Last week two of the sports I follow most closely broke big news. On Sunday, April 18 news leaked out slowly and then in a tsunami, that 12 European soccer clubs had formed a Super League in the darkness of night (think Don Draper and the gang leaving to start their own agency). The Super League was a money grab gushing with entitlement in a sport build on merit.
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NYTimes cooking
On Monday afternoon I stood on the first tee for the first time this year and promptly topped my tee shot 50 yards in front of me. I tried again, re-teeing and knowing that my golf game is going to have some rust, but not enough to top another tee shot 50 yards in front of me, right? Wrong. As a topped my way down the first three holes of my opening round of 2020, I didn’t care much about the result of the round. It was an odd one to be sure, playing in a foursome with two strangers, who were friends of the organizer of the foursome.
Driving out of the city for only the second time all spring, it was one of those baby step moments that gave me a bit of hope. There are things we all miss doing, and I’m fortunate that some of my favorite things require wide open spaces, so they’re safer than other “out-of-home” hobbies. However, it also made me realize how far we need to go. The sensation of hopping out of the car and meeting a new person without a hand shake, and instead a wave from a safe distance, was awkward. Not being able to commune in the clubhouse or on the driving range before the round was weird. Killing the 15 minutes before the round around the corner from the first tee, unable to approach until it was completely clear felt strange.
While we’re slowly getting portions of our lives back, the experience is going to be so different and require patience and understanding and self-awareness. If this pandemic was a marathon, we’d be on mile 20. Half the race comes in the last six miles. Our bodies and minds are exhausted and screaming at us to just give in, quit, stop worrying. Instead, let’s keep moving forward and taking care of each other.
Home Before Dark: This Apple+ show is a small delight. Hinde Lisko is a 9 year-old amateur journalist whose family just moved back to her father’s childhood home in Washington state. It’s a far cry from Brooklyn where Hilde used to ride along with her journalist dad and help him investigate stories. When an old friend of Hilde’s dad ends up dead, Hilde thinks something suspicious is going on and starts to dig for the truth. The show isn’t GREAT, but it’s a solid, charming show that we keep sitting down to watch each evening. Hilde can be a bit too precocious at times, but it’s been a good one so far.
Tiger, Phil, Tom, and Peyton in The Match 2: This was a great afternoon of golf viewing. Tom Brady sucking at golf brought a lot of people joy. If we weren’t in a pandemic, Tom Brady splitting his pants on national TV after holing out from 150 yards would have exploded the internet. Here are my grades for the players, course, and programming.
Notes From Our Homes To Yours: This is a cool NYTimes interactive page where a bunch of reporters and editors and writers are keeping some sort of journal. There’s something in here for everyone, the formatting is cool, as many of them are written in Google Docs, so they’re living, breathing things. Here’s the link.
The Dream Team Tapes: Author and journalist Jack McCallum is The Dream Team expert. He wrote a book on the 1992 Olympians in 2013. He interviewed them all and kept the cassette tapes. This pod weaves in McCallum’s narration with the interviews from ten years ago. It offers solid insight into the making of The Dream Team and its personalities. The podcast made a bit of splash this week when the third episode had Michael Jordan saying he wouldn’t play on the Dream Team if Isiah Thomas was picked. Which makes MJ look like a liar in his very own documentary.
Sheet Pan Italian Sub dinner: Yep, another sub, just not meatball this week. This wasn’t quite an Italian sub , but more like an Italian sub bowl with a sidecar of bread. It was delicious. Here’s the NYTimes cooking recipe.
Homemade Shandy: The thermometer tipped the 80 degree mark this week. Crack open any lager, pour it in a glass, add some lemonade (3:1 beer to lemonade ratio?) and enjoy! Or just buy Leinenkugel shandy, but it isn’t the same.
The Match 2: I wrote about the Match 2 this weekend where Tom Brady embarrassed himself. Here it is.
The Imperfect Game Podcast: Southampton was this week’s club of choice. If you’re looking for insults based on having sex with fish, then this pod might be for you. Portsmouth and Southampton hate each other, and it’s glorious. I researched the clubs hero Matthew Le Tissier, who is a delight to watch gallop around the field and score amazing goals. iTunes link.