Todd Anderson

[BaseballHistoryNut @nut_history]

Every Major Leaguer were once a kid having fun playing baseball.

Paul Skenes was driving by Little League baseball fields last night and saw the lights on and decided to stop and throw the ball

He was there over 2 hours signing, chatting and playing

[Todd Anderson @Todd_Anderson1]

@midwestsportstv Thank you

[Aakash Gupta @aakashgupta]

Denzel Washington had a 1.8 GPA when his university asked him to leave. Years later he stood at a podium and told 5,000 Ivy League graduates: "If you don't fail, you're not even trying."

March 1975. He'd switched majors three times at Fordham: pre-med, pre-law, journalism. Cardiac morphogenesis was the course that broke him. He couldn't pronounce it. He couldn't pass it.

He was 20 years old, sitting in his mother's beauty shop in Mount Vernon, when an elderly woman under a hair dryer pointed at him and said he was going to travel the world and speak to millions of people.

He went back to Fordham and switched majors a fourth time. Theater.

Two years later he played Othello as a senior. Graduated 1977. American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. Film debut 1981. Best Supporting Actor for Glory in 1989. Best Actor for Training Day in 2001. Tony in 2010. Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2025.

In 2011, Penn picked him as commencement speaker. The Oscars and the Tony made him eligible. His son Malcolm, a sophomore studying film, made him the actual pick. The university secretary called him their first choice, no debate.

The speech itself is about failure. He told the graduates he once had a 1.8 GPA. He failed an audition for a musical because he couldn't sing. He delivered it all in the cadence his father used in the pulpit. Reggie Jackson's 2,600 strikeouts. Edison's 1,000 failed experiments. The "fall forward" refrain ran the entire 22 minutes.

A single YouTube upload of the speech has crossed 35 million views. Every motivational compilation runs it. Every business school plays it.

The woman in the beauty shop said millions. She was off by two orders of magnitude.

[Mr PitBull Stories @MrPitbull07]

I went to my neighbor's door at 7:45 PM ready to ruin her night.

I'm 72 years old. Retired. Widowed. All I wanted was quiet.

For four months, the crying from next door had been constant. On Tuesday it had been going for three straight hours. Not crying. Screaming.

I had my HOA speech ready. I was going to be the villain.

She opened the door before I could knock a second time.

I forgot every word I planned to say.

She was 24 years old, trembling, hair matted to her face, eyes swollen nearly shut. Her toddler was on the floor behind her, red-faced and gasping.

"I know," she said before I could speak. She wasn't looking at me. She was looking at the floor. "I'm trying."

Her husband had been deployed two weeks ago. The baby had a double ear infection. That morning, her washing machine had flooded the hallway. The repair man wanted $250 just to look at it.

"I don't have $250," she whispered. "I don't have anyone."

I have never fixed a washing machine in my life. I sold life insurance for 40 years.

But I looked at that girl — because that's what she was, a girl, completely alone — and I heard myself say:

"I used to be a mechanic. Let me take a look."

I lay on her linoleum floor for an hour. I searched YouTube tutorials on my phone. I got soaked in gray water. I cut my knuckle on a rusty clamp.

I pulled a baby sock out of the drain pump.

When the water finally drained, I felt prouder than I did the day I retired.

I took the baby so she could shower. He screamed when she handed him over. I started humming the only lullaby I could remember — the one my father used to sing.

Ten minutes later, he was asleep on my shoulder, drooling on my best flannel.

I sat in that messy living room in the warm silence and realized something that knocked the air out of me:

I hadn't held another person in two years. Not since my wife died.

When she came out, hair dried, clean clothes, she looked like a different person. She put her hand over her mouth when she saw us.

"He never sleeps for strangers," she whispered.

"I'm not a stranger," I said. "I'm Frank. I live next door."

She told me I'd saved her life.

"It was just a clogged pump," I mumbled, and walked home.

I looked at the grease under my fingernails for a long time.

I didn't wash it off.

Tomorrow I'm going to mow her lawn. Her husband is fighting for our country. The least I can do is fight the weeds.

Check on your neighbors. We're all drowning in something they can't see through the walls.

Credit: James

Ai image is for demonstration purpose only.

[Todd Anderson @Todd_Anderson1]

@shawnbryant50 So true thanks for sharing Bubba

[SDPB Sports @SDPBSports]

HAIL MARY to end the half! As Jerren Deal throws one up to his 6'6" tight end Cooper Terwilliger who finds the endzone! What a half of football in the 11AA State Championship game! Pierre T.F. Riggs leads 35-28 heading into the 2nd half. #SDPreps #SDFootball25

[Todd Anderson @Todd_Anderson1]

@tommyheis Different colored crocs?

[Todd Anderson @Todd_Anderson1]

@RyanDeal_605 Rumor has it⚾️

[Todd Anderson @Todd_Anderson1]

@VanMansheim @RyanDeal_605 Thanks for the update. Much appreciated ⚾️

[Ryan Deal @RyanDeal_605]

All quiet on the Western Front.

[Todd Anderson @Todd_Anderson1]

@RyanDeal_605 Continuing to upgrade. Nice⚾️

[Ryan Deal @RyanDeal_605]

T9: Devil Rays 5, PBR 1. Parkston is three defensive outs away from knocking off the defending state champs.

[Ryan Deal @RyanDeal_605]

End of 7: Parkston Devil Rays 3, Dell Rapids PBR 1. Dell Rapids Legion pitcher Tad Tjaden into relieve Drew Sweeter. Ty Neugebauer with three hits and two RBIs for Parkston.

[Ryan Deal @RyanDeal_605]

T6: Parkston’s Ty Neugebauer rips a two-out, two-run double into left field. Devil Rays lead PBR, 3-1.

[605 Sports @605_sports]

Class B state amateur baseball tournament second-round pairings
https://t.co/cDLnEQsqLL

[605 Sports @605_sports]

Aug. 4 State B Legion Roundup - Parkston moves past Groton, sets up rematch with Dakota Valley
https://t.co/rJy71JSkQC

[Todd Anderson @Todd_Anderson1]

@tommyheis Thanks. Appreciate the update