by John Walters

A Medium Happy 58th to Michelle Pfeiffer.

Starting Five

Tunsil had both his Twitter and Instagram accounts hacked during the NFL draft.

The Laremy Project

Laremy Tunsil, strength: Pass protection.

Laremy Tunsil, weakness: Password protection.

In today’s edition of “More Than Mean” tweets, someone got the passwords of Laremy Tunsil’s Twitter and Instagram accounts and showed the above photo and a text convo between Laremy and Ole Miss coach John Miller and which he’s asking for $$$ for his rent. #SoWhatWhoCares

Tunsil, who could have been chosen as high as 3rd without all the baggage, went 13th to the Miami Dolphins. All in all, he sort of won.

Erlich Bachman, founder of Aviato and nurturer of Pied Piper, doesn’t see what the big deal is….

Meanwhile, not sure if Hugh Freeze, the Ole Miss coach, survives Tunsil admitting he took money (and why did Todd McShay admonish him for doing that? “Gotta be more mature”) from a coach. Freeze hearing Tunsil said that would be The Blind Side 2: NCAA Boogaloo. Jimmy Sexton is both Freeze’s and Tunsil’s agent. That seems awkward.

Sad Trombone alert: Johnny Manziel reportedly watched the early picks of the draft inside a bar in Columbus, located on High Street, before a Bieber show.

The question: Who hacked Tunsil’s accounts? The weirdest part? You can actually make a case for Tunsil doing this himself, though I don’t think he’d have that much ire toward Ole Miss. People have suggested his step dad….or maybe someone he knows who wanted to ruin him for whatever reason. I think it may have been Mr. Robot myself. Stay tuned.

2. Apple Cobbler

Apple: Could become a “CIA operative.”

The Giants, picking 10th, selected The Ohio State DB Eli Apple, whose big flaw was supposedly “Can’t cook.” This is significant since the G-men play just 72 miles south of the Culinary Institute of America in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

“Reporting, I’m Adam Chef-ter”

3. More Random Draft Thoughts….

A’Shawn with either his mom or bae, depending on if you believe he’s 21 or 41

Joey Bosa got a haircut….Five Ohio State players chosen among Top 20, further confirming that Notre Dame lost to the best team in college football in the Fiesta Bowl…I thought Ezekiel Elliott’s crop top was genius, and he’s going to be a star…Derrick Henry won the Heisman Trophy last year and yet nobody even mentioned him last night (Christian McCaffrey wuz robbed, I’ll say it yet again)….Is it just me, or does A’Shawn Robinson kinda look like a Minion?….The Cardinals got a steal in Robert Nkemdiche at No. 28, although after the Morris twins, is Phoenix really ready for a gifted jock with a brother whose trouble? Still, someday we’ll recall that the 49ers took Joshua Garnett one pick before Arizona took Nkemdiche, and we’ll recall that twice each fall when they line up against one another and NK destroys him all game…

Headed to Taco Surf: Joey Bosa. Life is good….

….The Falcons took Keanu Neal, the 17th Street Blips took Keanu the kitten….Paxton Lynch throws a lot of worm burners and what’s worse, I don’t even think he writes handwritten letters…Myles Jack and Jaylon Smith, two incredibly high-talent, high-character linebackers with bad knees, are still out there.

Also, check out these odds on what will happen with last night’s picks going forward into the future…..

4. Dee League

National League batting champion Dee Gordon of the Miami Marlins, who hit .333 last season, has been suspended 80 games effective immediately for using PEDs. Gordon will lose $1.65 million in salary and is ineligible for the postseason. Curious note: This is Barry Bonds’ first year as the Marlins’ hitting coach.

5. Taylor Answers 73 Questions

This happened a week ago, but I didn’t get around to posting it. And it’s been an entire week without a Taylor Swift post here, what were we thinking? So here’s Taylor welcoming a reporter from Vogue into her house—Is he wearing a GoPro?—who then proceeds to ask her 73 rapid-fire questions as she subtly gives us a tour of the downstairs. Frankly, I was hoping for more of an airy home with higher ceilings, but people worth tens or hundreds of millions of dollars can’t be choosers, I suppose.

