It’s Fun Friday, so we’re talking basketball.

The Utah Jazz were fined $500,000 for “tanking” — not playing their starters late in games as they position themselves for a better NBA draft pick. But is that really ruining the integrity of the league… or just smart business under the current rules?

Today I break down how the NBA draft lottery works, why teams have incentives to lose, and why the Jazz might actually be acting logically. If the system rewards worse records, can you really blame teams for optimizing?

I also share an idea from the Professional Women’s Hockey League that could fix tanking altogether — by rewarding wins after playoff elimination instead of losses.

Just a guy in a truck talking NBA strategy, draft reform, and why sometimes the rules — not the teams — are the real problem.

Driving home in a snowstorm today and trying to wrap my head around something that feels almost too wild to be real.

Donald Trump is suing the U.S. government — his own government — over the Mar-a-Lago classified documents raid and the leak of his tax returns. He’s asking for $10 billion.

That money would come from taxpayer funds. And the Department of Justice he oversees could ultimately decide whether to settle.

Is that normal? Is that a massive conflict of interest? Or is this just more grievance politics playing out in real time?

Today I’m talking about executive power, DOJ independence, partisan blinders, and why this feels like another example of the rich getting richer while regular Americans foot the bill.

Just a guy in a truck trying to make sense of lawsuits, loyalty, and whether accountability still matters

After a long weekend (and a broken toe), I’m back — and today I wanted to dig deeper into climate change.

The administration just rolled back the EPA’s long-standing authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions — a rule that’s guided climate policy for nearly two decades. What’s strange is… no one was really asking for this. Not automakers. Not even oil companies looking for long-term stability.

So who benefits?

We talk about deregulation, fuel economy standards, electric vehicles, plug-in hybrids, and why clean energy isn’t just about “believing” in climate change — it’s about economics, public health, and long-term planning.

Even if you took climate change off the table entirely, why wouldn’t we want cleaner air, lower fuel costs, and more energy independence?

Just a regular guy in a (gas-powered) truck trying to make sense of EPA rollbacks, electric trucks, and why the future probably belongs to clean energy.

Today isn’t polished. It’s not organized. It’s just honest.

I’m tired. Tired from work. Tired from medical bills looming after my wife’s surgery. Tired from juggling kids, school, activities, and a 15-hour day. And tired from trying to process a world that feels like it’s on fire.

From the affordability crisis — housing, childcare, healthcare, groceries — to corporate power in politics, to climate change, to the nonstop outrage cycle… it all feels like too much.

How are regular families supposed to keep up? How are we supposed to care about long-term issues when we’re just trying to survive the week?

This one’s more of a venting session than a solution session. An exhausted guy in a truck trying to figure out how to balance real life, real bills, and really big problems — without losing his mind.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed too, you’re not alone.

Last episode I talked about being proud to be an American during the Olympics. But if I’m honest, sometimes “embarrassed” feels more accurate.

Today I’m unpacking that tension — why everything in our politics gets filtered through a partisan lens, why simple answers are often wrong, and how we’ve handed too much power to cults of personality instead of principles.

From the outrage over Olympic athletes speaking out, to corporate money flooding political campaigns, to gerrymandering and election reform — I’m trying to wrestle with what it means to love your country while still being deeply frustrated by it.

Is it possible to be patriotic and critical at the same time? I think it has to be.

Just a regular guy in a truck, trying to make sense of polarization, money in politics, and why embarrassment doesn’t mean you don’t care.

Quick life update to start: my wife’s surgery went well. Clean margins, no cancer left, and now it’s just recovery. We’re tired but incredibly grateful.

With everything going on in the world, I needed something a little lighter today — and for me, that’s the Winter Olympics.

There’s something special about watching regular people with extraordinary dedication represent their countries, chasing dreams in sports most of us only think about every four years. For a couple weeks, it feels like we’re united again.

So today I’m talking Olympics memories, underdog stories, Team USA pride, and why sports can sometimes remind us that we have more in common than cable news and social media want us to believe.

Just a regular guy in a truck, feeling thankful and trying to hold onto the good stuff.

Quick life update first — my wife’s surgery is this week, so episodes might be a little lighter while I focus on taking care of her. Thanks for all the support.

Today I wanted to zoom back out and talk about something that’s been bothering me after listening to the NPR Politics Podcast: talk of “nationalizing” elections, revisiting 2020 yet again, and what happens when one party tries to control how voting works.

That stuff should make all of us nervous — not Republican or Democrat nervous, but American nervous.

I’m thinking out loud about free and fair elections, peaceful transfers of power, and a few common-sense reforms like independent redistricting, vote-by-mail, and getting big money out of politics.

Nothing fancy. Just a regular guy in a truck wondering what happens if we stop protecting the basics of democracy.

Today's episode is a little different — and a lot more personal.

Last week, my wife was diagnosed with cancer.

Thankfully it’s early, treatable, and likely just a surgery… but going through appointments, biopsies, specialists, and insurance has been a wake-up call about how fragile life — and our healthcare system — really is.

Even with a decent job and “good” insurance, we’re still staring at deductibles, out-of-pocket costs, and bills that don’t make sense. And it’s hard not to think about how many families don’t even have that safety net.

So today I’m just talking it through — fear, gratitude, frustration, and why healthcare probably shouldn’t be tied to your job in the first place.

Just a regular guy in a truck, trying to make sense of a scary week.