Worlds collided last night as Screencaps Jr. mentioned his English homework assignment
And by worlds, I’m talking about my world — this job — and the homework his English teacher assigned, which was to write about a book, The Outsiders, in a blog or online report format.
For the first time in my life, I heard my own son use “clickbait” in a sentence. We were on the way home from Costco, and he mentioned “clickbait” was part of the assignment, but, he assured me, not “clickbait” like you do.
The hair on my arms stood up. It was a holy shit moment.
My own child, who loves reading in bed before going to sleep and is off-the-charts in English and language arts, has been listening intently to how I can format headlines, and content, to elicit an emotional reaction — the act of clicking — out of a reader.
I never sat him down and explained any of this. He’s just picking up things as they’re mentioned in passing. My dad definitely never sat down with me in 7th grade to go over paragraph structuring and eliciting emotions out of readers.
We mowed lawns for old ladies, and he probably yelled at me that I missed spots.
But I chose a different life trajectory and now here I am having these father-son moments for the first time where I have to share adult-like messages. It’s not like teaching Screencaps Jr. to hit a pitch on the outside corner.
At least he knows his father is a world-class expert in this field. For the first time in my 18-year Internet career of jerking around and winging it, I felt a great deal of responsibility. It was out-of-body.
Warren Buffett’s final message to Berkshire shareholders
While we’re on the subject of eliciting emotions out of a reader, how about the incredible final farewell letter Warren Buffett wrote to Berkshire shareholders this week.
These two lines were something:
“Decide what you would like your obituary to say and live the life to deserve it.”
“I wish all who read this a very happy Thanksgiving. Yes, even the jerks; it’s never too late to change. Remember to thank America for maximizing your opportunities. But it is – inevitably – capricious and sometimes venal in distributing its rewards.”
If you have time, give the full letter a read. It’s an incredible newsletter that doesn’t require an email to sign-up to receive it.
Sidenote: Buffett still goes to the office five-days-a-week.
Ho-hum, a Screencaps reader takes his family to Yosemite to get Christmas photos and shares some of the outtakes
— Chris B. got out of the house:
Took the family up to Yosemite to take photos for the Christmas card. This was the calm before the storm trying to get two boys to listen to their mother. Always takes way longer than it needs to be.
Mailbag: Drivers who tailgate you?
— Jase asks:
What do you do if you are being tailgated while driving? Do you go faster, slower, ignore them and drive as you had been doing, etc.?
Kinsey:
I have a great story for this one. I was on the way home from Columbus one year after going down to document GameDay or something like that when some guy in a convertible started tailgating me on US-23 mid-way between Columbus and Findlay.
Why didn’t he just go around me on a four-lane road? No clue.
But I do remember hitting my windshield wiper fluid and sending it flying into his convertible.
He stopped tailgating me.
It also works when the tailgater isn’t driving a convertible. Give it a try.
At least one person out there LOVED the Gus Johnson call of the Indiana touchdown — a member of the 1967 IU Rose Bowl team
— Mike N. knows a long-suffering fan who ate it up:
I don’t really follow college football announcers, but that Indiana call was the best thing my dad has heard in 50 years. He was SO EXCITED to talk about it when I called him after the game. He watched the game on his couch in Syracuse, IN with my mom. He turns the big 8-0 this Saturday. He played on the Indiana team that lost to USC 14-3 in the 1967 Rose Bowl. My Aunt is still hanging on to some “OJ Go Home” buttons.
When I tell him the announcer’s name was “Gus” he will smile as that was his dad’s name.
The Trent Steelman mention on Veterans Day didn’t go unnoticed
— Tim G. in the 419 has traveled the world via sports and ran into Steelman a decade ago:
I had the good fortune to spend time with Trent Steelman in the summer of 2015, when he was part of Team USA at the International Federation of American Football World Championships in Canton. He played receiver for the United States and was named the Tournament MVP as the US won the gold medal. He led the team in receiving three times and in rushing once as we went a dominating 4-0.
I remember him as a tremendous person and patriot.
— David C. emailed on Tuesday:
Remembering my wife’s father. Prisoner of war in WW2. James A Kimsey
— Great American Vern in the PNW read the Veterans Day Screencaps and caught that mention of his name. He reacts:
Joe-Thanks for the kind words. I am the luckiest SOB in the world! I got to work with and for some of the finest people our country has to offer. There were long days flying and long continuous days when a crisis popped up, but through it all — it was never work.
I’m presently on a salmon fishing trip with my oldest son who will retire next month after 40 years of being a fireman-20 plus years as a Battalion Chief and this last year as a Deputy Chief.
He echoes my sentiment that it was never work. Not sure if we will catch anything- but if no pics-it didn’t happen!
Letterman jackets: Do kids still wear them?
