friends – Topical Fruit

The Best (and Worst) Numbers to Have in Super Bowl Squares

Super Bowl Sunday is the perfect mix of football, commercials, snacks… and quietly taking your friends’ money.

Super Bowl Squares is one of the easiest ways for even non-football fans to have skin in the game, but whether you win or lose (usually) comes down to one thing: the numbers you get stuck with.

How Super Bowl Squares Work (Quick Version)

Buy squares on a 10×10 grid. Once the board fills up, the numbers 0–9 are randomly assigned to each team across the top and side.

At the end of each quarter, the last digit of each team’s score determines the winner.
Example: If it’s 14–6, the 4/6 square wins.

It’s simple, it’s dumb luck… and some squares are way better than others.

Tip for rookies: A legit squares pool doesn’t assign numbers until after the grid is full. If your friend posts a board with the numbers already lined up and in order? Smile politely, then buy as many of these squares as you can afford…

Which Numbers Are Good in General?

Football scoring isn’t random. Touchdowns (7), field goals (3), and missed extra points create patterns – and over decades of NFL games, some last digits show up way more often than others.

The Best: 0, 3, 4, and 7

They’re common endpoints for realistic scores like 14–3, 27–10, or 24–17.

The Worst: 2, 5, 8, and 9

They usually require weird stuff – safeties, missed kicks, or very specific combinations – which means fewer chances to win.

The Five Best Squares You Can Get

0/0, 7/0, 0/7, 0/3, 3/0

If you land one of those, feel free to start trash-talking early. Why? Because 0 and 7 are everywhere in football scoring. A deep dive by The Washington Post found that 0/0 has historically been the single best square overall.

The five worst squares are 2/2, 5/5, 2/5, 5/2, and 8/8. Those digits usually require safeties, missed extra points, or other rare scoring quirks to hit – and needing that chaos from both teams makes these combinations long shots in any pool.

So, 0/0 is the best then? Well, there’s a catch…

Final Score vs. Quarter Payouts

If your pool pays out every quarter, 0/0 is king.

But if the really big money is on the final score (which is common), 7/0 or 0/7 might actually be the best combos to get. Games can’t end in a tie like 20–20, so 0/0 needs something like 20–10 or 30–20 to hit late.

FanDuel clocked the “final score” chances of 0/7 or 7/0 at 7%. Then it’s 0/3 or 3/0 and 4/7 or 7/4 at just under 6%.

A final score of 0/0 ranks 15th with just a 2% chance of hitting.

What About 1 and 6?

They’re… not great.

1 mostly relies on 21 points (three touchdowns) and doesn’t show up often early.
6 is possible early with two quick field goals, but then it’s clunky combinations with specific scoring paths.

Not the worst, but not what you’re hoping for either.

If you do get something ugly, don’t panic. A blocked extra point helped the Chiefs beat the Niners 25–22 in Super Bowl LVIII.

Was Joey from “Friends” a Copy of Joey from “Blossom”?

Could one of the most iconic sitcom characters of the ‘90s have started out as a copy?

According to Joey Lawrence, the answer is yes. In a recent interview, the Blossom star claimed that Matt LeBlanc’s beloved Friends character, Joey Tribbiani, was directly inspired by his own role as Joey Russo—a similarly dim-witted but charming ladies’ man.

“Joey Russo was so successful that when they were creating Friends, they wanted a 25-year-old version of that,” Lawrence said.

He even alleges that Matt LeBlanc was sent to live tapings of Blossom, where he’d sit in the audience with a yellow legal pad and study Lawrence’s performance—focusing on how he brought a certain innocence to the character. The idea, he claims, was to give Tribbiani the same likability that would let him “get away with his womanizing.”

Perhaps most surprisingly, Lawrence says the Friends creators changed the character’s name to Joey as a direct nod to Blossom’s popularity at the time. NBC’s Blossom wrapped its five-season run just a few months before Friends premiered in 1994.

Neither NBC nor the creators of Friends have commented on the claims. Matt LeBlanc, for his part, has never publicly acknowledged Blossom as a reference point.

These Everyday Pet Peeves Are Driving Us Nuts—Which Ones Are on Your List?

