Watched a bit of Federer/Dimitrov last night, an evening after watching Nadal play Maren Cilic. I texted Zman on Monday wondering how Nadal's body doesn't simply explode from the force he applies to his strokes. Lots of HGH, according to our expert. Nadal is 33 years old, Federer a preposterous 38. The Swiss star looked every one of those years last night, fading badly over the final two sets to lose his quarterfinal match to the journeyman Bulgarian. The Flushing Meadows crowd was visibly upset at the champion's wilting. He's defied time for an amazingly long stretch. Perhaps time's caught up. Fed's always had a pretty good perspective on his career, and he seems to understand what's important, saying post-match, “I’m looking forward to family time and all that stuff. So life’s all right.”
Life's all right, indeed.
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| My dog, thinking deep thoughts. Right before rolling in dead fish guts. |
Speaking of goofy spazzes, check out Charlie Slowes' call of Kurt Suzuki's walkoff homer from last night's Mets/Nationals game. As Whit noted in the comments from the previous post, the Mets blew a 10-4, 9th inning lead, giving up seven runs in the bottom of the 9th to lose 11-10. Thomas Boswell says it's one of the 20 worst losses in the long history of Major League Baseball. Ouch, babe.
Moving along, please fasten your seatbelts, because the jarring disconnect between the last nugget and the next may cause injury.The radio call of Kurt Suzuki's #WALKOFF home run is the song of the summer.@CharlieSlowes // @DaveJageler pic.twitter.com/bOavak1BxI— Washington Nationals (@Nationals) September 4, 2019
I've been reading the New York Times' epic 1619 Project, which traces the history of slavery in America from its beginning to its undeniable impacts on our present day society. The project is comprised of a series of stories on a broad range of topics, from the actual mechanics of slavery, to enslaved people's impacts on music and art, to how slavery explains Atlanta's current fucked-up traffic patterns, among many things. It's unsparing, and it's hard to read. Predictably, elements of our intelligentsia call it leftist propaganda, probably without having read any of it. Regardless, it's important, and more of those of us who live comfortable lives free from ever having to personally confront what it's like to be the other should try to digest it. Slavery colors our world today, whether we try to deny it.
A little bit more whiplash to end these meanderings. Someone on Twitter posted yesterday that the President* stands like he's a centaur whose missing his hind legs and now I can't unsee that image. Here for your viewing pleasure.
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I’ve been listening to the 1619 podcast. It’s pretty intense. What I learned on my drive home Sun night was that a predecessor to mortgage-backed securities was slave-backed securities. Just like you can take a loan against the value of your house today, you could borrow against the value of your slave(s) back in the day. I believe slaves were the most valuable “asset” in the US when slavery peaked at ~3 MM in the 19the century.
The episode never mentioned the word reparations or discussed that theme, but it’s all I could think about after it ended. The podcast comes less than two months after I visited a Slave Trade Museum in Charleston.
I think the 1619 podcast is releasing episodes weekly. Only two out so far.
So as those who have listened already know, 1619 commemorates the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first slave ships in America. That happened in Hampton, VA, less than a football field from where the W&M Pi Lams used to hold their sweetheart formal at the Chamberlin Hotel.
I am having a hard time with the local folks who are making a repeated point to memorialize this milestone with events and tributes. It's always white people, mind you, and it's a fairly ignominious moment in history. I understand what people are trying to do, but are they just dredging up horribleness?
according to my mom and sister in jax, dorian has brought a bunch of wind and rain but nothing terribly dangerous in that area. hope that's the case for the rest of team gtb and the east coast.
I can't answer your question with any authority, Whit, but some people suggest that we need to confront our past so that our future will be better.
https://www.msnbc.com/deadline-white-house/watch/blaming-trump-is-too-easy-this-is-us-65354309615
the 1619 project is amazing.
it's worth taking time to read the mag and listen to the podcasts.
we were only provided a limited POV of American history in school and I find this entire series to be incredibly illuminating.
yes--its painful to read and hear about the things that happened--and are still happening.
but, I would rather know about them and help make sure they stop happening and don't happen again, than be in a clueless bubble.
stopped to get gas and snacks in a relatively rural area near fredericksburg with my daughter and her friend on friday on our way to the river. we're waiting in line to buy stuff when a young, white, floppy-haired kid walks past us. my daughter - who doesn't really have much of a filter - exclaims, loudly, 'he's packing!' and indeed, the kid had a handgun in a holster strapped to his waist. it was an interesting lesson in situational awareness. and it was jarring. the kid was on his phone, so i don't think he heard anything, but i was at once mortified and a little bit afraid of what might happen.
Modest Mouse is opening for Black Keys on a nationwide arena tour!? How did I not know about this before?
Keys should be the opener for Mouse, but that’s another story.
I really wasn’t sure where rob’s comment was going when I read his daughter’s exclamation.
TR, that tour had Z and me talking about a DC summit in October. Z, any shot?
I'm telling you there's a shot.
my mom is in the process of selling her house in north myrtle beach. closing was delayed from today because of the storm. three tornadoes have touched down in that area this morning. she's a bit frazzled, though she's safe and sound in jax.
Everything is closed here in SEVA as of about now. No school or work for anyone except essential personnel tomorrow, which I have never been. Batten down the hatches, people.
Could be good.
Chernobyl star Barry Keoghan to play The Pogues singer Shane MacGowan in biopic about his life
https://www.irishpost.com/news/chernobyl-star-barry-keoghan-play-pogues-singer-shane-macgowan-biopic-life-170891
You’re essential to us, Whit!
I don’t know Barry Keoghan, but I don’t envy the prosthetic choppers he’ll have to wear. That dude had the most jacked set of teeth I’ve ever seen. It’s an excuse to link to one of my favorite photos ever:
https://www.morrisonhotelgallery.com/photographs/nRNqRe/Matt-Dillon-and-Shane-MacGowan-The-Pogues-1986
The problem with a movie about The Pogues is that it would feature music by The Pogues.
Shots fired!
Whit, TR & Z--I'm going to the MM/Keys DC show in Oct
Count me in for the summit
Been a mite eerie here on the Outer Banks the past 24 hours. Negligible traffic, many establishments closed -- including drug and grocery stores. A few bars open. 8 pm curfew this evening. Big stuff not supposed to hit til Friday am, and day could be dicey. Much prefer daytime weather events. Overnight hurricanes are horror movie material.
Best of luck, Dave F! Despite my perpetual OBFT absences, I am quite fond of Corolla, the one OBX area I know well. I am less fond of the many Confederate flags I see, but it’s a great little part of the world.
When in doubt, huddle in w/ the horses!
https://www.google.com/amp/s/amp.cnn.com/cnn/2019/09/05/us/north-carolina-wild-horses-hurricane-dorian/index.html
In unrelated news, W&M soccer is 0-2, following losses to lightweights High Point and Villanova. The program appears to be a joke and our AD needs to fire the coach. I’d we go to 0-3, I will go back to trolling their Insta account again. No reason we can’t be competitive in that sport.
Bring Reshefsky in to turn things around.
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