An Old Feeling

In this week's P.O. Box:

I used to get a pit in my stomach before every improv show. I also remember getting one before every cross country race in high school.

Not all pits are the same, though. They exist on a sliding scale of nervousness to excitement.

As I did more and more improv, the pits transitioned from pure nervousness to more of a mix of excitement and nerves. I went from dreading them to looking forward to them. They almost felt like a drug—a natural high I wanted to keep chasing.

Anyways, I hadn’t experienced one in a long time…until Wednesday.

I mentioned last week that I was launching my new show, Best Ball Bash, where I’d draft with a random member from the chat.

I thought it was a really good show concept, but I really had no idea how it would go.

What if no one shows up? What if the guest has mic issues and it turns into a tech support call? What if the individual is unhinged and gets me cancelled?

These were the thoughts racing around in my head in the lead up to the show. And for a brief few moments, I got to experience the thrill of that pit in my stomach once again.

Of course, everything went smoothly. Neil Farley was the perfect first guest and we drafted a really strong team.

But who knows what’s next? Maybe someone who will make me more nervous going forward lol.

👑 DEPOSIT KINGDOM: An impossible draft mission leads to a disgusting pick. My producer Buck gave me an insane challenge to execute in a Best Ball Mania VI draft on Underdog. It put me in a total blender...

🤓 FANTASY LIFE: The Case For 3-QB & 3-TE Builds. Outlined my optimal draft strategy for upcoming drafts.

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

🎉 BEST BALL BASH + RANDOMIZER: A data whiz & Ian Hartitz walk into a draft room. Very fun debut of the new show.

☣️ LOLZ: The A.I. Sports Betting Debate Heats Up. We discuss the ETR vs. Gambly/Taeks battle, the future of a.i. in sports betting, and the bizarre Tom Dwan story.

🚢 SHIP CHASING: 12 Players Who Will Rise In ADP Over The Summer. We grabbed our ADP crystal balls before hopping in a draft.

⏰ OFF & ON THE CLOCK: 3 Enforcers Protect The BBMVI Streets. We hop in a BBM draft to make sure there aren't any shenanigans going down.

💪 THE SWOLECAST: Life Hacks For Lapping The Fatties. Sleeping in the nude, field day, and Mattek’s employment crisis.

📈 ADP CHASING: Risers/Fallers, Round 4 WR Debates & Bowers Hype. Travis Hunter or Jameson Williams, who ya got?

🥃 DFS AFTER DARK: New Best Ball Data Findings. Dan Falkenheim (SI, Best Ball Data Bowl) joins me to discuss best ball trends, his data research, and how he's attacking drafts this year.

Best Ball After Dark returns Saturday (8:00pm et) with Neumy from Underdog.

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 (Haven’t Started): Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr

I’ve been craving a sci-fi selection and CCL looks awesome. It’s long, so it will probably take me two months to get through at my current reading rate, although maybe some beach time can help speed things up.

Here’s the description:

How do we weather the end of things? Cloud Cuckoo Land brings together an unforgettable cast of dreamers and outsiders from past, present and future to offer a vision of survival against all odds.

Constantinople, 1453: An orphaned seamstress and a cursed boy with a love for animals risk everything on opposite sides of a city wall to protect the people they love.

Idaho, 2020: An impoverished, idealistic kid seeks revenge on a world that’s crumbling around him. Can he go through with it when a gentle old man stands between him and his plans?

Unknown, Sometime in the Future: With her tiny community in peril, Konstance is the last hope for the human race. To find a way forward, she must look to the oldest stories of all for guidance.

Bound together by a single ancient text, these tales interweave to form a tapestry of solace and resilience and a celebration of storytelling itself. Like its predecessor All the Light We Cannot See, Anthony Doerr’s new novel is a tale of hope and of profound human connection.

🐊 Book #4 for May (COMPLETED): Gator Country: Deception, Danger, and Alligators in the Everglades by Rebecca Renner

I’m glad I read this book. The atmospherics and Jeff Babauta story were well worth the price of the admission, but the other half of the book about Peg Brown and the history of poaching in the Everglades mostly falls short. The ping-ponging back and forth really killed the moment of the undercover story, which was by far the most compelling angle here. She also makes a ton of excuses for the poachers throughout the story, which kind of brushes up against the entire premise of the book.

🍌 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…