Kathy Ireland Turned 60 This Week & She's Back(!), John Daly's Rough Night At The Sweet 16, Plus Drew Timme Has To Be 35 With 3 Kids
Great start, great ending to night one of the Sweet 16
Random thoughts while I was addressing hundreds of TNML envelopes:
• Get yourself a diminutive guard and win tournament games. It's that simple. I have no idea where this guy from Kansas State came from, where he's been or going, but I'm absolutely locked in when he has the ball and is throwing half-court alley-oops in overtime.
• No offense to the FAU fans, but I NEED this KSU guard in the Final Four.
• Is Tennessee's offense always this bad? That was like watching a plodding Big Ten game. That was like watching Iowa-Illinois play a football game on a rainy day in early October with Beth Mowins on the call. Brutal.
• The Big Ten sucks. Bad.
• At least Vols fans will get a chance to do some sightseeing before heading home to get ready for the college football season. Poor Clay.
• Drew Timme is going to dominate YMCA pickup games until he's 75 years old. Did you see him put the power move on the UCLA defender down on the block late in the 2nd half? He bounced his right leg back and forth and then launched his left shoulder towards the basket and powered in a bucket. It might've been the best old-man power move I've seen in a long time.
• Why didn't UCLA double Timme? The guy scored 36 in 38 minutes.
• I hope UCLA's Jaime Jaquez has some eligibility left. I've enjoyed watching that guy play for the last decade in college.
• John from SD agrees with my assessment:
Sweet 16 - Great start to the round and can’t wait to see what happens tomorrow. UCLA not scoring a FG for over 11 minutes in the second half and almost coming back to win; what an exciting game! Go Zags!
Getting very excited about FAU BB; thanks for taking care of UT!
B1G ruined their run once again. Markquis Nowell was amazing.
Another great tournament year.
It's more than just a sticker
• Kyle B. writes:
1. I wanted to take a minute to thank you for the TNML sticker. I was so jacked up when I saw the TNML return address. The fact that you kept up with an email, from close to a year ago, to send out a sticker is AMAZING! Though I don't consider it "just" a sticker. It will be displayed appropriately.
2. It couldn't have come at a better time. Unfortunately, I had to let go of my dog of 16+ years just before my 41st birthday last Tuesday. I am a glass half-full kind of guy, so I know I gave that pup the best 16 years I could. I think that I am most proud of that for the month of March.
3. I received a TNML sticker, on a Thursday no less. Amazing.
4. This was the truck in front of me coming home from work this Thursday. Coincidence? I can't wait for the season to begin. Thanks for all you do!
Kinsey:
What an email from Kyle. It was clearly meant to be for that beautiful TNML sticker to go out after Kyle had waited so long.
Doug B. writes:
Hi, Joe! I am a long-time reader (since Day 1) of your terrific daily work. It's been fun to watch your highly-relatable column explode over the past few years. I hope that Outkick is compensating you well for your highly creative work product!
I'm now 67 and have been a mowing purist (gasoline-powered mowers) ever since age 12 back in Shreveport, LA.
I mowed my family's yard (gratis) plus a few other lawns in my neighborhood every summer until age 18.
I was able to save more than $1,500 at my local bank simply by mowing/edging neighbors' yards for about $10 per yard.
Using that money, I was able to buy my first car (a '68 VW Bug) for $800 cash upon graduating from high school in 1973.
It was a 4-speed manual transmission VW. I later added an 8-track stereo system to impress my friends. Love the 1970s!
Like many of your readers, I started my mowing career utilizing my family's Briggs & Stratton mower.
A few years later, I moved up and purchased a Sears Craftsman "Eager 1" mower around 1971. Who could resist a sales pitch for a mower which would start on the first pull - EVERY TIME - even on live television!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRREU_MmZtc
In 1991, I splurged ($250) and moved up to a new 20" Honda self-mulching power mower as the capstone of my lifelong mowing journey. That mower lasted through 2012. My current mower (a 22" Honda HRX) will celebrate our 10th anniversary of excellent results together this June.
After a new job brought us a few hundred miles further south, we are now living in an area where the majority of our neighbors are (sadly) utilizing foreign labor to mow/edge/maintain their yard.
As these mowing crews drive by our corner lot and stare at the old now-retired guy still mowing his yard every week (on Thursday, of course), I sometimes wave at them. Personally, I would hate mowing/edging a yard in just 15 minutes like they do.
