The Best Paragraph I've Read:

Filling out brackets for the NCAA tournament is a rite of March.

You could reference the Madness Machine, The Wall Street Journal’s bracket generator based on reams of data from the NCAA and basketball statistician Ken Pomeroy. Or you could go for a more subjective approach: Is red your favorite color? Are you more of a dog person or an ornithophile? Do you like to watch teams where super tall players dominate?

As it turns out, there is a way to quantify whimsy. The Journal looked at all-time results from the NCAA tournament since 1985, when the field expanded to 64 teams, to determine which

This paragraph comes from the Wall Street Journal. The article is titled: "Cats vs. Birds: The Whimsical Way to Fill Out Your NCAA Tournament Bracket." The article is written by Rosie Ettenheim and Laine Higgins. You can read the full article here:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/cats-vs-birds-ncaa-tournament-bracket-march-madness-b91b86ec

You can read the Caitlin Clark article here:

https://theathletic.com/5190331/2024/01/30/caitlin-clark-kamilla-cardoso-juju-watkins-practice-players/

The Best Paragraph I've Read:

KLAY THOMPSON was skeptical at first. This was back in 2018, when Warriors coach Steve Kerr had arranged for the motivational speaker Tony Robbins to visit practice. Robbins spoke about many things that day, but what stuck for Thompson was Robbins’s habit of keeping his pool just above freezing and jumping in every morning. Robbins swore it was the best way to start the day.

Thompson was not much of a cold guy, but he did have an outdoor pool at his Oakland home and he did have a hard time waking up. So one winter morning he headed out and leaped in. It was, Thompson says, “very hard, very cold.”

Upon getting out, however, the chill had given way to mild euphoria, the result of what one researcher termed a flood of “the happy hormones”—endorphins, serotonin, dopamine and oxytocin—activated by the body’s cold response. So the next day, and the day after that, Thompson did it again. “You get out and you just feel like you can accomplish anything,” he said recently, sitting in a hallway in Chase Center after practice. “Everything throughout the day seems a lot easier.”

https://www.si.com/basketball/2024/02/01/ice-baths-athletes-klay-thompson-lebron-james

Zac and Don discuss the latest trend in America - cold water plunges & ice baths. They wonder if cold water can actually help people mentally and physically. Zac does some research and shares his results.

The Best Paragraph I've Read:

"Lynn Shelmerdine passes oil rigs and tumbleweed on her way to

It’s “family, family, family and I think that’s what Midwestern people are—family comes first and working hard and

“Meat and potatoes…county fairs and we definitely have lots of casseroles—we call them a hot dish,” she says. Don’t forget marshmallows in salads. “You got a church potluck, you’re gonna get that.” 

Everyone knows places such as Ohio and Minnesota are solidly in the Midwest. But a recent poll finds that the Midwest is more a state of mind than just a place you can point to on a map."

This paragraph comes from the Wall Street Journal. The article is titled: "It's Amazing How Many Americans Think They Live in the Midwest. When they Don't." The authors are Ben Kesling and Jennifer Levitz. You can read the full article here:

https://www.wsj.com/us-news/midwest-u-s-survey-west-geography-97c18794

Zac & Don discuss the borders of the Midwest. They wonder why so many Americans want to see themselves as part of the Midwest. They also share their thoughts on which states should be included in the Midwest.

The Best Paragraph I've Read:

Sometime in recent history, possibly around 2004, Americans forgot to have fun, true fun, as though they’d misplaced it like a sock. Instead, fun evolved into work, sometimes more than true work, which is where we find ourselves now.

Fun is often emphatic, exhausting, scheduled, pigeonholed, hyped, forced and performative. Adults assiduously record themselves appearing to have something masquerading as “fun,” a fusillade of Coachellic micro social aggressions unleashed on multiple social media platforms. Look at me having so much FUN! Which means it is nothing of the sort. This is the drag equivalent of fun and suggests that fun is done.

When there are podcasts on happiness (“The Happiness Lab,” “Happier”); a global study on joy (The Big Joy Project); David Byrne offering reasons to be cheerful; workshops on staging a “funtervention”; fun coaches; and various apps to track happiness, two things are abundantly clear: Fun is in serious trouble, and we are desperately in need of joy.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/of-interest/2023/12/23/fun-is-dead/

Zac and Don discuss whether fun is dead. They wonder if maybe people have expectations for fun that are unreal. They wonder if maybe fun is about who you are with and not what you are doing. They also wonder if specific age groups struggle with fun more than others...

