1·
1 year agoCould be our next Phonzie if we handle it right.
Phonzie was supposed to be a winger/forward when we signed him. He wasn’t used much by Kovac then Hansi threw him in at LB. A bit of luck for sure, but I think we handled his situation as best we could.
I love seeing Tommy still living with his extended Italian family, seeing as how that’s actually how that community in America lived for most of its existence. The big family dinners, Corleone compound, etc. I hate seeing people knocking him for this, given he’s likely happy and in his element living as such. Why take that away? He’s living the New Jersey/New York Italian-American dream. And if he’s smart about what he’s doing, he’s likely putting a good bit of his salary away or giving it to his family as his way of contributing. I also think he has until he’s 26 to be a dependent, at least for insurance purposes, no? I don’t know about taxes.
I was on my parents’ insurance until the day I turned 26 because my parents’ health plan didn’t cost them any extra to have me on it, versus me getting raked over the coals paying premiums at the job I had at the time. They wanted me to have more take-home funds to pay off student loans instead of having ~$300/month taken out for healthcare premiums (for a plan that had worse coverage than my parents’ family plan). I don’t know when my parents stopped claiming me as a dependent on their taxes. It’s also kind of ironic people giving Tommy shit for living at home as if some 60% of millennials and Gen Z college grads haven’t turned around and moved back in with their parents due to skyrocketing cost of living and housing. I don’t blame Tommy for not wanting to buy or rent an overpriced condo/apartment/townhome in the NYC metro area when his parents already have a place in New Jersey.
To that point, the US is unique in that we don’t encourage cohabitation with extended family. Almost every other region of the world outside the US and a few Westernized countries do this. The whole “it takes a village” concept starts with extended family. Both Disney films set in Latin America (Coco and Encanto) use this as a major setting/plot device. It’s actually a smarter move financially, as major bills and such can be split among more people instead of it falling on just one or two.
It’s something to do with our weird obsession with individualism and isolation.