This meme kills two birds with one stone. Thursday was Groundhog Day. Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, predicting six more weeks of winter while in the southern state of Georgia General Beauregard Lee did not. The New England States are getting what’s described as a once in a generation arctic blast this weekend but temps will bounce back up into the 40’s in just a day or two. It’s gonna be cold up north, who could have guessed? General Lee predicts early spring but except for a few days of single digits temps in December this winter has been pretty mild. We’ve had an abundance of rainfall but that keeps the temps pleasant.

Tom Brady has retired again but… there is one NFL franchise owner asking him to come back. Sort of. Robert Kraft would like Brady to sign a one-day contract with the New England Patriots so he can retire, for good, from that franchise.

Speaking of records – Tom Brady played a remarkable 23 seasons in the NFL and retires with seven Super Bowl rings. I am not the world’s biggest NBA fan but the first year I taught middle school, 2003-04, LeBron James was a senior in high school. It was big news that he was drafted out of high school and never played in college. Fast forward 20 years and he is only 63 points away from breaking Kareem Abdul Jabbar’s all time scoring record. That record was set in 1984 when Kareem passed Wilt Chamberlain. Unless King James were to score 63 points tonight against the Pelicans, it will probably happen at the next Lakers home game on Tuesday. Kareem has made plans to be at the next couple of home games on Tuesday and Thursday just in case.

You’re only in trouble if you get caught. I imagine that every now and then someone somewhere gets away with this. In small schools of a few hundreds students, in remote districts far away from everything important, putting in a young adult as a student athlete has probably flown under the radar. Arlisha Boykins in Portsmouth, VA, did something you’re not supposed to do – she got caught. The 13-year-old student who was actually on the JV team was traveling to a tournament with another club. The 22-year-old assistant coach suited up and played in the game. The head coach has been fired and both the JV and varsity seasons are over for this year.

That’s actually a cargo plane, the last passenger 747 was delivered to Korea Air in 2017. Hailed as the first jumbo jet Boeing’s 747 entered service for Pan Am in 1970. At that time the 747 was twice the size of the most popular 707’s and DC8’s, workhorses of the airline industry. The Boeing 777 entered service in 1995 and the current 777X series will be the twin engine jet aircraft that dominates the industry in coming years.

School House Rock is not ready to be put out to pasture just yet. It’s been 50 years since Three is a Magic Number put multiplication facts, or should I say times tables, to catchy lyrics that kids would enjoy remembering. 20 years ago my wife gave me the complete DVD set which at the time I declared the best present anyone has ever given me. The 50th Anniversary Sing Along features Disney, Broadway and and current pop stars and is hosted by Ryan Seacrest. Show of hands: who had to memorize the preamble of the Constitution in high school? Keep your hands up if you can only do it while singing. That’s what I thought.

Movie Genres of the Past Century – The resolution of this image may not let you clearly read the graph numbers but you can easily follow the trends. Notice the way documentaries took off in the last 30 years. Westerns have almost flatlined but every now and then… I saw Tombstone in the theater back in 1994 and I happen to like the Jeff Bridges True Grit remake. That’s not to say I don’t like True Grit starring John Wayne and its sequel Rooster Cogburn but some people feel that new movies ruin older ones.

The Super Bowl is next Sunday but an epic Super Bowl party is probably not the Valentine’s Day gift your wife or girlfriend is hoping for. I’m sure there are plenty of women that enjoy football but just a public service announcement for guys that tend to focus on only one thing at a time: maybe think about dinner for two on Saturday then chips and guac on Sunday. Both things are coming up. Don’t be the stereotypical clueless guy looking for candy and flowers on Monday evening, you just make us all look bad.