Even if nobody asked:
1. Brentwood, Tennessee in the summer of 2006. I’m at a baseball stadium watching my then 17 year old son Taylor play for Team Connecticut. My wife Trish is holding our 7-month-old (Brady) behind the backstop when a foul ball lands behind them. Mom huffs and puffs about this being an unsafe place to sit and marches herself and baby out to the bleachers in dead center field. I mumble something about that possibly being even more unsafe.
My son is up next. He lines a home run into the trees above mom and daughter, with the ball landing a foot or so from them. Now Trish is beside herself and decides to move ten feet to the right. The next batter hits the very first pitch he sees right into the trees above her head, ball again landing just a few feet away. She grabs Brady and storms back in my direction down the 3rd base line, telling me “we’ll be in the car” (possible adjective used between the and car). The batter that sent her to the car? Wait for it……George Springer, currently of the Toronto Blue Jays, a World Series MVP award winner while playing for the Houston Astro’s.
2. Fans in the nosebleed seats get angry and riotous when their team is playing poorly. Fans in the expensive seats (Red Seats at Gillette for example) yell encouragement when the team is playing poorly. I’ve witnessed both. When you’re invested in something, it brings out the better side of you. Invest often, invest abundantly, it’s affecting you when you DON’T. (HT: Tim Hatch)
3. Quote that taught me a lot as a parent: “It’s no wonder that many adolescents mobilize their resources, not for learning, but to protect their egos. And one of the main ways they do this is by not trying.”
4. Am I the only one who sees parking spaces with signage reading: “Parking for parents with children” and thinks, well, I have children, they’re not with me, but that doesn’t seem to matter to the author of the sign so I can park here, right? No, I didn’t think so.
5. Rhode Island likes things difficult, hard to find. The unofficial state motto: “If you were supposed to know, you’d know.”- Don Winslow, City on Fire.
6. Tony Soprano going outside in his bathrobe to get the newspaper in the opening for each Soprano’s episode gave guys permission to expand the reach of their bathrobe usage, didn’t it? Well, I can tell you my wife doesn’t see it that way. Her words: “If you go outside in that bathrobe one more time, be prepared to stay awhile, cause I’m locking you out.” This was NOT said using her inside voice, BTW.
7. Bought a car recently. A friend saw it and said “Wow, you retired and got a Bentley!” “Yup,” I replied. “It’s made by Genesis, which is owned by Hyundai.” He looked at me confused, disappointed even. “So now you drive a Hyundai?” I smirked and replied: “Well, yeah, remember, I don’t have a job anymore”.
8. Shaq recently laid it all out in confessing and seeking forgiveness for the damage he’s done to his family with his behavior and decisions (his sins). Amazing how drawn we are by his repentance. Hearts have opened to him. We give him grace; we applaud his honesty and humility. Not hard to see why the gateway to a relationship with God is made through repentance, not deeds. It’s how He wired us, for Shaq (love thy neighbor) AND for God (love God with all our heart….). Makes complete sense.
9. “Give it a watch” “It was a good watch; it was a good listen”. Can we stop turning verbs into nouns? Please!
10. Two movies where you need to just survive the first ten minutes: JoJo Rabbit, and Triangle of Sadness. Rabbit is a modern classic while Sadness is just really entertaining. Until you discover that the young female lead died before the movie was even released. Talk about a spoiler alert. Just horrible.