Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

If senate republicans had any shame, they’d die of it.

Authoritarian republicans are opposed to freedom for the rest of us.

You don’t get rid of your umbrella while it’s still raining.

Happy indictment week to all who celebrate!

Battle won, war still ongoing.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Bark louder, little dog.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

Putin must be throwing ketchup at the walls.

An almost top 10,000 blog!

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

I’ve spoken to my cat about this, but it doesn’t seem to do any good.

Why is it so hard for them to condemn hate?

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

In my day, never was longer.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

A snarling mass of vitriolic jackals

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / Long Watch: “The Subterranean Stadium”

Long Watch: “The Subterranean Stadium”

by | 17 Comments

This post is in: , , ,

At an extremely random intersection of topics that interest various readers here: Grantland (ESPN) is doing an Erroll Morris week — six short documentaries. This first entry in “It’s Not Crazy, It’s Sports” involves the Electric Football League, tabletop gaming, misspent youth, hot dogs, reading the Wheel of Time series in prison, the city of Rochester, minifigs, a Vietnam vet with PTSD, families biological & purpose-made… and a cameo by the family dog.

You know that I, like the main subject’s wife, am “not a sports person”, but this kept me watching for the whole 22-1/2 minutes. Two thumbs up!

Reader Interactions

17Comments

  2. 2.

    SiubhanDuinne

    I ask this out of total ignorance, but is the ESPN Grantland in any way related to the Grantland to which our mutual heartthrob Charles P. Pierce contributes?

  8. 8.

    raven

    @SiubhanDuinne: I have some questions about religious institutions and this kind of group. For the most part they have been straight up about faculty development with and occasional reference to “biblical” aspects of their curriculum. The real killer is that Regent U put in a bid to host in 2 years. I most likely won’t be involved but it doesn’t thrill me. I will say that I have mentioned it to some people that I trust and the just say, meh.

  9. 9.

    Tree With Water

    From out of nowhere Simmons carved a remarkable niche for himself in the world of professional sports. He career sort of reminds me of Ed Sabol’s, who also came out of left field with his NFL Films. Simmons timing was good, of course, digital worlds exploding everywhere overnight-wise. The 30 On 30 documentaries Simmon’s has showcased- the episodes I’ve seen, that is- have been uniformly interesting. I’m looking forward to the inevitable 30 On 30 profile of Roger Gooddell, but I imagine Simmons will have to be free and clear ESPN before harpooning that white whale.

  10. 10.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @raven:

    That would worry me, in all honesty. To what extent does the host institution set the agenda, select speakers and panellists, etc.? If there’s a lot of transparency and opportunity for all kinds of perspectives to be aired, that’s one thing, but if they have any kind of lock on the overall program, I would be concerned.

  12. 12.

    Corner Stone

    @Tree With Water:

    From out of nowhere Simmons carved a remarkable niche for himself

    What? The dude worked his balls off for decades. It was certainly not “out of nowhere”.
    Now, I, personally, get my Bill Simmons hate-on once in a while, but for almost two decades the dude brought some interesting pop-culture-sport-lifestyle centric commentary that was very good. He was a sports/pop white Boston version of Steve Gilliard. Just with more readers. For years I saved my lunch time reading for Bill and/or Steve, depending on the day or events.
    He absolutely did not come out of nowhere.

  13. 13.

    raven

    @trollhattan: None at all right now. SAU hosted because they were the only ones to offer to do so. They have been very nice, their staff have been excellent. There is a conference theme that is set the previous year and most folks who submit a proposal are accepted. The folks from Liberty did a session on marketing and it was very well done. We also had a guy from Belmont and he was very good. I guess there may not be much difference between these people and, say, Emory.

  14. 14.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @trollhattan:

    Thanks. I read him at Grantland every now and then, but not with the regularity I read his Esquire blog.

    Can never have enough Charlie Pierce in my opinion.

    My Watertown (MA) friend, with whom I stayed last summer on my New England trip, is also a huge CPP fan and sees him every now and then in town. I made him promise that if that ever happens while I am visiting, he must introduce me, or at least arrange an “accidental” bump-into episode.

  15. 15.

    Tree With Water

    @Corner Stone: You got me wrong. That wasn’t said in a deragatory sense; rather, I meant it in the sense that because he worked his ass off, he consequently/seemingly came out of nowhere. I only know the story he’s told himself about his journey, and it’s a remarkable one. The guy’s got a sense of humor, that’s why I read him.

  17. 17.

    Bruce Webb

    “reading the Wheel of Time series in prison”

    Finally!! A gold-plated excuse for reading Robert Jordan. This probably also explains the popularity of the Gor series back in the day (which to be fair had a lot more sex and misogyny and BDSM working for it)

Comments are closed.