💪Finkel's Fast Five 116 - April 17, 2020

Welcome to Finkel's Fast Five #116. Thanks for reading and subscribing! We're going to run a classic sports book giveaway this week. All you have to do is forward this FF5 issue to two (2) friends who you think would like it and you'll enter a raffle to get a copy of Drive: The Story of My Life by Larry Bird and Bob Ryan. FORWARD TO A FRIEND HERE. Good luck! - Jon

ONE

DOCUMENTARIES - Long before this year's March Madness was cancelled, you might remember a recent news story that was supposed to take down college basketball. It involved the FBI, wire taps, a sting operation, huge sums of money, Vegas, undercover work and some big name coaches, including Rick Pitino, Sean Miller of Arizona and Will Wade of LSU.

The story of the sting operation, the ensuing court case, and the man at the center of the trial, Christian Dawkins, is told in HBO's new documentary, The Scheme. In some ways, the doc confirms what we already know about college coaches paying college athletes under the table. In other ways, it'll have you shaking your head at the level of lying and manipulation coaches, sneaker companies and recruiters engage in just to compensate college kids for their talents while avoiding the NCAA's stupid rules. I found it fascinating and you can watch the trailer here.

TWO

MEAT - "Lockdown or not, a man still needs his protein" - Jon Finkel. Did I just quote myself? Yes, I did. But you can steal that one. Because it's true. There's only so many quick meals the culinary-challenged among us can make before we crave a fat juicy steak. And unfortunately, I've never been able to master steaks on the grill. Burgers and dogs and brats? Absolutely. Steaks? Here's a fact: I suck at grilling them. But now I don't have to because...

This four-minute video by Gordon Ramsay completely changed my steak-making life. First, forget the grill. Second, all you need to make a kick-ass, delicious steak yourself is a skillet, salt and pepper, olive oil, butter, some garlic and/or garlic salt and as many ounces of New York Strip that you can handle. I've used this recipe twice in the last five days and I've made a combined 64 ounces of meat...all of it delicious. It takes about eight minutes. Even when you aren't stuck at home, you'll be making this. I promise. Here's the video.

THREE

WRITING - Sports are dead but great sportswriting isn't. One of my all-time favorite writers, Steve Rushin, just published a profile on Giannis Antetokounmpo and the entire Antetokounmpo family in Milwaukee, including his brother, who is a 6'7" stud high school basketball player.

The piece is vintage Rushin, with perfect descriptions of high school gyms and the clever wordplay you come to expect from him, like this: The Greek Freak and the Bronze Fonz represent mythic figures often seen in the gymnasiums of southeastern Wisconsin. The bronze Fonz refers to the statue of Arthur Fonzarelli, from Happy Days, that also stands in the city. If you're in the mood for a good sports story, here you go.

FOUR

KIDS - There comes a moment in every parent's life when we've had to sit through our kid's favorite song in their favorite Disney movie one-too-many times and you feel like you want to blow your brains out... only... it's your kid... so you then watch it and sing along for the zillionth time.

But what happens when you're actually the actor in the movie you're being forced to watch with your kid, again, and it's your voice in the song? Do you still get sick of it? Do you still mail in the song? The answer, thanks to The Rock, is a resounding 'yes'. If you haven't seen this video of our guy Dwayne, exhaustedly singing "You're Welcome" while watching Moana, with his little daughter, who has no clue he's actually the one singing in the movie, well, you're missing out. As someone who had to sing this song well over a thousand times with his own daughter, it's priceless. Here you go. Enjoy.

FIVE

A great quote that seems like some people could really use right now:

“I don't think of all the misery, but of the beauty that still remains.”

– Anne Frank


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