And just so you don’t begin accusing me of playing favorites, here’s Blake Lively, who informs us that Ryan Reynolds calls their kitchen “The Blakery”….

Music 101

Remote Patrol

Silicon Valley

HBO Now

This is either the crew from Pied Piper or the opening act for the Black Keys show

If you haven’t seen Season 2 of Silicon Valley yet, catch it. The show, not unlike the boys at Pied Piper, got thrown out of whack at the end of Season 1 when Christopher Evan Welch, who played Peter Gregory, died of cancer. But it found its footing early in the second season, introduced an outrageous new character in Russ Hanneman (loosely modeled on Mark Cuban), and found the perfect balance between being a satire of the tech world and also a show akin to Entourage or How To Make It In America (both HBO shows). Love Bighead. Love Gilfoyle. Love everything about this show.

by John Walters

A Medium Happy 75th to Ann Marg-rock (if you watched the Flintstones) or Ann Margret

Starting Five

Knight supports Trump

1. Bob: Trumpy*

*The judges will also accept “Grump Supports Trump”

In yesterday’s Craziest Election Ever news….

—Bob Knight endorsed Donald Trump, who won all five primaries on Tuesday, at a campaign rally in Indianapolis, calling him “the most prepared person ever” to be president and then providing this weird-ass parable about long hair and using your parents’ cars and Jesus. Yes, Jesus.”

GOP symbols, roaming Tanzania

–Trump used a teleprompter, finally, while giving a speech on foreign policy in which he pronounced the country name as Tan-ZANY-a, as in “it’s zany” as opposed to Tan-ZA-ni-a, as it’s properly announced. Uh oh, I just played my liberal elite card.

–Speaking of cards, Trump accused Hillary of playing the “woman card.” Hillary did not accused him of playing the “Trump card,” because that’s a real thing (Donald’s “Trump card” is being unapologetically bombastic, and it’s working).

—Ted Cruz picked Carly Florina as his running mate, which as one tweep opined, “is sorta like the Atlanta Braves announcing their first-round playoff pitching rotation.” Cruz had announced earlier in the day that he’d be making a “major announcement at 4 p.m.” and this was it, meaning that the Zodiac Killer is still out there.

2. Bern Notice

It looks as if you’re still going to have to pay for college

Oh, and Bernie Sanders, after losing four of five primaries to Hillary on Tuesday, announced that he’s terminating the positions of hundreds of field staffers and throwing a Hail Mary at the June 7 California primary. The end is nigh. It’s going to be Badman versus Super Girl for the world’s most high-profile job.

3. The Prince Diaries*

*(see what I did there?)

If you missed this Monday night, here’s Jimmy Fallon and QuestLove sharing a bizarre tale about Prince, ping pong, and a date at Susan Sarandon’s ping pong club on East 23rd Street, Spin (she named it so before the whole boutique cycling craze struck the city).

Perhaps even nuttier, here’s director Kevin Smith relating a bizarre week he spent in the company of The Purple One a few years back. What’s truly compelling here is that Smith is asked a single question by an audience member (was he a plant?) and then launches into a mesmerizing, uninterrupted, 29-minute tale about his encounter with Prince. This happened in 2013, but it’s still enlightening. You’ll notice that when it begins, Smith considers Prince a near deity, but by the end he’s a little cheesed that Prince neglected to show the smallest sign of courtesy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LhcParuzpc

Also note: Prince relates to Smith that he has knee pain (knee and hip pain is ultimately what led to his reliance on painkillers) and Smith actually asks the 5’2″ Prince if it’s because he wears high heels all the time. Talk about a portent.

Also in the news: the coroner reports that prescription painkillers were found in Prince’s possession when they found him in the elevator. So Prince likely joins Michael Jackson and Elvis (among others) who died of an overdose of painkillers.

