Craig Calcaterra
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craigcalcaterra.bsky.social
Craig Calcaterra
@craigcalcaterra.bsky.social
I write Cup of Coffee, a daily baseball, politics, entertainment, and nonsense newsletter: https://www.cupofcoffeenews.com/
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Hi. I write Cup of Coffee. It's a baseball, news, politics, culture, and nonsense newsletter. You'd dig it the most.
www.cupofcoffeenews.com
Cup of Coffee Newsletter
A daily baseball, politics, entertainment, and nonsense newsletter
www.cupofcoffeenews.com
The Rays seem to sign nothing but platoon dudes these days. Which is their thing, for sure, but it probably only works well if you have 52 roster spots, which the Rays don't have.
December 3, 2025 at 10:57 PM
It's wild that not a single Republican has done as much to cover for Donald Trump today as Hakeem Jeffries has.
December 3, 2025 at 10:17 PM
Ohio Rep. Troy Balderson is there laughing along with Trump's unadorned anti-Somali racism. His district runs adjacent to Columbus, the city with the second-largest Somali population in the U.S. Hey @dispatch.com, maybe worth reporting about this?

bsky.app/profile/just...
Trump, continued: "What the Somalian people have done to Minnesota is not even believable. It’s not even believable. And a lot of it starts with the governor. A lot of it starts with Barack HUSSEIN Obama, because that’s when people started coming in... They want to kiss our country good night."
December 3, 2025 at 9:55 PM
If they were even halfway intelligent it would dawn on J.D. Vance and some others that the only hope they have is to 25th Amendment Trump and spend the next year handing out checks to people while trying to memory-hole all of this ugliness, but they're gonna go down with this ship I guess.
December 3, 2025 at 9:47 PM
Love having a president that does nothing but sleep and, when disturbed, spout gutter racist invective until he gets sleepy again.
December 3, 2025 at 9:43 PM
All of the verbiage used in these kinds of stories about when these right-wing jackasses REALLY MEAN IT when they use slurs and hateful speech vs. when they're just joking could be avoided if New York Times reporters simply talked about what people did rather than trying to divine their intentions.
How a Kansas Republican Became Part of a Racist, Antisemitic Group Chat
www.nytimes.com
December 3, 2025 at 8:48 PM
I will accept being down 1-0 to Arsenal at the half.
December 3, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Reposted by Craig Calcaterra
“He never did anything enlightening; he never did anything that anticipated the future.”

“[Kuhn] established a pattern of antagonism and acrimony and distrust between the owners and players … that took baseball 25-plus years to work
through."

Andrew Zimbalist, @bostonglobe.com
12/3/2007, 9 months after Kuhn's death, he was elected to the
Baseball Hall of Fame.

In an article written by reporter Murrary Chass for the New York Times shortly after Kuhn's death, Chass disputed Kuhn's praise as #MLB commissioner

See below from "Attorneys in the Baseball Hall of Fame" p 175
December 3, 2025 at 7:52 PM
Holy shit Jeffries sucks. He sucks so, so bad. You could not build a worse opposition leader in a fucking lab. He absolutely has to go. bsky.app/profile/atru...
Jeffries: "The border is secure. That's a good thing. It happened on his watch. He wants to claim credit for it, of course he'll get credit for that. In terms of making sure that we actually deal with the issues that matter, including on immigration, there's a lot that's left to be desired."
December 3, 2025 at 6:58 PM
This story has everything, man.

