NOTE: In the emailed version of today's newsletter I mistakenly wrote "wish" instead of "pretend" re: poseurs' stance toward their ever having been to school in the Common People/smoking item, but that has been remedied in the version on the website. Apologies. I will strive to do better going froward.
I don't get kids wanting to watch people play video games. But my wife doesn't get me wanting to watch baseball. So it's all a matter of taste. More concerning is that kids are playing sports less, if only because that gives the impression that kids aren't exercising enough. The two are not the same thing, of course - I have never played sports very much and not for exercise, and my exercise is distinct from sports - but I really hope the generation of games and e-sports fans are also getting out of their chairs and at least playing Pokemon Go on long walks.
I don't get anyone smoking. I don't get anyone liking the stink of the smoke. I don't get anyone wanting to increase their risk of cancer. And I certainly don't get starting to smoke when we're dealing with a respiratory disease. It's as for everyone one of us who reacted to the pandemic by trying to take every precaution possible, there is someone who just said "screw it." I don't get that, either.
And speaking of Evan Dreilich, this is from him:
"Sports and entertainment agency Endeavor, through its arm WME Sports, beefed up its baseball business over the summer by adding several established names in the industry. A few months later, Endeavor completed the purchase of 10 minor league teams, with eyes on more. That combination isn’t working for the baseball players’ union. The Major League Baseball Players Association warned WME Sports player representatives that they risk losing their certification as agents unless they divest themselves from the company, multiple people with knowledge of the situation told The Athletic."
Speaking of the 1980s and its smack you in the face brashness … my introduction to Ronnie Spector was via Eddie Money’s mid decade Take Me Home Tonight which turned the Ronnettes BMB into an explicit let’s screw.
I’ve gotten my 17 yr old daughter into baseball, well at least the Red Sox anyways. She follows players on social media and will sit and watch games during the season. She also watches clip videos on YouTube, like great plays, weird plays, etc. One of the colleges that’s interested in her playing volleyball for them has a pretty good D3 baseball team. It’s one of the selling points for her leaning toward going to that school since she likes baseball. Of course, I’ve seen Bull Durham so I’m not sure how I feel about that…
I went from 10 to 20 years old in the decade of the 80s, and smoked for half that time and hung out with lots of smokers at and outside of high school. There was nothing sexy about it, believe me.
Pitch clocks & limits on defensive infield shifts to speed-up and shorten games for a younger, faster generation? If clocks worked in the minors to shave an hour off, wouldn’t we already see them in the Bigs? No shifts would lead to more offense (excitement?), but wouldn’t that make games longer?
I’ve been wondering if the removal of players from the website and promotional stuff tells us something about negotiating strategies rather than just a ham fisted FU. Could MLB think that if they give the union a larger slice of merchandising they won’t push so hard on the luxury tax / salary cap?
How much of the “Gen Z’ers don’t want to play sports” narrative is really that simple? Let’s take COVID’s current impact on schools out of the equation. We’ve known for years that money keeps some kids away from playing, especially in baseball and basketball where travel is so heavily involved. We’ve seen more parents say they don’t want their kids playing football until middle or high school because of concussions and safety.
I agree that the leagues themselves (including college) are getting harder to reach for Gen Z’ers and millennials (I was born in 1997 so I’m technically a Gen Z’er) for a myriad of reasons. I just don’t know how much of that is 9-year-old Johnny not wanting to play little league or 14-year-old Sally not wanting to join her friends on a basketball team.
Also, re: people thinking smoking is cool. I can understand people binging The Sopranos during lockdown and wanting to eat Artie’s cooking or binging Always Sunny and wanting to wear Mac’s cut-off tees. I cannot understand why anyone would to embrace smoking now given all that we know. There’s no inherent harm in wearing a cut-off tee aside from possibly looking like an idiot. You eat too much italian food, you might have diarrhea, food poisoning, and an urge to kill one of your friends.
