Mikayla Demaiter Provides A Shot Of Vitamin D, Phillies Fan Gets Lit Up By Security Guard & Is Texas A&M Farting Too Much?
The Return of Happy Hour
Call me crazy, but I feel like the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal will be writing about this topic in 3-4 months like how they wrote about Costco clothes. We might even get a Sunday New York Times feature on the vintage Pizza Hut experience.
• Economics professor Jared P. is back to help us understand what we're seeing out in the wild:
Dear Senior Director of Content of Outkick,
I am not surprised that you are seeing more specials at restaurants. You can see in the data for the Midwest and for the US at large that the prices of food away from home, calculated as a percentage change from a year ago, are falling.
This is not the same as saying food prices are falling (food away from home is 2.4 more expensive this September than last September), just the rate of increasing is slowing. More data is needed to see which restaurants are offering these deals but it would not be a surprise to see restaurants servicing the middle part of the income distribution being the ones doing it.
There are three likely reasons for this.
First, consumers are either running low or have exhausted their excess savings from the Covid stimulus packages. Second, real median household income is falling. Third, and probably the smallest reason, is that student loan payments have started, causing a shift in spending priorities.
People are likely being more judicious with their money and restaurants are responding.
Kinsey:
Like Exotic Wood Mike, when Jared P. writes, I know it's going to be good. Jared even included links to where he's pulling data which is such a nice touch in this business. He doesn't have to scream, "DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH." He just casually links it in there. That's a pro.
As for this Happy Hour trend, I'll have you know this isn't just some podunk NW Ohio thing I've conjured up in my brain. We have something going on here from at least Denver to Long Island.
Which brings me to this report from the Wall Street Journal
"...some Americans are feeling tapped out," the paper writes.
You won't hear me complain about the $289 (or whatever I paid for the NFL Ticket) when it would cost me triple that to attend one Bengals game this year with ticket prices, gas, hotel, booze and food. At that price point, I'm not even afraid to miss a Sunday watching the games.
Los Angeles Man is making his first trip to the South for an SEC football experience and wants to know what will surprise him
• Christian A. writes:
Checking back in. I wrote before about my wife telling the cashier she would never bring pumpkins home before the end of summer because her husband would kill her. In your reply, you mentioned sanity and living in California.
I'm leaving the not-so-Golden State for my first trip to the South and an SEC game - Tennessee at Alabama. I'm a huge football guy so the trip is a big one for me. What do you think are the top things that will surprise me about being in Alabama and the differences from home?
Aside from poor dexterity when it comes to unlatching women's wear.
Kinsey:
I'm opening this up to the people from the South. What do you think will surprise Christian when he shows up in Tuscaloosa for Saturday's game?
Email: joekinsey@gmail.com
Here's some background on Christian, who seems like a nice guy:
• His wife refused to pay for mini pumpkins she was charged for at Trader Joe's because of the 'Respect Summer' campaign
• Christian doesn't own a lawn
• He's a sunset guy
• He likes to look at the mowers at Lowe's because of his respect for TNML
Remember: We have a ton of California readers who have to put up with Gavin Newsom and the wackos who run that state. They're not all lefty lunatics.
Halloween costume ideas
• Todd S. writes:
Best or funniest couples costume my wife and I have done. AT-AT from Star Wars. Wife and I wore little kids Stormtroopers masks to complete the look. Way too much work to walk around all night in an uncomfortable costume behind another person, even my lovely wife.
What's the best all-time jersey number?
• Jason DeM. in Kalamazoo, MI writes:
How did Dillon in SD nominate #34 as the greatest sports number and then not include the best to wear that number?
Walter Payton will always be the G.O.A.T.
• Tim in Texas City, TX writes:
Dillon and his crew nailed it with #34. That's definitely THE NUMBER around these parts (Houston area)…but how could he leave Earl of his list?
• Matt U. writes:
Ahem . . .
Crosby from N. Dakota: Thoughts? You pick #34 but leave off Walter Payton?
Some guy named Joe: Picks #12 and includes Jerome Iginla (fair) but leaves off Joe Namath?
BTW, #9:
Gordie Howe (boom)
Bobby Hull
Rocket Richard
Mike Modano
Ted Williams
Joe DiMaggio
Roger Maris
Dwayne Wade
Sonny Jurgenson
• Eric in Colorado Springs, CO writes:
Great list of names for jersey #12, but living in Colorado I have to go with #7, the list is not quite as impressive, but it is still solid:
1- John Elway - Hometown vote
2 - Mickey Mantle - Best Ever !!
3 - Ronaldo - I know soccer is not a real sport, but still he was pretty good, plus, he has a really hot wife.
4 - Barry Bonds - I know Pumpkin Head was juicing, but it still takes skill to put bat on ball.
