AT&T Lily Dumps Out A Bunch Of Instagram Content, Virginia Is Unwatchable & The Saddest Venmo
Virginia basketball is unwatchable – I agree and turned it off
After watching the first five to eight minutes of Colorado State-Virginia, I couldn't take it anymore. I couldn't take Virginia running the shot clock down to 0.2 before deciding to make an actual attempt to take a shot.
Every trip up and down the court was torture. Guy brings it up, passes to the wing, the wing guy wants nothing to do with it and passes it back, the point passes it to the other side, guy wants nothing to do with it, gives it back to the point, the point probes into the lane, decides hell no…this shot clock is at :24…too soon, backs it out, passes back over to the wing who looks down low, nothing, back to the point, maybe a probe, back to the left wing, on and on and on.
THIS IS A TV SHOW AND VIRGINIA SUCKS AT IT.
Now, I know there are a bunch of Virginia fans and they're about to hammer the email inbox (joekinsey@gmail.com) yelling at me about how Virginia has used this formula to win a national championship (2019) and I know nothing about how real basketball is played.
I know how my remote works. I know what entertains people on TV. I know Cream Abdul Jabbar at Indiana State should've been on my TV last night entertaining millions of Americans with his goofy-ass goggles and moves rarely seen on the basketball court these days.
Instead, I took Joe Rogan's advice and watched comedian Brian Simpson's "Live From the Mothership" special on Netflix. It started slow, but Simpson built up steam until ultimately I fell asleep at a point, I think, where he was making his case on why male drivers' licenses should list dong size and why he hates tall guys.
By the way, how great did UD Arena look on TV last night? Man, so many memories of that place. I remember when I was real little, my dad would take me to see Dunbar play. He would make sure we went to the Saturday District semis when you could get four games for the price of one ticket. I remember watching the layup lines and these Dunbar guys were putting their hands half-way up the backboard. In my farm town, it was rare to see a guy touch the rim.
Seeing Dunbar play was mesmerizing. Mike Haley, the coach, had some insane teams. It was AAU basketball before AAU was AAU. Then you'd have Alter playing against some Cincinnati powerhouse. Alter would throw five 5'10 guys on the court and I'll be damned if they weren't the best coached team in the Miami Valley year after year. Joe Petrocelli was a magician.
For me, going to UD Arena to watch the D1 state playoff games back in those days was like watching the NBA in-person for a couple of bucks. I was seeing stuff I'd only seen Dominque Wilkins and Jordan do on TBS and WGN.
For those of us born in Dayton (RIP to Good Samaritan Hospital), UD Arena is our NBA arena. It's better than NBA arenas because it's actually uniquely designed. If you want to start a fight at a Dayton bar, say UD Arena sucks. You're about to find yourself in a full-fledged brawl.
At least UD Arena looked beautiful while Virginia ruined my basketball night.
My John Mellencamp heckler post fired up readers who came in via the Fox News front page
In case you missed it, here's the Mellencamp heckler post these emailers are reacting to.
• Jim is mad:
Leave it to some D--khead Drunks in a D--khead city to heckle and disrupt an onstage performer trying to connect with his audience with a few personal stories, then a D--khead reporter in that same D--khead town blaming the performer for complaining about being heckled by D--khead town drunks. Aw hell, they're just a couple of "Good Ol Boys" just havin some fun, right D--kead reporter?
You can bet Mellencamp and any other performers hearing of this won't be taking gigs in this s--tty town.
BUT, what do expect? Toledo IS a Far Left Democrat city.
• Charlie, who spends time in Carmel, IN and Sarasota, FL, writes:
So Mister Joe, at least the only good thing I can say about John is he called himself "little bastard' when he was younger and now he is just an old crodgedy man who ought to hang it up. Miserable little c--ksucker who will rot in hell for his life.
Larry Crane carried that band and John wasn't worth a fiddlers f--k after he fired Larry! Larry wasn't the kind of guy he should have been and Mellencamp f--ked Larry over when LC tried to launch his own career because that asswipe told all his ass-licking buddies on Music Row to never give LC a record deal! LC never took credit for the songs he wrote, he gave it all to d--k-head and got f--ked in the ass for it. I know this for a fact.
As Chris Knight would say " And that's the Damn Truth "
• Laurel writes:
So. MAYBE the message should be...since you seem to be leaning in a direction... and have an opportunity to express it...
That people, in general, need to chill.
The entire country is on edge, ready to jump on anything & anyone as you don't well know.
Consider. Just maybe...taking a positive opportunity to express more of a "let's try to find moments to get along" approach?
Yep. Artists have shitty days, as well as every last one of those in the audience. SOMEONE needs to contribute to that concept.... notwithstanding if an artist is pulling an old school George Jones and basically unable to function that is ....given the cost to attend. I will and have not attended concerts in ages....given it cost between $25 and $50 a ticket in those days. Lol
Nope. No show that I can think of, and all associated with attending, is worth the cost of a ticket today! (God lov friends that invite/offer for free in past 15 yrs!!)
• Eugene, a 70s and 80s metal band fan, writes:
In the early '80s (1981-82) on Halloween night at Sun Devil Stadium in Phoenix, The Who was the headliner with Mellencamp as the opening act. At some point during John's performance, amidst a packed crowd of over 80,000 rowdy, intoxicated fans, someone threw a Jack Daniels bottle, hitting Mellencamp directly in the head. Suddenly, Mellencamp began screaming obscenities, ceased playing, and demanded the lights be turned on. As he stormed off the stage, screaming and yelling, the crowd became agitated and started shouting obscenities at the person who threw the bottle. After several minutes, which felt like an eternity, the lights dimmed, music softly played in the background, and Mellencamp strumming his guitar, returned to the stage wearing a bandage and a Red Cross helmet.
