Natalie Lee Is Ready For Autumn, Nick Saban Is A 'Deez Nuts' Guy & Gamer Dislocates Shoulder During Celebration

Odds & ends because I don't have a true lead item this morning

An old-fashioned late summer thunderstorm came through last night to give the new basketball hoop an immediate test to see whether it's going to hold up in heavy winds. I'd say we're in good shape. Winds around here were clocked at 60-68 mph and the mobile hoop didn't budge, so I think we're going to be fine going forward -- unless we get a tornado, but then the basketball hoop will be the least of our worries.

Going into this one, my wife was thinking the worst. She was under the impression the hoop, even with water in the base (yes, I'll put antifreeze in there to mix in), was going to look like a cow flying around in Twister. I put a decent-sized landscaping rock on the top of the base to give her a little extra level of comfort and then the storm came and trees were bending over.

You're damn right I had a moment of trepidation, but I wasn't going to show her that. *Whistling through the house*...yeah, it's all good, the hoop isn't about to go through Larry the Neighbor's house.

All good. Time to the kids to shoot hoops while I turn the garage into a courtside suite.

• Speaking of neighbors, there is a college football war down the street where two neighbors -- a Florida State fan & an Ohio State fan -- are really going at it. Ohio State fan Dirk started things by vandalizing Mike's Florida State lawn art after the Seminoles lost to Notre Dame.

Mike fired back this week by vandalizing Dirk's yard with a bunch of rubber ducks after Oregon rolled into Columbus and handed Ryan Day his first regular-season loss as head coach of the Buckeyes. I have to say, this was very inconsiderate from a Florida State fan considering the Seminoles had that debacle against Jacksonville State.

TOO FAR, MIKE!



• Let's address red flag warnings from the big-time Big J® Journalists out there who brag about writing 3,000 words on any topic. If you ever see a sportswriter mentioning how many words he's going to pump out on a topic, that's not a guy you'd enjoy having a beer with. TRUST ME.

And it's a double red flag when that writer brags about his word count, like anyone gives a shit, and he works for The Athletic. It reminds me of the days when all the nerds in this business worked for SB Nation. Oh look, I pumped out 5,000 words on the upcoming Tulsa-Memphis game...you don't want to miss this one.

Uh yeah, I do want to miss that one.

• A&M fan Bob C. is fired up to see my dad and I make it to College Station on October 9. Look at how considerate these people are.

We are looking forward to hosting you and your Dad at our award-winning tailgate in Aggieland for the Bama game on 10/9.

A friend of mine offered to pick you up and bring you to our beautiful RV spot when you needed transportation.

Please call me on my personal cell phone at xxx-xxx-xxxx (redacted so you guys don't try to get preferential treatment from Bob!) and we can give you ideas for the weekend.

I hope you can find lodging, I hear everything is sold out close to Aggieland. If you have any issues or questions, don’t hesitate to call me.

Looking forward to meeting y’all,

###

• I haven't dabbled in the world of construction costs for a couple of months after lumber settled down, but I did see this news from Fox Business about aluminum prices. That's right, they're up 47% this year and up 73% from pre-pandemic levels. I'm not a scrapping expert, but a Georgia Bulldogs fan down the street is and his scrapping truck has been loaded up more than normal lately. All I have to do is see what he's up to -- collects mowers that people are throwing out -- and I instantly know what's hot on the scrapping market.

• By the way, have any of you tried to buy furniture lately? What an experience that is these days. We bought a recliner back in June. The latest estimate is that it'll arrive before Christmas. The furniture store guy said we're on the lucky end of things right now. He said recent customers are being told they'll get their couches and recliners after the first quarter of 2022.

What other topics are on your mind? Let's mix it up a little bit. Any neighborhood rivalries breaking out near you? Anyone painting logos on their yards?

Let's fill up the email inbox with all sorts of stuff on your mind. Fire away.

Email: joekinsey@gmail.com

 

Numbers from :

Stuff You Guys Sent In & Stuff I Like: