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Note: This post contains affiliate links, which means I may receive a small commission at no cost to you if you make a purchase through a link. Amazon Prime Day is a shopping event with deals exclusively for Prime members. Anyone can participate in Prime Day by becoming a member of Amazon Prime. The event starts on Tuesday, October 10 at 3 a.m. ET and ends on Wednesday, Oct. 11. TONS of people and businesses are providing suggestions for the best deals out there. After bumping around the web, here’s the top offers I’ve come across… iRobot Roomba j6+ Self-Emptying Robot Vacuum Identifies and Avoids Pet Waste & Cords, Empties Itself for Up to 60 Days, Smart Mapping, Compatible with Alexa, Ideal for Pet Hair - If you are like me and have pets (Suki, our mini Husky, sheds a LOT) having a Roomba is a GAME-CHANGER. And while the Self-Emptying feature will keep you from having the many “no way” moments when you see just how much dirt and pet hair your floor had been collecting, it will most certainly save you even more time. I cannot recommend this highly enough! Blink Video Doorbell Two-way audio, HD video, motion and chime app alerts, and Alexa enabled — wired or wire-free (White) - There’s just an extra level of security you feel when you have a video doorbell monitoring your home. Whether allowing you to see who is at the door before you open it, or giving you the ability to see what’s happening at your home when you’re out of town, this is one of the devices that should be an automatic for the front door and a great idea to add to additional entrances to your home as well. JBL Endurance Peak 3 - True Wireless Headphones (Black), Small OK, I know this makes me sound really old…but for the longest time I was skeptical of ear buds. I’d see these tiny things which looked so easy to drop and lose, it seemed like only a matter of time before you’d be down to half of a set. But now I’ve seen the light. Better sound quality, no untangling of cords (like I said…makes me sound old) and at the risk of jinxing myself, I’ve never lost one! Amazon Fire TV 43" Omni Series 4K UHD smart TV, hands-free with Alexa Is it just me or have TV’s gotten CRAZY inexpensive these days? I can’t believe how easy it has become to get a 4K UHD smart TV…hands free with Alexa (big bonus for me…my dogs eat remotes)…up and running these days. This was the best deal in the TV space that I came across. Vitamix, Red 7500 Blender, Professional-Grade, 64 oz. Low-Profile Container I’m a BIG smoothie guy, so having a blender that crushes the ice and frozen berries without getting stuck (forcing me to stir everything up with a spoon, which inevitably leads to an air pocket “popping” and getting berry slushy all over me) is a MUST. I may have to circle back to this one…great blender, and I believe it will be part of Prime Day. Gotrax GXL V2 Seris Electric Scooter 8.5"/10" Pneumatic Tire, Max 12/20mile Range, 15.5mph Power by 250W/350W Moter, All Aluminum Body,Digital Display and Cruise Control Foldable Escooter for Adult - Our daughter’s freshman year in college she didn’t have a car. And honestly, she laughed when we suggested an electric scooter as an alternative means of transportation. Well, a few years later she LOVES it. It’s awesome for short trips and easy to pack up/take into classrooms, offices, etc. If you do want to add some security to lock the scooter up outside, here’s what we used: SEWAY Scooter Lock Cable for Xiaomi Mijia M365 ES Series Bicycle Combination Locks Coiled Chain Lock Basic Self Coiling Core Steel Wire 4 ft. Long 1/3 inch Fit for M365/ES1/ES2/ES3/ES4 Smart Jump Rope, Fitness Skipping Rope Includes Weight/Lap/Time/Calorie Record, Adjustable Digital Counting Jump Ropes for Home Gym, Cordless Jumping Rope for Men Women Kids Fitness Exercise Training - As I’ve mentioned in some of my blog posts, at one time I was a (very bad) Division I college wrestler. Jumping rope was one of the go-to exercises for burning calories, cutting weight and overall cardio conditioning. Nice to see the evolution of this workout…I always had to keep a count of jumps in my head! O'Neill Men's O'Riginal 2mm Back Zip, Sleeveless, Spring Wetsuit This past summer I did my first triathlon in almost 25 years (I did quite a few in my 20’s). We did our swim in the Columbia River, which separates Oregon and Washington. This was the wet suit I chose and in spite of chilly water temperatures I was VERY comfortable and it provided me with the full range of movement for my arms and was definitely a factor in the swim being by far my discipline during the race. If you also need some goggles, I used these (they kept the water out; gave a very clear underwater view): RIOROO Swim Goggles,Polarized Swimming Goggles for Men Women Adults Youth Anti Fog/No Leak/Clear Wide Vision/UV Protection - They held up really well during my race. No leakage into my eyes but also not so tight that I felt like my eyes would pop out. Also a really clear underwater view.