The Best Paragraph I've Read:

Is a collection of interesting numbers and statistics surrounding this year's presidential election. These numbers come from Politico. You can read the full article and all of the numbers here:

https://www.politico.com/news/2023/12/30/2024-election-numbers-00133327

Government teacher Kevin Kopec joins Zac and Don to discuss the political statistics they found most interesting as election season begins.

The Best Paragraph I've Read:

The roots of boys’ problems are complex. Things that once benefited boys in school, including male teachers, recess and vocational classes, have dwindled in recent years.

The post pandemic ubiquity of technology also has contributed to boys’ problems—and parents’ frustration. “If you have the option between studying for boring chemistry and playing a videogame, who would choose the chemistry homework?” 

And with Chromebooks in tow throughout the school day, boys are accessing YouTube and games during class. Girls have their share of tech problems, too. But the desire for likes and connection that makes social media so appealing—and at times harmful—can benefit girls as they pursue positive feedback from teachers and peers, psychologists say.

Parents, tutors and education experts say boys need extra encouragement to understand the payoff of working hard in school. Basically, they need a bigger reason than letter grades.

This paragraph comes from the Wall Street Journal. The article is titled: "Boys Are Struggling. It Can Take Coaches, Tutors and Thousands a Month to Fix That." The article is written by Julie Jargon. You can read the full article here:

https://www.wsj.com/tech/personal-tech/middle-schoolers-academic-success-innovation-40e8456d

Zac and Don are joined by middle school principal David McKay. The three share their thoughts on middle school boys and their learning needs. They discuss whether the national trends of boys struggling to learn are true. They debate the merits of potential solutions.

The following article is also referenced during the podcast:

Inside the Schools Where Boys Can Be Boys

The Best Paragraph I've Read:

"The free throw is supposed to be an easy point after a foul: a direct, unguarded shot 15 feet from the backboard. But there’s an art to it. The ball, most players and fans would say, should leave the fingers gracefully, make a wide arc, avoid the rim — and “splash” straight into the net, as the N.B.A. sharpshooter Steph Curry called it. With the help of analytics, other shots have evolved in pro basketball. But not the free throw, and over the past 30 years, its success rate in the N.B.A. has barely budged from around 77.

The shot’s stagnation stems from the mockery that awaits any variation to the “nothing but net” technique in the United States. Bank shots — bouncing the ball off the glass before it falls through the net — are derided as amateurish for anything but layups. But a devoted group of players in the Korean Basketball League, or K.B.L., have embraced the unorthodox technique."

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/30/sports/basketball/bank-shot-south-korea-basketball.html

Zac and Don also reference the following podcast episode from Malcolm Gladwell during their discussion:

https://omny.fm/shows/revisionist-history/the-big-man-cant-shoot

The Best Paragraph I've Read:

"The Cybertruck, for all of its many faults, lives up to this promise. Too many other EVs don’t. A fully electric Ford F-150 Lightning is a technological feat that can power a house for up to three days, but from a distance, you can’t tell it apart from its gas-powered cousin. Other EVs are even more Wonder Bread: The electric Hyundai Genesis G80 is so similar to its gas twin that it has been described as an “EV in disguise.” Toyota is working on a simulated stick shift for EVs that will let drivers pretend to manually shift gears, and many EVs spurt out fake engine noises.

Some EVs, such as the retro-futuristic Hyundai Ioniq 6, are more sci-fi, but on the whole, carmakers are trying to make the jump to EVs easier by sticking with the big-grilled designs that drivers already know. That’s apparently why Ford made the F-150 EV look so familiar. “The car market is quite conservative,” Clarke said, “because for most people, a car is the second-biggest purchase they’ll make.” That tendency is dumbing down the truly

This paragraph comes from The Atlantic. The article is titled: Admit It, The Cybertruck Is Awesome." The author is Saahil Desai. You can read the full article here:

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2023/11/cybertruck-tesla-electric-pickup-design/676201/

Zac and Don also discussed the following article from the Wall Street Journal and author Heather Haddon:

No More Dry Burgers: McDonald's Overhauls It's Biggest Item