Weekend reads to sneak in before the Super Bowl, and other media tidbits

Here are must-check-out stories, media tidbits and links for your weekend review, starting with a little football ahead of Super Bowl Sunday.

• The Wall Street Journal’s Andrew Beaton and Louise Radnofsky with “A Rocky NFL Season Reaches the Super Bowl.”
• The New York Times’ Ken Belson and Jenny Vrentas with “All Hail the ‘God of Sod,’ Groundskeeper for All 57 Super Bowls.”
• Solid graphics in this piece from USA Today’s Jim Sergent: “Why 2 Black quarterbacks are meeting in Super Bowl 57: Opportunity.”
• Washington Post sports media columnist Ben Strauss profiles one of ESPN’s biggest talents in “How Mina Kimes, football nerd, is shaping the future of NFL coverage.”
• One interesting tidbit from Strauss’ story is covered by Awful Announcing’s Brandon Contes in “Mina Kimes’ ESPN contract is set to expire and Bill Simmons wants her at The Ringer.”
• The always-superb Wright Thompson for ESPN.com: “Joe Montana was here.”

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• The death toll from the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria has now surpassed 20,000. Here’s The New York Times’ Tolga Ildun, Yousur Al-Hlou and Mark Boyer with “In Southern Turkey, a Parking Lot Becomes an Open-Air Morgue.”
• The Washington Post’s Sammy Westfall and Samuel Granados with “Why freezing temperatures in the quake-struck areas are so dangerous.”
• Thursday’s episode of “The Daily” podcast from The New York Times: “The Most Empty Downtown in America.”
• And speaking of podcasts, the latest “On with Kara Swisher” is “Donald Trump Has Made Democrats Great (Again).”
• On Washington Post Live, independent Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema talked about some Republicans and their unruly behavior during President Joe Biden’s State of the Union address: “I find it disturbing and sad that the State of the Union has devolved into a junior high softball game. … I find it beneath the dignity of the United States Congress.”
• The Associated Press’ Bianca Vazquez Toness and Sharon Lurye with “Thousands of kids are missing from school. Where did they go?”
• From BuzzFeed News, Clarissa-Jan Lim with “The Age of Panopticontent. What Happens When You Become Viral Content Without Your Consent.”
• The Los Angeles Times’ Summer Lin with “As a reporter, I’d braced myself to cover mass shootings. My first was in my own community.”
• In an adaptation from his upcoming book, “Oscar Wars: A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears,” Michael Schulman writes a fun behind-the-scenes look at Hollywood with “Steven Spielberg’s Oscar Curse.”
• Thursday was Joe Pesci’s birthday. The great actor from movies such as “Goodfellas,” “Casino,” “My Cousin Vinny,” “Raging Bull” and “Home Alone” turned 80. Esquire’s Max Cea writes, “Any Time Is a Good Time to Celebrate Joe Pesci.”
• The Hollywood Reporter’s James Hibberd with “Harrison Ford: ‘I Know Who the (Expletive) I Am.’”
• The sensational songwriter Burt Bacharach has died from natural causes. He was 94. Here’s a comprehensive obit from The Associated Press’ Hillel Italie.

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