Trump Sues NYT, CBS, and Others in Effort to Curb Free Speech & Boebert is Worried About Aliens in Underwater Bases

What I’m Discussing Today:

• Kareem’s Daily Quote: The 1961 movie The Hustler has some sharp insights about sports and life.

• Trump sues for billions from media he says is biased against him: This attack on the news media may be the most important sign of what’s to come for America.

• Lauren Boebert Told Congress She Is Worried About Space Aliens Operating From Underwater “Bases”: Yup, she’s still clogging the arteries of Congress.

• Melania Trump Now Selling Access to Her ‘Dynamic Life’ for $195: The future First Lady is the same anything-for-a-buck brand of grifter as her husband.

• Kareem’s Video Break: This dog throws the best dinner parties.

• The 'morphing' wheel from South Korea that may transform lives and robots: This invention is ingenious and for some reason makes me hopeful.

• COVID-19's Surprising Effect on Cancer: I marvel at our ability to find a positive result from disaster. Yet, why can’t we learn from our behavior in the face of disaster?

• Ritchie Valens Sings “Come On, Let’s Go”: Valens died at 17, but he still rocks the house down.

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Kareem’s Daily Quote

Just hadda show those creeps and those punks what the game is like when it's great, when it's REALLY great. You know, like anything can be great, anything can be great. I don't care, BRICKLAYING can be great, if a guy knows. If he knows what he's doing and why and if he can make it come off. When I'm goin', I mean, when I'm REALLY goin' I feel like a... like a jockey must feel. He's sittin' on his horse, he's got all that speed and that power underneath him... he's comin' into the stretch, the pressure's on 'im, and he KNOWS... just feels... when to let it go and how much. Cause he's got everything workin' for 'im: timing, touch. It's a great feeling, boy, it's a real great feeling when you're right and you KNOW you're right. It's like all of a sudden I got oil in my arm. The pool cue's part of me. You know, it's uh - pool cue, it's got nerves in it. It's a piece of wood, it's got nerves in it. Feel the roll of those balls, you don't have to look, you just KNOW. You make shots that nobody's ever made before. I can play that game the way... NOBODY'S ever played it before.

Fast Eddie Felson (Paul Newman), pool playing savant in The Hustler

This is the longest daily quote I’ve ever done, and I’ve included the clip from the movie where he says it so you can get the full impact of why this is one of the greatest quotes about sports from one of the greatest sports movies. What makes it so great is that it encapsulates both what is so inspiring about sports to players and fans, as well as what can be destructive.

When I first saw The Hustler in 1961, I was fourteen years old. Yet, his description of doing something—anything—that brought such intense joy and personal satisfaction inspired me to work even harder on my basketball game. I was too young to realize that the movie was a cautionary tale about the addiction to that feeling above everything else. The thing is, he was right: The feeling I got when I was playing my best—beyond my best—made me feel like I was capable of anything.

It wasn’t until years later, when I was more experienced and mature, that I saw The Hustler again and understood that it was really about how the addiction to that feeling can inspire you to fulfillment in a profession, but it can also erode you to emptiness as a human being. The key is the dialogue at the beginning of this clip. Sarah is an emotionally fragile woman that he falls in love with. He’s just had his thumbs broken because he hustled some rough pool players after a wealthy promoter called him a born loser.

Sarah: Is he a winner? 

Fast Eddie: Well, he owns things. 

Sarah: Is that what makes a winner? 

Fast Eddie: What else does?

In the movie, Fast Eddie wants to win so badly, that he eventually pushes Sarah away which leads to her suicide. It isn’t until her death that he realizes all that he’s lost in pursuit of winning.

This is an allegory about how we define winning—owning things—and how we use it to validate ourselves in the eyes of others. It’s about devoting ourselves to our professions over our families, yet rationalizing that we’re doing it for them when we’re really just chasing the emotional high of success.

At the beginning of my career, I was a lot like Fast Eddie, winning was a personal high. But as I got older, I received more satisfaction playing well because of what it meant to my team and fans. My success was no longer a validation of my worth but a means to better provide for my family and serve my community.

Fast Eddie’s assessment of winning in this clip is the one shared by so many Americans, which is how an empty suit like Trump got elected. They think he’s a winner because he owns things rather than because he’s smart or has integrity, both of which he’s demonstrated he lacks. Trump himself sought the presidency, not out of a commitment to serve, but out of a need to receive personal validation from others. To feel powerful. In doing so, he rejects the lessons about winning, teamwork, and fair play of all our best sports movies. And so did the voters enabling him.

For the rest of us, go watch The Hustler again and remember who we are and what we value.