The Yang Slinger: Vol. XCVII

BYU has reportedly forked over $7 million for a kid to play a few months of basketball—then drop out. How about we, the media, start covering shit with some cynicism? Please.

I am confused, and this week I’m going to use the space at hand to express said confusion.

First, I am confused that A.J. Dybantsa, a 6-foot-9 high schooler, will be attending Brigham Young University next year on a basketball scholarship that includes a (rumored) $7 million NIL payout.

But, to be honest, that’s the smallest part of my confusion.

The biggest? The media’s response to A.J. Dybantsa, a 6-foot-9 high schooler, attending Brigham Young University next year on a basketball scholarship that includes a (rumored) $7 million NIL payout.

Or, in a way, the non-response.

The milquetoast of it all.

Once upon a time, not all that long ago, we reporters were a cynical lot. It came with the turf, if you think about it. Being a reporter (in the literal sense) requires reporting, and reporting requires a skeptical reaction to how much of the world works. What I mean is, when Gaylord Perry’s baseballs were dancing left and right and up and down without reason, it was our job to ask—repeatedly—whether he was doctoring the surface with goop. When Lance Armstrong was winning an endless string of bicycle races, it was our job to find out if he was clean. When Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor was showing up to games red-eyed and late, it was our job to determine where he’d been, what he’d been drinking, what he’d been snorting. When Donald Trump says his favorite book is the Bible, then refuses to cite a single passage … well, you get the idea.

We do not exist, as an industry, to merely regurgitate talking points. We certainly do not exist, as an industry, to celebrate what we are instructed to celebrate. No. We dig, we probe, we report, we opine.

That’s what we do.

Or, eh, did.

Put different—in the couple of days since news broke that Dybantsa would be taking his talents to BYU, I have been both dismayed and horrified by the coverage.

Mostly, I’ve been journalistically disappointed.

The young man initially announced his decision on ESPN’s First Take, and the sycophancy that ensued made my nose frost. Here was Stephen A. Smith. Here was Shannon Sharpe. Two men who know sports. Who have been around. Who understand tough questions. Who certainly wouldn’t kneel before a kid born the week Beyonce’s “Irreplaceable” topped the charts.

And you have this kid, on your set, before you. With his father. You can ask absolutely anything you want. A-n-y-t-h-i-n-g you want. And …

… not a single question about the money?

Not one?

Like, not one?

A single one?

Zero?

In the Salt Lake Tribune, the daily newspaper most responsible for chronicling BYU athletics, Kevin Reynolds—the beat guy—presented the universe with, WHY NO. 1 RECRUIT AJ DYBANTSA PICKED BYU OVER BASKETBALL POWERHOUSES KANSAS AND NORTH CAROLINA. And, to be clear, this is no effort to slam Reynolds. First, he’s a fine writer. Second, being a beat guy is hard. Third, we live in a confounding landscape. But … um … eh … what are we doing here?

Wrote Reynolds …

AJ Dybantsa went on First Take to announce his college destination to the world.

And then the No. 1 high school basketball prospect delivered a first for BYU.

Dybantsa will come to Provo to play for the Cougars next year. He is the highest-rated recruit in program history and the potential No. 1 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. Dybantsa chose BYU over Alabama, North Carolina and Kansas.

His commitment instantly becomes one of the most impactful moments in BYU athletics history.

“A national championship,” Dybantsa said of what he thinks BYU’s ceiling is now. “With the team we got coming in, I think it’s possible. So that is the main goal.”

BYU has heavily pursued the Boston native since head coach Kevin Young came to Provo.

Young, touting his NBA credentials, promised to make BYU a destination for future pros. In discussions with the Dybantsa family, which spanned all the way back to a clandestine meeting in Provo last April, Young emphasized his existing relationships with NBA stars like Devin Booker and Kevin Durant.

His pitch: If he could lead the game’s future Hall of Famers, he could be trusted with the best prospect in the nation.

