​What do you pay attention to? What do you ignore? What do you no longer care about that you used to find intriguing? All good questions.
 
They came to me recently when I realized how my sports viewing habits changed over the past 10-15 years. The seeds were planted and watered way earlier than that, probably during the early years of baseball free agency in the early-1980s.
 
At that time, I still knew the lineups of many major league teams. I could tell you who the all-stars were. I grew up as a New York Yankee fan, endured many bad seasons and then they’d come back to the top of the league and I was invigorated to pay close attention, watching several playoff and World Series contests that charged me up.
 
That joy (and caring) went away slowly as free agency made it more difficult to root for the players (who are what we invest ourselves in as fans). When I stopped connecting with them either because the Yanks were paying monumental bucks to bring in free agents or they were losing players for the same reason, that was when my level of disinterest accelerated. You didn’t know the names of the players on the rosters anymore. Why care?
 
 I remember analyzing this in my head those 40-some-odd years ago. Pre-free agency, the MLB roster of 25 players would typically be 20 or 21 from the year before. After free agency, that number started to drop and you might only know 17 the next year or 15, or 13. It was harder to recognize the names and get to know the players because they shifted so quickly.
 
That process, in general in professional sports, has only accelerated since then. And, now, it has become ubiquitous in Division I college sports, particularly football and basketball.
 
The NIL (name, image, likeness) system in college sports is a good and fair thing to me, but a result has been college free agency for athletes. They go to another program to get more money, and you no longer follow the roster of your favorite team as closely.
 
Another factor weakening my support as a fan at the college level is the additional year of eligibility. Many players now stay for a fifth year and transfer out of their long-term program to a better NIL deal with another school for their last year. You lose your connection to the athletes you wedded yourself to.
 
These variables hurt the fan and the sport. It’s hard to root for a player if they don’t stay at your school for very long. In they leave after one year (increasingly common), you’ll quickly forget they ever went to your school.

This is sad and has changed my sports viewing and cheering habits dramatically. I just plain don’t watch nearly as much sports as I did 15 years ago. I was a college basketball junkie for 30 years, easily. Now, if I watch one or two full games a week, that would be unusual.
 
As humans, we focus on what we like. We root for teams and players because of local ties or the types of players/teams that stand out to us in some way. They’re fun. They compete loose and fast. They have some pudgy, slow left-handed guy who can’t miss a three-point shot or masters a shovel pass threaded to his teammates repeatably for layups and you go, “YEAH! DO IT, BIG MAN!”
 
All that has changed. We aren’t going back. I’m hoping for some sanity in the accelerating transition of players at the collegiate level. I’m hopeful we are in a small period where everyone is figuring out how to adjust, then things will settle down and I can become more of a fan again.

​Do we lose a sense of wonder with the world as we age? I’m not sure. I think I can go either way on that question depending on how you choose to look at life.
This week got me pondering: Tuesday, I went to the supermarket. It was cold, the wind blowing. A woman had her young son (probably a year-and-a-half old in my guesstimate) in the cart, getting ready to open the rear door to her SUV.
 
She hit the “open” button on her key fob, and you heard the telltale latch release and then the backdoor pop and start to rise. Suddenly, the child released a loud spontaneous mirthful howl, his eyes lighting up and pointing with his finger at the door raising itself seemingly by magic. He stared, his eyes sparkling. I couldn’t stop laughing.
“Wouldn’t it be great to have that sense of wonder with the world?,” I asked the mother. She smiled and nodded.
I headed off to my car, smiling myself, a look that didn’t leave my face for the five minute drive home. The child’s reaction got me headed down the “what if” path.
 
What if we all continued to view the world through the years of a young child as we passed through older stages of life? Would we be happier? Would the world be a better place? Would our creativity surge?
 
The cliché is to not become childish, but remain childlike. See the world through the lens of a youngster, staying fresh, learning, absorbing, being open to all those possibilities.

We wall off (most of us) as the years add up, going into our cocoons, hibernating, sticking to routines that have proven acceptable, foods we like, vacation sites we know we’ll enjoy, friends who are tried and true. All that is good.
 
