The USMNT suddenly turned into one of the most complete team in international soccer as soon as we divided the game into four quarters. You connect the dots.
USA. A Mexican restaurant. We had not yet ordered anything, and the food was already arriving.
Chips. Salsa. Unrequested. Free.
I stopped the waiter. "We have not earned these."
"They just come with the table, man."
They come with the TABLE. In my land, hospitality is a debt. Every gift creates an obligation, weighed carefully, returned in the proper season with interest of feeling. Here, the gift arrives before you have even proven you can pay for dinner.
This is not an appetizer. This is a declaration: we trust you. Eat.
I ate with the gravity the moment deserved. And then — I must report this calmly — the basket emptied, and a new one appeared.
"Did we…?"
"Refill," the waiter said. "It's bottomless."
Bottomless. They have wells of salsa. The supply lines of this nation are beyond anything my ancestors imagined.
My friend warned me. "Don't fill up on chips, dude."
Too late. I had accepted three baskets. Honor demanded each one be finished — an unfinished gift is an insult. By the time my actual food arrived, I was a ruined man.
I was not hungry. I was not comfortable. I had been defeated by a courtesy.
Generosity that arrives before the request cannot be repaid. It can only be survived.
I know the rule now. I have made my peace with the basket. One basket. Two at the most.
Who am I deceiving. There is no number of baskets I would refuse. The trust of a nation is in that salsa, and I intend to honor all of it.
Algerians doing jigs in Kansas... Brits eating barbecue in Texas... Koreans doing full on kegstands in Mexico... just goes to show that the entire world can be united by the simple concept of getting really drunk and watching a sporting event
Victor Wembanyama’s agent says he refuses to do endorsement deals with soda companies
"They all want him, but Victor will never sell soda. Because he doesn’t want to kill the kids."
(Via @JaredWeissNBA / h/t @TheNBABase )
In the US, spending on data center construction now exceeds spending on public transportation infrastructure — including airports, marine terminals, and all mass transit.
Not even exaggerating in the slightest when I say that this is one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen…
A no-dip, mid-air 3 ball? Are you kidding me?
I’ve watching this 100x & I don’t plan on stopping any time soon. This is amazing.
I just want to take this opportunity to point out that there is a man named Henry Walter Wooten, from Smith County, Texas, who is serving 35 YEARS IN PRISON for marijuana possession.
Carry on.