Illinois athletic director Josh Whitman testified on Capitol Hill Tuesday morning before the Subcommittee on Commerce, Manufacturing, and Trade. The hearing, titled “Moving the Goalposts: How NIL is Reshaping College Athletics,” centered on the future of college sports.

As one of the brightest figures in collegiate athletics, Whitman was among a select group of experts chosen to provide expert testimony on college sports. His background as a former lawyer and academic all-American made him a natural choice to address the committee.

Mitch Gilfillan posted a short clip of some of his remarks.

Today, before a House subcommittee discussing NIL, University of Illinois AD, Josh Whitman, asks Congress for comprehensive bipartisan legislation to preserve the American collegiate sports model. Five talking points he addresses below:

📽️ @HouseCommerce pic.twitter.com/ZQ4WAcy3hy

— Mitch Gilfillan (@mitchgilfillan) March 4, 2025

Aside from the random vinyl spin, I use Spotify for pretty much all of my music these days. If you have a weird obsession with how many playlists I have, you can find me here.

One of Spotify’s best features is the Discover Weekly playlist. It updates every Monday, and I almost always find something new and enjoyable that I wasn’t aware of before. I’m old, so I have no idea who these artists or bands are, but I trust the Spotify algorithm to point me to some great music that I’ll likely dig.

I see a band named The Jompson Brothers in this week’s playlist. Never heard of them. The song is called “On The Run,” and I click to listen. The music starts, and I can tell it’s going to be a southern rock-flavored track. The singer begins singing, and within a few lines, I realize it’s Chris Stapleton. That guy has a pretty distinct voice that sounds like Bon Scott and the singer from Slade had a baby and raised it on ZZ Top and Led Zeppelin.

I clicked to learn more about this band. Is it a new supergroup? Maybe it’s not even Stapleton, but an incredible sound-alike. A few keystrokes later, I learned that The Jompson Brothers was the southern rock band fronted by Stapleton before he went out on his own. Luckily, their whole independently produced album is on Spotify.

Your mileage may vary, but if you like The Black Crows, old Aerosmith, and, you know, Chris Stapleton solo you will love this album.

I can’t stop playing it.

Will Leitch, writing for New York Magazine, has a piece where he argues the United States is about to not only be a pariah on the international stage politically but also on the international sports stage. He notes already the United States national anthem getting boos in Canada, and he expects that trend to continue.

It’s unlikely anyone’s going to be blacking out the American flag anytime soon; we are still (for now) the most powerful country in the world and remain the linchpin — and often founder of — key international organizations. Trump has also not (yet) invaded another country, and even if he did, nobody was banning the U.S. post-Iraq War. But America’s increasingly close association with a pariah country, combined with our relentless turn against historical allies, does come with an undeniable cost. It’s not just boos and sour looks from locals when we’re on vacation in Europe, either.

Trump and his “America first” crew won’t care about sports-bureaucrat scolding. But over the next three years, the two largest sporting events on earth are coming to the United States: The World Cup next year, and the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028. While it might seem extreme to imagine the United States so isolated from the rest of the world that countries might consider not sending their athletes or teams to those events, well, think about how far the United States has fallen in the world’s estimation in just the first two months of Trump 2.0. Now imagine it a year from now, or a year and a half from now. If Russia were scheduled to host an Olympics right now — as it last did in 2014 in Sochi, which I attended, and which happened during Putin’s invasion of Crimea — do you think countries would actually go? Now think about where we’ll be this time next year, or 2026. Do you think Trump and company are going to work to rejoin the international community over the next 24 months? Or will they do the opposite? Even if boycotts aren’t on the table, it’s easy to imagine the World Cup and Olympics becoming political bargaining chips in all kinds of unseemly ways (a country could threaten to skip them unless Trump revokes tariffs, for instance). It’s also not hard to imagine the U.S. welcoming Russia back onto the global sports stage, as surreal as that would be. And forget about the mega-events: any time an American sports team travels abroad the next three years, they will likely be cast as villains.

This is the thing about isolating ourselves, about recklessly tearing down international alliances that have existed for more than 100 years: The rest of the world is, in fact, watching. Eventually, we will have to cross paths with them, whether you want to or not. The United States is turning away from the world. The world, however begrudgingly, is starting to do the same to the United States. Are we ready to be the bad guys? Like, really the bad guys? One thing is for certain: Pat McAfee better start getting used to boos.

