Larsa Pippen Is Getting Jealous, Travis Barker Plays Drums For Baby, Escaped Lion Terrorizes Italy & Readers Reveal Worst First Dates

Happy Tuesday, party people.

I tell you what (in my best Hank Hill voice), it has been a week. And I mean that in the very best way. My Miami Dolphins are on bye, so for the first time in a while, I had a stress-free NFL Sunday.

And it was about as great of a bye week as the Dolphins could have asked for: The Bills, Ravens, Bengals and Jaguars all lost. And we got to see Bills fans brawling in the stands!

Speaking of, there's a guy on X who makes AI images of a bottlenose Dolphin cheering for various other teams. And so far, every time he's done it, that team has won.

Coincidence? Definitely. But it's still funny.

But enough football for now. I have for you a jam-packed Nightcaps, and we're burning daylight.

Last week, I discussed dating — primarily, first dates. I asked questions like "Who should pay?" and "What was the worst first date you've ever been on?"

And guys, you came through! I have never received so many emails in my entire life. It's got me thinking: As President of the OutKick Editorial Women's Club (That's not a real thing. I'm just our only female writer.), maybe I should just do a dating/marriage column separate from Nightcaps? Y'all send me your stories, gripes and silly Internet videos, and I'll give you a woman's perspective? Like Dear Abby, but way more brutally honest. Email me at Amber.Harding@OutKick.com and let know if that's something anyone would be interested in reading.

Anyway, we'll get to all that at the end of Nightcaps. For now, let's see what the Internet has in store for us today!

Grab a beer and let's roll.

Escaped Lion Terrorizes Italian Town

Panic ensued in an Italian seaside town of Ladispoli over the weekend when a lion escaped from a circus and decided to take a walk around town.

Apparently, the big guy was free for several hours while residents were told to stay indoors Saturday evening. It was all hands on deck while police, vets and circus staff tracked the lion.

Imagine looking out your window and seeing Mufasa just strolling down the street.

But don't worry — Rony Vassallo, the handler at Rony Roller Circus, said that while the thought of confronting a lion would make most people fearful, 8-year-old Kimba posed little to no danger to humans.

"He met with people in an environment he wasn't used to... and nothing happened, he didn't even for a second have the instinct to attack a person," he said.

No offense to your lil' pet, Rony, but I'm not taking my chances. Every chihuahua owner swears their little angel is friendly too until if chomps a hole in your Achilles. And the stakes are significantly higher here.

Luckily, authorities were able to lightly sedate Kimba and get him back to the circus. No one (including the animal) was hurt.

Larsa Pippen Is Wildly Jealous

By now, you all know about the batsh-t crazy relationship between Larsa Pippen and Marcus Jordan, so I don't have to get into how tremendously messed up that whole thing is.

But as it turns out, it's not all sunshine and rainbows in bizzaro celebrity land. I know you're shocked by that.

According to TMZ, Larsa is quite the jealous fiancée. And there's some bad blood brewing between her and some chick named Julia Lemigova.

Because I get my trash TV from TLC and not Bravo, I have no idea who Julia is. But Google tells me she's on one of the approximately 437 different Real Housewives TV shows.

Anyway, Julia asked Marcus to snap a few photos of her at BravoCon in Las Vegas. TMZ says they were just innocent, smiling shots and no one thought it was weird.

Except for Larsa.

She reportedly griped about Julia to her other cast mates as if the 51-year-old was trying to move in on her man. So now the two women aren't speaking.

Julia never posted the pictures that Marcus took, but she did post a video from this weird photo shoot.

Why was that so awkward? Not that I would be any less awkward trying to pose in a rhinestone suit in front of a sports car, but sheesh.

But I guess I don't blame Larsa. If I were dating the kid I used to babysit who is 17 years younger than I am and heir to the Michael Jordan fortune, I'd probably have my head on a swivel, too.

Speaking of the weird world of celebrities, though...

Travis Barker Plays Drums In The Delivery Room

Travis Barker and Kourtney Kardashian (don't ask me which one that is) welcomed their first child together earlier this month. And in the spirit of the Christmas season, the Blink-182 drummer decided to play a little "pa rum pum pum pum" for the newborn baby boy.

No, I'm not kidding. This clown brought part of his drum set into the delivery room so he could tap along to the baby's heartbeat while Kourtney was in labor.

Now, I'm not a mother. I've never given birth. But I've been told by reliable sources that it's not a pleasant experience.

So I have to believe if I were in excruciating pain and preparing to push a watermelon through a keyhole, the very last thing I would want is my husband sitting in the corner of the room POUNDING OUT A DRUM SOLO.

