When the Penguins lost to the Panthers in Game 7 of the 1996 Eastern Conference Final. I was nine, I had just gotten over the Steelers’ loss in Super Bowl XXX (over which I also cried), and it was Lemieux’s last truly great season. Watching my favorite player lose what might (and would, at least on the ice) be his…

My junior year of high school, I was headed back from the Science Olympiad state tournament, a three-hour drive on a school bus with about two dozen other kids. We hadn’t done particularly well, but it had been a good competition, the season was over, and there was no school the next day, so we were all in a…

Sorkin is the best. Sports Night, Studio 60, West Wing, Newsroom (screw the people who didn’t like it)... all fantastic. Whatever.

argh why are you so wrong

ESPN pushes DraftKings on all their platforms. This is significantly different from previous years’ segments. The writing’s on the wall here.

This was a classic example of being too conservative early in the game and having it force your hand late. That said, on each specific 4th down, it’s hard for me to argue against the FG-or-go-for-it decision. The decision I question is the specific play calls on the go-for-its.

They also now run DraftKings pre-recorded ads (not the in-podcast host-recorded promotionals like the do for SeatGeek) before the Grantland podcasts, same as the Deadcast. Which makes it even weirder that they don’t admit they’re including sponsored content.

I like Barnwell & Mays a lot and it’s clear they aren’t excited about it, which makes me at least sympathize that it’s a mandate from on high and they have no choice, but it’s still a dent in the quality of the podcast. The first time, Bill specifically made a dig at DraftKings by not remembering which site they were…

Summer was the best season when I was a kid and didn’t have shit to do. Now that I am an adult and still have to work during summer, it is fucking unbearable.

Barnwell & Mays also used DraftKings prices in their fantasy discussion on the Grantland NFL Podcast as of this week. They were a little more frank about it, with Barnwell not seeming to remember which site they were using, and dismissively saying DraftKings wasn’t a sponsor (“They’re no SeatGeek,” he said, referring…

WTF is your beef with Pearl Jam?

Two cigars, a Lego set, and the deluxe edition of every Taylor Swift album on iTunes. This was throughout the course of the same night, not all at the same location (I wish), and those bonus tracks are absolutely worth it.

I (a Steelers fan) have taken to calling them “The Steel Colander.”

[reads standings predictions]

...and we’re supposed to trust you for cleanliness advice.

I think worse than a specific recurring dream is a specific recurring plot point that can show up at random in any unrelated dream, good or bad. I have one of these, and it is fucking terrifying. I am walking along, minding my regular dream business, when I sense the presence of a large, shadowy figure nearby, and I…

“Good god, was he symptomatic” might be bad, but the clear winner here is “For the brain’s last act to not just die, but preserve itself in the killing... humans don’t do that.”

Not enought Michael Vick tweets from idiot Steelers fans! (Note: I am a lifelong Steeler fan, and we are the worst.)

“GOD’S PLAN IS FUCK THE LIONS AND HES BEEN PULLING IT OFF MASTERFULLY”

This is a fair argument. Vinegar-based slaws are infinitely more tolerable than mayo-based, in the same way killing a puppy by accident is way better than killing a child on purpose.