In one Seinfeld episode George Costanza sees his fiancé (her name was Susan but Kramer always called her “Lilly”) hanging out with his friends and is immediately taken aback because his “worlds were colliding.” And while this confluence of social groups was really traumatic to George, the same thing recently happened to me in my podcasting world and I thought it was awesome. See, I’m a HUGE podcast consumer. Whether driving to work, working out or walking the dogs I’m always listening to one. There are several that are on my regular rotation – likely something for a future post – but two of my favorite are “the Bill Simmons Podcast” (and pretty much everything his Ringer network produces) and the also popular “SmartLess” podcast (hosted by Jason Bateman, Will Arnett and Sean Hayes). So this week’s “SmartLess” came out and what do you know, their guest was none other than Bill Simmons. It was interesting for sure listening to Simmons talk about his professional growth and emergence as a podcasting megastar, a different word track vs his normal sports and pop culture focus. And as a fan of both shows it was also just fun to hear a bunch of people I felt like I “knew” (if only via published audio content) interacting. At one point Simmons was talking to Arnett about his love of and painful history with the Toronto Maple Leafs. Since Arnett now lives in Los Angeles Simmons asked if Arnett had ever considered a “Sports Divorce” and moving his allegiance over to the LA Kings. Arnett replied that leaving the Leafs is something he would never consider to which Simmons noted that he completely empathized and laughed realizing that while pretty much everyone is forgiving when someone goes through a human relationship breakup the notion of leaving one’s team/shifting their sports loyalty is essentially unthinkable. It got me thinking about my favorite teams in my “Big 4” (I don’t follow hockey so for me it’s NFL, College Football, NBA and MLB) and why they have been – with one small exception – always my favorites. Starting with my first love and moving forward chronologically… NFL: The Dallas Cowboys I cannot tell someone who my favorite team is without immediately giving an explanation. That’s because being a Cowboys fan is so cliché’, mainly due to the America’s Team label. As I’m assuming is the case when you share that you are a Yankees or a Lakers fan, naming the Cowboys as your favorite NFL team usually triggers and eye roll and loss of respect from whoever you are talking to. A LOT of people from my generation are either Cowboys or Pittsburgh Steelers fans today simply because those were the two best teams when we started watching football (the first NFL Game I really remember watching was the Cowboys beating Denver 27-10 in Super Bowl XII when I was eight years old. The following year I had my first Super Bowl party at my house with friends to watch the Cowboys lose to the Steelers, 35-31. By the way, I wasn’t a HUGE fan yet. When Dallas fell behind late me and my buddies all went to the basement to start playing. My mom came downstairs to tell me that the Cowboys had scored and might win and I opted to stick with tag or whatever game we were playing. Psycho fan stuff would come later). That said, I never chose to be a Dallas Cowboys fan because I was 100% born into it before I was old enough to choose. I’ll explain: First, both of my parents grew up in the Portland, Oregon area where there wasn’t (and still isn’t) a NFL team. They talked about the 49ers being on TV a lot back then (pre-Seahawks as well, so SF would’ve been the closest NFL city) but neither really had a true “favorite” team. Anyway, my Dad was a really good football player and went to the University of Oregon on a scholarship where he (thankfully, or I wouldn’t be here) met my mom. He was an offensive tackle and actually played with two future NFL Hall of Famers: Linebacker Dave Wilcox (NFL Career with the SF 49ers) and RB/DB Mel Renfro (NFL Career with the Cowboys). Dad had a great time with the Ducks (besides football and also threw shot put) and made a ton of lifelong friends but never garnered any all-conference accolades. Still, he was huge for the day (about 6’4”, 275 lbs) so when he graduated he did receive invitations to attend NFL Training Camp as a free agent from the Minnesota Vikings, Kansas City Chiefs and…the Dallas Cowboys. Dad is now 81 years old and has two fake knees and two fake hips. And when he graduated college at the age of 23 he said his knees were already shot and his football days were over (the NFL of course didn’t pay then like it did now, so it’s not like he was passing up a potential on a lottery ticket). So my parents soon after graduation got married and my dad took a sales job with Jantzen sportswear who transferred him to Dallas, Texas. Once in Dallas neither Mom or Dad had any team they considered their own, and Dad’s old teammate Mel was playing for the Cowboys so they became Cowboys fans. A couple of years later they had moved to New Orleans where I was born but the Cowboys thing was already locked in. The first picture of me has me holding a red teddy bear and wearing Dallas Cowboys jammies. I truly was born into it. By the way, this hasn’t been a bad thing. I had the Staubach years (always won the NFC East, enjoyed the two above Super Bowls, almost got to another before Dwight Clarke’s “the Catch) as well as the three Super Bowl wins with “the Triplets” (Aikman, Irvin and Emmit) so regardless of the drought, I’ve been to the NFL mountaintop a couple of times and know how good it feels. My mom, who is a huge football fan in general, definitely saw the love of the Cowboys as a means to an end so in a way embraced the team even more than Dad. She quickly saw that a big Cowboys battle was the perfect excuse to invite friends and family over to watch the game, eat and spend time together. I think that’s why the Cowboys have always meant more to me than the team’s Won/Loss record. It’s as much about family gatherings as it is about the end result. Well, almost. Of course, I pushed the same loyalty on my kids and my son – who ended up being an all-state center and college football player – recently accepted my apology for forcing the Cowboys on him since he agreed that, unlike me, he’s had nothing but misery rooting for the Star. College Sports: The Oregon Ducks This one is the easiest. As I noted, my dad went to UO on a football scholarship and met my Mom in Eugene. My older sister went to U of O, and two years later I followed her there. I dreamed of getting a college football scholarship like my dad but unfortunately as a 6’0, 170 lb middle linebacker/center I wasn’t big enough to be as slow as I was. Realizing that playing football in college would have to be somewhere like Colorado College (not Boulder), Ithica University or Lewis & Clark, I opted instead to become a Duck athlete and walked on to the U of O wrestling team. Mind you I didn’t start wrestling until I was a sophomore in high school and only did it to get better at football (actually, our HS defensive coordinator – who was also the head wrestling coach – told me I needed to wrestle during one football practice my soph year but I informed him that during the winter I was a basketball player. The basketball coach, who was also the football DB coach, was nearby and quickly said “no, Mike, you’re not.” So…wrestling it was). I got pretty good in high school, but not great. I was a good leader so was team captain my senior year and was the #2 seed going into the district championships but was upset in the quaterfinals so never even made it to state. Still, I was going to school in Eugene anyway and I suppose the Ducks needed bodies to when I called Head Wrestling Coach Ron Finley he invited me to show up for practice. I’ll dive deeper into my wrestling “career” in a future post, but suffice to say my two year “experiment” as a Duck wrestler had quite a few fun stories but very few highlights. Still, I can’t count the number of people who I’ve told – especially in business – that I “wrestled for the Ducks.” It is true…I got to represent the University in some smaller tournaments where they sent “the 2’s” (second-stringers, although I was usually further down the depth chart than #2). Places like Chico State, Pacific University in Forest Grove and I want to say Simon Fraser University in Canada (or maybe we just competed against them somewhere. I remember going far north once). So even though I never even sniffed a varsity letter, I’m very proud to say I genuinely “bled” for the Ducks. My wife and I met while I was wrestling at U of O. She’s a couple of years younger and was still in HS when we met but to this day claims that she chose Oregon over Gonzaga because of me (I think she’s being kind; as the song “AA” says, I married up and she married way, way down). Regardless, as an athlete she actually did make it, becoming not just a varsity Oregon Duck cheerleader on scholarship but also the team captain her senior year. Between college and the year’s since I cannot come close to putting a number to the great memories we’ve had because of the Oregon Ducks. We had season tickets at Autzen Stadium with my parents for several years after graduation until kid’s sports took over our fall weekends. And, like Cowboy games, my mom saw Duck games as an opportunity for family gatherings so again the games mean more than, well, the games. I’ve even been in attendance for both of the Duck’s National Championship Game Appearances (both losses, unfortunately) vs Auburn in Arizona and vs Ohio State in Dallas. My son really caught the same Duck bug and always dreamed of playing football for them. He ended up a lot better