The annual income it takes to own a home.
Two Countries?
1
Jenny Breuer For The Win
Breuer teaches entrepreneurship at a Texas high school and coaches sophomore Elizabeth Leachman, the most talented female high school runner in the country. And it’s not particularly close.
The whole Leachman story is so countercultural, meaning tremendously upbeat. Leachman seems unusually grounded for her age in part because her parents know Breuer has their daughter’s long-term interest at heart.
Meaning Breuer is not overdoing Leachman’s training like too many other coaches would.
From Runner’s World:
“The coach and the runner sometimes challenge each other. Leachman wants to do more. Breuer wants her to stay healthy and develop over time. ‘I’m always pulling her back,’ Breuer said. ‘Err on the side of caution.'”
Also of note in this day and age, you won’t find Leachman on Instagram.
“’I think if it was fully up to me, I probably would have it,’ Leachman said. ‘But my parents don’t want me to, and I’m okay with it. I haven’t really fought it.'”
Breuer again:
“’We talk a lot about external expectations, and just because you’re good at running doesn’t mean that it’s everything that defines you,’ Breuer said. ‘That’s what’s really hard, I think, for a 16-year-old to remember sometimes when the spotlight is on. I try to remove that pressure as much as possible and remind her that this is supposed to be fun.'”
This story makes me think maybe the world is not going to hell in a handbasket after all. Just outside of view, there’s excellent parenting going on coupled with thoughtful/caring coaching; resulting in a happy, healthy, and scary quick young athlete.
As in a 9:44 two mile. . . 5:03, 4:41. And a 15:25 5k.
The Coach of the Year one more time:
“’She has a really good perspective. Her parents have done a super job.’ And also, I say, ‘I want you to be an amazing college runner, I want you to be an amazing professional runner, if that’s what you want to do. We don’t want you to peak in high school. That’s not the goal.’”
Postscript—hard not to root for this dude.
Never Felt More Seen
Phenomenon To Ponder
Karen Kreider Yoder’s story perfectly captures 2024.
“It was a June afternoon in the Rockies just after I retired when we agreed that we must be turning into ghosts.
We had been cycling in the mountains since breaking camp before dawn, and we decided to splurge on a private room in a hostel. We checked in and headed through to the bike-storage area, walking our rig by young hostelers congregated in the common spaces.
We must have been a sight: two bedraggled 60-somethings pushing a tandem bicycle laden like a pack mule.
Except no one seemed to see us.
We crossed the living room, where 20-something hikers with ruddy faces studied their computer screens. No one looked up. We inched through the kitchen, where others were sautéing onions for a group meal. ‘Excuse us. Sorry to interrupt,’ one of us said as we squeezed through. ‘That sure smells good.’
They turned a bit, giving us space. But not a word. Not a ‘How’s it going?’ nor ‘Where’d you come from?’ nor ‘Cool rig.’ Nor eye contact.”
Not An April’s Fool Joke
Fortunately.
Washington youth mental health shows best improvement in 20 years.
“Simckes said they can’t specify exactly what is causing this improvement in youth mental health across the state, but pointed out that social support is improving in the home and at school. Nearly 60% of youth said that they felt they had an adult to turn to when feeling depressed.
‘We don’t know what comes first – are they feeling supported because their mental health is better?’ asked Simckes. ‘Or is their mental health better because they’re feeling supported?'”
And importantly:
Shulman said that although mental health for LGBTQ+ students is improving, this group remains highest for depressive feelings and contemplation of suicide due to the current national political climate.
‘More than 500 legislative bills were introduced last year and the year before in state legislatures around the country, aiming to diminish freedom for LGBTQ people, and especially LGBTQ youth, and the youth are aware of this,’ Shulman said. ‘So at the same time, they’re having more parental support, more stability, more safety in the schools … At the same time, they’re also in the center of a political maelstrom that is not of their own making over which they have little control, but that affects their future.'”
What Is A Sports Fan To Do?
The steady expansion of legalized college and pro sports gambling coupled with the free flow of “Name Image and Likeness” money in big-time college sports is rapidly changing the sports landscape.
