Things I Think I Think

An oldie but a goodie

This is a collection of thoughts that don’t merit a post of their own. Enjoy at your leisure.

• This story about the New York Mets CityConnect uniforms blew my mind. For those who are unaware, the CityConnect uniforms are an alternate baseball uniform that … push the envelope. They’re weird. Here are a few, for instance:

I actually like the Rockies one, and the Padres one I … do not. All of the CityConnect uniforms are clearly meant to be conversation starters, with uneven results. But what’s interesting is that the Mets have a fairly boring one this year:

In fact, boring is wrong - these are slick as hell. So what rocked me? This sentence:

For more than six decades, the Mets have been defined by two colors: blue from the Dodgers, orange from the Giants. Nearly every uniform they’ve worn since their inception has featured some combination of those hues.

Um, WHAT? I did not realize the blue in the Mets uniform was meant to evoke the Dodgers and the orange the Giants - the two teams that left New York a gazillion years ago. Why would you ever design a uniform to evoke the colors of two teams you compete against? I’ve definitely heard a lot of ridiculous explanations for a new logo, etc., so this might just be that, but … this one rocked me.

• By the time this posts, the first round of the NFL Draft will be in the books. I wrote a little about it on Wednesday, but I am trying to take a proactive approach to just NOT get too upset by whatever the 49ers do. A slurry of mock drafts dropped on Thursday morning with the team taking a wide receiver, which is either based on intel that a Brandon Aiyuk trade is happening or folks following each other like lemmings. I’m hoping for the latter. If the team trades Aiyuk, that will be truly hard to stomach, but in terms of draft selections, I’m trying to be mature about it. I’m trying real hard.

I think Michigan QB J.J. McCarthy is gonna be overdrafted, but his ability to get calm and meditate (especially when the cameras are out) is aspirational.

• The mini-series Shogun finished this week, and despite some real flaws I think it’s the best TV show I’ve seen this year. I have never seen the prior miniseries nor read the book, but the criticism I heard was that it was WAY too much from the perspective of Blackthorn, the white Englishman who entered Japan (or, as he calls it, ‘The Japans’) at a time when the country was officially closed to outsiders. This new series very much is not from his perspective, and largely benefits from a balanced perspective - except that it almost neuters his character to the point that it’s hard to know why Lady Mariko (Anna Sawai) or Lord Toranaga (Hiroyuki Sanada) find him so charming and charismatic. Putting that aside, the show is gorgeous, powerful and truly a great piece of storytelling. I was absolutely enthralled by it. Also? The rumors that they might create a Season 2 do not interest me at all. Some things aren’t meant to be longer stories.

That said, one of the best things with this show was that I listened and/or watched breakdowns of each episode on the Cine-Files or co-host John Rocha’s standalone show, The Outlaw Nation. For those who have seen all ten episodes, here’s the final wrapup which I really enjoyed.

• Finally, I saw this quote from Tom Brady and my god, put it in the Old Man Hall of Fame:

Um, yes, in case you were wondering, this is the same Tom Brady who owns TB12, the brand that provides supplements and such for athletes (and received almost a million dollars in PPP funding during COVID, by the way). He’s the guy who published a cookbook for folks and who helped support a movie called “80 For Brady” about how popular he is with the elderly set. And I have zero issues with any of this! Go get your money. But quotes like this are so ridiculous in the face of it all. I’m beginning to think Brady might be a very, very bad announcer next season.

• Finally, it occured to me the other day that though I still am trying hard to listen to new music this year much like I did in 2023, there haven’t been that many songs which I got HOOKED on, and listened to on repeat over and over. Until I realized I have kind of been like that with “End of Beginning” by Djo. For those who are unaware, “Djo” is the band name for Joe Keery, and for those who don’t know who that is, he’s an actor most famous for Stranger Things and more recently, Fargo. The dude is seriously talented.