A: I dont watch a ton of TV. The Americans was one until its finale the other day, so I guess it doesnt count anymore. I think Better Call Saul is the best show on TV and has been for a couple of years. I like Atlanta a lot, but Im only a couple of eps into the second season. Really, though, I just dont keep up with most current TV. My wife and I are binging The Office right now (Pam just had her baby!) if that tells you how I roll, TV wise.
Thanks for the questions, yall. Lets do this again soon.
What will that look like specifically? I dunno. Im not actually a transit expert. But I do know that there needs to be public investment in it because transportation is a public good. There also needs to be an actual acceptance of this concept by government and by citizens. Acceptance on a level that we have simply refused to consider in recent decades.
Post was not sent – check your email addresses!
A: I did not. I had a lot of beer, though. I was told after I got back that I shouldve had a Pimms.
Say they did, though. Even then, I think the product would be bad. In football or basketball, teams play directly against one another, constantly, so if you have evenly-matched teams, you at least can create the partial illusion of a good product. You dont get laser-beam 45-yard throws, but its man vs. man. In baseball, there is an objective opponent in terms of velocity and distances to the fences and stuff. Two bad baseball teams can face each other, but if they arent up to a threshold where someone can hit a ball 400 feet or throw a curve ball that curves, its going to look like a joke. So, even if they bought the aesthetic, no one would buy the product. I doubt it could ever happen.
A: A little bit, because it was just more entertaining to see a guy who looked like he should be playing beer league softball play major league-ish outfield. For his sake and the sake of Cubs fans, however, I think everyone should be much happier with svelte, .885 (134 OPS+) Kyle Schwarber. Hes only 25. Id like to see him have a great career before he becomes aBartolo Colon-style well, look what HE did! mascot/cartoon character. I know Colon plays along with that, but I think its bad for the most part to turn these guys into characters.
Q: What are your favorite TV shows, on right now?
Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
Q: What is the most fulfilling way, in your opinion, to be a sports fan?
The Reds trailed 5-2 going into the bottom of the eighth inning, but they loaded the bases with no outs againstMike Dunn. After Scott Oberg relieved Dunn, the Reds had two run-producing outs to close the gap to 5-4. In the bottom of the ninth, closerWade Davisuncorked two wild pitches. The first moved runners to second and third. The second of the wild pitches brought in the tying run, setting the stage for Winker four innings later.
A: For one thing, Im working on about four hours sleep because my daughters flight, from a school orchestra trip to Disney World, got back at 1AM and I had to pick her up at the airport. Because Im an old man, Im incapable of sleeping in, even if I try, so I was of course up at 5:46AM, without an alarm. Old bodies are dumb. Caveat: I answered this question last and put it at the top of the pile here. The process of answering all of the other questions put me in a much better mood because (a) I like writing rambling things; and (b) it kept me off of my usual Twitter news feed and away from news websites, each of which can be depressing if taken in large doses. Im actually feeling pretty good now!
Q: Whats wrong with white people? Im serious. I followed all the rulesborn in the USA, got the college degrees, the good job, had the two kids, go to churchand white people are still a-holes and make me feel like I dont belong here. Whats wrong with you?
Im not gonna hate. Hardcore James fans in the UK would roll their eyes they love Laid but they get annoyed that it and, even more so, the giant UK hit Sit Down is all any non-fans really know but its a jam. Its my go-to karaoke song, by the way, and yes I even hit the high notes. Its also the one song that, if Martians came down and said theyd destroy Earth if I could not get the exact words right to a song of my choice on the first try, that I could totally nail. All of that being said, I highly recommend that your sister expand her James horizons. Partially because Laid is about a totally messed-up, dysfunctional and often violent relationship, making it less-than-ideal wedding reception fodder, but also because they have LOTS of other great songs.I made a playlist to introduce them to people who are unfamiliar, if you care about such things.
Q: Give me your Mount Rushmore of Fictional Baseball Catchers.
Q: Do you ever see someone starting a USFL- or XFL-style league to compete with MLB? What would an XFL-style baseball even look like?
Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
Video: Jesse Winker hits walk-off two-run home run in 13th inning againstRockies
A: People who read my personal blog know that one of the big reasons for my UK trip was to follow the band James around to some small venue shows.James is my favorite band, and I explained why that is earlier this week. Short version: theyre great, even if the only song most Americans know by them is Laid.
There isnt a ton going on in baseball, Ive been in a foul mood all day and Ive been in a weird post-vacation hangover for a week, so lets try to clear out all of that fog with a mailbag, shall we?
A: Never say never, but I worry that hes breaking down.Back issues can kill a player. Hes so good a player that, even with back issues, hes able to pitch outstandingly, but I worry that were at or near the end of the peak Kershaw-era. Hope Im wrong.
