Volume 12: Always Have a Rainy-Day Plan
Not-so-hot hot take: Maverick didn't deserve Goose
Welcome back to What Needs Knowing. Thank you all for coming on this journey with me for the last three months. We’ve covered topics from Formula 1 to astrophysics with a dash of speculative fiction. It makes me smile to read the responses and questions in my inbox after every volume is released. Remember to forward this along to anyone in your life you think might enjoy my sports musings or reading list.
Each week, I’ll be sliding into your inbox with short guides to what is worth knowing in sports, books, and the world around you. Got something you want to hear about or just want to say hello, drop me a line: mackenzie.timbel@gmail.com.
F1 Must Choose Between the Past and the Future
The season’s diamond turned out to be a garden variety lump of quartz! While some teams rubbed a few crystals together and were able to get good results, the real losers of the weekend were the fans. But we will get to that in a moment.
First off, a recap: Qualifying saw Charles Leclerc put in the fastest lap time to earn pole position during a dry session on Saturday. He was clearly the best driver on the track with his teammate Carlos hot on his heels; however, the rain and ensuing pit stop chaos on Sunday proved challenging even for the top teams. Carlos Sainz overruled his race engineer (the person who is on the radio in the garage talking to the driver during the race) and opted to go from the most aggressive wet-track tires directly to slicks made for a dry track. His bold strategy looked to be the key to a potential first F1 victory until he was unable to pass slower lapped cars on his pivotal out lap (the lap right after a pit stop when the tires are still warming up and drivers must go quickly to counteract other teams’ pit stop strategy and maintain track position). Sainz’s slow out lap allowed Sergio Perez to pull ahead and when Red Bull brought him in to change tires one lap later, he squeezed out on to the track just ahead of Carlos’ red Ferrari.
While this blunder was happening, Charles Leclerc’s race engineer and team brought him into the pits even though his track position was advantageous, a decision of habit. Ferrari thought, “all the other cars were changing tires, why shouldn’t he?” The decision knocked him down to fourth place and essentially took away a greater than 50% chance that Leclerc could’ve won his home Grand Prix. The radio messages after that mistake were mostly bleeped out by ESPN. Congratulations must be given to Sergio Perez who notched his first Monaco Grand Prix win just a week after his team actively prioritized Verstappen’s race strategy by asking Perez to let him pass even when Perez was putting in better lap times. Way to stick it to Red Bull, Checo!
Monaco’s contract with Formula 1 has not been re-signed yet: Greg Maffei, CEO and Chairman of Liberty Media (F1’s parent company), was on the scene this weekend giving out the pole position trophy and taking part in the festivities. While I’m sure the excitement of the race drew him to the event, I suspect the real reason to attend was evaluating F1’s future of racing in the Principality. On the one hand, Monaco is one of the most iconic racing venues and has permeated the minds of the general public in a way that no other location has. On the other hand, the race is commonly decided by qualifying pace and there is almost no chance of passing with the track being so narrow and the single DRS section being too short to offer any real advantage to cars passing from behind. After the chaotic first 30 laps of the race and the pit stop blunders of Ferrari, the race was over and genuinely boring. All I can say is that if F1 renews with Monaco, changes need to be made. If those changes are untenable for the Principality either because of street modifications or money, then Greg Maffei should walk away.
Daniel Ricciardo still has the best comeback for his haters: Rumor’s are flying about Ricciardo’s future at McLaren after poor form this season relative to his teammate, Lando Norris. The media is brewing up a rumor storm and I, like Danny Ric, have no time for the haters. Sick burn, bro!
Mercedes’ real position is unknown: Monaco did very little to clarify whether Mercedes has unlocked extra speed and cured their bouncing problems in the 2022 car. After a significant improvement in Barcelona when upgrades improved many of the car’s issues, the race and track conditions in Monaco didn’t give anyone a good look at whether Mercedes can now be considered a top three team. There were encouraging signs with Russel continuing his streak of top-5 finishes this season and Hamilton showing good speed before getting genuinely stuck behind Fernando Alonso’s Alpine. All eyes will be on Mercedes next weekend when F1 heads to Azerbaijan!
Highway to the Danger Zone
Along with a snow storm in Colorado, Memorial Day Weekend brought with it a rewatch of the original Top Gun, released in 1986, with my family and Claudia, a friend of mine who had never seen the classic film. The last time I saw this movie, it was on VHS in the living room on a vintage television when I was maybe twelve. The planes fascinated me, Maverick’s attitude was inspiring (sorry, Mom and Dad!), and Goose was my favorite character. Revisiting Top Gun through the lens of a world almost 30 years advanced, I had some thoughts about why this movie is one of the best classics and also why there should be an asterisk next to the word “best.”
