Nothing noteworthy has happened in Rangers world in the last few days. I’m grateful for that; it has been nice not to have to panic-leave any family gatherings to go write up a trade or a free-agent signing. But that also means we don’t have many baseball updates for you.
There is one major announcement coming tomorrow. It’s not baseball-related, but it is This-Website-related, and I can’t wait.
In the meantime, I thought I would try to get to know The Upset community a little better by asking these three questions and letting you go for it in the comments section:
1. What was your favorite personal moment of 2017?
2. Recommend one book / movie / tv show / album from 2017
3. What was your favorite sports-related moment of 2017?
I’m not sure I can narrow it down to just one for either of these, so I suppose you can do more than one if you want.
For my personal moment… Taking Heather to Minneapolis for our tenth anniversary was a good one. We went to see Paisley Park (worth the visit), then later– well, I really need to get Heather to write her own entry telling the story of meeting Jimbo, but the short version is: we spent our anniversary crashing the birthday party of a guy who was turning 70-something. Any time I get to travel with her, everything is okay.
Staying up all night with her on November 30th into the morning hours of December 1st as we launched the site was also something I’ll never forget. I used to pull all-nighters with no trouble at all. Now it takes a week to recover.
We watched our neighborhood band together to change the name of our kids’ elementary school from that of a Confederate General to something more reflective of the neighborhood. That was a moment I had been hoping for since we moved back to Texas. Whatever your political leanings, it was encouraging to see a community come together and to see local government acknowledge the will and the efforts of the community.
As for recommendations…
Books: Sinners if the Hands of a Loving God by Brian Zahnd and Finding God in the Waves by Mike McHargue were both essential reads for me as I wrestled this year.
TV: Glitch and Manhunt: Unabomber were two that I remember. I’m about to dig in to the new season of Peaky Blinders as well.
Movies: 13th (the documentary about the 13th amendment) and A Monster Calls were two I’d recommend. Looking up the links, I guess neither of them came out this year, but I saw them both for the first time in 2017.
Album: it was a good year of music. But if I had to nail it down to one, I’ve been listening a lot to Aromanticism by Moses Sumney this month. Start with “Don’t Bother Calling”
And lastly, my favorite moment in 2017 sports…
The more I cover the Rangers, the less I’ve been able to watch the other sports, so these are all Rangers-centric, but it was some kind of tie between Austin Bibens-Dirkx beating Max Scherzer in Washington, Adrian Beltre’s 3,000th hit (and the subsequent celebration on the field), and Jake Diekman’s return to the mound.
No. Hang on. There is one other one:
It has been a year. 2018 is—as we work to make The Upset a success—already promising to be a full and frantic year. But It was good for me to look back and remember these moments from 2017.
What are yours?
-Levi
Or Moyal says
Favorite personal moment: Adopting a puppy and watching him jump around my Great Dane on day 1 like a very gregarious rabbit meeting a Stegosaurus.
Cultural recommendation: Michael Kiwanuka. Fascinating individual, gifted singer/songwriter. Listen to Love and Hate, then literally everything else.
Sports moment: One day in November I won 6 online Madden games in a row.
Yeah, this was a bad year for Dallas sports.
Levi Weaver says
Ha – first game in RTTS after the Marlins finally traded me, I struck out 21 batters. We did it!
Patrickkrauss says
1) Favorite personal 2017 moment: Wife finishing up her masters and landing a new job.
2a) Favorite Book of 2017: Smart Baseball by Keith Law
2b) Favorite TV Show of 2017: The Punisher on Netflix
2c) Favorite Movie of 2017: The Big Sick
2d) Favorite Album of 2017: From the Fires – Greta Van Fleet
3) Favorite Sports Moment of 2017: Beltre getting his 3000th hit
Levi Weaver says
Ahhhhhh I forgot about The Big Sick! One of my favorites of this year, for sure. And this is a great reminder to listen to Greta Van Fleet, whose name I have heard enough that she’s on my subconscious To-Listen list.
