Will Leitch
@williamfleitch.bsky.social
Author, LLOYD MCNEIL'S LAST RIDE, HOW LUCKY, THE TIME HAS COME. Contributing Editor, New York. Columnist, The Washington Post & The Athletic. Writer, MLB. Critic, Grierson & Leitch. Founder, Deadspin. Illini. Mattoonian. https://williamfleitch.substack.com
For @theathletic.com, I wrote about how much of a sad sack it makes you feel like to cheer for a middle-class college football team. www.nytimes.com/athletic/766...
Why cheering for a middle-class college football team is more stressful than ever (Gift Article)
Did Indiana inspire hope in the less powerful teams in the Big Ten and SEC? Not enough to outweigh the dread of being left behind.
nytimes.com
For @theathletic.com, I wrote about how much of a sad sack it makes you feel like to cheer for a middle-class college football team. www.nytimes.com/athletic/766...
Why cheering for a middle-class college football team is more stressful than ever (Gift Article)
Did Indiana inspire hope in the less powerful teams in the Big Ten and SEC? Not enough to outweigh the dread of being left behind.
nytimes.com
Good book, this!
Matt Singer@mattsinger.bsky.social · yesterdayPub day! Funny Business: The Old-School Wedding Crashers and Knocked-Up Virgins Who Changed Comedy Forever is now on sale. Get it wherever you get your books. (If you pick up a copy or see it out and about, please send me pictures.) www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/790241...
[ducks behind something] [slowly glances left, then right] [lowers voice to a nervous whisper] I kind of liked DIGGER? [sprints away]
Absolutely nailed it, Senator, go Cards. bsky.app/profile/atru...
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · last wk.🤡 Schmitt beclowns himself 🤡 Schmitt concocted an elaborate conspiracy theory that Smith traveled to Atl for a Hawks game and to collude with Fani Willis, & flashed his "evidence" before accusing Smith of perjury. There's just one problem -- his facts were totally wrong. Here's the whole sequence:
To celebrate our 500th episode, we each picked the 10 best films to come out since the podcast began. Apple: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t... Spotify: open.spotify.com/episode/4jpI... We couldn't have gotten to this milestone without you. Thanks for listening. Here's to another 500!
For @theathletic.com, I wrote a long piece about how college football fans are now expected to act like loyal, fawning, compliant ATMs ... or else. www.nytimes.com/athletic/761...
Who gets blamed when college football teams lose now? You, the fans (Gift Article)
The solution to every problem in college football and basketball these days? Ask fans for more money. And Congress can't change that.
nytimes.com
For @theathletic.com, I wrote a long piece about how college football fans are now expected to act like loyal, fawning, compliant ATMs ... or else. www.nytimes.com/athletic/761...
Who gets blamed when college football teams lose now? You, the fans (Gift Article)
The solution to every problem in college football and basketball these days? Ask fans for more money. And Congress can't change that.
nytimes.com
This is the first clip of Trump I've made it all the way through in months.
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 2w agoLMFAO -- Trump is holding an event at the White House right now but there's no audio because the press pool isn't there. The Newsmax host notes that this is an example of Trump's attacks on the press "backfiring just a little bit"
Every time Apple updates operating system, I know I'm going to have to add 45 minutes to my workday turning off all the AI stuff I didn't ask for and do not want. (And there's still stuff you can't get rid of no matter how hard you try.) Why I can't just say, "I've already paid you. So no, please."
For @washingtonpost.com, I wrote about how what Colin Kaepernick's protest, 10 years later, ended up having the exact opposite effect it was supposed to. (Gift Link.) www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Opinion | Colin Kaepernick set an example. Nobody wants to follow it.
A decade after his protest, the price he paid for speaking out has scared off other athletes.
washingtonpost.com
For @theathletic.com, I kicked off Lane Hate Week with a look at how Lane Kiffin may understand us better than we understand ourselves. (Gift Link.) www.nytimes.com/athletic/759...
The whole world is ready to boo Lane Kiffin. He’ll eventually get the last laugh (Gift Article)
Kiffin knows the truth that we all know as college football fans but do our best to ignore: The only thing that matters is winning.
nytimes.com
For @theathletic.com, I kicked off Lane Hate Week with a look at how Lane Kiffin may understand us better than we understand ourselves. (Gift Link.) www.nytimes.com/athletic/759...