5 - Ray Bourque - 19x All-Star, sounds good to me
Should dads be holding diaper parties or attending diaper parties?
• M. Wolf in Southern Indiana writes:
Joe, first-time emailer but have enjoyed SC for a couple of years.
A few years ago a longtime buddy and his wife were having a baby. Circumstances arose so some fellas put together a Diaper Scramble! The two guys that put it on paid for the golf. To play you had to bring diapers. The teams were assigned what size of diapers to bring so as to get as much time as possible without buying diapers.
We had a blast playing 18 holes then had a cookout put on by some other friends who don’t play golf. It was a great way to help a friend and didn’t feel like a diaper party.
Thanks for the community that is Screencaps.
• Keith M. writes:
Joe - Before my daughter was born, they had a coed baby shower for my wife and I.
However, it was at a gun club, my brother smoked a bunch of meat for it, there was a ton of beer and a lot of fireworks. Was more like a big end-of-the-summer party. There may or may not have been stupid shower games, but I don't remember. Did I mention there was a lot of beer?!
Does Screencaps nation approve of this type of coed baby shower?
Kinsey:
One thing jumps out at me immediately about these diaper party stories from the wild: The events weren't Pinterest'd to the point where the guys remember it being Pinterest'd!
Thank you, ladies.
Travel ball horror stories
• Duncan N. writes:
If you think spring travel ball is bad, check out my son’s schedule from last Sunday. Fall ball is brutal.
5:30 wake up
6:30 head to the park
8:30 game
12:30 game
Went 2-0, so sit around until 6:30 championship game
7:00 game finally starts
8:45 time limit up, but we’re home team and score 6 to tie it up. Head to extra innings
10 pm my some ends it with a walk-off
11:45 in bed, on a school night
And this Sunday, our local tourney didn’t have enough teams, so we’re playing in a tourney 90 minutes from the house. Think of me when you’re watching football in the basement on Sunday!
Kinsey:
I'd rather go to the pumpkin patch, the apple orchard, and the local Metropark to take fall family photos than have that schedule. I'd rather climb up in the attic multiple times like I did Sunday while listening to the Lions-Buccaneers game.
Duncan, when are you getting 'me' time?
• Duncan replied:
That doesn’t exist right now. Kids are 8 and 11 so always want to play. Both have rec soccer on Saturdays. Golf is my hobby but I’ve played 2 rounds since the pandemic started. I guess when they are teenagers and start ignoring me I’ll get some me time!
The end of Twitter is near
This is why websites with real audiences and communities will be left standing. Relying on social media is not going to end well for media outlets. That's why this new job title -- OutKick Audience Engagement Officer -- that I've added to my Linkedin resume is so damn important. We're in a race against the Musks and the Zucks of the world.
Instagram model madness bracket
• Sam T. writes:
It's been mentioned before in Screencaps and Wyn in Colorado brought it up in his correspondence from today's column - are you thinking of running an IG model madness bracket? If so, I could save you some legwork. I've had a bunch of boring Teams meetings over the last couple weeks and, long story short, I got to thinking about seeding in a hypothetical tournament, went back through the Kinsey 'Caps archives, and cataloged the number of appearances made since the end of the 2023 NCAA tournament on a spreadsheet.
I've tracked number of embeds per column (below the "Stuff You Guys Sent In & Stuff I Like" heading only) and, separately, number of appearances in the headline. At least as best as I could since some of the embed links are either broken or removed.
The way I figure, you get a point for each embed, plus a bonus point for making the headline. There are currently 569 names on the list. The top 64 point-getters could make the field with totals determining seeding. You could even bump it out to 68 for play-in games if you wanted.
Then maybe each day of the tournament you throw a few pics up for each matchup (which can be based on the actual seeding matchups of the day), have the readers vote, and the winner moves on.
Heck, you could even have a bracket pool (although that might be tough to run without some kind of program). Anyway, if you're thinking of doing it, I'm happy to help out with the logistics of it or whatever else. At the very least, I can send you the final rankings from the spreadsheet. Just let me know. Otherwise, it's at least been a pretty fun waste of time!
Kinsey:
I'll say it again, this is the greatest community on the Internet. There's zero debate.
Did you just read that email? That was the very first email I've received from Sam. FIRST ONE!
I've replied to Sam and I'm awaiting an example 68-model bracket that I can bring to the masses. Stay tuned.
That's it for this mid-October Wednesday. There's never a dull day with this column. The minute you think it's going to be quiet, along comes Sam and his Instagram model bracket.
There's never a day that goes by when I don't thank higher powers for giving me this Internet life. I'm truly grateful for every single minute.
Now, go dominate another day of life. Get through those Zoom meetings. Win the day. Win the line of scrimmage.
Email: joekinsey@gmail.com