Tori Spelling Hits The Beach & Has Gen Xers Thinking She's BACK, The Mets Are Imploding & CeeDee Gets Rocked
Plus: Are the Reds about to play themselves into the playoffs?
FULLLLLLLLLLLL PULLLLLLLLLL WEEK!
Welcome to one of the biggest week's on my calendar each year: My kids go back to school and the National Tractor Pull pulls into the Wood County (OH) Fairgrounds where all hell will break loose when the old boys put the hammer down with a mission to hear the track announcer belt out, "FULLLLLLLLLLLLL PULLLLLLLLLLLL."
It's like Kevin Harlan calling a 4th quarter touchdown in a critical AFC East game.
This is either year three or four of tailgating at Millennial Chris B. in Bowling Green's house with Diesel and Canoe Kirk and a variety of cast and characters before we head down to the Holy Land of the Wood County Fairgrounds for what is one of the best scenes in sports.
We're talking about a place where the local firefighters have a barn inside the fairgrounds where you can buy 30 racks of Busch Light.
And don't even get me started on the milkshakes. People travel hundreds of miles for the milkshakes.
It's NASCAR meets cornfield keggers. It's NASCAR meets county fair with a hint of sitting around a firepit on a hot night in August. It's WWE meets the FFA club.
It's Americana at its finest.
You can go home again, but it might make you sad to see what home has become
As promised, I was on the road this weekend back to the Miami Valley for my dad's 70th birthday event, but I also promised my 12-year-old son Screencaps Jr. we'd go to the field where I played as a 12-year-old Little Leaguer.
Even my dad played here at a kid.
Growing up, it was like living in a Norman Rockwell painting playing at Clayton Park in the tiny village of Clayton, OH. To get to the 12-year-old field, you had to cross a footbridge over the crystal clear creek that runs through the park. The field has sunken dugouts. There's an announcer tower.
There's a Green Monster in right field with a stand of trees to provide an incredible backdrop for Little League baseball. I've never experienced another field like it.
What we experienced Saturday was sad. The field definitely wasn't used this summer. The infield is overgrown. The announcer tower looks unsafe. Travel teams revived the field years ago after the Little League program closed, but it appears the travel teams have moved on.
Now, what's left is a shell of the life that this park used to have and it's incredible sad to me. The sign above the concession stand still notes the 13U state championship team I was on. It also notes that Hardscrabble Little League dates back to 1956. Until its death, it was known as Ohio's oldest Little League.
The fields might be a mess, but visiting this weekend for the first time in probably 30 years brought back some incredible memories. The creek still flows just like I remember it when we would chase the crawdads after a game.
Even with the neglect and lack of games being played on this hollow ground, at least the park remains and maybe there will be a new wave of dads who will put in the work to bring back this sacred place to its past glory.
You're the dad: How do you react to the fake bunt on 3-0 with the bases loaded and the winning run on 3rd?
Do you have a problem with the bat twirling?
EMAIL: JOE.KINSEY@OUTKICK.COM OR USE MY PERSONAL GMAIL
What are the Screencaps demographics?
— Bill S. asks:
Hope all is well with you and the family. 118° here last week in Phoenix which isn't surprising! I had a question on the demographics of your readers. I feel like we're all pretty similar at a core, but really just curious about stuff like age, gender, area of country, income, religion, ethnicity, politics, etc.
Not sure if a poll would be interesting on your socials or even just a mention in your column for the readers to discuss, but I kind of think of it as a few to get to know my "comminuty" better. Just a thought. Thanks for all you do!
Kinsey:
I don't have the exact demographics from Google in front of my, but based on what I hear from readers, the core of this column is firmly in the 35-to-55 age range. We're starting to pull in those Millennials who are now figuring out that the topics we're hammering are now important to their lives.
Millennials might not have cared about living the patio life five years ago when I debuted Screencaps at OutKick. Now? They're fully invested in mounting TVs on their patios and speaker technology. They're fully invested in mowing content and improving their properties.
I know it's a national pastime for Millennials and Boomers to go at it, but now they're finding equal footing on several topics like grilling and mowing. It's great to see.
As for the heartbeat of this group, it's in that 45-to-52 range.
Politics? I think you can figure out that one. Yes, there are Libs in this group. They'll email from time to time. There are moderates. There are hardcore MAGAs. We're all over the board.
The location of readers is interesting. The south and states like Texas and California LOVE Screencaps. I might mention Ohio events like the tractor pull and localize that event, but I feel like most of America can relate to the picture I'm trying to paint.
It's not even close
The college football season is just three weeks away. It's time to start acting like it.
Do we have anyone who still uses dial-up Internet?
Fingers crossed we have at least one person who writes in, via dial-up, about his/her Internet setup.
Are you even able to read this column via dial-up?
More from the Sawtooths
— Marty in Hailey, ID gets into a Sawtooth-off with Mike T.:
I saw Mike T’s Sawtooth photo this morning. My son took this one at dawn while camping at Alpine Lake in the Sawtooths. There are around 400 alpine lakes in the Sawtooths; this one is named "Alpine Lake". If you zoom in close you will see a tent perched on the top of that lakeside boulder; awesome! If you want to get away from it all, you can do it really fast in Idaho.
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And that is a wrap on this Monday morning with so much going on. Something tells me there's going to be a massive story this week. You can just feel the energy building.
Let's get after it. Let's have a big week and go earn that money or spend it like a rockstar in retirement.
EMAIL: JOE.KINSEY@OUTKICK.COM OR USE MY PERSONAL GMAIL