Cup of Coffee: November 9, 2022

Astros front office drama, an NPB posting, World Series ratings, sports gambling fails in California, New York food, licking toads, the Sexiest Man Alive, and The Sources of my Political Discontent

Good morning!

A Twitter thread of mine went moderately viral yesterday. Someone who shared it did so by saying “I read this from Craig, who I remember reading when I was a kid . . .” In case you want to know how my day went. And that’s before we even got to the election results which, today at least, I’m not really gonna talk about here because we all have eyes and, frankly, I think we can all use one damn place where that’s not being discussed. You are, of course, free to discuss it in the comments.

At the end of today’s newsletter, however, I do offer some words — broad words, not about any specific races or candidates — about why I, personally, am disillusioned politically these days. Most of it probably boils down to me being both (a) naive; and (b) born at precisely the right moment in history for such naivety to flourish in my dumbass Gen-X mind.

Before that I talk about the Astros intriguing front office situation, the 2022 Executive of the Year, a Japanese player who appears to be heading to the U.S., an update on Ted Cruz getting beers thrown at him during the Astros victory parade, a question about who will advertise on the umps jerseys next year, a report in the TV ratings for the World Series, and the failure of a sports betting measure in California that was backed by Major League Baseball. Sorry Rob!

In Other Stuff we encounter every single food article ever written by the New York Times, Joe Biden’s jackbooted thugs want to keep YOU from exercising your God-given right to trip balls by licking toads, we determine whether or not you’d get a lot of press coverage if you went missing, I was, once again, passed over for People’s “Sexiest Man Alive,” and, as previously noted, I talk about The Sources of My Discontent.