Smoking? I’m all for people having the right to smoke tobacco but I’ll pass.
Smoking: I can’t think of anything that is more of a signal that someone is a poseur than using the phrase “if you will” in a sentence. You might as well rent a billboard (LED, of course).
That BBC quote is a strange one, not least because they illustrate it with a non-controversy (flat earth). Presumably to avoid upsetting anyone by referring to an actual controversy that people might be personally invested in.
Also strange because it doesn't seem to reflect the reality of the BBC. Their page on the antivax movement
It won't be of interest to everyone, but it began with the question "Is a lesbian transphobic if she does not want to have sex with trans women?" Some junior BBC staff claimed that the article was itself transphobic and should be removed from their website [it hasn't been].
I wouldn't be surprised if this recent quote from David Jordan is driven entirely by the transgender issue. The BBC employs a lot of older feminist women. They also employ a lot of younger LGBT+ people, whose journalism is maybe more focussed on the T than on the other letters. The BBC values both groups and is trying to keep both happy. They could issue a statement referring only to their transgender coverage, but that would annoy one side. So they've formulated a general policy instead, designed purely for this one issue. And then, in every other area, they will carry on as before.
Maybe some things aren’t meant to last forever. Sure. But maybe everything that dies someday comes back. Is obviously what you were gonna say, I mean, you're a white male sportswriter, them's the rules.
"Personally, I’m for liberal number retirement policies and think the “Hall of Famers only” rules are stupid"
Craig then you must have, like me, thought through the implications... so are you a "let 'em eventually wear 3 digit numbers", a "they'll eventually unretire some", or a "baseball's gonna stop being a major league sport before we have to worry about it " guy? On the evidence of today's newsletter, perhaps the latter.
NOTE: In the emailed version of today's newsletter I mistakenly wrote "wish" instead of "pretend" re: poseurs' stance toward their ever having been to school in the Common People/smoking item, but that has been remedied in the version on the website. Apologies. I will strive to do better going froward.
I don't get kids wanting to watch people play video games. But my wife doesn't get me wanting to watch baseball. So it's all a matter of taste. More concerning is that kids are playing sports less, if only because that gives the impression that kids aren't exercising enough. The two are not the same thing, of course - I have never played sports very much and not for exercise, and my exercise is distinct from sports - but I really hope the generation of games and e-sports fans are also getting out of their chairs and at least playing Pokemon Go on long walks.
I don't get anyone smoking. I don't get anyone liking the stink of the smoke. I don't get anyone wanting to increase their risk of cancer. And I certainly don't get starting to smoke when we're dealing with a respiratory disease. It's as for everyone one of us who reacted to the pandemic by trying to take every precaution possible, there is someone who just said "screw it." I don't get that, either.
And speaking of Evan Dreilich, this is from him:
"Sports and entertainment agency Endeavor, through its arm WME Sports, beefed up its baseball business over the summer by adding several established names in the industry. A few months later, Endeavor completed the purchase of 10 minor league teams, with eyes on more. That combination isn’t working for the baseball players’ union. The Major League Baseball Players Association warned WME Sports player representatives that they risk losing their certification as agents unless they divest themselves from the company, multiple people with knowledge of the situation told The Athletic."
Speaking of the 1980s and its smack you in the face brashness … my introduction to Ronnie Spector was via Eddie Money’s mid decade Take Me Home Tonight which turned the Ronnettes BMB into an explicit let’s screw.
I’ve gotten my 17 yr old daughter into baseball, well at least the Red Sox anyways. She follows players on social media and will sit and watch games during the season. She also watches clip videos on YouTube, like great plays, weird plays, etc. One of the colleges that’s interested in her playing volleyball for them has a pretty good D3 baseball team. It’s one of the selling points for her leaning toward going to that school since she likes baseball. Of course, I’ve seen Bull Durham so I’m not sure how I feel about that…
Are we sure the Brewers aren’t just honoring golfer Gary Player and punter Scott Player?
