How is everyone’s weekend going? Thanks spending a portion of it with the Six.
The rapid pace of the calendar shows we are in mid-October. And that means Octoberfest for sports fans.
Just this weekend: college football, MLB baseball playoffs, NFL, and a side of pro hockey and NBA pre-season.
I look forward every year to March – the NCAA tournament and the anticipation of baseball season.
But nothing beats this time of year for sporting entertainment. It truly is Octoberfest.
Let’s proceed with the Six.
Polling Comparisons Between Trump and Biden.
With mid-terms less than a month away, our president has bigger problems than basic math. From Ballotpedia, how’s this for a polling statistic – Joe Biden has about the same approval rating (43 percent) as President Trump had at this point in his presidency (41.4 percent). One stark difference is how just 28.2 percent of those polled think the country is headed in the right direction right now, compared to 40.7 percent at the same time under Trump. Whether left or right of center, when only one in four people believe the country to be on solid ground, that’s not good. How the lack of confidence in Biden impacts mid-terms remains to be seen.
Alex Jones Order to Pay Just Under 1 Billion For Sandy Hook Lies.
We’d be hard pressed to find a more despicable person on the planet right now than Alex Jones. The conspiratorial extremist grifter got his comeuppance (again) when a Connecticut jury ordered Jones to play a stunning $965 million for spreading lies about the Sandy Hook school shooting that took place almost a decade ago. This award comes on the heels of a $50 million judgment in August. As this AP article explains, the victims won’t receive all of the money awarded but they are proud that “what we were able to accomplish was just to simply tell the truth.” Bravo to the parents for seeing the court cases through and for their rightful condemnation of truly disturbed, evil human being in Alex Jones.
3. Maximum Security Prisoner Accused of Stealing Millions From Billionaires.
From the you-could-not-make-this-up-so-it-has-to-be-true files: a man doing a 14-year sentence inside a Georgia super-max prison allegedly stole $11 million from a billionaire fashion and movie mogul using burner phones. The prisoner then bought a crap-ton of gold coins with it, arranged for a private plane to transport the gold to Atlanta, where it was used to buy a $4.4 million house.
The guy who put all this in motion never left his prison cell. Knowing how vacant original ideas are in Hollywood these days, the movie rights have probably already been optioned. Authorities don’t need to catch the guy; he’s already in jail.
4. Inside the Reeling Empire of Bang Energy Drinks.
To put it nicely, the energy drink market draws mercurial founders. Only an eccentric wacko would look at a category that has seen 1,500 rival brands introduced in the last 25 years and think they can hustle their way to the top. And yet, even within that subset, Bang Energy founder Jack Owoc stands out. “Jack is if Florida was a person,” is a quote from this fascinating read from Bloomberg. Owoc’s peers could only shake their head as Bang defied the odds to take a significant hold of shelves and thirsts while Owoc broke every leadership convention and developed a huge social media presence. Now, many are nodding in satisfaction as his empire appears to be crumbling.
5. Blame, Threat and Clash: The War Between Pickleball and Tennis Escalates.
It was inevitable there would be a tussle between tennis’ old guard and pickleball’s upstart aficionados (who themselves tend to be older). But who would have guessed this mafioso act that ramped up the conflict: last year, six pickleball courts in Santa Rosa, California had to be closed after six quarts of oil was spilled on its surface with a “profanity-laced note” stuck in the middle (did someone hire Paulie and Chris to do the deed)? As The Guardian explains in more detail, San Diego cops had to run off some pickleball players who were squatting on a tennis court. Damn, this is getting…real.
6. How to Best Carve a Giant Pumpkin? Use a Chainsaw.
Pumpkin-carving at the residential level involves a sharp knife and something to scoop the skin (and eat if hungry…pumpkin flesh is good source of zinc and magnesium, I hear). But what about the giant 2,000-pound jack-o-lanterns? That requires a tool with more weight and heft. Like the chainsaw this Michigan man uses to carve up a local seed. Probably not best to try this at home unless you plan to grow a pumpkin that weighs as much as a humpback whale.
Thanks for reading everybody and enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Have a suggestion for The Sunday Six? Send email to jonjkerr@gmail.com.