It’s also good to open your childlike eyes and see what’s new, what you can explore that might activate your senses. Smells, sites, tastes are all critical to how we experience our daily existence. I think the case of this child “seeing” something unique/unusual in the rear door popping open was a case of him seeing something unexpected. Maybe he’d seen it before, we’ll never know. But, because it was odd or new and even if he remembered it, the action provided him with a charge that he belted out to the world.
 
We’re probably not going to do that as adults. But we can bring a more receptive mentality to our daily lives in how we perceive events, other humans, animals (there’s a huge category), countries, scenery, technology.
 
One of my all-time favorite scenes in a movie is when Will Ferrell as Buddy in the movie “Elf” guzzles a two-liter jug of Coca Cola, then burps for 23 seconds, his eyes lighting up, as he says, “DID YOU HEAR THAT?” Oh, yah, we did. Buddy’s wonder with the burp made the scene hysterical
 
I love the word “spellbound.” That’s the word I applied to the child in this story. Something ignited him. He was mesmerized, spellbound.
 
Keep chirping happily. Keep your mirth alive. Stay spellbound. See the humor. Pop that car door. Watch the magic. 

​In another small stroke of genius by our fitness facility, they asked members to scribble their thoughts on a large sheet of paper on the wall describing: “What are you looking forward to in 2025?” Here you go:

• Being grateful.
• Starting a new career.
• Getting married.
• Body pump release 3! Yes!
• Biking.
• Jesus.
• Getting in shape.
• Finding something to look forward to.
• The weekend.
• Better body.
• Healing my knee.
• Making 6-figures.
• Next pro fight 2-1-1.
• Graduating nursing school.
• Becoming a father.
• Doing my 5K.
• A skiing trip with my kids.
• Refereeing lots of basketball.
• My next beer.
• Disney cruise with the family.
• Peacefulness.
• Building more muscle at the WAC (Wisconsin Athletic Club).
• Getting married to Zack.
• Spring break.
• February Florida vacation.
• Half Iron Man 6/25.
• Not doing planks.
• Traveling the world with my beautiful wife.
• Graduating MU (Marquette University) 2025.
• Reading 5-6 books a month.
• Best friend’s wedding.
• Reaching college weight.
• Another year with Bianca.
• Prioritizing and loving myself more.
• A new sense of freedom.
• Better grammar and punctuation (aiming and arrow > towards some bad punctuation on the sheet of paper on the wall).
• A better year for my son.
• To creating a webtoon comic about cage fighters. Check out updates @taskytiger.
• Next Harley ride!!!
• Outdoor.
• A better year!
• Being happy being alone. Loving myself.
• Losing 30 more pounds.
• Opening my own business.
• Having better mental health and to let go of toxic moments in the past.
• Enjoy the small things (smiley face).
• Losing weight. Feeling fit.
• Sailing on the “Icon of the Seas” February 2025.
• Snowboarding more often.
• Traveling and getting jacked.
• Swimming and running. Lila.
• Skateboarding.
• Pickles.
• Staying out of jail for the whole year.
• Spring break.
• Enjoy the small things.
• Traveling.

What are you looking forward to?

​Scamming never ends, does it? You think people would learn not to click on misleading, crazy introductions or statements that come through email (or increasingly) text messaging (and who knows where else?).
 
Scamming people goes back a long way. The phone is still a major avenue where some anonymous individual attempts to suck your savings account dry.
 
But it you can go back in history to the snake oil salesman at the traveling carnival. Selling you crap that doesn’t work. Getting you to believe something that’s not true or possible.
 
I’ve come close at times to following up on something that is well written and appears real, but held back each time and sent the inviting message to someone else to get their opinion. Invariably, we have agreed, the special offer was BS. Delete it. Ignore it.

Not everyone does. That’s why the scammers stay after you.
 
There’s someone I know and respect who took it in the shorts. They chose to follow through on some sites that preyed on the elderly and he dove right in. He believed the junk. He swallowed the package of lies whole. His bank account took a hit. It was very sad to see.
 
