Content Nausea No. 50: Uncast Shadow of a Southern Myth
No souls were present for the moment his bombed out brick walls finally fell, lying face down in the throes of atonement, checked out of the Heartbreak Hotel
Welcome to the 50th(!) edition of Content Nausea. You can read No. 49 right here. Please let me know what you think. Thank you for being here. Here is the welcome blog.
We have entered the year-end phase of Content Nausea, and if you would like to be part of it, please fill out this survey.
Hello, hello. As it says above, we’re at the end of the year, so it’s time to start rounding things up. I have a plan laid out for how this is going to happen, but as with all plans this year, it will probably fall apart. But the vague outline right now is random things (books, TV, movies, etc.) today, and then albums and songs later. Then, next week, I’ll attempt to round up 2020 and propel us into 2021 in a competent fashion. Cool!
Books I read in 2020
In chronological order… I am currently reading Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs by Chuck Klosterman (again), and I will probably not finish it between the time I am writing this and the time it will be sent out…
Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander by Thomas Merton [more]
In Persuasion Nation by George Saunders
Actual Air by David Berman
The Great American Novel by Philip Roth
Nothing Feels Good: Punk Rock, Teenagers, and Emo by Andy Greenwald
Against Creativity by Oli Mould
Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber by Mike Isaac
The Best American Sportswriting 2019
The Capital of Basketball: A History of DC Area High School Hoops by John McNamara
Clemente: The Passion and Grace of Baseball's Last Hero by David Maraniss
The Longing for Less: Living with Minimalism by Kyle Chayka
Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid
This was my favorite book of the year.
Shit Is Fucked Up And Bullshit: History Since the End of History by Malcolm Harris
1984 by George Orwell
The first time I tried to read this novel was May 2010, so better late than never.
Tanking to the Top: The Philadelphia 76ers and the Most Audacious Process in the History of Professional Sports by Yaron Weitzman
Letters to a Young Poet by Rainer Maria Rilke [more]
We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Point B by Drew Magary
This was my second-favorite book of the year.
The Best American Sports Writing 2008
Doc: The Life of Roy Halladay by Todd Zolecki
Howl and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg
The Index of Self-Destructive Acts by Christopher Beha
This was the type of book I blew through and had the thought, wow, I really need to read more fiction on a consistent basis… so I’ll be taking all of your fiction recs for 2020.
Contemplation in a World of Action by Thomas Merton
Lunch Poems by Frank O’Hara
Wow, No Thank You. by Samantha Irby
The Waste Land by T.S. Eliot
A Few Seconds of Panic: A 5-Foot-8, 170-Pound, 43-Year-Old Sportswriter Plays in the NFL by Stefan Fatsis
Articles I enjoyed in 2020
In chronological order of how they starred as “favorites” in my Pocket queue… Every year, I have grand ambitions of cataloging all of the articles and pieces (and podcasts) that I really liked, but it always falls off quite quickly. I starred maybe two or three pieces in the past two months, but it’s just been that kind of year. You can kind of trace the outline of 2020 through these pieces. I definitely put my subscription to The New Republic to good work.
