The Best of a Least-Best Year

It’s New Year’s Eve here in the far suburbs of New York City, just a few hours before Times Square will drop its big ball to ring in 2026, and the ground is blanketed with a frozen-solid snow that arrived a few days ago and might just stick around until early summer, for all I know. It was the third major snowfall already this winter. The temperatures are sub-freezing. I’ve spent the past three-plus weeks battling a severe sinus infection and indefatigable head cold. Christmas was merry, but other than that…..

It’s all a handy metaphor for 2025. Cold – and sick.

This has been a cold and sick year in much of the world (especially the USA), marked by a toxic combination of corruption, violence, cruelty, racism, anger, greed, pettiness, madness and stupidity. Criminal thugs run some of the powerful countries on earth (including this one). The world has embraced the dark side, as it is wont to do, and will live to regret it – as it always does.

Human evolution runs in a circle, not a straight line. It keeps circling back to where it was before. No matter how horrible things were in the past, you can bet your ass that those horrible things will be painted over a few generations down the line, and embraced again with the same brainless fervor as before.

We’re a silly species, we humans. We have the capacity to do great and noble things. But we keep handing over power to the worst among us – and they’re more than happy to spend their days and nights trying to figure out how to make everyone else miserable. 2026 will bring more of the same, because the worst among us will still be in charge. After that? Oh, I guess we’ll see…..

I’d love love love to do a little primal screaming over all this – and often do, in my own way. Readers of this blog this year will know as much.

But here’s the thing: I’m largely untouched by all the world’s madness. It’s something I witness from a comfortable distance. I live a charmed and privileged life, filled with creature comforts, surrounded by loving family and friends. I’d like to credit my own cunning and enterprise for my good fortune. Instead, it’s mostly a matter of age, location, gender, ethnicity, and wise decisions made by my parents and grandparents.

You know the definition of privilege? Being able to bitch about the world’s problems without being neck-deep in the world’s problems. I’m self-aware enough to acknowledge that. And we’ll just leave it there….

*****

The year 2025 wasn’t all bad. Some of it was good – very, very good. Here are a few of the best things about 2025, from my own personal experience. They are in no particular order of importance.

No Kings

One of the best ways to push back against authoritarianism is to organize public protests and let those in power know you don’t approve. I took part in a couple of “No Kings” protests this year in our leafy little North Jersey town, as I blogged about here and here. There’s something soul-enriching about doing your civic duty alongside dozens of perfect strangers. Millions of others across the country did the same in 2025.

Train Dreams

Train Dreams is a 2025 cinematic release that I recently watched on Netflix. I’m not sure where it would rank among my favorite movies ever. It might not crack the Top 25. But from a personal standpoint, it was the most impactful movie I’ve watched in many years, and I’m not sure I can really say why. It just touched a certain nerve that was ripe for touching. If you want to know more, here’s my blog about it.  

Alcaraz-Sinner

This has been a charmed century for fans of professional tennis, especially the men’s game. We are just coming off the greatest era in men’s tennis history, when the three greatest players ever – Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic – all rose to the top at roughly the same time. You had to believe there would be a huge void left once they left the scene (okay, Novak is still around). But nah. Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz and Italy’s Jannick Sinner stepped right in and became the dominant duo to replace the dominant trio. Every time these two play, it’s an event of seismic proportions for tennis fans, as I blogged about here.

Aussie Open Final/Madison Keys

Speaking of tennis: One of the most memorable matches of the year came in the women’s Australian Open final, when Madison Keys emerged as the unlikely champion. She had been a very good player for a very long time, and lost the U.S. Open final in 2017. Watching her come out of nowhere to finally win a major title at age 29, after so many highs and lows, was pretty damn magical.

Southpark

Hard to believe, but this American animated sitcom from creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone has been on the air for nearly three decades. I was a big fan early on, but haven’t watched it regularly in a quarter-century. I have no idea how relevant it was in the 2010s and 2020s. But I do know this: The show rose to previously unseen heights in 2025 for taking on the Trump regime in all its fascist, half-wit glory. Southpark’s Trump story arc was developed in direct response to Trump’s infantile desire to censor shows that dare to make fun of his fat, stupid ass. While most of the mainstream entertainment/media have pissed their diapers in the Trump era, Parker and Stone pulled no punches and showed no fear, God bless ‘em. Here’s a sample plot line: Trump is having a sex affair with Satan — and Satan is the one who’s horrified by it. Which, frankly, would probably be true.

Road Trippin’

The family and I took several road trips by car in 2025, and I did a solo trip as well. This is one of the best things about being back in the USA after several years in London — hopping in the car and motoring along for hundreds of mile.

Mexican Food in My Hometown

Speaking of road trips – we/I took a couple long drives down south, and stopped in my hometown of Charlotte, N.C. I know this will never play well in U.S. hotbeds of Mexican/Tex-Mex cuisines such as Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California. But the most satisfying Mexican food I ever eat is in Charlotte, at places like Maria’s and Azteca. Charlotte has a large Mexican immigrant population these days, and they recently got the Trump/ICE racist treatment. Trump and his asswipe lackeys will be wiped clean in a few years, but the Mexican immigrant population will still be growing stronger and stronger. Bet on it.

Shohei Ohtani

I was going to mention the 2025 World Series in this blog, which Ohtani’s Dodgers won in dramatic fashion over the Toronto Blue Jays. But as I blogged about a couple months ago, it was all the Shohei Ohtani Show for fans with no rooting interest. The Japanese superstar is not just a generational player. He’s a once-a-century player, one we have not seen since Babe Ruth and might never see again.

Death by Lightning

This was a terrific, three-part Netflix series about James Garfield, who was probably the least consequential president in U.S. history outside of William Henry Harrison. Harrison died of pneumonia after only a month in office. Garfield was assassinated six months after taking office. I consider myself a minor U.S. history buff, but I never knew the backstory of Garfield’s unlikely rise to the presidency, and his opposition to slavery. First-rate acting and storytelling.

Nothing Major

I’m not a big podcast dude. But in 2025 I stumbled across Nothing Major, a podcast co-hosted by former ATP tennis pros John Isner, Sam Querrey, Steve Johnson and Jack Sock, and loved it. The title comes from the fact that none of the players ever won a major tennis singles title, though Sock won a few major doubles titles. Isner, a North Carolina homeboy, was one of my favorite players, and someone I blogged about following his retirement in 2023. He’s best known for playing the longest tennis match ever – a 6–4, 3–6, 6–7^(7–9), 7–6^(7–3), 70–68(!) marathon during the 2010 Wimbledon championships against Frenchman Nicolas Mahut. The match lasted parts of three days and played a role in Wimbledon finally adopting a fifth-set tiebreak. But Isner was also one of the world’s Top 20 players for a decade, which is pretty GD impressive. The podcast itself is funny and entertaining, with keen insights about tennis from guys who don’t take themselves too seriously. If you’re a tennis fan, you should tune in.

Image: The horrified 2026 New Year’s baby is my AI creation. The other shots are from internet searches or my own camera. I won’t divulge which is which (wink wink).