Reporting on these trends continually refers to all of the “unintended consequences” of the changes. Which is laughable. Most, if not all, were entirely predictable. . . a marked increase in the number of people addicted to sports gambling now that it’s damn near “frictionless”, the mind-numbing non-stop use of instant replay leading to interminably long games, players being compromised by gambling interests, coaches being threatened by “monied interests”, college players steadily switching teams annually to maximize their “NIL” opportunities, etc.
It’s unlikely that this toothpaste will ever be put back in the tube so what’s a lifelong sports fan like me to do? Be more selective and watch even less? Follow poorer nichey sports more closely whether women’s golf, cycling, triathlon, or track and field? Or stop watching altogether and use the saved time to talk a walk, hit golf balls, swim across that lake, anything that doesn’t require video replay and gets the heart rate up.
Number One Is In The Back Yard
Or is it the front yard?
From the WSJ:
“Fewer than 10 bridges in the U.S. have the clearance of the Francis Scott Key Bridge in Baltimore, the 1,200-foot span that collapsed after a supersize containership slammed into one of its vertical supports. All of them have a vulnerability where the failure of even a single steel component in tension along the span could cause a collapse.
The National Transportation Safety Board flagged this condition in the Key Bridge after it fell early Tuesday morning—but the hit that destroyed the Key wasn’t a blow to one of those crucial steel components. Rather, it was the devastating strike taking out one of the bridge’s concrete vertical supports, known as a pier, that caused the massive structure to cascade into the water below.
Any span of that size suffering a comparable loss could tumble, according to engineers, making bridges that can accommodate giant ships particularly at risk.”
Say What?
Post swim, sitting in the jahjahcuzzi stretching while reflecting on the meaning of life.
Dude asks, “Where did you get your gloves?”
Inner dialogue. “Gloves? What on earth? Oh, he meant paddles.”
“SwimOutlet.”
“Where’s that? Around here?”
“On-line, swimoutlet.com.”
“Oh, okay, thanks, they’re cool.”
Inner dialogue. “I haven’t heard anyone trip over basic sports terminology that badly since talking to the Good Wife.”
Sentence To Ponder
BALTIMORE—”The crew of workers from Mexico and Central America were well into their night shift, pouring concrete to fix the potholes that dotted the Francis Scott Key Bridge.”
So they weren’t animals from insane asylums committing crimes?
Anti-immigrant hysteria depends upon not seeing or thinking about the people fixing potholes on bridges in the middle of the night.
Add Andrew Huberman To The List
Of famous figures capitalizing on the public’s tendency towards gullibility.
I read this lengthy takedown of Huberman so you don’t have to. You’re welcome.
The two most telling paragraphs are easily skipped over because of their seeming ordinariness.
“On Thanksgiving in 2018, Sarah planned to introduce Andrew to her parents and close friends. She was cooking. Andrew texted repeatedly to say he would be late, then later. According to a friend, ‘he was just, ‘Oh yeah, I’ll be there. Oh, I’m going to be running hours late.’ And then of course, all of these things were planned around his arrival and he just kept going, ‘Oh, I’m going to be late.’ And then it’s the end of the night and he’s like, ‘Oh, I’m so sorry this and this happened.’
Huberman disappearing was something of a pattern. Friends, girlfriends, and colleagues describe him as hard to reach. The list of reasons for not showing up included a book, time-stamping the podcast, Costello (his dog), wildfires, and a ‘meetings tunnel.’ ‘He is flaky and doesn’t respond to things,’ says his friend Brian MacKenzie, a health influencer who has collaborated with him on breathing protocols. ‘And if you can’t handle that, Andrew definitely is not somebody you want to be close to.’
“Flaky” is far too generous a word. Where was Huberman when he didn’t show? The profile would suggest with one of the six women he was in relationship with at the same time.
It turns out, thanks to the powers of duplicity coupled with the public’s gullibility, you can become famous, rich, and influential as a podcaster, salesperson, and academic without showing up for colleagues or even close personal friends. Repeatedly.
But “showing up” is a prerequisite for being a decent human being.
Pressing Pause 