1. Michael Jackson tributes. The funeral was over-the-top and worldwide -- but so was he. The streetmobs in New York, London and New Orleans paying tribute to the King of Pop were great. And no, I don't think it was an overreaction to blow out four days of cable TV on a slow-news summer weekend to cover his death, or his funeral on daytime TV -- Oprah's on vacation, for heaven's sake! He was an entertainer who filled countless hours of prime-time television from "The Ed Sullivan Show" to that weird Martin Bashir expose. Seen that way, this was a proportionate coda to a singular career.
2. Max Weinberg's departure from the "Tonight Show." Conan's bandleader announced he was leaving for a month of touring with The Boss. Then he and his drum kit and the platform it was sitting on all rolled out of the studio and headed to LAX. It was a sight gag that Steve Allen would be proud of.
3. Soccer: the pride is back. The whole sports world noticed when the USA men's team nearly upset the legendary Brazilians in last weekend's Confederations Cup. That's what making your first final in the 105-year history of FIFA will do.
... AND WHAT'S NOT
1. Twitter punkers. "On 09/18/1979, Farrah Fawcett & Michael Jackson were both guests on the Tonight Show w/Johnny Carson, co-hosted by Ed McMahon," someone posted assertively to Twitter following Jackson's death. Wow! I thought, and immediately re-posted this "factoid" to my followers, many of whom sent it further downstream. Only later did it occur to me to check -- and learn that Johnny didn't even tape that night.
2. Other Michael Jackson tributes. All that crotch-grabbing on the "BET Awards" made me think of the Sunday-night baseball game I was missing. A member of the USA men's soccer even made the between-the-legs grab after scoring a goal. At least Al Sharpton didn't pay that kind of homage at the funeral.
3. Farrah Fawcett, Gale Storm, Billy Mays and Fred Travelena, RIP. A memory for every decade of my time on Earth.
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