And apparently, I'm not alone here because the comments ripped Barker to shreds.

"The greatest ick of all time."

"That wouldn’t be annoying at all."

"Kourtney's patience is angel like."

"You know where those sticks would end up."

Of course, all those (completely justified) reactions came from women. Let's check in with a man in the comments section.

"For everyone hating, don't get involved with a serious drummer. Everything becomes a drum kit and every opportunity is one to practice."

Respectfully, my dude, shut up. It's not like he's nervously drumming on the table. This man carried a whole ass drum into the hospital just to make a douchey TikTok video.

Also, my husband happens to be a drummer. And one thing he does not do is obnoxiously bang on his kit when I am in a stressful situation.

Celebrities are so weird.

Mailbag: First Date Nightmares

Last week, I asked y'all to share with me stories about your worst first date. Nightcaps fam, you delivered! Honestly, I'm still combing through all of them. And we'll get to those. But today I wanted to share with you a couple that were particularly cringey.

Let's start with Duncan:

I was set up with a girl, her friend said she used to look like Courtney Cox, but had gained a couple pounds.  She was now a pretty Monica Lewinsky.  Still a cute girl, and a bartender, so I was interested.  I drove her home after her shift, hung out on the couch for a while, then she disappeared into the kitchen and made a phone call.  This was before cell phones, but she had one of those cords that was like 30 feet long.  I couldn't hear her conversation, which didn't seem like a big deal at the time.  She came back to the couch, we continued to chat and snuggle.  30 minutes later, there is a knock on the door.  Domino's was delivering her pizza.  She grabbed it, went to the fridge for parmesan cheese, and went to her bedroom and closed the door.  I sat there dumbfounded for a minute, like why didn't she share the pizza?  I left and never talked to her again, but I quickly realized how she had gone from Courtney Cox to Monica Lewinsky! 

My Take: One time a guy I'd been seeing for a few weeks asked me to come over to watch my favorite Christmas movie. He would make dinner and have "plenty of wine." So I'm like sure, sounds nice. We eat dinner and sit down to watch the movie. Not 10 minutes in, I hear him snoring. Actual SNORING. He's all the way asleep. So without waking him, I snuck out the front door. I took his two bottles of wine home with me, and my roommate and I enjoyed it while we watched A Christmas Story. The dude didn't even notice I was gone until the next morning when he texted me, "???"

My point is, it's not unusual for a woman to quietly remove herself from a date if she's not having a good time. But, Duncan, your pizza girl sounds extra unhinged. And I don't know whether to be horrified or impressed. At the very least, she could have asked you if you were hungry, too. But clearly she just wanted to have a romantic time alone with her pizza. She should have called it a night before she called Dominos.

I think my favorite part is that you two just never spoke again. Just a mutual understanding this is not gonna work.

This next one from Anonymous is a long one, but it's worth it. So buckle up.

At the time I was in my 40s and divorced.  My coworker put me into contact with her friend for some advice concerning some issues with my dog.  My coworker said her friend was single and that we might really get along.  We exchanged texts, had a few phone calls, and she kept saying we needed to get together to hike our dogs. We had some decent banter and despite a weird insistence I agreed to meet and hike trails in her neighborhood which was located in a beautiful golf course gated community.

Butting in: OK cool. I love dogs and hiking. Sounds like a great first date!

I wasn’t really certain if it was a date, but it seemed like it kind of was and I was okay with it.   However, when she answered her door it was clear this was someone I wasn’t interested in dating.    She was physically not my type and was just acting weird, and had makeup strangely applied.   I can’t even describe it, but immediately I had the feeling there was something off and she wasn’t acting at all like she did when we had talked on the phone. Her adult brother and his wife were there for some reason. She then gave me an unwanted impromptu full tour of her house, including trying to drag me on her bed which I had to pull away. After extracting myself from that situation we came across dog poop in a hallway from one of her dogs.  She picked it up with her bare hands and flushed it down the toilet. I was ready to get this hike over with and never speak to this woman again.

Butting in again: This is going downhill quickly. Meeting the brother on the first date? Trying to pull you onto the bed while her brother is there? SHE PICKED UP THE POOP WITH HER BARE HANDS?!

She threw the keys to her SUV at me and said I would drive to the trail head because where she was from men drive.  The entire short drive she kept asking over and over: “Do you think we will be friends? “Do you think our dogs like each other?” Literally each question more than 5 times. When we got to the trail we started walking and in less than 5 minutes she was panting heavily and said we should turn around and go back home. She then fell down, smashing her face and blood was gushing everywhere from her nose and mouth. I went over to help and she was crying and said, “This is what happens when you are an alcoholic. I have a ton of money, but no friends.  I just sit in my house and drink all day.” Everything was explained, she was completely hammered. It was just after 12 noon.

