Stick to baseball, 7/4/20.

For subscribers to The Athletic, I looked at the prospects who made their teams’ 60-player pools – and some notable prospect omissions as well. I held a Klawchat on Friday.

My latest podcast episode was one of my favorites so far. Dr. Akilah Carter-Francique of the Institute for the Study of Sport, Society, and Social Change at San Jose State University joined me to discuss her research on Black athletes’ experiences, their obstacles to playing and becoming coaches after playing, and what leagues and universities can do to break down structural barriers these athletes face.

My thanks to all of you who’ve already bought The Inside Game. If you’re looking to pick up a copy, you can get it at bookshop.org or perhaps at a local bookstore if they’re reopening near you.

I’m due for another issue my my email newsletter. You can sign up for free here.

And now, the links…

• “We have been the Republican Party’s useful idiots,” say social conservatives who voted for Trump, thinking that he’d deliver judges who’d overturn Roe v. Wade and otherwise push through policies the evangelical right favors.
• Also at Vox, why Hamilton is so compelling and stirs up so much critical commentary. Having now seen the film, at least, I would agree with Minister Darrick Jackson’s comments near the end of this piece – and I think anyone who thinks that the play lionizes Hamilton isn’t paying enough attention to the story.
• What the U.S. asks of working parents is impossible. This is very much a function of American capitalism, and our lack of support (like subsidized day care) for working parents.
• Khruangbin’s third album, Mordechai, is one of the best new records of 2020. NME interviewed the trio for their latest cover story.
• SELF has tips for how to deal with friends or family members who won’t let go of conspiracy theories about COVID-19 or anything else. Most valuable: “Know when to walk away.”
• The Washington Post‘s Ashley Spencer has a wonderful story about the progressive nature of the new Netflix series The Babysitters Club, which was produced by my friend Naia Cucukov (quoted in the article).
• The Texas Tribune reports on what it’s like right now inside hospitals overrun with COVID-19 cases in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley.
• Springfield, Massachusetts, fired a police officer within days for posting something on social media that supported BLM protesters. It’s just weird that they fired an officer without waiting or massive street protests.
• COVID-19 parties are not a thing. Every journalist who shared that obviously bogus story about a party at the University of Alabama where students competed to catch the virus first should read this – and make it very clear that the story they shared was false.
• The BBC has a video on “doughnut economics” and how Amsterdam city leaders are trying to redevelop their urban center around this new model of circles in which residents can live and work and reduce their impact on the environment.
• Fans of apocalyptic films may be more emotionally prepared for the present pandemic.
• There’s a monument to Confederate soldiers, including a Confederate flag, in southern Delaware (“slower Lower”). You can sign a petition to call upon the Georgetown Historical Society and the Museum for Nutters – excuse me, the Nutter Marvel Carriage Museum – to remove this shameful monument to slavery and men who fought for it.
• Netflix and Hulu pulled a Community episode that showed Ken Jeong in black facepaint while playing Dungeons & Dragons. He was supposed to be a member of the Drow race, who are extremely dark-skinned. I never made a connection between the Drow and Black people, or any actual race, really; I’m curious if any D&D players among you felt the fictional race was offensive in any way.