From today’s post at combatdavey.net:

you can just do things (and should) you can just do things (and should) you can just do things (and should) you can just do things (and should) you can just do things (and should)

From today’s post at combatdavey.net:

I used to think I was the most anxious person on earth, but then I got a bit healthier and realized that what I thought was anxiety was a fear of punishment. A fear that if something went wrong, someone was going to hurt me.

From today’s post at combatdavey.net:

The “endless, always-on emotional support” provided by ChatGPT and the like isn’t actually emotional support but rather the outputs of a machine that most people are not smart enough, emotionally mature enough, or digitally sophisticated enough to use.

From yesterday’s post:

I don’t want this blog to be about the awfulness of the real world. I want to be writing funny things about about dumb stuff and/or linking you to useful, joy-inspiring things. But I am watching all of this crazy shit happen in real time with a horrified look on my face.

From today’s post at combatdavey.net:

ABC is pulling Jimmy Kimmel Live off the air indefinitely because he told jokes and made comments about exactly who and what you think.

America is cooked, man. Just like, thoroughly cooked.

Today’s post at combatdavey.net includes bits on Robert Redford, Luigi Mangione, Feist, and David Lynch’s Seinfeld but also this:

I want to put together some kind of course or set of resources that will help people improve their media literacy.

If you want to help me, LMK.

🏈🏀⚾ From today’s everything-but-the-kitchen-sink post at oddball.blog:

It’s been almost 40 years since Washington beat Green Bay at Lambeau Field. Yes, Washington beat Green Bay in Milwaukee in 1988, but that game wasn’t at Lambeau.

From today’s post at combatdavey.net:

You can draw a straight line between that last thing and our current moment in which a great many people simply do not trust science, experts, expertise, or education. You can draw a straight line between that and the end of objective reality.

From today’s post at combatdavey.net:

When you are a person whose brain works a certain way (iykyk), you get bogged down in the details because everything you do is about understanding and then performing accuracy and correctness, which itself is about achieving (earning?) validity.

From today’s post at combatdavey.net:

Outside of the obvious NBA-related issues (salary cap circumvention, competitive advantage fraud, etc) this is about financial fraud and securities fraud, money laundering, sportswashing, greenwashing, and about fifty shades of political corruption.

🏀⚾🏈 From today’s post at Oddball:

Last night Alyssa Thomas became the first player in WNBA history to have 15 or more assists in consecutive games [and] the first player in WNBA history to have a 10/15/15 game.

Also:

Ralph Sampson thinks he’d average 30/20 in today’s NBA, which is adorable.

From today’s post at combatdavey.net:

Those parts were actually pretty close to the surface but obscured by alcohol, illness, and sadness, and the bad choices that precede and follow alcohol, illness, and sadness.

This week’s Oddball trivia: oddball.blog/oddball-trivia-8-19-2025 🏀⚾🏈
Today’s odds-and-ends post at combatdavey.net: combatdavey.net/august-19-etc

Keywords from today’s QH post over at Oddball: plakata, Beyoncé, bomb, hellsite, Christmas, pink. 🏀⚾

Been writing short “hey look at this cool sports thing” posts over at my sports/trivia/sports trivia blog. Here’s today’s: oddball.blog/quick-hits-5/ 🏀⚾🏈

Continuing work on the Oddball reboot. Here’s a new post of little morsels for your morsel hole. 🏀⚾

I’ve been building a little site over at Bear. It’s still a work in progress (and I still need to map combatdavey dot com to it) but I’d be grateful it if you took a look and read a few things: combatdavey.bearblog.dev

It took a few days but I scratched out some thoughts on the NBA draft lottery for the 🏀 folks in on the smallweb (cc: @jefbrr @pilch @manton @cheesemaker and prob others)

I’m finding it easier to stay in the zone and write, lately. Today’s post was a mishmash of NBA thoughts that only @manton + @cheesemaker + maybe @pilch are going to care about: this is the link to the post 🏀

I’ve been macroblogging again. My attempt at a weekend recap includes but is not limited to:

— my sluttiness (probably)
— a character named GF20 (but not really)
— my mother’s potential immortality (really)
— a show called Farm Crime (no, really)

Scottie’s fit tho… 🏀

We live in fractious, politically polarized times. And yet I have to believe that we’re all on the same page in thinking that setting public artworks on fire is a bad thing that people shouldn’t do.