“For me, it’s just like, ‘What do we have to offer that people will be interested in?’” Young said two weeks ago while speaking about his experience as a coach. “So one of the things that I think is unique with us is the stuff we are talking to recruits about, it is not hypothetical. I’ve done it at the NBA level. Where these guys are trying to get to, I’ve been there. I’ve lived that life. I’ve brought a lot of people on staff who have also lived that life.”

In June, Ace Dybantsa, AJ’s father, said he found Young’s professional Rolodex impressive. Ace and his wife, Chelsea, met privately with Young before AJ first saw the campus. Ace Dybantsa seemed intrigued Young could get on FaceTime with Booker and other stars. AJ Dybantsa was equally drawn to Young’s CV.

BYU has heavily pursued the Boston native since head coach Kevin Young came to Provo.

Young, touting his NBA credentials, promised to make BYU a destination for future pros. In discussions with the Dybantsa family, which spanned all the way back to a clandestine meeting in Provo last April, Young emphasized his existing relationships with NBA stars like Devin Booker and Kevin Durant.

His pitch: If he could lead the game’s future Hall of Famers, he could be trusted with the best prospect in the nation.

“For me, it’s just like, ‘What do we have to offer that people will be interested in?’” Young said two weeks ago while speaking about his experience as a coach. “So one of the things that I think is unique with us is the stuff we are talking to recruits about, it is not hypothetical. I’ve done it at the NBA level. Where these guys are trying to get to, I’ve been there. I’ve lived that life. I’ve brought a lot of people on staff who have also lived that life.”

In June, Ace Dybantsa, AJ’s father, said he found Young’s professional Rolodex impressive. Ace and his wife, Chelsea, met privately with Young before AJ first saw the campus. Ace Dybantsa seemed intrigued Young could get on FaceTime with Booker and other stars. AJ Dybantsa was equally drawn to Young’s CV.

“I mean, yeah,” AJ Dybantsa told The Tribune. “That’s why [BYU] made the list. I feel like all [of the] schools have some similarities, some differences. But all of them made the list for a reason.

“All the schools have NBA guys. So I know they are capable of surpassing [college] and go to the NBA from there.”

Young’s recruiting pitches tend to be all-encompassing. That includes touting a staff of mostly professional coaches. For example, assistant Will Voigt was the head coach of teams in the German Bundesliga, the NBA’s G League and programs in Norway and Egypt. Tim Fanning worked at Overtime Elite with the best NBA prospects and was the head coach with teams in New Zealand.

Young’s pitch was then given validation this year when he landed two potential NBA lottery picks. Egor Demin, a 6-foot-9 guard from Moscow, Russia, came to BYU for the 2024 season. Kanon Catchings, another 6-foot-9 marksman, decommitted from Purdue to come to Young’s system.

“We talk about a strength and conditioning program, it is not hypothetical. We talk about a nutrition plan for somebody to grow their body, it is not hypothetical,” Young said. “Player development, on the court, we got multiple guys who have been G-League head coaches.”

Another underrated aspect of Young’s professional staff was its extensive connections to agents. With NIL contracts at a premium, most top college recruits have professional agents now. So even though Young’s staff may have lacked traditional college recruiting experience, they could lean on their NBA agent network to secure visits and audiences with the top players.

“I’ve always felt there’s, for whatever reason, been a weird divide between pro and college on the basketball side,” Voigt told The Tribune last summer. “In today’s day and age, actually having that pro experience, and that G League and international experience, helps. You’re creating culture. You’re creating a system with lots of roster turnover. You’re building a roster year to year, the relationships you develop. That’s kind of where college basketball is right now.”

And … what the fuck? What. The. Actual Fuck. A.J. Dybantsa is most certainly not coming to BYU primarily because he likes the coaching staff. He’s most certainly not coming to BYU primarily because the uniforms are dope. No. He’s coming to BYU—in no small part—because he’s being handled (a rumored) $7 million dollars in a briefcase. That’s not reason No. 2, 3, 4, 5 or 6. It’s reason No. 1. No cash, no Dybantsa. Period.