I would not be surprised if the Olympics pulled out of Los Angeles. I would expect discussions to be happening right now regarding it. Making a move like that would be difficult, but I can easily see whole countries boycotting the Games, which would further make Trump look weak.

It is hard to believe the United States will be “cast as villains” for the entire Trump term. Then again, maybe not.

Sean Bonner –

Last month landing in Munich on a stopover from Paris the pilot made an announcement as we were taxing to the gate. He said if we looked out the window we’d see several emergency vehicles heading towards the plane, that there was nothing to worry about but one of the passengers was having a medical emergency and the medics needed to get on the plane and help the person off and this needed to happen before anyone else could get off the plane. He asked everyone to please be considerate and remain in their seats once we pulled up to the gate, explicitly asking people not to stand up in the isles or start taking down suitcases because it would block the path, and the medics needed a clear path to get in and out. He said this should only take a few minutes and again asked everyone for their cooperation to help one of their fellow passengers. He thanked everyone, then repeated the request in German and French.

As soon as we got to the gate a guy stood up and opened an over head bin and pulled out his suitcase. He had headphones on and it was possible he didn’t hear the announcement, and a few of the people around him told him what was going on, and he paused for a moment. About 10 medical emergency workers rushed into the plane and down the aisle towards the middle of the plane and people stayed calmly in their seats… for about 30 seconds. Then they started getting up and getting their bags. Flight attendants started calling out asking people to stop and wait and these requests were largely ignored. People grabbed their bags and pushed into the aisle blocking the medical staff. The woman in the row behind us, who was in the window seat, told the people in the middle and aisle seats in her row to get out of her way, that she had a connecting flight and wasn’t going to wait any longer and pushed past them. Others did the same. The normal “wait my turn and get off when the line allows” method of plane disembarkment fell completely apart and became pushing shoving madness.

I watched from my seat as the flight attendants threw their hands up in frustration and forfeit. The medical team shook their heads in disgust. I have no idea what the medical emergency was, or if they were able to do anything to help or not, everyone kind of got lost in the crowd. I bright this up only because it was a pretty brutal display of how long people are willing to be inconvenienced for the benefit of a stranger. It’s less than a minute. If you have high hopes for the majority of people doing the right thing for everyone else, you are going to end up disappointed.

Ncuti Gatwa’s second season as the Fifteenth Doctor will continue when Doctor Who hits Disney+ on April 12. Doctor Who season two’s official trailer gives us a deeper look at the Doctor, Belinda Chandra, and what looks like some great stories.

Once you watch the trailer, Den of Geek has a full breakdown.

I’m looking forward to this.

David Johansen, frontman for the punk band the New York Dolls, died at his home in New York City weeks after revealing his diagnosis of stage 4 cancer and a brain tumor. He was 75.

He was the last surviving member of the original 1971 lineup for the band.

I never really liked the Dolls. “Jet Boy” was okay, but I’m sure “Personality Crisis” was their biggest song.

I like to watch the show for the drama, the bad jokes, and all the other assorted trappings of the telecast. It certainly isn’t my Super Bowl, and, for the most part, I don’t really care who wins. As has been the norm for a while now, I’ve hardly ever seen many of the films featured. The only movie I saw in the list of nominated films for Best Picture was Dune Part 2.

However, I loved the opening number with Ariana Grande and Cynthia Envio, who sang beautifully and with incredible strength and power. Envio, especially, is extremely talented and hits the end note in “Defying Gravity” with style and grace on live television.

I appreciated Kieren Culkin’s speech about having more kids. He has always come across as a great Dad who just wants to be with his kids all the time.

Apparently, Demi Moore was supposed to win the Best Actress award for Substance, but the Academy abhors movies with even the faintest whiff of “horror” attached to them.

I guess I need to watch Anora with it winning so many awards. I do not have high hopes.

Patrick Rhone –

Every time I hear someone mention “the midterms” I can’t help but shake my head.

Look, it’s simple… They won’t honor any elections they disagree with.