I went from 10 to 20 years old in the decade of the 80s, and smoked for half that time and hung out with lots of smokers at and outside of high school. There was nothing sexy about it, believe me.
Pitch clocks & limits on defensive infield shifts to speed-up and shorten games for a younger, faster generation? If clocks worked in the minors to shave an hour off, wouldn’t we already see them in the Bigs? No shifts would lead to more offense (excitement?), but wouldn’t that make games longer?
I’ve been wondering if the removal of players from the website and promotional stuff tells us something about negotiating strategies rather than just a ham fisted FU. Could MLB think that if they give the union a larger slice of merchandising they won’t push so hard on the luxury tax / salary cap?
Woke up, got out of bed, now have a Great Gatsby reference in my head, old sport
How much of the “Gen Z’ers don’t want to play sports” narrative is really that simple? Let’s take COVID’s current impact on schools out of the equation. We’ve known for years that money keeps some kids away from playing, especially in baseball and basketball where travel is so heavily involved. We’ve seen more parents say they don’t want their kids playing football until middle or high school because of concussions and safety.
I agree that the leagues themselves (including college) are getting harder to reach for Gen Z’ers and millennials (I was born in 1997 so I’m technically a Gen Z’er) for a myriad of reasons. I just don’t know how much of that is 9-year-old Johnny not wanting to play little league or 14-year-old Sally not wanting to join her friends on a basketball team.
Also, re: people thinking smoking is cool. I can understand people binging The Sopranos during lockdown and wanting to eat Artie’s cooking or binging Always Sunny and wanting to wear Mac’s cut-off tees. I cannot understand why anyone would to embrace smoking now given all that we know. There’s no inherent harm in wearing a cut-off tee aside from possibly looking like an idiot. You eat too much italian food, you might have diarrhea, food poisoning, and an urge to kill one of your friends.
Smoking? I’m all for people having the right to smoke tobacco but I’ll pass.
Nothing sexy about the 80s? Nothing?
Were all Madonna’s videos made in vain?
Smoking: I can’t think of anything that is more of a signal that someone is a poseur than using the phrase “if you will” in a sentence. You might as well rent a billboard (LED, of course).
That BBC quote is a strange one, not least because they illustrate it with a non-controversy (flat earth). Presumably to avoid upsetting anyone by referring to an actual controversy that people might be personally invested in.
Also strange because it doesn't seem to reflect the reality of the BBC. Their page on the antivax movement
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/topics/c8eeyd509zet/anti-vaccination-movement
is pleasingly scientific and not at all even-handed.
So what gives?
Their biggest recent internal controversy may have been the long article...
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-57853385
It won't be of interest to everyone, but it began with the question "Is a lesbian transphobic if she does not want to have sex with trans women?" Some junior BBC staff claimed that the article was itself transphobic and should be removed from their website [it hasn't been].
I wouldn't be surprised if this recent quote from David Jordan is driven entirely by the transgender issue. The BBC employs a lot of older feminist women. They also employ a lot of younger LGBT+ people, whose journalism is maybe more focussed on the T than on the other letters. The BBC values both groups and is trying to keep both happy. They could issue a statement referring only to their transgender coverage, but that would annoy one side. So they've formulated a general policy instead, designed purely for this one issue. And then, in every other area, they will carry on as before.
Maybe some things aren’t meant to last forever. Sure. But maybe everything that dies someday comes back. Is obviously what you were gonna say, I mean, you're a white male sportswriter, them's the rules.
"Personally, I’m for liberal number retirement policies and think the “Hall of Famers only” rules are stupid"
Craig then you must have, like me, thought through the implications... so are you a "let 'em eventually wear 3 digit numbers", a "they'll eventually unretire some", or a "baseball's gonna stop being a major league sport before we have to worry about it " guy? On the evidence of today's newsletter, perhaps the latter.