I didn’t see it live. My brother texted me to let me know something happened. I flipped over to the coverage and eventually watched a replay of the event on Twitter. It is horrifying, but not in a gory way, as if someone’s leg or arm is broken.

He just fell.

Will Leitch has his finger on the pulse of sports fandom and reporting. His observation that the NFL understood the ramifications and handled things gracefully is to be commended. That being said, as someone who became blind in my right eye because of football, I can honestly say I’m just relieved they thought about the player and his family over the game.

This essay by Maggie Appleton foresees AI such as ChatGPT and others will consume the internet with “content” that no one will be able to get away from. I have no idea if she’s right or not, but it is interesting to see where all of this goes.

Monique Judge has a few interesting ideas about bringing back blogging.

Watching the demise of Twitter under the helm of Elon Musk has made me nostalgic for the personal blogging days. The decline of Twitter with the current erosion of legacy media has left me thinking we need to bring personal blogging back with a vengeance.

The biggest reason personal blogs need to make a comeback is a simple one: we should all be in control of our own platforms.

Trolls only thrive in an environment where they are allowed to run around unchecked, and that is what most of social media is. There are plenty of tools that allow you to keep those people out of your comments while still allowing those who appreciate your words, thoughts, and content to fellowship with each other in a community of your own design.

I think this is generally a good idea. The circle comes back around and the Musk-y Twitter-verse is accelerating the return to owning your own space.

Also, this seems to have become a bit of a movement. John Scalzi, back at the end of November, was pushing for the same things.

Everyone should start blogging again. Own your own site. Visit all your friends' sites. Bring back the artisan, hand-crafted Web. Sure, it's a little more work, but it's worth it. You don't even need to stop using social media! It's a "yes, and" situation, not a "no, but" one. https://t.co/BzHYh59F36

— John Scalzi (@scalzi) November 24, 2022

Cameron Hawkins, writing for The Ringer, takes a nice look back at Sting’s wrestling career. A well-written piece.

Pelé has sadly passed away.

I have never been much of a soccer/football fan. However, growing up I loved the movie Escape to Victory. I have no idea why it stuck with me. Pelé, of course, plays an important part in the film.

Jason Kottke pointed me to Yung Pueblo’s list of life lessons from 2022 that he’s bringing into the new year.

So good.

This video, which lasts just seven minutes, examines the good, bad, and ugly that defined 2022.

The most difficult part of life isn’t getting what you want, it’s wanting what you already have.

Brian Hamilton, writing for The Athletic, has a great story on Brad Underwood and the advantages of being a former JUCO coach in the NIL era.

It’s sad, he says, that college basketball players often are rentals. It’s sad that it has occurred to him to think like a junior college coach again and only expect to work with a given player for two years, tops. He has fought against that reality at Illinois, with some success; Ayo Dosunmu and Cockburn both played three seasons in Champaign, and Illinois has more true freshmen on its roster than transfers. He’d prefer to build. At the very least, he’s trying to.

But reality is reality. Underwood gets that, too. A guy he once gushed about as a near-generational passer, Andre Curbelo, now plays for St. John’s. Players will come and go. So while the Cockburn-centric system wouldn’t function without Cockburn, this rewired system should be somewhat personnel-agnostic. Yes, Illinois’ coaches probably have to regularly find Hawkins-like big men who can trigger the offense for optimal results. But it should work, generally, no matter what, starting with a three-freshmen recruiting Class of 2023 that is ranked in the top 20 nationally.

And, in so doing, it should mitigate any insidious variances college basketball throws Illinois’ way. “I’m banking on that,” Underwood says as Christmas music plays softly through one of two massive televisions in his freshly renovated office. “I think you can have a system. I do. It’s why we went to this. I think our system can sustain, and if (players) stay, then it can be special.”

Shawn Blanc on decision fatigue:

You and I only have so much willpower, decision-making ability, and/or creative imagination throughout the day. Try to reserve that energy for things like deep work, deep conversations, and big decisions.

