Always feels like a several-day lag between Poscast announcement (or on YouTube) and when it's available through the iPhone podcast app. Anyone have shortcut suggestions? Maybe I'm doing something wrong.
James Harden will be in the all-time top ten of so many categories, he’s an obvious Hall of Famer….and he’ll retire with, like NO fans. Truly remarkable.
I just listened to the Lovable podcast with Joe Maddon. It was very interesting, particularly hearing him talk about building relationships and trust with players.
I think that holding a meeting with them where you don’t take questions and tell them to “shut up and play baseball” is not how you do that.
I don't know if the fates are evil or just have a wicked sense of humor, but Yomif Kejelcha gets to go through life saying I ran my first marathon, EVER, broke two hours and came in SECOND! He may be the ultimate footnote in sports history.
I am a very casual basketball fan (I haven't watched one game this year) but I do follow it and read some stories on it. And living in Milwaukee where James Harden has thankfully never played, I know two things about him. 1) Is that he is a selfish baby and no matter what city he plays in, he will demand a trade or sulk and act like a 2-year old until a trade is granted and 2) he is terrible in the playoffs. He's practically a walking DNP-Coaches Decision in the post-season.
" a Kenyan runner named Sebastian Sawe was moving humanity forward. Sawe ran the London Marathon in less than two hours, the first to ever do that.
Impossibly, Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha, who was — this can’t be true — running in his first marathon, also broke two hours."
I am fairly certain I heard that the 3rd place runner, while not breaking 2 hours, also broke the world record. And the woman's winner also broke the world record.
To which I must ask, what was going on? Did they short the marathon by a couple tenths of a mile and no one noticed.
Much like the 4-minute mile, this was a barrier that was bound to break. It was just a matter of time. Tragically, the prior record holder Kelvin Kiptum died in a car crash two years ago.
Shoes are a big reason why times have dropped. Nike came out with a game changing racing shoe several years ago. Others have perfected it with new foams that return energy.
I am sure your answer is the correct one, but it is more fun to think that the course organizers accidentally put a short cut in the course that made it 25.9 miles instead of 26.2. :)
I just ran the Boston marathon and finished just over 3 hrs. And while, yes, the paces these guys are running could not be possible with $400-$500 running shoes with space age technology in them, if I see a TV broadcast of a marathon (or bike race for that matter), I always get sucked into it. I do these sorts of activities and when you watch people at the top of the sport do it, their effort level and cadence do not seem very different than mine does. And then you realize these guys are striding like gazelles for 26.2 miles. It's insane.
The Boston Marathon winner finished in 2:01:20ish, lowering the course record by over a minute. The conditions for it were perfect, but Boston is a notoriously hard course. On a flat course like London, he would have been under 2. The 2 hour barrier is no longer a thing. As someone with a math background, I wonder what limit we are running tangent to. Is it 1:58? 1:55? Surely not, 1:50, right? Can you run a 4 minute mile over a full marathon?
It makes you wonder who's going to Beamon this thing where we'll look at the time at say, "Yeah, that's the limit." Speaking of which, I miss the long jump being a major Olympic event. I miss Carl Lewis.
That's actually a brag, not a humblebrag. A humblebrag includes some kind of self-deprecation as a means of disguising an actual brag. I don't see the self-deprecation.
Ive only done 3 half marathons, many moons ago, all over 2 hours. My best mile time ever was 6:50 on a treadmill and I felt like yelling, "Jane! Get me off this crazy thing!" I generally was an 8:00/mile guy in 5ks, which made me realize if I lined up with the world's top runners in a 1600m race, they'd lap me TWICE in a 4-lap race.
One thing that seems obvious to me as the years go by is that Andrew Friedman and Brian Cashman don't get enough credit. The knock on both has always been that it's easy to win with an infinite payroll, but there's clearly more to it than that
There are probably fewer things in sports given more undue importance than the position of baseball manager. It's ALL about the talent on the field. If anyone has any doubt about that, explain to me how Connie Mack could be the best manager in the AL 9 times and the worst 17 times. Or the stupid-smart-stupid arcs of Casey Stengel or Joe Torre's managerial careers.
