If you think someone has a shitty opinion about an issue, and also that they’re not a very big deal, you don’t attack them and elevate their stature. That’s my main thought about the political events in Tennessee over the past week. State Representatives Justin Jones and Justin Pearson were relative nobodies in the grand political scheme of things when they protested the legislatures lack of action on gun violence. They were young legislators, lacking in seniority needed to pass legislation. They served in a deep minority in the Tennessee House, unable to find the votes to pass their ideas. If the GOP leadership had simply ignored them, their protest would have just come and gone. Instead the Majority in the Tennessee House made them national figures. And one is already back in less than a week.

In politics, not all actions need a reaction.

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On Saturday, my Sixers will start their NBA Eastern Conference Quarterfinal against the Brooklyn Nets. What a difference 82 games makes. If you said this would be the outcome on Opening Night, people would have been excited about the ultimate NBA grudge match between a star-studded Nets team that had former Sixer cornerstone Ben Simmons, and the Embiid/Harden Sixers. Instead the stars are gone in Brooklyn and Simmons is basically shut down because he sucks at basketball, so everyone is picking the Sixers to win.

The danger in this series for the Sixers is that the Nets have actually played better team basketball after trading away Kyrie and Durant. The Sixers still should roll these guys in five games, on paper, but the Nets aren’t playing on paper. The Sixers will go as far as Tyrese Maxey and Tobias Harris take them, as we all know Embiid is the best player on the court every night and Harden had a certifiably excellent season playing in a floor general role. If Doc Rivers can get the offense to make sense the way it did from December until mid-March, the Sixers will win an NBA title. If not, they can lose in any round. As is, I’m saying Sixers win the series in between four and six games. Oh, and Joel Embiid is the real league MVP, again.

👑 🏀🔔.

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I have one month left in my 30’s, as I write this. That’s kinda weird to write, but it’s also just like every other milestone was. Sometimes we get too caught up in self reflection, and I’ve done more of that than I wanted. So instead I’m going to highlight some of my favorite music.

I’ve made some Apple Music 🍏 🎶 lists of my favorite songs. Here are my first four:

Volume 1-

Volume 2-

Volume 3-

Volume 4-

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So this happened in last night’s Philadelphia Mayoral debate:

I was watching the Philadelphia Mayoral Debate and umm yikes pic.twitter.com/kZqZfjeyoZ

— Acyn (@Acyn) April 12, 2023

Jeff Brown will correctly take a beating for this answer, but for the wrong reasons. On paper, the substance of the issue is simple- Philadelphia *will* send trash somewhere (no matter how conservationist the Mayor is), typically to a site or town that *gets paid* to take it (this is tricky, but there’s always some form of reward for someone), and it’s the mayor’s job to figure out the best deal for it. It happens to Chester in this case, a poor and mostly Black nearby city, and there is racism and classism all over the issue. On substance though, Brown is not wrong- it will go somewhere and he’s asking to represent the Philadelphia people.

The problem with his answer though is it gives us a view into his world view, AND it shows us how little thought he has put into one of his cornerstone issues. Brown talks about trash collection all the time but his only plan is to put the dumping site contract(s) out to bid. Really? It’s an empty suit answer. More importantly, it shows a truly corporate mentality in his thinking about services. He speaks about the issue as though his only obligation is to his “client,” Philadelphia residents, and not at all to people that literally live a couple of minutes away in a neighboring town. Are those not people? Clearly he doesn’t view them as “paying customers,” or his concern. City residents should wonder if he really views all of them as “paying customers” either, when it comes to them vs. the developers, or on policing reforms, the environment, or a whole host of other issues. Generally a completely corporate view of the world doesn’t end at one issue. Many will condemn his answer on a fairness level, and say he’s racist. I’ll simply say the answer suggests he’s unserious and inhumane.

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I just want to put a pin in the issue of college sports realigning. Here is the current college football alignment at the Division 1 level. This is the most fascinating non-important issue in the country to me. The SEC and Big Ten are set to continue to be fine, with the SEC being loaded with elite programs and the Big Ten set to become a coast-to-coast conference. The Big 12 list it’s two “blue bloods” to the SEC, but recovered nicely to add a couple of East Coast programs and now seems primed to move west in it’s additions, going national. The PAC 12 seems immediately doomed to me. Why would Oregon or Washington not bolt to the Big Ten if in fact the next PAC 12 TV deal pays out less than half the Big Ten deal? Why would Colorado, Utah, and the Arizonas not bolt for a bigger pay day in the Big 12? If those six leave, Stanford isn’t hanging around if it doesnt have to. Maybe Cal does, but I wouldn’t bet my life on it. So basically I’m saying Oregon State and Washington State are going somewhere new. That leaves the ACC, which I think is on pace for a slower death right now. Georgia Tech must look really good to the Big Ten and Big 12. Everyone wants Clemson. Florida State and Miami are attractive adds. Who wouldn’t want Duke and UNC? Virginia Tech will get calls. If the ACC can finally bring in Notre Dame, it will survive as is, and flourish. If not, my guess is it survives without some of it’s key members, and adds some AAC type teams. It could just die though.

Speculating is fun.

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The Phillies are 4-7 at this juncture, basically because they forgot to show up the first weekend. Honestly, it’s April. I have a hard time getting worked up, however the injury situation is a little concerning. If they get a win today, this was a pretty good home stand.

Around the league the hot teams out the shoot are the Rays and Brewers. Neither of them is illegitimate, so we’ll see if they hold up.

I thought I’d hate the pitch clock, and thought I’d love getting rid of the shift. Turns out I like both. I love that the shift bans has negated the the spreadsheet nerds a bit. Honestly, I like the faster games though. So far, so good.

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Let me close by going on the record in the first of these- Donald Trump will win the GOP nomination for President, and he won’t fall below 45.5% in the general election. Book it.

👋🐣🔔