If you live in a modern economy, you know what many of the scams look like. If you’re vigilant, you block or delete. Still, they keep coming, keep thinking you’ll get soft and bow to their pressure.

The attempts are multi-pronged. They try to break you down in many ways. They grab you with the headline. They mislead you with the greeting.
 
For the sake of humor and enlightenment, here are a few I’ve captured for the reader to file away with knowledge that you can’t trust what comes next. You know it’s spam and a scam when it starts out with:
 
“Hello.”
 
“Good Day.” Must be from Australia. Who do you know there?
 
“My Dearest.” No one talks like that.
 
“Now’s the time.” For what?
 
“Hi.” Self-evident.
 
“Please. May I talk with you?”  No.
 
“Your account.” Hey, dude, you know nothing about my account.
 
“My greetings.” Huh?
 
“Your order is ready.” No it’s not, I haven’t ordered anything from you.
 
“Don’t let bad credit.” I won’t.
 
“Unshackle yourself.” I’m not in jail.
 
“Empower your finances.” They’re already empowered.

"Your account has been." No it hasn't.

​"Having trouble." Nope.
 
Feel free to add your own. Stay vigilant. Keep your hand on your wallet.

​In 2023, for the first time I kept a “jar of positivity.” I’d read about it and thought, “good idea.” You write down over the course of the year the good things that have happened to you and place them in a jar, then collect them at the end of the year and read them to remember and revere. It was a good exercise, and I did it again this year.
A quick summation: those events, gatherings, incidents, actions, whatever, that give the most joy (at least to me) involve hanging out with others in fun situations. This is not surprising given all the data out there regarding people who feel good: their relationships are critical. So, here you go (in no particular order):

