Must We Win?

Tim and I have each spent time challenging the uses and abuses of the English language. Josh, for his part, has highlighted words the make him cringe. It’s not unfair to say that we are sticklers for linguistic precision here at NPI.
So it is with this in mind that I take umbrage with the overuse [...]

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Happy Halloween

In honor of today’s festivities, here is Jerry Seinfeld with some thoughts on Halloween:

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In Search of Lost Toaster Ovens

Back when I was an impressionable college freshman, the faculty-in-residence who lived three doors down from my suite left a toaster oven outside her door. Now, at the time, I was a simple-minded and perhaps naïve 18-year-old suburbanite who had been raised on a toaster and with the idea that a toaster oven was needlessly [...]

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What Makes a Great Playoff Series?

This is a question that has been on my mind since Tim undertook his massive investigation of the 1999 NLCS last week.
The seven-game playoff series (we’re not even going to talk about the atrocious five-game divisional format) is really one of the best things about sports when it unfolds right. It takes the highs and [...]

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Real World/Road Rules Challenge: The Ruins, Week 5 Power Rankings

“How is this happening?”—Wes
This question—in addition to going through my mind as I watched Cliff Lee completely smother the Yankees lineup and, even more surprisingly, CC Sabathia struggle slightly against the Phillies last night—was plaguing Wes as he struggled in the elimination against Cohutta.
Eventually, despite all of Wes’ macho talk about sending his girlfriend’s ex [...]

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MLB Postseason Preview: The World Series, Continued!

In Part I, John S and Tim exhaustively and inconclusively dissected the Yankees and Phillies’ respective lineups. In the much-anticipated (and admittedly more concise) Part II, it’s time for the pitching staff and predictions–detailed predictions.
THE ROTATIONS
LEE V. SABATHIA
TIM: Everyone knows Mets fans are devastated about this series. But what about Indians fans having to watch [...]

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MLB Postseason Preview: The World Series!

After about as many off-days as game days, we’re finally down to two teams in Major League Baseball: the last dynasty against a team hoping to build one. It’s Yankees-Phillies in what many expect to be the most exciting World Series since 2001.
Resident Yankee fan John S. and Phillie hater Tim break it down.
THE LINEUPS
LEADOFF: [...]

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The Mets Fan’s Nightmare

So it’s come to this. We didn’t only have to endure losing hundreds of millions of dollars to a Ponzi scheme, we didn’t only have to endure injuries to our five best players, we didn’t only have to endure a dropped pop-up to lose a game to our crosstown rivals, we didn’t only have to [...]

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Unabated to the QB, Week 7: The Right to Parity

“Mediocrity seeks to endure by any means, including bronze. We refuse its claims to eternity, but it makes them every day. Isn’t mediocrity itself eternity?”
—Albert Camus

The Saints’ remarkable comeback victory over the Dolphins late Sunday means that there are three undefeated teams through seven weeks for the first time in NFL history. There are [...]

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Learn How to Swim

Chuck Klosterman did an interview with The A.V. Club in which, in honor of Halloween, he discusses his fears. Here is an excerpt:
A few years ago, that movie Open Water was out. I can’t swim, so of course the idea… It’s really hard for people who can swim to relate to this. If you can’t [...]

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