We touched on this topic a year or two ago, but it’s worth exploring again. For the record, I never got a letterman jacket. I had three letters in baseball, but I probably determined in my head that just having baseball on the back of the jacket wouldn’t have competed very well with my buddies who had the football, basketball, baseball trifecta.
— Steve B. in Grand Junction, CO emails:
To answer Jeff D. in VA:
Most kids in Western Colorado don’t wear them. My daughter (a junior), has lettered 3 times and has no desire to get one. This baffles me.
When I was in high school in the 80s, I got cut from the basketball team (on my 16th birthday no less), and wasn’t good enough in baseball to letter. If I had lettered, you wouldn’t be able to pry that jacket off of me. Not lettering has always been a regret.
I’m generalizing here, but I’ve noticed teenagers these days are not in the hurry we had to do two things: get a letterman jacket or driver’s license.
— Big ‘Sheriff’ John in Houston checks in:
The kids at my son’s school wear theirs for sure. The only problem around here in Houston is that there are only 3-4 months a year where you can wear it. It’s too warm most of the time. For instance, there wasn’t a single letter jacket among all of the cheerleaders, managers, and injured football players on the sidelines of all 10 football football games. Way too warm.
My son earned his last spring for track and received the jacket the first week of school in August. Until yesterday, it had been sitting on the coat hook in the mudroom. It was finally cool enough for him to wear it! He will definitely be wearing it to track meets on chilly mornings this spring until it gets warm again.
FBI, I would never resort to such behavior to watch ESPN
— Dave in Rhode Island says:
Not sure if you want to share questionable streaming options publicly, but this site has worked great for the the past two Monday nights for ESPN:
Cast high def no issue to the living room TV from my laptop. Who knows how long it will last, but I’m riding it. Don’t want to give up YTTV unless absolutely necessary…
The College Football Playoff Rankings show & Van Halen
— Tampa Lee D. is back to drop more gems:
Later today (Tuesday), yet again, there will be a complete waste of electricity on ESPN that the network will treat like the Democratic National Convention. That is the college football playoff rankings. Heather Dinich with breathlessly report live and every friggin’ college football writer in the nation will tweet for hours about the significance of this, as will braying sports radio hosts the next day in every market that doesn’t have an NFL team.
The trick is, these rankings have zero significance. In fact it is completely insignificant. The only ranking that matters will be the one after the conference championships are played. How ESPN turned this into primetime programming every week in November through early December is mind-boggling.
This would be like having massive coverage in primetime over a Joe Lunardi bracketology release on Jan. 11. It is completely ridiculous how much coverage the weekly college football playoff rankings get. It means nothing. Totally useless and irrelevant, except the final ranking after the conference championships.
David Lee Roth vs. Sammy Hagar: Anyone who prefers Sammy Hagar-led Van Halen to the David Lee Roth-era Van Halen should never be trusted. Roth-era Van Halen not only made history, it changed rock. Hagar? He was/is nothing more than a top-40 singer who thinks he’s Robert Plant. The guy writes love songs for teenage girls. Bet the same people who think Van Hagar was superior also have Fleetwood Mac on their iTunes.
— Gen X Warren M. jumps right into the middle of the Van Halen conversation:
Meant to email on Sunday after MY Miami Dolphins beat the Bills for the first time in a few years. Even in Brady’s prime, the Phins could still beat the Patriots, but Miami has struggled vs. the Bills of late. All I could think of was what you wrote about recently, that Josh Allen said his wife taught him there are more important things than football. He lost that fire.
Van Halen and Van Hagar: I love both eras, and had a blast in 2002 when Sammy and DLR toured together. My buddy and I went and we couldn’t believe how much fun Sammy was, and I consider it one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. They were doing tequila shots on stage, drinking beer, having a great time. And he sounded awesome! The big surprise was when Michael Anthony came out and played bass. He’s still around and tours with Sammy to this day. Saw Sammy in 2018 and last year he tore it up on his Best of All Worlds tour! Btw, DLR was good on that tour in 2002, but not great. I wanted to see VH in 2015, but a friend said DLR’s voice wasn’t as good anymore and he spent half the time talking.
Ladies, what’s stopping you from making the bed this fast while we watch 12 hours of college football?
Relax, it’s called a joke.
And Beau in Toledo is definitely joking about making a sammich after making the bed that fast.
Ladies, do you want to take a shot at us? Fire away:
Email: joe.kinsey@outkick.com or use my personal Gmail that you can easily find
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That is it this morning. It’s 9 a.m. It’s time to roll. It’s time to get out there and get busy living like Warren Buffett and Vern in the PNW. Get a fishing trip on your schedule. Go golfing (indoors?).
Go have a great day and never, like Warren mentioned, forget how fortunate we are to call this home.
📩 Email: joe.kinsey@outkick.com or use my personal Gmail
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