1. Heading to the Wisconsin state high school football playoffs with my friend Peter and spending time with his sister after sitting through two frigid games.
2. Thanksgiving in Seattle with our son, visiting Discovery Park, Pike Place Market, the Space Needle, the Pinball Museum. Hanging out, good dinners.
3. Christmas with everyone home.
4. New Year’s eve with my younger brother and his wife, with our alma mater Illinois put a winning touch to one of it’s best football seasons in decades.
5. Our younger daughter’s wedding: father-daughter dance; the ceremony; the reception; seeing friends; dancing like a maniac; golfing with the father of our son-in-law (great course). And, earlier in the year, heading down for practice dancing, golfing with our daughter and son-in-law at Forest Park, getting custard, hanging outside around the firepit with a beer. Before the wedding: our son and nephew photobombing in piggyback fashion a photo taken inside the house. Uncontrollable laughter.
6. River cruise in Milwaukee, out into Lake Michigan with my wife and our Italian exchange student. Sitting in front of the boat and watching the world go by.
7. Golf with softball teammates from the Traitors in Kankakee, IL.
8. Our 50th high school reunion, and finding a fake plastic arm to give people the “CLAW” hold on their heads. Too many laughs. Not enough time.
9. Golfing with a referee buddy for the first time and eagling one of the toughest holes on the course after he hit a majestic 7-iron and I holed a 43-foot putt. Teamwork.
10. Our annual brothers and cousins golf reunion: swimming across the lake with my nephew and not drowning; shooting down the slide into the lake and almost making it crash; hot wings contest; defeating our sons in the annual three-day scramble for the first time in year (playing lights out); good food; great stories; campfire; relaxing.
11. Annual golf tournament with the Wisconsin Security Association and good times with current and former colleagues
12. A new and favorite restaurant serving Nepalese food.
13. A first round win in the playoffs in our 55+ men’s baseball league.
14. Maren Morris concert (first concert in more than 10 years).
15. Comedy Sportz World series featuring Seattle vs. Chicago.
16. Golf before the bridal shower with son-in-law, his brother and father.
17. Running the 800, 400 and 200 in the Wisconsin Masters Games. Okay, jogging. Perhaps shuffling.
18. Annual freebie game with guys from our church at the Milwaukee Brewers, eating subs, catching up with home brews in the parking lot.
19. Trip to Maine: massage from a woman my wife and I have been going to for more than 30 years; spectacular weather; quality time with our older daughter; shooting three straight great rounds at a wonderfully scenic and challenging course. Maybe I was relaxed.
20. Referee camp in Pennsylvania where I serve as a clinician. Helping other officials improve. The drive out and back with my wife.
21. The Hall-of-Fame banquet for our Wisconsin Masters Games. Great to see the accomplishments of older athletes who continue to compete.
22. Watching Caitlin Clark and Iowa in the semifinals and finals of the NCAA women’s DI college basketball championship.
23. Visiting with good friends from Texas, who have built their dream home east of Dallas on a lake: golf, fishing, storytelling, funny late night text messages.
24. Surprising my older brother for his 70th birthday and a round of golf with him his two closest buddies. Conversation, beer.
25. Refereeing the eighth grade basketball B championship contest in the Wisconsin State Games with my good friend John. No exaggeration: we got seven compliments over the course of the last two games of parents and coaches coming up to us afterwards to tell us what an excellent job we did on the court. Earlier we had received four compliments after working a fifth grade game. Remember that.
26. Driving to Minneapolis to the Big Ten men’s basketball tournament with my wife to watch two games. Staying at a boutique hotel in Eau Claire on the drive back and walking over for a good meal and cocktails.
27. Refereeing a high quality high school basketball game with two new partners in a tightly contested battle. Walking out, a huge man beelined to us across the hallway. He comes up, and goes, “That’s the best officiating job we’ve had here this season.” Made our day, perhaps our season.
28. Seeing the “Blizzard Acrobats” with my younger brother and wife. Long walk the next morning on a cold day.
29. Working a Saturday morning high school 9th grade boys basketball game with a guy I’d never met before and feeling like we were on the exact same page the entire game. Zen.
30. Heading down to Washington University in St. Louis and taking in a baseball and basketball game over the course of the weekend, sitting outside on a beautiful spring day and enjoying the sun. Scrambling with my son on the Forest Park golf course to hit three consecutive birdies to break 80. Crushing the ball and dialed in (writing this just now triggered the memory).
31. Text from a friend who said I should be refereeing high school state championship level games. Nice to have friends like that with belief in you.
32. Ongoing LinkedIn conversations with a good friend who my wife and I met on the running/dog walking trail and had him join our Ragnar team in 2023. Stayed in touch ever since.

Connections. Quality time. Conversation. Laughter. Golf. Hang out time. Sitting around fires telling stories. It all fits.

The decline of Christmas cards continues. I’m confident I’ve written on this subject before, but given the gradual reduction in Christmas card mailings, it’s worth noting this change in our national character.
 
We no longer stay in touch through the written word. We don’t use mail. We don’t take time to put pen to paper and write something down to share with friends and family during the end-of-the-year holiday season.
 
If I did write about this topic last year, I would have pointed out that at the peak for my wife and I, we received 88 holiday greeting cards. I couldn’t pinpoint the peak year. A fairly good guess would put that sometime between 2005-2010.
 
Our basket overflowed with pictures, notes, and massive explanations that probably included Aunt Betsy’s petunia garden and exotic vacations. Things that you probably didn’t care about.

Maybe that has fueled the reduction in people sending greetings this time of year: they don’t feel they have much to say. Or they feel what they said the year before is pretty much what they’ll say this year.

Or they’ve gotten bored with sending cards. Or they think you might be bored with the annual update. Or they don’t care. Or other forms of communications have supplanted the mailed expression of caring.
 
You can go on and on regarding what’s caused this change. Social media, certainly, plays a part. Large numbers of people put a family greeting on their most used social media site, so you can get the family update there. That’s cool. Nice to see the picture and read up a bit.
 
The world has changed. Snail mail is still fun to get, but not many people send something, so you must milk your joy from the technology others choose to use for transmission.