Also, it's incredible that John Henry has somehow managed to make Red Sox fans angrier than they were during the 70-year Yawkey Era, which yielded zero World Series titles.
Well, there is talent on the field, then there are teams that had amazing talent versus almost 0 talent. This is exactly how it worked for Connie Mack. It's difficult to assume that this means managers have no impact on the team's success. It feels kind of like saying the greenhouse has nothing to do with success in growing vegetables, its all about sunlight and temperature, in a location where the temperatures swings from 60 F to -20F from year to year. (without heat added, of course)
I'm skeptical of Connie Mack's baseball genius. I feel like a better baseball mind would have found enough diamonds (ha) in the rough to finish .500 more often even after selling off his best players.
I mean, look what the Celtics pulled off this year. Did Connie Mack ever do that? I'm really asking.
He had to sell them to stay afloat. The Federal League was offering then exorbitant salaries to players who would jump, so Mack sold his players rather than lose them for nothing. In the 1930s, the Depression wiped him out. Unlike other owners, the Athletics were his only income source while the Ruperts, Yawkeys. Wrigleys and others made their money in other businesses.
There was one owner of similar circumstances, Horace Stoneham of the New York Giants, who had real success during the '30s, with three pennants and one World Series.
I get that the Red Sox organization is not very good, but even given the poor roster construction, other than the fact that the players really like him, I've never been enamored with Alex Cora the manager (except for 2018, although even then basically everybody had a great year at once and Cora rode the wave). The Red Sox have been a poor fundamental team for years now, sloppy on defense, throwing to the wrong base, etc. Some of that has to be on the manager, right? Besides all that, it's probably just time for a new voice in the locker room, anyway.
Does not excuse Breslow for having one more LH outfielder than he can use and not filling the gaping holes at 2nd and 3rd with anything of current value, and for trading Devers for a bunch of guys with an aggregate negative value (a better return for him would have been nothing at all and it's not like he didn't know he was getting the poo poo platter back when he made the deal), or that Bregman was likely to go back into freer agency and that the Red Sox would be outbid for him). The Sox have essentially traded Mookie Betts, Chris Sale and Rafael Devers for a couple years of Alex Verdugo. Weirdly, they got more value for Christian Vasquez (Abreu) than they got for those three guys put together.
I don't know anything about Craig Breslow and after reading the title, "Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer" and the quote, “This is a decisive and convicted demonstration of the confidence we have in our player group," I assumed he was a management guy and not a baseball guy. Of course, I was wrong, he is a baseball guy. Reading through his Wikipedia page and seeing terms like, " Director of Strategic Initiatives for Baseball Operations" and "Director of Pitching" I can't help but feel that we have lost baseball to corporate types. It's not Breslow, it's baseball. :(
Joe, thanks for "We are definitely a flawed species. But we are also capable of remarkable things." A lovely sentiment, and perfectly Joe-Posnanski-optimistic.
“Game Planning and Run Prevention Coach" sounds like "Catchers Coach" to me. Seems like avoiding euphemistic language for plainer language is generally preferable.
James Harden is the first basketball player of my life about whom I think there's been a real "baseball-player" type debate. There have ALWAYS been accusations of stat-sheet stuffing in basketball. But Harden is the first player I can think of who merits "Clayton Kershaw in the playoffs" levels of discussion. Like, to the point where people ask, "Is James Harden even GOOD?" which is facially a preposterous question. But I don't recall anyone in basketball who's inspire the same level of venom in fans as Harden has.
Mostly, though, I'm just excited to hear Mike break this whole thing down from his perspective. I look forward to seeing/hearing him tear his hair out.
I am a Red Sox fan and I have been bracing myself to listen to the emergency podcast for two days. Y'all need a better podcast workflow.
seriously, if they can put out a teaser clip that's been edited, the podcast must be just about ready to go.
Always feels like a several-day lag between Poscast announcement (or on YouTube) and when it's available through the iPhone podcast app. Anyone have shortcut suggestions? Maybe I'm doing something wrong.
Nope, not you.
James Harden will be in the all-time top ten of so many categories, he’s an obvious Hall of Famer….and he’ll retire with, like NO fans. Truly remarkable.
I just listened to the Lovable podcast with Joe Maddon. It was very interesting, particularly hearing him talk about building relationships and trust with players.
