Truly a wide range of cultural flotsam that's tickled my fancy and/or given me cause for consideration over the past week or so. From sports to music to current political events, as always, we span the globe to keep you entertained.
I mentioned the kerfuffle the Sullivan brothers of the MLS Philadelphia Union got into against Inter Miami a few days ago. I told you to find the video. I know you, so I'm sure you didn't. So here it is. You'll see Quinn Sullivan (the older of the brothers at 22) get disrespected by Miami defender Ian Fray (Fray put his nuts on Sullivan's head) and respond with a textbook bodyslam. Cavan Sullivan (potentially the best 16 year-old male player the U.S. has ever developed) rushes to his brother's aid and squares up with Miami's much-taller Yannick Bright. Holds his own, too.
There's actually a G:TB connection here, tenuous though it may be. Quinn Sullivan has dated a girl who grew up in my neighborhood for several years. My wife and I are good friends with her mom. She played at Radford and did a year as a graduate transfer at the University of New Hampshire. Where she met and became friends with...Yannick Bright. Small world, y'all.
Also, remember the name Cavan Sullivan. He's contributing significantly to Philly's attack this season, with six goals and nine assists in 25 matches across all competitions. Despite the fact that he's 5'7" and 150 pounds, he's tough and strong and unafraid to mix it up with older and stronger men. He's been under contract with Manchester City since he was 14, and will almost certainly head to Europe when he's old enough for the appropriate visa. Says here he'll be a USMNT mainstay for the next 15 years.
Speaking of balls, which we were, at least obliquely, check out this scene from a recent Kacey Musgraves concert:
And veering wildly from the ridiculous to the profound, I commend to your attention New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie. The Virginia Beach-born, UVA-educated (nobody's perfect) is one of the clearest thinkers and writers about the current American moment. He writes a great deal about the politics of race and culture, but he's good on a wide range of topics. This video essay offers typically-thoughtful advice to the Democratic Party should it find itself in the majority in Congress after November's midterm elections. I sure hope the party leadership is listening.
Posts
Piggybacking on previous post: NYT has piece this morning that says research found at least one in four NFL players is likely to develop CTE. Study suggests percentage could be much greater.
ReplyDeleteThere is a study from 2024 on NHL players where the percentages are even higher. Of course the player’s brains were likely donated because their family suspected issues, but the percentage was really high - over 90% I think.
ReplyDeleteReally hoping the speculation that the Dolly Parton rumor mill presently churning is untrue.
ReplyDeleteFuck. I don't think it is. Of all the 80 year olds to depart us, why Dolly?
ReplyDeleteNo shit, Rootsy. She was a good one.
ReplyDeletethat really sucks
ReplyDeleteNational Treasure
ReplyDeletei can't think of another celebrity whose passing was met with such universal love and genuine sadness. and i can't think of anyone alive at the moment who'd receive the same outpouring. truly the best of us.
ReplyDeleteThere's another octogenarian running about whose demise would be the yin to Dolly's yang, if you get my drift.
ReplyDeleteoh, the drift is got. who wants to pen the definitive gtb remembrance of dolly? whit pulled the 'i'm in philly' excuse. because there's famously no internet in philly.
ReplyDeleteI am balls deep in manual labor for the next 10+ days, so my time to do a worthy remembrance is short.
ReplyDeleteI won’t pen the tribute but I will tell a story. There’s a radio show that airs every Sunday morning on Real Radio 104.1 out of Orlando- it’s called Sunday Morning Coming Down- a number of you would dig it if you care to stream it on iHeartRadio.
ReplyDeleteThe station is a talk station until the weekends. Then it’s all music. Of all types. Sunday Morning Coming Down plays every Sunday from 9-12. And it’s largely Country, Blues and some other stuff. None of that was ever my jam. Until I started listening to Sunday Morning Coming Down. Introduced me to Willie, Waylon, George Jones and many many others. One Sunday I was driving to go play pickup basketball. It was early. And then “Jolene” came on the radio. I’d never heard it. I fell in love with it. Still one of my top ten songs ever. Took me down a Dolly rabbit hole.
RIP to a true legend.
the footage of flooding from nepal is unimaginably horrifying. dear lord.
ReplyDeleteBouie’s overarching point is somewhat reminiscent of the strip club managers speech in the movie GO (where he says people become #1 by failing so badly thatthe incumbent #1 falls on his ass), only substitute obstruction for incompetence.
ReplyDeleteWhile I won’t challenge the point that it is at least arguably to the greater benefit of the party not in (executive) power not to cooperate with the party in power (and there are indications voters overwhelmingly prefer their congressman to not cooperate across the aisles in the legislative branch, either) isn’t that the greatest indictment of the two party system as horribly, perversely and irrevocably broken?
When it’s bad politics to look for compromise? When, depending on whether you’re the party in power or not, you alternate between ramming legislation or trying to stay unified to block it? This is just perpetuating and strengthening competitive authoritarianism. Why in the world is it admirable for a party’s members to unite on any issue, let alone every issue? Shouldn’t we expect our politicians to compromise for the betterment of a larger representative populace? Why should a 3 person majority equal 100 percent of the wins? Where the party in power has Globe Trotter levels of success?
Maybe I’m just naive. I think we need to mandate at least 2 more parties and do an expansion draft of sorts or obliterate parties and make everyone independent. It’s just beyond frustrating that even the scholars are taking as given the two party system and figuring out ways to turn the tables rather than cooperate.
the flaws in the two-party system are a topic for another blog post. which marls will write. i agree in large part with jamboni's lament. as don rumsfeld said(ish), we don't go to war with the political system we want, we go to war with the political system we have. and ensuring the failure of the gop/trump takeover of our constitutional infrastructure is the only priority i'm concerned with right now as an american.
ReplyDeleteI understand the sentiment Rob. But the fact is the party out of power consistently views the actions of the party in power as an existential crisis. Regardless of Whether and to the extent you are accurate with respect to this administration, our current system is ensuring there will always be 49.7% of the population (or thereabouts) that feels disenfranchised and threatened by the administration then in power.
ReplyDeleteThe fact NO ONE advocates to address the underlying cause is beyond troubling. the % of people who identify as independent continues to grow and each side continues to dig in and view the other side as morons or dangers.
to be fair, i am right and the other side are dangerous morons.
ReplyDeleteRIP Tim Curry
ReplyDeletehe and dolly doing the time warp again. she's having a blast.
ReplyDeleteDid you guys see what the next Atlantic storm/hurricane name is? Fucking uncanny.
ReplyDeleteshe would never!
ReplyDelete