I must say I miss some of it. Back in the day, returning to our parents’ home for the holidays, I always looked forward to perusing who had sent cards, what they had to say, and whether recent photos were included. Our family moved several times, so those cards were an opportunity to stay in touch, see how those friends and relatives were doing. It was like you came home literally and figuratively to catch up.
 
There is an element of “losing a tradition” as the number of cards coming to our house has gone down and down, to 11 last year and eight this year. I don’t know if some of those friends have passed away. I don’t know if they’ve moved. They may have gotten married or divorced, who knows?

I’m guilty. I only respond now to those friends who continue to send us greetings (unless they are direct family or live nearby, and then I don’t ever send a card; I figure we’ve either seen those people recently or will see them soon, so we can update them live).
 
I’m nostalgic for those cards, opening the mailbox and seeing three or four personally addressed envelopes with our name on them, knowing I’ve shared something with each of them, and they are staying in touch.
 
We will move on. Our card tally may drop again next year. We will stay in touch to the best of our ability. And, the tradition slowly eases its way out of our lives.

​It was dark. Driving in my car up a slight rise, a young deer suddenly appeared in my lights to the side of the road. It startled me. I lost focus for a micro-second. That was enough.
 
Looking back to the two-lane highway where the beams of my lights directed me north, another fawn appeared the middle of the road. Instantaneously I jammed the brakes and yanked the steering wheel right, the car swerving.

So, so close. Almost missed it. Not quite. The front left bumper grazed the young deer ever-so-slightly. There was the telltale “bam” of plastic/metal meeting the fawn. It stunned me, traumatized me, but I had to move on.
 
Afterwards (a day or so, looking back), I got into the “what if” game. What if I’d done this instead? What if x, y or z hadn’t happened?
 
It made me consider the variables necessary for an accident to occur. Time and place certainly come into play. If you weren’t at the exact time and location, you wouldn’t have had the accident. It was random circumstances.
 
That evening I took a different route than I normally did to the basketball game I was going to referee. Why did I do that? It’s slightly odd. I’m not a big user of GPS on my phone to direct me to where I’m driving. I tend to keep extensive directions and knowledge in my brain to know where I’m headed.
 
That night though, I chose to use GPS, instead of my regular route to the high school. The new route was where the accident occurred. Random.
 
If I’d driven to the game slightly earlier, it would still have been light out rather than dark. My eyesight would have been better. It would have been easier to see the deer from farther away. Again, another random factor likely contributing to the accident.
 
Here’s another thought: what if another car had been in front of me? They would have braked and startled the deer away (hopefully not making contact). There would not have been a deer in the road if I was right behind another vehicle.

Similarly, if a car had come from the opposite direction and illuminated the road, the deer would likely have fled before I arrived. A seemingly small variable like that could have prevented the accident.
 
My wife uses her bright car lights regularly. She wants to know what’s ahead, what might be lurking to the sides of roads. I don’t do this. What if, instead, I’d taken her perspective and regularly used my brights while driving down country roads? I’d have one less cracked front bumper.
 
Slight threads change things. Random variables can cause things.

I continue to contemplate this. Not really the “why” of the accident. You’ll never figure that out.

But, I do focus on all those variables that had to come together for the accident to occur. Remove one of them, or add another, and you drive away with no event.
 
Do I have any advice? Not much, and it’s pretty basic.
 
Be careful. Look for deer. Use your brights on lonely country roads. Know your route. Accidents are sometimes just accidents.

​Some people have too much time on their hands. Given how fast paced our society is these days, all the distractions, responsibilities and options, it’s hard to believe that there are still bored people with nothing to do.  But there are, and some indicators demonstrate why they have nothing better to do with their spare time.
 
Though I am not a big poster on Facebook, I do use the site to keep up with friends, see how they are doing, put up pictures when something significant happens in my (our family) life. Keep people posted. Those with too much time on their hands have other ideas about what to place on Facebook.
 
Rather than occasionally posting or putting some thought into what they put online, some people  randomly post and post and post and post. You wonder what’s so important about those posts and why they feel a need to put certain things online for others to peruse.