“How To Mend” by A.J. Daulerio, The Small Bow
“Diplo Is Workin’ 5 to 9” by Gabriella Paiella, GQ
“My Instagram” by Dayna Tortorici, n+1
“Would you please please please please please please please stop talking?” by Wyatt Williams, Believer Magazine
“The Kids Were Never Not Alright” by Sam Hockley-Smith, Gross Life Newsletter
“What Does It Mean to Have a Serious Drinking Problem?” by Nancy Wartik, The New York Times
“The NFL And FOX Only Know How To Celebrate America Like Total Weirdos” by David Roth, Unnamed Temporary Sports Blog
“The Game Inside the Game” by Emma Healey, Hazlitt
“The Tyranny of Terrazzo” by Molly Fischer, The Cut
“The Campaign at the End of the World” by David Roth, The New Republic
“America Is a Sham” by Dan Kois, Slate
“The Disunited States of America” by Osita Nwanevu, The New Republic
“America’s Diseased Politics” by David Roth, The New Republic
“The Enduring Delusion of a Chastened Trump” by David Roth, The New Republic
“How Kobe Bryant’s death brought Bobby McIlvaine — an athlete, a scholar, the friend I should’ve known better — back to life” by Mike Sielski, The Philadelphia Inquirer
“The world's most insane coffee drinker” by Dan Ozzi, REPLY ALT
“You have to love it first” by Kelsey McKinney, Written Out
On the phone with my friend we weren’t talking about writing. But this kind of discovery of passion and choosing of it is true for anything really: getting a dog, choosing a new city to live, finding a partner, picking a career. Everything requires us to sacrifice something. We were talking a bit about how you can’t control your dreams. How sometimes you want something so much that you accidentally bend your life into a shape you don’t want to get it. It’s hard to realize how much you might give up to get something you want. We can’t have it all, we know, but which parts of it all are we willing to give up to have the other parts, which parts are worth most?
“Philadelphia protests quickly overwhelmed police, city leaders. Here’s how it happened” by David Gambacorta, Mike Newall, Jeremy Roebuck & Chris Palmer, The Philadelphia Inquirer
“Twilight of the Cop Consensus” by David Roth, The New Republic
“The Strong, Silent Type” by Samer Kalaf, Popula
I wish I asked them more about their lives at those late-afternoon meals instead of worrying about what I’d watch on Kids’ WB while I ate. Merely being in their presence was so comforting, but it took years to realize how much more I could have shared with them. The grief spreads out in cascading moments triggered by memories, waves that will continue to lap against the shore for the rest of my life, each one making its own temporary imprint.
“Pain, perseverance and the promise of family for Marquise and Morgan Goodwin” by David Fleming, ESPN
“All they had to do was the right thing” by Jeb Lund & Luke O’Neil, Welcome to Hell World
“How the Pandemic Defeated America” by Ed Yong, The Atlantic
“Ball Don’t Lie” by Jay Caspian Kang, The New York Review of Books
“Police, protest, pandemic and the end of the 9/11 era” by Howard Bryant, ESPN
“What I Learned Inside the N.B.A. Bubble” by Sam Anderson, The New York Times Magazine
“We’re On To Cincinnati” by David Roth, Defector
The critical problem here is not that American culture abhors even the appearance of weakness, but about how much is built upon that belief, and about how that belief rewrites an increasingly brutal status quo into a legible natural order. Because the strongest win, the winners are the strongest. The diers mostly just die. If you believe this, a pandemic isn’t a problem to solve. It’s just two-a-days.
“An Arm And A Legend: Rick McIvor And The 100-Yard Throw” by Dave McKenna, Defector
“I Feel That I Am Being Made Crazy By the Distortion; an interview with Lauren Oyler” by Sam Jaffe Goldstein, The End of the World Review
“No One Loves Arby’s Like I Do” by Nathan Smith, The New York Times Magazine
“The Tunnel: Reflections on a life in motion” by Kevin Morby, WePresent
TV shows I watched in 2020
In chronological order… I still have a couple episodes of Entourage, Season 3 left, but I do not believe I will finish it by the end of the year. I do not have any “regrets,” so to speak, from the pandemic, but I do kind of wish I had invested a little more time into watching TV shows. I got off to a good start at the beginning of the year, but the pandemic was just too noisy for me to focus in. It was much easier to pull up old broadcasts of past football or baseball games (or even NASCAR races) and have it more as background. But I’m entering 2021 with the idea that I’ll be able to turn my brain off and focus more. We’ll see.
The Unauthorized Bash Brothers Experience
Lovesick, Season 1
Lovesick, Season 2
All or Nothing, Season 5
I’m in this at a couple spots.
Succession, Season 1
Look, some day I will get through Season 2.
