Chill Sports

“I must be taken as I have been made. The success is not mine, the failure is not mine, but the two together make me.” So goes a quote from Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations , a story about a young man who suddenly comes into a large fortune and despite initial success in acclimating to high society struggles for years to attain what he truly desires, a love from when he was young. Great Expectations in merely name alone begins to tell the story of Bryce Harper; once called “Baseball’s LeBron” in a Sports Illustrated cover story when he was just 16, Harper’s true five-tool potential made him one of the hottest prospects in the history of the sport. The actual story of that Dickens novel, however, could very well serve as an allegory to Harper’s entire career thus far. Harper was blessed with raw baseball talent the likes of which only a handful of humans ever have had, and with that found himself in the top level of American professional baseball at just 19. While he blossomed earl...

In the wide world of sports, everyone is always searching for the “next”. Could Patrick Mahomes and Josh Allen’s rivalry be the next Tom Brady vs. Peyton Manning? Could a similar rivalry between Erling Haaland and Kylian Mbappe be the next Lionel Messi vs. Cristiano Ronaldo? Could Victor Wenbanyama be the next Kevin Durant-- but taller and even better? We as fans seldom appreciate the greats in the latter parts of their career as much as we should; just look at how LeBron James has more than worn out his welcome in the minds of most NBA fans, for instance. Instead, we savor witnessing their downfall paving the way for the next generation of heroes, like a phoenix erupting into flames so that another can be born from its ashes. Sometimes, though, we have no choice but to sit and marvel at both the elder statesmen and their bright-eyed successors-to-be when they’re both just playing so damn well. Think of that 1998 All Star Game battle between Michael Jordan and a young Kobe Bryant, or ...

The Denver Broncos have been an unmitigated disaster so far this season. There’s no need to sugarcoat things; they currently sit at 2-3, which still keeps them in the Wild Card hunt in the AFC, but had they not been playing opponents who so desperately wanted to lose even more than they did, the Broncos could easily be at 0-5. They’ve just put up two of the worst primetime performances in recent NFL history, and their offense currently ranks 26th in EPA/play and 29th in Success Rate, per RBSDM. Despite coming into the season supposedly being just a quarterback away from true contention, and despite the acquisition of a Super Bowl champion and nine-time Pro Bowler, Russell Wilson, at said quarterback position, the Broncos offense flat-out sucks. This was never more apparent than last Thursday night, where the Broncos and Colts played out one of the worst NFL games of all time. Neither team scored a touchdown, each committed two turnovers and many more frustrating blunders, drew a combin...

The history of the Seattle Mariners is an unkind one. Long known as a team of mediocrity, misfortune, and misery, their Wikipedia synopsis reads more like a Shakespearean tragedy than the rich history of a storied ballclub. Jon Bois and Alex Rubenstein of Dorktown even created a fantastic documentary which details just how much pain and suffering this organization and its fans have endured in its forty-plus years of operation. Now, though, it may finally be time to write a new chapter in the story of Seattle baseball. At long last, the Mariners have officially qualified for the MLB postseason, ending what was the longest active playoff drought in all of American professional sports (that distinction now belongs to the Sacramento Kings of the NBA). And even more improbable still, this Mariners team has the makings of a ballclub that could be contenders for years to come, and the joyous, infectious culture to go along with it. The Mariners qualified for the playoffs for the first time ...