Volume 1, Issue 1
What am I doing, exactly? “Jake and the Cape.” Joe Maddon. “Songs.”
Okay, let’s get this straight from the jump. I’m stealing this entire format and this entire idea from the great Will Leitch. The only true difference between The Will Leitch Weekly Newsletter that gets delivered to my inbox every Saturday morning and this blog is that Will has talent and a knack for being one of the best sports writers of his era: Deadspin, New York Magazine, MLB.com, The New York Times, GQ, Slate, Fast Company, The Will Leitch Show on SI.tv, four books, and of course the dearly departed, Sports On Earth. I’m just a 31-year old, Midwestern, white dude living in Nashville and working in sports and politics with an ego big enough to think you want to read my opinions and stories.
So, yeah, I’m stealing everything from Will.
(Will, I hope that’s cool. Even though you don’t have a damn clue who I am and will likely never, ever read this godforsaken thing.)
My goal for this blog is to post it weekly, probably on Sunday or Monday nights, depending on work, broadcasting, and just the overall Nashville experience that I have that weekend. I want it to be fun, self deprecating, reflective, honest, personal, and hopefully entertaining for you. I want to be able to connect with you, my dear sweet audience, using personal anecdotes and stories of broadcasting, Nashville, sports, growing up, dating (and exes), pop culture, music, TV, movies, etc. The idea is to have a little bit of something for everyone while being sourced from the odd and intricate mind of yours truly.
The outline will be simple, but likely forever changing until I can mold this thing into…whatever the hell it’s going to end up being. I’ll start with a main theme or topic, expand on it for a few hundred words, then move on to life’s other little intricacies. That’s it. That is the format. That is the plan. Gotta crawl before we can walk, ya know?
The fact is, I’ve wanted to have my own column or blog for years, a space where I can let my snark and wit run a little wild while giving myself reps writing bits of opinion. Believe it or not, I’d like to write a little more than just NFL game previews. There was actually a time when I was seriously considering writing a book.
Four years ago I was applying for radio jobs in the Cape Cod Baseball League and somehow I wound up being a finalist for a couple of the openings. My girlfriend at the time and I thought it would be cool to spend the summer on the Cape — me calling ball games during the day while she waited tables or tended bar for the locals. We’d go to the beach, eat lobster for lunch, crab cakes for dinner, drop our “R’s” to “ah’s”, and drink Sam Adams morning, Noon, and night — and I’d be there recording all of our adventures.
Very naive, of course. But at the time, in the very first serious relationship of my life, it seemed within reach. It would be our own real life Summer Catch, just with better writing, acting, and less John C. McGinley.
Speaking of Summer Catch…The culminating key scene is infuriating for three reasons. (Although it’s probably Matthew Lillard’s finest hour. “C’MON KID! GET UP!”)
1. The Catch writers were very clearly trying to steal some New England movie/baseball juice from Good Will Hunting with their own take on “Sorry guys, I gotta see about a girl.” Having our sweet Prinze drop that terrible, terrible “the right girl…” line with a no-no hanging in the balance…whew, boy. If Robin Williams were around he’d embrace our troubled pitching protagonist and assure him, “It’s not your fault, Freddie.”
2. Who the hell leaves a no-hitter with two outs left in the 9th?! Mrs. Timberlake, that’s who.
3. Hank Aaron deserved better than this.
Obviously, that silly little plan of ours didn’t quite materialize. Some kid from Arizona State got the job over me, our relationship ran its course, and I moved back to Indianapolis for the summer. She’s married now, I’m writing this blog and not signing paperbacks of Jake and the Cape at Half Price Books. It all worked out like it should have.
SO LONG, JOE
Earlier this week the Cubs made the inevitable official. The team announced that they and their beloved, eccentric manager, Joe Maddon, were mutually parting ways — his contract would not be renewed for next season.
The writing had been on the wall for Maddon since the end of last season when team president, Theo Epstein, made it clear that he would not be negotiating with Maddon’s agent on a contract extension during the 2019 season. So, barring a World Series championship, or perhaps even in spite of one, Maddon wasn’t coming back for 2020.
The two friends played it off as if it had been a truly mutual decision to part ways, but as I can most definitely tell you from experience, no break up is ever mutual. The rumblings about Maddon and the front office not seeing eye to eye were nothing new. The pressure from Theo and assistant GM Jed Hoyer to replace hitting coaches each of the last three seasons was obvious, as was the complete lack of development from younger players who were supposed to be part of the Cubs’ supporting cast for years to come. Ian Happ, Addison Russell, Albert Almora, and to a lesser extent, Kyle Schwarber, come to mind. Personally, Maddon’s bullpen usage rates were baffling. I can’t believe Aroldis Chapman can even move his left arm above his shoulder, let alone throw a baseball. Same goes for poor Steve Cishek. That dude might as well charge other pitchers rent for using his mound at Wrigley.
