Christen Harper Is Pumped For SI Swimsuit Release, LeBron Brings His Own Wine & Meet A Rick Flair Doppelganger
What is with you absolutists who came up with the #fakenews that I ever said anything about not mowing on Sundays?
It was like two or three weeks ago when a reader sent a rather scathing email about how I was mowing on a Sunday in April when the day should be about rest. Now I have Canoe Kirk taking a shot at me via the text group because I had Screencaps Jr. mowing on Mother's Day.
When did I ever say mowing on a Sunday is a sin? We're in the middle of a war right now. It's mid-May. It rains for three straight days, then it's 80 and you have a forest on your hands. Mowing on Sunday is necessary this time of year.
Mowing on a Friday night or a Saturday is a no-go zone.
I didn't send Screencaps Jr. into the backyard where families might've had 3 p.m. Mother's Day tea and crackers. He mowed the front. There weren't families holding front porch parties.
Now, once we get to mid-June and the heat starts to build, Sundays will be out because we'll be to the one-mow per week schedule and you guys can shove the emails and texts right back into your pie holes.
I will not apologize. I will not be shamed. I will not back down.
Is this true?
Are you guys so good at the grill that you know what you're doing or is it all an act. Be honest.
I'll admit to going a 'Eh, that looks pretty good, it's time to flip it' mentality. I'm not convinced that all of you are just experts who used to work at Lone Star Steakhouses.
Don't get all offended. This is a safe space. You can admit if you're just acting at the grill.
Email: joekinsey@gmail.com
Paul Kilgus Appreciation Society
- John C. in Bowling Green, KY writes:
In the small world category, scrolling through today's screencaps I see the tweet below. Paul Kilgus is from Bowling Green and went to my high school. He was my Babe Ruth coach when I was 13 and he is a good friend today. As a youth baseball coach, you'll love that he was a coach for a BG (Great Lakes Region) team that made the LLWS when his stepson played about 8-9 years ago. Super nice guy!
A problem with Rip Curl in France using meters
- John from SD writes:
Rip’s write-up: What the hell are hectares and fields measured in meters? Get this guy back to the US and speaking American English, acres and yards, no more frenchy Measurements!
Saw this the other day, not acceptable.
*my comments to Rip are half sarcastic.
Is the proposed McDonald's $5 meal deal really a deal?
- MP from Staunton, Virginia digs into the financial details:
Joe, all the $5 meal will be is tacking on a drink to their existing $3.50 bundle which consists of a McDouble/McChicken/6 McNuggets and a small fry. Thanks for everything you do.
This is a positive non-partisan report from the White House that Screencaps readers can use
- Todd S. writes:
This weekend we found one of the nice things the government does. This might be one for Mrs Screencaps also. We were in DC this weekend and while looking at news Friday night - they say White House Garden Tours are this weekend.
The wife asks me what that is - never heard of it so looked it up. Two weekends a year you can tour the White House Gardens when they peak bloom. I see tickets are given out 8:30 am each day (Sat and Sun). We go Saturday to get tickets - surely they will be so limited and none left - we got there at 9:20 for tickets - waited about 10 minutes and had 4 tickets for 3:30pm. Still thinking no way this is walking the grounds.
We get on line 3:10 or so by 3:30 - we walk past person checking the time on ticket - walk past dog sniffing us - then to a security set up - they did say bring nothing except phone/camera. Through security - then 2 mins later we are walking in the east gate of White House - up to the east gate garden, then 10 feet from the stairs of the White House, then the west wing and rose garden - all from the "White House driveway:". No one moving people along, at your own pace, can ask questions to volunteers etc.
Continuted down to fountain where you can take a picture with White House right behind you and around to the vegetable garden - then out the west exit. There was nothing political etc, just strolled the White House grounds for 45 minutes -
Kinsey:
THIS is why readers can't miss a single edition of Screencaps. You just never know what's going to be in this column from day to day. One minute it's a North Dakota sporting goods store you don't want to miss. The next minute, Todd is telling us that you can stroll around the White House grounds looking at gardens that our tax dollars pay for.
According to the National Park Service, there will be another tour in the fall, which typically happens in October.
Just how much are AAU basketball parents paying to chase DI basketball scholarships?
D.E. in Tennessee sent me a bunch of emails on Monday after my report on a weekend travel basketball tournament in Kentucky where parents were flipping out over $45 entrance fees.
Yesterday, I talked to an anonymous AAU girls' basketball coach who told me the $45 for a three-day pass is low (KY tournament didn't allow a one-day pass). $60 is the new going rate for three-day tournaments, not counting parking.
The source also told me to keep an eye on the AAU basketball website apps that are charging $50 for people to watch the games.
- D.E. writes:
Man this is all true! My son played "AAU" from 5th -11th grades. His sister played 7-11th grade. My experience is that most of the tournaments are not sponsored by the "AAU" ; these are mostly grassroots teams that have players that really aren't even good at basketball but their parents think they are. Many of these grassroots teams are bad and go to tournaments where they never win and their kids don't get looks from hardly any major D1 schools. Those players getting looks are EYBL legacy hoopers or have connections with former NBA or high level college hoopers.Also on the scene is EYCL that gives the nation's best talent showcases to get college looks.
Now to my experience. My son who was in 5th grade going to 6th was signed up to play "AAU" which was not a real AAU team which at the time I didn't know what it was. We traveled to Memphis with our team of 10-11 year olds. We get there and have to pay for a crappy run down hotel far away from the nasty gyms and people and when I say nasty I'm talking dirty venues, means and nasty spirited parents that screamed and cursed at kids. Our coaches were bad. I knew this after our first few practices but we had already paid for everything and I know they were not giving our money back.
