Digest, 4/9/2023: Happy Easter

the eighty-eighth digest post

Freddie deBoer

Apr 9, 2023

This Week’s Posts

Monday, April 3rd - Review: Stephen Policoff’s Dangerous Blues

Loved this book.

Tuesday, April 4th - The NFL Rookie Payscale is Still Somehow Underdiscussed

A quirk in the NFL’s CBA hurts rookies and vets alike.

Thursday, April 6th - Before Politics, There’s the World

Pain and loss are pre-political.

From the Archives

Freddie deBoer

the wastes

I have recently read a book about depression by the boss. It was transporting. You should read it. Depression was the first way my brain chemistry got in touch with me. When I was 18, 19, I first got acquainted with it. I had crushing depression, grinding depression when I was a young man. But my family had just disintegrated at that point and I did not …

3 years ago · 4 likes · Freddie deBoer

Song of the Week

Non-Garbage Online Reading

This is kind of cheating, but read “The Donkey” by Chesterton.

Book Recommendation

The Last Folk Hero: The Life and Myth of Bo Jackson, Jeff Pearlman, 2022

It’s long been said that the internet era has destroyed the possibility of the kind of mythic celebrity that once existed, as we know too much about celebrities for them to take on the kind of outsize identities they once did. I think that’s correct, and it certainly applies to sports figures too - from only reading about Babe Ruth in the newspaper to getting to see Willy Mays a couple times a year in black and white to watching every Yankees game in a season on cable to 24/7 coverage has really made these guys seem more approachable, even as their feats remain incredible. This book considers Bo Jackson, one of the most gifted natural athletes we’ve ever seen and a man about whom there’s a tremendous legacy of stories and myths. Pearlman’s book does yeoman’s work as far as the basics of biography goes, but is particularly effective at considering Jackson’s performance - he had incredible feats, and his career was cut sadly short by injuries, but also his play never quite matched the mythology. (He rushed for 100 yards in eight out of thirty-eight career games.) Overall a great read for sports fans.

Comment of the Week

This is true across the political spectrum. Unless you have experienced that 'something' your views are colored by priors and personal biases. Such priors & biases can be either utopian fantasy or callous disregard. I've come across a lot of people who haven't had many real-world experiences that would afford them either a realistic view of the world or empathy for others' choices or conditions. - BGP2

See you tomorrow. AND PREORDER MY BOOK!