passed away barely 2 years earlier. The father-son bond runs deep.
Those moments are what it’s all about, the merging of sports and family. Would I as a Cubs fan have been out-of-my-mind ecstatic to see them win even if my dad, let’s say, didn’t care about baseball? Absolutely. But would it have been the best moment of my life like this was? No chance. My dad was the reason for that.
I guess that this is my long winded answer of saying: always go with family when choosing your favorite teams. It’s worth it.
It's time for Lions fans to start believing it's their year
• Anonymous in Tennessee writes:
Lions fan here, maybe the anonymous one you called out Monday? Feeling better about them, but not confident. Been here too many times. THEY HAVE ONE PLAYOFF WIN IN MY LIFE AND I HAVE KIDS WHO GRADUATED FROM COLLEGE!!! But I'm semi-planning to go to the Detroit area at Thanksgiving as my daughter told me her coach excused them from team activities from that Wed-Mon. So she can be my co-pilot on what is an 8 hour drive today, but Thanksgiving weekend will be 11+ hours. Not sure if we'll go to the game, but at least my daughter will see family she hasn't seen in quite a few years. May or may not go to Ford Field on Thanksgiving depending on many factors. As I've said before, as a kid this was a family tradition, but back then decent seats were $40, but you had to provide your own paper bag to wear over your head. I know, I'm a bitter and jaded Lions fan. And will probably die a bitter and jaded Lions fan which leads me to...
To answer Adam in Kansas - my fandom was injected into me at the hospital I was born at in Michigan - Tigers, Lions, Pistons, Red Wings and Wolverines. Other fandom was through my college (U of TN grad), and my kids' college, but I only root for the sports they play(ed). My pro sports allegiance will never be able to leave the Michigan/Detroit based teams. Like I've said before - it was injected into me at birth and it will never ever end despite my tantrums and desire to quit them. But I just can't.
Go Blue (Harbough is where he belongs, like Maverick in the seat of the fighter plane), Red Wings (the Yzerplan is shaping up), Tigers (yeah...nothing to say - they are awful), Pistons (like the Tigers, just brutal), and Lions (don't break my heart, my achy breaky heart...but I know they will).
Kinsey:
Yes, I was calling out Anonymous because he was frustrated with me earlier this year for saying it's the Lions time to make a playoff run. Unless there's an injury at quarterback, it's going to happen. All the pieces of the puzzle are lined up and I need Lions fans around here to start believing. You haven't had many chances to believe.
Start right now. Set yourself free. You have titles in other sports to fall back on. Tell yourself it's OK to feel excitement over your football team.
I want nothing but the best for Lions fans because I feel like the content that will start spewing out of Detroit will be insane and I'm ready for it.
Shoutout to Indy Daryl's mother for reminding him of this and then Indy D for telling us about his life mission
• Jake in Charlottesville, VA writes:
Saw this the other day when I was walking my dog in the window of our local elementary school (I mirrored the image for your convenience). 'Do Hard Things' is a resonant message when a town as left as Charlottesville has it written in the classroom window.
Moral victories in sports
• Anthony G. writes:
In addition to there being no moral victories, I hate it when games get labeled as payback games. If the Eagles beat KC during the regular season, is that really payback for losing in the SB?
Not even close!
The only real payback would be if they met in the SB again and won. You hear of these payback games in all sports. Regular season wins are in no way payback for losses in playoff/championship games.
• Mike N. writes:
I agree there are no moral victories in PRO sports. When it is your livelihood, as the little green guy said "Do or do not. There is no try". There are no moral victories at work. My job, like (most) everyone's - get it done or get fired. The only thing I can think of in pro sports that comes close is that MLB pitcher who was 1 out from a perfect game and the 1st base umpire absolutely screwed him. (I'm guessing they still won the game.) However, in kids' sports, in my humble opinion, the concept exists. When you get pounded by an opponent multiple times, and you work hard, prepare hard, dedicate yourself, and you lose in overtime the next time, "you are right about something". You are learning how to improve yourself which carries with you for life.
Now, on to watch my Bears Thursday where there will be no moral, decisive, tactical, pyrrhic, or glorious victories...
That's it this morning. I might be traveling this morning. More on that later.
Go have an incredible day. I gotta run.
Email: joekinsey@gmail.com