On that first trip the coaches crawled out of the room windows and were in the parking lot smoking weed and drinking liquor and beer. One of the coahes was banigng the mother of one of the worst players on the team but he played all the time because mama was letting the coach hit so her boy would play. That was our first boys "AAU" tournament introduction. Mean people, dirty nasty hotels, bad coaching and sex for play and we were in one terrible section of the city of Memphis.
Our daughter played her first "AAU tournament" in Smyrna, TN. Her Team was a legit AAU team not just a local travel team. This team recruited the best girls from AL,TN,KY. Our experience was watching refs clearly cheat for the hometown local travel teams, mom's cursing other moms out and people getting kicked out of 7th grade summer basketball games! The gyms were overcrowded with mean spirited adults, super expensive concessions and the experience was bad. That was in 2016 and she graduated in '22 and called it quits but having the opportunity to go play college ball. The AAU experience helped her alot but the cost and the people in the gyms made hers and our experience brutal at times. The "Run for the Roses" in Louisville for AAU during May is a complete rip off. 5 days and spending at least 2K in hotels, tickets, food and travel and the kids get nothing out of it there is no championship game. You have 400 teams playing ball and that's it!
So we finished up my son's AAU season last year. In a boys tournament in Louisville I took my godson last Maythose tickets for the weekend were 76 dollars plus the parking which was daily. The place was overcrowded with not enough seating. There were about 400 teams and the concessions were too expensive. The big prize for that tournament? If you had enough of the best players you got to play on the main court where all the D1 coaches were watching with clipboards in hand. He played at Peach Jam in GA and saw a bunch of legacy players kids that were separated from all the other teams and played on the best courts in front of celebs. He did play against some good talent in those @madehoops put ons and got a reasonable amount of college looks but at the end of the day it's all a money grab and it's not very good basketball. We did it for our kids because we could afford it. For sure you'll see fights, we saw a coach slap the fire out of a female mother at a game when my son was a 5th grader! We had one of my son's coaches threaten to pull a gun and shoot some fans! It's a comedy show...grown men in basketball jerseys and Jordans with their pants hanging down high as hell on weed and smelling like it or drunk. You'll see a lotta babymama's, wild children and people that you know cannot afford what they're doing just hoping their 3rd grader is the next big thing heading to the league!
I have coached a travel team and 2 AAU teams that were eligible to play for an AAU championship. Those tournaments are usually legit where you have to have your players registered and verified for age and grade through birth certificates and local schools enrollment on official school letterhead with the AAU. These tournaments are very well organized and run smoothly. My children had the chance to experience both worlds.
Finally, I'll say that life isn't for the sheltered and the faint hearted, it is a grind and it is SCUMMY and GRIMEY in the trenches bro!
Most people just lose money that they could do something else with but blow it at those bogus tournaments where all you get if you win is a cheap plastic trophy and a medal you can get from Temu bro! You cannot make this stuff up!
…
How much money are we talking?
– D.E. wrote back:
I'd say between 50-65K easy! Last year I paid 900 for my son to play at NYBA in Nashville. They went on some big tournaments where we wouldn't go because of the places they went. They would take a bus or vans and provide "some food". Last year with that team we easily paid 2500, plus he played for our local team here in Clarksville and that was probably around 2.5k. I coached that team so I didn't have to pay for his gear but total last year alone was around close to 4-5K. Bro it's a rip off!
If you're heading to Springfield, IL to visit the Scheels Sporting Goods store this summer
- Thomas M. has suggestions for me:
I grew up in Springfield and live right outside the city in Rochester. If you stay at the hotel right next to Scheels the Springhill Suites are nice. There’s a brewery right next door and a great water park and drive in about a mile down the road owned and operated by my buddy Doug Knight and his brother George. Fantastic people and you’ll kids will love it. They have Mini Golf, Driving Range, batting cages, go carts and a couple carnival rides on top of all the water slides. The Abraham Lincoln Museum is excellent too. Highly recommend trying to make trip. Would love to have you on the Capital City.
PS at our Lenten Fish fry’s this year I cut back on our Bud Light order from 40 cases to 20 and we still had 10 cases leftover after the 6 weeks. In comparison we went thru almost 60 30 packs of Busch Light. Have a great one.
- Brad S. says:
On the way to Springfield on I-55, make a stop at Wally's in Pontiac, IL. (1 Holiday Rd., to be exact.) It's the most incredible convenience store/truck stop we've seen. Carving station, jerky bar, popcorn bar, road trip supplies, souvenir clothing and the cleanest restrooms ever! Their motto: "Home of the great America road trip" is not an exaggeration! (From what I understand, it's the Midwest version of Bucc-ee's.) It's a 'not miss'.
There are tons of Lincoln things to do in Springfield, but take time to see Lincoln's Tomb. Make sure to ask one of the Proctor's about the remodel. Fascinating stuff!
Kinsey:
Wait, is Wally's better than Buc-ee's? I've never been to either.
There's a maple syrup mafia?
Mike T. in Idaho sent along this one.
What if I told you I have a maple syrup hookup in…INDIANA…of all places? I'm sorta afraid some French-Canadian gangbanger is going to jump the border and try to take out Tom in Fort Wayne's maple syrup operation or hold me hostage until I give up Tom in Fort Wayne's email address.
Hey Quebec maple syrup gangsters, like my Masters hookup, I'll never give up Tom in Fort Wayne's email. I'm taking it to my grave.
