Wednesday Newsletter (Steve’s Version)
Lots of quick bites to cover today, so let’s get right to it.
Are We Actually Into This?
Tomorrow the inaugural NBA in season tournament begins. No matter how much the league tries to promote it, I’m just not feeling it. The fancy court designs aren’t enough to reel me in. It’s possible that if the players really get into it then the excitement will ramp up, but I don’t see a minimal cash prize as enough of a reward. I doubt that this will be a flag that flies forever, but I could be wrong. Won’t be the first time.
Sticking with the NBA, the James Harden nightmare is over for now. He got his wish and was traded to the Clippers. That’s fortunate for all parties involved, it could have turned ugly had the standoff between Harden and the 76ers lasted much longer. An unhappy Harden is a bad Harden; with the exception of Kyrie Irving he is the league’s most disruptive force when he’s disengaged.
As a final NBA note, the league officially confirmed the changes to the All-Star Game format. It will return to the traditional East vs. West matchup. The game will also be played under the regular timed quarters model. There will be no more Elam Ending in which the game would end once one team hits a set points total. What will remain are the charitable donations given out depending on which squad scores the most points in each quarter.
There Is Power In The Union
It’s my nature to brace myself for the inevitable backlash, but for the moment I’m so encouraged to see the series of recent victories for unions and for workers in general. The tentative deals that the UAW has made with the Big 3 automakers is the most recent example. This followed the powerful image of Joe Biden standing with picketers, along with a sizable increase in union participation across multiple industries.
I can’t help but think that much of this is a byproduct of the pandemic. We learned how valuable many workers are and this in turn has given them the confidence to demand proper compensation. We’re not all the way there yet, far from it. Workers have gained only so much dignity, as there’s are still too many people who believe it’s their divine right to yell at waitstaff, and the wage gap shows no signs of closing. It’s up to all of us to keep the foot on the gas pedal and continue to demand fairness.
Another October Tradition Gone This Year
It dawned on me the other day that there’s another difference in this year’s World Series in addition to the lack of ski-masked infielders. With the actor’s strike Fox’s current lineup consists mostly of animated shows and reality programs. As a result the stands are not filled with say, the cast of Bones who are all coincidently lifelong fans of one of the teams playing. I suppose Fox could have taken the step of promoting The Masked Singer by placing Ken Jeong and Jenny McCarthy in the stands. Maybe next year.
Morning Shows
Yesterday was Halloween, known in the news business as the day that morning show producers and anchors pray does not come with a breaking news story. Morning shows are a unique beast which require a specific set of skills. Part of that involves needing to occasionally let one’s hair down and act a little goofy. Halloween in particular forces talent to momentarily forget that they are serious newspeople and go with the flow.
It’s the lowest hanging of fruit for John Oliver and his staff as they put together montages of local news anchors in costume. The big budget network shows are one thing; they have the resources to put together splashy productions. But pity those in smaller markets who have to make do with cheap costumes that look and feel cheesy. It’s a requirement that meteorologists forecast a boo-tiful day. Nothing is more uncomfortable (or unintentionally hilarious) if a bulletin comes through and the anchor has to somberly report a school bus crash while wearing plastic fangs and a cheap cape.
Business Genius At Work
A year ago Elon Musk purchased Twitter for $44 billion. It is now valued at $19 billion. That sounds bad, is that bad? The Elon apologists have gotten a lot quieter lately. I’ve stopped hearing “he’s sent rockets to space, you think he can’t run a tech company?” chatter of late. It seems his only defenders these days are either people on his payroll who have to laugh at his jokes or else, or fellow white supremacists.
But even that $19 billion number is highly misleading; in reality the company is worth considerably less. For argument’s sake let’s say that someone would actually want to take it off of Musk’s hands. In addition to that payment, a new owner would need to spend a considerable amount of money to rebuild the staff - hire new engineers, content moderators, etc. That adds up. It would also take a considerable amount of time to rebuild trust in the brand at a sufficient enough level for the advertisers and users that had abandoned the platform to come back. Let that sink in. Outstanding work, Elon.