Silicon Valley, Season 7
Normal People, Season 1
The Last Dance
I had a lot of thoughts on this, but it is quaint to think about how early in the pandemic this was rushed out. It was cathartic to have an “event” TV show to watch, even if I found certain aspects of it rather dubious.
Entourage, Season 1
Entourage, Season 2
Emily in Paris, Season 1 [more]
Movies I watched in 2020
In chronological order… Much of what I wrote about TV shows applies to moves, too. But I think I figured out that outside of just wanting to watch and actually watching a movie, I just don’t like watching them by myself. I watched Palm Springs twice. The first time, Maya was watching it at the same time and we texted through it. The second time, I was with Olivia and Palmi in Baltimore. It was just more fun. Also, I watched Disney’s The Luck of the Irish with friends on the Last Normal Day back in March. Obviously, the pandemic makes this more difficult. But in 2021, I want to be a little more deliberate with my choices.
John Mulaney & The Sack Lunch Bunch (2019)
Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016)
Airplane! (1980)
Palm Springs (2020) [twice]
Newsletters I enjoyed in 2020
Not in chronological order… It’s easy to make fun of newsletters and I have some #thoughts about All Of It that I will keep to myself, but these are a few that I enjoyed getting in my inbox.
Penny Fractions by David Turner
Last Donut of the Night by Larry Fitzmaurice
Written Out by Kelsey McKinney
Hear Hear by Adam Offitzer
REPLY ALT by Dan Ozzi
Welcome to Hell World by Luke O’Neil
From the Desk of Alicia Kennedy by Alicia Kennedy
Air Gordon pt. 2 by Jeremy Gordon
The Small Bow by A.J. Daulerio
Gross Life Newsletter by Sam Hockley-Smith
This Here Newsletter by Will Leitch
pithy outcomes by Maya Kosoff
Journal of American Despair by Alex Balk
Games I attended in 2020
In chronological order… When I was covering high school sports a couple years ago, this list stretched into the hundreds. Now, it does not, though part of that was because of the pandemic. Still, the past couple months have reinforced the appreciation I have for being able to Be There.
Jan. 5: Seattle Seahawks at Philadelphia Eagles, Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia Pa.
I wrote about empty football stadiums earlier this year, and while I have gotten used to it, I have gotten some pangs thinking about the energy rush at kickoff in a packed stadium like this.
Feb. 9: Tampa Bay Vipers at New York Guardians, MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J.
Remember when the XFL was a thing?
Feb. 15: Yale at Penn, The Palestra, Philadelphia, Pa.
Feb. 19: Roman Catholic vs. Archbishop Wood, The Palestra, Philadelphia, Pa.
Feb. 19: Archbishop Ryan vs. Neumann-Goretti, The Palestra, Philadelphia, Pa.
This Philadelphia Catholic League doubleheader was a ton of fun… I kept forgetting that it was the last live sporting event I went to before everything shut down. It was great.
Sept. 13: Philadelphia Eagles at Washington Football Team, FedEx Field, Landover, Md.
Sept. 20: Los Angeles Rams at Philadelphia Eagles, Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia Pa.
Sept. 27: Cincinnati Bengals at Philadelphia Eagles, Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia Pa.
Oct. 18: Baltimore Ravens at Philadelphia Eagles, Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia Pa.
Oct. 22: New York Giants at Philadelphia Eagles, Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia Pa.
Nov. 1: Dallas Cowboys at Philadelphia Eagles, Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia Pa.
Nov. 15: Philadelphia Eagles at New York Giants, MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J.
Nov. 30: Seattle Seahawks at Philadelphia Eagles, Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia Pa.
Dec. 13: New Orleans Saints at Philadelphia Eagles, Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia Pa.
I am fortunate that I had a job that let me see some live sports in a safe manner during the pandemic.
Thank you for reading the 50th edition of Content Nausea. It will get better. Thank you, and see you soon.
I stood there beside my companion
Scratching a rumor he had heard
Do you have a gun?
What? He said, yeah, you mean this one?
Straight down the barrel was his word
—D.G.