I search everywhere for a way to waste two hours of my weekends. Poscast fits the bill perfectly. Now, this newsletter affords me a way to record my meaningless reactions to the meaningless Poscasts for all eternity and - and for future AI bots to consume as if such thoughts were an ancient scroll!
Does anybody remember back in the 60’s when they used to do those silly drafts? Those were the good old days. I wish they’d bring that back on like a throwback special.
Thanks for this. At the risk of starting on a downer note, I've enjoyed your discussions of why as a fan you might prefer the happiness of your arch rival's failure then the pleasure of your team's success. At the risk of poisoning the argument by admitting this, I am a Duke grad and fan and have been know to "hate" Carolina (also a Red Sox fan since childhood so perhaps some mitigation there) and take perhaps more pleasure in an early flameout by the Tarheels in the NCAA tourney then happiness from a deep Duke run. That said I am dismayed to find myself thinking that perhaps this is a bad thing.
Back when the musical Avenue Q came out, I learned of the term Schadenfreude that the musical's song at least defines as "German for 'Happiness at the misfortune of others'". In the discussion around the concept at the time I recall someone pointing out that it may be considered to be the worst sin a person might commit. (Mike Schur's better understanding of philosophy may dispel this observation, but some stories may be too good to check.)
And I think the psychological satisfaction of schadenfreude may actually explain a fair amount of modern life. If you can "hate like this and be happy forever" to quote a Carolina fan with a similar attitude about Duke to mine about Carolina, how hard is it to see this in the political divide. Hard to believe these days that folks are really voting for their side as much as voting against the hated other side. If I can't master this in myself, then hard to not see it as a motivation in others.
Anyway, wish I could say I've been able to master this, but alas have not. Though at least being aware has helped me recognize the greatness of a Joe Torre and Dean Smith and the Dean Smiths and Mike Krzyzewski's of this world appear to have been able to master this at least amongst themselves.
Anyway, thanks for providing a platform for Podcast comments to those who might be too old to indulge in the Twitterness of it all.
Joe and Michael, in light of what happened in the spring of 2020, I would love for you guys to revisit the time Michael chose a global pandemic as his #2 fear, five years before the global pandemic actually happened.
It was the episode on February 9, 2015. Michael was naming his #2 fear and this is the dialogue that ensued:
Michael: My number two is fear, which is very personal to me. I’m going to classify it as global pandemic. Basically, a virus. Essentially, what it amounts to, actually, is the breakdown of society. It’s a big fear for me, like, the virus that gets loose or the massive earthquake that causes everything to go into Bladerunner dystopia. I don’t know how to describe it. I’ve worked on Parks and Recreation. I’m currently editing the series finale. We’ve had this debate in our writer’s room. If the earthquake hits or the virus gets loose and society breaks down, what do you do? Do you go find Chris Pratt or do you go find Nick Offerman?
Chris Pratt is a superhero. He played Star-Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy and he’s going to be in Jurassic World, fighting dinosaurs. He’s an active sportsman, he goes hunting all the time, and he’s just a big, strong, charismatic leader type. So some people say, “I go find Pratt. He’ll get me to safety.”
Other people think, ‘I’m going to go find Nick Offerman. He can build me a canoe and float me to safety.’ It was obviously a joke conversation we were having, but now I think about that all the time. I think about, ‘Nick likes me. Nick will save me.’ If a global pandemic comes, I’m going to grab my wife and my kids and go to Nick Offerman’s house and hope he has an extra canoe and he can help me forage off the land while society collapses around me.
Michael: The larger point is that I think about the global pandemic, breakdown of society a lot and it’s a very scary thing. What it amounts to in practical terms is exactly that. When there’s a blackout in my neighborhood, I’m completely useless. I don’t know where the flashlights are. I don’t know where the Go Bag is. I don’t know where the candles are. I can’t light them. The matches are soggy. It’s a disaster. The idea that there would be that, but more serious, is terrifying to me.
Joe: By the way, how does it end? What is the most likely scenario for this global pandemic?
Michael: I would have said virus. I think I probably would still say virus at this point, but I think that long term it may be climate change. It may be like that movie The Day After Tomorrow, that kind of scenario where there’s a crazy superstorm and then a giant super volcano and then, like, all of South America becomes uninhabitable and then there’s mass migration, that kind of thing. I’ve played out a number of these scenarios in my head in pretty elaborate detail.
