The PosCast Holiday Draft VII!

Yes, we did it again. The PosCast Holiday Draft, 2 hours and 35 minutes of beautiful mayhem, is out.*

*Or 1 hour and 44 minutes at 1.5 speed. … Or 1 hour and 18 minutes at 2.0 speed. … Or 1 hour and 2 minutes at 2.5 speed. … Or 52 minutes at 3.0 speed

On Apple Podcasts:

On Spotify:

Also available at a Podcast Station near you.

Look, I have absolutely no idea why we started the PosCast Holiday Draft. And I have no idea why we continued doing it. And I have no idea why a whole bunch of incredibly talented, accomplished, wonderful and very busy people have agreed to be a part of it year after year.

But there’s no going back now. We had 11 drafters this year picking “holiday gifts” — one who was suffering from Covid, one who drafted from the airport while waiting for her flight, one who popped in all the way from Canada just to get verbally assaulted by Mike. It was quite the thing.

And as usual, you will determine our PosCast draft winner. No spoilers here, but I will give you a brief synopsis of the drafters and then, well, hopefully you will listen and vote. You can also just vote without listening. Nobody will check.

OK, there are the voters in all their glory. I tried to get a snapshot where, you know, Mike Dicenzo didn’t look like he was sleeping and Molly Knight was getting pounced on by her dog, but every other attempt I made had three other people look like they were sleeping or whatever, so this is the best I can do.

First pick: Nick Offerman. Character actor. Whimsical woodworker. He went traditional.

Second pick: Linda Holmes. NPR ray of sunshine. Bestselling author. I said no spoilers, but to get an idea of Linda’s theme this year, I do feel the need to show you her first pick — the Balenciaga Super Destroyed Baggy Pants. Here is a photo of those from the back.

Third pick: Jason Kander. Veteran. Author. Podcaster. PosCast Holiday Draft troll. The last two, as you will see, are related.

Fourth pick: Alexis Gay. Comedian. Creator. Optimist. Alexis was disappointed by her performance in PosCast Holiday Draft VI and spent all year preparing. That is not a joke.

Fifth pick: Alan Sepinwall. Rolling Stone television writer. Author. Yankees fan. PosCast Holiday Draft troll. He was the one suffering from Covid. But he powered through in his annual effort to derail the whole thing.

Sixth pick: Ryan George. Canadian. YouTube Creator. PosCast Holiday Draft rookie. With Wonka in theaters right now, you owe it to yourself to see his pitch meeting for the original Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory:

Seventh pick: Brandon McCarthy. Pitcher. 69-75 with a 4.20 ERA. Powerwasher.

Eighth pick: Mike DiCenzo. Saturday Night Live writer. Poet. Mariners fan.

Ninth pick: Molly Knight. Writer. Author. Dog lover. Los Angelino.

Tenth pick: Ellen Adair. Actor. Phillies phanatic. Star of zombie-but-not-really-zombie-horror movie “Herd,” available for streaming. I pull out this mini-review from MovieWeb: “Adair turns in a refreshingly powerful performance, capturing the steely resolve that befits her character. It would be easy, it seems, to play Jamie a bit over the top, spewing words and actions far too dramatically, but sure enough, Jamie becomes a character to care about and root for — thanks to Adair.”

Last pick: Michael Schur. This was the seventh consecutive year that Mike drew the short straw and got the last pick, a very unlikely mathematical scenario. Mike promised that in this year’s draft, he would be sunny, happy, he decided that with all the problems in the world, he would not go off on drafters as he had in the past. You can decide if he pulled it off.

And now — you decide: Who won the PosCast Holiday Draft VII?