How’s everyone’s weekend going? Thanks for spending a portion of it with the Six.
There’s nothing like March Madness is there?
The first two rounds of the NCAA men’s basketball tournament is the best drama series on television.
No streaming service can compete with what was on screens Thursday and Friday.
I’ll bet one of the highest ranked Google searches Friday night was “where is Fairleigh Dickinson?”
(It’s in some town called Teaneck, New Jersey, BTW.)
The emotions around the winner-takes-all event shows how there can be rather healthy uses of social media.
I’ve watched the Fairleigh Dickinson––Teaneck’s most famous tenant shocked No. 1-seed Purdue Friday night––locker room celebration at least a dozen times now (the men’s hoops Twitter feed is a wildly entertaining one since Friday’s upset).
Or what about Florida Atlantic?
Well, it’s a university, not a deep sea fishing business. It happens to have a men’s basketball team. A good one. It beat Memphis Friday night in the final seconds.
Other than to rabid fans of Texas Christian University men’s basketball, the name Jakobe Coles was likely unknown before 11 pm Friday night. Coles then went and did this that led to this.
These stories go on and on. It’s why television networks pay the NCAA billions of dollars for our undivided attention for two weeks of programming every March (only a fraction of which goes to the athletes but that’s another argument for another day).
For the genuine expressions of pure joy from the athletes and coaches involved.
It makes for captivating, engrossing, spellbinding entertainment for us.
March Madness indeed.
Let’s proceed with the Six.
1. When Bears Leave For Suburbs, Soldier Field Bill Remains.
The migration of the Chicago Bears to suburban Arlington Heights remains a matter of when, not if. The franchise has spent millions already on the project and hired Big Ten Commissioner Kevin Warren to close the deal. Organizations don’t go through all of that only to decide the status quo is the best path forward. What becomes of Soldier Field once the stadium’s most famous tenant bails for greener pastures? Debt. Lots and lots of debt. According to this article, “due to refinancing and years of primarily paying interest instead of principal, the debt owed for Soldier Field has ballooned from the original $399 million to $631 million.” As this article from Yahoo explains, no amount of Elton John or Taylor Swift concerts can erase a bill that mammoth in size.
2. Just Who Is A Taylor Swift Fan?
Speaking of Taylor Swift concerts, the pop star kicks off her latest tour this weekend in Arizona. Because she’s arguably the biggest draw in pop music today, a new study sought to discern who precisely makes up the coalition of people who are fans of Taylor Swift, known by the moniker “Swifties.” As the Morning Consult reports, 53 percent of Americans identify as a fan of Taylor Swift while 16 percent of Americans identified as an “avid fan” of Taylor Swift. The demographics are clear: overwhelmingly millennial (45 percent of adult fans in that demo), largely suburban (53 percent of respondents), pretty evenly split on gender (52 percent women), solidly left-of-center (55 percent Democrats, 23 percent Republicans) and rather white (74 percent). Count me in the “fan” camp but my relationship with Swift is like that of Juicy Fruit gum; her music serves as a temporary sugar high in momentary times of stress.
3. Trans Runner Wins State Title, Indignant About Victory.
After what seemed like a break in the transitioning-male-competing-as-woman news cycle, the latest controversy popped up this week in Massachusetts (of course it was Massachusetts. This crap don’t happen in Texas.) A biological boy named Chloe competed in a track relay for the girl’s team at Brookline High School. Of course, the relay team won the state championship with Chloe running the final leg. The governing body that oversees high school sports in the state has rules that enable transitioning boys, so no violation there. When asked about the whole charade after the race, Chloe said, “deal with it, just deal with it.” Don’t hate the player, hate the game––the state board of education, area politicians, policymakers, and the like for allowing such farcical events to take place. The war on girls is real and happening in deep blue states like Massachusetts.
4. A Church. The State. And a Holy War.
We are crossing the infamous three year anniversary of Covid Hysteria. As I wrote last week, referring to this time as a ‘pandemic’ no longer applies. I’m sick and tired of pinhead politicians and/or education officials excusing bad policy by uttering, ‘we were in a once in a lifetime pandemic.’ As Logan Roy likes to say 30 times in each episode of “Succession”: fuck off. Covid Response Insanity is more relevant and appropriate, not ‘pandemic.’ When reading stories such as these, it affirms such a viewpoint. From The Free Press, a look at a church in California that in the spring of 2020, opened its doors to worshipers in open defiance of a local shelter-in-place order. The church racked up almost $3 million in fines and through a chainlink fence, “for at least three months, agents surveilled the church. They then docked the church for everything from parking lot attendants’ failures to wear face masks outdoors to churchgoers’ refusal to socially distance—by hugging. Officials also counted cars in Calvary’s parking lot each day to estimate how many members were inside.” Crazy stuff. But it happened.
5. With Ships, Birds Find An Easier Way To Travel.
While not a daily top of mind thought, I will occasionally ponder the oddity of bird migration (candidly, how the heck do they do it?) Stay with me here: over 4,000 species of bird migrate, and many of them do so over oceans. Back in the day, many migrating birds would use islands and other landmasses to take a breather on the course of their journey, but today the commercial shipping fleet stands at 90,000 ships. What does that have to do with birds? Well it just so happens, according to this piece from Hakai Magazine, that large ships are now seen as a potential rest stop for birds on their journeys with an average stopping time was 42 minutes. Extrapolating to all the ships in the Mediterranean, the article estimates how 4 million birds rest on ships during the spring migrations. As the sub-headline to the story states, ‘why fly all the way across the ocean when you can chill out by the pool?’ Facts.
6. Mic Drop on Lori Lightfoot Era.
Best use of city council public speaking forum during the entire regrettable Chicago mayorship of Lori Lightfoot. “You are a pandemic,” says a local reporter directly to Lightfoot. Preach. Don’t let the door hit you in the arse on the way out, Lori.
Thanks for reading everybody and enjoy the rest of your weekend.
Have a suggestion for The Sunday Six? Send email to jonjkerr@gmail.com