Contrasting Pairs

The Far Middle episode 161 lands amidst a string of holidays—released on Juneteenth, and just following Flag Day, Father’s Day, and just ahead of summer’s official arrival. June is indeed a special time of year, and it’s also the month this episode’s sports dedication would be selected by the New York Yankees in the 1982 MLB draft, however, that multi-talented athlete would instead choose to head to Auburn. In this Far Middle, the theme is examining binary opposites, specifically contrasting pairs where on one side is an issue of distraction while on the other is reality. Before jumping into those pairings Nick honors Bo Jackson who for a time dominated a pair of pro sports while also becoming a cultural icon through the "Bo knows" Nike ad campaign. The connections begin by using Jackson’s alma mater, Auburn University, as an example of the financial issues facing higher education due to the collegiate spending arms race. Nick juxtaposes the Auburn example with community colleges, which focus on affordability, job readiness, and “breeding a culture of doers.” For the next pair, Nick tackles urban government distractions, using San Francisco's pickleball court controversy as an example, and contrasts it with the significant issue of increased student absenteeism in K-12 education post-COVID, emphasizing the need for city leaders to prioritize real problems. “Stop worrying about zoning for public pickleball courts and start focusing time and attention toward making sure that students attend school so they can at least be in a position to begin learning basic stuff when it comes to comparing these twin issues our city governments are focusing on and ignoring respectively,” says Nick. And in the final pairing, Nick highlights the West’s intense focus on climate change, versus the stances and actions of countries like China and Russia. Nick quotes former Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott's astute observation, “A country which thinks that the greatest economic, political and moral challenge of our times is climate change is, at the very least, going to be extremely distracted if it comes to fighting a war, or even running a cold war. The Ukrainians aren’t worrying too much about climate change right now. I don’t think the Israelis are obsessing about emissions at the moment.” In closing, Nick notes a pair of birthdays coinciding with the episode’s release date, Moe Howard from The Three Stooges and the cartoon character Taz, aka the Tasmanian Devil.