There is something almost sacred about putting on those old mowing gloves and shoes, pulling the cord, and adding a little creativity as I faithfully complete my weekly lawn work. I chuckle knowing that I may be the only guy in our neighborhood who is still using a push broom to sweep the street after completing my edging work.
Yes, I am proudly the definition of old school!
Mowing has been and will always be an important part of my psyche. While holding a traditional job for 40+ years, mowing provided an opportunity to re-focus and complete the immediate job at hand. By the end, I had either forgotten (or resolved) many of the day's problems and issues. It is definitely cheaper than paying a professional counselor or psychologist for the same amount of time.
Plus, I am able to finish my weekly "sessions" with the personal satisfaction of knowing that another job has been completed with terrific-looking results.
Both of our sons (now in their 30s) do their own yard work, too. I hope that they are beginning to realize the therapeutic aspects gained from spending a weekly visit with their therapist, Dr. Mower. They have provided us with five young grandsons. Our family mowing tradition is going to continue for several more decades.
Joe, it is terrific to see what you have been able to do in rallying Americans around our shared love of this very satisfying (and vastly underappreciated) weekly labor of love.
I would really appreciate obtaining one of your TNML stickers to officially become a member of America's expanding Green Team.
May God bless you and your family. Keep up the great work!
Kinsey:
I sent Doug three stickers. One for him and one each for his sons.
Some people see mowing as a chore. Guys like Doug B. see it as a way to stay connected with life. To feel alive. To feel productive. To feel accomplished at the end of the day.
Again, I wish I could write a note to all of you who sent messages like Doug. Just know that I see the messages and I sense the emotional connection you have to what we're building here.
Let's have an incredible season on the playing surface.
Mole retriever
• Gerard W. has the answer to all of your mole problems:
They say every man only gets one great dog in their lifetime. I am currently blessed with mine. Our black lab Molly is a fabulous family dog, pheasant hunter, and mole eradicater. We have not had a mole in our yard since she arrived. She has resorted to finding them on our nightly walks to the back 40. She just got this one tonight.
Moles must not taste very good as she doesn't eat them. She eats about everything else she kills. She even has a taste for pussy cat. We have had a few poor kitties wander into our yard. We only realized this after she happily showed us their half-eaten carcass. Poor things. I have to quickly dispose of them before my wife and kids see them. Other than that she is a great dog!!!
Who goes for a traditional straight-edge razor shave?
• MJ V. in Westfield, IN writes:
Just read today's Screencaps. Have to admit, I know I am getting old when the most exciting part about today's edition was Andy in Carmel talking about someone coming to his house to cut his and his boys' hair. I don't have much left up there, so spending anymore time than necessary getting a hair cut just isn't worth it. The thought of someone coming to me to take care of it sounds awesome.
Anyway, ask Andy if he needs a new best friend...or wants to adopt a middle aged third son? I'd only come around once a month or so.
On a serious note, who in Screencaps nation has gone to a barber for a traditional straight-edge razor shave? Is it worth it? Is there an optimal amount of facial hair (1 day stubble, 3 day, beard, etc) to get the best experience? I am not a shaver, have shaved 1 time in the last 7 years. But have wanted to try one in the barbershop from a professional. Just curious if guys think it is worth doing once in a while.
How to cheat YouTube after they jacked up the prices
• Bill McK. writes:
My apologies if your YouTubeTV issues have been addressed but if not, here’s a quick workaround. I too was a long, long-time Cable subscriber and got thoroughly pissed over the years as stealth price increases and ridiculous monthly hardware rental fees that seemed to never depreciate continued to pain my pocket book.
Long story short, my Son told me last year about YouTubeTV as he had subscribed and I decided to give it a try. He has the account and has the ability to have a # of simultaneous screens within his subscription. I use his UN and PW but use my Email address as a separate ID, YouTubeTV has no issue with this as bottom line, you just can’t go over the simultaneous screen number (not sure what it is but I believe it’s 5).
I loaded the app on my phone and tablet, can set my own Custom channel list and boom, I terminated the Cable TV subscription after 30 years. The financial workaround is I split the cost with my Son so I went from a monthly expense of $220+ with Comcast to $40 per month (includes Sports package) for YouTubeTV. My point is, find a friend or family member to share your account with + I’m sure you’re finding the ease of use, recording capacity, etc. is far superior to any Cable service.
