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3… 2…1… We’re on the Air: An Inside Look at Sports Television, Journalism, and Gender Equity – by Robert Steinfeld

Posted on 10/21/202510/24/2025 by Mark

I never would’ve known about this book had it not been for a friend of mine, Richard Oliver, on Facebook, who shared an update status where he interviewed Robert Steinfeld (Bob) at the JCC in San Antonio.  Now, let me tell you that when I worked for the San Antonio Spurs from 1999 to 2002,…

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Niko’s Time Off

Posted on 10/19/202510/19/2025 by Mark

Niko was off from school Wednesday through Friday, for no particular reason. I guess that is how the schools in Minnesota function. He does get time off like this throughout the year, in addition to Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years. But no Spring Break like in Texas.  Nina worked most of her hours on Monday…

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Misunderstood: A Memoir – by Allen Iverson

Posted on 10/18/202510/24/2025 by Mark

I knew of Allen Iverson from his college and professional playing days. I also knew of what happened at the bowling alley that landed him in jail when he was in high school. Being a fan of the NBA, I enjoyed watching him play ball. So, when I saw this memoir of his life, I…

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Softly, As I Leave You: Life After Elvis – by Priscilla Beaulieu Presley

Posted on 10/13/202510/24/2025 by Mark

I have already read Elvis and Me: The True Story of the Love Between Priscilla Presley and the King of Rock N’ Roll – by Priscilla Beaulieu Presley and From Here to the Great Unknown: A Memoir – by Lisa Marie Presley and Riley Keough, so I was definitely interested in reading Priscilla’s new memoir…

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The Dad’s Trilogy of Random Thoughts

Posted on 10/12/202510/12/2025 by Mark

I got three random things I wanted to share and didn’t feel like separating them out over the next three weeks. So, you get them all today. 10/10/2025 On Friday, Nina and I celebrated 15th wedding anniversary. I took Nina to lunch at a “nice restaurant” on the lake near our house. Not the one…

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Wonder Girl: The Magnificent Sporting Life of Babe Didrikson Zaharias – by Don Van Natta Jr.

Posted on 10/08/202510/08/2025 by Mark

I knew a little bit about Babe and read a little bit about her in a book called Shattering the Glass: The Remarkable History of Women’s Basketball by Susan Shackleford and Pamela Grundy, but I wanted to know more, and this book didn’t disappoint me at all. From her high school basketball team as a…

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The Dad Isn’t a Lifeguard

Posted on 10/05/202510/05/2025 by Mark

Last Saturday and Sunday, Niko and I went to the community center where they have an indoor pool. He took swim lessons over the summer at the local high school, and now, he is a professional swimmer who loves showing off his skills. When we do pool, I strive to be there right when they…

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Moses and the Doctor: Two Men, One Championship, and the Birth of Modern Basketball – by Luke Epplin

Posted on 09/30/202509/30/2025 by Mark

I got this from Netgalley, so I can read and review it before it’s published. Having just read a biography on Moses Malone and read Julius Erving’s memoir a few years ago, and also reading a memoir about Eddie Gottlieb, the man responsible for professional basketball in Philadelphia, I was intrigued. This book is pretty…

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Madden & Summerall: How They Revolutionized NFL Broadcasting – by Rich Podolksy

Posted on 09/28/202509/28/2025 by Mark

I was aware of who Madden and Summerall were and was eager to read this book. I am glad this book didn’t go into extreme details for every NFL game John Madden and Pat Summerall worked together as broadcast partners. This book highlighted how they got started as broadcasters and how they got together as…

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The Dad HandyMan

Posted on 09/28/202509/28/2025 by Mark

Since we moved to our new house in June, I have done a lot of “DAD HANDYMAN” things. It’s not like the house we purchased was in shambles and needed a ton of work. Just normal things that needs to be fixed or replaced. I think we have something like 25 doors in our house…

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Yes keep it: short blogs by Niko

Posted on 09/26/202510/02/2025 by Mark

My dad has been thinking about deleting his website. Because of the price and no-one visits. I have been telling him to keep his website because the other hosting website is garbage and he is just following his path. (I am sorry that this is shorter than normal I don’t really have anything to write…

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The Book of Sheen – by Charlie Sheen

Posted on 09/24/202509/24/2025 by Mark

When I saw this one as an upcoming new release, I immediately threw it in my “want to read” list on Goodreads. I was interested in to learn more about his life growing up with an actor dad and an actor brother. I was interested in some of his movies that I thoroughly enjoyed –…

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Dark of the Moon (Virgil Flowers, #1) – John Sandford

Posted on 09/22/202509/22/2025 by Mark

I have recently finished reading all of the Lucas Davenport Prey books, so I was familiar with Virgil Flowers. It was nice, though, in this book, that I got a lot more insight into Virgil’s parents, his marriages and divorces, his fashion (rock and roll t-shirts), and his curb appeal to the ladies. There is…

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Cat + New House = Chaos

Posted on 09/22/202509/22/2025 by Mark

Ever since we moved into the new house, the cat has acted like an explorer in a kingdom full of locked doors. Every forbidden room is a treasure cave to him, every closet a secret passage. He prowls the halls like a furry outlaw, crying at doors as though they’re keeping him from his destiny….

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School Week 2 – 3 By Niko

Posted on 09/22/202509/23/2025 by Mark

This Blog is edited by ChatGPT here is it’s version: On the Friday of the second week of school, I woke up with a cold that clung to me like a fog. Dad understood and let me stay home, which felt like a small mercy. The weekend came and went, but the sickness refused to…

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Bad Words

Posted on 09/21/202509/21/2025 by Mark

For 9 years, Nina and I have done a really good job of keeping bad words out of Niko’s vocabulary. Niko is aware of the bad words (probably from classmates at his old school), but he kept them pretty far back in his brain. He never used them and whenever something appeared audible to him…

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Shattering the Glass: The Remarkable History of Women’s Basketball – by Susan Shackelford and Pamela Grundy

Posted on 09/17/202509/17/2025 by Mark

I have had this book in my want to read list for a while, and I have tried a few times to get into it, and stopped. It’s something that intrigued me, but again, I just couldn’t get into it.  Well, a few days ago, I tried again, and this time, I trudged slowly through…

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Week 1 – School not High School Football

Posted on 09/14/202509/14/2025 by Mark

The first week of school for Niko is in the books, and no complaints. Normally, and just like me, he doesn’t enjoy Physical Education, but on Thursday he said he played soccer and as the goalie, he blocked a lot of balls, and he also scored a goal! The drop-offs in the morning has been…

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The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame: The Outrageous, Definitive, Untold History – by Craig Inciardi

Posted on 09/13/202509/13/2025 by Mark

I got this book from Netgalley, so I can read and review it before it’s published. As a music fan, when I saw this book, I was definetely intrigued. I did get the opportunity to visit the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame once, but that was many years ago. I also own most of…

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Moses Malone: The Life of a Basketball Prophet – by Paul Knepper

Posted on 09/10/202509/10/2025 by Mark

I got this from Netgalley, so I can read and review it before it’s published.  Before I dive in, I was a huge basketball fan (mainly San Antonio Spurs, but also the league in general). So, when I saw this biography of Moses, I was all in and extremely intrigued. I knew a little about…

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Hi, I am Mark. I started writing in 2011 about high school football, daddy blogging since 2015, and reviewing books since 2023. My writing style is unique, my sense of humor is a little crazy, and I’m not embarrassed to share any of it. You can email me at thedadspeaks@icloud.com.

Book Reviews (289) High School Football (302) The Dad Speaks (639)

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