And, as reporters, our job (collectively) is to shovel through the manure. Like, somewhere out there exists a person with loose lips and a large ego itching to dish on BYU, Dybantsa and the search for big loot. And what we do is find him. Track him down. With call after call after call after call after call. With, “Can I ask you a question off the record?” With, “Do you know someone I should talk to?” We don’t merely settle for the HOLY SHIT! CAN YOU BELIEVE THIS! narrative. We put in the work. We dig up his high school basketball roster …

… then call the parents of all the players to see what they know.

We dig up his previous year’s basketball roster …

… then call all the parents of those players, too. to see what they might know.

Call.

After call.

After call.

Provo’s newspaper, the Daily Herald, followed the exact same game plan as the Salt Lake Tribune. Darnell Dickson, a sports writer, penned an article headlined NO. 1 HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL PLAYER, A.J. DYBANTSA, CHOOSES BYU. And the breathless 1,142 words that follow cite NIL money nary a single time. Not once. It is not merely befuddling, but sorta inexcusable.

The Salt Lake Tribune also enlisted the excellent Andy Larsen to pen a column on Dybantsa’s arrival. Which—in a normal universe—would be wonderful. Because there are so many questions one might ask of BYU, of the basketball staff, of society. But, eh, Larsen devoted his space to asking: HOW GOOD IS A.J. DYBANTSA? And … I guess that’s fine in a normal circumstance. Like, let’s say the Angels sign a little-known setup man. Or the Colts need to start a third-strong quarterback you’ve never heard of. But here … in this weird moment, the sports editor of the newspaper needs to gather together his (certainly dwindling and underpaid) sports staff and say, “We’re going after this shit—hard.”

What does “We’re going after this shit—hard” mean?

Well …

First, it means acknowledging all the weird things going on here. In no particular order:

• A bunch of grown-ass White Mormons have decided to collect (a rumored) $7 million to convince a 17-year-old Black Brockton, Mass. native now attending his third high school in four years to enroll in Brigham Young—a university founded by (the blatantly racist) Brigham Young and sponsored by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (of which Dybantsa is not a member), which, until 1978, barred Blacks “from participating in the ordinances of its temples necessary for the highest level of salvation” (nod to Wikipedia on that one).

Are we not entertained?

That is some wild stuff to digest. Like, who are these people forking over the dough? Why are they doing so? Like, why would you give $7 million to a basketball player (who, again, will be there five months and never graduate) over, oh, the university’s academic departments? And where does the money come from? Specifically? What outfits? What people? And what strings are attached? Access? Perks? What are the donors looking for in return? And what would Russell M. Nelson think about it all?

• What does it say about college athletics and, in particular, BYU athletics? I ask this in all seriousness: If a freshman is paid $7 million to come to your college, and he takes all of his classes online (as many modern-day celebrity athletes do) and he has no plan of graduating, and he is rarely/never seen on campus—is he a student-athlete? Does that term even apply? And are college sports even college sports any longer?

What I mean is, back in the dark ages, the players were part of the student body. You’re a kid at North Carolina, Vince Carter is on the dining hall line, too. You’re an undergrad at Georgia, Eric Zeier is chugging beers at the adjacent keg. When I attended Delaware, the Blue Hens reached two NCAA Tournaments. I knew all those guys—not merely by writing sports for the student newspaper, but by … existing in a campus setting. We all studied for finals, walked the paths that crisscrossed the university. They were us, and when they won … we won.

What will A.J. Dybantsa have in common with BYU’s 32,000 fellow undergrads? Answer: Besides wearing a uniform that reads BYU, nothing.

Absolutely nothing.

So what does it all matter?