4. Farewell to a Fleet-Foot

You may not know who Chris Solinsky is, but he retired yesterday at the age of 31. Solinsky never made a U.S. Olympic team, but the Wisconsin native won five NCAA individual titles and then, on a magical spring night (May 1) in 2010 in Palo Alto, became the first non-African born person to go below 27 minutes in a 10K. And this was 10K DEBUT!

The footage of these last two laps is completely worth watching. The announcers’ enthusiasm is off the hook, by the way. There may not even be a hook left, in fact. Olympian Galen Rupp entered the race as the favorite, but Solinsky takes off here and burns a 1:56.2 in the final 800. Running versus no one, but rather only history, on the final lap, he crosses the line at 26.59.60 to put himself into running immortality.

A year later Solinsky suffered a hamstring avulsion in which the hamstring tendons separate from the pelvis, and he was never able to return to that elite form. “I thought maybe I’d just keep running and compete when and where I can,” said Solinsky in a release yesterday. “But I don’t really want to do that. That would feel like I was running for a paycheck, and running has never been like that for me.”

5. All About the Washingtons

In New York City on Tuesday, police arrested 87 alleged gang members in the Bronx, thought to be the widest sweep in city history.

Meanwhile in Los Angeles, cops arrested alleged Skid Row drug kingpin Derrick Turner, 48, and more than a dozen associates in suburban Cerritos. At Turner’s home police found $600,000 in cash, but here’s the funny thing: all of it was in $1 bills. “”The fact it was $1 bills tells you a lot about his business on skid row,” LAPD Capt. Andrew Neiman said.

Either that or Turner and his crew were planning on making it rain and then some at the Spearmint Rhino soon.

SPORTS!

It Saul Happening, as Atletico Madrid’s Saul Niguez scores the only goal in their first leg semi triumph over Bayern Munich. Some goals are a lot more impressive than others.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILjfhJqKZMw
Elsewhere, in the NBA: Rip City wins, while Houston is R.I.P. City.

CHK’ing In

I don’t want any of you to ever think that what I know about the stock market is any more nuanced or informed than what Clay Travis knows about picking games. It’s gambling to a degree, and that’s true even if you’ve passed your Series 7 exam and/or have an MBA. There are some things with stocks (such as comparing Amazon’s P/E to Apple’s P/E) that no one can logically explain.

That said, I’ve been telling you about Chesapeake Energy (CHK) for a while now, and checking in with you about it if for no other reason than to implore you to keep an eye on it.

Yesterday CHK rose 54 cents to $7.14, a gain of 8%. On Thursday, April 7, CHK was trading as low as $3.54. Yesterday it was at $7.14, which means that in 20 days (less, actually, of trading when you consider the weekends) it jumped by 100%. That…is…significant.

Which way does it head next? I dunno. But it’s volatile.

Update: CHK is up 4.34% this morning….

Music 101

Carrie Anne

This is easily one of my favorite performances I’ve ever found on YouTube. It’s The Hollies and it’s 1969. Everyone is so well-dressed and so well-coifed, and little Tony Hicks looks so cute and adorable, that you barely notice that they’re slut-shaming a girl in the lyrics. And not just any girl: Carrie Anne was a shot at Marianne (get it?) Faithfull, and it was written by original Hollies member Graham Nash (who later went on to found CSN&Y). Faithfull was every musician’s muse in London’s mid-Sixties swinging scene and had an affair with Mick Jagger though she was already married.

In 1967 the song became a top-five hit in the UK and a top-10 hit in the USA. This performance took place in 1969, after Nash had left the group (I have no idea where the violins you hear at 1:40 are coming from). The only other Carrie Anne you may know of, actress Carrie Anne Moss, was named for this song. It was her mom’s favorite at the time she gave birth to her in 1967.

Remote Patrol

NFL Non-Mock Draft

ESPN 8 p.m.

LB, RB. In college Myles was a Jack of all trades. No longer.