Joe: Yeah. By the way, that’s an excellent fear. Good pick at number two, for fears. I cannot even see movies where there’s a virus. Whatever that Dustin Hoffman thing, I never saw that. I won’t see it. I don’t like that. That’s way too possible. I’m good with, like, really crazy movies. I don’t believe we’re going to end up in The Hunger Games. I don’t think that’s real, but I’m not seeing a movie with viruses, just not seeing it.
Regarding your Hall of Awesomeness, I propose that you make it like Statutory Hall in the Capital. Each state has two statues in Statutory Hall. Each team should have two inductees into the Hall of Awesomeness. And I would like to nominate Sean Casey and Joe Nuxhall for the Cincinnati inductees. I also think Joe Charbonneau should be one of the nominees for the Guardians.
Hi guys -- I don't know if this qualifies as an emergency, but here goes:
I just returned from a two-week trip to Europe. I was in two countries that have very little in common: Norway and the Czech Republic. But there is one thing they do have in common: Yankee caps. During these two weeks, I saw more than two dozen MLB caps, and *one hundred percent* of them were Yankee hats. During one hike to a fjord cliff popular with tourists, I saw *six* different people wearing Yankee caps. What is going on and how can it be stopped? Do people in Europe not know that there are other MLB teams? Please advise.
Hi guys -- I don't know if this qualifies as an emergency, but here goes:
I just returned from a two-week trip to Europe. I was in two countries that have very little in common: Norway and the Czech Republic. But there is one thing they do have in common: Yankee caps. During these two weeks, I saw more than two dozen MLB caps, and *one hundred percent* of them were Yankee hats. During one hike to a fjord cliff popular with tourists, I saw *six* different people wearing Yankee caps. What is going on and how can it be stopped? Do people in Europe not know that there are other MLB teams? Please advise.
Thank you for having this, Joe!
I hope you intended to have this read at the same cadence as the intro song, because you nailed it!
I search everywhere for a way to waste two hours of my weekends. Poscast fits the bill perfectly. Now, this newsletter affords me a way to record my meaningless reactions to the meaningless Poscasts for all eternity and - and for future AI bots to consume as if such thoughts were an ancient scroll!
I’m so excited about this! It’s about time, you did some writing, Joe!!!
Does anybody remember back in the 60’s when they used to do those silly drafts? Those were the good old days. I wish they’d bring that back on like a throwback special.
Maybe if Mike is too busy he could have his old friend Ken from Partridge, KS write something. ;)
Yes, I feel like this could be a good Fire Joe Morgan-ish outlet for Mike.
I have been listening since 1978, but I have somehow lost track of your drafts? I thought that was going to be a separate podcast or something?
Thanks for this. At the risk of starting on a downer note, I've enjoyed your discussions of why as a fan you might prefer the happiness of your arch rival's failure then the pleasure of your team's success. At the risk of poisoning the argument by admitting this, I am a Duke grad and fan and have been know to "hate" Carolina (also a Red Sox fan since childhood so perhaps some mitigation there) and take perhaps more pleasure in an early flameout by the Tarheels in the NCAA tourney then happiness from a deep Duke run. That said I am dismayed to find myself thinking that perhaps this is a bad thing.
Back when the musical Avenue Q came out, I learned of the term Schadenfreude that the musical's song at least defines as "German for 'Happiness at the misfortune of others'". In the discussion around the concept at the time I recall someone pointing out that it may be considered to be the worst sin a person might commit. (Mike Schur's better understanding of philosophy may dispel this observation, but some stories may be too good to check.)
And I think the psychological satisfaction of schadenfreude may actually explain a fair amount of modern life. If you can "hate like this and be happy forever" to quote a Carolina fan with a similar attitude about Duke to mine about Carolina, how hard is it to see this in the political divide. Hard to believe these days that folks are really voting for their side as much as voting against the hated other side. If I can't master this in myself, then hard to not see it as a motivation in others.
Anyway, wish I could say I've been able to master this, but alas have not. Though at least being aware has helped me recognize the greatness of a Joe Torre and Dean Smith and the Dean Smiths and Mike Krzyzewski's of this world appear to have been able to master this at least amongst themselves.
Anyway, thanks for providing a platform for Podcast comments to those who might be too old to indulge in the Twitterness of it all.
Joe and Michael, in light of what happened in the spring of 2020, I would love for you guys to revisit the time Michael chose a global pandemic as his #2 fear, five years before the global pandemic actually happened.
