Craig Calcaterra

@craigcalcaterra

I write Cup of Coffee, a daily baseball, politics, entertainment, and nonsense newsletter:

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Craig Calcaterra@craigcalcaterra· 27d

Brentford finally cut ties with that janky-ass online casino as a kit sponsor, so I don't feel gross buying a Brentford kit. That said, I feel like I should get the baseball jersey instead?

New Brentford home kit with Indeed as the sponsor

Craig Calcaterra@craigcalcaterra· 27d

Posting about William Rufus and Robert Curthose sent me down a Wiki hole that landed me on The White Ship Disaster. which was a shipwreck in 1120 that killed the heir apparent and seriously fucked things up for the next 30+ years. I love this depiction. My man on the left is all "Ima head out"

A medieval artist's depiction of The White Ship Disaster, showing four people on a boat that is sinking, one of whom has a leg over the side as if he's trying to escape

Craig Calcaterra@craigcalcaterra· 28d

The first birthday email I got today was from the Green Qween dispensary in downtown Los Angeles that I popped into when I was staying in a hotel across the street last September.

An email ad from Green Qween dispensary, saying "A Free Gift for your glow-up. Because another year of you is iconic, we're gifting you a free cannabis mystery product to spark your celebration." Below that is a link to click entitled "Get your freebie" and a photo of a guy with seven joints in his mouth that someone is lighting for him

Craig Calcaterra@craigcalcaterra· 29d

Today I wrote about Old Gator, whose real name was Rick Wallach. He was an OG commenter at NBC's HardballTalk and Cup of Coffee and, over the years, became a (very grumpy) friend. I just found out Old Gator died back in January. He was 75. He'll be missed. www.cupofcoffeenews.com/cup-of-coffe...

Gator was a man of letters. He taught English at the University of Miami, but he was best known for being one of the world's foremost Cormac McCarthy scholars and enthusiasts. He was one of the founding members of the Cormac McCarthy Society and basically pioneered the field of McCarthy studies in general. He either authored or edited a number of scholarly publications on the man, including a two-volume collection of essays entitled Sacred Violence, the book Myth, Legend Dust: Critical Responses to Cormac McCarthy, and From Novel to Film: No Country for Old Men (a copy of which Gator gave me and which is very, very good).

Gator also wrote about films and pop culture. He was a massive fan of the Cowboy Junkies, for example, about whom he wrote both criticism and appreciations. He knew the Junkies' Margo Timmins and her siblings and, as was the case with McCarthy, he was every bit as much an enthusiast as a scholar. He was a big fan of the Cincinnati-based folk act Over the Rhine, whose CD Gator gave me and which is also very, very good.

Rick's final book, the introduction of which he let me post on my personal website before it was published, was In Search of Godzilla: Myth, Stagecraft and Politics in Ishiro Honda’s Masterpiece, which came out about a year ago. It's the sort of thing that really put Old Gator's frequent HBT comments about lizards falling from the trees during south Florida cold snaps in a new light.

Old Gator could be moderately (occasionally more than moderately) cranky in the HBT and Cup of Coffee comments sections at times, but (a) he knew he was being cranky; and (b) that was just part of his whole deal. One time he and a few other regular HBT readers got so mad at an admittedly disastrous NBC Sports-driven site redesign in 2015 that they started a competing baseball blog designed, specifically to siphon-off HBT readers, and ran it for a good while. He emailed me once and told me it wasn't personal. If it was almost anyone else I wouldn't have believed them, but I knew well enough how he rolled that he was telling the truth. I'd sometimes surf over there to see how my erstwhile readership was doing and, I gotta admit, they did a pretty good job of creating a non-corporate version of HBT, with recaps and everything. Maybe someone should do that again one day. When Gator made subsequent returns to the comments I never gave him the "well, well, well, look who's back" rebop because I knew that he'd happily bolt again if I did. I liked Gator, even when he was giving me hell, and I wanted him around as much as possible.

People who knew and interacted with Old Gator in the comments will remember his love of the “Feesh” (i.e. the Miami Marlins), how he lived not in Florida, but in “Macondo,” and how he was never a fan of anything Philadelphia-related because he couldn't understand how people there could eat those “horse meat and Velveeta sandwiches.” The best thing about his whole deal, though, is that none of that was an act. Well, not most of it.