Logan Westbrooks says
Favorite personal moment would probably be most of the year as a whole for me. Got stationed in England and have been able to meet some great people and see amazing sights I never imagined myself to be able to experience in person.
TV recommendation is Legion (Marvel Comics show on FX). With both the big screen and small screen entrenched with comic book content now this show was actually amazing and may have been overlooked by some.
Favorite sports moment was a 3-2 loss the Rangers took by the Twins on April 25th. The reason for that being it was probably one of the last games I’ll have been able to attend with my dad for a while since I’m now living overseas.
Levi Weaver says
I lived just west of Birmingham (Oldbury) for two years, and I still miss it. I can’t get a proper cup of tea here.
I’ll add Legion to my list, thanks!
Samuel Hale says
Personal moment: Getting called to come work at the Ticket from making sandwiches after leaving college radio two months prior.
As far as 2017 media goes: A big fan of Madisons’ new album “No Man’s Land,” along with Kaela Sinclair’s mini album “We Watched The Lights Go Out,” and the Human Circuit’s “Electric City.” I feel like I talk both too much and not enough about BoJack Horseman, and Season 4 dropped in 2017 so go consume that. Need a book? Shea Serrano’s “Basketball and Other Things” is well worth your time.
Favorite sports moment: Getting to be on the field for Pudge’s number retirement. I try not to mark out much anymore, but damn if that ceremony didn’t hit me in places I thought I had cauterized.
Levi Weaver says
Yeah, that was pretty special. I should have added BoJack to mine; I guess I file shows away by when I start watching them?
Andrew Robertson says
My favorite personal moment from this past year would be getting a lot of pieces moving for my future. I’m currently at Hardin-Simmons finishing up my undergrad, and as I prepare to go for my MBA a lot of questions became answered which was awesome.
My recommendation is actually going to be for a podcast called Making the Call. This is a podcast I started over the summer, and it is focused on the DFW sports and other major sports headlines. Like mentioned above, I’m a college student so I try to provide opinions and analysis from a college student’s perspective. I’m not trying to advertise or anything because I know The Upset is ad-free which is truly amazing. But since I do this just for fun and not for money, I encourage any of y’all to go check it out! You can find it on iTunes and Soundcloud.
What was your favorite sports-related moment of 2017 would be on July 30th when Adrian Beltre hit his 3000th hit. My family and I were at this game (we bought tickets last night when the previous game ended with him at 2999). Being in the stadium and witnessing it in person was the most surreal sports moment I’ve been in attendance of, and it is certainly something I will never forget.
Levi Weaver says
Double down the left field line off Wade Miley. 3-0 count on the 30th of July for hit #3,000. The ball hit the wall, and the ball girl had to get out of the way to avoid becoming instantly famous. No chance I’ll ever forget it.
Nick Rash says
Good ole HSU. Miss that place.
Andrew Robertson says
You an HSU alum? That’s awesome!
TexManZero says
Personal Moment: Getting promoted in my career and getting a nice pay raise. Not everything in the world is about money, but this was a nice move.
2017 Recommendation: I don’t watch much TV, but I do like the Grand Tour on Amazon Prime with the old Top Gear guys. My book recommendation is Grant by Ron Chernow.
2017 in Sports: Watching Beltre hit 3,000 at home. It’s rare to have a no doubter Hall-of-Famer hit a milestone for your team.
Levi Weaver says
Congrats! And yeah, at the end of the season, I was sure that ABD’s win was my favorite moment, but as the winter starts to wash away the finer details from my memory, #3000 is still pretty clear.
Cody Canafax says
Personal moment: It’s a tie between a) watching my wife graduate with her masters degree and get to celebrate with our 1 yr-old daughter afterwards and b) going to Glacier National Park with my wife and best friends for my 30th birthday.