I think that holding a meeting with them where you don’t take questions and tell them to “shut up and play baseball” is not how you do that.
I don't know if the fates are evil or just have a wicked sense of humor, but Yomif Kejelcha gets to go through life saying I ran my first marathon, EVER, broke two hours and came in SECOND! He may be the ultimate footnote in sports history.
I am a very casual basketball fan (I haven't watched one game this year) but I do follow it and read some stories on it. And living in Milwaukee where James Harden has thankfully never played, I know two things about him. 1) Is that he is a selfish baby and no matter what city he plays in, he will demand a trade or sulk and act like a 2-year old until a trade is granted and 2) he is terrible in the playoffs. He's practically a walking DNP-Coaches Decision in the post-season.
" a Kenyan runner named Sebastian Sawe was moving humanity forward. Sawe ran the London Marathon in less than two hours, the first to ever do that.
Impossibly, Ethiopia’s Yomif Kejelcha, who was — this can’t be true — running in his first marathon, also broke two hours."
I am fairly certain I heard that the 3rd place runner, while not breaking 2 hours, also broke the world record. And the woman's winner also broke the world record.
To which I must ask, what was going on? Did they short the marathon by a couple tenths of a mile and no one noticed.
Much like the 4-minute mile, this was a barrier that was bound to break. It was just a matter of time. Tragically, the prior record holder Kelvin Kiptum died in a car crash two years ago.
Shoes are a big reason why times have dropped. Nike came out with a game changing racing shoe several years ago. Others have perfected it with new foams that return energy.
I am sure your answer is the correct one, but it is more fun to think that the course organizers accidentally put a short cut in the course that made it 25.9 miles instead of 26.2. :)
I cannot improve upon Tim’s succinct and spot on points. Well assessed & expressed, indeed.
***Humblebrag Alert***
I just ran the Boston marathon and finished just over 3 hrs. And while, yes, the paces these guys are running could not be possible with $400-$500 running shoes with space age technology in them, if I see a TV broadcast of a marathon (or bike race for that matter), I always get sucked into it. I do these sorts of activities and when you watch people at the top of the sport do it, their effort level and cadence do not seem very different than mine does. And then you realize these guys are striding like gazelles for 26.2 miles. It's insane.
The Boston Marathon winner finished in 2:01:20ish, lowering the course record by over a minute. The conditions for it were perfect, but Boston is a notoriously hard course. On a flat course like London, he would have been under 2. The 2 hour barrier is no longer a thing. As someone with a math background, I wonder what limit we are running tangent to. Is it 1:58? 1:55? Surely not, 1:50, right? Can you run a 4 minute mile over a full marathon?
It makes you wonder who's going to Beamon this thing where we'll look at the time at say, "Yeah, that's the limit." Speaking of which, I miss the long jump being a major Olympic event. I miss Carl Lewis.
That's actually a brag, not a humblebrag. A humblebrag includes some kind of self-deprecation as a means of disguising an actual brag. I don't see the self-deprecation.
Ive only done 3 half marathons, many moons ago, all over 2 hours. My best mile time ever was 6:50 on a treadmill and I felt like yelling, "Jane! Get me off this crazy thing!" I generally was an 8:00/mile guy in 5ks, which made me realize if I lined up with the world's top runners in a 1600m race, they'd lap me TWICE in a 4-lap race.
Congrats on the Boston Marathon time!
Congrats! I also ran it, a good 1 hour+ behind the winner. Who somehow had a negative split even with all the hills saved for the back half.
Congrats to you too!
One thing that seems obvious to me as the years go by is that Andrew Friedman and Brian Cashman don't get enough credit. The knock on both has always been that it's easy to win with an infinite payroll, but there's clearly more to it than that
I wonder what will happen when the Mets next play the Phillies.........
The movable object meets the resistible force.
0-0 heading into the 43rd inning?
Followed by a series of error-filled, offsetting 5 run innings where the bullpens explode and fielders lose their minds.
Mendoza and Thomson will get wasted together.
There are probably fewer things in sports given more undue importance than the position of baseball manager. It's ALL about the talent on the field. If anyone has any doubt about that, explain to me how Connie Mack could be the best manager in the AL 9 times and the worst 17 times. Or the stupid-smart-stupid arcs of Casey Stengel or Joe Torre's managerial careers.