Who’s taking Myles Jack? Will either LA or Philly come to its senses and realize that neither of these two QBs are a sure thing and that they’re better off taking Jalen Ramsey or Joey Bosa? Is Ezekiel Elliott the steal of the draft? Whither Jaylon Smith? All the mock drafts end tonight.

by John Walters

A Medium Happy 65th to Ace Frehley

Starting Five

1. WAAAA

I watched that video of men reading vulgar and misogynistic tweets to a pair of female ESPN personalities/reporters yesterday, and I know it was designed to raise awareness of what jerks men can be yada yada yada but I came away feeling not like most of Twitter about it.

It felt disingenuous and whiny to me. Yes, I’m on Clay Travis’ side on this one. Clay reacted to this video by having his mom read mean tweets that have been directed at him, which may be the best thing he has yet done.

First, the bros reading the tweets are obviously not the people who wrote/sent them. They’re stand-ins who were paid (how much? A $20 gift certificate to Buffalo Wild Wings?) to read them. Why not have well-dressed men read them? Why not have your grandparents read them? Why not have women read them? There’s one part where a dude hesitates and you can hear a guy off-camera saying, “Just read the tweets” or something like that. I hope I never need cash that badly.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EkOK3WH9Lo

Second, I think of the women I know or admire. Let’s take Tina Fey. She’d never place herself in that “Look at me, I’m a victim” position. She’d get all up in your kitchen and zing you back but ten times worse.

Third, who at ESPN has not yet pilfered Jimmy Kimmel Live’s mean tweets idea?

Fourth, why didn’t they reveal the twitter handles of the people who wrote the tweets? Even better, why didn’t they fool a few of them into coming to the studio and then once they got there ask them to read the tweets to Sarah Spain and Julie DiCaro?

Fifth, who are Sarah Spain and Julie DiCaro? (Oh yeah, JDubs, well who are you? I’m nobody, but at least I know it.)

Are men pigs? Yes. Are there misogynistic cowards all over the internet, and elsewhere? Uh huh. Will reading these tweets change their behavior? Nope. They’re fist-pumping one another. The people who already despised such tweets have formed a kumbaya circle to celebrate this attack against male “hate speech” but it’s an echo chamber.

And, someone will read this and think that I support (or at least don’t admonish) what was written on those tweets. Of course not. It’s a BIIIIIIIIGGGGG country. Twitter is free. There are a lot of unhappy, frustrated males out there. Your sensitivity training course seems a little self-serving to me.

Last thought: I know a lot of men who were raised by wonderful women who treat women horribly. I know very few men who were raised by parents where the dad treated the mom well who treat women poorly. Anecdotal, but, that’s been my experience.

2. Strahaned Relationship

Let it rip-a, Pipa!

Can this relationship be saved? No. Pipa emerged from her week-long sick-out yesterday, addressed the audience, who showered her with love and applause, and closed by saying, “My dad was a bus driver for 30 years—and he thinks we’re all crazy.”

He’s right, of course. If you missed it—you did— after Pipa sat down, Strahan offered to come back and help whenever she needed, and you should’ve seen the stink face that sprang up  on her mug.

ABC had first announced Michael Strahan would be leaving Live! at the end of the summer. After yesterday’s show it said, “May 14.” I think they’d be wise to shut down this latter-day Ricky and Lucy act come Friday.

Possible Replacements: Jesse Palmer (no brainer), Lin-Manuel Miranda (has mornings free), Neil Patrick Harris (that would be legendary, don’t even wait for it), David Letterman (has entire months free), JDubs (brainer, but does live nearby).

3. An Apple Falls

For the first time since 2003, Apple, the world’s most profitable company, reported a decline in sales over the same period of time from the year before. During its quarterly earnings report yesterday after the bell, the tech leviathan announced sales for the first quarter of 2016 of $50.6 billion (okay, not bad, guys) whereas during the same quarter last year it earned $58 billion.

This quarter? 51.2 iPhones sold. Last year in this quarter? 61.2 million sold.

The stock fell more than 7%, to $95, after hours.

In response, Apple will begin hosting all-day breakfast at its Genius Bar.

The good news is that Apple still has $233 billion in cash lying around (it’s part of the “three comma club”), so it can still afford cars with gull-wing doors. Or a company outing at the pier in Santa Cruz.

