Generally, I’m a rules-follower. I don’t cut lines. I use crosswalks. I pay transit fares even when I know no one’s checking. Abiding by agreements is valuable because when fewer people honor just agreements — which is what most rules boil down to — then trust degrades and that way lies disorder, chaos, and misery. Which brings me to Yankees utility player Jose Caballero and MLB’s pitch clock.
I wasn’t there to pass judgment on whether Portland and Seattle are “good,” but my experiences did prompt me to think a lot about San Francisco’s mayor, Daniel Lurie, and the anxieties about my city that apparently motivate a good chunk of its leadership, which in turn get transferred to media members and everyday people who take their cues from those leaders.
The topline takeaway: Teams are starting catchers at DH at higher rates than they have in recent years, and at a higher rate than any other season for which I’ve checked the numbers.
This is a brief story about a piece of art I made 20 years ago.
This week, I wrote about my wild NBA Draft Lottery idea, my wild MLB roster construction idea, my super-easy lentils preparation, and more. LFG.
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- Improving the NBA Draft Lottery
- The San Francisco Giants Have Been a Boring Kind of Bad
- Do Not Ever Let the Casino Into Your Pocket
- I Almost Hit a Home Run
- The Root of Anti-AI Rage
- Lentils: Hell, Yeah
- What Makes a “Top 15 TV Show”
- “The Ten Year Affair”
This week, I wrote about Donald Trump’s pro wrestling persona, one’s dominant eye, “Project Hail Mary”, a great baseball book from the 1970s, my recent trip to Ireland, and more. LFG.
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- Trump’s Pro Wrestling Logic
- “The Summer Game” by Roger Angell
- Do You Know Your Dominant Eye? What About Baseball Players?
- MLBGuessr
- The Helen DeWitt Drama
- Slop Is Not Inevitable; You Don’t Have to Use It
- “Project Hail Mary” by Andy Weir
- Ireland
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- I Want to Know if AI Is a Washing Machine
- Rich People Are Not Necessarily Smart: Exhibit Bajillion
- “A Miraculous Escape”
- The Climate Apocalypse Continues
- It’s Time For Baseball
- My Home Page Is a Motherfucking Website
This month, I’ve written about a cool philosophy book, how I've been radicalized against cars, a critically-acclaimed TV show I’m finally watching, Barack Obama’s opinion on aliens, our gambling dystopia, and more. LFG.
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- Are You Competitive? Know “The Score”
- Which MLB Teams Are Trying to Win?
- American Gambling Culture Is Bad
- “Halt and Catch Fire”
- Driving Like a Maniac Should Have Consequences
- The Worst Class I Took in College
- Barack Obama Got Asked About Aliens…
- Sam Altman Doesn’t Value Humanity
- A Good Toilet Seat
- More About My Next Book
January is hard. Find joy and hope where we can. LFG.
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- “Heated Rivalry” and “Heartstopper”
- Don’t Let Anyone Tell You MLB “Needs a Salary Cap”
- More of What I’ve Learned From Playing Immaculate Grid
- Compelling Darts
- How to Win at Monopoly and Lose All Your Friends
- You Should Talk to Friends
- In Case You Needed Another Reason to Watch “Taskmaster”
- Remember Martin Prince? He’s Back, in Tattoo Form
- Greenland
- Occupation of Minnesota
- An Example of Journalism That Doesn’t Call Things What They Are
- The Most Electric Movie Experiences
- My Next Book
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Read My Novel for Free
“Wake Up Dead Man” Is an Intensely Catholic Movie
Chatbots Aren’t Your Friends
Seriously, the Jeff Kent “Survivor” Clip Is Hilarious
Step Up Your Cookie Game
Do Not Mess With Calvin and Hobbes
“Now That I’m Grown, I Eat Five Dozen Eggs”
“So This Is Christmas”
The Greatest TED Talk Ever
All the Books I’ve Read This Year
In this post, I wrote about Zohran Mamdani, bagels, Victor Wembanyama, the World Series, “Our Town”, "Wicked", and more. LFG.
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- Mamdani Beyond New York
- Such a Great World Series
- Wemby
- “Our Town”
- NYC Bagels, SF Bagels, Las Vegas Bagels
- MrBeast Sucks
- A Great Expository Movie Scene
- Wicked For… Meh
- New Nightmare App Dropped
- Through 4 Episodes of “Pluribus”…
While I’ve happily devoted lot of my attention to the podcast in recent weeks, there’s plenty more to notice in the world. Below, I’ve written about the No Kings protests, a skillful Trevor Noah comedy set, a take on “One Battle After Another” I’m guessing you haven’t seen, a trash prestige TV show, why the New York Mets’ season was honorable, and more. LFG.
- No Kings
- “Great Comedians Get Away With It”
- Edgelord Shooters
- DEI by Other Names
- An Underappreciated Aspect of “One Battle After Another”
- Trash Prestige TV
- Finally Learned My Lesson on Stephen King
- Don’t You Dare “LOLMets”
- “The Compound Interest of Design”
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- Seeing Charlie Kirk with Clear Eyes
- Bari Weiss Is Not a Serious Person
- The U.S Government Keeps Bragging About Killing People for No Reason
- MAGA Has Contempt for the First Amendment
- By the Way, a Fox News Host Said We Should Solve Homelessness by Killing Unhoused People
- Car Culture Is the Worst, Pt. 1
- Car Culture Is the Worst, Pt. 2
- Reflecting on Roberto Clemente Day
- The Clippers Are Showing Why Salary Caps Are Bad
- A Thought About Taylor Swift’s Lyrics
- I Recommend a Novel: “When We Were Real”
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- Mike Yastrzemski Is Good at Baseball
- The Designated Hitter Is Now Fully Dead
- I Can Care About Something Without Telling You I Care
- A Good Baseball Podcast
- I Don’t Want the Whole Video Game — Just the One Part
- A Stray Thought About MLB Players on the Golf Course
- Imagine an NBA Team Allowing This Today
- About Trans Kids Playing Sports…
- If You Have Seen “Weapons”, This Item Is for You
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Just Following Orders
Murder Is Bad
Rafael Devers to the Giants?!?!?!?!
Denzel Clarke is Incredible
Why Do High School Sports Exist?
You Do Not Need a Truck
A Moment for Some Star Wars FanFic…
Make Things Yourself
Greed Is Terrible
What Comes After Podcasts?
Hello, again. Have you ever had a moment where you heard someone say, or read about someone saying, something utterly bizarre and you realized instantly they had no idea that what they were saying was completely bonkers? I feel like I have two or three of those every week, now.
Recently, I have been thinking about AI evangelism cooking people’s brains and why “Andor” is the greatest Star Wars story ever told. I have also come up with an idea for a new Major League Baseball award, gave up reading a book because its anachronisms drove me to distraction, and have an important recommendation. LFG.
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AI Evangelists Cooking Their Brains
Using an AI-Created Video of a Dead Man in Court
Men Being Hot
Rob Manfred Sucks, Part Bajillion
My Pitch for a New MLB Fielding Award
A Book I Love
A Book I Didn’t Love, and Some History
Watch "Andor" Now
A Recommendation
A Reminder
Recently, I have been appreciating Immaculate Grid and lamenting Americans’ seeming disregard for due process. I also read a really gossipy book about Elon Musk and read another book that deals with time travel in a satisfying way. LFG.