I know that because in 2010 I took a detour to Miami to meet the man himself. He talked in real life in much the same way he talked in the comments. He was lot nicer in real life than he was in the comments. Indeed, at the risk of Gator's ghost striking me down right now, I'll say that he was something of a sweetheart. He took me to a great Cuban restaurant in Little Havana, took me to the then-under construction Marlins Park, told me his life story, and and gave me a couple of books and CDs that he hoped I'd like because, again, the man was nothing if not an enthusiast. My story about our day together is still, somehow, up over at NBC.

Rich Wallach was a true original. And, as one of the first regular readers I ever got to know after I started this gig nearly 20 years ago, he was really, really important to me on a personal level. When I started writing I had a lot of readers who told me that they liked what I was doing. Gator would tell me exactly how and why I was full of shit about a given thing. But he'd do it in a funny, almost academic manner. In this he set the tone, I believe, for the way in which a lot of you give me (respectful, appropriate) shit today, and I'm glad for that, because nothing is worse than a writer who has a cheering section as opposed to a readership that thinks for itself. Old Gator was one of my earliest regular commenters, but he was also a truly important one.

I don't know what, if anything, follows this life. But I hope that right now Old Gator's soul is floating in some Macondo-like paradise in which the banana company never came. Of course on some level even a spectral and immortal Old Gator would know that such a place is unsustainable, as the seeds of corruption and decay are necessarily planted by the very existence of humanity within its borders. But he'd enjoy the hell out of telling all of the other inhabitants that, ultimately, they were doomed. He'd chuckle a good bit while doing it.

Good travels, Rick Wallach.

Craig Calcaterra@craigcalcaterra· Jul 10

Ohioans: help me out here -- does Ohio pride means that we, collectively, are angry that Michigan is beating us in cases of the explosive diarrhea-causing parasite or are we gloating that we're doing better than Michigan on it even if we're in an objectively terrible position?

The most cases in Ohio are in Lucas County in the northwest portion of the state, which reports 86, up from 30 the previous week. Wood County, just to the south of Lucas, reports 49 cases, up from 20.

Only Michigan has more than Ohio, reporting more than 1,250 cases since June 22, the Detroit News, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported July 9. Nationwide, USA TODAY reports that more than 1,000 infections have been reported as of July 9, according to STAT, a health and medical news source which cited Associated Press reports.

Craig Calcaterra@craigcalcaterra· Jul 9

No such thing as bad publicity, my brother

News story: "Columbus ranks No. 8 as Ohio dominates bed bug rankings"

Craig Calcaterra@craigcalcaterra· Jul 8

Look, I love Conan and I watch the Oscars almost every year, but I think it's unnatural for the Oscars to be eligible for an Emmy.

Social media announcement saying that the Oscars broadcast received 9 emmy nominations

Craig Calcaterra@craigcalcaterra· Jul 7

Spoke to my friend Mitch McConnell this morning, the senior Senator from Kentucky. He's still recovering in the hospital. We talked for just shy of 20 minutes ... about IRAN, UKRAINE, the unfolding situation in MAINE, my visit to the TR Presidential Library, and even a little bit of Senate history

Hayley Joel Osmet talking to Bruce Willis in "The Sixth Sense"

Craig Calcaterra@craigcalcaterra· Jul 7

Inspiration: this photo I took while climbing up Loft Beck in Cumbria, UK, looking down on Buttermere, on my second day of hiking Wainwright's Coast-to-Coast in September 2023.

Photo of the scene depicted in the tattoo

Craig Calcaterra@craigcalcaterra· Jul 7

It's halftime so here's the tattoo I got his afternoon.

color landscape arm tattoo inside a triangular framing. Image is of twin lakes in a mountain valley, rolling green grass in the foreground.

Craig Calcaterra@craigcalcaterra· Jul 6

In today's newsletter I wrote about two terrorists. They can be seen in the photo below. Also: The All-Star teams, retiring umps, Contreras apologizes, Chapman sets a record, World Cup notes and observations, Greggs, and British Appalachian food. www.cupofcoffeenews.com/cup-of-coffe...

Two cats, sitting upright and looking straight into the camera, framing either side of a column. One os a gray/brown tabby. The other is a calico, though in this photo you can only see her black and white. They are my whole life, I hate them so much, and I love them more than anything. Cat owners understand what I'm laying down here.

Craig Calcaterra@craigcalcaterra· Jul 6

As descendants of Rollo the whole French team is Norwegian anyway. They don't like to admit that, but it's true.

