Category: Pop Culture
Popular culture, culture that seems to spread beyond more than three people
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Robot umpires are coming to the Major League
It was only a matter of time: robot umpires are coming to Major League Baseball.
Human plate umpires will still call balls and strikes, but teams can challenge two calls per game and get additional appeals in extra innings. Challenges must be made by a pitcher, catcher or batter — signaled by tapping their helmet or cap — and a team retains its challenge if successful. Reviews will be shown as digital graphics on outfield videoboards.
Maybe it’ll cut down on ejections?
Adding the robot umps is likely to cut down on ejections. MLB said 61.5% of ejections among players, managers and coaches last year were related to balls and strikes, as were 60.3% this season through Sunday. The figures include ejections for derogatory comments, throwing equipment while protesting calls and inappropriate conduct.
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Paul Hubbard creator of the huddle
In 1884, a deaf football player created the huddle.
During a tight game in the fall of 1894, Paul Hubbard—quarterback for the Gallaudet University Bison, and known as “the Eel” for his canny maneuvers—made a simple move that changed sports forever: Concerned that his hand signs were tipping off his plans to the opposing defense, Hubbard summoned his offense and directed them to form a circle around him, creating what many consider the first football huddle.
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A history of cell phone ringtones as told by statistics
Remember when people paid good money for a cell phone ringtone?
In 2003, a Swedish animator created a 3D frog character to accompany “The Annoying Thing,” which caught the attention of ringtone maker Jamba!, who eventually combined “The Annoying Thing,” the 3D frog character, and the theme music from Beverly Hills Cop, rebranding this conceptual Frankenstein as “Axel F.”
At its peak, Crazy Frog captured 31% of the UK ringtone market, generating over £40 million in sales in 2005, driven by an extensive advertising blitz where the song was featured up to 26 times a day on British television (per channel), reaching an estimated 87% of the population. The ringtone was so ubiquitous that it later spawned a full-length single, which climbed to #50 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Crazy Frog’s meteoric rise is a perfect encapsulation of the 2000s ringtone craze: a grating 30-second meme that started as a phone alert, morphed into a charting single, and is now a forgotten relic—practically unknown to Gen Z.
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Tunnel girl
A northern Virginia woman, known on the Internet as “Tunnel Girl,” or Engineer Everything, is constructing a massive underground tunnel below her house.
You’ll find her on TikTok detailing her process and journey.
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Competitive jigsaw puzzle solving
Sometimes, as they say, the algorithm delivers. In this case, a YouTube video of competitive jigsaw puzzle solving popped up from one of the more well known puzzlers, Karen Puzzles.
There is a surprising intensity to the competition, especially when the competitors are near completion and each only have a dozen or so pieces left. As a sport, and provide plenty of material for ESPN quality commentary – history of competitors, techniques, and more.
In the below video, she attempts to do a speed run of a 5000 piece puzzle, breaking down strategies and approaches for competitive jigsaw puzzle solving.
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Art History hidden in Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift’s engagement photos
There are too many coincidences for this not to be intentional, but some of these are not commonly referenced artworks. Art historians found numerous references to classical paintings in Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift’s engagement photos.
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Co-op as affordable housing
The Swiss pioneering a different approach to affordable housing: co-ops.
What if homeownership had no profit motive and no capital gains?
In Switzerland’s member-based cooperative housing, new residents buy shares to gain admission to the building and get one vote in the corporation regardless of how many shares they own. The co-op uses the money to maintain the building, keep rents below market rate and, often, provide communal amenities like child care.
When a resident moves out, their shares are returned at face value. There is no capital gain.
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Play ball, get a car
Back in the day, a college football player getting a car required either subterfuge or other shady creativity. Today, however, with the free for all that is NIL, players can get a car easily, and car dealers are becoming a power broker with programs.
There has always been a mystique around cars in college football. Before NIL, there were whispers, message-board postings and social media photos soft-pedaling accusations of underhanded dealings by boosters.
Paparazzi-style photos appeared in the newspaper, like in 1979, when future SMU Pony Express (and Excess) star Eric Dickerson’s gold Trans Am made national news and became the most famous car in college football history, right up there with the Ramblin’ Wreck of Georgia Tech.
But now, there are thousands of Eric Dickersons. Players legally pose with their new sports car on a dealer’s Facebook page. While it takes some of the cool factor out of the old days, it’s a natural evolution for the combination of sports and commerce. And a Pontiac seems downright quaint in retrospect. Across the country, major college football parking lots might as well be outside the Chateau Marmont.