They’ll find every reason not to swear in & seat those that oppose them.

Accept that and prepare for it.

I honestly don’t understand why people think there will be elections at all.

There’s been a lot of reaction to the Oval Office debacle. Yes, it was a debacle. I’ve collected a few of them.

Here’s a straightforward description of Trump’s “ambush” of Volodymyr Zelenskyy from Heather Cox Richardson:

Today, President Donald Trump ambushed Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelensky in an attack that seemed designed to give the White House an excuse for siding with Russia in its war on Ukraine. Vice President J.D. Vance joined Trump and Zelensky in the Oval Office — his attendance at such an event was unusual — in front of reporters. Those reporters included one from Russian state media, but no one from the Associated Press or Reuters, who were not granted access.

In front of the cameras, Trump and Vance engaged in what Josh Marshall of Talking Points Memo called a “mob hit,” spouting Russian propaganda and trying to bully Zelensky into accepting a ceasefire and signing over rights to Ukrainian rare-earth minerals without guarantees of security. Vance, especially, seemed determined to provoke a fight in front of the cameras, accusing Zelensky, who has been lavish in his thanks to the U.S. and lawmakers including Trump, of being ungrateful. When that didn’t land, Vance said it was “disrespectful” of Zelensky to “try to litigate this in front of the American media,” when it was the White House that set up the event in front of reporters.

Tom Nichols in The Atlantic:

Leave aside, if only for a moment, the utter boorishness with which President Donald Trump and Vice President J. D. Vance treated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House today. Also leave aside the spectacle of American leaders publicly pummeling a friend as if he were an enemy. All of the ghastliness inflicted on Zelensky today should not obscure the geopolitical reality of what just happened: The president of the United States ambushed a loyal ally, presumably so that he can soon make a deal with the dictator of Russia to sell out a European nation fighting for its very existence.

Joan Westenberg in The Index:

Trump and Vance have shamed both themselves and the people they represent. The United States no longer stands for anything beyond crude dominance displays and performative bullying. As their diplomatic inheritance is squandered through malpractice, Americans must demand better from their leaders. History will judge those who remained silent while their nation’s hard-earned reputation was traded for the cheap applause of those who mistake cruelty for strength.

Angry Staffer on Bluesky on the Trump/Vance/Zelenskyy meeting:

The public nature of the meltdown amplifies the embarrassment. Unlike past Oval Office tensions — like Nixon’s private rants or Clinton’s discreet scandals — this clash unfolded live before cameras, capturing every raised voice and pointed finger.

The world watched as Trump interrupted Zelenskyy’s attempts to discuss Russia’s broken agreements, dismissing him with, “You’ve done a lot of talking,” and Vance chimed in with, “Have you said thank you once?”

The optics were disastrous: a U.S. administration humiliating an ally fighting for survival, all while the Ukrainian ambassador sat with her head in her hands.

This wasn’t a leaked transcript or a hushed rumor; it was a global spectacle, branding the U.S. as impulsive and unstatesmanlike.

Historically, Oval Office embarrassments — like Reagan’s “bombing Russia” quip or Bush’s awkward Merkel shoulder rub — pale in comparison. Those were gaffes, fleeting and unintentional. This was deliberate and sustained, a tag-team assault on a guest that undermined America’s moral authority.

Zelenskyy came seeking security guarantees and a minerals deal, not a lecture on gratitude. Instead, Trump and Vance turned what was supposed to be an olive branch into a cudgel, canceling a joint press conference and effectively kicking him out of the White House.

The message to our allies is chilling: U.S. support comes with a loyalty test, administered publicly and punitively.

America First inexorably drifts towards America Alone. We saw this last night, as world leaders rallied behind Zelenskyy, with figures like the U.K.s Ed Davey labeling it “thuggery.”

Thuggery is right.

Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley have been doing a variety of podcasts lately. I’ve heard most of the stories countless times, so these usually don’t appeal to me. However, this one with Richard Marx was better than average. It seems Marx and Stanley are friends, and Stanley especially seems pretty relaxed and open.

He talks about the usual stuff, like the final KISS shows, buying his parents a car, and his R&B ensemble, Soul Station.