than I was: he was a three-year starter at center, had a 35-5 W-L record over his career which ended with a state title (first in our town’s history) and 2nd Team All-State recognition. Still, he had more of my size than my Dad’s so his college football option was the small school route. He picked Southern Oregon University in Ashland. He played there for three years, starting in his final (redshirt soph) year before having to “medically retire” due to injuries (concussions). As soon as football was over he quickly and happily transferred to U of O where he earned his degree. Our daughter was less enthusiastic about going to school in Eugen; she was accepted to and wanted attend San Diego State instead but unfortunately out-of-state tuition was a bit steep so she kept the Duck tradition going and has been amazing overcoming starting her college career under the cloud of COVID to now boast a GPA that my wife and I could only have dreamed of. Now when you live in Oregon loving the Ducks, unlike the Cowboys, requires no explanation. Almost every Oregonian is either a Duck or a Beaver. But no one would ever question whether or not our loyalty to the green and gold is LEGIT! MLB: Baltimore Orioles When I was in the 3rd grade my family moved from Indianapolis, Indiana to Severna Park, Maryland. While in Baltimore I attended my first ever NFL Game with my dad; a Christmas Even AFC Divisional Playoff Game between Bert Jones’ Baltimore Colts and Kenny Stabler’s Oakland Raiders. If you ever watch NFL Films breakdown the greatest games of all time, this will likely be on the list. The game went to Double Overtime…I believe the first or second such game in NFL history (maybe a Dolphins-Chiefs game a few years before went longer?). Regardless, in Double OT Stabler hit TE Dave Casper with a TD pass to win the game, a play that was immortalized as the “Ghost to the Post.” But as I said, I was already a Cowboys fan by then. Baseball, however, was another story. The way I remember it we went to a TON of Baltimore Orioles games. I had an orange O’s jersey and real batting helmet. I’d wait for dad to pull into the driveway after a day working in his office in Washington D.C. and we’d rush to the ballpark. I still remember the full lineup… C – Rick Dempsy 1B – Eddie Murray (team star) 2B – Rich Dauer SS – Mark Belanger (all glove; no bat. Kiko Garcia got some time) 3B – Doug DeCinces LF – Platoon of Gary Roenicke and John Lowenstien (who looked like weird Al Jankovic) CF – Al Bumbry RF – Ken Singleton SP’s – Jim Palmer, Denny Martinez, Scott McGregor, Mike Flangan and Steve Stone RP’s – Tippy Martinez and Tim Stoddard The O’s went to the World Series one of my two years there, blowing a 2-0 lead and losing to the “We Are Family” Pittsburgh Pirates (Pops Stargill, Dave Parker, etc). The funny thing is, when I asked my parents years later how many Orioles games we attended they recalled maybe three or four. Funny how our young minds can blow things up. It’s like heading to the house your grew up in as an adult. You can’t believe how small everything looks. From a little person’s perspective, everything seemed bigger. So my dozens of visits to Memorial Stadium in Baltimore was exaggerated by about 90%. But regardless, my loyalty was locked in. After two years in Maryland my dad was promoted to a job in New York City and we moved to Connecticut. While in New York we saw the Yankees, Giants and Knicks in person (I think that’s the norm in NY: you see the Yankees/Giants/Knicks OR you see the Mets/Jets and Nets. There’s not a lot of crossover). While in New York we attended a playoff game where George Brett, Frank White and the Royals knocked out Reggie Jackson, Ron Guidry and the Yankees. Like Maryland, I know we saw a handful of Yankee games. And at that age I think a loyalty switch would’ve been understandable, but it never happened. I stuck with my O’s then, and I’m with them today. Now it’s not nearly as important to me as the Cowboys or Ducks. As life gets busier with family and work you kick a few things to the curb, and baseball was one of my life’s casualties. I still love going to games when I’m in a MLB town and still watch the playoffs and World Series…but I’m not nearly as locked in. But when someone asks my favorite baseball team I always proudly say it’s the Orioles. They’ve actually been pretty lousy for several years now. This year, however, they won the AL East and are in the playoffs. I placed an emotional bet on them to win the World Series back in May. I got +8000 odds so my $20 could win me $1620. I’d appreciate them rewarding my lifetime of fandom by bringing home the final trophy, but I’m not sure that’s a huge motivating factor for the Birds. NBA: Washin...er...The Portland Trailblazers This is the only sport where my loyalties changed at any point during my 45 or so years as a fan. I think my first pro basketball game was in Indianapolis, watching