Jay GreesonFrom Jay G.
5-at-10, longtime reader, first-time mailbag entry. Love the show. You are awesome.
Are there any new 5-at-10 items to be looking for as we steam toward the family oriented, interweb-based column's ninth birthday?
Jay G.
Glad you asked, and what a well-strutted and well-thought-out letter. You have a future in this. (Yes, Spy, I wrote it. Shut it.)
First, and this idea came to me this week with that REEEE-diculous Mario Lopez story about wondering if parents should allow 3-year-olds to pick their gender orientation. (We all agree that there is nothing wrong with Lopez' comments, right? Heck, how many of us let 3-year-olds pick their food or their clothes, never mind their gender?)
Mailbag or not, I am committed to calling out terrible "journalism" when I see it. We'll call it the "Irresponsible News" because simply put, when people use "Fake News" nine times out of 10 that is PR spin to distract the gullible. There is bad journalism but true "Fake News" - knowingly putting false information out for an agenda - should result in someone being fired.
Irresponsible headline of the day: "Ellen Pompeo slammed for calling Kamala Harris 'overconfident': 'Black women are allowed only a certain amount of confidence' from Yahoo news.
That headline, on its face, seems like Pompeo, the star of Grey's Anatomy, posted both sentiments and made headlines because she is white and Kamala Harris is black.
Well, the second sentiment - 'Black women are allowed only a certain amount of confidence' - was an angry response on Twitter, not from Pompeo, who followed up with the downright brilliant tweet of "Not sure why my comment is now a racial comment ... so weak ... two people on a stage with a bunch of others they all came off a certain way and they are up there for intrepretation ... stop looking for (bleep) to get mad about" to end the discussion.
Here's the story. https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/ellen-pompeo-slammed-for-calling-kamala-harris-overconfident-black-women-are-allowed-only-a-certain-amount-of-confidence-145939924.html
Also, we are running short of time, but know that we are planning on doing more gambling stuff this fall too.
War Legalized Betting.
Any suggestions or thoughts about 5-at-10 additions?
From Jay Hater
Is there any way you can stay on vacation? My newspaper has been so much happier without [this column].
Jay Hater
Sadly, no, I can't stay on vacation. Like so many of the shrinking middle class in our country, I value my job, my responsibilities, my family and the way I provide for them.
So, while you likely do not agree with many of my views about fiscal conservatism or the way our country's divided double-standards have been galvanized by the jazz-handsy movements of political correctness, that's OK.
It's clear that you read my column, and for that I thank you, personally and for continuing to read the TFP. Supporting community journalism is an important way to support the community, in my opinion.
And I respect and appreciate the feedback, especially from those who disagree with me.
But I hope I make you think, and eventually discuss the ideas from the other side.
Not to get too deep on what I am sure was a throwaway email meant to be a shot because email allows that easy access. (And yes, you can use 'Jay Hater' tag lines and such, but your names are normally in the email.)
But, and this may surprise you, do you want to know what is the first thing I read in every Sunday paper? Yep, David Cook. I almost never agree with him. Heck, he and I wrote exact opposite views of the Business Improvement District last week.
I posted this earlier in one of the comment sections about Republicans having an opinion on the Democratic debates and it's true on the day-to-day, in my opinion. Read things and explore ideas that are directly opposed to your beliefs.
It may not change your mind, but hopefully it will make you think.
And maybe understand.
That said, if you Jay Haters want to band together and support the family's efforts at Amelia Island indefinitely, well, you can Venom the Mrs. 5-at-10. Deal? Deal.
From Jules
So I am out of the loop this week because, like you, I am keeping up with kids at the beach. Which is more work than work. Would you agree? We have teenagers and a 5-year old that each have their own drama. Which begs the question, how old do your kids have to be to go down to the beach on their own? Maybe a question for the group.
Bonus question to my earlier question, will you have different rules for your teenage son than your teenage daughter? We absolutely do, but are wondering about other parents.
Anyway, today was a good day for the beloved Braves. Obviously winning the game where they blew the save against the second-place division rival, but the acquisitions were solid. They waited til the last minute, but while it may not have been a blockbuster move, it looks like the front office is trying to win. And that is exciting.
