Welcome to the 59th edition of Content Nausea. You can read No. 58 right here. Please let me know what you think. Thank you for being here. Here is the welcome blog.
Hello, happy Saturday. I do not have much to say this week — today is the 11th anniversary of my senior prom, but other than drinking some whiskey out of the commemorative mug, I do not have anything insightful to add about that — but I wanted to empty my Pocket queue and share a couple links with you. I hope you all are enjoying your springs.
Some content I wrote this week
Friday night marked my first time at Beaver Stadium, and even with an incredibly limited number of people in the stands, I could pick up the vibe of what it is like when there are actually 107,000 people in the stands. Who knows when that actually happens, but the undercurrent was there in the press box. If my memory serves me correctly, the largest crowd I have been in a stadium with is 107,869 when Maryland played Ohio State at The Horseshoe in 2015.
But that was a noon game with a homecoming crowd, so it was a little more tepid than those numbers might suggest (though I am pleased that that many people witnessed The Perry Hills Game in person). I can already tell that things will be a little different at Penn State, and it’s exciting. Of course, there’s plenty that needs to happen between now and then.
Much of what I write now goes behind PennLive’s paywall, and I’m not exactly sure how reliable the site is with actually enforcing that, so if you really, really want to read something that I wrote, let me know, and I’ll PDF it or send you a Google Docs link. Or, like, subscribe to support local journalism!!! (It’s fine if you don’t.)
If you want to read more about my job and also see a glamour shot of me from last weekend — come on, who wouldn’t? — you can click here. The blue jacket is back, folks.
Wandered around State College last week and talked to some people about ‘normalcy’ and the football and the pandemic. Actually had some fun writing this one!
Kelly Jekot has already laid the ground work for a coaching career when her playing days are over.
Some observations from a Friday night at Beaver Stadium.
What James Franklin had to say after practice.
A cornerback moves to wide receiver.
On Penn State’s quarterback in spring.
I covered Zech McPhearson as a baseball player outside of D.C. in 2015 and then talked to him in Lubbock, Texas, over Zoom in 2021 about transferring from Penn State to Texas Tech, dust storms and the NFL draft.
Some content I listened to this week
I think I’ve neglected the 042k21 playlist, which is all right.
Fog Lake’s new album, Tragedy Reel, is very good and served as a good soundtrack on an overcast Saturday evening in State College.
There’s a new Remember Sports album out, which is always worth diving into:
I think Remember Sports was one of the last shows I went to? I think I saw Remember Sports and Wild Nothing at Johnny Brenda’s in November 2019 and then saw Alex G at Free at Noon in December and then it’s been a wrap since then? Weird.
I’ve also been falling back into some Oso Oso, which has been nice, and then I circled back to The Bones of What You Believe by Chvrches because they had another unremarkable single out, and it holds up, but then I had a dream I was interviewing the band? I don’t know, man.
Some content I read this week
On the book front, I’ve finished Fleishman Is in Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner, The Topeka School by Ben Lerner, The Girls by Emma Cline and The Wild Iris by Louise Glück in recent days/weeks/whatever. Those were all fine. I’ve started We Own This City by Justin Fenton (shoutout to The Sun), and that’s exciting.
Maya wrote a great appreciation of her KALLAX in her newsletter (you should do it more, Maya, tbh), and it made me consider my two KALLAXes that are with me right now. The 1x4 is on its sixth address and currently holds my Best American Sportswriting anthologies and a bunch of boxes with random stuff, while my 2x4 is on its fourth address and holds some of my records, my tapes, my TV, my cable box, my PS2 and my video games and DVDs. Great pieces of furniture. I’m pouring one out for the black 2x2 KALLAX that I bought in Orange County in 2014 and subsequently brought to Bel Air, Baltimore and Philadelphia before selling it. It was a survivor.
The rodeo and bullriding in The Washington Post.
AJ Daulerio x Jayson Blair is certainly A Combination.
Carlos Rodón pitched a no-hitter for the White Sox, which brought me back to when he was a freshman at N.C. State in 2012 and he absolutely dominated Maryland on a Saturday afternoon in College Park. He was really good. In 2014, I watched Jake Stinnett, who might still be kicking around the minor leagues(?), outduel him on a Friday night in College Park. Rodón’s professional story is impressive, and it feels remarkable to have been adjacent to two minor points of his path.
I’m debating getting a Padres hat and shelling out for MLB.tv to watch San Diego this summer. I don’t think I can stay up late enough for these West Coast games (it’s kind of a failure with my Portland Trail Blazers NBA League Pass right now), but perhaps?
Hazel Cills on “Industry plants” in Jezebel.
I haven’t really had many opinions on Trevor Lawrence, the presumptive No. 1 pick in the NFL draft, but this Sports Illustrated story made me appreciate him and his approach to life a bit.
I’m a big fan of the “Saint Cycle” from Defector, which gives me another opportunity to talk about how I went 0-for-0 with three walks in my final baseball game in eighth grade. I started the game on the mound, too, and exited with us either in the league or down a run, but the reliever who was scheduled to come in after me got ejected in the next inning and it was all downhill from there.
Two more Defector stories on parenting and death, plus a good Hell World on the latter.
Larissa Pham in The Believer.
Wired on the algorithms and the internet reminding us of stuff that we don’t want to remember. Plus, nostalgia.
Vice on those storefronts we see on delivery apps with cringe-worthy names. There was a gluten-free one in Philly that popped up right before I moved where I was like, “?????” I considered ordering for kicks, but I could not bring myself to do that.
Some other content I saw or thought about this week
I do not have much to add.
I guess that is it this week.
Thank you for reading the 59th edition of Content Nausea. It will get better. Thank you, and see you soon.
[instrumental]
—D.G.