The Rundown: Thursday Edition!

Thursday is that parking spot you score at the mall out in short right field two days before Christmas. It ain’t great, but it’s a damn sight better than bupkis pie. Not to mention, it gets you one step closer to the finish line so you’re going to take it. Thursday means we’re over the hump and for today? It also means a Rundown.

And if you’re wondering why I have Gal Gadot blowing a kiss to me us on the marquee, do I have to have a reason for providing such a sexy public service?

Let’s get to it . . . .

WordPress now offers two-step verification for all its users and while I applaud the move (I guess?), I don’t feel the need to safeguard this blog from nefarious chumheads. Hell, I’m way more interested in seeing what they’d do with the place.

Hunter Biden was found guilty on all three felony counts connected to his purchase of a revolver in 2018. It seems the president’s son lied about unlawful drug use and addiction on his purchase form and I am just shocked, I tell you. Shocked!

I was pissed when I learned that Joey Chestnut wouldn’t be on hand to defend his Nathan’s Hot Dog eating title belt this July 4th. The sixteen time champion was banned from the event after he entered into a partnership with a rival food brand. For almost twenty years, I could count on this sonofabitch’s exploits to be my default justification for overindulging at a cookout by simply stating, Yeah well, it’s not like I ate seventy hot-dogs!

In April of 1973, Stealer’s Wheel released Stuck in the Middle with You. And not for nothing, but Gerry Rafferty and Joe Egan’s one hit just so happened to be a grand slam. It was immortalized in Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs and has remained an FM fixture to this day. But that song also predicted the future, and it will be on full display when Joe Biden and Donald Trump face off in their first presidential debate on June 27. Clowns to the left of us, jokers to the right? They called it.

If you consider your dating life to be a train-wreck, you’re likely to feel much better about things after checking out Baby Reindeer on Netflix. Richard Gadd wrote it, stars in it and yes, lived it. He plays Donny, a bartender and comedian who isn’t particularly good at either. Jessica Gunning plays Martha, the lovesick in the head girl of his nightmares who takes stalking to a doctorate level. Both actors are superb and the dialogue feels so incredibly real because, well . . . it is!

Speaking of doomed relationships, it has been announced that Billy Ray Cyrus and Firerose are untying the knot after only seven months. If you were today years old when you A)learned that Billy Ray was married, and B)that he was married to someone named Firerose? I’m right there with you.

The Yankees and Dodgers at the Stadium lived up to its billing. Moon shots, timely hitting, clutch pitching and more big names than an Oscars after party. Experts were billing this tilt as a preview of the Fall Classic, so if you’re a betting fool, bet on the field. Because these sports mouths are really good at getting it wrong, and baseball is a game even Nostradamus wouldn’t have touched. The season is a mystery novel with constantly evolving chapters. It’s just a shame the powers that be can’t grasp its most appealing characteristic.

Yeah, Caitlin Clark is getting tossed around in the pros and yeah she was left off the US women’s Olympic team and no, it doesn’t mean the former Iowa star is a bust. On the first point, name me a high profile rookie who didn’t get the business when they reached the big time. Michael Jordan was treated like your luggage on Spirit Airlines for years on end until he figured it out. And as far as Clark not making the Olympic team, that one’s easy. She ain’t one of the best twelve female players in the world. Yet.

Jerry West passed yesterday at the age of 86. West was a character straight out of a Damon Runyon story; a small town boy who overcame a horrible childhood to become a legend. ‘Mr. Clutch’ was a fourteen time all-star, an Olympian. an NBA champion and a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient. His image also served as the silhouette for the NBA logo. The architect of the Showtime Lakers gave Pat Riley his shot and almost two decades later brought Kobe and Shaq to LA. He would leave his imprint on the Golden State Warriors championship run as well. Never one to bask in the spotlight, West was all about putting in the work that would give that spotlight to others. May his star shine on for as long as there are dreams to be made.

And for our last story of the day, Rachel Paula Abrahamson of today.com brings us the best story of the day (here’s the link).

15 year old Macy doesn’t get a lot of birthday party invites. Her mother Heather says that’s been her reality ever since kindergarten. So when Macy received one from a classmate in her life skills program, needless to say she was over the moon. Mom posted her little girl’s reaction to the invite on her Instagram page and you’ll find it in the link. If you need a shot of sunshine to go with your coffee, check it out.

Spoiler Alert? Macy loved the party. And it turns out, she received a gift as well; the sense of belonging. The party was comprised of both disabled and non-disabled students because while most peeps talk a good game about inclusivity, kids like Macy and her classmates know how very much it really means. They know what it’s like to be on the outside looking in, and they never want anyone to feel that way.

Reading this story, it occurred to me that the people with the real disabilities are the ones who are running the world. It’s the individuals such as Macy and her friends who truly make the days count, because they’ve proven infinitely more capable of teaching us what is most important in this crazy world.

That’s what winning looks like.

Eric Clapton- Change The World