The Twelve Days of Gheorghemas: Day Eight

 On the eighth day of Gheorghemas, Big Gheorghe gave to me

Eight Hot (or Lukewarm) Takes
Seven Books For Reading
Six Footie Jerseys
Five musicians from San Antonio known as the Sir Douglas Quintet
A four-part Japanese life strategy (as told by our man in the OBX)
Three 80's Baseball Sports Looks
Too Many Entries,
and a Cameo That Will Go Down in History

Eight Hot (or Lukewarm) Takes: 

1) Go watch a football doc with your kids! We are doing a whole lot of TV watching as a family these days, since recreation options for the kids are limited. Both are doing outdoor paddle tennis clinics, one is doing a basketball clinic, and one will start on-line chess soon (though he doesn't know yet and will make a fuss, but will end up loving it). We recently watched the Tua doc produced by FS1. It's a one-hour review of his journey from Hawaii to the NFL. You will come away liking him and his family quite a bit. The guy really seems grounded. So he'll torch the Jets for the next fifteen years. You can watch the one-hour doc on-line here. 

2) And then go watch a football series! When you are done with the Tua doc, I recommend watching the HBO Sports mini-series The Cost of Winning. It tells the story of St. Frances Academy, a high school football powerhouse in inner-city Baltimore that is bankrolled by a wealthy hedge fund guy. The doc was filmed in Fall 2019, and many of the players highlighted are now in college (many at big-time programs). It's easy to have a knee-jerk reaction to a football factory high school, but learning the back story of the kids and learning more about the grim realities in that part of Baltimore may change your view. 

3) Go watch a sports doc with your spouse! Wife and I recently started the four-part Oscar Pistorius doc on ESPN+. We're halfway done. It's worth watching. South African accents amuse me. The backstory is fascinating - his disability, his rise to fame, his trial, and his ability to date the hottest blonde women in the country. The story around his celebrity status and the awful crime is riveting. Lots of parallels to Orenthal James. 

4) The USDA's dietary recommendations are hot garbage and you all should consider a low-carb diet. A recent study was released that further validated the benefit of a low-carb diet. The study entailed putting patients with Type 2 diabetes on a "nutritional ketosis" diet for two years. Patients had lower cardiovascular risk and better body weight figures than the control group. The findings are here. The USDA's 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines continue to call for grains and low-fat dairy as staple foods. I bet those fools still think Fish Oil is good for you. (spoiler: it's not) 

5) Denver Riggleman seems like my kind of Republican. The Rig-man is a Congressman representing the 5th district in Virginia, a comically gerrymandered area that approaches the yards of a few of our readers. He is not afraid to piss off fellow Republicans. This means he probably has no shot of having a successful career in Congress. He has become a pariah in his party for officiating a same-sex wedding (sweet blazers on the dudes getting hitched) and speaking his mind about the election. He was on a Bulwark podcast yesterday (h/t to Zman for getting his pal TR a one-year subscription to Bulwark+) and appeared amazingly coherent and fact-based in his comments. What he had to say about being concerned about the future of his country and the future of the Republican party was not comforting. I'm guessing some of you Virginians are already aware of him. The podcast is here. 

6) It's (about to be) a good time to be a Jets fan. No, really. The team's awful season will be over in less than three weeks. The team has nine picks in the 2021 draft, five in the first three rounds, and two in the first (they have Seattle's pick, which is projected at #25 now). The two top picks from 2020 look like winners (stud LT Mekhi Becton and talented WR Denzel Mims). And my neighbor (and awful coach) Adam Gase will soon be gone. Salary cap experts predict the team will be second in available money for free agency at $76 million (nerd out and review the info here). And the team should be able to get a quality coach who likes the idea of Trevor Lawrence and lots of cap room. NFL teams can turn things around quickly. Hop on the bandwagon now. Plenty of room. 

7) My favorite guilty pleasure song these days is an 18 year-old Busta Rhymes/Mariah Carey sex jam. At the end of last summer, the wife and I went out for outdoor cocktails at a nice joint in Asbury Park with another couple. I was 2-3 drinks deep and in the proper headspace when I excused myself to use the indoor restroom. As I walked in, I heard a smooth beat I hadn't heard in quite some time. It was playing LOUDLY. And it was awesome. Busta and Mariah. Go figure. Busta Rhymes has been in my life since early 1992, when my friends and I bumped Leaders of the New School cassettes in my Dodge Caravan. Always liked the guy. This song is mesmerizing to me. The beat is sick. His singing is very amusing (kinda bad, but still fun). And the lyrics are all about lovemaking, like he is paying homage to Barry White. I downloaded the song on the spot and promptly forgot I did. A month or so later, I found it and have been enjoying it. I want you all to play it and think of me the next time you're making sweet sweet love. On second thought, no need to think of me mid-coitus. Post-coitus is fine.  

8) I really really dig the Sturgill Simpson country record. Almost every music fan I respect loves the guy. I have it on my To Do list to get through his catalog. I even drunkenly committed to go see him at MSG in May 2020. That didn't happen. Not sure why or how, but I ended up downloading his 2020 album Cuttin' Grass - Vol 1. It's good!  It's filled in when I want to hear country-ish tunes these days. The musicians are top-notch and the banjo gives a dash of bluegrass sound that my ignorant ears like.