Friday Faves 2/6: Voting, Formula 1, Freaknomics, Rick Pitino, and Breakfast Gyros

Best Activity

Voting: I know the founding fathers didn’t picture millions of Americans walking into decrepit middle school gymnasia around the country to cast their ballot, but here we are. It’s probably the only thing that can create some mystique to that setting. Unless mystique is an Axe spray (I checked, it’s not an Axe scent).

I walked down to the middle school in Charlestown and casted my vote in the democratic primary. The experience always gives me the chills. It’s such an intimate experience wrapped in the greater good. I can’t think of any other action we take as people that has the same effect.

Best Watch

Formula 1: Drive to Survive: The series is back! I texted by buddy Pat who is on paternity leave: “I know what you’re watching this week.” He wrote back, “Oh shit. Was that out today?”

Not many shows can generate that type of ESP.

Best Read

This is an article about kids and phones that I wish I had written: I felt this Assistant Principle’s pain with every sentence. Phones are the worst and have created an added layer of responsibilities for educators. Some parents think they have it under control or that their kids are 100% honest with them. They’re not. Not all the time. No matter how great your kid happens to be.

Parents: your kids know every way around those “sky apps” that show you what they’re doing on their phone. They’re smarter than you, and they know exactly how to leverage that knowledge. GoodMorningAmerica.com

Twenty Years Later, Rick Pitino’s “Not Walking Through That Door” Rant lives on: Hat tip to reader and friend Rob for sharing this article. It’s been twenty years since Rick Pitino lost his mind at a press conference and offered his nomination for the Mount Rushmore of Coaching Meltdowns. This piece is more like an oral history, with quotes from various people involved or covering the Celtics during the Pitino Era (Full Disclosure: I forgot Pitino coached the Cs for as long as he did. What a disaster.) - TheAthletic.com

An Article Remembering my Former Golf Coach: Bob Molt, who was the golf coach at Holy Cross, passed away last week. He was quite the guy with a boatload of stories, a pocket full of one-liners and a big, kind heart. - Telegram.com

Best Listen

Bill Simmons Podcast: If you’re not an NFL fan, skip the first 30 minutes of this pod and listen to Simmons’ interview with Stephen Dunbar, coauthor of Freakonomics and host of the Freakonomics Radio podcast (which is next on the list). Dunbar is super interesting and turns the podcast around into an interview of Simmons, which is always fun when he’s a little off kilter and has to talk about himself and not just make constant analogies to Boston sports stars and 1980s movies.

Freakonomics Radio: I had never listened to a second of this podcast until Thursday; I listened to a few since, and this one about meetings hit close to home. Meetings suck, and schools might be the worst at running meetings. I still get the chills when I remember the 4:15-5:30 Monday evening meetings we would have.

Best Eat

Breakfast Gyro at Committee in the Seaport: Tiff and I are running a bunch of miles on the weekends as we creep up on the Big Sur Marathon at the end of April. This past Saturday was a cold, windy day for a run along the Charles River. A trip to Committee kept my legs churning, and golly it was worth it. We don’t go to brunch all that often, but this Breakfast Gyro might be my favorite brunch item I’ve had in Boston.

The Gyro is served in a large pita stuffed with chorizo, scrambled eggs, and cheese. It’s insanely good all the way around. The chorizo is in big chucks, the eggs are cooked perfectly (creamy but not watery). The pita is soft and the side of potatoes require no ketchup or hot sauce. Just a dynamite brunch following a 19 mile run.

Soy-Glazed Chicken Breasts with Pickled Cucumbers: It took a lot on Thursday evening to not pull the cover off the grill, stand outside with a beer, and enjoy the early days of spring. But this chicken recipe was a phenomenal alternative. It is simple and absolutely delicious. The process of cooking it made the chicken unbelievably tender, and even though the recipe calls for like a lot of steps, the chicken stays in the pan the whole time, just covered or uncovered with a few ingredients added as you go. Serve on rice, or make it a GD sandwich.

Best Drink

Daily Serving by Trillium: This beer blew my mind. It’s basically juice. We had the mango and passion fruit version, but they have a bunch of different brews. I have nothing else to say.

Best Plug

The Random Division Pod: The Women Tell All was not all that great, which is on brand with past versions of the reunion episode. But Tiff did a Reddit deeeep dive and we talked about the women who were, and weren’t, at the union. Listen here on iTunes and here on Spotify.

As usual, spread the love and tell your friends, or just nab their phone and subscribe for them. They’ll thank you later!

Oh, and follow us in Instagram: TheRandomDivisionPod.

The Imperfect Game: Both and I continue to get as much as we can out of the research we did this winter. This week, we picked the worst stadium, fans, crests, uniforms, etc from the ten teams we have highlighted in this series to build our Nightmare Club. Listen here on iTunes and here on Spotify.