Also falling yesterday after reporting earnings: Twitter (TWTR), by nearly 15% and Chipotle (CMG) by more than 5%. Apple, Twiter and Chipotle? That’s like 75% of a sportswriter’s life (the other 25% being either Tinder and FanDuel/DraftKings).

4. Prince v. L’il Sweet

Here’s a photo of Prince, who reportedly left no will, as a teenager:

And here’s Diet Dr. Pepper spokes-mascot L’il Sweet:

And just in case you didn’t know L’il Sweet is played by former American Idol contestant runner-up Justin Guarini….

….who somewhat resembled Prince.

5. Why The Ice Gotta Be White?!?*

Tony X. picked a great time to discover hockey

*The judges will also accept “Black Likes Matter,” “Crossing the Blues Line,” “AfricanAmericanHawks?” and “This Ice Ain’t No Bling”

What would have been a memorable skit for Chappelle’s Show turned out to be a real thing. A black man on Twitter, @soloucity (“Tony X”), discovered playoff hockey during Game 7 between the Blues and Blackhawks and fell madly in love. His tweets are, as he would say, lit:

White people been hiding hockey from us for years bruh. This shit lit

— Tony X. (@soIoucity) April 26, 2016

And here’s how Tony X. discovered hockey:

funny thing about all this is…i turned to fs midwest to watch the cardinals game but the blues were on and shit got REAL.

— Tony X. (@soIoucity) April 26, 2016

There are many more. Visit his timeline for April 26. Tony gained more than 20,000 Twitter followers while his hometown St. Louis Blue gave him tickets for Game 3 of their playoff series versus the Dallas Stars.

Music 101

My Cherie Amour

Is there a more soothing song on the planet (not written by Air Supply)? This Stevie Wonder classic, written in 1967 for a girl that Stevie knew at the Michigan School for the Blind, was not recorded until 1969. It went to No. 3 on the Billboard charts.

Remote Patrol

Game 5: Houston at Golden State

TNT 10:30 p.m.

Is James Harden ready for summer vacation, or the Olympics?

Western Conference or Westeros Conference? It’s all a war of attrition now, as some of our favorite characters (Chris Paul, Blake Griffin and Stephen Curry, although the last has more of a Jon Snow/Bran Stark status in terms of expiration) have been killed off for this spring’s postseason. The Rockets have health, but do they have heart? And will the winner of OKC/SAS be the heavy favorite to lift the trophy in June now?

by John Walters

A Medium Happy 58th to the founder and chief proprietor of Los Pollos Hermanos, Gustavo Fring (Giancarlo Esposito)

Not making the cut today: Blackhawks Down, Martin Starr, Beyon-CIA….Sorry, we’ll try to be better tomorrow….

Starting Five

Tirico, 49, would be in line to replace both Michaels, 73, and Costas, 64

1. Open Mike

The “high priest of Tiricoism,” as the Men In Blazers playfully yet reverently referred to Mike Tirico during the 2014 World Cup, is taking his religion elsewhere. After 25 years at ESPN, Tirico is headed to the Peacock, NBC. It’s a better fit as a marriage than the Michelle Beadle ESPN-to-NBC coupling, as Tirico is a much more reserved cat. He’s also ESPN’s most versatile broadcaster.

Watch as Sean McDonough replaces him on Monday Night Football….

2. Casting A Paul

Pretty sure Paul broke a bone in his right hand on this play. Don’t ask me how.

We were all set to rejigger the odds for the Western Conference champion and title this item “Slip Slidin’ Away” as an ode to Stephen Curry. Our newly jiggered order of favorites would have gone San Antonio, Los Angeles, Golden State and OKC.

But then Chis Paul broke his hand last night and now there’s a chance that the Blazers could upset the Clippers in the first round (unrest in the Hooper home). So now I’ll got San Antonio, GSW (barely), OKC and then LA. But I really feel GSW and OKC is a toss-up and that Curry is as good as done for this postseason (and maybe even if he isn’t, he should be).

