u/JulianBrandt19

Bragging about the windows, the “joyful”natural light, the pools, the weight room. They even interviewed the CEO of the general contractor. And of course, Robert and Jonathan made themselves front and center.

I’ll start by saying I understand and appreciate the need to strategically shut downs parts of the system for maintenance that has been deferred and ignored for years. And I appreciate the MBTA leadership’s willingness to be up front with riders about what they are working on and why decades of deferred maintenance have put us in this position.

But will there actually be some grand payoff? Some sustained period of time when the major, system-disrupting long-term maintenance projects are no longer required at the regularity they occur now?

Maybe I’m viewing this through a cynical lens, but given the overall age of the T system and inconsistency of federal funding for major maintenance and upgrades, are we basically going to be in this slog forever? Or at least for the next few decades? I just don’t see us arriving at a point anytime soon where the MBTA says we’re done with the major maintenance shutdowns for the time being.

I understand the latest bout of frustration at this England team's inability to control games, especially when leading. But has England ever been able to consistently maintain control of the ball for sustained periods in the last few decades? And I'm not referring to qualifiers against the likes of Lithuania and Moldova.

Even when England has reached finals, semifinals, and quarterfinals, none of it has been the result of England being able to or even set up to maintain possession against other "major" nations.

And if this observation is accurate, how far away is England from having a team (especially a midfield) with both the technical ability and tactical commitment necessary to maintain possession for sustained periods? Nobody is expecting peak Spain, but for a nation of England's footballing resources to completely cede control of a game to the likes of Paredes, Fernandez, and Mac Allister for an entire half of football is a bit embarrassing.

This E.J. Dionne Jr. piece on how Democrats are taking on the mantle of speaking about moral values where Republicans have ceded such ground made me think about how we talk about morals leading into 2026, 2028, and beyond. I'm also thinking about Ezra Klein's Independence Day podcast with Bryan Stevenson about the America that's still possible, if we take up the mantle of justice and recommit ourselves to those values.

So how do we message this? Especially from left-of-center, liberal, progressive, and leftist perspectives (as opposed to Republicans and social conservatives).

In my mind, there is also a gender dimension here. It's not all gender, but gender is a major part of it. How do we palatably but assertively say that:

• It's not ok to be completely ignorant as to what's going on in your community, your state, and your country.
• It's not ok to not consume any information beyond your algorithmic social media feeds.
• It's not ok to have Instagram and TikTok comments be the only words you read on a yearly basis.
• It's not ok to put yourself or your family into financial ruin with sports gambling.
• It's not ok to be physically abusive or violent to your romantic partners or children.
• It's not ok to be unable to communicate on a basic level about your emotions or the emotions of your family members and friends.
• It's not ok to turn away from the world, from employment, from friendship, from relationship, etc. and retreat to a world of gaming and online forums.
• It's not ok to feel no sense of obligation for your loved ones and your community generally.
• It's not ok to have absolutely no plan for the immediate future of your life.
• It's not ok to totally disregard your physical and mental health to the point where it's nearly impossible for you to find meaningful relationships, find gainful employment, pursue education, etc.

I know that it instinctively feels weird for left-of-center politicians to speak in these terms, and I'm not saying that we want our politicians to speak like hectoring scolds. But is there a way to frame these goals through a broader sense of a moral re-founding of America around community, compassion, hard work, lifting each other up, etc.?

Because we all know what we get when people, especially young men, turn away from these values: a generation of people who are emotionally unregulated, mentally and physically unwell, terminally online and easily radicalized, low in confidence, quick to violence, and easy prey for charlatans, demagogues, scammers, and tech overlords. If we can steer even a fraction of Americans out of this path, it will no doubt improve our political future.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised at sports broadcasters' embrace of AI, nor should I be surprised that Fox Sports is the network that's diving right in. But it still depresses me to no end.

The kicker for me last night was the animation of Ortiz, Jeter, A-Rod, and Burkhart as Founding Fathers. And of course the panel reacted to their heads on the bodies of 18th century politicians like it was the funniest thing they had ever seen.

Honestly, who watching those broadcasts is impressed by AI-generated animations? Or finds them a worthwhile addition to the broadcast? Who is yearning for Terry Bradshaw's head on a shirtless steelworker, or Gronk spiking the ball as Pat Patriot? Because that's what we're getting come September.

With so much of this, my question remains: who is this for?

It feels like nearly every game the referee is physically disrupting play, particularly in the attacking third. Have they been instructed to stand in a more advanced position or closer to particular passages of play?

One of the funniest bits from the old days of the show. One emailer made an impassioned and earnest attempt to rebut the guys’ jokingly putting down Belgium in athletics and as a nation.

There was a line I distinctly remember when the emailer was listing out famous Belgian athletes, and his list included ping-pong players.

Probably a long pull, but does anyone have that clip?

After watching this World Cup (and we’ve only just finished the Round of 32), I am struggling to excite myself for the resumption of the Premier League, the Champions League, the other European leagues, etc.

I don’t want to be a miserable nihilist, but who cares?