The soundtrack is so iconic! In the opening credits, the Top Gun theme plays over shots of F14s taking off and landing on an aircraft carrier during an orange-tinted sunset, making you feel a pit of excitement in your stomach before you even see your first shot of Tom Cruise. Add in iconic songs like “Danger Zone” by Kenny Loggins, “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling” by The Righteous Brothers, and “Great Balls of Fire” by Jerry Lee Lewis and you have a stacked audio experience that instantly brings you back to Fightertown, USA even all these years later. Listen to the original Top Gun soundtrack here. Of course, the only way for the new sequel to “one up” the old soundtrack was to get Lady Gaga and Hans Zimmer involved!
The romance story, particularly the dialogue, is the worst part of the movie by far. I’m sure at the time filmmakers thought Maverick’s macho style of talking about and to women was hot but in this day and age, its creepy and gross. All I can say is Charlie should’ve dumped his ass the moment he followed her into the women’s bathroom after she very clearly said she wasn’t interested. The upcoming sequel has a romantic reputation to either rebuild by introducing a new love interest, or burying any thought of romance in flying action and suspense. (Hint: somehow, they did both!)
The suspense and filming of the final scene on the aircraft carrier was way ahead of its time. Despite reusing some shots multiple times during the final dog fight, it is still an edge-of-your-seat sequence and the producers rejection of phony special effects back in 1986 paid off in the long run such that the action of Top Gun still feels pretty relevant today.
My friend, Claudia, and I both noticed the similarity of dialogue between when Maverick meets Iceman for the first time at Top Gun and when Harry Potter meets Draco Malfoy for the first time at Hogwarts (both in the book and the movie). Did you catch it? Was J.K. Rowling a Top Gun fan? Harry Potter and Maverick both have a talent for rule breaking…
The rewatch was triggered by Top Gun: Maverick finally debuting this past weekend after being put on hold due to the pandemic. Producers, including Tom Cruise, refused to have the film released on a streaming platform and opted to wait until a profitable theater release was an option. After going to watch last night, also with my friend Claudia, my only thoughts on this delayed release is that seeing Top Gun: Maverick in a theater is well worth the wait! Here are four non-spoiling things you can look forward to in the movie:
Tom Cruise is better at flying planes than sailing a boat. (A little funny because Maverick is in the Navy.)
The cinematography of the flying scenes is genuinely incredible. There was audible gasping in the theater and the maneuvers are faster, more technical, and scarier than ever.
The movie completely nails the nostalgia without laying it on too thick. Just enough of a nod to the past with a strong mix of new planes, new innovations, and new pilots!
There is a sunset beach sports scene as well as plenty of speed, don’t worry!
What’s Worth Knowing:
The NBA Final’s could be a thriller. The Celtics came back from down 15 points in the third quarter to winning Game 1 against Golden State in California 120-108. It is clear to me that if the Warriors are going to beat the Celtics, they will need both Steph Curry and Klay Thompson to make an impact in the same game. Next game is Sunday at 6pm MT on ABC.
The Colorado Avalanche have taken a commanding 2-0 series lead over the Edmonton Oilers in the NHL Western Conference Finals. We want the cup! Next game is Saturday at 6pm on TNT.
I’ve been exploring Substack this week to get some ideas for WNK and came across Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s column. It is thoughtful, wide-ranging, and incredibly well written. I had no idea about the extent of his writing background and excellence beyond basketball and his column (I only subscribe to the free content right now) is not to be missed.
Armchair Expert with Dax Shepard and Monica Padman, my favorite and only podcast, released two interesting episodes in the past week. First they talked about the new world order with Founder & Co-Chief Investor of Bridgewater Associates Ray Dalio and and they discussed the power of introverts with author Susan Cain. Check them out!
I surprisingly enjoyed this video by Ray Dalio explaining the basics of the economic machine. As someone with little to no economic background, I learned tons! The animation is engaging and the explanation is thorough but clear. If the words “debt cycle” makes you sweat, this video is like an antiperspirant.
This week—and next—I am reading Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr. You can find a copy here or at your local library branch. So far, the story is ethereal and strange but I really like it.
This impersonator/comedian doing a skit previewing the Monaco Grand Prix made me chuckle while doing my research for this week’s volume.
After losing lots of flies while on the Colorado River last weekend, I have restocked my streamer (a type of fly that you pull through the water with short tugs of the line called stripping) selection. I thought they looked very pretty together so I snapped a photo to share.
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Thanks for reading and talk to y’all next week,
-Mackenzie “feeling the need for speed” Timbel
P.S. Rooster, played by Miles Teller, is a complete dream boat in Top Gun: Maverick. Definition of a smart cowboy!
Good one, Mac!
Good one, Mac!