The SportsThink Weekly Review #22
November 6, 2020 or November 3, 2020 Part III
Hello and welcome to the twenty-second edition of the Weekly Review! This issue finds me conflicted: in a week where most of us stared at screens for most of our waking hours, can I, in good faith, implore you to consume more digital content? Yes, yes I can. In the spirit of this attention-sapping week, here are some distractions, provided with none of the usual formatting. No amount of refreshing feeds is going to change the world, so click away and find some reprieve.
Can WNBA Players Take Down a US Senator? by Julie Kleigman, via SI. With Warnock and Loeffler headed to a January run-off, the answer is maybe. Promise that this is the only election content I’ll share. But also, here’s Warnock’s fantastic new ad:
Cool piece on a barrier-breaking black women’s fishing team, by Jonathan Abrams via the NYT.
Speaking of fishing, let’s come together and celebrate what makes America truly great: the Bass Pro Shops inside of a pyramid in Memphis (Alex McDaniel, SB Nation.) Friendly reminder that Bass Pro Shops have the best Christmas and Santa set up for family fun and photos. You get a free photo, while the malls are now charging like 50 bucks for low-res digital images!! Cautiously optimistic they’ll offer it this year.
If you insist on refreshing the news today (no judgment), maybe some background music? This is one of the best albums ever and should do the trick.
Or maybe some bridge? Abby Elin via the NYT on online inter-generational bridge teams.
The wife and I got deep into the Netflix reboot of Unsolved Mysteries this week. Good stuff and it feels easier to wait on election results when you realize how long some of these families have waited for closure that is unlikely to come. The show sent me down a bit of mystery/crime rabbit hole, including these two excellent pieces by Mark Bowden for Vanity Fair. The Body in Room 348 and The Case of the Vanishing Blonde.
Here’s an oral history of ‘Marge vs. The Monorail,’ one of the best episodes in the excellent history of The Simpsons. (Sean Cole, Vice)
A podcast from the Ringer, with Richard Linklater discussing the making of Dazed and Confused, a film which has absolutely held up. (Haven’t listened yet, but how can this be bad?)
Interesting short piece from Axios about the pandemic success of the Premier Lacrosse League.
Can Analytics Revolutionize High School Football? (Ben Shpigel, NYT)
More mystery: A Nameless Hiker and the Case the Internet Can’t Crack. (Nicholas Thompson, Wired)
Which reminds me of one my all time favorites: The Hunt for the Death Valley Germans. Long, meticulous, and absolutely worth it.
Mystery and sports collide: Death at the U: Who Killed Bryan Pata? (Paula Lavigne and Elizabeth Merrill, ESPN)
Let’s end on a more positive note: The Remote Coach: How One Man Became an Assistant Coach for a Small Alaskan High School Without Ever Leaving His California Home. (Connor Orr, SI)
As always, thank you for reading. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you’re having trouble accessing any articles, happy to send them directly your way. And, if you’re enjoying the newsletter, please consider sharing it with someone else who might like it.
See you next week with a return to our regularly scheduled programming,
Tolga