I loved how Paul ended the conversation: “At some point, it just comes down to people realizing that there’s nothing more important than family and friends. I’m blessed with Erin, my wife. We’ll celebrate twenty years married, but we’ve been together twenty-three. Evan, Colin, Sarah, and Emmy, you know that’s the center of my universe, and your family and friends should be the center of yours.”

It seems Paul has mellowed with age. I like him embracing the elder statesman of rock persona. I guess, I’ve got to go listen to Soul Station.

Sean Monahan, writing in his newsletter 8Ball, has an interesting point in his treatise on addiction that caught my eye.

People love to quote the third of Arthur C. Clark’s laws—“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.” And almost always with a positive spin. The Disneyfied language makes it sound wondrous. But let’s reconsider the quote with a different word:

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from witchcraft.

At the outer edges of technological possibility, magic is ominous. What if, instead of using clinical language to describe addiction, we used spiritual terms? The gambling addict is not suffering from compulsive behavior; he is possessed. Schoolchildren are not distracted by screens; they are hypnotized. Ozempic is not a medication; it’s a potion. Propaganda does not use communications strategies; it casts spells. Or on a more personal note—it’s not a vibe shift; it’s a broken spell? Maybe UFOs aren’t extraterrestrials; they’re demons.

That’s an interesting spin on things. Using different but similar terms does change one’s perception.

Matt Belloni, in his Puck newsletter, broke the news that Kathleen Kennedy is finally stepping down as president of Lucasfilm.

It’s happening: After years of speculation, and polite urging from observers like me, Kathleen Kennedy has informed Disney, as well as friends and associates, that she will exit as Lucasfilm president by the end of the year, per three sources. Disney and Kennedy’s personal publicist declined to comment.

Not a huge shock, of course. Kennedy will be 72 in June, and the legendary movie producer will have run Lucasfilm for 13 years as George Lucas’s handpicked steward under Disney. Kathy was actually planning to leave last year, I’m told, and had even set up an exit interview with a journalist, but she decided to stay for one more year.

She wasn’t going to leave unless it was on her terms, and no one was showing her the door. Alongside her husband, filmmaker Frank Marshall, she produced many of the most iconic films of all time and has strong relationships with Steven Spielberg and George Lucas.

For years, she was the scapegoat for any actual or perceived issues within the Star Wars franchise. She did oversee The Force Awakens, which was a massive hit. Whether you love or hate the sequel trilogy, the first movie was good. Not great, but good. My issue with Kennedy was her apparent lack of creative control over this new trilogy. Kennedy and the others in charge did not establish a creative timeline or strategy beyond the first film, which was a significant mistake. I admire Rian Johnson as a writer and director, but he failed to grasp what J.J. Abrams achieved in the first film, leading to a lack of overall direction and, you know, a cohesive story to guide them. Consequently, that complicated the third film, resulting in a poorly executed and, ahem, forced narrative.

On the flip side, she learned her lesson about having a singular visionary creator or director at the helm of projects that lead to success. People often forget that The Mandalorian was a massive risk as the first Star Wars streaming show. However, it benefited from a visionary creative director in Jon Favreau. The same can be said for Tony Gilroy with the Rogue One movie, which directly led to the best Star Wars streaming show, Andor.

No one bats 1.000, so Solo was a misstep, and turning the Obi-Wan Kenobi movie into a streaming show did it no favors, even though it features arguably one of the top three lightsaber duels. I liked Ahsoka and The Acolyte but didn’t love them. The Skeleton Crew was old-school Amblin fun.

Now, we are at the end of Kennedy’s presidency. I’ll be shocked if anyone other than Dave Filoni takes over. I doubt Kevin Feige is interested in the gig, even though many fans hope it comes to pass. If it’s Filoni, we will see more Ahsoka and maybe finally get the standalone Rey movie.

I can’t help but think this significant change indicates the Star Wars franchise is set to expand even further. The second season of Andor is coming soon, and next year, we’ll see Favreau’s The Mandalorian and Grogu. Prepare for even more “Baby Yoda” everywhere.

I’m sure Kathleen Kennedy will look back with pride.

UPDATE 2.28: It isn’t quite a done deal.

