The Daily Friday: Monday 9/25

It’s another week in paradise. Here’s what you need to sound smart today.

1. Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce are confirmed banging and in love forever after she went to a Chiefs game, sat in a suite with his mom, and left with him in a goddam convertible. This is gonna end sooo bad.

2. NJ Senator Bob Menendez indicted for accepting bribes in the form of literal golds bars, which FBI discovered after he searched ‘how much is a kilo of gold worth' after a trip to Egypt. Savvy.

3. Do not let your girl watch the Super Bowl halftime show this year: Usher will be performing.

4. Big weekend in college football, as Ohio State pulls off the W against Notre Dame, FSU rallies late to beat Clemson and Colorado comes back to Earth and out of the top 25.

5. The WGA tentatively agreed to a deal with Hollywood’s major studios yesterday. HERE’S WHAT THAT MEANS

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Let’s get into it.

WRITER’S STRIKE

Finally. We’ll get The Drew Barrymore Show back.

After 5 months of striking, the WGA has reached a tentative deal with Hollywood’s major studios. The terms of the deal are not known, but here is what we do know.

• WGA leadership has claimed ‘major concessions’ from the studio, likely around AI and increased profits from the streaming business model. The 11,500 members of the unions still need to ratify it, which should happen as long as everyone isn’t annoying as fuck.

• During the strike, the studios were facing down an estimated $1.6 BILLION loss in global ticket sales for movies that were being pushed back, including Dune 2 and Lauren Boebert’s most highly anticipated film…Beetlejuice 2 (was her first date handjob a staged marketing stunt? More at 11.)

• Once the contract is signed, late night and daytime talk shows will return, which has to suck so bad for Drew Barrymore. She ruined her reputation, all for the strike to end a week later. Tough.  

• Scripted shows will still be on pause until the actor’s union agrees to terms, which means you’ll have to wait for the new reboot of The Office on Peacock. Let’s actually keep the strike going so that never sees the light of day – why mess with perfection?  

LONG LIVE CHICK-FIL-A

Chicken rules this country. Always has and always will. I would not be surprised if Raising Cane’s takes that #1 spot in a few years - that Texas Toast is elite.

I would really like the meet the people who are keeping Panera in the top 10. That place is hot garbage.

NFL: Being a Jets fan is a fate worse than death. Every one of us should be suing for free dental care because of Zach Wilson.

Packers rallied from down 17 to beat the Derek-Carr-less Saints, Dolphins hang 70 (!) on the Broncos (where Mike McDaniels used to be a ball boy,) and Cards stun Cowboys with 28-16 W. Was Kyler Murray holding them back?

DeShaun Watson may have thrown for nearly 300 yards and 2 TDs in a 27-3 W against the Titans, but this play will live on forever. As it should.

MLB: Yankees officially miss playoffs, Braves win 100 games for second year in a row and Mookie Betts sets record for RBIs from leadoff spot with 105.

Interesting stat: Cristopher Sanchez is the first pitcher to strike out 10 hitters with changeups since 2019. Nice!

One week to go and the playoff race is getting TIGHT in the NL. I just want every team to try their best and have fun.

CFB: After a last second TD to beat Notre Dame, Ryan Day was prepared to beat an 86 year old Lou Holtz to a fucking pulp. Love this energy.

Highlight Roundup: Just a little bit ironic that this speech by Oregon HC will get a fuckload of clicks online. Caleb Williams got hit in the penis, this dude puked his absolute brains out, and Jimbo Fisher is an elite 12th man.

All-time headline here. Marching band community has not had this much drama since Nick Cannon played another man’s snare at halftime in Drumline.

This was easily the greatest catch ever caught on tape. And that includes my high school Hudl highlight tape.

OTHER: Kid Cudi made Stephen A Smith look like Clayton Kershaw with this pitch. Catastrophically bad.

WHAT ELSE IS GOOD

Pete Davidson reportedly dating Madalyn Cline from Outer Banks. Cool, man. Why don’t you focus on making a good movie before you run out of famous people to date for 2 weeks?

The IRS will now be tracking down ticket resellers that made more than $600 last year. This is how you reward us after we helped you fight your precious fighter jet Big Government??

Genius marketing here by Smokehouse Burgers, where NYT reporter David Brooks had a “$78 meal” at the Newark Airport. $17.78 still isn’t an amazing deal but beggars can’t be choosers.

A liberal group is spending $70 million to make Joe Biden look cool online. Save your money and just remind everyone that he’s Hunter’s dad. You’ll be fine.

MONDAY MOVE

Paperback in the back pocket is always the move, no matter the situation. Getting out of technical jargon convos at work by seeing what the boys in West Egg are up to is the new Irish Exit and you can’t tell me otherwise.

STUFF TO CLICK WHEN YOU’RE BORED TODAY

• Shoutout to this kid. Extremely believable note.

• The Spanker of Shelter Island.

• Confessions of a Journalist turned drug smuggler.

• NASA collected a sample from an asteroid. Here’s why it matters.

• Did not know that George Bush could rock fits like this. Respect.