the Pacers play in the old ABA. We moved away when I was in the 2nd grade so I don’t remember much. I know that George McGinnis and Darnell Hillman were the big names, but I think that came from getting their basketball cards later in life and not from an actual memory. Just as Maryland’s Orioles grabbed me for baseball, the Washington Bullets (well before they became the Wizards) were the local team when I first started watching basketball. Like the Orioles, the Bullets made it the finals during my brief two years in the area. Unlike the Orioles, the Bullets took home the hardware. In 1978, when I was nine years old, the Bullets defeated the Seattle Supersonics in seven games to win the NBA Title. Throughout my life I’ve always gravitated to less than marquee players. My favorite all-time Cowboy is Tight End Billy Joe DuPree. My favorite Oriole as a kid was Doug DeCinces (I’ll take “things that didn’t age well for $200, Alex”; Doug was convicted of insider trading in 2012). Besides my dad my favorite Ducks were generally tougher, non-marquee players (Michael Fletcher and Peter Simron come to mind). But with the Bullets, I was like everyone else as I chose Elvin Hayes as “my guy.” Everyone loved “the Big E.” The Bullets had a lot of other great players: Bobby Dandridge, Wes Unseld (Finals MVP), Kevin Greavy, Phil Chenier, Greg Ballard (former Duck!) and Mitch Kupcheck (future Laker GM) all come to mind. But Hayes as a 4th grader was my hoops hero. Sometime after they won the title my parents bought me an album (for the younger people out there a “album” is a dark disc that spun around and emitted sounds when touched by a special needle), “the Fat Lady Sings for the Bullets.” It was a recap of their entire championship season, including a lot of the radio play-by-play. I wore that record out. So, here’s the question: if you move to a different town, and that town has a team, is it acceptable to change your allegiance? Because in spite of the Bullets album, I did make a switch. We moved to a suburb of Portland, Oregon as I was starting high school. I tried to hold on to my love of the Bullets for a while, but truth be told in a major pro sports “one horse town” (like Portland), it’s tough not to get caught up in the fanfare. And as if the hometown pull wasn’t enough, the team was really, really good. About a month before I moved to Oregon the Blazers selected Clyde Drexler with the 14th overall pick. Within my first 36 months in my new state the ‘Zers had added Jerome Kersey, Terry Porter and Kevin Duckworth. By the time I was a sophomore in college Portland traded for Buck Williams, securing the final piece of my favorite NBA starting five ever. Portland’s only title came during the brief, injury-plagued Bill Walton era when they beat Dr. J’s 76’ers in 1977. That was before my time. But out of the gates as a Blazer fan I was treated to two trips to the finals (losing to Isaiah Thomas’ Pistons and Michael Jordan’s Bulls) as well as a season in between when Magic and the Lakers knocked us out of the Western Conference Finals when we had a team that I think was the best of the stretch. Around the time that MJ was hitting threes and shrugging his shoulders (yes, that was in the finals vs. Portland) I had graduated college and started working in the media world. A job that suddenly afforded me relatively frequent and completely free lower level tickets to Blazer games. Long story short; well before Kobe was lobbing the ball to Shaq for an emphatic dunk to complete LA’s impossible 16-point comeback over Rasheed, Pippen and Sabonis and the Blazers in the 2000 Western Conference Finals I had completely shed any affiliation with the Bullets and had submitted to Fansville a change-of-address notice that I now resided full time in Rip City. Future change possible? I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure that ship has sailed. A few years ago, during my son’s senior year in high school, he was invited by Washington State University to come to a game in Pullman as a football recruit. And, wouldn’t you know it, the game they invited us to was against the Ducks. So what did we do? Like good parents we went to the WSU Bookstore, bought a bunch of crimson and grey gear, and sat down in the home team’s section with everyone else cheering against U of O. Now my heart wasn’t in it that night, but had the Cougs offered our son a scholarship and he had become a WSU football player my loyalty would flip to him…and Washington State…for the duration of his career. The love of our kids is just about the only thing at this point that could get me to turn my back on one of the above teams. And with both our son and daughter’s organized athletic careers over, I’m pretty sure I’m more or less locked in for life (Ed. Note: Talk to me again if Portland ever gets a MLB team). For what it’s worth, the Orioles lost game 2 of the ALDS tonight to fall behind the Rangers, two games to none. And the Cowboys failed to show up for this week’s “Game of the Century,” losing to the Niners 42-10. It was NOT a good day for me, sports-wise. But the Orioles and Cowboys need not fret. I’ll still be here tomorrow.