When you’re middle-aged like, you don’t get as many opportunities to do something for the first time. You’ve tried [topping] on a pizza, you’ve visited [city/country], you’ve seen [movie] etc. Today is the first time I’ll ever go to/be at a Blue Jays game (in Toronto) while it is snowing outside. ⚾🥶

Let’s go Blue Jays! clap clap clapclapclap Let’s go Blue Jays! clap clap clapclapclap Let’s go Blue Jays! clap clap clapclapclap Let’s go Blue Jays! clap clap clapclapclap Let’s go Blue Jays! clap clap clapclapclap Let’s go Blue Jays! clap clap clapclapclap Let’s go Blue Jays! clap clap clapclapcla

I’ve been a professional writer for 20 years. My CV bursts with high-profile experiences and/or accomplishments in journalism, marketing, advertising, education, and UX. About 50 people have recommended me on LinkedIn. I have worked for two of the last 15 months. Life costs more than $0. Help.

Just made a bad pancake that was a pretty good pancake, all things considered. (First time vaguebooking on Micro.blog, what a day!)

I’m at the point of applying for stuff and getting rejected before even getting to the interview stage where I’m like, “Do I just suck now? Were the last 20 years some kind of weird fluke? Were people paying me a bunch of money for no reason?”

I’m not one of those “the front office is so stupid, they should just _____________” fans, and I’ve generally defended the Blue Jays front office as a lot their moves have been good, but not being able to extend Vladdy given the $$$ we were offering FAs might end up being a franchise-altering fumble. ⚾

I wonder what I’m going to do with the money I’m going to save by never flying again.

I’m currently writing a Linkedin “article” about a piece I wrote on Medium in 2013. The gist: nothing much has changed but, also, almost everything has changed. I’m really just trying to impress someone who can hire me, because looking for work these days means constantly auditioning. It’s lame.

My therapist low-key suggested that I stop reading the news and I think she’s right. On the other hand, I don’t want the money I’m paying for the NYT and Apple News+ to go to waste. #sunkcostfallacy #iknowhashtagsdontworkhere

Raptors should take a flier on Jalen Hood-Schifino. It’s criminal that there’s already some kind of “bust” stink on him, as he didn’t get a real opportunity in LA. He was the Big 10 Freshman of the Year in 2022-2023, joining the likes of Branham, JJJ, Miles Bridges, DLo, Redd, and CWebb. 🏀

The world is ending so I’m playing with the Trade Machine. 🏀

I had a dream the Raptors traded Chris Boucher for a first and a second. It’s not likely but tell that to my subconscious. 🏀

I didn’t write a trivia post yesterday because the Luka/AD trade broke my brain for a day. Mea culpa.

Scherzer is a Blue Jay! ⚾️

I co-wrote a sports trivia newsletter with a friend for a few years but eventually life got in the way and we had to go on hiatus. This weekend we’re meeting up to discuss a revival and I couldn’t be more excited.

I know everything seems really dark and fucked up, and it is, but the mere thought that I may get to go to my home ballpark, on, say, a Sunday afternoon, and watch Max Scherzer pitch while wearing my team’s jersey fills me with a strange kind of joy. ⚾

Just started The Joy of Basketball and laughed out loud when I read this part. 🏀

Does anyone I know in Toronto have a regular poker game I could join?

In one of my group chats we’re discussing how our youngest (26) member and his cohort didn’t really get to be weird, messy, underemployed/broke 20-something dirtbags having wild mis/adventures in the big city while figuring out who they were.

Q: Was that a thing for you? Did you do this?

Raptors troll game on point 😂

There exists no chance he will read it, but to the guy in the fancy cheese store in Etobicoke, Ontario whom I chatted with before the season: you were right about Bo Nix and I was wrong. 🏈

Apologies for the Toronto-specific post, but when you’re riding the subway eastbound between Keele and Dundas West, in the winter, during the late morning/early afternoon, the warmth of the sun on your face during those few seconds the subway is outside not in a tunnel is… quite something.

The older I get the more I notice when people in everyday life are exceedingly polite and pleasant without being saccharine or sounding fake. Just now, with her cheerful “take care” to the reception desk and then the pharmacist, this woman made a crowded doctor’s office 25% brighter.

Took in the Pacita Abad exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario yesterday. If you’re in Toronto (and have already seen Moments in Modernism), that and the Hip Hop/Contemporary Art exhibition are well worth your time. 🎨

Was in the house for IQ’s return last night. Scottie Barnes plays so much better when he doesn’t have to be the primary distributor and playmaker. 🏀