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I’m Johnny Knoxville. Welcome to Dakota County.
Somehow Johnny Knoxville got hitched to a Minnesotan last year and our invite got lost in the mail. The local lady in question is Emily Ting, a costume designer who met the professional masochist on the set of Jackass Forever (reviewed here) in 2021. I presume they bonded over a mutual love of cardigans. Ting was raised in Dakota County, where much of her family still lives; the couple was married in last November, with onetime RacketCast guest John Waters officiating.
We only found out about their union because County Commissioner Joe Atkins confirmed recent sightings of the Jackass-in-Chief on Facebook. “[Knoxville] has been remarkably gracious and approachable with folks who have spotted him around town,” Atkins reports.
The commish continues, “In spite of all of her success in Los Angeles, Emily's professional résumé still lists a 651 area code as her contact number.” Hm, I wouldn’t make too much of that, Commissioner Atkins. I know at least one Racket staffer who hasn’t lived in Pennsylvania since 2009 but still has a 215 area code.
Trade! Awards! Blood!: It’s a Racket Local Sports Roundup!
As you’re probably aware, I consider myself something of a “sports junkie.” Ha ha ha, but seriously folks, knowing very basic stuff about local sports is part of being a well-rounded and informed citizen, so here are three sporty things that happened over the weekend and that even I heard about.
First a big trade: The Vikings have sent quarterback J.J. McCarthy off to the New York Giants in exchange for a fifth-round draft pick. Originally drafted No. 10 overall in 2024, the oft-injured McCarthy failed to meet the Vikings’ expectations and had dropped to third on the QB depth chart. “A lot of the decisions that we make, and that we’re forced to make in football, we have to make at a moment in time, as opposed to hypotheticals in the future,” says Viking GM Nolan Teasley, Rumsfeldianly. Good move? Bad move? Sounds like something you sports folks would love to argue about.
Second, while the Lynx lost game one of the first round WNBA playoffs to the New York Liberty on Sunday, which is bad, they did win… awards. Which is good, right? Cheryl Reeve is once more Coach of the Year, though since this is her fifth such win it honestly would have been bigger news if she lost. But not as big of news as if Olivia Miles, who was deservedly named Rookie of the Year, won that same honor next year. That’d be unprecedented, I’d imagine.
Finally, this weekend, the Golden Gophers football team celebrated their 27-24 Saturday night win over the Washington Huskies with… human blood. The blood of linebacker Maverick Baranowski (how is football real?), which head coach P.J. Fleck swiped off the lad’s face and spread on his cheeks. You can watch it all here, along with Fleck’s explanation of his actions.
More News Is Good News
Tireless Sahan Journal founder Mukhtar Ibrahim is starting a new digital publication, The Somali Brief. “With so much noise and misinformation and the harmful narratives targeting my community, I just could not stay on the sidelines,” the former Star Tribune journalist tells Amanda Weeks of the Business Journal. Ibrahim has joined forces with Uba Ali, formerly of WCCO News, and the publication’s tagline is “Millions hear about Somalis. Few hear from them.”
Meanwhile, The Hennepin Herald is a new pub that will be covering the “often opaque” politics of Hennepin County. Staffers include Clint Combs (a Racket contributor—they’re everywhere), former Minneapolis City Council Member Cam Gordon, and dynamite photographer Chris Juhn. Evette Porter, who has worked at the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder and the Village Voice, will serve as editor. The Hennepin Herald is published by AFSCME Local 34, though its newsroom pledges "full editorial independence."
Twin Cities Music Mainstay Maurice Jacox Needs Help
Veteran music journalist Tom Surowicz writes on Facebook that Maurice Jacox, “the outstanding singer and bon vivant, a fixture of the Twin Cities music community for over six decades…recently turned 80, but it was not the happiest of birthdays. Instead of a big celebration, he had a stroke. It’s kept him off stages and wiped out the bulk of his income.”
Jacox made his name originally as a member of Willie & the Bees, and until recently he performed regularly around town with his band We Still R. Family friend Hallie Hall has set up a GoFundMe for the performer, and it has currently raised $8,000 of its $25,000 goal.
Continues Surowicz: “[Jacox is] currently battling back, doing several hours of therapy a day in a rehab facility, looking to get resettled into assisted living. No one alive is more eager to get back under the bright lights of dark bars.”