A: No. Just as elections are term limits, hits the other way or elevating the ball beats shifts. Let em play how they want to play.
Q: Why was Vincent Vega so rude to Butch at the bar in Pulp Fiction? Did he just not like him as a boxer? Did he know he was taking a dive? He called him palooka and punchy so he obviously knew who he was. If he was nicer, would Butch not killed him in the bathroom?
Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email.
A: Vincent Vega was a violent man, but a man of ethics. You don not f with another mans vehicle, its against the rules, he said. His whole bit with Mia was driven in large part by his fear of Marsellus Wallace, yes, but it was driven, more, I think, by his knowing that messing around with a married woman was just wrong. He was angry on general principal that Jules gave Pumpkin the $1,500 in his wallet in the coffee shop robbery. The man had a code. That code, I suspect, included not taking dives in fights, and as he knew Butch was planning on taking a dive, he had zero respect for him. Im not sure if greater respect in that instance wouldve saved his life Butch was running forhislife when he encountered Vincent in his apartment and killing him was the smart play but its a question worth asking.
Someone said the New York subway needs a trillion bucks to fix and scale for the future. Well, do it. Yes, its expensive. Its also essential. Not everything is that big and not everything is essential so sure, these ideas must be debated, but we have to go into this sort of stuff willing to accept that some things like that are essential and must be done. We used to do that as a country. We dont anymore. We look for any way possible to avoid those costs, largely for political reasons. Thats not how civilizations have ever worked, and if we want a civilization with great public goods and I think we do we have to approach it in such a fashion.
A: I live in a term limit state. Term limits are stupid and terrible and make for really bad government. Everyone is always scamming for their next job or they view government as a stepladder into private sector riches. Lobbyists retain all of the expertise and advantage and write laws and own legislators way more effectively than they do in non-term limit states and the lack of institutional memory makes legislative bodies dumber and saps them of good leadership and wisdom. This is not me on a soap box. I have watched this happen in my state over the past 20 years. Its quite tangible and its very bad. Elections as long as they are fair areterm limits. If people want to elect someone for 20 years, let them. If youe afraid of a 20-year politician, push for stronger ethics laws and campaign finance reform.
A: I was on vacation when this hit and I missed it because I tried to stay offline more than I usually do. When I got back home I asked my kids what the deal was with the Laurel or Yanny stuff and they just laughed at me for being so behind the curve and out of touch. I was so chastened that I never went back to check for myself. Maybe I will this afternoon. In other news, the dress was blue.
A: I never thought there would come a day when a Yankees star would fly under the radar and Ill probably regret saying this later but we should really be hearing more about Torres. Dude is hitting .319/.376/.593 with nine homers in only 33 games. Who knows how his career ends up, but someday there will be a book written about theAroldis Chapmantrade-trade-free-agent-signing and everything that spun out of it for all the teams involved, and Torres is going to loom the largest of any figure in it.
Q: Have we seen the last of CY winning Kershaw?
A: For those who dont follow on Twitter, I frequently post text conversations between my kids and I which tend to show them getting the best of me in verbal combat and negotiation. I do this mostly as a backdoor means of bragging about how smart my kids are and to, maybe, convince someone at Netflix or Amazon or something that I should be given a sitcom deal for a show about a 40s-something dad dealing with two sassy, plugged-in Gen-Z kids. Seriously, my text history would write like 25 episodes before we had to even come up with something new. Its easy money. Call me, Jeff Bezos.
A: Soda. Pop sounds childish. I grew up around pop people in Michigan and they all say it like pahp and it sounds like something you say to a baby. Soda pop is too long. Coke is confusing as its a name brand. No one has ever asked for a soft drink. Thats a word invented for menus. Well, maybe some super-affected Brooklyn hipster has said I would like a soft drink, over-enunciating every word before getting a small batch root beer, but no one real does that. There is no other reasonable option than soda and I judge anyone who says it any other way.
Q: Are you proud or ashamed that your children continue to own you?
Q: Whats the farthest in the future you can buy a single-year calendar, right now?
Q: How authentic are the Braves this year?
A: With the obvious caveat that everyone should do whatever makes them the most happy, my personal view is that enjoying sports as a diversion and not getting too emotionally invested is the best bet. Ive been that super emotionally invested fan in the past of baseball and college football, mostly but over time it just began to feel negative and I had to ask myself why I was watching something that caused me to be angry or upset so much of the time. I took a small step back temporarily from baseball in the late 1990s and, permanently, it seems, from college football around 2010 or so and reevaluated how I want to spend my days and my nights and my free time and how I wanted to feel during those times. The result is where I am as a fan now: I enjoy baseball and if I stop enjoying it, I turn it off, because dammit, its supposed to be enjoyable. Everyone elses mileage may vary on this, but its what works with my temperament and mental health the best.
Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
Q: Based on your recent UK travels, you are now an international rail expert. (Thats just how it works). How can we fix the US rail system?
A: The pardon power is plenary, so even if it annoys me that hespardoning jackwagons like Dinesh DSouza, theres not much that can be done about it. Sure, Id like him to pardon more worthy people The A-Team, Carmen Sandiego, Bugs Meany, etc. but Trump is going to Trump. Part of me thinks hes trying to establish a pattern in which he pardons people convicted of campaign violations like DSouza or lying to investigators like Martha Stewart in order to provide cover when he later pardons everyone Mueller indicts in order to protect himself. That would require some strategy and a sense of shame that would need to be protected, however, and Trump has never really been big on those things. I think hes mostly doing it for the yuks, which to be fair, is better than most things that motivate him. As for changing things: this is another one of those things that we just have to endure and wait until an election or two.
When I was using the Underground London, they were doing escalator renovations. An official sign put up by the transit authority said something to the effect of this work may be temporarily inconvenient, but the investment of our money in these repairs will eventually provide us all with better service. The our money clearly referred to the peoples money, collectively. Its sad how surprised I was to see a public entity openly acknowledging the fact that public works require public investment in the form of tax dollars in order to deliver goods people want and need rather than apologizing for it, fetishizing private investment partnerships or sponsorships or otherwise acting like its a bad thing for people, through governmental authority, to build things via collective action. We do that a lot in the United States. We treat the government as the enemy as opposed to an instrument of the people, by the people and for the people. We proceed as if taxes are evilrather than the price we pay for a civilized society. We fetishize the private sector despite the fact that it is utterly unwilling and usually unable to provide large scale services for people and which only evenattemptsto do so if there is a profit motive.
Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
Q: What is the correct term to use when describing a caffeinated beverage like a Pepsi and why: pop, soda, soda pop, soft drink or Coke (if youre Southern)?
Q: You are tasked with making an MLB all time team, but a decade can only be used once. So, choosing Koufax as your starter would eliminate either the 1950s or 60s, your choice. What would your 9-player lineup look like?
Q: Ive wondered for a while if the 2-term limit should be expanded to more elected positions. Career politicians are awful.
Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
Tags:Aroldis ChapmanBartolo ColonGleyber TorresKyle Schwarber
A: I dont. I was born in the 70s, so Im pretty sure my mom survived on cigarettes, processed cheese and Diet Rite when she was pregnant with me. My ex-wife lived on Paneras broccoli cheddar soup when she was pregnant with my daughter, though, and my daughter love, love, loves that stuff. She lived on milkshakes when my son was on the way and my son loves milkshakes. That may not be as important, though, because who doesnt love milkshakes? What was the question?
Q: When in London, did you havea Pimms?
Winker finished the afternoon 3-for-3 and is now batting .263/.368/.357 with a pair of home runs, 15 RBI, and 21 runs scored in 201 plate appearances on the season.
Q: My sister had the DJ play Laid 5 times at her wedding reception. Considering your status as a diehard James fan, what would have been your response to this scenario?
Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
Those of you who have been reading me a while know that Im a big fan of trains, but Im realistic about them in the United States. The U.S. is a really big, really empty country for the most part, so Im pretty skeptical ofrail enthusiasts fantasies about transforming the United States with high speed rail servicebetween cities. I think we can and should do much better with regional rail service (i.e. trains, even high-speed ones between cities which are close together or in the same urban mass, like on the east coast) and way, way better with localized rail service in and around urban centers. We just have to break our dependence on cars for about a million reasons. Even non-environmental ones if youre afraid to confront those. Cities are growing and there is just not enough room for everyone. We need trains or alternative mass-transit options.
Click to email this to a friend (Opens in new window)
Q: Do you have a favorite food that was something your mother said was her go-to food when she was pregnant with you?
I asked for questions on Twitter. Here are a good chunk of them. Warning: I asked people to ask me literally anything this time, including stuff I know little or nothing about, so lets get weird:
Click to share on Google+ (Opens in new window)
A: Never. There just isnt immediate money to be made with it. Football is a national TV sport and if you can get someone to give you a slate of 10 or 12 weeks of programming, you have your league. People watch baseball for their own, local team and more specifically, they watch it for their ownfamiliarlocal team. Player continuity matters and, if there is not player continuity due to a rebuild or whatever, there are at least the trappings of familiar uniforms, the ballpark and the announcers. I doubt people would turn in for some totally novel and random team with which they have no previous attachment whatsoever.
