Stick to baseball, 4/20/19.

Nothing new for ESPN+ subscribers this week, although I’ll have another draft blog post next week, followed by a draft top 50 the week after (I got bumped by some other draft). My last ESPN+ post covered likely first rounders Alek Manoah and Josh Jung, with Manoah looking like a top ten pick when I saw him.

I reviewed the app version of Castles of Burgundy, one of my favorite high strategy games, for Ars Technica. MENSA also gave its Select tag to five games from 2019 and I’ve reviewed two already, Gizmos and Architects of the West Kingdom.

I rarely appear on podcasts due to time constraints, but when Kyle Bandujo asked if I’d come on his show, Trouble with the Script, to review the worst baseball movie I’ve ever seen, I couldn’t possibly decline. I think we properly eviscerated Trouble with the Curve.

My free email newsletter is becoming dangerously close to a weekly thing now. I must be mellowing in my old age.

And now, the links…

Comments

  1. The Rob Whalen story was a tough read. As someone who suffers from depression and anxiety, I saw a lot of similarities in myself. I was struck, however, by the note regarding his decision to eschew anxiety meds. It seems to imply there’s some ambiguity in the policy that makes it difficult for a player to ask/understand if they can take anti-anxiety meds? And, I certainly hope the exemption process isn’t arduous enough to actually deter players who need medicinal assistance.

  2. I’m no fancy foods reviewer, but Challenge Accepted regarding Jeremy Jeffress’ food truck at Miller Park! You might say I’m AmFamished.

  3. The Harvard story makes me irate. My college roommate was addicted to opioids, and on at least two (and possibly three?) occasions naxolone saved his life. Arguments against having it on hand in any public (and, generally, private) setting are a cruel joke.

  4. Inconsequential as it may be the depiction of the Nanaimo bar is way off.

  5. As someone who works at an Ivy League library, I have 2 points:

    1) I wasn’t surprised at the Harvard quote; I just assumed they “had some skepticism” about whether Harvard students would be so gauche as to OD from their drug use.

    2) I’m afraid that the hard, cold answer to both the brutal academic job market described in the article and the adjunct problem is that this is what markets do with oversupply. I think there are more people who want to be academics – a pleasant lifestyle if you can stomach the politics and a chance to spend your working life pursuing your interests – than there is a real need for in our society.

    I am reminded of something our macro econ professor told us 20 years ago about a conversion he’d had with an English professor, which I will quote as best I can remember:

    “He complained that they had to guarantee funding for a Ph.D. student’s first 5 fives. I ask why they didn’t guarantee one year and make further funding conditional upon performance. He said they had to offer 5 years to attract the best students. I said this was likely to produce an oversupply of English Ph.D.’s and thus ought to suppress English professor salaries relative to, for example, economics salaries. Which, I observed, seemed to be the case. He said he would think about it.”

  6. San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich loves food, and especially wine. A certain Phoenix pizza master knows Pop well, with a quote in the article.

    http://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/26524600/secret-team-dinners-built-spurs-dynasty

  7. Keith, saw this article/video about one of the last people to live in an iron lung, and thought you might be interested in watching/sharing. I’m sure anti-vax people would probably say it’s fake or something. https://laughingsquid.com/paul-alexander-living-in-iron-lung/

  8. Keith…no Klawchat for two weeks? I am suffering withdrawal.