I’m not a football purist, but things like “intriguing tactical battles” and “stealing a point in a tough away ground” just doesn’t interest me much at the moment.

Perhaps it’s the over-saturation and cyclical nature of the club game has worn be down over the last few years, but instead of coming off the World Cup and being excited at the prospect of the new season (including a second chance to watch the standout performers from that World Cup), I find myself not really caring at all about anything related to the club season ahead.

Maybe it’s the level of wealth and resources needed to contend for a title in Europe’s top five leagues. Maybe it’s the ability of the larger, richer clubs to fill holes in their team as opposed to international managers just having to figure it out and coach around gaps in talent.

I am loving this World Cup, but the prospect of club football returning in a month and a half just doesn’t excite me as it once did.

And was anything quite as bad and turgid as England 0-0 Algeria in 2010?

My post could have applied perfectly to Euro 2024 and the 2022 World Cup. I could have told you how Ronaldo would play against DR Congo even before the game began. Lumbering around the opposing back line, failing to even attempt any meaningful runs in behind, failing to drop back and get involved in any attacking passages of play except to exchange backwards passes with the midfielders, and - most importantly - not having the body flexibility and athleticism to convert chances when they do fall to him.

It's as if he is unable to sort his feet out when a ball comes across the box to him. Even if he's bearing down goal, he cannot turn or reorient his body to either finish first-time or control the ball, create space, and set up a shot. He rarely ever attempts to dribble past a defender. I won't even bother talking about ability or willingness to press and win the ball back; that ship sailed a decade ago. So that leaves Portugal starting a forward with: low athleticism and no ability to create space for himself or other attackers, no willingness or ability to press and win the ball back, and a diminished ability to combine with his teammates or finish the chances that do fall to him.

I'm not saying that the options to replace him (i.e. Goncalo Ramos, etc.) are great. But least you would be starting players who are more mobile, can make runs, are more selfless, and can help pull the opposition out of shape. Even if a center forward essentially acts as an anchor for the more creative players to play off, that situation would be an upgrade to the farce that Portugal deals with now. To be clear, Ronaldo was hardly the only problem in Portugal's uninspiring performance against DR Congo; and DR Congo were strong opponents that took advantage of almost every opportunity. But the point remains: centering Ronaldo in this team will prevent Portugal from progressing in this tournament.

Fernando Santos was far from a perfect manager, but he had the courage to drop Ronaldo. It remains to be seen whether Martinez is willing to do the same, but I'm not holding my breath.

The so-called major nations appear to have an almost shocking lack of quality in key positions. I know the label of "world-class" is fraught and imperfect, but just for the sake of argument, let's go through the squads of some of the major footballing nations and pick out the players who one could comfortably label as "world class". There are some players I'm leaving off who perhaps were world-class at one point but can no longer be described as such:

• Germany: Musiala, Wirtz, and maybe Kimmich?
• France: Mbappe, Dembele, Olise, and maybe Cherki?
• England: Kane, and maybe Bellingham?
• Brazil: Vinicius Jr., and possibly nobody else
• Argentina: Alvarez, Messi (I'll still list a diminished Messi here)
• Spain: Lamal, Pedri, maybe Fabian Ruiz?
• Netherlands: de Jong, Van Dijk (not what he once was)
• Portugal: Fernandes, Vitinha, and maybe Leao?
• I'd like to include Italy, but I'm not because they didn't qualify.

I'm intentionally setting a high standard here, and I'm sure I'm missing some. But to me this reflects bizarre gaps in talent production from the major footballing nations. Look at a country like Brazil - a country of over 200 million people, with a reasonably strong domestic league system and perhaps the richest footballing history globally, is fielding Igor Thiago at striker, a 34-year-old Casemiro in midfield, and fullbacks who ply their trade at (checks notes...) Al-Alhi and Zenit St. Petersburg.

Or the Netherlands - a country that, in the span of 15 years, went from Robben, Sneijer, Van Persie, Huntelaar, and Van Der Vaart, to the likes of Summerville, Malen, and Weghorst.

We used to think of this issue as countries' inability to produce traditional strikers, but now it even goes beyond that. Major nations can't seem to field competent fullbacks, defensive midfielders, goalkeepers, etc.

Is there some unifying theory at play here? Are we in a lull of global talent? Or am I just imagining the past as much better than it actually was.

He’s gone from the moderately annoying loudmouth American archetype to being a net negative on the broadcast. Truly unlistenable.

Imagine if any other sport’s broadcast for its premier competition continued to employ someone like Lalas. Imagine if a key part of Fox’s Super Bowl panel included a guy who had a totally unremarkable career as a backup linebacker 3 decades ago and was only known for having an amusing hairstyle.

It’s the first World Cup taking place in the U.S. in over 30 years, and the national broadcaster of the tournament in said host nation is trotting out a clown on a daily basis.

Watching him sharing the same desk with Thierry Henry and Zlatan Ibrahimovic is incredible. It’s like here’s two legends of the sport plus your idiotic uncle who you have to cut off from the drinks at the family function.

It seems like the church has looked exactly the same - blue wrapping, boom lift parked next to the bell tower, materials laid down in the front lawn - for at least a year now.