STARTING FIVE

If you haven’t yet, do yourself a favor and read Bill Hubbell’s essay on The Captain, Derek Jeter, in the post below.

1. Turban Outfitters

On Saturday two of the top players on India’s national team, Amjyot Singh and Amrit Pal Singh, were told minutes before tip-off at the Asia Cup  that they would not be allowed to wear their turbans, which are customary Sikh headgear. India lost by 23 to Japan.

Then again, the following night, the two Singhs’, turban-free, were both game-high scorers (13 points apiece) as India defeated China for the first time in its 78-year history as a national team. My story in Newsweek.

An aside: The arena in Wuhan was not even half-filled, which is funny since India and China are the world’s two most populous nations.

2. ESPYs

I don’t watch the ESPYs. I just read the disgruntled tweets of everyone who is watching the ESPYs. But I hear they did a nice thing for Stuart Scott, which is cool. He’s handling his bout with cancer with true courage.

3. Newman Is An Island

It struck me yesterday afternoon, right around the time I read Drew Magary’s “Hater’s Guide to Derek Jeter.” (I love Magary’s work for Deadspin, I should say, although if I may get all Phyllis on you for a moment, I don’t think he needs ALL the F-bombs to be funny. Anywayyyy….). If your life is that bereft of hope and happiness that you need to seek out reasons to loathe Jeter, maybe it’s more about you.

And that’s how I came to Seinfeld and Newman.

On his eponymous, quasi-autobiographical sitcom, Jerry was successful, single at an age when most men aren’t, and universally loved while never being too polarizing. Except for one person: Newman. The portly postal worker thought he saw through Jerry’s charade. Oh, how he wanted to nab him for mail fraud.

So, to me, if you hate Jeter it’s probably more about the fact that you hate how much other people love him. You think hes’s receiving more than his earned share of adulation. And so I ask you, WHY do you care?

Worth noting: Jerry’s best friend was George, while Derek’s was Jorge.

Also, if it’s just too darn strenuous to scroll down, here’s Bill Hubbell’s wonderful essay on “Jeets.”

Oh, and yeah, this from Vanity Fair will rob you of the next 12 minutes of your life. But it’s worth it.

4. That Went Well…

So this is Holly Sonders (her second mention in MH this week), and it’s not difficult to see what FOX Sports, and before them, The Golf Channel, saw in her. And her husband is Eric Kuselias, who long ago worked at ESPN and then moved to The Golf Channel before landing at NBC Sports (though, really, I’ve never, ever, ever, in the most Taylor Swift-ian way, EVER, understood his appeal).

Anyway, our friend Jason McIntyre at The Big Lead out-Deitsched Sports Illustrated on the scoop that Kuselias overplayed his hand with Sam Flood and the boys at NBC and (well, just read it here). I’ll just add that 1) The Golf Channel is owned by the same people who own NBC, which you probably already knew and 2) the president of The Golf Channel is Mike McCarley, who started out as NBC Sports in P.R. and has deservedly risen through the ranks. Good guy, always enjoyed either dealing with him and then later working with him.

So do Holly and Eric move to L.A.? And is his (agent’s) next call to the NFL Network –he was doing Pro Football Talk– or FOX, or does he just ask for a job at Sports Nation. Meanwhile, it’s all very Danaerys and Viserys –minus the sibling aspect–between Holly and Eric right now, I’d imagine. She’s the potentate of the pair, while he deludes himself into thinking he is.

And you know how that turned out.

5. Welcome to the Dahlhaus

This is model Ben Dahlhaus. I don’t know much about him other than the fact that not a few soft-news websites have done stories on how “ridiculously gorgeous” he is this week, which, yeah, he is. And that he kinda looks like what people think Jesus kinda looked like, if Jesus smoked.

Where in the World?

Tuesday’s answer: The Thin House, London