“The truth is, and I want to just say loud and clear, I am not retiring. I will never retire from movies. I will die making movies. That is the first thing that’s important to say. I am not retiring.” That’s what Kennedy told Deadline‘s Mike Fleming Jr. about the report she’s stepping down as the leader of the Star Wars franchise and Lucasfilm this year. Instead, she says she had long talks about who might take over.

This is utter bullshit. She did not like the cheering when Belloni broke the story. So now she’s backpedaling and saying she’s not retiring. I’m sure she will have her name on several projects through the next several years, but she’s not running Lucasfilm in 2026. I know this. She knows this. Everybody knows this.

Last night, I flipped to Paramount+ and skimmed the offerings, looking for something I had not seen since it appeared on MTV the year after I finished grad school. I found it and spent the next 30 minutes smiling from ear to ear.

Recently, Paramount+ added over 125 episodes of MTV Unplugged, VH1 Storytellers and CMT Crossroads. There are episodes I have never seen included and ones, like a Queensryche Unplugged performance from 1992, that I saw only once when it premiered and never since.

Until last night.

The MTV Unplugged episodes include iconic performances from KISS, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Paul McCartney, Oasis, R.E.M., Alanis Morissette, Alice in Chains, and Bob Dylan. The VH1 Storytellers episodes feature standouts like David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Alicia Keys, and Elton John.

You might not remember Queensryche. They are, of course, still around without their original singer, drummer, and lead guitar player, but they continue to play shows. In 1990, the band had an enormous hit with the song “Silent Lucidity.” I was already a long-time fan of the band going all the way back to 1984, and the song “Take Hold of the Flame.” I mean that note (You know the note. It’s a high E.) blows people like Doug Helvering and Elizabeth Zharoff away.

The band is in incredible form in the Unplugged set, and Geoff Tate is at the height of his vocal powers. Watching it reminded me of that time in my life: the friends I was hanging out with, the fresh glow of entering the real world, and how the future looked so far ahead.

There is so much great music to rewatch, relive, and remember. I wonder what I’ll watch next and where it might take me.

Incredibly sad news. I’ve linked to the stories in Variety.

“Michelle Trachtenberg, ‘Gossip Girl’ and ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ Actor, Dies at 39.”

“Gene Hackman and Wife Betsy Arakawa Found Dead in Santa Fe Home; Oscar-Winning Star of ‘French Connection’ and ‘Unforgiven’ Was 95.”

I never followed her social media, but it looks like Trachtenberg had complications after a liver transplant. It’s too bad she won’t be seen in the Buffy the Vampire Slayer revival.

Hackman was the Lex Luthor of my youth and the basketball coach of my dreams. He was incredible in Unforgiven. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen The French Connection. I should rectify that situation as soon as possible.

Will Leitch –

Our Illini are about to make their fifth consecutive tournament (and it of course should be their sixth). There was a six-year stretch before that in which we did not make the tournament at all. Underwood is still a smart, ambitious coach, Josh Whitman is still as hard-charging as ever and with a fanbase like this, in the age of NIL, this is not a franchise/organization that is likely to go wanting. Things are, still, good. I will appreciate the slightly disappointing times, remembering, as I do, the truly wretched ones.

This is the right way to look at this Illinois Basketball season. Plus, they could still get hot in March. I’m not expecting it, but stranger things have happened.

Robert Reich –

When billionaires take control of our communication channels, it’s not a win for free speech. It’s a win for their billionaire babble.

When they talk of “personal liberties and free markets” they mean their own liberties to become even richer and more powerful, as the rest of America slides into worse economic insecurity and fear.

When they speak of “freedom,” what they actually seek is freedom from accountability.

This “reveal code” moment is, in a way, a blessing. It allows everyone to see where the money and power have gone.

It is a prerequisite to the long and difficult but necessary process of creating an economy and democracy for the many rather than the few.

Will Leitch, writing for New York Magazine, has a piece with a title that was precisely what I thought immediately after seeing the original story. I love how Leitch explains Trump’s and Smith’s style of discourse in easy-to-understand paragraphs. He then links to where this preposterous story gained traction: When Smith told CNBC’s Alex Sherman that he “wouldn’t mind being in office” and then going on Pod Save America and saying whatever he was doing there.