Meanwhile, there are the Cavs lurking in the East, with no true challenger, easing past their next two opponents while whoever makes it out of the west will have been through two wars before meeting them. Advantage, Cavs.

And somewhere David Blatt is seething.

3. No Longer the Queen of Castle

This is probably the look Katic shot the show’s execs when they informed her she wasn’t returning for season 9

Whenever TV critics invoke the term “Peak TV,” they never invoke the ABC show “Castle.” And yet the Nathan Fillion-Stana Katic NYC detective show, kind of a 21st century “Moonlighting” with less bite, is in its 8th season.

And I’ve always found it enjoyable. Kate Beckett always served as Richard Castle’s muse, and he as her wise and wise-cracking big brother (until he became her love interest). Now comes word that Katic has been let go by the show if there is a 9th season. Don’t know the details, but I just wonder if there are that many lovely detectives in the fictitious NYPD detectives bureau. I mean, what if Beckett gets replaced by Andrew Sipowicz?

4. Rain Dear

You could probably write a Broadway musical based on the life of Kyla Grogan, and she’d star in it. Grogan recently joined the CBS-New York news team as a meteorologist, but before that she played the role of fake news anchor Andrea Bennett at the Onion News Network, where her bio listed her as “the most stalked news personality of all time.” Before that she was on Broadway, performing in shows such as The Starlight Express, an Andrew Lloyd Webber musical in which the actors actually wore roller skates as they moved about the stage. I’m not sure if her entire presence here in NYC is simply a goof.

5. Breaking Bad In Ohio (Cont.)

The victims. Unless you’re running a mom-and-pop pot biz in southern Ohio, you are probably not in any danger

I was only mildly joking yesterday when I offered the theory that Tuco Salamanca was behind the slayings of eight people, all family members, in rural south central Ohio over the weekend. Well, local authorities believe that it was a Mexican cartel.

More information: There were some 200 marijuana plants growing indoors on property the Rhoden family owned, with an estimated street value of $500,000. Leonard Manley, the father of 37 year-old victim Dana Rhoden, told a reporter, “Whoever done it, know the family because there were two dogs there that would eat you up. But I ain’t going to say no more.”

(I think the by-laws of white rural America obliged him to say, “Whoever done it,” but we’ll check up on that.)

Murders on four different properties on the same night with no escapes, no witnesses suggests that this was a coordinated job with multiple suspects. Police won’t say much, but it sure sounds like a drug hit by someone who didn’t appreciate these amateurs honing on their market. Walter White (and his many narrow escapes) is fiction; this is reality.

Music 101

Think For a Minute

Holy Falsetto, Batman, who is that man? That’s Paul Heaton, lead singer of The Housemartins, a mid-Eighties indie pop band from Hull, England. This tune hit No. 18 on the UK singles chart in 1986.

Remote Patrol

The Night Manager

9 & 10 p.m. AMC

The entire miniseries revolves around a hotel manager refusing to give a middle-aged man a room next door to Erin Andrews’. It would seem a thin plot, but it actually works.

I caught the premiere of this six-episode miniseries last Tuesday and loved it. Tom Hiddleston is like a vegan, (more?) metrosexual Daniel Craig-as-James Bond, while Hugh Laurie prances around doing that charming but cynical Hugh Laurie thing. The locale has already jumped from Cairo during the Arab Spring to the Swiss Alps, and it’s only going to get better. I’m sure AMC will re-run last week’s premiere at 9 (this is one of the best ideas anyone has ever had in TV, re-running last week’s show before this week’s) and then air the new episode at 10.

Note: AMC does not pay me for these plugs. But maybe they should.

by John Walters

A Medium Happy 40th to Timmay!!!!!

Starting Five

Where do I get one of those Lord of Light necklaces?

1. GoT: Still GOAT

If you’re scoring at home, in last season’s finale Cersei had to do a naked walk of shame (“Shame! Shame!” the crowd literally chanted) and now, in the Season 6 premiere, Melisandre does a full body reveal that she’s a 100 year-old (or older) witch. It’s as if the producers of Game Of Thrones are dedicated to ruining every last one of its male viewer’s onanistic fantasies.