It was the episode on February 9, 2015. Michael was naming his #2 fear and this is the dialogue that ensued:
Michael: My number two is fear, which is very personal to me. I’m going to classify it as global pandemic. Basically, a virus. Essentially, what it amounts to, actually, is the breakdown of society. It’s a big fear for me, like, the virus that gets loose or the massive earthquake that causes everything to go into Bladerunner dystopia. I don’t know how to describe it. I’ve worked on Parks and Recreation. I’m currently editing the series finale. We’ve had this debate in our writer’s room. If the earthquake hits or the virus gets loose and society breaks down, what do you do? Do you go find Chris Pratt or do you go find Nick Offerman?
Chris Pratt is a superhero. He played Star-Lord in Guardians of the Galaxy and he’s going to be in Jurassic World, fighting dinosaurs. He’s an active sportsman, he goes hunting all the time, and he’s just a big, strong, charismatic leader type. So some people say, “I go find Pratt. He’ll get me to safety.”
Other people think, ‘I’m going to go find Nick Offerman. He can build me a canoe and float me to safety.’ It was obviously a joke conversation we were having, but now I think about that all the time. I think about, ‘Nick likes me. Nick will save me.’ If a global pandemic comes, I’m going to grab my wife and my kids and go to Nick Offerman’s house and hope he has an extra canoe and he can help me forage off the land while society collapses around me.
Michael: The larger point is that I think about the global pandemic, breakdown of society a lot and it’s a very scary thing. What it amounts to in practical terms is exactly that. When there’s a blackout in my neighborhood, I’m completely useless. I don’t know where the flashlights are. I don’t know where the Go Bag is. I don’t know where the candles are. I can’t light them. The matches are soggy. It’s a disaster. The idea that there would be that, but more serious, is terrifying to me.
Joe: By the way, how does it end? What is the most likely scenario for this global pandemic?
Michael: I would have said virus. I think I probably would still say virus at this point, but I think that long term it may be climate change. It may be like that movie The Day After Tomorrow, that kind of scenario where there’s a crazy superstorm and then a giant super volcano and then, like, all of South America becomes uninhabitable and then there’s mass migration, that kind of thing. I’ve played out a number of these scenarios in my head in pretty elaborate detail.
Joe: Yeah. By the way, that’s an excellent fear. Good pick at number two, for fears. I cannot even see movies where there’s a virus. Whatever that Dustin Hoffman thing, I never saw that. I won’t see it. I don’t like that. That’s way too possible. I’m good with, like, really crazy movies. I don’t believe we’re going to end up in The Hunger Games. I don’t think that’s real, but I’m not seeing a movie with viruses, just not seeing it.
wow i hate this 😂
As far your Hall of Awesomeness, how about Tim “Big Time Timmy Jim” Lincecum and Kevin “in every baseball movie” Costner ?
Now submitting an actual comment about the "Awesomeness Poscast" (in addition to my generic comment yesterday):
1) Schur's "Chicken Wing" was contemporaneously brilliant;
2) Fidrych was the start of "manias".
Regarding your Hall of Awesomeness, I propose that you make it like Statutory Hall in the Capital. Each state has two statues in Statutory Hall. Each team should have two inductees into the Hall of Awesomeness. And I would like to nominate Sean Casey and Joe Nuxhall for the Cincinnati inductees. I also think Joe Charbonneau should be one of the nominees for the Guardians.
Joe, Love the "inmates are in charge" vibe. Go crazy!
Excited for this! Mike's two timing cat story was hilarious- you won't find that kind of stuff on Baseball today.
Since you will be opening NBA cards soon, here is a data point reinforcing the evidence that MJ is the GOAT, not Lebron. https://apnews.com/article/air-jordans-auction-record-price-sothebys-ec10bb116cfe5da89ba1fa8fe788fa00. Hah!
Hi guys -- I don't know if this qualifies as an emergency, but here goes:
I just returned from a two-week trip to Europe. I was in two countries that have very little in common: Norway and the Czech Republic. But there is one thing they do have in common: Yankee caps. During these two weeks, I saw more than two dozen MLB caps, and *one hundred percent* of them were Yankee hats. During one hike to a fjord cliff popular with tourists, I saw *six* different people wearing Yankee caps. What is going on and how can it be stopped? Do people in Europe not know that there are other MLB teams? Please advise.
Hi guys -- I don't know if this qualifies as an emergency, but here goes:
I just returned from a two-week trip to Europe. I was in two countries that have very little in common: Norway and the Czech Republic. But there is one thing they do have in common: Yankee caps. During these two weeks, I saw more than two dozen MLB caps, and *one hundred percent* of them were Yankee hats. During one hike to a fjord cliff popular with tourists, I saw *six* different people wearing Yankee caps. What is going on and how can it be stopped? Do people in Europe not know that there are other MLB teams? Please advise.