You know, we give the youths a lot of flack for what they get up to these days. “Oh, they’re eating Tide pods,” “Oh, they’re inhaling whipped cream on the TikToks,” “Oh, they’re volunteering to and there’s no reason to risk your life just to say you got your steps in for the day that made Stallone snap in the first Rambo movie just because a guy on YouTube might give them money.”
It’s easy to write off young folks today as reckless with their health and safety, doing the dumbest stuff and thinking that they’re Superman. But it’s officially time we stop doing that.
No, not because young people aren’t doing some very senseless and risky stuff; they absolutely are. But because, as a recent viral video demonstrated, reckless self-endangerment isn’t something reserved exclusively for the under-30 crowd.
’Cause some dude in Florida went jogging during a hurricane.
As NewsNation’s Brian Entin stood in Tampa, reporting on the impending arrival of Hurricane Milton later that evening, a shirtless jogger in black shorts sprinted past the drenched, raincoat-adorned correspondent. “The Florida man right there for you...” Entin remarked as the man passed, “Jogging in the hurricane.”
And that is a Florida man. This is not a dumb, life-threatening act we can blame on some foolish teen. We grown folks have to take the L on this one. Look at that build. Look at that back tattoo. That is not the look of somebody who knows what a “skibidi toilet” is. That’s somebody old enough to have strong opinions on David Lee Roth vs. Sammy Hagar.
Which also means they’re old enough to know better.
And you, dear reader, you know better too, right? Of course you do. We don’t need to tell you “Don’t go jogging in a hurricane,” right? It’s common sense. We don’t need to remind you that just because Hurricane Milton was downgraded from a Category 5 to a Category 3 doesn’t mean it’s “safe to jog in,” do we? Because Hurricane Milton was a deadly storm that left millions without power, and there’s no reason to risk your life just to say you got your steps in for the day?
Seriously, please tell us you’re not the “shirtless in black shorts” Florida man who decided to forgo a treadmill in favor of a jog through Hurricane Milton.
And while we’re at it, promise us you also weren’t the “shirtless in black shorts” Florida man who jogged in the background of a different news broadcast about a different hurricane this year, Fox Weather's reporting on Hurricane Helene.
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Buddy, Hurricane Helene had a record storm surge of 15 feet high, and winds going up to 140 mph. What are you doing? What run is worth that?
And if, shirtless in black shorts Florida Man, you react to that by going “It’s just wind, it’s no big deal, wind can’t hurt me. I gotta get my run in,” perhaps we can turn you towards the wisdom of naturalist and author John Muir, who in his 1878 article “A Wind Storm in the Forests of the Yuba” wrote:
“We all travel the milky way together, trees and men; but it never occurred to me until this storm-day, while swinging in the wind, that trees are travelers...”
In other words, the danger isn’t that there’s wind blowing, it’s what could be blowing in that wind. In the storm, trees become travelers, as can pieces of glass or metal debris, or even downed power lines.
It’s not just that jogging during a hurricane could get you injured, or even killed. It’s that a hurricane has so many different ways to hurt or kill you if you’re out there running around when the storm hits. Heck, you could even wind up being the thing that goes flying in the air, hitting somebody else. That’s the “kill two birds with one stone” of hurricanes, except...killing two shirtless in black shorts Florida Men with...one...Florida Man.
So please, no matter how much you may want your totally sick shoulder blade tattoo showcased on the news, do not, under any circumstances, go for a shirtless (or fully-clothed) jog just before a hurricane makes landfall.
Michale Natale is a News Editor for the Hearst Enthusiast Group. As a writer and researcher, he has produced written and audio-visual content for more than fifteen years, spanning historical periods from the dawn of early man to the Golden Age of Hollywood. His stories for the Enthusiast Group have involved coordinating with organizations like the National Parks Service and the Secret Service, and travelling to notable historical sites and archaeological digs, from excavations of America’ earliest colonies to the former homes of Edgar Allan Poe.