What’s something small that totally wrecks your mood? If you’ve ever snapped because someone chewed too loudly or your phone buzzed during a meeting, you’re not alone.

A poll commissioned by the brand CBDfx reveals even the tiniest disruptions can seriously stress us out.

You’ll probably encounter at least one of them today, and here’s the through line: if there’s one thing that consistently annoys the hell out of us, it’s… other people. (Yeah, I’m lookin’ at you! 🫵)

Here are the Top 10 minor annoyances that disproportionately get under our skin:

1. Running into someone you’d rather avoid. Whether it’s an ex, an enemy, or just someone you don’t exactly enjoy–it’s never fun when you have to go into “fake friend” mode.

2. A surprise knock at the door. In this day and age, they didn’t at least call first? Or better yet, text? (See #6 below)

3. People talking to you when you need some peace and quiet. Like when you’re in the middle of a work project, and your cubicle mate Todd chimes in with, “If a tomato is a fruit, does that mean ketchup counts as a smoothie??” (Sure, Todd. Now STFU!)

4. Slow or spotty Wi-Fi. In an age where everything’s online, even a 10-second Wi-Fi hiccup can feel like you’re being suffocated.

5. Loud chewing. I hate to keep picking on Todd, but…

6. Getting a phone call from someone out of the blue. It wasn’t that long ago when random phone calls were seen as a nice surprise. But now it’s like a personal affront. (And God help you if you FaceTime me out of nowhere.)

7. Heavy breathing. (See #5)

8. Alarms going off. It doesn’t matter what the alarm sound is, you’ll learn to hate it. It’s why you should never use a favorite song as your morning alarm sound–it’ll be your least favorite in under a week.

9. A flood of text notifications. If you add me to a group text with more than 5 people, we might not be friends anymore.

10. Phone dings during work meetings. Honestly, that one’s on me. I should have had it on vibrate.

Each thing on the list might be no big deal as a one-off, but they do add up fast–especially in a world that’s already overstimulated and constantly connected.

Whether it’s the awkwardness of a surprise visit or the rage-inducing crunch crunch crunch of nearby snacking, these everyday annoyances can trigger an outsized emotional response.

How to calm down after these little disruptions?

According to the same survey, the top method for de-stressing is simple: listening to some music. So if you’re feeling overwhelmed by minor irritations, maybe it’s time to reach for your headphones.

The poll found other go-to options include deep breathing, or snuggling your pet. (Please, just don’t do those deep breathing exercises if I’m within earshot!)

Who Has a Better Social Life? You or Your Dog?

Is it weird to feel a little jealous when you see your dog sniffing another dog’s butt? (Asking for a friend… I swear I have a few.)

According to a poll by doggy daycare chain Camp Bow Wow, your four-legged best friend may be out-socializing you. They asked 2,000 dog owners to compare their own social lives to their pets’, and the results are both hilarious and a little humbling.

63% said their dog has a better social life than they do.

For many pups, that means regular encounters with canine friends at parks, on walks, or at daycare. And it goes deeper: more than half of owners—54%—believe their dog has an actual “friend group.”

69% say their dog even has a best friend.

That might sound silly at first, but considering how many dogs see the same neighborhood pets every day, it’s not that far-fetched.

Beyond the adorable stats, 91% of owners agree it’s important for dogs to have an active social life. They listed reasons ranging from improved happiness to increased confidence. Many said regular social interaction makes their dogs more loving and less lonely—benefits most humans can relate to as well.

The poll taps into a broader trend: as pet parenting becomes more serious, people are increasingly prioritizing emotional well-being for their animals. Dog birthday parties, pet playdates, and even social media accounts for pets have become part of normal life. There are even apps specifically designed for arranging dog meetups.

And let’s be honest—after years of pandemic-related isolation and remote work, it’s not shocking that dogs may be getting out more than their owners. With routine walks and the occasional trip to the dog park, dogs often have built-in social calendars that humans simply don’t.

So, maybe take a cue from your pup this weekend. Hit the park, plan a meet-up, or just make some time to socialize—because apparently, your dog is already way ahead of you.