Every professional athlete wants to win a championship for their team. It’s the culmination of a season, or career, and the ultimate in glory on the field, court, or diamond. Beyond beating all comers, there are other advantages to winning a title—as in a substantial cash bonus. KENTUCKY DERBY On the first Saturday in May, […]
Solo, a Star Wars prequel about the early days of Han Solo—played in the original films by Harrison Ford—is currently filling up multiplexes. Here are some things you might not have known about the galaxy’s most charismatic space smuggler. The space pirate ship In early drafts of the movie that became Star Wars: A New […]
On behalf of dads and fathers everywhere—don’t get your pop another tie or some kind of golf-related item or barbecue accessory this Father’s Day. He hates wearing ties, and he has all the golf balls and novelty aprons he’s ever going to need. Let Uncle John help you pick out the perfect gift for Dad—a […]
The 2018 Stanley Cup Finals will pit the Washington Capitals against the Vegas Golden Knights. If you don’t follow hockey closely, did you even know that there was a team in Las Vegas? There is, and they’re making history. First* The 2017-18 season is the Vegas Golden Knights’ inaugural season. Expansion teams are traditionally terrible—it […]
Another exciting baseball season has begun, so here’s a look at some of the zaniest and wonderful contributions to Major League Baseball by one the game’s most innovative and entertaining owner, Bill Veeck (1914–1986), who once held stakes in the Cleveland Indians, St. Louis Browns, and Chicago White Sox. Park-wide singing of “Take Me Out […]
With the NBA Playoffs underway, basketball is all about drama and excitement at the moment. Sometimes, however, pro basketball is just downright strange. How foul Bubba Wells played just one year in the NBA, as a reserve for the Dallas Mavericks. In a tight, December 1997 game against the Chicago Bulls, Mavericks coach Don Nelson […]
Selling a lifestyle and a brand and customer loyalty…but it only seems to work with the beer itself. Budweiser Black Crown Tired and alarmed at how “microbrews” or “craft brews”—strongly flavored, potent, regionally-produced beers—were cutting into their sales, Budweiser introduced its own craft brew-like product in early 2013. Like those upstarts Budweiser Black Crown was […]
…and other big, brazen thefts of huge amounts of very specific foods. The Nutella heist Nutella—a mixture of ground hazelnuts, chocolate, and a lot of sugar—is peanut butter’s sassy European cousin. People on both sides of the Atlantic are wild about it, particularly in Western Europe, and they’ll apparently do anything to get more of […]
It’s the end of an era for Ronco, an era they created. Ron Popeil’s company virtually invented the as-seen-on-TV product, sold via informercials. And in the process, they made millions…but that’s all in the past now. As the company files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, here’s a look back on some of the crazy gadgets Popeil […]
Humans boast at least five senses. Dogs seem to have a few more—as evidenced by the fact that they can sense illness and medical conditions in humans before the humans have any idea. Migraines According to a University of Pittsburgh study, dogs that live with people who suffer from migraines are able to notice subtle […]
The colloquial term “big 4” refers to the four major team sports organizations in the United States and Canada: Major League Baseball, the National Football League, the National Basketball Association, and the National Hockey League. That should probably be “big 5.” Here are some facts about Major League Soccer…which is much more popular than you […]
The royal wedding between Prince Harry and American actress Meghan Markle has been in the planning stages—and hotly anticipated—ever since they announced their engagement last November. Let’s hope they crossed every t and dotted every i, and can avoid these mishaps of royal weddings past. Old Hat One of the perks of being the queen […]
There’s never a dull moment when kids open up The Big Book of Funtivity. Loaded with all sorts of puzzles, brainteasers, jokes, weird facts, and more, this book will entertain and amuse kids for hours on end. Doodle and fill in the blanks of your own silly comic strips, perform cool science experiments with household objects, […]
Or rather, how long can a person be president of the United States? The answer is (probably) not what you think. We hope you enjoy this civics brainteaser. What do Uncle John’s political feelings and free time have in common? The only political group he identifies with is the “Trivia Party,” (which he made up […]
Some celebrities are as famous for their shocking deaths as they were for the work they did during their lives. As it turns out, the collective knowledge of their deaths…turned out to not be true. JAMES DEAN Dean was a brooding, charismatic, and magnetic screen presence. His mystique likely grew because he starred in only […]
Today is Eat What You Want Day…but your doctor would probably advise you to skip most of these fast-food gut-bombs anyway. Sweet bird There’s more than one way to bread and fry a chicken. You can dredge pieces in flour, or corn flakes, for example. Or, you could go to Popeye’s and have some sweet […]
Avengers: Infinity War is filling up movie theaters around the country, irresistible to audiences for how it assembles literally dozens of well-known superheroes from Marvel’s “Avengers” team, including Captain America, the Incredible Hulk, Dr. Strange…but definitely not these characters from old Avengers comic books. Big Bertha Ashley Crawford is another member of the Great Lakes […]
Las Vegas is one of the biggest cities in America, but it only recently got its first major pro sports team—the Vegas Golden Knights of the NHL. (They won their division and are cruising through the playoffs in their first season—unprecedented for an expansion team.) Sports in Vegas were a long time coming—here are some […]