The fact that one of the main figures is a Premier League owner nicknamed "The Lizard" who has an exemption to anti-gambling rules because he's a professional gambler yet he STILL probably broke the rules, is just one part of it. www.thetimes.com/sport/footba...
Nigel Farage aide fronted Tony Bloom’s £600m betting syndicate, court told
High Court claim alleges George Cottrell was the ‘whale’ for betting syndicate of Brighton owner, who has special dispensation from the FA to gamble on football
www.thetimes.com
December 3, 2025 at 6:39 PM
You want more balls dropping in the outfield? Here's your answer.
December 3, 2025 at 4:55 PM
One of my readers observed that baseball is the only sport where the enjoyment of the game decreases as the athleticism of the players increases. I don't know if I totally agree, but it's striking that so much of what we don't care for in the game these days is a function of guys being too good.
This is a good dive into something we've been talking about for a while and which many people refuse to admit:

fielders are too good, low BA is not just hitters wanting launch angle or whatever

More hits? Make it harder on fielders.

www.nytimes.com/athletic/685...
The gapper is dead: Who killed the double and triple — and what can MLB do about it?
www.nytimes.com
December 3, 2025 at 4:00 PM
Rockies front office lookin' like a movie directed by Clint Eastwood in which a bunch of old guys come out of retirement to show everyone that they can still get the job done. Except instead of being truly old it's just Gen-Xers who haven't run baseball operations departments since the Obama years.
December 3, 2025 at 3:55 PM
This is who some people on the left are trying to duplicate. bsky.app/profile/tyle...
what’s more virgin than a computer
December 3, 2025 at 3:11 PM
The fact that this beat out two Joy Division songs, a sad Aimee Mann song, and Band of Horses “The Funeral” tells you what kind of year I’ve been having.
December 3, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Today’s newsletter: MLB's sketchy focus group, Cody Ponce and Ryan Weiss come home form Korea, Alek Manoah goes to Anaheim, the Eras Committee voters, Dicks v. Kuntz, good news for Democrats, "Mad Men, and mincemeat

www.cupofcoffeenews.com/cup-of-coffe...
Cup of Coffee: December 3, 2025
MLB's sketchy focus group, Cody Ponce and Ryan Weiss come home form Korea, Alek Manoah goes to Anaheim, the Eras Committee voters, Dicks v. Kuntz, good news for Democrats, "Mad Men, and mincemeat
www.cupofcoffeenews.com
December 3, 2025 at 2:09 PM
I muted the thread. I literally have an appointment I have to get to and I know that if I keep reading replies that I'll be late, and that's simply not happening.
December 3, 2025 at 1:44 PM
I do my best to keep an open mind and change my views on a matter when the underlying information changes, but I reject any and all scientific literature which suggests that people who are chronically late for things are anything other than inconsiderate assholes.
December 3, 2025 at 1:07 PM
Already getting pushback re: my pro-mincemeat sentiments in today's newsletter. You are all animals on whom all good things are wasted.
December 3, 2025 at 11:45 AM
Today's newsletter is out!

Inside: MLB's sketchy focus group, Cody Ponce and Ryan Weiss come home form Korea, Alek Manoah goes to Anaheim, the Eras Committee voters, DBT + Isbell, Dicks v. Kuntz, good news for Democrats, "Mad Men, and mincemeat.

www.cupofcoffeenews.com/cup-of-coffe...
Cup of Coffee: December 3, 2025
MLB's sketchy focus group, Cody Ponce and Ryan Weiss come home form Korea, Alek Manoah goes to Anaheim, the Eras Committee voters, Dicks v. Kuntz, good news for Democrats, "Mad Men, and mincemeat
www.cupofcoffeenews.com
December 3, 2025 at 11:07 AM
The MLB astroturfing campaign, which I write about in today's newsletter which will drop soon, is embarrassing for the league. And that's before you get into the fact that one of the league's marks uses the "the MLB" construction. bsky.app/profile/djmo...
Check out the responses on the other site from the people Drellich profiled; nothing but hit dogs hollering and clout farmers.
December 3, 2025 at 10:35 AM
Three episodes into my, like, fourth rewatch of "Mad Men" and I always lose it when Don gets rip-shit on Fielding Beer, builds the playhouse, barely hides his contempt for his neighbors, neglects to get the birthday cake back on time and then comes home with a dog.
December 3, 2025 at 2:59 AM
Miss U, Sal
December 3, 2025 at 12:42 AM
This is the vibe I’m wanting when the Republicans are removed from power. It won’t happen but it’s what I want.
December 2, 2025 at 11:28 PM