Ring My Bell
I long had a running joke that no trick or treaters ever came to the place where I used to live. Long story short, it was situated in such a way that kids would need to take somewhat of a circuitous route to get to my door. We all remember what trick or treating was like - efficiency was paramount. Who wants to waste time taking a two minute detour to my place when you could hit other houses instead? The drawback was that I wouldn’t bother having candy ready & I would spend the night sitting in fear that a kid would actually knock on my door. I didn’t want to be that neighbor who would have to hand out pennies as treats.
Last night was my 7th Halloween at my current abode, and oddly enough, little has changed. Most years conclude with little to no activity. I live on the second floor of a two-family house, but children don’t seem to want to climb the steps to my door, satisfying themselves with sticking with the ground floor apartment. I hear the children outside, I’ve got the candy bowl ready to go, but no go. Yesterday was another silent night, so I find myself with plenty of leftover chocolate. Looks like I’ll wind up writing the next several newsletters in the throes of a major sugar rush. Prepare yourselves accordingly.
Fentanyl-Free Candy
Maybe it’s just me, but it seems like this year there was a lot less of the pre-Halloween hysteria that we’re used to hearing. As a child I well remember the razor blades in the apples warnings along with the instructions that our parents should carefully inspect each piece of candy before allowing us to partake.
It’s likely that it’s due to the fact that at this moment the world is such a hell scape that there’s just not enough available bandwidth for fear mongers to scare us with made up stories, but I think there’s a better explanation. Last year Fox kept on warning us about fentanyl-laced Halloween candy. That was absurd on its face; who is gonna waste perfectly good fentanyl on children? That may have finally been the jumping the shark moment for this particular form of manufactured hysteria. Going forward we should all focus on the true Halloween threat - candy corn and circus peanuts.
And In The End…
Tomorrow will see the release of the “final” Beatles song, “Now and Then.” It consists of an old John Lennon demo recording, new musical tracks and harmonies from Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, along with old George Harrison guitar bits added. Being the huge Beatles fan that I am, I have some interest in hearing the result, but I’m certainly not expecting anything life changing.
It’s just like Free As a Bird all those years ago. At least at that point George was still alive, so he made actual contributions to complete that song. When it came out, it was a perfectly pleasant song and I was struck by how perfectly their voices still melded after all this time. However, it’s not as if at any point in the nearly 30 years since its release have I ever thought to myself, “You know what I’m in the mood to listen to? Free As a Bird!” It’s safe to say that’s the same attitude I’ll ultimately have for this one as well.
The Gentlest Of Giants
I am juuuuuust old enough to have caught the tail end of Frank Howard’s playing career. He was hard not to notice. At 6’7”, he was unusually large for a baseball player; there are a handful of players that size nowadays, but in his era that was practically unheard of. He suffered a bit from poor timing. His power numbers were something to behold - 3 consecutive seasons of 40+ home runs, leading the league twice - but the bulk of his career took place in a pitcher dominant period. He finished with 382 career taters; in a more advantageous time for power hitters that number would have been a lot higher. In addition, he was, let’s say defensively challenged. He had the profile of a born designated hitter; unfortunately for him his final major league season was the year that the AL instituted the DH, so he wasn’t able to take advantage of that.
Following his playing career, he continued to contribute to the game as a true baseball lifer. He coached for multiple teams and had brief managerial stints in San Diego and New York. Despite his imposing size, he had a reputation as one of the nicest guys in the game. Which is fortunate, because he was strong enough to snap the average man like a twig. Howard passed away earlier this week at the age of 87. RIP to a towering figure, both figuratively and literally.
Closing Laughs
November already, huh? Enjoy your day, everybody, and thanks for reading. See you on Friday.