Monday Medley

What we read while never watching replays again…

• The Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two same-sex marriage cases. You may have noticed the effects on Facebook and Twitter. It’s worth revisiting how opinion has evolved on the issue (though Justice Scalia not so much).

• In honor of Opening Day, a fantasy draft of fantasy baseball players.

• Speaking of baseball, FanGraphs and Baseball Reference have finally put an end to this divisive WAR. Meanwhile, what do baseball stadiums do to housing costs?

• An oral history of one of March Madness’ defining moments.

• Buzz Bissinger is a shopaholic. Yes, that Buzz Bissinger. He’s in rehab.

• Is spring break an economic boon?

• The NYPD’s stop-and-frisk policy is facing a court challenge. Don’t worry, though, they’ve got plenty more programs aimed at harassing disfavored ethnic groups!

• On the appalling consequences of three strikes laws in America’s vast prison system. Of course the courts do go easy on some people….

• If you’re not following @Cmdr_Hadfield on Twitter, you’re missing some amazing shots from the International Space Station.

• Jay Caspian Kang on another school shooting.

• David Berman’s yearbook page. 

• Is Garfield even supposed to be funny? And memorable lines from a comic strip that was.

• In search of people who actually hate Jennifer Lawrence, Vice called hate groups.

Monday Medley

What we read while Mike Wallace didn’t throw out the first pitch…

• Baseball has begun! Opening Day was last week, and fans in New York and Boston are already panicking. Both teams are 0-3, and Baltimore is 3-0: The world is on its head.

• David Simon is sick of hearing about how much you love The Wire. Actually, as he later explained to Alan Sepinwall, he’s just sick of people reducing the show down to who is the coolest character.

• Speaking of showrunners, an interview with the head of Happy Endings. And Aaron Sorkin appears to have inspired a generation of political operatives.

• The American police state continues to expand with little outcry. Internet freedom continues to get squeezed, and cops can now patrol your hallway in New York City.

• Rand Paul is the most important anti-war politician.

• How is Sanford reacting to the Trayvon Martin case?

• E.O. Wilson explains political tribalism in terms of evolutionary biology.

• The worst of Park Slope.

• What does the word “blog” even mean?

Monday Medley

What we read while the Indians were mathematically eliminated…

• We couldn’t let Opening Day go by without a link to Joe Posnanski, could we? Here he breaks down the 32 best players in baseball. And a uniform roundup from Paul Lukas!

• The best longish piece about baseball we read this week, though, comes from Andy McCullough at the Star-Ledger, providing an inside glimpse at one of New York’s most misunderstood stars, Jose Reyes. It’s almost as good as Charles Pierce’s magazine piece on Red Sox prospect Ryan Westmoreland from a few weeks back, which includes about as good a paragraph of sports journalism as we’ve ever read (we’re not telling you which one, except to say it’s pretty early on). For short, conversational pieces, The Awl has Yakkin’ about Baseball, which will hopefully be as consistently hilarious as Yakkin’ about Football was.

• Chipotle in Chelsea is a little bit different than the other Chipotles.

• A documentary about legendary comedian Bill Hicks is getting released this week.

• A lot of fuss over Matthew Weiner’s contract talks with AMC came basically to nothing as Mad Men was renewed with pretty much all of Weiner’s demands met.

• What’s it like to have lunch with Roger Waters?

• Oh, some band you may have heard of played its last show ever on Saturday. It apparently went well.

• John Wray is using Twitter to explore a character cut out of his most recent novel. We’re all for Twiterature experiments.