Meanwhile, the Prince of Dorne takes a header from one of his female cousins. That was brutal. The good news is that Theon and Sansa, who both have been prisoners of sorts since the end of Season 1, are finally free…. (to marry?).

2. Water Hazard

Curry was already playing with a bum ankle when this happened just before halftime

Two Sundays ago: The world’s greatest golfer currently, Jordan Speith, is undone by water.

Yesterday: The world’s greatest basketball player currently (or at least one of two), is undone by water.

Was last week’s flood in Houston a harbinger? Stephen Curry slips on a wet spot and sprains his knee. No matter when he returns this postseason, he’s probably not going to be the same. By the way, the Clippers are looking formidable. Charles Barkley said it earlier, that the Dubs won’t win the NBA championship this spring. I hate to double down on underestimating the Dubs (I was already wrong once), but there are at least three teams (Spurs, Clips, Cavs), maybe four (OKC) who look at least as formidable as they do at the moment.

The good news? Golden State did win on Sunday, outscoring Houston 41-20 in the third quarter to break a halftime tie. They’re up 3-1. But the Clippers are going to be a very, very tough out. Ask the Hoopers.

One more weird coincidence: The most noteworthy basketball game to take place in Houston this spring (UNC vs. Villanova) included a player mopping the court himself moments before his teammate hit a game-winning shot. Houston courts and moisture: bring on your 7,000-word think piece.

3. Bubble Buoyant

The S.S. Moops was unsuccessful in its bid to float from Florida to Bermuda

Florida man (but of course) Reza Baluchi needed to be rescued by the Coast Guard 70 nautical miles off St. Augustine as his quest to “run” from Florida to Bermuda in his “hydro pod” came up empty. “Part of his effort was to make world peace but he got caught up in the Gulf Stream,” said Coast Guard public affairs specialist Mark Barney.

4. From One Icon To Another

If you were “alive out there” in the summer of 1984, you may recall that the two biggest albums and the two biggest sex symbols in America were, respectively, Purple Rain and Born In The USA and Prince and Bruce Springsteen. The Boss opened his show at Barclay’s Center on Saturday night by playing “Purple Rain” without any words of introduction. Nils Lofgren nailed the guitar solo.

5. Breaking Bad In Ohio

It’s looking as if those eight people, all family members, who were murdered execution-style in southeastern Ohio, in four different homes nearby one another in a rural area, were linked to a marijuana growing operation. Three of the four locations where members of the Rhoden family were killed had marijuana farms.

Not the greatest leap of logic to assume that someone else didn’t like the idea of them honing in on their market/turf. Authorities have ruled out Tuco Salamanca.

Reserves

Manic Monday

Forty years ago today, Tim Duncan was born, as noted above. On that same day, Rick Monday of the Chicago Cubs spared Dodger Stadium from a public flag burning. Just two-plus months prior to the bicentennial. On this Monday, we salute Monday.

Music 101

Waning Moon

This 1987 tune by Minneapolis born-and-bred musician Peter Himmelman was his only song that ever charted, but he has made a living putting out albums and writing scores or themes for TV shows such as Judging Amy and Bones. I always think of him as a lost member of The Replacements, another Twin Cities band of the time. True fact: his father-in-law is Bob Dylan.

If you like this, I’d also point you to “I Feel Young Today.”

Remote Patrol

TURN: Washington’s Spies

AMC 10 p.m.

AMC asks, “Will America care about a story of heroes of the Revolution if the dialogue is not rapped?”

This particular AMC program doesn’t garner enough attention (“Talking Out of TURN,” Chris Hardwick?), but it is an honest attempt to educate the public on actual American history (so maybe it’s not a “but” that belongs in that sentence but a “because”). Anyway, if you are unfamiliar with the details of the story of Benedict Arnold, the series premiere will educate you and believe me, it’s as good as any plot line from The Americans.