How is everyone’s weekend going? Thanks for spending a portion of it with the Sunday Six.
Happy Super Bowl Sunday. The general consensus from idle chatter online, at my gym, various text threads I’m on…everyone is rooting for the Bengals, but believe the Rams will win.
I agree.
It’s hard not to like the 2021 version of the Bengals (don’t care all that much about the franchise overall). They are humble, have a ‘didn’t expect to be here’ vibe and possess the emerging face of the NFL, Joe Burrow (what a cool cat). The Rams, on the other hand, were built to win the Super Bowl now. There’s an inauthentic, almost corporate culture around that team that I think makes them hard to rally behind (although I do like their coach, Sean McVay. A leader who understands how to motivate pros, many of whom aren’t that much younger than him).
My bet today is Rams money line (to win). But prop bets will be heavy on the Bengals. Enjoy the game, food and spirits (and halftime show…for the first time in a long time I’ll actually watch. I’m a rock guy, but Eminem, Snoop and Dre should be entertaining).
Let’s proceed with the Six.
The Story Behind Joe Burrow’s Cigar Celebrations.
It’s Super Bowl Sunday; we lead off the Six with a football story (sort of). It’s really about the Cult of Joe, that Joe being Burrow, the quarterback of the Cincinnati Bengals. He likes to smoke cigars, revealed in the many postgame images of him puffing on a stogy after a Bengals win. Sports Illustrated with a fun read on the man and myth behind Burrow and his cigar celebrations.
America Embraces For Canada-Style Covid Protests.
A lot going on this past week in the Chicago area with ‘choice’ rallies at schools (it’s inaccurate to call these events ‘protests’ as it mislabels the dynamic and intentions of parties involved). Could what we see here be just the beginning of more demonstrations, especially as the weather thaws across the country? This piece from The Hill argues if so, look to events around the trucker rallies in Canada for inspiration.
The Great Train Robbery Redux.
We’ve seen the images of the box cars in California robbed and looted, a symbol of the lawlessness in that state. How is this happening and what does it say about the state of affairs on the west coast? The New Yorker starts this piece with an historical footnote, about how commonplace train robberies were in the past. The writer finds a local who lives near the Union Pacific line recently the target of thieves and looters.
The Last Oyster Tongers of Apalachicola.
In Florida, there are people who make a living in all sorts of ways off-land. The subject of this feature story is an oysterman who for almost four decades has made a living skiffing for oysters. But a combination of environmental factors and government policy has resulted in a massive decline of ‘oyster tongers’ in Florida. When any industry dies, all the institutional knowledge possessed by those who worked that industry also goes with it. That’s sad. Most Six readers probably don’t know much about oysters except they taste good with the right wine (or cold pilsner beer) but this is a really good narrative piece of journalism by The Bitter Southerner.
An 8-Year-Old’s Library Book is in High Demand.
An Idaho 2nd-grader visited a library over the holidays. He had a self-published book in his hands. Here’s what he did with the book via The Washington Post: “during a visit to the Ada Community Library’s Lake Hazel Branch in Boise with his grandmother, he held the 81-page book to his chest and passed by the librarians. Then, unbeknown to his grandmother, Dillon slipped the book onto a children’s picture-book shelf. Nobody saw him do it. “It was naughty-ish,” Dillon, 8, said of covertly depositing the book without permission. But the result, he added, is “pretty cool.” That ‘cool’ result? There’s a wait list for his picture book. A really sweet story from WP.
Dog Attacks Security Guard Inside Library.
I didn’t intend to run two Six articles around libraries, it just worked out that way. This story is not as tender as the previous one, but engrossing nonetheless. A San Francisco security guard gets mauled by an angry dog. What more do we need to know? Video and text provided by KTVU-TV.
Thanks for reading everybody and enjoy the Super Bowl and rest of your weekend.
Have a suggestion for the Sunday Six? Send email to jon@jonjkerr.com