In Defense of Sports Dads. Plus. . .

Welcome back to the Weekend Press! Today, Spencer Klavan remembers Dolly Parton, and the nation-sized hole she left in our hearts. Peter Richmond takes us inside his life as a celebrity profiler. Suzy Weiss discusses the summer escapades of the ultra-wealthy. And more!

But first: Joe Nocera, in defense of the sports dad.

Earlier this week, I couldn’t help but notice a cover story in New York magazine. It was called “The Pay-to-Play Model Has Broken Youth Sports,” and it was about the consequences of a youth sports ecosystem where children are encouraged to specialize in one sport from very early ages. The “literature,” the piece said, proves this path can cause excessive stress and burnout for children, and needless anxiety for parents.

The story caught my eye for a simple reason: I’m a parent with a kid who specializes in one sport—tennis—and he and his parents wouldn’t have it any other way.

My son Macklin is 16, and he has dedicated his teenage years to becoming good enough at tennis to play in college at a high level. My wife and I have become equally dedicated to doing whatever we can to help him achieve his dream—and for that, we make no apologies.

That is the story I tell today. I don’t doubt that there is some truth to the downside of children focusing on one sport. But what the “literature” leaves out is that if you have a kid who loves a sport, is dedicated to it, and has some talent, you’d be crazy as a parent to keep him from specializing in it.

Does spending tens of thousands of dollars on tennis, traveling with my son to dozens of tournaments, and watching him devote 4–5 hours a day to one sport come with moments of stress and anxiety? Sure. But it has created a beautiful dynamic between a kid pursuing excellence, and his parents who wouldn’t dare be the barrier to it—one that will last long after he has stopped playing competitive tennis.—Joe Nocera

Spencer Klavan • Things Worth Remembering

To many, Dolly Parton was an exceptional singer, a philanthropist, an icon. But to Spencer Klavan, she was America: “simple and sincere yet totally overpowering and bemused by her own wonderful extravagance—me? Here? Would you believe it?” Born to an illiterate father in a one-room log cabin in Tennessee, Dolly dedicated her life to helping children reach their highest potential—most notably through the Imagination Library, the charity she founded that sends free books to children from birth to age 5. In this week’s Things Worth Remembering, Spencer pays tribute to a woman whose life was itself an embodiment of the spirit captured in the library’s first book, The Little Engine That Could: “I think I can, I think I can!”

Peter Richmond • Ancient Wisdom

Sipping martinis with Walter Cronkite. Knocking back beers with Bill Murray. Rubbing shoulders with Meryl Streep in the supermarket. A lesson in sex parties from Mikhail Baryshnikov. For decades, this was the life of celebrity profiler Peter Richmond. But while the rest of the country was aspiring to these figures’ lavish lifestyles, Peter came away with a very different feeling: “The legion of bold-faced names I hung with had way more money than I would ever have,” he writes. “But with the exception of Walter, I never wanted to be any of them.” In this week’s Ancient Wisdom, Peter reflects on watching America’s elites trade meaning for status—and what a gift it is to be able to live “without an audience.”

Josh Code • Culture and Ideas

Summer in America used to mean roller coasters and funnel cake; but today, many of this country’s most treasured small amusement parks are barrelling toward extinction. Perhaps nowhere exemplifies that better than Great America, Silicon Valley’s only amusement park, which is shutting down after 50 years to make room for new AI infrastructure. Josh Code grew up visiting the park, and recently returned for a goodbye tour. What he found was a place that was quaint, imperfect, affordable, and deeply American. “A culture transfixed by the shimmer of the future,” he writes, “is liable to bulldoze what is old and known.” Read his elegy for Great America—and for a version of American life that may be disappearing with it.

The rich have never been richer, and they’ve never been easier to gawk at. Open any social media app, and you’ll be bombarded with the escapades of the ultra-wealthy: endless vacations, big-ticket purchases, and high-end wellness trends. We live, after all, in a time with over 3,000 billionaires—and for a short time, a trillionaire.

But what’s it really like inside their world? Carson Griffith, journalist and author of the newsletter Rich People Shit, knows the answer better than most. Today on Second Thought, she joins Suzy and Dan to break down how society’s wealthiest spent this past summer: where they’re traveling, the petty feuds they’re involved in, and whether they’re any happier than the rest of us. Plus, Carson shares the inside scoop on Nantucket’s war on influencers, Ray Dalio’s birthday party in Ibiza, and how immortality became the ultimate status symbol.

Click below to watch the episode, or listen wherever you get your podcasts. And to keep up with all things Suzy, don’t miss her newsletter.

We’ve published lots of other pieces worth catching up on this week, including Caitlin Flanagan’s tribute to Dolly Parton, Kara Kennedy on the moms of TikTok’s manosphere moment, Arthur Brooks on the horrors of parents’ Facebook groups, the bookstore reviving middle America, and more:

(Courtesy of Michele McAloon)

For as long as she can remember, Michele McAloon has had her head in a book. She has also gone through life collecting stories of her own, as a U.S. Army pilot, a canon lawyer specializing in the laws of the Catholic Church, and the host of Cross Word Books, a podcast about nonfiction. And now, she will be moderating The Free Press Forum Book Club, which is kicking things off on August 30 with East of Eden! Michele’s goal is not simply to discuss what happens in the book, but to help us understand its characters, one another, and perhaps our own lives a little better. For her, bringing thousands of readers (3,000+ are already signed up!) together to discuss these questions is an extroverted bookworm’s dream. Her spirit is quintessentially Free Press, and we are so thrilled that she will be moderating the conversation on The Free Press Forum. Please give Michele a warm welcome here!

Join the Book Club

How should you spend the rest of your weekend? We asked our head of product Rachel Price for her recommendations:

📚Read. . . every wedding piece Vogue’s ever published. I’m newly engaged (hi, Bryan!) so I’ve fully fallen down the rabbit hole, and what I love most isn’t the dresses or the flowers; it’s the thought process behind every decision a couple makes. By the end of each story, you feel like you really know the couple. That’s exactly what I want for my own wedding—for people to leave and say, “Wow, that was so them.” Consider this your permission slip to fall down the same rabbit hole, engaged or not.

🍅Eat. . . the last of summer’s peaches and tomatoes before they disappear on us. There’s a short window left to get a really good one of each, and honestly a simple plate of both, maybe with some flaky salt and olive oil, is one of the best things you can eat all year.

🎵Listen. . . to Gracie Abrams’ new album, Daughter from Hell, on repeat. I’ve spent this summer basically living on planes, and this is the soundtrack that’s made every single one of them better. Do yourself a favor and put it on for your next flight or drive, or just an evening at home.

That’s all, folks! Have a great weekend.

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