Also, it's incredible that John Henry has somehow managed to make Red Sox fans angrier than they were during the 70-year Yawkey Era, which yielded zero World Series titles.
Well, there is talent on the field, then there are teams that had amazing talent versus almost 0 talent. This is exactly how it worked for Connie Mack. It's difficult to assume that this means managers have no impact on the team's success. It feels kind of like saying the greenhouse has nothing to do with success in growing vegetables, its all about sunlight and temperature, in a location where the temperatures swings from 60 F to -20F from year to year. (without heat added, of course)
It sure feels like Bochy got some wins with his wits
I'm skeptical of Connie Mack's baseball genius. I feel like a better baseball mind would have found enough diamonds (ha) in the rough to finish .500 more often even after selling off his best players.
I mean, look what the Celtics pulled off this year. Did Connie Mack ever do that? I'm really asking.
He had to sell them to stay afloat. The Federal League was offering then exorbitant salaries to players who would jump, so Mack sold his players rather than lose them for nothing. In the 1930s, the Depression wiped him out. Unlike other owners, the Athletics were his only income source while the Ruperts, Yawkeys. Wrigleys and others made their money in other businesses.
There was one owner of similar circumstances, Horace Stoneham of the New York Giants, who had real success during the '30s, with three pennants and one World Series.
I get that the Red Sox organization is not very good, but even given the poor roster construction, other than the fact that the players really like him, I've never been enamored with Alex Cora the manager (except for 2018, although even then basically everybody had a great year at once and Cora rode the wave). The Red Sox have been a poor fundamental team for years now, sloppy on defense, throwing to the wrong base, etc. Some of that has to be on the manager, right? Besides all that, it's probably just time for a new voice in the locker room, anyway.
Does not excuse Breslow for having one more LH outfielder than he can use and not filling the gaping holes at 2nd and 3rd with anything of current value, and for trading Devers for a bunch of guys with an aggregate negative value (a better return for him would have been nothing at all and it's not like he didn't know he was getting the poo poo platter back when he made the deal), or that Bregman was likely to go back into freer agency and that the Red Sox would be outbid for him). The Sox have essentially traded Mookie Betts, Chris Sale and Rafael Devers for a couple years of Alex Verdugo. Weirdly, they got more value for Christian Vasquez (Abreu) than they got for those three guys put together.
There was definite value in the return received for Devers. Kyle Harrison is 2-1 with a 1.06 WHIP...with the Brewers.
I don't know anything about Craig Breslow and after reading the title, "Red Sox Chief Baseball Officer" and the quote, “This is a decisive and convicted demonstration of the confidence we have in our player group," I assumed he was a management guy and not a baseball guy. Of course, I was wrong, he is a baseball guy. Reading through his Wikipedia page and seeing terms like, " Director of Strategic Initiatives for Baseball Operations" and "Director of Pitching" I can't help but feel that we have lost baseball to corporate types. It's not Breslow, it's baseball. :(
"A decisive and convicted demonstration of confidence."
Breslow went to Yale and graduated with a degree in microbiology or something. Is this how they talk in premed?
Terrific post Joe. Welcome back from book writing. This stream of consciousness was appreciated, comprehensive, beautifully written. Thank you.
Joe, thanks for "We are definitely a flawed species. But we are also capable of remarkable things." A lovely sentiment, and perfectly Joe-Posnanski-optimistic.
“Game Planning and Run Prevention Coach" sounds like "Catchers Coach" to me. Seems like avoiding euphemistic language for plainer language is generally preferable.
James Harden is the first basketball player of my life about whom I think there's been a real "baseball-player" type debate. There have ALWAYS been accusations of stat-sheet stuffing in basketball. But Harden is the first player I can think of who merits "Clayton Kershaw in the playoffs" levels of discussion. Like, to the point where people ask, "Is James Harden even GOOD?" which is facially a preposterous question. But I don't recall anyone in basketball who's inspire the same level of venom in fans as Harden has.
Mostly, though, I'm just excited to hear Mike break this whole thing down from his perspective. I look forward to seeing/hearing him tear his hair out.