• The faculty members have to be incensed. Have to be. You’re a BYU department head You’ve been there, oh, six, seven years. You love the school, love the mission, love the morality. But your program also needs some dough. More resources for this and that. Computers. Books. Whatnot. Regrettably, the university hasn’t been able to get it to. So you slog through, do your best …

And now a kid who (again, because it’s important) will never graduate is getting $7 million and the royal treatment? What the actual fuckty fuck?

• What does this say about BYU’s commitment to its own ethics?

You’ve probably read about this, but the school has an honor code:

Which leads to some great questions, among them … will the basketball team kick Dybantsa off the roster if he’s caught getting laid? Will he be gone if he drinks a beer? Vapes? What if he doesn’t participate in church services? What if he doesn’t believe in God? Curses during games? What if he’s pulled over for a traffic stop?

Does any of this matter? Does the Honor Code matter?

Another BYU code states students must “Not be involved with gambling.” But what is college basketball in 2024 if not a hotbed for gambling? Does that bother C. Shane Reese, the university’s Mormon president? Does any of this shit bother Reese? Or are honor codes and morals and a commitment to learning mere bluster?

That’s the thing about meh journalism v. great journalism. Meh journalism takes a surface-level narrative and remains on the surface. Great journalism asks, “Wait, I know there’s a surface-level story here. But what’s beneath it? What will be there if I probe? Dig? Examine?

“What am I missing?”

I do not make a habit out of calling out student journalists on this substack. I was once young and dumb. It’s a time for learning, not perfection.

But …

The staff of the BYU Daily Universe also missed a major opportunity here. Dybantsa’s arrival is a golden egg of a story, and while this piece was … fine, I think back to my time at the Delaware Review and salivate at all the ways we’d carve this shit up. That’s the beauty of campus media—you’re young and dumb and eager. In olden times, we’d have reporters trying to track the money trail. We’d have reporters reaching out to Dybantsa’s former teammates and coaches. We’d have a piece on the athletic director, wondering what this move represents. And, with 100-percent certainty, we’d have columnists asking whether a $7 million student is actually student?

We’d want to fully comprehend the madness, and what it means to a university.

We’d want to know it all.¹

The Quaz Five with … Zach Fogel

Zach Fogel is a former Claremont McKenna College quarterback now trying to make it as an actor/singer in New York City. You can visit his website here, and check out his music here.

1. Zach—you're an Orange County kid who moved to New York City to chase the dream of acting/performing. Curious—why New York, and not an hour up the road in LA?: When I was deciding what college I would attend, I had narrowed it down to nine options. Eight of them were in states along the east coast. The ninth was in Claremont, Cal. I love southern California. I was born and raised there, and the choice to stay there for college wasn’t a terribly difficult one. But I’ve known for a while now that I want to make a career in performing, and given that the bulk of my performing experience has come from plays and musicals, I figured Broadway would be the best way for me to break into the entertainment world at the highest level. I’ve also had a passion for singing and musical theater since I was 6-years old. With those factors in mind, moving to the Concrete Jungle was a no-brainer for me. I would love to return to California one day if that’s the direction my career takes me, but the best place for me at the moment is the stage, and the best stages are in New York.

2. You're a year out of Claremont McKenna, where you played football and acted and sang. So ... what has the career pursuit been like? We hear endless stories of the actor struggle. Do your experiences meet the struggle cliches?: The cliche of a “struggling actor” is one I ponder quite frequently. Am I struggling? I don’t feel like I am. I haven’t debuted on Broadway yet, but I’ve had some incredible opportunities and experiences that have been formative and enjoyable uses of my time. I’ve been in Broadway final callbacks, booked a Broadway national tour, performed in cabarets with some very talented young artists, and connected with so many new friends and mentors in my industry. I’m not yet able to make my living as a performer, but I’m taking meaningful steps to get there. So, am I currently living the dream? I’d say not yet. But I wouldn’t call my journey a struggle. In fact, I’d say the vast majority of my actor friends would echo that statement. To me, the phrase “struggling actor” has always felt like a meaningless buzzword used to convince young people that they shouldn’t pursue a career in the arts. In what way are young actors struggling that other young Americans aren’t? We make less money now than we will later in our careers, our job market is becoming increasingly unstable, and for now, where we live is dependent on where we can get paid to work. Those seem like pretty universal issues for Americans in their early-mid 20s. Sure, as actors most of us are not making JP Morgan Associate money, but neither are most young adults in this country. And as a graduate of a college that specializes in finance, I happen to know and love plenty of JP Morgan Associates. I don’t envy a single one of them. What they do wouldn’t make me happy, and that is what I would’ve really considered a struggle.

