by John Walters
Happy 62nd to one of the best actors to have never won an Oscar, John Malkovich.
Starting Five
Tomkins died of hypothermia in Chile….I mean, my 4th-grade level humor is aroused
1. Now If The Co-Founder of Patagonia Were To Die on the North Face of a Mountain, Then, Mind Blown*
Kids, back in the day — in fact, even earlier than that, in the dawn — Esquire magazine at this time of year put out its annual “Dubious Achievement Awards,” which was only the greatest thing in magazinery every year. And well, if the co-founder of North Face were to die in a kayaking accident in Patagonia, as 72 year-old Douglas Tomkins did yesterday, then that item would have made their list and of DA’s and the headline would have been something like the above.
Hey, sorry that the man died (“Thoughts and prayers…”). On the other hand, he lived a long and fruitful life and his death personified what his company promoted, and he’ll probably get a nice write-up in Outside magazine, so things could be worse.
*Props to Gene for making this connection first….
2. (Sprained) Feat of Klay
Yes, he sprained his ankle at the end of last night’s game. X-rays were negative.
Remember a few years ago when I tweeted that Klay Thompson would be the first player I’d select in the 2011 draft? No? (Related: I was also a big fan of Curry, Festus Ezeli and Draymond Green; Mr. McIntyre over at TBL told me I liked Green way too much). Well, I did.
Anyway, Klay may not be the best Golden State Warrior guard whose dad played in the NBA (and is now a team’s radio analyst), but last night he scored 39 points as Golden State moved to 23-0 with a 131-123 win at Indiana. The Warriors led by 28 after three quarters.
Since we turned the page on the calendar, Thompson is averaging 27 points per game in December (Steph is averaging 35.3 ppg on this trip, but he’s Steph). Klay may not be the other All-Star starter in the backcourt — Russell Westbrook deserves to be — but he will definitely be on the squad.
3. Flori-Duh: Alligator Invokes Stand Your Marsh Law
A couple of days late, but Florida man is a burglar, hides in swamp to evade cops, is ALLEGEDLY killed by an 11-foot alligator. So we had 1) white-trash Floridian 2) felony crime 3) alligator or reptile. All we were missing for the full quintet was 4) a stripper and or illicit sex and 5) psychotropic drugs.
I hope the gator has a good attorney….
4. The Audacity of Hoop
When I was at Sports Illustrated, there was one gentleman who simply knew and wrote college basketball better than anyone: Alexander Wolff. The Princeton alum had many unique talents, arguably the most formidable of which is that he was a humble and, in fact, not even condescending, alumnus of Princeton.
Alex would have been everyone’s favorite English prof had he chosen that route; instead he spent years writing the game stories of NCAA hoops finals, which was the most arduous task –due to the tight Monday night deadline– at SI.
A lot of the web-era college hoops fanatics may be unfamiliar with Alex, and that’s too bad. He’s a genuinely hoops-addled journalist (so much so that he even invested in a minor-league basketball team, the Frost Heaves, in his adopted home of Vermont) who has an artist’s touch on the keyboard. Anyway, Alex has a book out all about basketball and our 44th president, The Audacity of Hoop, and I plan on reading it (as soon as I finish the Twilight series).
5. Oh, That’s Good
Today’s New York Daily News cover.
Music 101
Better Man
Pearl Jam has never been much into releasing songs as singles, which explains why their only Top 10 hit is “Last Kiss,” which is a cover of a Sixties tune. This may be their most played song on the radio, though, and it’s arguably the only commercially viable tune from Vitalogy (and, like “Release,” it was buried down on the 11th track). Here Eddie is performing the classic on Late Show during Letterman’s final week last May.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Utmldzmr2JI
Remote Patrol
Sinatra Sings
TCM 8 p.m.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4fWMgoWrbE
The Chairman of the Board, or as I like to call him, The Doobie Doobie Doo Brother, performs “Strangers in the Night,” “Come Fly With Me,” and “My Way,” among others. Not live. Followed at 9:15 p.m. by From Here to Eternity. Get your Frank on!
The “Florida-Duh” always stings at first, but it’s just as consistently difficult to defend. “Stand Your Marsh” is just outstanding. If “The Daily Show” needed to hire someone specifically to write the clever phrases that go with the photos over the host’s shoulder, I would tell them to call you first, without hesitation.