Jules -
Yes, the beach can be a fair amount of work, and it spawned the phrase "I need to get back to work to take a vacation from my vacation" more than once. (Man, that's when you know you're blessed to have a good gig making a living, friends. And please know that I take the responsibility that folks read and listen to the things I write and say with the utmost honor, respect and appreciation. I was going to add humility, but Spy would have spit out his Jersey Mike sandwich. Thank you, regulars and newcomers alike, for the support and playing along with the silliness. I may not always be right, but I always try to be me.)
Quick side Rushmore of worst jobs (and this is not on that list where danger is added in, per se): Dude who cleans out the porta-potty, furniture mover, ditch digger, coal miner. As for newspaper columnist/radio gasbag, well by comparison, that seems pretty peachy, no?
Our oldest is about to start middle school. He will be 12 in a month. Dang, where does the time go? He has an awesome group of buddies and we are friends with their parents, as well. I would be good with him going to the beach with them now, to be honest.
As for my daughter, who is 8 going on 20, well, she will have to negotiate beach trips with friends with the sisters at the convent where she will be spending her formative years. (I kid, of course.)
I suppose the different spectrum for a girl or a boy most times would be viewed on the kid more than the chromosome combination. That said, as a daddy, I view this question differently for teenage girls because I know there are a lot of teenage versions of me as a teenager at the beach, and I pray my daughter avoids those jackwagons.
What a goof I was.
From a slew of you, including the above
Did the Braves do enough?
Gang -
That's impossible to know, but I think they addressed their biggest hole and turned it from a monster deficit to a potential strength.
Seriously.
Three arms with closing experience and moving Luke Jackson to a sixth- or seventh-inning role depending on availability has to be considered a win. And to do it without giving up any of the primo prospects is doubly impressive.
Yes, not adding a starter was concerning, but once the Giants went on that hot streak, and Madison Bumgarner was off the market, the price tag on very good or better starters went through the roof. Did you see what the Astros paid for Grienke?
The Braves did more than I expected and better than I expected. Will it be enough to beat the Dodgers in the NL or the Astros or Yankees if they get that far? Not sure, but they gave themselves a chance.
For that I am thankful.
From Red Wolves Fan
Jay, I know you're on vacation, but not a word this week on the CFC's beginning of the end? C'mon man, I know you are not a soccer fan, but for a lot of us this is the biggest sports story out there.
RWF -
I just saw the story this morning via The Twitter Machine that likely has you and the rest of the Johnny Red Wolves Fans in a stir this week.
It is here, from TFP prep ace Patrick "Town Hall" MacCoon, who shared the news that the Chattanooga Football Club's plans for the fall to compete for the Founders Cup have gone kaput as six of the 10 teams in the league dropped out.
The immediate plan for the CFC is to play in something called the NPSL Members Cup, which will be a 10-game schedule with five home matches from Aug. 10 to Oct. 26.
That leaves a lot of questions, big picture and detailed. (As for the detailed, well, if they are still playing in the NPSL, which is an amateur league, and half of the money raised from selling local ownership shares was to go to payroll, where is that $436K now?)
As for the big picture, any time any of these lower-tier leagues has a setback or a cancellation or teams pull out, it certainly does not help the image or the credibility of the rest of those in said league. For more than half the league to fold, well, that screams to me it is a) a tough business model to get rolling and also, b) on the bright side, the CFC were the Yankees of those attempts.
But the Yankees can't be the Yankees without the Orioles and Royals showing up for those beatings.
And any news that is not good when you are mired in a PR war with a head-to-head local commodity like the Red Wolves, who are building a local soccer facility with their own coin, is a tough kick.
(That said, while this is big in the soccer world locally, nothing is as big as the real football getting going, RWF.)
From Spy
Remember who started that game that ended Pete's hit streak? Wasn't it one Larry McWilliams?
Who is madder at the ending - GoT fans or "The Sopranos" fans? I'll hang up and listen.
I also recommend Singleton's and Safe Harbor for seafood, though they may be out of your way.