3. During your college days you kicked up a solo career as a singer/songwriter, where you stream under the name Zach Hayden. Two things: A. Do you feel like all the streaming opportunities make it easier to catch a wave (so many platforms!) or harder (1 million people fighting for attention)? B. Why Hayden?: It used to be nearly impossible to get your music heard on a wide scale because you basically needed to have a record deal. Now it’s easy to get music out there, but it’s nearly impossible for yours to be heard. In either scenario, luck plays a huge part in getting your music to land in the right ears, whether it’s getting discovered by a label or getting caught in the algorithms that our apps use. I know less about the pre-streaming era because I wasn’t putting out music yet, but I’d say the defining separator between independent artists who are and aren’t experiencing significant growth is consistency. Algorithms favor consistency, both on streaming services and social media. In order to succeed in the streaming era, you must push out music and posts like it’s a crime not to. Personally, I would prefer to not just release songs and posts for the sake of growing my presence in the algorithm. I’ve realized that these are not conducive to blowing up as a recording artist, and for now I’m fine with that. I’ve always just aimed at putting out stuff that I like and that my friends like. If I get lucky and the “right ears” just so happen to see potential in my music at some point, I’d be happy to incorporate it more into my career. For now, I make it because I enjoy making it, and I promote it because I enjoy when the people I care about enjoy listening to it. B.) Hayden is my middle name. When I started making music, I wanted to separate my recording artist identity and my real life identity. At the time, I had not yet decided that I’d be pursuing a career in acting and that I’d be using my first and last name as my acting name. I’ve never told anyone this, but had I known that, I may have just used my first and last name as my recording artist name. Zach Hayden has a better ring to it than Zach Fogel anyway.

4. There's a cool video on your Instagram feed of you singing "Something's Coming" from West Side Story. I'm curious—do you need to be familiar with West Side Story to channel the song properly, or is it just a matter of words/lyrics/tune? How does that work?: I believe there is not a song on earth that can’t be better performed by having a deeper understanding of why the song is being sung. This is true of every song in every genre, not just musical theater. In theater specifically, though, understanding the lyrics is imperative to creating an emotional connection with a live audience, which is ultimately the point of performing. This can mean more than one thing, though. If a person is playing the role of Tony in West Side Story, he needs to know exactly what Tony is thinking and feeling in that moment as it pertains directly to the events occurring in the show. Those thoughts and feelings are what must come through in his performance of a song like “Something’s Coming.” However, if the song is being performed in a cabaret style or an audition, it is not necessarily true that the singer must understand and perform the lyrics just as he would if he were playing the role of Tony on stage. In this scenario, the singer must only know why they themselves are singing the lyrics. This song may mean something completely different to the singer than what it means to Tony. As long as that meaning comes through in their performance and strikes an emotional bond with the audience, they’ve succeeded as a performer. In the case of my performance that you referenced, I certainly was not singing about Tony meeting Maria for the first time. “Something’s Coming” is a song I can relate to more than most others in this phase of my life. I really do believe that good things are coming my way if I continue to work hard and be patient. “Something’s coming. I don’t know what it is, but it is gonna be great.”

