Well, y’all said you loved the idea of a regular “Feel-Good Friday” article — as did the boss, Chris Queen — so as long as you keep reading, I’ll keep showing up with one to take us into each weekend. Today, I have not one, but two stories to warm your heart and show you that everything isn’t awful terrible (oops, don’t want Kruiser to yell at me for stealing his Morning Briefing material).
Clemson Basketball Players Prove There’s More to Sports than Winning Games
This story is a few weeks old, but since we’re at the climax of the college basketball season, I wanted to share it anyway for those of you who may have missed it. (By the way, how are your March Madness brackets doing? I’ve still got three of my Final Four, at least.)
So, there’s a young guard named Rusne Augustinaite, who happens to be one of the best at her position in college basketball. The 22-year-old junior has been playing basketball since she was three years old, and she even attended high school at Montverde Academy in Florida, which is known for its elite basketball program. She was on the Lithuanian national team, and she started her college career playing for Georgia Tech, but she transferred to Clemson (smart move say this University of Georgia fan and former student).
The problem is that Rusne’s mother lives in Lithuania. Lack of money for travel and work obligations have kept her from watching her daughter play high school or college basketball. It’s also kept the two apart for extended periods and leaves them missing each other terribly.
Rusne’s teammates knew how homesick she was and how much she missed her mom, so they decided to pool some of of their NIL money and put it together to pay for her mom to fly to the United States from Lithuania. Rusne told CBS that she had no idea how they managed to pull it off without her knowing, but she’s grateful they did. Her mom got to come sit in the stands as Rusne scored a season high 21 points against Southern Methodist University last month, thanks to a group of young ladies willing to go the extra mile for their teammate.
I love it! We hear so many bad NIL stories these days — it’s nice to hear a positive one.
For Rusne Augustinaite, home is more than 5,000 miles away. The 22-year-old junior guard at Clemson University grew up in Lithuania, and while she has now spent years playing in the U.S., one person had never seen her play a college game in person: her mom. That was until her… pic.twitter.com/UCTpw8O0KS
— CBS Evening News with Tony Dokoupil (@CBSEveningNews) February 3, 2026
Firefighters Step Up for Four Vulnerable Felines
This one is for my fellow animal lovers.
Earlier this week, a senior living complex in Riverside County in California caught on fire. Thankfully, all of the human residents made it to safety quickly, but one apartment apparently had four cats still trapped inside.
When he learned about the cats, firefighter Ray Guillen went back inside to look for them. He found one under a bed and said that when he grabbed it, it fell over, so he knew things weren’t looking too good. Eventually, he found the three other cats lifeless inside the apartment from smoke inhalation.
The firefighters, along with a county deputy who was standing by, jumped into action to save the little lives. They did chest compression, “mouth-to-snout resuscitation,” and even gave the cats a little oxygen. All four cats survived and were treated by animal control.
It may not seem like much, but to the senior citizen who owned those cats, it probably meant the world. Imagine losing your home and your furry friends all in one day.
Because All Lives Matter, these Firefighters find 4 unconscious cats 🐈 from a Fire and a little CPR and Oxygen Masks bring ALL 4 Cats back to life! These people are Heroes! pic.twitter.com/VSYI62e1Rz
— Johnny Midnight ⚡️ (@its_The_Dr) March 24, 2026
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