The whole world is ready to boo Lane Kiffin. He’ll eventually get the last laugh (Gift Article)
Kiffin knows the truth that we all know as college football fans but do our best to ignore: The only thing that matters is winning.
nytimes.com
Roger Simon was a proud alum of the University of Illinois and regularly came back to visit with Daily Illini students. I was honored to get to spend a very memorable late night talking shop and cracking jokes with him in the mid-'90s. He was outstanding. RIP. www.chicagotribune.com/2026/09/10/r...
Roger Simon, a leading political writer including for the Tribune, dies at 78
Along with being a long-time columnist for the Sun-Times, he was White House correspondent for the Tribune and pioneered political writing at Politico.
chicagotribune.com
This is a terrific piece on the US Open's "influencer problem" from @girinathan.bsky.social. (His book CHANGEOVER, about the Sinner-Alcaraz rivalry, is terrific as well. Even my 14-year-old son read it!) defector.com/the-state-of...
The State Of The U.S. Open Is The State Of Us | Defector
It’s being shouted from all corners: The U.S. Open has become an overcrowded, overpriced circus awash in influencers, aspirational influencers, corporate stooges, drunken buffoons, brand activations, ...
defector.com
For @washingtonpost.com, I wrote about the indestructible Roger Goodell. (Gift Link.) wapo.st/4iVzHKq
Opinion | How Roger Goodell became untouchable
The NFL commissioner answers to 32 bosses, and as long as they’re happy, nothing else matters.
wapo.st
Over at my (always free) newsletter, we have been having readers and writers delve into what makes their state great. I think Stephen Stetson's treatise on Alabama is pretty wonderful. williamfleitch.substack.com/p/volume-6-i...
Volume 6, Issue 40.5: The States Project: Alabama
Bury me under the black gum tree.
williamfleitch.substack.com
For @theathletic.com, I wrote about how instant replay has just become one more thing that exists solely to make us angry. www.nytimes.com/athletic/757...
Michigan call shows replay can't take away an essential part of sports: Feeling aggrieved
nytimes.com
For @theathletic.com, I wrote about how instant replay has just become one more thing that exists solely to make us angry. www.nytimes.com/athletic/757...
Michigan call shows replay can't take away an essential part of sports: Feeling aggrieved
nytimes.com
I will be back writing weekly about college football for @theathletic.com against this year. My first piece is about Curt Cignetti. www.nytimes.com/athletic/754...
We learned a lot from Curt Cignetti and Indiana. We just don’t know if any of it is true yet
Here are five lessons we'll learn about Indiana and whether they are truths or vestiges from the last battle in college football.
nytimes.com
I will be back writing weekly about college football for @theathletic.com against this year. My first piece is about Curt Cignetti. www.nytimes.com/athletic/754...
We learned a lot from Curt Cignetti and Indiana. We just don’t know if any of it is true yet
Here are five lessons we'll learn about Indiana and whether they are truths or vestiges from the last battle in college football.
nytimes.com
Great @williamfleitch.bsky.social column on why Andy Rooney was great & why doing what he did was nowhere as easy as he made it look. He was a fantastic writer and essayist Being a TV personality bothered him enormously That's why he'll be difficult to replace www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Opinion | CBS wants a new Andy Rooney. It should study the original first.
The secret to the commentator’s success wasn’t likability — it was trust, earned the hard way.
washingtonpost.com
In order to simultaneously appease Gen Alpha and the algorithm, I decided to indulge in some aura farming and write about Andy Rooney for @washingtonpost.com. www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/202...
Opinion | CBS wants a new Andy Rooney. It should study the original first.
The secret to the commentator’s success wasn’t likability — it was trust, earned the hard way.
washingtonpost.com
We gave regularly to Dolly Parton's Imagination Library, which has been gifting free books to millions of children for more than 30 years. Just one of the amazing things she was a part of, and something palpably touched our, and many other, lives. You can still donate. donate.imaginationlibrary.com
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Make a donation and support Dolly Parton's Imagination Library in communities around the world and help put more books into the hands of more children.
donate.imaginationlibrary.com
Dolly Parton dying feels as inexplicable and impossible as it felt when David Bowie died, or Prince died. Surely moreso.