A post from Hattifattener: "As in 1066 England will prevail against the Norweigans before tragically losing to the French a couple of weeks later"

Craig Calcaterra@craigcalcaterra· Jul 5

You're goddamn right it is. This was in response to Stripe asking me how my experience with their AI customer service bot that absolutely did not solve my problem was. But it'd get this rating even if it did given that I pay good money to that fucking company and actually expect a human being.

An angry face above the words "Feedback saved."

Craig Calcaterra@craigcalcaterra· Jul 3

A heatmap of Columbus, Ohio based on self-identified racial/ethnic identity. Try to guess where they ran Interstate 71 through the city. I've long known how the highway system massively exacerbated urban segregation, but seeing it on a map like this smacks you right in the face with it.

A heatmap of Columbus, Ohio based on self-identified racial/ethnic identity. The west side of the map is blue, green and purple, which signifies European descent. Reds and oranges dominate the east side, which is African American or Somali. The line dividing the two sides is a conspicuously straight east-west divider which perfectly follows the path of Interstate 71.

Craig Calcaterra@craigcalcaterra· Jul 3

I texted this to the kids:

Anna replying to the apartment post “u know that’s hella hella haunted”

Craig Calcaterra@craigcalcaterra· Jul 2

Oooohhhh shiiiiiiii . . . www.worldofreel.com/blog/2026/7/...

He also noted that the film will not be a comedy, instead leaning into “suspense and action.” The story is set in Springfield, a town that is “secretly all COBRA….that is where our film takes place.”

Craig Calcaterra@craigcalcaterra· Jul 2

Hydration break

Craig Calcaterra@craigcalcaterra· Jul 1

England not lookin' good right now y'all.

Craig Calcaterra@craigcalcaterra· Jul 1

I don't think Giant Eagle is the be-all, end-all of grocery stores, but it's way better than fucking Kroger in about 20 ways and now that this is happening I expect GE to get enshittified the way Kroger enshittifies everything.

News alert: Kroger buying Giant Eagle supermarket chain

Craig Calcaterra@craigcalcaterra· Jun 30

This, from NYT Cooking, makes me laugh. At some point in like 2013 @aarongleeman.bsky.social put up a standalone post on HardballTalk asking whether people refrigerate ketchup and I think it was our most read story for like three years.

NYT Cooking story asking "Do I need to refrigerate ketchup?"

Craig Calcaterra@craigcalcaterra· Jun 29

Re: Bicentennial nostalgia: I wasn't even three yet, so I don't remember any of it, but I do remember everyone's house having colonial-esque furniture and decor with eagles and shit, most of which lasted in their houses well into the 80s. And in Michigan, these. Which are objectively awesome.

Michigan bicentennial license plates with a a blue field with stars on the left, and the rest of it a red design with stylized stripes under the numbers

Craig Calcaterra@craigcalcaterra· Jun 27

Ready for the football innit

Photo of me outside in the rain in an England rain jacket

Photo of me in a bar holding a beer in a cheap England tourist tshirt that has the three lions on it

Craig Calcaterra@craigcalcaterra· Jun 27

Oof

Box score line for Royals pitcher Mitch Spence: 1.1 innings, eight hits, ten runs, 3 walks, two strikeouts, two homers, 53 pitches. ERA goes up to 21.21

Craig Calcaterra@craigcalcaterra· Jun 26

I appreciate the signage at Ohio State’s radiology department.

A printed off sign taped to the wall that says “Enter here for imaging appointments” above a pic of a kinda cute skeleton

Craig Calcaterra@craigcalcaterra· Jun 25

Hey, any old heads out there remember SmugBud?

Craig Calcaterra@craigcalcaterra· Jun 25

This, from MLBPA Executive Director Bruce Meyer, makes a pretty key point. You'd think the league would try to divide the union at this point by making proposals some of the players may actually want. Instead they're offering a tray of shit sandwiches that make players' choices pretty easy.

"I will tell you with all honesty, I have never seen this degree of unity at this point among agents and players. I think, honestly, the league has done us a favor. Because their proposals are, in fact, so obviously and extremely bad for players at all level, that it's actually been a benefit for our unity.

"Anybody who's banking on major league baseball players cracking: it's never happened. It's not going to happen. That's why we're the only ones who don't have a salary cap."

Craig Calcaterra@craigcalcaterra· Jun 25

In today's newsletter, which is free, I used an obviously AI-drafted tweet from Hunter Biden as the basis for talking about why AI writing bothers me separate and apart from the "I'm a writer and this threatens me" perspective. www.cupofcoffeenews.com/cup-of-coffe...

