In this week's P.O. Box:
Let’s go streaking
Stream roundup: Stefon Diggs bombshell
Offszn Book Club: Diving into The Trading Game
On my radar: Shogun rules
On tap: Best Ball After Dark w/ Sam Hoppen
I recently realized that I am a sucker for “streaks.”
When I pop in my Kindle, I get some positive re-enforcement with my reading goals:
When I log into Beehiv, I’m reminded that there’s no way I can let a 58-week streak of weekly newsletters come to an end:
And when I pull up my Headspace app, I feel shame that my previous meditation streak ended on Easter:
Streaks are obviously arbitrary things that shouldn’t actually carry much weight, but I’ve found them to be surprisingly effective as a motivator. Like a prop bet or a negative freeroll or public accountability, streaks are another lever to pull to help stay consistent when trying to build up a habit.
This piece by Katie Heaney in New York Mag fully unpacks why breaking a streak feels awful. She spoke with a professor named Wendy Wood who described the exact psychology at play:
We have this emotional reaction to losing something we’ve created, and that’s what keeps us going with streaks. Simple ownership makes us like something more, and we own our streaks. Streaks are hard won. They’re something we value.
The dark side of enjoying streaks, though, is the temptation to quit altogether once its broken. Heaney says this is a byproduct of the endowment effect at play.
It’s certainly a lot easier to punt starting another streak when it was recently broken. For instance, I elected to listen to a Shogun recap podcast today instead of meditating (worth it, tbh).
But tracking streaks is mainly just for fun—a very small piece of the habit-building puzzle.
I’ve recently been prodding the folks at Underdog (both Neumy and Hope in the DMs and to Josh Norris on our Best Ball After Dark show last week) to add drafting streaks to our Underdog profiles.
Imagine how quick the badge bros would be to flex that they’ve drafted some ungodly 647 days in a row.
On a similar note, Mookie recently reminded me in the Deposit Kingdom Discord that my Youtube membership badges stopped at 2-years:
It had completely slipped by me that it’s been over three years since I launched those, so it was indeed time to refresh them for the OGs. We now have a special “3-year gold badge” for the streak chasers:
What streaks do you have going right now?
📺 The best contest on Underdog (Zero RB team review). Gave a pick-by-pick recap of a recent Zero RB team I drafted in The Biggest Board—a $100 3-max contest on Underdog with a great structure.
🔮 Dream Landing Spots For Rookie RBs. We did the WR video last week and got some requests for a RB version, so I wrote them up for Fantasy Life. Check it out:
☣ ShipMyMoneyDFS On His New DFS Gig & Favorite Tools. Adam Scherer joins LOLz to discuss going solo in the DFS/sports betting space, why he left Stokastic, the current state of DFS games, which tools he uses, and the best DFS players right now.
🚢 Shawn Siegele’s Favorite 2024 Rookies. Rotoviz's Shawn Siegele drops 90-minutes of hot takes on his favorite 2024 rookie prospects.
☕ Best Ball Breakfast: 2 Big Board Drafts. Still chasing $200,000 in these contests and Pat Kerrane joins for the second draft. Topics discussed: handcuffing the Dolphins backfield, the curious case of Nick Chubb's ADP, and late-round rookie WRs with upside.
🏆 Fantasy Life roundup. Wrote about Zeke potentially reuniting with the Cowboys and the bombshell Stefon Diggs trade.
⏰ Stefon Diggs Trade Reactions & A Big Board Draft. The crew react to the big trade and share all of their ADP predictions from the fallout. Then, they hop in a Big Board draft where they try (and fail) to stack up Josh Allen.
💸 Book #6 for April (10%): The Trading Game: A Confession by Gary Stevenson
I’m enjoying Stevenson’s no bullshit writing style and underdog story. Funny that like Billy Walters he also earned his hustling stripes by delivering newspapers.
The titular “trading game” that earned him his internship at CitiGroup was a captivating way to kick things off. I loved how he leaned into optimal play at the opening of the tournament when playing against poor opponents before shifting to an exploitative strategy that involved bluffing when he faced tougher opponents in the final. I could easily picture these scenes receiving the Sorkin/Fincher treatment.
I also had to bookmark this quote:
This is another general rule of trading: you don’t necessarily make money by being right, but by being right when others are wrong.
This theme keeps coming up over and over. In the Shane Parris book. When we talk about contrarian strategies for DFS and best ball. It’s the entire thesis of Taleb’s Antifragile. It holds true in so many different arenas.
🚂 Book #7 for April (Haven’t Started): Everyone on This Train Is a Suspect by Benjamin Stevenson
✅ Book #5 for March (COMPLETE): Recursion by Blake Crouch
✅ Book #4 for March (COMPLETE): The Devil in the White City: Murder, Magic, and Madness at the Fair That Changed America by Erik Larson
✅ Book #3 for February (COMPLETE): Gambler Secrets from a Life at Risk by Billy Walters
✅ Book #2 for February (COMPLETE): Chain Gang All-Stars by Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah
✅ Book #1 (COMPLETE): Clear Thinking: Turning Ordinary Moments into Extraordinary Results by Shane Parris
I’m finally caught up on Shogun, FX’s new period-drama action series that many have comp’d to Game of Thrones.
The initial trailer made it seem like it would just be a bloody Samurai show set in 17th-century Japan, but it’s so much more than that.
There’s certainly plenty of gruesome violence (some of these cats almost seem to get too excited about the idea of Seppuku), but I’ve been surprised with how much the characters have come to life alongside the violence, political drama and exploration of Japanese culture.
The first episode was a little dizzying, but the table setting in the second episode fully hooked me. The plot and action move along at a brisk pace so the heavy dose of subtitles never feel like a chore.
Highly recommend.
I’ve also been enjoying the episode recaps on The Prestige podcast (a great meditation substitute!) if you want some additional context and commentary.
We got one show on tap this weekend for YouTube Members:
🥃 Best Ball After Dark: Interview w/ Sam Hoppen
Sam Hoppen from FantasyPros joins me for a Friday edition of Best Ball After Dark to talk fantasy analytics, the upcoming draft, his recent trip to Mexico, and his humble origins as the host of Stat Chasing. We’ll wrap up before Caitlin Clark tips off. Become a YT member to watch live (top 2 tiers).
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