We’re barreling into Memorial Day weekend with a Thursday Nightcaps that mixes nostalgia, college baseball chaos, and reader nightmares. Zach Dean checks in from the home stretch, salutes Minka Kelly tossing heat at 45, notes LSU and Baton Rouge baseball fallout, and shares a chorus of reader stories about the classic final-exam dream.
Over the hump and safely onto the other side — whew. We made it and we’re one step closer to THE big weekend, Memorial Day weekend, the unofficial start of summer. Longtime readers know summer kicks off with Memorial Day and runs until Labor Day night, right around the end of the last college football game of the weekend. It’s a ritual, plain and simple.
I’ve got two classes left before Amber and Matt take over next week, and I expected to have mailed it in by now, but the grind is holding. Tomorrow is unpredictable, a true wildcard, but today’s for focus and finishing strong. So welcome to a Thursday Nightcaps — the one where “Friday Night Lights” star Minka Kelly shows off the fastball at 45. Clear eyes, full hearts, can’t lose!
Other headlines: there’s ABS drama in college baseball, my inbox is full of dream emails from yesterday’s class, and the #MOB spent the morning piling on Hulk Hogan’s daughter after a heartfelt post. It can get ugly fast on social feeds, and this felt like one of those times. A simple tribute shouldn’t invite the kind of bile I saw in the comments.
Two classes in a row started with an old TV show. Yesterday was “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire” for reasons I can’t fully explain, and today we’re back at “Friday Night Lights” with Minka Kelly in the spotlight. So the obvious class question: where does “Friday Night Lights” rank for you among TV greats? For me, it sits near the top with an impressive cast and real staying power.
The cast was electric — Minka, Kyle Chandler, Connie Britton, Taylor Kitsch, Jesse Plemons — and that chemistry made the show special. It also introduced characters I still think about, like Buddy Gerrity, Minka’s TV dad, who could have been the original NIL strategist long before the term existed. The show felt authentic, and the theme song still gives me chills every time.
Yes, I’m full of hot takes today, and I’m squeezing them out before vacation starts. But seriously, the show’s music and storytelling rank with the most memorable TV themes out there. It’s nostalgia that lands, not forced reverence, and that’s why it keeps coming up in these classes. Take us back, indeed.
And speaking of callbacks, we’ve had two of Derek Jeter’s past and present love interests show up in class this week — Hannah Davis (now Jeter) and now Minka Kelly. What a week for cameos and connections. Still, for those keeping score in my head, Nomar > Jeter. No debate.
Now pivoting to yesterday’s dream question: a tweet I saw earlier this week about the final-exam nightmare lit up the inbox. Turns out that terrible dream about showing up for a final after skipping the class all semester is a shared trauma. Many readers wrote in with versions of the same panic, and the responses were equal parts hilarious and sympathetic.
From Paul A:
“Had that dream ever since taking the bar exam in 1988! Other one is how to find the place where the final is located and can’t! Some type of PTSD.”
From Brian in NJ:
“Not only have I had that dream – I lived it! It was 1989, sophomore year of college. Attended the very first Spanish class of the semester, and didn’t show up again until the final. As the professor was going down the aisles handing out the finals with those little light blue answer booklets (maybe those were before your time), he stopped and quipped to me, ‘You have GOT to be joking, right?'”
“Needless to say, I repeated the class with a different teacher the next semester.”
From JV:
“I thought I was the only one who has this dream! Lol. In my dream it’s college final exam time. I forgot I was signed up for this particular class my senior year and hadn’t attended the class all semester. I show up for the final exam in a panic because I need the class to graduate. I graduated in 1991 and still have this dream. Must be a stress hangover from 35 years ago.”
From Mike M:
“I’ve had that dream a dozen or so times. You wonder, ‘Why haven’t I gone to this class all semester? What was I thinking?'”
And from Drew in Texas:
“I’ve had those ‘never went to class until it was too late’ dreams occasionally ever since college. Interestingly, almost none of us engineers skipped classes. So, why do I still dream about missing class?”
We’re all in that foxhole together, apparently, which is comforting in a weird way. One reader sent a screenshot with a line from Google that may explain part of it: “Often triggered by a new responsibility, looming deadline, or lack of control.” That checks out — life deposits stress souvenirs in strange places.
Quick hits on the sports side: ABS giveth and ABS taketh away, and we saw one of those brutal comebacks where a clever play backfired in spectacular fashion. Baseball can be a mean teacher, especially in big moments when momentum flips and the result is a 400-foot reminder of humility. For LSU fans in Baton Rouge, the news is rough — bounced in the second round of the SEC tournament and no June baseball this year.
On the way out, Brooke Hogan posted a tender tribute to her father that included a bikini photo and drew cruel comments in response. I thought the image choice was a little odd, but judging how someone grieves is low. Leave Brooke alone, losers. Let people process loss however they choose.
See you tomorrow. OutKick Nightcaps is a daily column set to run Monday through Friday at 4 p.m. (roughly, we’re not robots).
Where does FNL rank for you? Email me at [email protected].
