Mike McMaster

Baseball fan, history nerd and ad tech professional.

[Mike McMaster @mikemcmaster11]

@baseballhall @Yankees So… put him in!!!

[Mike McMaster @mikemcmaster11]

Bingo.

[Derek Thompson @DKThomp]

I think one way to get at the NBA's problem is to start w the question: What would it look like for a professional sport's regular season to be the equivalent of a pre-season exhibition period—that is, something that genuinely, truly does not matter at all?

1. For starters, seeding wouldn't matter ... bc home court advantage would barely exist, in which case the best teams could win the championship as an 8th seed just as easily as they could win as the 1st seed.

2. The playoff series would be long enough that (a) the best teams had ample opportunity to prove their superiority [unlike in March Madness, or the NFL playoffs, where 20 bad minutes can end the best team's season] and (b) you're giving casual fans a LOT of basketball to watch so they don't feel bad about skipping most of the regular season.

3. Also, you'd let the vast majority of the teams make the playoffs -- maybe by adding a "play-in" that extends potential playoff qualification to, like, 2/3rds of the league.

4. You'd have several teams that recognize (and practically celebrate!) the futility of the regular season by spending much of this period *actively and flagrantly trying to lose* bc the draft is so much more valuable than the outcome of any particular week, or month, of regular-season competition. In fact, you'd have fans actively rooting for about 1/3rd of the league to throw away most of the regular season bc they only really care about getting a high draft pick.

5. Finally, you'd have a sport where it was basically impossible to win a championship without a top 10 (or, really, top 5!?) player, in which case many franchises are rationally fixated on throwing away regular seasons to maximize their chance to draft or trade for a top 10 guy.

... okay, I think you get my point :)

I love listening to basketball podcasts in the autumn and winter, and I love watching playoff basketball in the spring. But I think there are very deep structural reasons why the NBA regular season, for many casual fans, feels like a prolonged preview of an actual sport that begins in April.

[Derek Thompson @DKThomp]

JPM's Michael Cembalest:

In the ~160 years after the Civil War, US presidents fired 11 four- and five-star military officers.

In Trump's first 14 months, the White House has fired 9 of them.

[Dan Carlin @dccommonsense]

-Exactly what our system was designed to prevent. The GOP-dominated congress is a disgrace to our history and values. And the POTUS himself has no morals or ethics AT ALL.He's a man with no discernible soul.
If you support that...think about what you're enabling.

[Dan Carlin @dccommonsense]

Just a reminder:the argument/rationale against learning from history is always the same. "Conditions have changed".Usually they mean military conditions/capabilities. Go look at the arguments. This is how Hitler invades Russia and doesn't have to learn from Napoleon's experience.

[Justin Amash @justinamash]

“The Constitution vests the power of declaring War with Congress; therefore no offensive expedition of importance can be undertaken until after they shall have deliberated upon the subject, and authorised such a measure.”
—George Washington

[Rand Paul @RandPaul]

As yet another preemptive war is begun in the Middle East, John Quincy Adam’s words of wisdom still ring true:

“Wherever the standard of freedom and Independence has been or shall be unfurled, there will her heart, her benedictions and her prayers be.”

Like most Americans I have sympathy for the plight of the Iranian people and all subjected people around the globe, from North Korea to Tibet.

But as Adam’s wrote, America:  “goes not abroad, in search of monsters to destroy.

She is the well-wisher to the freedom and independence of all.

She is the champion and vindicator only of her own.”

The Constitution conferred the power to declare or initiate war to Congress for a reason, to make war less likely.  

Madison wrote that “the Executive Branch is the branch most prone to war, therefore, the Constitution, with studied care, delegated the war power to the legislature.”

As with all war, my first and purest instinct is wish Americans soldiers safety and success in their mission.  

But my oath of office is to the Constitution, so with studied care, I must oppose another Presidential war.

[Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump]

Now that Obama’s poll numbers are in tailspin – watch for him to launch a strike in Libya or Iran. He is desperate.

[Justin Amash @justinamash]

“The Party told you to reject the evidence of your eyes and ears. It was their final, most essential command.”
—George Orwell, 1984

[Mike McMaster @mikemcmaster11]

@Yankees Stop playing New York, New York after losses. Please.

[Mike McMaster @mikemcmaster11]

@RiverAveBlues I’m a paying subscriber to your newsletter. Love your analysis. But man you would be a bummer to watch a game with.

[Mike McMaster @mikemcmaster11]

@admcrlsn @jonfavs The adult in the room knows when it’s time to take the keys away from grandpa.

[Mike McMaster @mikemcmaster11]

@TalkinYanks @ChrisKirschner The fact that the Phillies are #2 tells you that you need to have the bases loaded a lot to lead in this category! i.e. you're a good team.

[Mike McMaster @mikemcmaster11]

@EvanRobertsWFAN 250 years later, we have confirmation that the English will never understand us.

[Mike McMaster @mikemcmaster11]

@billwise It’s like “brave” in the national anthem. The theoretical limit does not exist.

[Mike McMaster @mikemcmaster11]

@BasebaIlKing Andy Pettitte

[Mike McMaster @mikemcmaster11]

@DavidSacks Devil’s advocate… zero of the rockets launched by Iran yesterday hit their targets. So couldn’t this same spurious logic be applied today?

[Phil Hughes @PJHughes45]

Give Soto whatever he wants. You must keep that man

[Mike McMaster @mikemcmaster11]

@HardcoreHistory Standard Hardcore History Podcast length.

[Mike McMaster @mikemcmaster11]

@airgups23 AdTech rule of thumb: if it doesn’t make sense to you, that’s probably because it doesn’t make sense.