Spy
Thanks, we have blistered the seafood budget this week, and that's OK. Atop the list was a place downtown, off the water, that was simply amazing and had the best salmon I have ever tasted, and that was the appetizer. I had scallops in a white-wine cream sauce with mixed vegetables over creamed potatoes. It was culinary poetry, my man.
We did Safe Harbor for lunch, and it was top shelf, but nothing like that meal downtown. (Name escapes me but I will get it for future reference when the Mrs. returns from the beach this morning.) How good? There were eight of us, and with limited Co-Colas and two meals off the kids menu, it was still 4 bills (before tip) for dinner. And worth every nickel.
I think "Game of Thrones" fans were way more angry, don't you? Not to answer a question with a question, but just this time period - we are way more angry in general - and the demand that all of inconsequential murmuring be heard makes GoT fans way worse in my view. There weren't a kajillion names on a petition to reshoot the final season of "The Sopranos" that I can recall.
Plus, I can argue way more strongly for "The Sopranos" than I can for GoT. On "The Sopranos," you can at least see what the goal was and that was for an artsy, "Here was a snippet of time in the life of a mob boss and now that snippet is over" period on the end of sentence. It almost allowed the creators and crafters of that great show to end with almost a documentary feel, and I can understand that.
Would I have preferred an ending as clean as Henry Hill in Phoenix in his bathrobe in witness protection in "Goodfellas" or as fanny-kicking as Michael handling all the family's BID-ness at the end of "The Godfather?" Sure. But this is what we got.
Whether you were one of the folks related to the directors and show runners of GoT and among the 1 percent who actually loved the final season or not, we all can agree that the last six episodes were extremely rushed and completely with a haphazardness that was a disservice to so many who were devoted so long into GoT. And that's from someone who thought the final season and the final show were OK to pretty good most of the time. (Well, other than that entire episode that was shot with the lens cap still on the camera and you could see anything.)
Great question my man, and seafood for everyone.
This week's Rushmores
Rushmore of cable channels: TBS actually is far left, yes, ahead of ESPN, which is second, followed by MTV and HBO in whatever order you'd like to choose. TBS, as a few of you mentioned, not only made the Braves a national presence, it created ripples across so many avenues. Ted Turner showed MLB teams at that moment - and other sports leagues and franchises would come to realize it, too - that sports was more than competition, it was programming. Daily programming, even from a team as crap-tastic as the 1970s Braves. Think of how that has shaped the sports world in the last four decades, to the news earlier this week that some Pac-12 football games will start at 9 a.m. local time to make sure they are viewed in the noon slot on the East Coast. TBS also gave birth to sister station CNN, and when that started people were wondering, "How could they ever fill 24/7 programming with just news?" Well, that question has been answered. It also, in a lot of ways, gave birth to the rerun. Think about that. Before cable in general and TBS in particular, stations would go dark after the news and whatever late-night show they may have. TBS bought the syndicated rights and let the world watch the Bradys or the "Saved by the Bell" crew and eventually "Seinfeld" as much as they wanted. houghts? ESPN is great and believed, but all it gave birth to was sports-related. TBS and Turner changed the whole game and the platform of cable TV - good and bad.
Rushmore of modern fiction writers: JK Rowling, John Grisham, Stephen King, Dean Koontz
Rushmore of pro wrestling, and wow this was tough: A lot of folks will start with Hulk and Flair, and I get that, but I think Andre the Giant may have to be far left. Maybe Bruno Sammartino as the final wrestler up there, but that's leaving off a ton of monster names in the current and recent past. (And if we are including off-the-mat folks, Vince McMahon has to be there, too. Not sure who I eliminate of the previous four, so there's that.)
Rushmore of sharks. "Jaws," Greg Norman (over Jerry Tarkanian), land sharks (the beer, the SNL skit, the reference to the Buffett song, the Ole Miss defensive craze, all of it), and Baby Shark. Yes, that leaves off Fonzie jumping the shark, and the phrase jumping the shark, and we can all hope that Baby Shark - the ultimate ear-worm song - eventually also will jump the shark. It has multiple videos with multiple millions of views and this one with more than 3.1 billion views. (Yes, billion with a 'B.')