Top-5 Mac Musings – August 12, 2025

WHAT DO YOU DO FOR AN ENCORE?

One of my favorite commercials features a toddler and his dad watching a spectacular sunset. As soon as the sun goes completely behind the horizon the child says, “Do it again, Dad”.

Life is like that. No matter what you accomplish there is always the question of “Now what are you going to do next”?

I’ve been told this “what have you done for me lately” mentality defines much of the corporate culture in this country. Since I have no real first-hand experience in that world, I will dive into parallels about a world and culture I know very well: college and professional athletics.

When I first started at the University of San Diego in those almost impossible to imagine days before the internet and social media changed everything (yes, I am aware I am very old, thank you) wins seemed to last a bit longer and good weekends would be savored into the middle of the next week.

Now? Not so much. I will never forget being in a visiting clubhouse in San Francisco’s AT&T Park and seeing the ashen look on a young player’s face. He had just been told he was being sent down to the minors. I wanted to talk to him because he had homered and driven in the tying run in the game. 

USC Football is still paying approximately 21 head coaches to not coach the Trojans this season. This may be a slight exaggeration, but I can guarantee you there are more former SEC football head coaches being paid not to coach than active SEC head coaches actually coaching. 

What have you done for me lately?

In one of his best-selling books, legendary basketball coach and GM Pat Riley called it the “Disease of More”. That has always stuck with me. What Riley was talking about are the very things I get so exhausted by on ESPN and sports Twitter.

Within five minutes of Florida winning the 2025 NCAA Men’s Basketball Championship, I fumbled for my phone and timed how long it would take to see the inevitable tweet. Within 90-seconds it was there: “The Way-Too-Early 2025-26 Preseason Men’s Basketball Top-25”.

We simply do not take enough time to celebrate the wins. It is always on to the next thing. I understand the mindset. I have been around coaches for a long, long time and one of the stalest, most consistently uttered quotes about the current win is some variation of, “We will enjoy this today but tomorrow it is on to the next one”. 

One of the most memorable win celebrations I have ever seen came during the 2006 NCAA Regional in Lincoln, Nebraska. I was there with the University of San Francisco, making its first-ever postseason appearance in 100 years of baseball.

On the opening day of the tournament, tiny Manhattan University out of the NEC upended No. 6 national seed and host Nebraska 4-1. The Huskers had two future MLB starting pitchers on the roster, but the Jaspers were completely unimpressed, clubbing back-to-back homers off future Yankee Joba Chamberlain. 

The team celebration was amazing to watch. They were a touch excited. That night after returning to the hotel, I saw the entire Manhattan coaching staff celebrating in the hotel bar. It was authentic. It was loud. It was poignantly sloppy. Their reaction when the last call was called was hilarious. 

My takeaway? Savor the wins. Big ones, medium ones, small ones – doesn’t matter. The “next one” is not guaranteed. Reflect on them and prepare and position yourself to win again.

Postscript: After falling to eventual regional winner Miami in the opener, the Diamond Dons defeated the Jaspers 6-4 on day two for their first postseason victory.

And now onto my Top-5 Musings for Tuesday, August 12, 2025.

1. Friday’s summit meeting in Alaska would be a great time for ICE to stuff Vladdy into the back of an unmarked van. I can think of nothing that would boost national security and world peace more than taking that logical step.
2. Yesterday, Joe Biden said he was “going to Russia to talk with Vladimir Putin”. He also later called it a “feel out meeting”. Immediately it was the lead story on every network demanding answers for the mental fitness of the President.
3. Oops. Sorry. That was the current occupant of the White House that said that with zero pushback. Zero. The summit is being held in Alaska. Which is still part of the United States and definitively not in Russia, according to The Google. Would you look at that… Not a peep nationally.
4. Hasn’t he already done enough “feel-out meetings” with his old buddy Epstein?
5. I would pay to watch a Festivus-style summit.

Bonus Top-5 – My Favorite One-Hit Wonders – Now playing on my Google Nest

1. All for You – Sister Hazel
2. Blinded By The Light – Manfred Mann
3. Just a Friend – Biz Markie
4. Stuck in the Middle With You – Stealers Wheel
5. Jessie’s Girl – Rick Springfield

QUOTABLE
“My fellow Americans, I’m pleased to tell you today that I’ve signed legislation that will outlaw Russia forever. We begin bombing in five minutes”. 

– President Ronald Reagan in 1984 while testing a microphone before a radio address. This quote prompted a “Red Alert” in the USSR and outrage in Congress on both sides of the aisle.