I’m definitely a movie buff. I’ve often joked that I could’ve been a doctor, but instead filled my brain with sports trivia and movie quotes. When someone asks what my favorite movie is, the best I can do is narrow it down to a leader in various categories. Favorite family movie? “It’s a Wonderful Life.” Favorite war movie? “The Great Escape.” Favorite horror movie? “Halloween (the original one).” Favorite animated move? “Monsters, Inc.” Favorite drama? It’s tight between “Apollo 13” and “Thirteen Days.” Favorite comedy? “Animal House.” Or “Fletch.” Or “Blues Brothers.” Or “Anchorman.” OK, I struggle on the comedy one. But, if you asked me what movie I have seen the MOST times, it’s an easy answer: “Argo.” A long time ago I bought Argo on our Xfinity OnDemand. On days that I’m working from home, if there’s no sports on and I’m sick of the news, I will often go to “purchases” and watch Argo for the umpteenth time. Now this isn’t exactly a radical choice. Argo did win Best Picture and Best Screenplay when it came out in 2012 and Ben Affleck – a Mega Star since “Good Will Hunting” was both the lead actor and director. At the same time, it’s not a quotable comedy. It’s not a popcorn movie with wild chase or fighting scenes. It’s not a traditional thriller with “make you jump” moments. But still, something about the movie is so familiar and comfortable to me that I keep coming back. So…why do I keep watching Argo? I stayed many times at the Beverly Hills Hilton: Why start here? Honestly, I think this is the biggest reason I love the movie. The scene where Affleck arrives in the hotel’s turnaround, along with the costumed actors for the script reading, is the #1 “can’t miss” scene for me. It just brings back so many memories. Back in 2001 I was named the National Sales Manager for the media company I worked for. For the first time I had to regularly “hit the road” for business trips. My first trip was to San Francisco, and I had booked a room at the most affordable hotel I could find. The night I arrived I walked out of my door to find something to eat, only to be driven back into the lobby by the sound of gunshots. I hadn’t really chosen the safest part of town, it turns out. I shared this with my old boss who said, “look…if I’m going to take you away from your family to go out of town at the very least stay somewhere nice.” I listened. My next business trip was to Los Angeles and I chose the Beverly Hilton. I have no idea how much per night the rooms were, but man I LOVED that hotel. It’s at the corner of Wilshire and Rodeo; just an iconic spot. I could run out the front door and go on my jog through what I jokingly called the “come as you are” neighborhoods of Beverly Hills, which allowed for awesome window shopping of absurd real estate. There was always the same doorman in the turnaround who was like in his 60’s or 70’s and had been there forever, doing the same job, who knew absolutely everyone. He was an icon. I also had a few celebrity sightings there. The Golden Globes were filmed in the hotel (another callback to Argo; Alan Arkin says of Warren Beatty, “I took a leak next to him once at the Golden Globes”) and one night I was coming down a hallway as Pam Dawber (Mindy from Mork and Mindy) was coming the other way and I was able to open the door for her. The same thing happened when I saw Sela Ward (Harrison Ford’s wife who gets murdered in “The Fugitive”) coming down the hall. Plus, I had a drink in the lobby with Laura Ingraham, along with some co-workers (we were one of her early media outlets; this was before she got big and…well, changed). Every time I see that scene in Argo, I get nostalgic. Nostalgic for the team I worked with in LA. Nostalgic for my jogs. Nostalgic for the Dodgers and LA Kings games I went to with work friends. Nostalgic for the view outside the window, the updated rooms and feeling like a bit of a big shot while on the road. I greeted the hostages when they returned to America: In January of 1981 I was 11 years old and living in Wilton, Connecticut which I believe was the last stop on the return commuter train from New York City where my dad worked every day. One morning my parents woke us up early to drive about an hour northwest (I had to go to Google Maps to figure that one out) to Newburgh, New York where the recently freed hostages from Iran were landing on American soil. It was January on the east coast, so of course it was cold. And I remember getting up really early to be a part of the event, but if you know my dad you wouldn’t at all be surprised that he was willing to make the extra effort to secure a memory. I think there was a lot of yellow: the yellow ribbons had become a symbol of the hostages plight; and we all just lined the streets and waived at these busses as they drove past us. Weird, but I don’t recall us or my parent being disappointed but the brevity of the experience. We didn’t expect more. My parents wanted us to be a part of this historic event and we were. Some forty-plus years later, I’d have to say mission accomplished. It’s a lasting memory. Argo brings that memory back to life. I dig the look back at the 70’s: I graduated high school in 1987. I remember seeing photos from the 70’s back then: The long hair, bell bottoms and tight fitting shirts, and thinking, “man…they all look like shit. I’m glad we won’t be some embarrassed when we look back later.” And now the 1980’s are pretty much the least emulated era of the past century. NO ONE wants to look like the 80’s with the feathered hair, leg warmers and RFTW jump suits. It’s a clown show…and it’s all ours. Conversely, when I visit my daughter at her college campus I see a TON of people rocking some form of the 70’s look. A few very 70’s things seen in Argo… · Having just a few TV stations (Affleck’s “Planet of the Apes” call with his kid highlights this) · The destroyed Hollywood sign (great callback; made everyone Google to see if that really happened) · Ben rocking the gold chain and open shirt · Sideburns & mustaches · Rotary phones/pay phones/calling people and having the phone ring and ring with no voicemail. · Writing letters and popping them in the mail (actually, it was a postcard!) · The thick ties and uncomfortable fabric of the Chief of Staff/government worker’s suits · “Let’s get a drink.” · The playlist: Dire Straights “Sultans of Swing” and Van Halen’s “Dance the Night Away” just make me happy. · Lee Majors’ photo on the wall…who doesn’t love the Six Million Dollar Man? · Just the IDEA that we may all be on the same side of something as a country. I miss that. Kevin O’Roarke from “Hiding Out” with Jon Cryer is a CIA agent: Yes, this is exceedingly random…but when I found this out it blew my mind. If you’re around my age I’m sure you’ll remember the 1987 movie “Hiding Out,” where Jon Cryer is a financial guy who gets in trouble with the mob and decides to take on the identity of a high school student with really weird hair. Well the not quite cliché’ (in the end he’s not a complete dick) High School BMOC in that movie is a character named Kevin O’Roarke, played by the actor Tim Quill. Quill also played a similar role, this time as the college BMOC, in the 1989 Kirk Cameron and Jami Gertz movie, “Listen to Me” (you know, yet another drama about the college debate team. Another cliché’, right?). If you were buying Hollywood Heartthrob stock as we approached the 90’s you almost certainly would’ve gone long on shares of Tim Quill. But at least from my view, around that time he disappeared. Now checking IMDB he did put together a pretty solid TV career…he kept working…but the Argo big screen appearance came seemingly out of nowhere. Besides that, he looks NOTHING like his younger self with the full-on 1970’s mustache. Sadly, Tim Quill passed away from cancer in 2017 at the age of 54. Rest in Peace, CIA Agent Alan Sosa. It didn’t really happen that way…and I don’t care: I’ve done enough homework on the film to know that a lot of what’s depicted in Argo didn’t actually happen as shown. In particular, the final dramatic airport scene was 100% fabricated. The soldiers never pulled the group into a side room, Joe Stafford never did an elevator pitch of the movie in Farsi using sketches as props and every first responder in Iran didn’t chase the airplane piloted by a completely unaware Swedish pilot rocking a mullet to the end of the runway. Still, I look at Affleck’s depiction of Argo a little like how I view professional wrestling. Are pro wrestling matches actual battles where the final result is unknown? Of course not. However, are pro wrestlers both amazing athletes and incredibly brave for attempting and executing the moves that they do in the ring? 100% yes. Similarly, while the aforementioned intense scenes didn’t actually play out, the intensity of the moment I assume was real. The fear while sitting in the airport, waiting to board that plane, was real. The bravery that Tony Mendez showed in leading those US diplomats out of hostile territory was absolutely real. By the way, if you want to get the fully story about what happened here’s the book co-written by Antonion Mendez: Argo: How the CIA and Hollywood Pulled Off the Most Audacious Rescue in History If you decide to read it , drop me a comment and let me know how it is. As for me, I’ll likely just navigate back to my OnDemand “Saved Purchases” over and over again, happily slipping into a Hollywood fantasy that never fails to please. That’s real enough for me. If you don’t like that, well to quote Ben, Alan and John: “AR GO F&$% YOURSELF!”