I don't engage with AI if I can possibly avoid it, but even I've seen enough AI-produced text in various places over the past couple of years that I know it when I see it. And once you become aware of its traits you cannot help but see it every time it pops up.

AI writing has a certain cadence. One that relies heavily on cliche, quick analogy, and the massive overuse of sophomore writing seminar tricks like stinger tag lines, such as "Mamdani didn't ask permission. He took the field" and "The middle is not a strategy. It's an empty room". Most AI writing reads like it was written by or, perhaps, for some tech executive who lives for elevator pitches and executive summaries because he doesn't have time for actually developed ideas and "sounds good" beats "is good" most of the time. It's pithy stuff with the illusion of cleverness but which doesn't hold up to close reading. It's becoming ubiquitous and it's grating.

The pernicious thing about AI writing, though, is that it does make people who couldn't otherwise put two sentences together sound vaguely and superficially competent. I mean, I don't know Hunter Biden apart from what's been in the news about him over the years, but I'm pretty sure that he's not the sort of guy who whips out concise, seven-point political breakdowns on social media 12 hours after an election goes down. Which is to say that that tweet, however AI-created it was, is better than he likely would've done on his own.

Is fake literacy better than nothing? I suppose we could argue about it. But I'm really, really tired of everything reading like this. Words that sound broadly smart, but which, because they are not reasoned, cannot be reasoned with and are thus utterly empty. Words that sound like a sales pitch or the preamble to an actual con not a narrative or a conversation or an argument.

Words are the manifestation of ideas, AI deploys words to

Words are the manifestation of ideas, AI deploys words to create the illusion of an idea. Their illusory nature is made plain by the knowledge that if Biden wanted to argue exactly the opposite of what he's arguing here all he'd need to do is type in "OK, now argue it from the other side" and ChatGPT or whatever he uses will give him seven completely different and completely opposite takeaways from Tuesday's election. There's no weight there at all – there's no there there at all – and if you took Biden away from his laptop he'd be utterly unable to provide any weight on his own.

This probably doesn't matter when all it involves are Hunter Biden's political takeaways. But my lawyer friends tell me that they're seeing obviously AI-generated legal pleadings by pro se litigants. Others have noted that they're seeing it more and more in other forms of advocacy writing, applications, grievances, and the like. All of which bothers me on a superficial level as a writer who takes pride in writing things, but which truly concerns me as a human being.

It bothers me because words, deployed in any number of contexts, can and do alter people's lives. It's bad enough when they're deployed poorly or maliciously, but to see them deployed so carelessly, with less than zero consideration for their meaning, is truly frightening. It's frightening because making words mere window dressing to pre-ordained conclusions rather than the tools of deliberation itself makes the most fundamentally evil impulses disturbingly easy to carry out. Stuff like "find some reason to do that thing, I don't care what it is, as long as it sounds plausible." But the means matter, not just the ends, and working through the means forces us to reassess the ends if and when the logic doesn't add up.

The worst part of this is that I know I'm fighting a losing battle. A large account reposted Biden's tweet to Bluesky, and most of the responses were people eating that shit up. Not because they were convinced of anything but because their priors were being confirmed in a way that sounded superficially pleasant and appealing. Maybe that doesn't matter here, where the substance of the matter isn't necessarily wrong, but as someone who has spent his whole life in the business of advocacy and persuasion I know how easy it is to make people think and even do bad things by deploying words that sound superficially pleasant and appealing.

I don't know what if anything can be done about this, but nothing seems more important to me right now than than finding and valuing real human connection, wherever we can find it.

Craig Calcaterra@craigcalcaterra· Jun 25

Every hometown's got the ominous megastructure, what's yours'? bsky.app/profile/noug...

A seven-story office building in the shape of a wicker basket. Handles and all. In Newark, Ohio

Craig Calcaterra@craigcalcaterra· Jun 25

Today I wrote about bad AI writing. Then I opened Instagram and saw this from a movie account featuring a photo of Hayden Christensen and Natalie Portman. Because if you can say one thing about the Star Wars prequels it's that those two had chemistry. So, yeah I found some more AI writing.

Hayden Christensen once admitted he had a little crush on Natalie Portman while filming Star Wars.

In interviews, Hayden jokingly said it was “easy” to act in love with Natalie because he had a bit of a crush on her during filming. Their natural chemistry helped bring Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala’s love story to life on screen.

Although fans loved their connection, the

Craig Calcaterra@craigcalcaterra· Jun 24

Guy down the street put a reflecting pool in front of his little sidewalk mouse house