"By the time I was 27 I had two children and medical bills that would reach $500,000." →

A well-done story from Jeff Pearlman about the health of ex-NFL players, a subject that’s finally beginning to get the coverage it deserves.

Agreed. Getting to RFK Stadium is a bitch. →

D.C. United’s Chris Pontius reflects on his rookie year.

Seems as though I moved here just in time →

At next year’s parades marking the centenary of the Progressives’ triumph, confetti suppliers and marching bands may have to be paid with IOU’s instead of cash. California’s bonds are rated lower than any other state’s; its budget deficit, relative to the size of the state’s population, is higher than any other’s. The current recession is the proximate cause of California’s crisis, but other states devastated by the economic downturn, such as New York and Florida—even Michigan—face choices about taxes and spending that are far less dire. A growing number of observers argue that California’s real problem is that it has become ungovernable. Kevin Starr, for example, who just published the eighth volume in his comprehensive history of the Golden State, recently told an interviewer, “In our public life, we’re on the verge of being a failed state, and no state has failed in the history of this country.”

The Rural Alberta Advantage @ Bottom of the Hill →

Amy Cole is the new Amanda Tannen.

"I'm not springing for dinner if I dont remember what you look like"

Fair enough.

Hey look, another podcast. Enjoy. Or whatever.

In honor of seeing Mat Hoffman at a coffee shop. Check out the sweet editing at the 1:26 mark.

Don't call it a comeback

DaMarcus Beasley on the right would solve a lot of problems.

Had to happen

Yeasayer — “Rome”

Oh John →

Heaven knows that in politics, consistency is the hobgoblin of almost no one. Yet in terms of absurdity and hypocrisy, McCain’s gambit was pretty far off the charts. Read more: Is McCain Attacking Obama Out of Principle, or for Revenge?

Jonah Freedman, my editor at SI.com, and I are co-hosting a weekly soccer podcast. Here’s is the first one where we talk World Cup and go one-on-one (two-on-one?) with Brian McBride. Next week I’ll try to pronounce everyone’s name correctly.