This week, I went with depth over breadth for the link recap. There’s a lot that caught my eye, though the non-sports section includes some tough reads.
I will do my best to isolate when pieces I link are videos, podcasts and/or behind paywalls (marked with a $).
Work I Wrote/Hosted:
At Zone Coverage, I discussed the capacity for the Vikings to effectively build for the future, lock down their current stars and retain their current competitiveness while signing Kirk Cousins
James Pogatshnik recapped a season of the Hell League
Luke Braun broke down Jaren Hall’s performance against Green Bay ($), concluding that there’s quite a bit that’s not his fault. And quite a bit that is.
There’s also my immediate recap of the game, which goes over the performance of the quarterbacks but also everyone else — including standout positive performances.
Podcast: Norse Code interviewed Lions writer Jeremy Reisman about the upcoming Lions matchup.
Podcast/Video: The Minnesota Football Party and whether it’s ok to cheer for the Vikings to win this week
Work I Liked (Sports):
Matthew Coller’s piece on Harrison Smith is fantastic and he provides a definitive case for Smith to make the Hall of Fame. Not only that, he goes into great detail about the kind of player and person Smith is – it’s an extensive profile that goes into on-field impact, analytics and includes dozens of quotes from people who played with, coached or played against Smith. Great read. Pieces like this are a double-edged sword for me. I love reading them but I also know that means I cannot write a Smith piece because it simply will not compete.
The Defector covered the Pat McAfee/Aaron Rodgers/Jimmy Kimmel bit in their trademark hilarious way.
Bruce Arthur at the Toronto Star gets to the heart of the Rodgers/Kimmel matter by aiming squarely at McAfee and ESPN.
After that, Andrew Marchand at the New York Post asked if McAfee’s numbers were worth his antics, citing specific numbers about his ratings and viewership. After that, McAfee went on the warpath against ESPN and Disney employee Norby Williamson, as detailed in this thread by Awful Announcing.
Work I Liked (Non-Sports):
Five days into the year, 125 anti-trans bills have been filed.
This piece from +972 details testimonials on how civilian Palestinian prisoners were treated by Israel after capture. It’s harrowing.
Isaac Chotiner at the New Yorker interviewed another Arif, the chief economist at the United Nations World Food Program, Arif Husain on the food crisis in Gaza.
The CEO of a massive crypto fund that recently collapsed… never existed?
Video: Salari examines the problem of AAA gaming and what it means for video game development
Video: Another YouTube plagiarism video, sort of. Jack Saint discusses the YouTuber Moon and his Willy Wonka takes.
Video: YouTube legend Tom Scott is walking away
Donald Trump alleges the January 6 Committee destroyed evidence. No it did not.