Let’s take an example. One guy I know lets everyone know where he’s traveling. He clicks to show his location – an airport, restaurant or train station, whatever. Like we care. Maybe burglars care and can follow his account then check to see if his house is deserted so they can rob him. I don’t want to know you are traveling or eating out. Drop it, please.
 
Another guy is the political poster. He puts up item after item disparaging a politician or a party. Over and over and over, the memes, pictures, links attack someone. It’s old, it’s boring, please stop.
 
You can tell another person has too much time on his hands because he repeatedly pulls up comics and puts them out there for us disinterested people to read and wonder what the heck the point is that he’s trying to make. When something is too esoteric and convoluted, why choose to share that? You have too much time on your hands. We don’t care.
 
Another guy is the resident foodie. You probably find them on your feed, too. They take pictures of food that always looks delectable.

The recipe is included. Sometimes there’s even a video to demonstrate in fast forward speed how to put the dish together and make it appear like it is the tastiest dish you’ve ever had in your life. I don’t deny that many of these look wonderful and sometimes find myself salivating, but hey, don’t you have something better to do with your time? I guess not.
 
Then, of course, there’s the guy (and, oddly enough, all of this people are “men”; perhaps women aren’t allowed on the list of “bored” people) who loves his music so much that he must share all his favorite albums and songs. This sub-genre spins in many directions.
 
He may post a song. He may post his top ten albums of all-time once a week until you go glassy-eyed. When done, he finds new ways to inundate you with his music choices and knowledge, none of which you care about.
 
I know, I know, there is a quick and easy solution: don’t go on Facebook. Turn it off. I agree. Still, there are good friends I have there and many interesting and worthwhile posts that engage me.
 
So, you hit the site, scroll quickly, delete and hide certain posts, sometimes unfriend someone, and yawn repeatedly, as the boring cream-of-wheat content whips past your eyes. My advice to those who spend so much time thinking we care about repetitious information is this: go outside, chop wood, work up a sweat, go hunting, find a new fishing hole, plant a garden, walk the dog, build a chair in your garage, read a book, take up a new hobby. That will keep you off social media for bit and maybe help create some interesting content for your next post.

​So many tribes…. To join or not to join, that is the question.
 
We all thrive in tribes. Without even knowing it, you’ll probably part of several.
 
There are those tribes we join for a purpose – Rotary, a church, a cooking club, for example. And, there are some we fall into through default, like our families, the community in which we were raised, the schools attended based on your residence.
 
Regardless of your entry to a tribe, it has a preferred culture. Certain ways of thinking, acting, speaking, handshakes, attitudes, rituals can all come into play.
 
I joined one this year without really knowing it. It’s called the “Orange Subaru Crosstrek” tribe. Let me explain.
 
In late spring, I purchased a used Orange Subaru Crosstrek (OSC), not knowing the tribe I was about to join. Soon thereafter, every time an OSC popped up on my drive, I noticed the driver would wave or raise a finger from the steering wheel in acknowledgment of our car tribe.
 
I knew nothing of this before the purchase. Instead, it became clear that I’d entered into a select group based on what, it is difficult to say. Something to do with bright colors, outdoor activities, perhaps something related to a counter culture view of the world? I’m not really sure, but that’s my reasoned guess.
 
The raised finger or hand wave is an acknowledgement. “Yo, good to see someone else with the same taste.” This never happened with other vehicles I’ve owned, hence the branding of OSC as a tribe. There’s something unique bonding us.
 
The finger wave is a communication of togetherness. I did not know this 40-some-odd years ago. The guy who eventually became best man in my wedding taught me about the gesture.
 
He drove a green monster of a car from the 1960s or 1970s. Like a boat, it sailed. One day, he, with his typical trademark humor began lifting a finger in greeting as we drove to a campsite down a mostly empty rural Virginia backroad.

Giggling, he went, “Watch this.”
 
A car approached. He lifted his finger. The beat-up pickup truck driver smiled and lifted his finger in a return greeting. My buddy was overjoyed.
 
