Finkel's Fast Five - Issue #49

FINKEL'S FAST FIVE - ISSUE #49 January 4th, 2019

Name one thing better in the late 1980s for a 10-year-old than a "Mean" Gene Okerlund live interview with the Macho Man? It's a trick question. There was NOTHING better. In fact, there's still nothing better. Macho Man's "ooooh yeah's" coupled with Mean Gene's poker face questioning of Macho as if he was monitoring a presidential debate was solid gold. I've always loved this classic "Cream Rises to the Top Interview" where Macho Man produces a seemingly endless supply of little creamer cups to make his point and "Mean" Gene doesn't flinch as they keep appearing. RIP "Mean" Gene. You were incredible.  The funniest guy on social media you should be following: Spice Adams played football at Penn State and then in the NFL for the Bears and 49ers, but I have a feeling those will be career footnotes a decade from now when Spice has his own TV show and is in movies. His Instagram feed has absolutely skyrocketed the last year or so, passing 600k fans recently. He's created an array of characters fit for SNL and even they've gone mainstream. One of my favorites, the fake hoops star Creame Biggums just had a cameo with the Globetrotters and Forbes just wrote this piece on Spice. Follow him here.  Bill Gates put together a "What I Learned This Year" piece wrapping up 2018 and as much I wasn't initially interested it's so thoughtful and useful and good-natured I found myself reading the whole thing: I'm largely ambivalent about Bill Gates. I probably know the same basic facts that you know about him and his foundation and his career... And somehow this blog post humanized him more than I expected. He has some sharp insight on where we (society) are headed in some key areas that he'd know more about than most people (tech, disease cures, energy, etc...) and it's well worth the short read here.  A great all body weight, no equipment-needed, solid leg workout you can do in 25 minutes: In a total fluke accident I sliced my hand open this week and needed 11 stitches. I'm fine, thanks. And I'll be back to 100% in a few weeks, but I can't lift with my right hand. So I've been biking and running this week and I wanted a lower body workout I could do without having to hold weights and I found this. I did it after a set of sprints. Had my legs shaking in a good way. If you're in a time crunch or don't have equipment, this will do in a pinch. You could even do it in a hotel room or if you're traveling with no gym. Fun meathead name too: Wheels of Steal.  A tremendous quote from Babe Ruth on what he thought about in the batter's box: "Well, you're all alone out there. You're expected to belt it. You don't want to let anybody down. But I don't worry about how I'm going to hit. I don't bother trying to outguess the field. I think about the pork chops I had the night before and if there should have been more salt in the barbecue sauce." - Babe Ruth, from Jane Leavy's book: The Big Fella  Have a great weekend and remember, if things get tense, just think about the pork chops you had the night before and if there should have been more salt in the BBQ sauce.  Thank you for reading and as always, any feedback is much appreciated. Reply to this e-mail or write me on Twitter HERE.

- Jon

 OH, AND ONE MORE THING...  DON'T FORGET TO PRE-ORDER MY NEW BOOK BELOW!!!