I helped her to her car and took her home. The whole way home she again repeatedly asked if we would still be friends and if my dog liked her and the hike. I took her inside to have her brother help her. As I was leaving she ran over to me and gave me a hug and bled on my jacket.

I called my coworker and told her that she needed to look in on her friend. It took a while before I wanted to meet someone new again.

My Take: What a ride that was! I can't imagine how you kept your composure. The incessant questioning and asking for reassurance on the ride there would have been enough for me to turn the car around. But the blood?! The involuntary therapy session?! The poor dogs going all the way to the park and not getting to hike?!

In all seriousness, this is really sad. You're a good dude for getting her home safely. I hope she got the help she needed.

And side note: I highly recommend throwing a couple beers in your pack when you go on a hike. Having a delicious cold one while taking in the view is quite a reward for your hard work. I would not recommend, however, getting sh-tfaced before the hike even starts.

And Eric just just sent me this video:

I had actually seen this one before, and there's a lot to unpack. But we'll leave it at this: If a man on a first date (or ever) asked me how many "kills" I had, I'd be out of there faster than Duncan's girl when the delivery guy showed up.

More Mailbag: Who Pays on the First Date?

Last week, we talked about Pearl Botts, who believes women should never have to pay on a date.

"When you let a man have the great honor of taking care of you," Pearl explained, "you're making space and giving room for him to step into his divine masculine."

As I said before, I am old fashioned enough to believe that men should absolutely pay on the first date. After that, it depends on the situation.

So let's check in with some Nightcaps readers for their take on the issue.

From Matthew:

I am the father of 3 teen daughters (senior, junior, and freshman). I like Ms. Botts's moxy and agree with her advice. She implies that she is independent and completely capable but would offer guys to be “guys” in the best way.  A man should hold the door open for a lady (and a dude in a hurry). Much more where that came from but you get the summation.

From Ken:

First, most men use to assume they paid for date's meal. Then we were told that women are independent and don't need us to pay for their meal. Now we're told to pay again. This is exactly why men despise dating and lose our hair so early. We can't win no matter what.

Ken, I feel you. The ultra-feminists really made things confusing here. I think a good rule of thumb is that if she has blue hair, you probably shouldn't open the door for her, and you definitely shouldn't pay. But sensible women still appreciate chivalry.

From Benny:

My take on who pays for the first date: whoever asked to go on the date should pay. Once the relationship enters the steady dating phase, I'm all in for alternating. It just makes sense. Dutch... weird. I have rarely ever done that with female friends I've had dinner/drinks with.  

Also, there is nothing emasculating about women paying for a date. Pearl sounds like she's trying to justify her high maintenance lifestyle. Women can pay too. We're adults. Relationships should be 50/50. But I'm still single, so what do I know?

Honestly, Benny, single people are sometimes the wisest when it comes to dating. There are a whole lot of people in miserable relationships, and I'd take single Benny's advice over theirs any day.

And I agree with the 50/50 thing. That's how my husband and I do it, too. Granted, that dynamic is different for single-income households, stay-at-home moms or couples in which one person makes significantly more money than the other.

But I'm glad we all agree: Dutch is absolutely unacceptable on a date.

And my favorite email of the week, from Jeff:

Thanks for sharing the Pearl Botts takes on dating. I loved them.

In the 60 years I’ve been on this planet I’ve had some amazing experiences.  Great highs and tough lows - just like everyone.

For 39 years my wife and I have been taking care of each other.  It’s been the jewel experience of my life. It has nothing to do with our abilities.  It has nothing to do with a ledger.  It is simply two people genuinely concerned about each other.  If I get to do something for her or she does something for me it doesn’t matter - I feel lucky.

To the people who think letting someone take care of you is a mark against your own independence or self worth I simply feel bad they will never know the depths of love and commitment I have felt.

Damn. All I want in 30 years is for my husband to still talk about me the way Jeff talks about his wife.

Fellas, these are life goals. Be like Jeff.

Stuff That Made Me LOL

I need to understand the science.

Made you smile.

Speaking of wholesome humor.

By the way, if you love Dad jokes, you need to be following those guys. They have a ton of these.

I know I usually share way more LOLs with you, but today's Nightcaps was a long one and I am woefully out of time.

Go out and kick this week's ass.

OutKick Nightcaps is a daily column set to run Monday through Friday at 4 p.m.

Follow me on X / Twitter at @TheAmberHarding or email me at Amber.Harding@OutKick.com.