How is everybody’s weekend going? Thanks for spending a portion of it with the Sunday Six.
Technically, March Madness is a few weeks away. The first games of the NCAA Tournament are March 15. But basketball has gotten this writer out of the house during the February deep freeze.
I attended three games this past week and plan to live watch three more this coming week. One college game (Northwestern last Tuesday) the rest, high school.
A sports writer for much of my career and covered basketball at the prep, college and NBA level, I don’t miss the deadlines and bad wifi.
Now, I enjoy watching friend’s teams play (many of whom are coaches), strike up conversations at games (funny how much easier that is when not forced to mask) and soak up the energy in the gymnasium.
It’s been a blast. And March is only two days away.
Let’s proceed with the Six.
We are have reached the finish line in The Great Mask War in Illinois. Monday’s lifting of Illinois' mask mandate is more symbolic than practical. Legally, Governor Pritzker has exhausted all options and has no authority on masking. He will claim victory, for keeping Illinoisans “safe” but it’s all balderdash. After Monday, the accountability phase kicks in, where elected officials (politicians, school board members) should face scrutiny over decisions made. Nationally, the mask debacle, as this article from The Tablet is titled, has for a long time been driven and framed, not around data or science, but as part of our culture wars.
Russia Censors Media Outlets in Ukraine Invasion.
The story of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine dominated the national (and global) news cycle this week and rightfully so. Video and pictures coming of Ukraine are horrifying. Not at the same visceral level, but also disturbing, is Russia’s move to block coverage of the invasion. This article from the Moscow Times writes how Russia’s communications regulator “ordered media to remove reports describing Moscow's attack on Ukraine as an "assault, invasion, or declaration of war" or face being blocked and fined.” Scary stuff.
A Failed Coup: Inside Phil Mickelson’s Attempt to Challenge PGA.
This story got diminished this week with all of the Russia-Ukraine news. But very compelling – golf star Phil Mickelson revealed to a reporter how he thought the PGA tour was withholding billions of dollars from players and that he was supporting a Saudi-backed super tour to compete against the PGA. Wow. He claims the interview was off-record (right, uh-huh) but the toothpaste had already been blown out of the tube. The reverberations around golf could be felt for a long time. A deep dive into what happened by ESPN.
Will the Bush Dynasty Die with George P. Bush?
It’s been a few election cycles since a Bush was a factor, at least in the presidential race (remember Jeb Bush’s campaign in 2016? That didn’t last long…we all know what happened there). Apparently there’s one more Bush lurking around the political climate in Texas. Texas Monthly profiles George P. Bush (Jeb’s son) who has taken a fascinating path to this moment, as well as a family, a movement, and a state – all without hardly taking a breath.
The Michael Jordan Ticket Breaking Records in Auction Industry.
I’m not a big collectible guy (have some baseball cards laying around in a shoebox somewhere). But I do enjoy human interest stories about individuals who innocuously discover an old card or memento and the experience becomes life-changing. That’s just what happened to an East Coast man who dug up an almost four decades old ticket to a basketball game. That basketball game? It happened to be the first game Michael Jordan played as a Chicago Bull. Fun read from Yahoo Sports.
Airline to Ban Monkey Shipments.
OK, so no wacky animal videos this week. But I couldn’t pass on sharing this article once I saw the headline and the read the story. It’s from earlier this month but man, it passes the Six editorial test. In late January, a trailer holding 100 monkeys collided with a truck in Pennsylvania. A few of the monkeys escaped but most of them were recovered (and are currently safely in quarantine). But the incident publicized a long-simmering debate between activist groups and researchers on the experimental use of animals. Kenya Airlines, which flew the monkeys into the U.S., cancelled is contract with the animal shipper that handled the monkeys upon entry into the U.S., per this article. Can someone please do a Netflix documentary on this incident?
Thanks for reading everybody and enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Have a suggestion for the Sunday Six? Send email to jon@jonjkerr.com