In the shadow of everything

When the real world gets so big that the fun & games seem a little less fun.

Photo by Greg Bulla on Unsplash

One reason that everyone has a podcast or a Substack these days is because the barrier to entry is so low. It’s the same reason why everyone had a blog once online blogging platforms made it really easy to build and publish one.

Another reason is that it is, in theory, fun. It’s fun to create content. It’s fun to put jokes and thoughts and ideas and opinions out into the world, and even more fun when people read or listen or watch and then respond with their own jokes and thoughts and ideas and opinions.

This is supposed to be fun. I’m not writing this (free) daily newsletter to start a career or to make any significant amount of money (if any). I’m doing it because people enjoy it and because I have fun doing it.

That being said, it’s not always fun to write about sports. It’s not even always fun to collect a bunch of links about what’s going on in sports, as well as what’s going on in and around San Diego, and put them in a newsletter.

When it feels like the elephant in the room is being ignored, it also feels like I’m up here tap-dancing on a stage for your enjoyment….which is a thing I might be willing to do if this were a thing that made me a significant amount of money. But, since it doesn’t, I’d rather just be real with you.

This morning, the federal government arrested a handful of journalists (including former CNN anchor Don Lemon) for broadcasting a protest last week. Also, the President, who apparently isn’t one to mind the constitutional rights of American citizens, called the man that his federal officers murdered less than a week ago an “insurrectionist” and “agitator” after a video showed Alex Pretti kicking the taillight of an SUV days before his public execution.

This came after days of the administration blaming Alex Pretti’s death on….Alex Pretti. For carrying a gun that he was legally allowed to be carrying. Again, if it were up to the President of the country, our constitutional rights might just not exist anymore.

It’s one thing to look at what is happening in Minnesota and think “That’s 2000 miles away!” As if there’s nothing you could do. As if it’s not happening to you, a resident of somewhere far away from roving gangs of federal officers kidnapping citizens off the street in broad daylight.

But it is happening here. Immigration arrests are up by 1500% in San Diego. And there’s plenty of reason to believe, including threats from the administration to “do California next”, that your street will soon look like the Minnesota streets you see on TV.

There is a chance that you, like the people of Minneapolis, will have to answer the question of if you’re willing to put your life at risk to defend the rights if your neighbors. And you’ll have to do it knowing that, should the worst happen, you’ll be called a domestic terrorist or an assassin or an insurrectionist or an agitator or worse. And that your family and loved ones will be persecuted for simply being associated with you.

Trauma is happening in Minnesota but it’s not limited or constricted to that state. It’s happening here and it’s probably going to get worse here.

Take care of yourself, make a plan with your community, and (please) don’t judge the content creators if they don’t seem like their heart is in it right now. Sometimes it’s hard to find the light when you’re stuck in the shadow of something so big.

Onto the links….

San Diego sports stories

Padres reach Minor League deal with veteran lefty Gonzales (source) - MLB.com
With thin rotation depth, the Padres could get creative to gain more feasible options at the big league level. They picked up Triston McKenzie on a Minor League deal in December, and now they’ll take on another project in Gonzales.

Gonzales, who turns 34 in February, went unsigned in 2025 after having left flexor tendon surgery in September ‘24. He was a serviceable starter for 10 prior big league seasons, going 66-50 with a 4.16 ERA in 170 games (162 starts) from 2014-24 with the Cardinals, Mariners and Pirates.

Gauchos Top Tritons on Spirit Night - UC San Diego Tritons
UC San Diego junior Bol Dengdit scored a game-high 15 points and pulled down six rebounds, but visiting UC Santa Barbara downed the Tritons, 62-48, Thursday before a Spirit Night crowd of 3,704 at LionTree Arena. Junior Tom Beattie scored 10 points and had three steals for UC San Diego (15-7 overall, 5-5 Big West).

Despite being held 20 points below its per-game average against Big West opponents, UC Santa Barbara won its fifth straight conference game, improving to 14-7 overall and 7-3 at the conference’s midway point.

San Diego Hangs Tough, But Falls at First-Place OSU - USD Toreros
After taking down LMU in its only home game of a five-game stretch Saturday, San Diego women's basketball was back on the floor Thursday when it made the trip to Oregon State for the first of two matchups in the Beaver State.

USD faced a tough task taking on a Beavers team that sits atop the West Coast Conference.

However, the Toreros held their own in the first two quarters before going on a shooting drought in the second half and losing 61-43 before a crowd of 3,720 at Gill Coliseum.

Odds & Ends

Novak Djokovic stuns Jannik Sinner to reach Australian Open final against Carlos Alcaraz - The Athletic
It started with glimpses of the old magic, and ended with Djokovic roaring into the Melbourne night after beating the world No. 2, and his recent nemesis, 3-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 to reach an Australian Open final against Carlos Alcaraz.

That clockwork backhand that can send back balls all night long. The court vision of the ultimate master of using every inch. The lung-busting defense. The return that pelted Sinner’s toes. Beginning in the second set, the ball started flying off Djokovic’s racket as it did when he used to get the better of Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.

Carlos Alcaraz reaches first Australian Open final after escaping Alexander Zverev in seesaw match - The Athletic
In one of the most extraordinary escapes in tennis history, Carlos Alcaraz overcame sickness and major physical difficulties to defeat Alexander Zverev in five sets and reach his first Australian Open final.

Having led by two sets to love, Alcaraz was moving so badly by the end of the third that it appeared as though he would have to retire hurt. Struggling with what he later realized was cramp in his right adductor, after twice vomiting into a towel at the change of ends, Alcaraz played on as Zverev won the next two sets in tiebreaks.

The world No. 1 was then down a break in the fifth set, with Zverev serving for the match, but he found a way to haul himself back from the precipice before breaking Zverev’s serve again to win in five hours and 27 minutes: Two minutes shy of his act of escapology in last year’s French Open final win against Jannik Sinner, when he won from three championship points down.

Lindsey Vonn airlifted from course after crashing in final downhill before Milan Cortina Olympics - Associated Press
Lindsey Vonn crashed in her final downhill race before the Winter Olympics on Friday and was airlifted from the course for medical checks, a troubling turn for the 41-year-old U.S. ski star just a week before the Milan Cortina Games.

Vonn — the third skier to crash in the World Cup race in Crans-Montana — lost control when landing a jump and ended up tangled in the safety nets on the upper portion of the course.

Touring show celebrates global counterculture artist Banksy - San Diego Union-Tribune
The extensive exhibit includes more than 200 artworks, installations and films. Most of the pieces in the show are authorized prints from Banksy’s Off the Wall merchandising business, but some are privately owned limited-edition signed prints and others are re-creations and video-mapping of his art, sculpture and immersive installations from around the world.

At a media preview on Thursday, exhibit producer Sorina Burlacu said great care went into the storytelling aspect of the exhibit, which fills the entire 20,000-square-foot activity center near the fairgrounds’ front gates. The goal of the show is to tell, using Bansky’s own words, what his art represents and how it has changed over the years.

With Unprecedented Housing Moves, San Diego Unified Enters Its YIMBY Era - Voice of San Diego
Over the past two months, San Diego Unified officials have approved proposals to build nearly 2,500 education workforce housing units on district-owned land. The move could reshape the education workforce housing landscape.