Pour one out for the Chicago Cubs. It is a real travesty that the historic and incredibly charming 2016 Cubs team, which seemed set up to be a serious dynasty, never made it back to the World Series, and indeed never won a playoff game after 2017. Now they’ve traded fan favorites Anthony Rizzo, Kris Bryant, and Javier Báez — and indeed didn’t even give them at bats in their final home games, since letting fans say goodbye to players is less important than maximizing the value of assets to owners. Rarely has a team fucked up such a talented and likable core, in a way that cannot even be blamed on injuries. Let this serve as a reminder not to ever buy into GM talk about “windows.”
Anyway, here’s a rundown of everything from Undrafted this month, in case you missed it:
“Chris Paul, Union Man”: A Lefty Specialist episode on the career of CP3, a once-in-a-generation point guard who also serves as a fascinating window into the NBA’s labor struggles. James and I were pretty proud of this one, so we hope you check it out. (We also have a YouTube page now, where you can check out a clip from the episode.)
Critical Bulls Theory: The controversy about Scottie Pippen calling Phil Jackson racist (or, at least, not objecting when Dan Patrick said it) reveals a lot of problems with discussions of race between Black and white people.
Legalize It: Why is weed not completely legal in the US yet? Seems weird, and the Sha’Carri Richardson suspension should remind us of what a failure that is.
This ESPN Bullshit is the Future: On the stupid “controversy” at ESPN between Rachel Nichols and Maria Taylor. Since writing this, Taylor left ESPN for NBC, and Nichols may be on her way out at ESPN too. The whole thing still strikes me as very stupid, but the concerns about worker surveillance are very real.
Voting and the All-Star Game: To me, All-Star Games reveal the real value of voting, which is not really to select leaders but to generate buy-in from your electorate.
Shohei Ohtani Shows a Better World is Possible: It’s so cool when someone like Ohtani comes along and totally reconfigures beliefs about what is possible, and we ought to appreciate that rather than looking for signs that it’s failing.
“OK, Fine, We’ll Coach Team USA”: A Lefty Specialist episode covering Team USA and the nationalism inherent in international sports competitions, and the ProPublica piece on how team owners cheat on their taxes.
“Was the NBA Postseason Good for the Left?”: Another podcast episode, this one on the Bucks championship and the socialist ramifications of this NBA postseason.
Minding Your Own Business, For The Revolution: As the issue of “mental health” has become politicized, it seems impossible for someone like Simone Biles to take care of herself without stumbling into an unhealthy culture war fight. This seems bad to me, which is part of why I think Minding Your Own Business is such an important value for leftists to maintain.