After 100 years, the Goodyear blimp remains an icon of the skies.

Why it matters: The airship doubles as one of the greatest promotional tools ever — for the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in Akron — as it captures aerial footage of the world's biggest sporting events.

Flashback: Goodyear launched its aeronautics division in 1910 and constructed the Wingfoot Lake Hangar in Suffield (south of Akron) in 1917 to build airships for the U.S. Navy.

• The blimp program began in 1925 with the introduction of "Pilgrim" — the world's first helium-filled, non-rigid airship.
• The fleet grew over the next decade with the additions of Puritan (1928), Volunteer (1929), Mayflower (1929), Vigilant (1929), Defender (1929), Reliance (1931) and Resolute (1932).

Between the lines: Beyond military applications, Goodyear executives hoped that wealthy Americans would adopt blimps for leisure and luxury travel — a kind of air yacht.

Reality check: Today's blimps are used chiefly for public relations.

• Goodyear operates four of the world's 20. They are no longer technically "blimps," as they feature semi-rigid frames designed in partnership with Germany's Zeppelin.

By the numbers: At 250 feet in length, each Goodyear airship is longer than a Boeing 747. They typically cruise at 30-40 miles per hour, with max speeds of over 70 miles per hour.

The latest: Goodyear's three U.S.-based blimps converged on Northeast Ohio last week for the 100th Anniversary celebration.

💭 Sam's thought bubble: I got a glimpse of the trio flying over Akron's Canal Park at last Tuesday's RubberDucks game.

• Wingfoot One, the flagship in the fleet, is housed at Wingfoot Lake. It was recently re-wrapped in the original gray and black "Pilgrim" colors for the occasion.

Go deeper: The Akron Beacon Journal's photo gallery of the 100th anniversary flight.

👊🏾 Troy here, continuing our things-born-in-Akron theme with the city's most successful son and a board game for the ages.

The intrigue: I finally got my hands on the "LeBron James Edition" of Monopoly, a luxury version of the game themed around James' life and career.

State of play: The game was produced via a partnership with Nike and Hasbro and released in limited quantities on National Play Monopoly Day last November.

• It coincided with the arrival of the "Currency" and "Token", two Monopoly-themed versions of the LeBron XXII shoe.

How it works: LeBron Monopoly features "Bron Bucks" instead of dollars, an acrylic basketball court to hold property deeds, hotels shaped in James' signature logo and game cards related to milestones in his life.

• You can choose from a championship ring, basketball, jersey, crown, lion or two different sneakers as game pieces.

Between the lines: The board locations include the addresses of James' childhood home, St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, Rocket Arena, the Miami Heat's Kaseya Center, Akron's I Promise School and more.

• Monopoly's traditional railroad spaces are replaced by squares representing James' four NBA Championships.

Zoom in: The game comes in a wooden cabinet with a satin black finish, a leather dice-rolling area and money drawers with James' logo as handles.

• Heck, the unopened box with the game inside weighs 24.5 pounds. It's a level of luxury that's hard to find in any board game.

Yes, but: The game was intended to be gifts to LeBron's inner circle and friends, and not available to the public.

• You can buy it online via sneaker resale site StockX for a hefty $3,000.

🏈 Beloved Browns' running back Nick Chubb is expected to sign a one-year deal with the Houston Texans.

• The 2018 second-round pick out of Georgia ranks third on the Browns' career rushing list. (ESPN)

🧐 Some Cleveland City Council members are skeptical of the city's planned $447 million lakefront redevelopment plan if there won't be a Browns Stadium there to anchor it. (Signal Cleveland)

⚖️ In the ongoing East Cleveland mayoral dispute:

• Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O'Malley filed a motion with the Eighth District Court of Appeals requesting that interim Mayor Sandra Morgan be declared the rightful holder of the position. (WKYC)

✈️ The low-cost carrier Breeze Airways opened a crew base last week at the Akron-Canton Airport and plans to hire as many as 200 flight attendants, pilots and maintenance techs by year's end. (Cleveland.com)

Black Frog Brewery opened last month on Euclid Avenue at East 66th Street, next to the Cleveland Foundation headquarters.

Why it matters: It's the first Black-owned brewery in Northeast Ohio.

State of play: Brewmaster Christopher Harris started brewing in his garage in 2014 and opened his first brick-and-mortar location in 2016 near Toledo.

• The Cleveland outpost is situated within the Midtown Collaboration Center, in an indoor-outdoor venue called The Sixty6 alongside Pearl's Kitchen and a live music space.

💭 Sam's thought bubble: The atmosphere feels much more like a corporate cafeteria than a neighborhood bar, but I was pleased to see a racially and generationally diverse crowd trickle in for live music and refreshment on a Friday evening.

🍻 What I drank: A flight of unmemorable pale ales with memorable names.

• "Crouching Frog Hidden Tadpole," anybody?

As the nation remembered D-Day on Friday's 81st anniversary, a dwindling number of World War II veterans remain with us.

• There were about 66,100 living WWII vets nationwide as of 2024, per U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs projections.

By the numbers: California (7,455), Florida (5,511) and Pennsylvania (3,930) had the most living WWII veterans as of 2024.

• Ohio ranked eighth among states with 2,352.