Mike

[NOBUNAGA🇯🇵🏯_夏樹蒼依 @japan_nobunaga]

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.

[Mike @fubar14]

@CTVIanWhite @pauldebron

[Mike @fubar14]

@BryanTweed16

[🏆 Griff @M_Griff10]

Leaving for work this morning, I looked over and saw what was left behind in the cul-de-sac - a hockey net, scattered sticks, and the remnants of what had to be a 15-20 kid street hockey game last night.

And it hit me… I live at Topsail. A beach community in North Carolina. Yet these kids are choosing to play hockey in the street instead of the “traditional” Southern sports you’d expect around here.

That’s what the Carolina Hurricanes @Canes have done for this state. They didn’t just build a fanbase, they grew the game. It’s honestly amazing seeing hockey take root in places as random as a beach town cul-de-sac. 🏒🌴 Happy Gameday!!!

#SoundTheSiren

[Mike @fubar14]

@AdderleyPhil @texasrunnerDFW Ya but look at yourself. Nightmare

[Mike @fubar14]

@Leafsthoughtz @Bun73529461 @walsha Average nhl salary pre lockout/pre cap was 1.7-1.8 mil. Average today is around 3.5 mil. Minimum wage was 165,000 ish, it’s like 775k currently.

[Mike @fubar14]

@cspotweet They picked first overall 4 times in 7 years there court

[Mike @fubar14]

@JackieBee_16 @MikeHalford604 @SadClubCommish looks like smuggled in a ziplock bag looool

[Mike @fubar14]

@Adamkblat @kevole And they havnt. Calm yourself

[Justin🦩Boldaji @justinboldaji]

Telling everyone how impressive my first gay bareback orgy was

[Tone Digs @ToneDigz]

I-right wiggle 34 switchblade. For the state championship. I love all y’all baby, I love all y’all.

[Mike @fubar14]

@justBlakePrice You’re just happy it’s on your side of the bridge!

[Mike @fubar14]

@johnkriordan @BColon40 Pitchers are allowed to hit

[Mike @fubar14]

@Nic111392

[Mike @fubar14]

@SeanBean_90 @mattsekeres Hronek

[Mike @fubar14]

@justBlakePrice @stephenVking Hronek is

[Mike @fubar14]

@Tys35 It has basically nothing to do with it. Hockey registration comes from affluent families. The best kids aren’t picking goalie at 8. They wanna be mcdavid. Thats what’s marketed. And they’re using sticks that are Ferrari’s which lets them light up little kids in huge nets.

[Mike @fubar14]

@keithbaldrey Nobody complained when we beat the Czechs. And nobody complained 4 on 4 in 2010 and the golden goal. We don’t bitch. We congratulate them. We move on. We get better.,And we beat the shit out of them next time

[Mike @fubar14]

@Grimmace_0311 @HoodiKodak Congrats. What a hockey game