5. While at Claremont McKenna you were part of the acapella group, The After School Specials. Serious Q: What did the Pitch Perfect films do for/against acapella? What do people not understand?: I love the Pitch Perfect films and I think they did great things for the world of college acapella and the art form at large. The popularity it brought to such a unique genre of music definitely gave people a new appreciation for how impressive and cool it is. The films definitely included a few hyperbolic elements for entertainment value that give people misconceptions (no, it is not common for groups to be able to make up full arrangements of songs instantaneously in a rap battle esq competition), but they have, without a doubt, made a net positive impact. When my group competed in the International Competition of Collegiate Acapella (ICCAs), it was very easy to explain to people what we were doing by simply saying, “You know the competition at the end of Pitch Perfect? That.”

BONUS (Rank in order—favorite to least): Tony Danza, Tarius Hamlin, "Little Shop of Horrors," Arte Moreno, C.J. McCollum, New York City pizza, Orange County pizza, Kash Patel, your right elbow, sand dunes, Anaheim Ducks uniforms: 1. New York pizza 2. Tarius Hamlin (he’s like 280 and can dunk) 3. My right elbow 4. Little Shop of Horrors (shoutout Andrew Barth Feldman and Ellenore Scott) 5. Ducks uniforms (specifically the 1994 throwbacks) 6. Tony Danza 7. Orange Count pizza (shoutout Pepz) 8. C.J. McCollum 9. Sand dunes (shoutout Timmy Chalamet) 10. Biting into a rotten apple 11. The other two guys.

A random old article worth revisiting …

On Aug. 30, 1976, the Vancouver (Washington) Columbian reported on the expansion Seattle Seahawks’ first-ever triumph, a 17-16 pre-season win over the Chargers. Tommy Protho, San Diego’s coach, was pissed.

The Madness of Tyler Kepner’s Grid …

So unless you’ve been living beneath a pebble beneath a rock beneath a big hunk of cheese, you’re aware of Immaculate Grid, the daily game that’s drawn thousands of nerdy sports fans (guilty!) to its ranks. And while the NBA grid, NFL grid, NHL grid and WNBA grid are all fun, this game is at its best when it comes to baseball—where the names are endless and the transactions ceaseless. No one owns the medium like Tyler Kepner, the Athletic’s fantastic baseball writer.

Here’s a breakdown of one of his recent efforts …

Tyler thoughts:

• I covered Andrew Lorraine at the end of the 1999 season with Seattle. He played for all the west coast American League teams, and the Chicago-area teams. (And Cleveland).

• Tayler Scott, now of the Astros, is a modern go-to guy for me. Reliever who has played all over.

• Marshall Brant is a guy I read about in a good book about the 1981 Columbus Clippers, who were an overpowering Yankees triple-A team.

• Joe DeSa. What a name. Remember him from that picture, which was on his 1986 Topps card.

• Rich DeLucia is a well-traveled reliever I covered with the Angels. Somehow doesn’t have the best mustache on this Grid, thanks to Joe De Sa.

• Jerry Mumphrey was a good outfielder for several teams. Could have found a rarer guy here but I don’t think I’d ever used him.

• Jimmy Rollins is the Phillies’ all-time hits leader and finished his career with the White Sox

• Gary Matthews just nudged over the 2,000-hit line in a career that ended with the Mariners, which I remember thanks to 1988 Topps.

• Tony Fernandez was a reliable hit-maker for several teams, mostly Toronto. Broke his arm in 1996 spring training with the Yankees.

This week’s college writer you should know about …

Will Capuano, University of Delaware

So I’m a month late to this, but Capuano’s piece in The Review, headlined SERVICE, is one of the best bits of college journalism I’ve seen in some time. A 26-year-old military veteran, Capuano writes about a recent visit to the VA hospital …

I don’t wanna give away the rest—but it’s outstanding.

One can read more of Capuano’s work here.

My TikTok offering of the week …

So I left Twitter, joined TikTok—and am loving, loving, loving the storytelling modus. It’s fun and light and free of the Twitter hate. You can follow me here, and every week (at least until the medium is banned in America) I’m gonna post one of my videos. Just, because, hey—a guy needs to eat.

