Friday Rewind: Pomp and Circumstance

Graduation day! This will be a shorter Friday Rewind than normal because, yes, this is a really crazy week. Today, in a few minutes in fact, our younger daughter Katie graduates from high school. I’m writing this on my phone!*

*Question: Are you really writing this on your iPhone while waiting for your daughter’s graduation to begin? Answer: Yes, Katie is going to have to see a whole team of psychiatrists to break down her father’s writing illness, isn’t she?

And so it goes. On Sunday, I throw out the first pitch at the Charlotte Knights game. Monday is Margo and my 25th wedding anniversary. And then to top it off, on Tuesday the Athletics play the Pirates in Pittsburgh at 7:05 p.m.

Big life events just keep happening!

As a graduation gift to Katie, I’m giving her the opening to this Friday Rewind by letting her choose her 10 favorite “Ted Lasso” characters in order. Yeah, that’s my gift to her. I don’t need your judgment.

1. Jamie Tartt. What a ride it was for Jamie — from the show’s bully to its most sensitive soul. There were not many highlights in Season 3, but Jamie’s pronunciation of “poopy” was endlessly delightful.

2. Roy Kent. He was No. 1 for Katie almost from the beginning, but his character sort of lost his way in Season 3, allowing him to be overtaken by his one-time enemy. Roy’s still fantastic, but it was clear that actor Brett Goldstein had a bunch of other projects going this season — he’s a Marvel Superhero!

3. Rebecca Welton. The magic of “Ted Lasso” was the natural way it turned villains — Rebecca basically began the show as a British Rachel Phelps from “Major League” — into icons. That’s part of the reason it was so disappointing how badly they botched the Nate story in Season 3. Rebecca, too, was wildly underutilized this season, but she was a ray of sunshine whenever she appeared.

4. Coach Beard. He’s gloriously odd, but that heart … what a heart.

5. Sam Obisanya. Sweetest guy on the team, and his restaurant looked delicious.

6. Ted Lasso. Katie and I couldn’t figure out why they made Ted so morose for most of Season 3. Sure, he missed his family, but without his famous optimism, the show just felt empty. Still, in the end, Ted’s Kansas City spirit became one of the most uplifting things in the recent history of television.

7. Keely Jones. After Season 2, she would have been No. 2 on Katie’s list — or co-No. 1 with Roy. But her final season was an absolute mess.

8. Higgins. Always wonderful. When he revealed himself to be a jazz aficionado l, well, that was so fantastic.

9. Trent Crimm of The Independent. We want to read his book, even though The Richmond Way is a terrible title. Ted has so many fun quotes, why not use one of those, Trent?

10. Colin Hughes. Dani Rojas lost Katie when he purposely broke Van Dame’s nose with a shot. That gag just didn’t work for her — me either.

There’s nothing more that needs to be said here about the bizarre and awful Nate plot turn in Season 3 … but if you do want more, it will be satisfying for you to read Sepinwall’s final takedown. Don’t you think it would be fun to do some sort of project with Alan?

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Joe

WHY WE LOVE BASEBALL UPDATE

OK, so here’s a fun little contest they’re having over at Goodreads — Dutton is giving away 20 uncorrected galleys of WHY WE LOVE BASEBALL. All you have to do is click the enter giveaway button and you could win a galley and read the book months before everyone else has it on Sept. 5.

And for the record .. I got one copy of the galley. One. So basically you can win as many galleys as I have. Of course, it only takes one.

We are gaining ground on Michael Schur’s Rainy Day Books presale record, but we still have quite a ways to go. That son of a gun sold a lot of books. It didn’t hurt that I helped set up the sale, promoted the heck out of it, traveled to Kansas City to help him with it and then got COVID from him* … but let’s give the man his due. He sold A LOT OF BOOKS.

*How to be Perfect, indeed!**

**I guess I should probably mention that, yeah, Mike wrote a full (and hilarious) chapter in WHY WE LOVE BASEBALL. So even if I take back the record, he will say that it’s only because of his chapter.

As you no doubt know by now, if you order the book from Rainy Day Books by Father’s Day, which is only two weeks away now, I will not only personalize and sign the book, I will inscribe it with any message you like. And for the last couple of weeks, I’m adding another option — if you prefer, you don’t even have to come up with the inscription. You can simply say, “Twins fan here!” or “Dale Murphy fan here!” or “‘Wicked’ fan here!” and I will write you a personal inscription about your fan topic. Like if you say, “Julio Franco fan here!” I might write:

“Julio Franco could step into the box tomorrow and rap a single off Jacob deGrom.”

Of course, this is at least in part because Jacob deGrom’s arm might fall off in the process. But I’m getting away from the point, which is, if I remember correctly: Now’s the time to preorder those books from Rainy Day!

I should add, of course, that I would love for you to preorder from pretty much everywhere now — you can even preorder a signed book from Barnes & Noble or Books-A-Million, while supplies last. These books are not personalized, like the books at Rainy Day, but they are painstakingly signed. I mean, Posnanski is a long name.*

*Though if you’ve seen my signature, you probably know that only like four or five of the letters are recognizable. I do have a fun flourish on the P. At least I think it’s fun.

Greene has been lights-out of late. (Winslow Townson/Getty Images)

JoeBlogs Awards!

Here’s a new feature — the JoeBlogs Weekly Awards. If you like it, we’ll keep it going, and even expand it.

JoeBlogs Batter of the week: Ryan McMahon, Rockies. He hit .482/.548/1.074 with two doubles, a triple, four homers, 11 RBIs and 13 hits in seven games. And when asked about his hot streak, he said: “No comment.” I like that. You know what they say in “Bull Durham.” “Never $^#^# with a winning streak.”

JoeBlogs Pitcher of the Week: Hunter Greene, Reds. He made two starts, pitched 12 innings and allowed only two hits and one run while striking out 19. He also became the fourth-fastest pitcher ever to 250 career strikeouts, behind only Spencer Strider, Corbin Burnes and Kerry Wood.

JoeBlogs Team of the Week: The Arizona Diamondbacks! It helps to have a four-game series with the Colorado Rockies, absolutely, but the D-Backs have won five in a row, including Thursday’s emotional, come-from-behind walkoff win that came when rookie Corbin Carroll doubles in the tying and winning runs. Corbin Carroll is just SO much fun — he might hit 30 homers and he might steal 50 bases.

Hey, if you feel like it, I’d love if you’d share this post with your friends!

Week in Review

Saturday: I introduced The PosCast Newsletter. If you’re a fan of the PosCast, well, first of all, why? Second of all, this newsletter is just for you, and it’s free!

Monday: I wrote all about “Succession” and ranked the major characters in the order that Margo and I liked them. My favorite review came from my mother, who said, and I quote, “Wrong!”

Tuesday: A deep dive on the Eephus pitch.

Wednesday: Our Brilliant Reader challenges included a top 10 “Hamilton” song list (my daughter Elizabeth’s review: “Wrong!”) and a breakdown of 300-game winners and complete games.

Thursday: On the PosCast this week, Mike and I talk about hockey towns that deserve a Stanley Cup, and the Hall of Awesomeness.