ISSUE #89 - October 11th, 2019

ONE

HOOPS - The international conflict between the NBA and China has taken center stage this week and while my political science degree is pretty rusty (I don't have one) and my understanding of this particular region of the world is iffy (zero), I can offer one silver lining...  Yao Ming is back in the news which of course reminded me of the time my good buddy Nate Robinson (5'7"), blocked Yao (7'6") in an actual NBA Game. Any reason to watch this clip is a good reason so here it is in all its short-man-getting-revenge glory.

TWO

BOOKS - If you're on Twitter regularly and you follow sports and/or pop culture then the chances you've come across New York Times bestselling author Shea Serrano are the same as if he's tweeting right this very second, which means it's an absolute certainty.  The 6' 3" Serrano is a writer for The Ringer and his new book, the 2nd installment in the 'In Other Things' planned trilogy is "Movies (And Other Things)" which is a series of essays that tackle the greatest, most important questions in the history of cinema, like: "Were the Jurassic Park Raptors Just Misunderstood" or "Is this movie better, the same, or worse with The Rock in it" and "Was Andy Dufresne's time in prison worth it or no?"... And about 30 other critical thought exercises involving the silver screen that Leonard Malkin wished he thought of. The book is a flat out delight if you love movies. Go buy it right this second.

THREE

KICKS & ART - I'm not sure how to lead into this short 42-second video featuring a pair of original Jordans without ruining the artistic reveal, so...  If you have 42 seconds and you care at all about Jordans, you're going to find this little clip very, very cool.

FOUR

JERKY - When most meat lovers think of delicious smoked wagyu beef jerky the first name that usually pops in their head is golfer Greg Norman, AKA, The Shark. No? That's not who you thought of? Me neither.. HOWEVER....  I came across wagyu beef jerky for the first time this week and of course I had to try it because it checks off all three meathead boxes (high protein, meat and meat) and lo-and-behold it's a signature jerky from none other than Greg Norman's company. The connection is that the cattle are Australian and since Greg Norman is the Logan Roy of Australia (not in a nasty way but in a super powerful name on everything way) of course he'd have a jerky. All of this is to say that it's delicious and if you like jerky or wagyu beef you might like this.

FIVE

AN EXCELLENT QUOTE ON PRESSURE*

“Sometimes I feel like there are a billion people on my shoulders."  — Yao Ming  *Most people feel this way at times, so keep in mind that when Yao said it, you know, he actually had a billion people hanging on his every move.

AND DON'T FORGET TO PRE-ORDER MY NEW BOOK:

Many of you got a sneak peak of the cover earlier this week, but if you didn't, here you go... I love these illustrations and you'll love the book...  My goal for writing it was simple:  To write the first ever top-to-bottom rundown of our fittest, fattest, strongest, weakest, most athletic and occasionally pathetic presidents. If you think of yourself as a US History buff. If the presidents fascinate you. If you're a sports fan. If you're a bit of a meathead like me, then this book isn't just for you... it's for us. Enjoy!   PRE-ORDER PDF HERE  KINDLE HERE  And paperbacks will be available very soon!!!!