@jeffpearlmanauthorThe NFL quarterback with a Cajun accent so thick he needed his center to translate for him #bobbyhebert #nfl #dougwilliams #football #neworleanssaints #philadelphiastars #usfl #writersoftiktok

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Journalism musings for the week …

Musing 1: One of the things I dig about the Internet is it can freeze time and allow one to step into the past. Such is the case with one of my favorite websites from a decade back, Kathleen Tonski’s Sittin On A Porch. Take a gander—it was nothing fancy. Really, just a woman and her beautiful observations as life moved forward and she dealt with a terminal diagnosis.

Well, 10 years ago this week Kathleen (who I interviewed here on my old website) died of lung cancer, and the announcement, written by a friend named Mary Moon, still gets me.

Wrote Mary: “May we all hold each other in mourning and in celebration. Kathleen's essence is now free and part of this universe. Of course you can't hold and kiss and dance and laugh with essence the way you can with a living person but if anyone could figure that out, it would be Kathleen. She never wanted to call what she did ‘battling.’ She was not about war. She was about love. And I think she loved her life enough to keep on living which is probably why she stayed so long after her diagnosis. Did so much. Loved so much. Lived so much. She was peace, she was love, she was dancing on the Solstice. I'm pretty sure she still is. And she would want me to say that she loved her life, that she was happy, that she was incredibly lucky. And we are the lucky ones who knew her- that brilliant, amazing, wickedly funny, busy, wonderful, beautiful, beautiful woman.”

Musing 2: Jesus Christ, what an absolutely depressing piece from the New York Times’ Katie Robertson on Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, owner of the Los Angeles Times and yet another wealthy tycoon who cares little about journalist integrity. Writes Robertson: “After President-elect Donald J. Trump announced a cascade of cabinet picks last month, the editorial board of The Los Angeles Times decided it would weigh in. One writer prepared an editorial arguing that the Senate should follow its traditional process for confirming nominees, particularly given the board’s concerns about some of his picks, and ignore Mr. Trump’s call for so-called recess appointments. The paper’s owner, the billionaire medical entrepreneur Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong, had other ideas. Hours before the editorial was set to be sent to the printer for the next day’s newspaper, Dr. Soon-Shiong told the opinion department’s leaders that the editorial could not be published unless the paper also published an editorial with an opposing view. Baffled by his order and with the print deadline approaching, editors removed the editorial, headlined ‘Donald Trump’s cabinet choices are not normal. The Senate’s confirmation process should be.’ It never ran.”

Musing 3: I love this Caleb Wethington offering on Nashville’s WSMV website. Headlined TN MIDDLE SCHOOL CHOOSES RIVAL OF UNIV. OF CINCINNATI’S MASCOT NAME AFTER CEASE AND DESIST LETTER, it tells the saga of Cheatham Middle School, which for 26 years was home of the Bearcats—until the University of Cincinnati sent a cease-and-desist order. So, in the biggest ‘Fuck you’ ever, the school changed its name to Musketeers—an ode to Xavier University, Cinci’s arch rival.

Musing 4: What a riveting piece (DEATH GUARD) from Rachel Ginsberg of Mishpacha on Shalom Nagar, the Israeli who wound up pulling the lever when a noose warmed Adolf Eichman’s neck. Nagar died a few days ago.

In particular, this gave me chills …

Musing 5: So there’s a four-part documentary series on Netflix about Robbie Williams, the British pop star whose career never really took off in the States. It’s engrossing, heartbreaking, uplifting—and phenomenally detailed.

Musing 6: Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow seems like a genuinely good guy—and you can tell how violated he feels by someone breaking into his home last week. It sucks.

Musing 7: Such a depressing piece from the New York Times’ Nick Corasaniti and Eduardo Medina on North Carolina’s Republican power play. It just feels like democracy no longer actually matters to the modern GOP—and America will pay the price.