This became a game the rest of the trip, lifting the finger in a wave, and older grizzled men (typically) -- probably farmers and hunters – returned the greeting. It was wonderful. We were a tribe. My friend couldn’t get enough of it.
 
This greeting still works today if you choose to notice. Not necessarily in our rushed urban and suburban areas, but getting outside to the two-lane higher where traffic and tensions ease.
 
I still do the finger wave in those more lightly trafficked areas, and with police officers. Law enforcement is another tribe that offers you belonging through the windshield.
 
The OSC and finger waving are about camaraderie, a greeting, letting the other individual know that you and I are alike in some way, share something, belong to the same tribe. It’s a very good human feeling. Try it sometime and see who you connect with. You might find bright colors or driving a snowplow suit you.

​The phrase, “cutting edge TV,” may seem like an oxy moron to many. Let’s pretend though for the sake of argument that there have been and continue to be television shows that push the limits and make you appreciate talent, entertainment, plots, dialogue, angles of shots, tension, humor, enlightenment, technology, ideas, action.
 
You can choose the positives. What encompasses “cutting edge TV?” And what shows would you put in that category?  That’s going to be the fun part of this exercise.
 
I go back a long way, so my timeframe will be different from most people reading this. I think, in short, cutting edge TV includes shows that broke boundaries in a specific way. They were different. They grew the audience and got people to watch the show who otherwise might not have. They expanded TV’s reach.
 
Oldies to newbies:

• The Ed Sullivan Show – not sure how this show is categorized (a variety show, perhaps?), but he brought the Beatles to the U.S., so it has to be cutting edge.
• The Twilight Zone – terror and weirdness rises to a new level. Try sleeping after you watch it. Not gonna happen, the bed sweats take over along with paranoia.
• The Dick Van Dyke Show – wow, what acting and writing. Though if you watch it today, there are outdated roles and stereotypes, the pure acting is fantastic and Mary Tyler Moore and Dick Van Dyke shine.
• Soul Train – I remember watching this in high school for the funkiness, dancing and new rhythms I would otherwise never have been exposed to.
• All in the Family – could this show be produced today? Probably not.
• 60 Minutes – though I feel it is but a shell of what it once was, the early years of the show brought a new depth to spotlighting lengthy coverage on the screen of an issue not otherwise covered.
• The Mary Tyler Moore Show – our mother’s favorite, this has to be included as part of the women’s movement, heading out on your own, the unique challenges faced with grace, humor and creativity. MTM shines in this one too. Brilliance.
• Star Trek – medical devices the scan and heal you; beaming objects and humans to new locations; a man’s head kept alive by a machine; WHOA, that’s some serious sh….t.
• Saturday Night Live – still around after all these years. Live comedy rules.
• The Simpson’s – my older brother consistently calls this show “genius” and though I don’t go that far, we’ll give him the nod.
• “24” – the entire show taking place over 24 hours gave this an unmatched intensity.
• Survivor – still on the air after all these years. They keep adapting and people keep watching. The ultimate in reality shows, bar none.
• Lost – though it devolved into another time warp zone when they didn’t know what to do with the plot, I would argue the first two seasons were absolute domination when it comes to weirdness and speculation. “What the heck happened here?” Then you wanted to find out.
• The Office – captures workplace humor on TV like Dilbert in the comics. Great stuff.
• The Daily Show with Jon Stewart – a new way of reporting, digging through the news clips and using humor to get the audience to think, laugh and question. Can humor make us smarter?
• Breaking Bad – it took people telling me to watch the show for three or four years before I finally did, then the addiction kicked in. Couldn’t turn it off. “My Baby Blue” closing out the last episode is a classic.
• Ted Lasso – sorry folks, but I’ve never watched it, so I rely on everyone else’s opinions to include it. I’m confident they are right, and someday I will get around to checking it out.
• Dr. Pimple Popper – what can I say, I’m hooked. When I first watched this show, I was intrigued. The more I watched, the more it sucked me into the stories, the redemption, how people’s lives were changed by their treatment, and how badly the medical community treated the individuals seeking treatment for highly unusual skin conditions.

 
Add your own. What are they?