He immediately started singing "Hurts So Good." As expected, the crowd went wild. I was fascinated by the spectacle, while leaving that night, I couldn’t help but think, that whole thing must have been staged. With no social media at the time, or news reports, it's hard to say. I've always wondered who else remembers that unforgettable scene.
• Vincent says:
I'm from Seymour, John's hometown. Attended one of his first concerts at the local armory when he was still just John Cougar. Anyone who thinks this guy can sing is tone deaf, stoned, or drunk. The movie part he played in the film he made here, "Falling From Grace", as Buddy Parker, was actually sung by another local, who was known to be really good. It wasn't Mellencamp singing. He comes from a privileged family, which has everything to do with his success, and little to nothing to do with any so-called talent. He did have some good band members, but John, not.
• Mark makes a good point:
If John is a socialist then why doesn’t he give up all the rights to his music. He has no idea what a socialist is. What an idiot.
• Debbie writes:
In college in the early 80's I worked back stage for all concerts.
John Cougar Mellencamp played a show at our College Coliseum. Before the end of the show, one his road crew approaches me and said "we have to go fishing" and hands me a bunch of back stage passes. "The band has already told me who they want so you go find pretty blonde girls!" I was like what? He just had twins!
So I went into the audience and found tbe biggest, fattest girls I could and gave them the back stage passes. The sound man says to me "thats not the type of girls the band wants" and I said Why? They have great personalities!
Needless to say the bus left early and no one got laid.
How can I vote on the woke brackets via OutKick without going to X?
• Rick R. writes:
Anyway us non X’ers can join in on the voting fun? Even though Elon laid down mad cash for Twatter and made some changes, it’s still a nuclear wasteland.
Kinsey:
Here's what I am going to ask out of you guys: I will create alternative voting, but I cannot host it on this site. Listen, I wish things were easy like last year, but they're not. I can either go insane or ask you guys to hop over to another site to vote.
Thursday, when the Sweet 16 is set, I will offer that alternative form of voting.
• Michael F. in Ponte Vedra Beach, FL asks the same question:
I was eager and ready to vote for all my most despised wokists this morning but see I am prohibited due to my complete disdain for Twitter/X. See, I quit Twitter and Facebook before the 2016 election season as I found myself getting steamed over posts by people I barely even liked in high school, then realized I’m never going to change a brain dead programmed bot to examine thier own views. To improve my quality of life I left and never returned. Your description of Facebook this morning used to fit me to a tee. I’m 60, retired, and way over the drama of social media.
Any chance for us unicorns allergic to following the herd? Maybe some sort of tally system on the site?
Kinsey:
A tally system on the site is not possible. Again, I can either go insane and battle with the developers or offer up an alternative that saves my sanity.
I vote to save my sanity.
Have you ever broken up with a friend before?
• Zach asks:
Have you ever "broken up" with a friend before? For example, I did this over a decade ago. He became increasingly annoying with calling me all the time, stopping over without calling first, constantly bumming gas money off me, etc.
Kinsey:
Absolutely.
Here's one example. Back in 2020, as COVID was firing up, I had to cut off a guy whom I considered a friend that I met during my early years on the Internet. He started writing emails when I was first starting in this business. When he was based in Vegas, I'd fly in, party, hang, have fun. We went on a guys football trip to LSU. He stayed at my house during another trip.
He was also an alcoholic Democrat who freaked out when I came to OutKick in 2020. This was months after he was begging me for money (I didn't give him any) while claiming to be dying from cancer and telling me how he had weeks to live. He was lying.
His messages about my career change became aggressive, disgusting and I eventually told him to go live his life.
He died a couple of years ago after burning pretty much every friendship he had left, including with his own brother.
This business has taught me to be very, very cautious about whom I hang with. I'm at the age where I'm completely happy with the core group of guys I talk to. They remind me of guys I grew up with. That's enough for me.
Where should Steve take his 10 and 13-year-old boys to watch March Madness in Indy over Spring Break?
• Steve writes:
I have been reading Outkicks and specifically your columns since about Christmas when my brother told me about your daily emails. What a welcome break each day. Been loving the columns.
I wanted to ask if you could forward some of the Indy emails that were in yesterdays screencaps? I am taking a 10 and 13 year old to Indy starting Saturday and some of that information I would love to see. Have some of the usual things planned – zoo, childrens museum, but looking for places to watch NCAA tournament games Saturday night and places to eat otherwise.
Kinsey:
Do your thing, Indy! It's been a big week for your city. You already helped Hunter with his 3 & 6 year olds. Now think about what places a 10 & 13 year old would want to watch basketball and have wings.
I'll forward the messages.
Who has a Jolie showerhead? Is it worth it?
Mike T. in Idaho sent over this story from the Wall Street Journal on the current state of showerheads and how there are showerheads that are supposed to change your life.
Can an expensive showerhead actually change your life? One of you must be able to tell me about a life-changing moment. Here I thought just hopping in, washing, rinsing and moving on with life was what the shower was about. It turns out, according to the Millennials and Gen Z, I was wrong.
Email: joekinsey@gmail.com
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That's it, I have to get this posted. The blue skies are back, it's freezing cold and March is starting to kick our ass with wind.
But, we're to March 20 and we're not going to wish away time. We're going to look at these days as necessary in order to respect the hell out of the summer and everything it brings.
Go live a great day of life.
Email: joekinsey@gmail.com