The more you can automate the inconsequential areas of your life, the the more energy and strength you have for doing your most important work and building your most important relationships.

Lean on your daily habits to let things run “automatically” and thus giving yourself more energy for thinking, creating, and decision making.

Introducing the Doctor and Ruby Sunday, played by Ncuti Gatwa and Millie Gibson ❤️❤️➕🟦 #DoctorWho pic.twitter.com/x1pUBGAPPN

— Doctor Who (@bbcdoctorwho) December 17, 2022

✨ The lewk ✨ #DoctorWho #NcutiGatwa @MillieGibson01 pic.twitter.com/dBUrWAOFZL

— Doctor Who (@bbcdoctorwho) December 17, 2022

Very much a Ten and Rose vibe. Love the rings.

The weirdest sports moments of 2022.

Hilarious. Across the board.

Molly White of Web3 Is Going Just Great had the right take on Trump's "major" announcement"

Trump supporters got all excited when Trump posted on social media to tease a “major announcement”. Was he going to run for speaker of the House? Return to Twitter? Unveil a presidential running mate?

His supporters were surprised — and not exactly thrilled — when the announcement turned out to be a collection of 45,000 NFTs (sorry, “digital trading cards”) featuring artwork of himself in heroic outfits and poses. The NFTs are “just” $99 apiece, and money goes to Trump, not his campaign.

Even some of his strongest supporters were nonplussed. Steve Bannon said, “I can’t do this anymore,” and opined that he should fire whoever advised him to make the collection.

Here’s the trailer for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

They just nailed the tone and aesthetic with these Spider-Verse movies. The first one was the best superhero movie of all time (IMHO).

Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse is coming to theaters June 2023. Really looking forward to seeing this one.

Joshua Rivera, Pete Volk, and the Polygon Staff, writing for, you guessed it, Polygon, created a ranking of the best Star Wars movies and TV.

I thought I might not agree here, but surprisingly, it maps out pretty much the same way for me as well. Granted, I have not seen all the TV shows, but I have seen most of them.

David Roth has an extended essay about Major League Baseball’s free agency.

There are three types of Major League Baseball teams where free agency is concerned. There are the ones that try to sign players, and ones that do not try to sign players, and then there are the teams that sort of try to sign players but mostly want it to be known that they were also in on a player that some other team signed. The membrane between these types is thin and highly permeable. Teams that signed players will reassess and decide to become the type of team that doesn’t, generally for reasons having to do with a plan that an executive the owner hired away from the Astros will hint at without ever really quite laying out in a legible way.

The rest is equally that much fun.

Seth Godin on stories and how they relate to facts.

The thing is that facts almost never get in the way of a good story.

Because a good story feels true.

A good story resonates.

A good story is based on our feelings, long-held and hard-earned.

A good story sticks with us, regardless of the facts.

If I bring facts to rebut your story, they will fail… unless the facts I bring are the foundation for a new story, a story about doing something smart, based on evidence or simply more effective.

But facts alone have little chance in a battle with a good story.

Part of the job of making change is working to make sure a bad story doesn’t get in the way of good facts.

The Choice is a three-minute video from Project Better Self.

Small choices become actions, actions become habits, and habits become our way of life.

Ken White, writing for The Atlantic sums up your weekend read:

The president said on Twitter that Friday’s news “totally clears the President. Thank you!” It does not. Manafort and Cohen are in trouble, and so is Trump. The special counsel’s confidence in his ability to prove Manafort a liar appears justified, which leaves Manafort facing what amounts to a life sentence without any cooperation credit. The Southern District’s brief suggests that Cohen’s dreams of probation are not likely to come true. All three briefs show the special counsel and the Southern District closing in on President Trump and his administration. They’re looking into campaign contact with Russia, campaign-finance fraud in connection with paying off an adult actress, and participation in lying to Congress. A Democratic House of Representatives, just days away, strains at the leash to help. The game’s afoot.

José Van Haliano - “Ain’t Talkin' ‘bout Feliz Navidad”

So good. The best mashups on the internet. That last “Yeah!” made me laugh.