Leitch then explains everything in a way that even people who don’t know Stephen A. Smith can understand.

He has a shtick, and I do think this shtick has been corrosive to any sort of intelligent sports discourse, but I do not believe Smith is malevolent and, in the end, I do suspect his heart is generally in the right place, if it hasn’t been entirely consumed by his persona at this point. In an age of Barstool and Pat McAfee, Smith is hardly the worst guy on the lot. He does seem to have an occasional sense of humor about himself — you can sense an earnest, even kinda likably dopey guy in there somewhere, as evidenced by his ever-amusing appearances on General Hospital.

But in a world where expertise, rationality, and complexity are under constant assault by cartoonishly vile people foundationally motivated by willful and aggressive ignorance, the Stephen A. Smith political boomlet represents a deeply flawed kind of counterattack. The reasoning here is nothing more than “Hey, they have a bunch of people who don’t know anything, maybe we should get our own person who doesn’t know anything.” Stephen A. Smith for president — my God, I do not think I have ever written a more ridiculous phrase — is the result of giving up, of ceding everything that actually matters. If he is any sort of answer, then quite frankly we are not serious people.

Can we please get some serious people back in charge?

Lucasfilm finally gives us a look (trailer, poster) at what to expect from the second season of Andor—and it looks like Cassian Andor and the rebels are ready to take the fight to the Empire. Lovely quick looks at all the major players and a few new ones we know from Rogue One. Also, hey, that’s the Death Star.

It’s been known that Andor season two has several time jumps as Cassian approaches the start of Rogue One and A New Hope. Now, we learned the 12-episode second season releases as a series of three-episode chapters each week rather than on a by-episode basis. The first three episodes of Andor S2 hit Disney+ on April 22, with subsequent chapters dropping on Disney+ for the next three weeks.

While I’ve enjoyed the various Disney+ Star Wars shows to varying degrees. Andor is my favorite. Of course, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. Rogue One is my second favorite individual film of the Star Wars films, and, to be fair, what was appealing was the feeling we are in a real resistance with real consequences. Real people making real choices. The Skywalker saga is entertaining, but it’s more Flash Gordon than war film, and that’s okay.

Rogue One and Andor, benefit from having a singular visionary in Tony Gilroy. Moving forward, the Star Wars franchise could also benefit from a singular visionary leading the way. I’m not advocating for Gilroy; he wouldn’t want the job anyway, but someone with creative and business acumen could help craft Star Wars over the next couple of decades.

I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to watch a show about an ultimately successful revolution against a fascist government. It will be nice to escape the real world for a few hours.

Warren Ellis included a fun, throwaway link in his Orbital Operations newsletter that delighted me to no end.

I really wish more people had done things like Paul Holden’s A4.

The link takes you to a page of PJ Holden’s blog where he has crafted a microfiction newsletter he named A4. Here are the issues so far: A4 Issue Zero, A4 Issue One, A4 Issue Two, A4 Issue Three.

While I don’t think I’d want to do exactly what Mr. Holden has put together, I’ve long been a fan of microfiction. I should write more.

I came to Led Zeppelin late in my formative years. I remember getting Led Zeppelin IV in high school just to have “Rock and Roll” and “Stairway to Heaven.” I was not really into blues-based rock music, even though my favorite guitar player at the time, Ace Frehley, was clearly imitating Jimmy Page’s style. I don’t recall, but I don’t think I ever tried listening to many blues-based artists until college and grad school. Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, and Stevie Ray Vaughan never appealed to me.

After “Rock and Roll” and “Stairway to Heaven,” I’m sure the third Zeppelin track that had any kind of staying power with me was “Kashmir.” Again, I’m not sure, but I think the first time I ever heard the track was watching that scene from Fast Times and Ridgemont High. You can find various live versions of it on YouTube, but my all-time favorite version is from when Led Zeppelin performed “Kashmir” at the Ahmet Ertegun tribute concert at London’s O2 Arena from the concert film Celebration Day.

“Kashmir” is my favorite Led Zeppelin track, but the entire Physical Graffiti album is great. The band thinks it’s their best album and I wouldn’t dare argue the point with Page and Plant.

With today being the album’s 50^th birthday, here’s the digital remastered version on Spotify.