💪Word Up: Finkel's Fast Five - Issue 92 is here

ISSUE #92 - November 1st, 2019

ONE

BOOKS - Pop Quiz, Hot Shot: Who is the most famous escape artist of all time?

I'm guessing 95% of you immediately thought of Harry Houdini (and I'd be curious who the other 5% thought of....David Blaine, maybe?). Anyway, one of the best sportswriters around, Joe Posnanski, tackled a biography of Houdini called The Life and Afterlife of Harry Houdini (great title) which I just ordered. During his prime, Houdini was arguably one of the two or three most famous people on EARTH. Full stop. Not too many humans can say that. Really looking forward to this one.

TWO

MUSIC - I love working out to new playlists but I absolutely hate making playlists. Luckily...

A lot of people on iTunes enjoy making playlists for the rest of us...and if you're into Def Jam Records classics and a playlist with everyone from Method Man to LL Cool J to Jay-Z, then this is for you. Been cranking it at 5am in the Flex Factory every morning this week and I'm loving it. It's called Rap Heavy Hitters. Here's a link.

THREE

FEATS OF STRENGTH - I love to read and I know most of you do as well... But have you ever tried to read with one hand while banging out one-armed pull-ups?

Me neither... And I wouldn't have thought that was even possible if not for this post by LA Chargers running back, Austin Ekeler, who is doing exactly that: reading with one arm while doing pull-ups with the other. Goals, my friends. Goals. Check it out.

FOUR

HALLOWEEN THROWBACK - I know you all love dumb photos of me, so I have to thank my best bud Eddie Coblentz for making sure he snapped a pic of one of my all-time laziest (and best ) Halloween costumes from when I visited him in Minnesota many years ago and went to their yearly party.

The costume is as plain as it is genius: buy a matching pink sweatsuit with a pink wool hat, tie a sneaker on your head and voila, you're gum on the bottom of a shoe! It's a guaranteed crowd pleaser. (FULL DISCLOSURE: I'm pretty sure I ripped off this idea from another longtime friend, who we'll just call Chain Child because he was a huge Calbert Cheaney fan back in the day.)

FIVE

AN EXCELLENT QUOTE FROM THE SHINING

"Tough old world, baby. If you're not bolted together tightly, you're gonna shake, rattle, and roll before you turn thirty.”

— Stephen King, The Shining

BONUS:

WATCH THE JOCKS IN CHIEF BOOK TRAILER!!!

THE OFFICIAL JOCKS IN CHIEF BOOK TRAILER