Musing 8: Ed Kilgore of New York Magazine wrote a pretty intense piece about Donald Trump’s immigration plans—but it was a comment beneath the story that made me go, “Daaaaaamn” …

Musing 9: Fabulous work here from ESPN’s Baxter Holmes in NBA ALL-STAR DOMANTAS SABONIS, HIS LEGENDARY FATHER ARVYDAS -- AND THE ENORMOUS WEIGHT OF LEGACY—a profile of the two Sabonis big guns. Writes Holmes: “Sons are born into their father's shadow, but few are ever as large -- literally and metaphorically -- as the one Domantas was born into in May 1996. He arrived during the Portland Trail Blazers' playoff run in Arvydas' rookie NBA season. The Trail Blazers had, for years, tried to lure the 7-foot-3, 292-pound Arvydas and had drafted him No. 24 a decade earlier. But Lithuania was then part of the Soviet Union, and the Soviets wouldn't let their prized player play in America. Arvydas had begun playing for the Soviet junior national team at 15 and soon became considered the best international player in the world: a mountain of a man who whipped no-look passes like Magic Johnson, possessed a soft-shooting touch from beyond the arc and dominated beneath the rim. In 1982, Indiana Hoosiers head coach Bob Knight said after an exhibition game between the Hoosiers and the Soviet national team, in which the 17-year-old Arvydas led fast breaks, made turnaround jumpers, and finished with 25 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocks, that Arvydas ‘was as good a prospect as I'd ever seen.’”

Musing 10: Do I think Bill Belichick will do well at North Carolina? No. Do I think it’s a fascinating story that should have the local media loving life? One hundred percent. Good chops here from Luke DeCock of the Raleigh News & Observer with WILL BILL BELICHICK’S SUCCESS AT UNC BE MEASURED IN WINS AND LOSSES, OR ON LEDGER SHEET?

Musing 11: It’s not complicated—if you don’t play in the NFL, you can’t talk shit to NFL players or coaches. ESPN’s Eric Woodyard explains.

Musing 12: So according to The Athletic’s Brooks Peck, a Caitlin Clark trading card is selling for $234,850. I am reminded once again how I entered the wrong profession.

Musing 13: Marc Benioff is the owner of Time Magazine, kneeling before an aspiring authoritarian. I am truly concerned by this behavior, because so many in media are now following suit and surrendering to the king.

Musing 14: Donald Trump only hires the best people—so it’ll surprise the 47th president when he learns his choice to serve as a Middle East adviser is actually a flimflam artist who hasn’t accomplished shit. Great reporting from the New York Times’ Ruth Maclean, Justin Scheck, Charles Homans and Oladeinde Olawoyin in TRUMP’S MIDDLE EAST ADVISER PICK IS A SMALL-TIME TRUCK SALESMAN.

Musing 15: Sports Illustrated’s Stephanie Apstein is the Alex English of modern baseball writing—simultaneously underrated and incredibly valuable. In an age of lazy quick takes, her breakdowns never disappoint. The latest—JUAN SOTO ADDITION SUGGEST IT’S TIME TO TAKE THE METS SERIOUSLY—is the best explanation you’ll read on why the slugger switched sides of the Big Apple.

Musing 16: I used to work with Flinder Boyd at Bleacher Report, and the dude is a gem of gems. This piece for Runner’s World, headlined, RUNNING WAS HIS LIFE. THEN CAME PUTIN’S WAR—I mean, shit. It’s good.

Musing 17: Former Riverside Press-Enterprise sports editor John Garrett passed away last week after 89 years on earth. His colleague and friend, Jim Alexander, penned a beautiful ode.

Musing 18: The new Two Writers Slinging Yang stars the all-time great American songwriter, Sam Hollander.

Quote of the Week …

1. I will say, Matt Norlander of CBS Sports brought the goods better than anyone else I’ve seen.