In this week's P.O. Box:

I had a three week trip to Japan planned in March of 2020.

You probably remember what happened next…The COVID-19 pandemic emerged as a global crisis and one of the biggest early outbreaks took place on a cruise ship stranded in Tokyo Bay.

We promptly cancelled our trip in late February, barely got refunded on everything, and then I coped by starting to stream non-stop and by playing League of Legends DFS.

By the time Japan finally made it easy for tourists to visit again, we had a kid. That (cruise) ship had sailed.

Losing that trip still stings and many of you have heard me lament it over the years.

I’ve long been fascinated by many facets of Japanese culture. I think it began when I first discovered Haruki Murakami and subsequently read everything he wrote. Same for my favorite Japanese artist Hiroshi Nagai.

Despite no Japan trip on the horizon, I still find myself vicariously trying to travel there.

Lauren and I devoured the Japanese reality television series Terrace House. It moves at a stunningly slow pace compared to our reality shows, but the mundane interactions become oddly captivating thanks to how non-performative it feels.

The new FX/Hulu show Shogun (that I recommended a couple weeks ago) is a legit masterpiece that has also successfully scratched that itch of late.

One of the most devastating things that I had to cancel on that trip was a reservation at Sukiyabashi Jiro—the famed restaurant featured in the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi.

That restaurant feels very out of reach right now, but on Saturday Lauren and I are going to a nice sushi place in Boston for a 20-course omakase tasting menu.

We’ve been wanting to go for ages, so we’re taking my parents up for some babysitting while they are in town.

I might be able to hack this entire Japan trip together after all. I just need to find some kind of New England sumo wrestling event.

📺 A Robust RB Draft?? I’m going to be dropping a new video on the Deposit Kingdom channel later today where I forced myself to start a draft with four straight RBs and see if I could salvage the squad. Make sure to subscribe to the channel so you don’t miss it.

🔮 Using Dwain’s Super Model To Find Rookie Sleepers. I compared the ranks from Dwain’s rookie models to current Underdog ADP and unearthed a couple of deep sleepers to put on your radar (and a few to fade).

🚢 Big Risers & Fallers Pre-NFL Draft. ADP Chasing returns with myself and Gretch subbing in for Paternity Pat. Risers discussed: Derrick Henry, CJ Stroud, Dalton Kincaid, and rookie WRs. Fallers discussed: Rashee Rice, Nico Collins, and Tank Dell.

☕ Best Ball Breakfast: Zero RB Targets & The Biggest Edge In Drafts. Snuck in a few more Big Board drafts and Ben Gretch joined me for the second.

🏆 Fantasy Life roundup. This week I wrote up a primer for this rookie RB class and investigated Bill Belichick’s big announcement.

🍾 NBA Playoff Best Ball Strategy & Drafts. With the NBA playoffs set, Erik Beimfohr joins us to discuss strategy for The Dance, Underdog's NBA playoff best ball contest with $500,000 in total prizes. I also did a double header with Erik on Spike Week if you want to check that out as well.

⏰ NHL Playoff Preview and Drafts. DJ and Moody from the Morning Skate Pod catch us up to speed on all things puck (and De Grassi).

💸 Book #6 for April (COMPLETE): The Trading Game: A Confession by Gary Stevenson

Well, I liked the beginning of the book more than Laird, but I did get increasingly frustrated with it from there.

I wanted more from him about how he become the best trader in the world. He made it seem like it was a simple, obvious thing, but I would have appreciated more detail.

He did a such good job explaining how he won the trading game that initially landed him the internship at Citibank, but then mostly described his actual job as some unimaginative, procedural thing with very little game theory.

I also questioned whether he had actually “won” at the end of the book, like he claimed. He endured a years-long battle with the bank that cost him relationships, his health, and his sanity. All so he could recuperate some money he admitted that he didn’t need? That math didn’t math for me.

I did, naturally, really enjoy his descriptions of living in Tokyo in the last third of the book.

Ultimately, I think there is an interesting story worth telling here from Stevenson (maybe a long-form podcast interview where someone can press him more on the details?), but I’m not sure it needed the full-length book treatment.

🚂 Book #7 for April (Still Haven’t Started): Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson

Going to dive into this now…

✅ Book #6 for April (COMPLETE): The Trading Game by Gary Stevenson
✅ Book #5 for March (COMPLETE): Recursion by Blake Crouch
✅ Book #4 for March (COMPLETE): The Devil in the White City by Erik Larson
✅ Book #3 for Feb. (COMPLETE): Gambler: Secrets from a Life at Risk by Billy Walters
✅ Book #2 for Feb. (COMPLETE): Chain Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
✅ Book #1 in Jan. (COMPLETE): Clear Thinking by Shane Parris

Some quick hitters…

👑 Congrats to Kendall on the promotion at Fantasy Life. She’s fully earned it.

🎙 People forget that I will always service the audio listener. And that it’s not the Swolecast. You can subscribe here.

🙏 Davis is trying to make Laird 2.0 happen. Here we go.

We got one show on tap this weekend…

Tonight on Best Ball After Dark (9pm ET) we have a long overdue chat with the defending Best Ball Mania champ, Farid Shaheed. Become a YT member to watch live (top 2 tiers).

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