A Mid-Summer Roundup

In this week's P.O. Box:

Random thoughts from this past week…

🩺 Still thinking about The Pitt. I realize I’m very late to the party here, but Lauren and I wrapped up all 15 episodes of The Pitt earlier this week. We initially bailed because of how gnarly some of the ER scenes were, but ultimately powered through. I will admit, however, that Lauren still called me a “pussy” at one point when she caught me holding up a pillow to shield my eyes from a gruesome incision scene. Still, this show is phenomenal. The way they are able to combine the pressure cooker reality of an ER with a million different characters you end up caring about was impressive. Highly recommend. On tap: The Bear S4.

📊 Projections szn. We are at the point of the NFL offseason where projections and season-long prop lines are finally trickling out. It’s a fun exercise to see how all of our best ball bro science and resulting ADPs compare to what these models are spitting out. They aren’t the end all be all to what we are trying to accomplish in a top heavy best ball tournament, but they can point us in the right direction of potentially overvalued and undervalued players. Additional reading/watching: 3 undervalued players by projections in the FL newsletter and a fun blind item game on OOTC (the Quinshon Judkins and Rashee Rice numbers were eye-popping).

🍦 A Creami mix-in flop? I’m constantly experimenting with new mix-ins for my vanilla-ass base Creami recipe and had the epiphany that I needed to order some Nutella. I do peanut butter + banana a ton, but wanted to try Nutella + banana. Unfortunately, the Nutella just doesn’t mix super well and gets overpowered by the banana. I guess I’ll try a straight-up Nutella version, but I suspect it works better as a drizzle or topping rather than a mix-in.

🚢 Minisodes are back. I’m 135 drafts deep on Underdog, but we kicked off our first high stakes managed draft of the year on FFPC ($1800 buy-in, $1m top prize). We are recording “minisodes” for the Ship Chasing Youtube members as we progress throughout the draft. Very fun convos through 9 rounds with Pat, Davis, and Jakob…as well as a truly disastrous autopick.

📰 FL Magazine in stores now. This is the slickest looking fantasy magazine I’ve ever seen. I have a couple pieces in it on best ball strategy and Bijan Robinson. You can cop it at basically any airport/places where magazines are sold, or grab it online here.

🤓 FANTASY LIFE: Is Robust RB Viable In 2025 Drafts? Injected myself with testosterone and experimented with some RB-heavy builds.

I regularly write the Fantasy Life Newsletter. Get it in your inbox free every am:

☕️ BEST BALL BREAKFAST: The Roster Build That Is All The Rage Right Now. Also: tired Kerrane gets accused of being a stoner and Nick Ercolano jams values on the Browns and Steelers.

🎉 BEST BALL BASH + NEZ RANDOMIZER: Our First Wildcard Joins The Bash. Joey B joins the bash and brings wildcard energy, chaotic picks, and a story about trolling Daniel Jones to his face. Later, Nez joins for a very fun Randomizer draft featuring way too many Steelers.

☣️ LOLZ: Uh Oh, California Is Trying To Ban DFS. Jordan Cooper joins LOLZ to discuss parlay culture, California threatening to make DFS illegal, and the ClubWPT chip dumping scandal.

⏰ OFF & ON THE CLOCK: Using NFL Prop Lines To Find Fantasy Value. We sleuthed around the season-long prop lines in the Underdog lobby and discovered some over- and undervalued players in current best ball drafts.

🚢 SHIP CHASING: Rookie RB Targets - Targets, Fades & Exposure Blankets with Gretch. Big debates on undervalued rookies and inspections of the Dallas, San Fran, and Rams backfields.

💪 THE SWOLECAST: A Corrupt Host Hijacks Heated Swole Debates. Topics include: best sports city, hot vs. cold temps, and Jayden Reed vs. Matthew Golden.

📈 ADP CHASING: Surprise Risers, Rookie Fallers & The Elite QB Debate. An ungodly amount of time was spent on the Cowboys backfield.

The oldest man to ever stream all 150 BBM drafts, Neil Orfield, joins me for After Dark on Saturday at 8pm ET:

For After Dark shows, you can become a YT member for access or subscribe on Spotify for a private RSS feed (I post the video/audio there directly after the show).

☁️ Book #5 for June & July (50%): Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

I really find my interest gravitating to the Argos and Konstance storylines as I reach the halfway point of this book. It makes sense because I was craving sci-fi when we selected this book and it is the only storyline set in the 22nd century.

It is a truly wild time read sci-fi. We used to read about artificial intelligence like Sibyl in this story and perceive it as this truly futuristic thing. And yet now, an AI system aboard a generation starship that helps maintain the ship and provides educational resources across a seemingly infinite library of knowledge seems…fairly plausible? Nuts.

🐊 Book #4 for May (COMPLETED): Gator Country: Deception, Danger, and Alligators in the Everglades by Rebecca Renner
🍌 Book #3 for April (COMPLETED): The Fish That Ate the Whale: The Life and Times of America’s Banana King by Rich Cohen
💉 Book #2 for March (FINISHED): Empire of Pain by Patrick Radden Keefe.
🐃 Book #1 for February (FINISHED): The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry

Got a question for me? Reply to this e-mail and I’ll get back to you…