Q: Do you think MLB should put limits on the shift? Like, not allowing the SS or 2B to cross to the other side of second base before the pitch is thrown?
Reds outfielderJesse Winkerdidnt start Thursday afternoons game against the Rockies, but he made quite an impact anyway. The 24-year-old hit a walk-off two-run home run in the bottom of the 13th inning againstChris Rusin, completing the Reds impressive comeback effort that began in the eighth inning.
Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Flipboard (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
A: Not exactly sure what the word authentic means here. If its are they for real? I think the answer is broadly yes, with for real including the part in which, over the course of the season I still think they fall fairly far back of the Nats because this team is young and the pitchers will tire, etc. etc. They could win the division if things go perfectly, they could win the wild card if they go somewhat less perfectly or they could crater and none of those three outcomes would be 100% shocking. If authentic is meant to refer to, like, 1990s indie rock aesthetics, no, the Braves are not very authentic because theyre owned by a big corporation, man, and they sold OUT. Shoulda stayed on Matador Records or whatever.
A: Dottie Hinson, Crash Davis, Jake Taylor and Engleberg. Not sure there are any other answers to this.
That said: shes TOTALLY on some secret mission like Picard, Worf and Crusher were in the Chain of Command episodes of Next Generation. At least thats what Im hoping for. How badass would that be if she was infiltrating some enemy base?
A: Ive watched individual World Cup matches in the past, but mostly for the U.S. team because Im a mark for the hype every four years. Thats not going to be an option this time, so well see. Beyond the World Cup, I havent really gotten into soccer much in my life, but I enjoy a match whenever I watch one, so maybe I should. I dunno. Theyre taking away my local MLS team, but Ive not been to too many of their matches as it is, so thats no big loss. I could adopt an EPL club, but even an Anglophile like me thinks thats rather affected. That aside, how do you pick one? My great grandmother was born in West Bromwich, but (a) that club is said to be boring as hell; and (b) they just got relegated. I worry Im too old to get into something new. The future frightens and confuses me.
Q: Do you have any interest in the World Cup? Will you be checking it out?
Email check failed, please try again
I wish I had some answer about how to deal with all of that, but the last thing our society needs is for some white dude to opine about how to fix the problems caused mostly by white dudes running things. Elect women. Elect people of color. Elect gay people. When they show those of us who have traditionally held power that wielding power does not require the subjugation of others, it will finally dawn on us how bad we cocked if up for the past several centuries and maybe then we can move forward.
Q: Just how awesome isGleyber Torres?
A: WOW thats a good question. I hate to punt here, but I may use this as a post idea at a later date. In the meantime, no, I would not choose Koufax, because that would possibly cause me to miss out on Willie Mays (depending on how I do the decades) and/or Joe Morgan and I dont think I can do that. Ill put a pin in this one and get back to it, though.
Q: I assume you have thoughts on the way Trump has chosen to use his pardon powers. Considering there are probably tens of thousands (or more) people in America that may be deserving of pardons that will never be considered for one, how would you change things?
A: This is ringer question, asked by an actual expert on the U.S. rail system who liked what I wrote about it onthe U.K. travelogue I wrote earlier this week. Ill paraphrase it for yall who didnt see it.
A: Ive tried to take a step back from the daily outrages and controversies of the Trump era of late because most of them are dumb, most pass quickly and its simply not worth wasting mental energy and mental health on new scandals and dramas each and every dang day. I prefer to think harder about the larger arc things like whats happening to the rule of law, what can be done electorally and how is the best way to protect American values in this strange and often sad era. I thinkthe where is Melania stufffalls into the former camp as shes a grown woman and, even if weve made First Ladies into quasi-governmental officials, shes still a private person who is allowed to live her life privately.
Click to share on Flipboard (Opens in new window)
A: When my parents were full-time RV retirees a few years back they would winter in Texas and one year my dad sent me a big crate of Nolan Ryan meat products. Most were mediocre. I dont even remember the hot dogs. Like so many things surrounding Nolan Ryan, it was overrated.
OK, I think thats the last of my UK stuff.
Q: Have you ever eaten a Nolan Ryan hot dog, and why are they so bad?
A: Tribalism and racism and the belief that, because we grabbed power in the past, that power was (a) 100% legitimately grabbed; and (b) we are entitled to have power forever and always, without challenge. Its sick, obviously. Fear too plays a part. As our society has become more democratic, in fits and starts anyway, white people and men and straight people and anyone else in power have begun to fear that, if other people gain power, they will take things away from us. Thats sick too, because that fear comes from a mindset which holds that the empowerment of others means that you yourself will be harmed (we believe that, I suspect, because we used our power in the past to harm people and assume everyone else will do it too).