Gheorghemas Interlude: Shit to Make You Smile

As we wind down what has to go down as one of the worst annums in recent memory (Red Sox World Series championship notwithstanding), I want to leave us on a high note. Over the past several weeks, in addition to the usual heartwarming holiday fare - like Gheorghemas - a number of noteworthy and happy-making things crossed by desk.

FOG:TB LeBron James was caught on camera dadding the shit out of it after his son's basketball game. While I might argue that a parent's first job post-game is to ask his kid if they had fun, tell them that you love them, and leave the coaching to the coaches, we'll give the world's best basketball player a pass. I love how he boosted his kid while pointing out how his efforts contributed to the team's outcome.



Lin Wang died in December. He was a cat-litter chemist from Muscatine, Iowa. Charles Barkley showed up at his funeral, and said a few words. The full story, from Wang's daughter Shirley, is remarkable.



Here are a handful of Liverpool players surprising kids at a local school, not all of which are fans of the Reds.



I'm a sucker for military parent/child reunions, maybe because I had a few of those myself as a young man. They never fail to bring a tear to my eye. You can argue that they're exploitative, and when they happen in public venues like ballgames, I might agree. But this one was great.



I miss President Obama. Hell, I miss President Bush at this point - either one. I cannot for a moment fathom the current occupant of the White House doing this, which is all the more reason for the sentiment in the first sentence of this paragraph.


And finally, in a bit of a departure from everything else in this post, Christmas Day marked the 25th anniversary of the release of Tombstone, one of the all-time stop-and-watch movies. Whitney really nailed it when he scored me that autographed Doc Holliday lid. In honor of the occasion, one of too many terrific scenes from the film.