Reese’s cup reckoning, Olympic tears, and a very dad hat | Weekly Report Card

If a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup tastes different, Pennsylvanians will notice.

When the grandson of H.B. Reese accused the company of quietly swapping ingredients in some seasonal products, locals weren’t outraged. Instead, they felt seen.

On Reddit, the top comments were ones of vindication. People were comparing batches, debating texture and arguing over when it changed. “They’re waxy, oily, and extra sweet.” “The filling tastes like sawdust.” “I thought maybe my taste buds just changed.”

One user wrote simply: “I KNEW IT.”

Hershey says the original cups haven’t changed, though some holiday shapes use different coatings to allow for new sizes and shapes.

But who are you going to believe: a corporate statement, or your lying taste buds?

Johnny Gaudreau wanted to make the Olympics. But like so many other things he was denied after being killed by a suspected drunk driver at age 31, he never got to skate in Milan.

So when Team USA won gold, players carried Gaudreau’s No. 13 jersey across the ice and brought his children down to join the celebrations.

The tribute to Gaudreau, who played for the Columbus Blue Jackets when he died and had been training to make the Olympic team, wasn’t just a quick nod during a ceremony. It happened in the loudest, grandest moment of the tournament. In the biggest moment of these athletes’ own careers, they made sure the person missing was still present.

And for a family that has spent a year and a half worrying the world would eventually move on, that decision said otherwise.

JT Realmuto says there’s “definitely no sense of staleness in the clubhouse.”

He understands the concerns — that the Phils are “largely the same team,” that the media and unhappy fans are pressing a negative narrative — but inside, he says, they’re “still as hungry as we’ve ever been because we haven’t been able to finish the job.”

That’s the right answer … and the only answer.

“We have the pieces to win a championship,” Realmuto said. “It’s just a matter of putting it together and playing our best baseball at the right time.”

In Philadelphia, “the right time” has a very specific definition.

It is not May. It is not 95 regular-season wins. It is not “a couple plays” in a 3-1 series loss.

This city doesn’t question whether the Phillies are talented. It questions whether this group, THIS EXACT GROUP, can clear the last hurdle. Philly can’t handle another almost.

Hunger is great, chemistry is great, enjoying each other is great. But: banner or it didn’t happen.

Not only did the Jersey Shore get hit hard by what we’ll now remember as the Blizzard of ‘26, they also got a seal napping in the slow lane.

On Tuesday, a gray seal pup crossed three lanes of traffic in Harvey Cedars and stretched out in the road like she was waiting for a beach badge check.

Traffic stalled while a Public Works worker bundled her in his jacket and moved her to safety. The Marine Mammal Stranding Center arrived soon after, captioning the moment: “POV: When your nap shuts down a whole street.”

She wasn’t injured, just thin and apparently tired of the Atlantic.

Seal beachings aren’t rare, but them laying in the slow lane are.

Eighteen inches of snow, plows out, Long Beach Boulevard barely cleared, and marine wildlife is treating it like a sun deck. Welcome to late February at the Shore.

Philadelphia cleaned up this storm like it remembered the last one.

Main roads were cleared quickly. Side streets (not all, but more than usual) were navigable before we collectively lost our minds.

Did we see the usual cone diplomacy and neighborhood snow mounds? Of course.

But compared to the last round of icy chaos, this felt organized. Which is maybe the most surprising part.

We are conditioned to assume a foot of snow means two days of slush purgatory. Instead, the city looked … prepared.

To celebrate America’s 250th birthday, Pennsylvania rolled out a patriotic “Let Freedom Ring” license plate.

Unfortunately, freedom currently rings with someone else’s toll bill.

The tiny slash through the number zero, added to distinguish it from the letter O, is confusing automatic license plate readers, which are now struggling to tell the difference between 0 and 8.

So in some cases, drivers are getting tolls that don’t belong to them.

This is deeply on brand.

We added a design tweak to make things clearer. It made things worse. Now the technology needs “time to learn.” It’s a license plate, not Duolingo.

The Turnpike says it’s working on it, but in the meantime, if your patriotic plate racks up charges from roads you’ve never seen, you can call a hotline and sort it out.

Nothing says “Let Freedom Ring” like disputing tolls over a misread zero.

The Phillies unveiled their Father’s Day giveaway hat, and it is exactly what you think a Father’s Day hat would be.

Light gray, white logo, mesh back. It’s giving cargo shorts energy. It’s dad sneakers, but make it a hat.

Apparently, dads have earned subtlety.

This is the franchise that leans into powder blue throwbacks and maroon nostalgia, and yet for Father’s Day, we get something that looks like it came free with a new grill.

The internet noticed too. One commenter joked that Bryce Harper must have “used up all the color in Philadelphia for his new cleats.”

It’s not bad, just aggressively dad. Safe and practical. Which, depending on your father, might be the most accurate tribute of all.