Finkel's Fast Five - Issue #25

July 20th, 2018

Any interest in being a fly on the wall while two comedy legends have lunch? I can't tell if I enjoyed Jerry Seinfeld cracking up Dave Chappelle or Chappelle getting belly laughs from Seinfeld more, but you should definitely take 18 minutes to watch this episode of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee on Netflix. Added bonus, I found this YouTube video fans took while they were filming the episode in a local coffee shop in Washington, D.C.  Imagine making a $12.4 billion dollar mistake when you were 24 years old: Spencer Haywood won a gold medal in basketball for Team USA in the 1968 Olympics. He then went to college at the University of Detroit and averaged 32 points and 21 rebounds per game. After that, he was drafted into the ABA, led the league in scoring and won Rookie of the Year and MVP. A few years later, a new shoe company named Nike came calling. Haywood was offered his choice of shoe contract: $100,000 or 10% of Nike. He took the money... And the 10% of Nike would be worth $12.4 billion today. This picture hurts to look at. Brutal.  Being color-blind and lazy helped me stumble into a beef jerky miracle: I may have oversold this one a bit (though jerky is a miracle unto itself). This was more like whatever the next level after a nice surprise is. Let me set the scene: I was in the beef jerky section of the grocery store and I quickly grabbed five red sticks of the 'original' flavor of Chomp jerky that we always get. I arrive home and...the packages were not red. They were a maroon or something and the flavor I got is called Crankin' Cran Beef and they were awesome. 9g of protein. 2g sugar. Delicious. Everyone wins. Here's the company site. Here's a link on Amazon if you want to dive right in and buy 24.  Peter Mark Roget's first book was published in 1852 and has never been out of print and you've definitely read it: The original title of the book was, Thesaurus of English Words and Phrases, classified and arranged so as to facilitate the expression of ideas and to assist in literary compilation. Yes, the book is Roget's Thesaurus. This brilliant, clever piece in the Independent profiling the man, his book, the book's enemies (yes, the thesaurus has enemies) and its history is fascinating and informative. It was written by Paul Vallely and you can read it here.  A tremendously written sentence if you need some motivation to chase your dreams. "Only some inner drive - pleasure, love - can help us overcome obstacles, prepare a path, and lift us out of the narrow circle in which others tread out their anguished, miserable existences!" - Johan Wolfgang Von Goethe, excerpted from one of the most important modern books ever written about achievement and success, Mastery, by Robert Greene.  Have a great weekend and don't be someone who simply treads out their anguished, miserable existence!  You love Finkel's Fast Five. Your pals will, too. Share it with them. Thanks!

- Jon