The state of music, rock stations and what happened to college radio stations that actually played a variety of music?
• Bill H. is back & hitting on a topic close to my heart:
I understand the tight rotation of pop stations but I have NEVER understood the rotation of album rock stations, always too tight and never deeper, more obscure cuts played. SOS then as now. Back in the 70's there was an alternative to Billboard top hits and it was the college most requested music from college radio stations nationwide. Not sure if it even a thing anymore. It was always way better that any of the Billboard lists that most stations built their rotation on. While driving to StL, I happened onto a station, 93 KZLE (listen live stream), that offers the closest to that old college list. So many stations missed there chance at cool immortality.
My wife had to fix my new do's after stylists or barbers (glorified poodle groomers) jacked up my locks so many times for several years after we were first married, my bride just started cutting it instead. She got really good at it. Occasionally, I would hear an, "Oops!, It'll grow out"... until it finally refused to. These days the trims come via a Wahl clipper on the deck, me sans shirt. When done, she fires up the leaf blower and disperses any lingering clippings left on me. It is a sight to behold. She doesn't charge but gets a big tip for her hard work.
Hoping for a deeper run in the tourney next year for the Hogs.
Kinsey:
Bill, I'm convinced that college radio is history. True alt-rock stations are history, too. As a guy who grew up on WOXY 97X out of Oxford, OH in the early-to-mid 90s, the death of legitimate alt-commercial radio has been brutal. I remember the night well in 2004 when WOXY ended its terrestrial run. I sat there at the Times-Leader newspaper in Wilkes-Barre, PA stunned at what I was hearing.
Needless to say, times haven't gotten better for the industry. I'll go in spurts with KEXP out of Seattle, but it'll never replace the O.G. of the industry.
Pushing back against my "Boomers" definition
• Larry from Tennessee writes:
As a 69-year-old boomer born in 53, I have to comment on you definition of a boomer. “My personal definition of the Boomer generation is anyone born during that period, who is now retired, that spends way too long each day bitching and moaning on local TV news Facebook accounts.”
While I am retired and spend way too long each day bitching and moaning about so-called news I read on the interwebs, I almost never watch national fake news and only watch local news when my wife makes me because there are thunderstorms or tornadoes in the area. I certainly don’t read local news Fakebook accounts because I don’t have social media of any kind.
I find it telling that boomers are blamed for a lot of the worlds ills, yet I also see it mentioned that when all the boomers retire we will be in a world of hurt when it comes to experience and people who know how to actually do things. I recently read an article about a particular Air Force plane that should actually still be in production but the politicians (aka Chicom stooges) and military planners (Wokies) stopped production on it. The article stated that many of the engineers (boomers) have or would be retiring and the younger ones might not have the experience to get the now disassembled production line re-started if needed.
I’m sure each generation has it’s virtues, but I really feel sad about being closer to death that ever before especially for my children and grandchildren’s sakes, they can’t do much of anything around the house. Our fault I guess because we made it too easy for them and they haven’t had to struggle much. Oh well, life’s mistakes.
Keep up the good work and enjoy your youth. It goes by fast.
Kinsey:
The positive out of that email is that Larry isn't bitching and moaning on Facebook. He might be bitching and moaning, but he's already ahead of the ballgame because he hasn't been sucked into the dumb back & forths like so many Boomers get caught up in on Zuck's social media app.
Save the bitching and moaning for the barbershop and then enjoy your day.
The Retro Mall of America is a genius idea
• Kevin J. is a big fan:
Greg is on to something with The Retro Mall of America. As a veteran of both the Beloit Mall (the local) and the Janesville Mall (the big city), growing up in Midwest mall culture was a big deal. With all the malls closing, where do the elderly ladies do their laps every cold winter morning? The TRMA could charge by the step, by the lap, or sell an unlimited pass for these ladies to get their exercise. Afterward, they could hit up the Orange Julius for a refreshing beverage.
BTW, I’m 49 heading to 50 this year.
Question for those of you who are new around here
This is for readers who've been around for 3-4 months. How did you find Screencaps?
I'm curious how the word is spreading.
That's it for the day. We made it through another week and I'm feeling incredibly accomplished and whipped from stuffing envelopes.
Off you go. Have a great day at work and enjoy yet another well-earned weekend doing whatever you plan on doing. I have a batting net to put up for the kids because the winds are going to be 50 mph tomorrow.
Let's play ball.
Email: joekinsey@gmail.com