2026-04-16 00:51:00
Pilot is one of those jobs with a rarefied air around it. I see the uniform, and I immediately think That person knows and can do things that I cannot. If you've ever seen Catch Me If You Can, that power is a key plot point, as nobody questions con man Leonardo DiCaprio's authority as long as he looks like he can fly an airplane.
But pilots are people, too. They eat, and they sleep, and they follow sports just like us. Here's proof:
2026-04-15 23:56:52
I like to think of myself as quite the optimist, which explains a career-long, pan-sport fascination with prospects, prodigies, and up-and-comers of all sorts. The future of every sport is out there materializing, in the form of legions of children rising to displace and cast aside their elders. The passage of time guarantees this, though that certainty of outcome is not matched by certainty of identity. Oftentimes, the pressure on a young athlete of being touted as the Next Big Thing is enough to guarantee that ascension never happens, putting the press in the curious position of simultaneously lauding a prospects' accomplishments and cautioning the public against drawing subsequent conclusions.
Usually, anyway. Sometimes an athlete comes along with such undeniable talent and spark that any observer is forced to feel the inevitable gravity of a star being born. Which brings us to Paul Seixas, who is making it impossible to use the future tense.
When we last checked in on Seixas six weeks ago, he was posting an impressive slew of results in the shoulder seasons of the cycling calendar. It is nice to win the Faun-Ardeche Classic and a stage at the Volta Ao Algarve, but nobody is targeting those races; while performing well there and in the preceding Autumn classics is impressive prospect stuff, it's not necessarily world-bestriding mega-talent stuff. In other words, checking in then was a hedge of sorts: a preliminary survey of Seixas's situation before he started contesting (and potentially losing) races that mattered. Though I hoped otherwise, I thought there would be little to report until July.
2026-04-15 23:32:13
I had already done the hard part that night: getting my kids to sleep. It was dark now, May 20, 2022, one of the last cool evenings before summer hit central Indiana. I told my wife I was going on a walk, put in my earbuds, and set out. Tomorrow was trash day, which meant dodging garbage cans and recycling bins. No one else was around. Three blocks from home, on a street lined with bungalows, I smelled smoke, the last breaths of a bonfire. I abandoned the sidewalk for the road; the smoke was still peppery. The podcaster said something about the NBA playoffs. Then, on the edge of my peripheral vision, I saw a big white blur.
Somehow I knew it was a dog. I began to backpedal, expecting a leash to restrain it, but it didn't. The dog launched itself into me. Suddenly I was rolling on the ground, kicking and swinging and screaming for help. I could feel the teeth clamped into my calf, the jaws tearing and grinding. The dog released and bit again.
We fought for I'm not sure how long. Eventually, I grabbed a recycling bin and used it to bludgeon the dog until it backed off, snapping and snarling.
2026-04-15 22:52:00
Nothing is potentially as pathetic as an old-guy tantrum, and yet nothing is so potentially entertaining as an old-guy tantrum when the old guy isn't worried about his gig. Enter Rick Bowness, the head coach of the Columbus Blue Jackets and someone whose face would be on the $1000 bill if there was a country called Dontgiveafuckistan.
Bowness is 71 years old and has coached 899 games since his debut 37 years ago. That means he's been replaced seven times. He has been an interim coach in four different places, an assistant in seven, a minor-league coach in three, and has coached for the same franchise (Atlanta/Winnipeg) twice. He has seen great hockey, terrible hockey and all the hockeys in between. He once punched noted toughian Tim Hunter in the head during a brawl in 1986—yes, as a coach.
In other words, when he took the Columbus job on January 12 he had seen all anyone should be allowed to see in the sport. He took the Blue Jackets from last in the Metropolitan Division to second and was being mentioned as a coach of the year candidate. Then gravity happened, the Jackets lost nine of their last 11 and missed the playoffs, finishing off with a 2-1 loss at home to Washington Tuesday night.
2026-04-15 21:27:11
On Tuesday, the Athletic reported that NJ Transit plans on hiking up the price of return tickets to New York Penn Station from World Cup games at the New York New Jersey stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., to more than $100, an approximately eight-fold increase from the ordinary ticket price of $12.90. This report comes approximately a week after the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) officially announced prices for its services to Boston-area World Cup games: $80 for round-trip express train tickets and $95 for round-trip tickets on a new direct shuttle bus service to Foxboro.
These are plainly extortionate prices. The habit in the United States is to heap blame onto public transit agencies, which, with few exceptions, have poor funding and even worse public relations, but in this case it is not NJ Transit or MBTA doing the extorting, even as they are the agencies levying these prices. The local governing bodies hosting World Cup games are in a bind: Despite nebulous declarations from FIFA president Gianni Infantino that the World Cup would inject something like $30 billion into the U.S. economy, the hosting cities themselves do not benefit from the direct revenue of World Cup ticket or concessions sales, broadcasts, or even official parking fees. All of the above go to FIFA.
Nevertheless, FIFA and the federal government have broadly shunted responsibility onto local governments for providing transportation in accordance with FIFA's strict security requirements. The Federal Transit Administration will provide roughly $100 million in funding for improving transportation for the 11 U.S. World Cup host cities, but according to the Athletic report, providing service would cost NJ Transit alone as much as $48 million.
2026-04-15 04:14:25
NFL reporter Dianna Russini resigned from The Athletic on Tuesday, a week after the New York Post published photos of her and New England Patriots coach Mike Vrabel lounging and holding hands (with interlocked fingers!) at a lovely Sedona resort. Russini denied that there was anything romantic going on between her and Vrabel, who are both married to people who aren't each other, but the conflict of interest between a reporter and a source made her position untenable nonetheless—despite an initially vocal defense from The Athletic.
Russini did not admit to anything in her resignation letter, sent to Athletic Executive Editor Steven Ginsberg but no doubt meant to be released publicly. Rob Maaddi of the Associated Press obtained and published it:
"I have covered the NFL with professionalism and dedication throughout my career, and I stand behind every story I have ever published. When the Page Six item first appeared, The Athletic supported me unequivocally, expressed confidence in my work and pride in my journalism. For that I am grateful. In the days that followed, unfortunately, commentators in various media have engaged in self-feeding speculation that is simply unmoored from the facts.
"Moreover, this media frenzy is hurtling forward without regard for the review process The Athletic is trying to complete. It continues to escalate, fueled by repeated leaks, and I have no interest in submitting to a public inquiry that has already caused far more damage than I am willing to accept. Rather than allowing this to continue, I have decided to step aside now — before my current contract expires on June 30. I do so not because I accept the narrative that has been constructed around this episode, but because I refuse to lend it further oxygen or to let it define me or my career."
