In the broad scope of things on Planet Earth in the spring of 2021, one season of a professional sports league is entirely insignificant. The mythmakers and sports historians would have you believe otherwise. The media machine would never allow that headline to go viral. “NBA Season Entirely Insignificant!”
What went viral in the past 16 or 18 months around the globe was indeed a virus that stopped the media machine, as well as the mythmakers (unless you are a hardcore conspiracy theorist). …
As we head into the final stretch of the 72-game-condensed-upside-down-COVID season from hell, the playoffs are finally in sight. Seventeen games remain on the calendar until the play-in tournament (May 18-May 21) with the first round starting on May 23rd.
The Celtics are currently 29–26, having won 6 of 7, matching their hottest stretch since three weeks into the season. If we remove those two 7-game stretches (12–2), the C’s went 17–24 during the bulk of this year…which is why it’s been such a difficult season for us C’s fans…but they went 17–24 while missing multiple mainstays in the top…
Game #1
Opening Day washed out. Played the next day, sleepily. Four base-runners. Stranded and silent. Orioles simply too good. If the season is a marathon, this team needs to find its sneakers.
Game #2
A run in the fourth. Sacrificial fly ball off the bat of Marwin. Radio guys discuss deadened ball. Hint of life from Plawecki. JD with leg-liner RBI. Shadows about to become a problem. Rally in 9th. And then silence. Season begins…or has it?
Game #3 A nightmare is the subconscious bubbling up images that frighten a person into consciousness. The nightmare series with Baltimore is…
Breakfast
James stumbled out of bed and fed Mahatma. He waited as Mah limped out to empty his bladder on the grass. The old Keeshond lifted his leg ever so slightly these days. James was tired. He and the dog had been living together for 13 years. During that time, other than Mahatma, only two people had stayed in the bed. Lulu, for a few months in 2011. Daphne, for a few nights four years ago…and again last year.
They were both kind. There was nothing dramatic in James’ memory of the time he’d spent with Lulu, who’d been a singer…
A list of the best 15 days. Scientifically researched. Algorithmically deduced. Workshopped. Edited. And arrived at.
- Thursday
- Saturday
- Sunday
- Friday
- Tuesday
- Wednesday
- Monday
- Leap Day
- National Dress Up Your Pet…
1. You never get too invested in anything you’re writing…which limits the mild disappointment that results from few reading it in the age of too much information.
2. The numbers provide some sense of cohesion even when there’s minimal cohesion at best.
3. If you start by stating you will list a specific number of items, you always know when you’re done.
4. Most of us have been conditioned to believe lists are written by organized people and they lead to productivity. When you write a list you get to pretend you are organized and productive.
5. Listos means ready.
…
In October, I started recording talks with friends, family members and friends of friends. The project is a podcast called Jonah Asks. But the project is also an individual experiment in trying to sustain connections and thinking about what it means to be a conscious human in 2021. Now that fifteen episodes are up, and a few more are in the works, it’s a good time to think about what it means and why I’m doing it.
Our Many Selves
It’s been over ten months since mid-March 2020, when the world paused. Rebelle Harmony was not-yet three years-old, and our weeks were occupied…
Unwrap the cookies. Take out all the fortunes. Type them up. Then mix.
*A good book is the best of friends, it follows you to a place you wouldn’t go by yourself.
*Don’t let statistics follow you to a place you wouldn’t go by yourself.
*Every artist is the same today and forever.
*A lifetime of hope and work lies ahead of you.
*A lifetime of aiming high does a number on you.
*A leader is a person who was first an amateur.
*After readying the every emotion, I see the mother of good fortune.
*Diligence costs nothing and is…
On January 5th, Georgia held its runoff elections for the Senate. That night, it was clear that Democrat Raphael Warnock had won his race by two percentage points, 94k votes. By the next day, Democrat Jon Ossoff had officially won his race by 1.2 percentage points. 50.6–49.4, 55k votes.
Those 149,000 votes are the difference between what would have been a Republican-led Senate in 2021–2022 and what is now a Democratic-led Senate. With a 50–50 split, incoming Vice-President Kamala Harris’ vote tilts the tie to the Democrats. Thank you, Georgia organizers. Thank you, Stacey Abrams. Thank you to everyone who…
It’s January 4th and the NBA season is now two weeks old. Most teams have played 6 or 7 games — still a tiny sample, on the heels of a shortened pre-season…but just enough games to make a few observations.
Let’s start with three-point shooting. Most are familiar with the fact that three-point attempts have been climbing steadily over the last eight years or so. By 2016, threes made up 30% of all shots, in both the regular season and playoffs. …
Jonah Hall
Writing. Poetry. Personal Essays. On the NBA, MLB, media, journalism, culture, teaching and humor.