Entertainment recommendations: Earning the Rockies by Robert Kaplan is an interesting look at how the United States’ geography dictates our relationship with other countries. Red Oaks on Amazon had its 3rd and final season this year. It’s a lighthearted, enjoyable look back into a 1980s country club in New Jersey. Afterglow by Asgeir is my favorite album of 2017. He played a show here in October in front of maybe 70 people and it was fantastic.
Sports moment: Beltre getting 3,000 at the same time Pudge was giving his HOF speech can’t be beat. The image of Beltre’s children running back to him from the outfield is one I won’t soon forget.
Levi Weaver says
Excellent. I’ll have to check out Kaplan’s book; that sounds fascinating.
Kevin Turner says
1) Seeing LCD Soundsystem and Arcade Fire for the first time, after many years of waiting. Also Tripping Daisy on their reunion tour.
2) Book: Meet Me in the Bathroom: The Rebirth of Indie Rock in New York 2001-2011
TV: American Vandals (a graffiti dong mystery)
Movie: Get Out
Album: Sleep Well Beast by The National or American Dream by LCD Soundsystem
3) Beltre 3k, Dirk 30k
Sean Shapiro says
Not much to write home about: bought a house, wrote a book, and wife is expecting. Oh yea, after some conversations with a guy named Levi and Tex-mex I ended up with a job writing for an exciting new site you should definitely check out.
Nick Rash says
Favorite Personal Moment: Went on a solo vacation a few weeks back to get away from work and a downer year altogether. Went to Gulf Shores and hiked around the Gulf Shores State Park. It was exactly what I needed.
Movie: John Wick 2 – because
TV Show: The Young Pope – I need to re-watch it. Some of the music was incredible and had a very interesting vibe to the show all around.
Albums: Planetarium – So incredible. Interesting characterizations of the objects in our solar system. Music is amazing, flows fairly well as an album (they do stack up a couple instrumental songs which I tend to slightly not care for). AND Care by David Bazan – He’s one of those guys I should have been in to years ago, but did not listen to until Blanco came out late last year. I fell in love with it immediately and was surprised when he released Care only a handful of months following. I didn’t expect it to live up to how I felt about Blanco, but it surpassed it and has become a regular listen for me. Still compiling my complete 2017 list, I’d be interested to see yours.
Favorite Sports Moment: Being at the Beltre 3k game with my good buddies from Abilene. I bought tickets to Saturday, Sunday, and Monday’s games just to make sure I got to see it (did the same thing for Michael Young’s 2000th hit). It was electric.
Levi Weaver says
This is all great. I’ve been into Bazan since his Pedro the Lion days. “Curse Your Branches” is a Top-10 All-time album for me.
Nick Rash says
Yeah man. That was the next album I got into after Care. Definitely a different subject matter for a theme than I was used to. It rules.
Randy Keadey says
Well Levi, so glad to know that even though you will cover all DFW teams, you personally, will hone in on the Rangers! I am a HUGE and passionate fan since 1974 when I relocated from Ohio and Big Red Machine country, to north Texas, Wichita Falls, for 42 years????! Now retired, I live in North Richland Hills, and am currently a twenty game Ranger STH.
So my favorite event of 2017 was the last weekend of July when I made my first trip to Cooperstown for four days and witnessed the induction of Pudge into the HOF!!! And I was so looking forward to seeing AB get his 3000th, but, of course, that didn’t happen cause he accomplished that fear the same afternoon of the Cooperstown ceremony. But what a great four days, and though I have Pudges autograph, and selfie, as you see on my twitter page, I couldn’t access him in Cooperstown, but did get several selfies with HOF’s!!
So, I am looking forward again to ST, will be there the last week this year, and the goal is a signing by Nomar of a 16 x 20 of him and his pretty swing, purchased at the Authentics Station at GLP!
Good luck with this site, happy to be a subscriber!!
Levi Weaver says
That’s excellent, Randy. I wish I could have been there for Pudge’s induction.