It’s a bittersweet divorce for Cubs fans, self included. It’s impossible to pick sides when your two good friends decide to break up — again, trust me on this. Maddon was the manager that helped break the 108-year curse and won the Cubs their first World Series title since 1908. By default he is the best manager in the franchise’s history — at least in the last 100 years. That can’t be taken away. But on the other hand, the team had noticeably declined since winning their lone championship in 2016, ending in a lackluster 2019 and missing the playoffs for the first time in five years.
While the end of the Maddon era concludes in a way in which few could have envisioned, I’m not bitter about it. Sometimes relationships really do simply run their course (i.e. Jake and the Cape). Joe will be a legend in Chicago until the Willi…grrr, Sears Tower…comes crumbling down. Whoever the next Cubs manager is surely won’t be as energetic or unconventional as Maddon was, but no other modern manager is. Maddon is truly one of the great characters in baseball of the last twenty years — and I’m gonna miss him in the Cubs’ dugout wearing far too many rubber bracelets on his wrists and drinking pinot noir (I’m assuming) from that tiny Gatorade cup.
Good luck, Joe and thanks for the best era of Cubs baseball that we’ve ever seen.
WHAT I’M LISTENING TO: Anything and everything that I can find by Gary Allan
Normally, in this part of the blog I’ll give a few sentences about an album or song that I’ve been listening to lately and why. But our inaugural musical voyage is going to be a little different.
I’ve loved Gary Allan’s music since I first started listening to modern country music as a high school freshman back in 2003, when Gary Allan was at the peak of his Gary Allan powers. Even to my untrained ears, I could tell that his sound was different from his contemporary cohorts. It was grittier, more raw, rock ’n roll guitars with that classic Bakersfield steel guitar. If he debuted in 2019 you’d likely slide him in the “Americana” genre. It also helped that he actually looked the part of the wounded and jaded man that he sang about. The tattoos, the black Stetson, the classic, pinstripe, western pearl snaps. True, he was also wearing a lot of Affliction shirts and bedazzled jeans, but who the hell wasn’t in 2006?
Anyway…for reasons that shan’t be named, I went out on Monday night with a couple of work buddies. We found ourselves at “Losers” in Midtown in the midst of what apparently was Divorcees Night. I was ready to turn back home after I heard my second Luke Bryan song and a complete and utter disassembly of “Tennessee Whiskey” for the thousandth time. When out of the void, that unmistakable opening riff of “Right Where I Need To Be” came charging out of a guitar. That one riff, that one song, and singing it with women my mother’s age, made the night worth it. Since then I’ve dusted off all my old Gary Allan records…on Spotify…and been as happy as a Gary Allan song will allow me to be…which…most of his songs are quite sad. Like, really sad, actually.
Now, I have rules and standards when it comes to my music. Certain songs never, ever get changed, or turned down. There are probably 10 to 15 on that list and near the very tippy top is Gary Allan singing about a plane “flying outta here tonight with an empty first class seat.” And at the very top of that list, the absolute pinnacle, is “Songs About Rain.” I’ll fight anyone that says it’s not one of the 10 best country songs of all-time. Don’t believe me? I’ve got the wraps and gloves in my closet ready to roll, chief.
I’ve listened to “Songs” approximately 2,355 in the last six days. I’ve listened to it back-to-back probably eighteen times. I’ve even made my friends listen to it on repeat as we drive around town. It’s the perfect sort of wording that describes how everything that will go wrong when you’re heartbroken, is most definitely going to go wrong and in the most spectacular fashion possible. And it’s effin’ beautiful.
Someone tell Theo and Joe to give it a listen…
My list of Gary Allan’s 10 best songs.
Songs About Rain
Right Where I Need to Be
Puttin’ Memories Away
Smoke Rings in the Dark
A Showman’s Life (w/Willie Nelson)
Yesterday’s Rain
Loving You Against My Will
It Would Be You
From Where I’m Sitting
Her Man
So, if you’ve made it this far, I suppose you didn’t absolutely hate what you’ve read …or you’re my Mom and legally obligated to love everything that I do no matter what. But this, or something similar to this, is what you can come to expect from whatever the hell this is going to be. Just don’t expect another 478 words on Gary Allan.
If you have a name idea for this weekly grouping of words besides “Jake’s Blog,” I’ve got an open ear and an open mind.
Here’s a link to my one Athlon Sports NFL Preview from this week (Spoiler: I was wrong) …as well as a link to the best thing that I read this past week.
Denver Broncos vs. Los Angeles Chargers Preview & Prediction: https://athlonsports.com/nfl/denver-broncos-vs-los-angeles-chargers-prediction-picks-2019
Hunter S. Thompson’s Letter on Finding Your Purpose: https://fs.blog/2014/05/hunter-s-thompson-to-hume-logan/
Also, just for kicks here is a picture of me and a very nice, young cowboy man from last Monday night’s “Loser’s” adventure. I liked his William Clark Green shirt and overall demeanor enough to ask for a picture. I forget his name but I know that he’s from Texas… I think?
Next week, we’ll confront the impostor that is…Jake Rose?
Until then…