1.
When I was in 7th and 8th grade I’d wake up on a weekend morning and play Mike Tyson’s Punch Out or Zelda or NBA Jam for hours. Now my 13-year-old son gets up and wants to go on his iPad and play Roblox or Brawl Stars or scroll YouTube shorts or some other garbage for an hour.
I feel like that’s so much “worse” than our old video games. It seems like all these new games and apps are designed to make kids addicted and dumber. And so, like most of you, we have daily/nightly discussions about “putting the screen away” etc… We have ‘screen free Sunday’.
I’ve even said stuff like, “Just put the screen away and watch TV!”, which doesn’t make any sense (to me it does!). Then again, I was probably addicted to Zelda. For sure I was addicted to Golden Eye on Nintendo64. Is there a real difference? I sense this stuff is a net negative for our kids. I think so, but I don’t know.
2.
For most of my life until my early thirties, I drank a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice (with pulp) and took a basic Centrum with my breakfast. When I was a kid it was a simple Flintstone’s vitamin. I stopped drinking orange juice a while ago because of all the science dorks saying it’s basically “sugar water” and it spikes your glucose and blah blah blah.
But I recently had a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice at a diner for the first time in a long time. And damn was it delicious. I’d just finished swim practice and ordered another. And guess what I realized? It’s a great post-workout drink. Fast digestion carbs. High vitamin C. Great for hydration with potassium and electrolytes. I don’t know if it’s “better” than the expensive post-workout supplement I’ve been taking with BCAAs and betaine and glutamine or whatever. But I’m switching back to OJ because I like it. And it’s one ingredient.
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3.
I find myself watching “old” movies from the 80s, 90s and ‘00s whenever I’m relaxing on the couch at night. I’ll open up Netflix or HBO or whatever and I’ll fly by their “Top 10” and new “trending” stuff most of the time. Some of the movies look good, but next thing I know I’m watching Rounders or Crimson Tide or Gladiator or Heat or Goodfellas or Wedding Crashers or Swingers again.
There are plenty of great movies that have come out in the last twenty years. I wrote about my 2026 Oscars for Dudes here, but I swear the run-of-the-mill guy movie from that 80s-to-early-2000s period is so much better than today. Are those movies really better for some reason? I think so, but I don’t know. I just know when I’m looking for a comedy, nothing comes to mind after about 2008 and I always end up with that motor-boatin’ son of a bitch John Beckwith and Jeremy asking if they’re built for speed or comfort. So good.
4.
In the car on Saturday my daughter asked me what the dad equivalent is for getting moms flowers on Mother’s Day. I laughed. My first answer in my head wasn’t kid appropriate (haha), but then I thought about it and told her there isn’t one.
I don’t know a single dad who actually cares that much about Father’s Day in terms of getting some standard gift. Most guys I know don’t want anything. No fuss. No big deal. Just let us chill. Or golf. Or do whatever relaxes us. The modern dad spends more time with his family than any dad in history by orders of magnitude. We love you. The best thing you can do for us is to let us have a frictionless day where nobody needs anything and we don’t have to go anywhere. That’s it. We’re simple creatures. But maybe that’s just me. I don’t know.
5.
I rarely want ice cream or sweets or dessert after dinner. I never have cravings for that stuff after I eat a meal. Even at nice restaurants with good desserts.
My cravings for sweets typically hit around 2pm-3pm on random weekdays. I used to deny these and have a protein shake or apple or something “healthy”. I don’t anymore. If I’m working from home randomly on Thursday and I feel like eating a bowl of ice cream at 2:47pm, I’m having a bowl of ice cream. With whipped cream. And sprinkles. And some chocolate syrup. It’s one day a week. Maybe. Life’s too short. Enjoy yourself. Is this a good philosophy? 50+ ice cream sundaes a year? Ha! I think so, but I don’t know.
6.
I coach my son’s 12U flag football team with my brother and a good friend of mine. I love having my nephew and their friends on our roster. We’ve teamed up for a few years now. It’s a ton of fun and we have a really strong squad this year.
In last Sunday’s game, my son, our center, was having an issue with his flags and he got frustrated and just took them off and tossed them all on the ground towards the sideline. He then bent down to snap the ball like everything was cool. Every player, coach and official was confused. I shouted out: “Buddy, you need your flags on! It’s, you know, flag football!”
And he said, “I’m not getting the ball anyway on this play! It doesn’t matter!” Everyone laughed. Perfect 13-year-old boy logic. We had to call a timeout. That was a first for me in my seven seasons of coaching flag. Was it a first ever? I don’t know, but it was hilarious.
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Jon Finkel
Editor-in-Chief, Midlife Male
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