Josh Wilker
@joshwilker.bsky.social
author of Cardboard Gods, Benchwarmer, The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training
https://cardboardgods.net/
https://cardboardgods.net/
Will buy and read this one immediately, as it hits 3 of my immediate-read principles: 1. I'll read anything by [insert author] (formed in this case upon reading the brilliant Our Team); 2. I'll read anything about the basketball of my youth; 3. Andrew Toney assayed within
Probably impossible to read on here, but the jacket for "Moses and the Doctor" is now finished.
November 9, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Will buy and read this one immediately, as it hits 3 of my immediate-read principles: 1. I'll read anything by [insert author] (formed in this case upon reading the brilliant Our Team); 2. I'll read anything about the basketball of my youth; 3. Andrew Toney assayed within
Another new episode, another cause for celebration. Nothing is helping me understand the world I live in and love and loathe more than Hickey's deep, beautifully digressive, revelatory exploration of rock.
The new episode of A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs is now up! Racial slurs! Tolkien! West Coast jazz! Dancing pigs! Lawsuits! So many lawsuits! It can only be the story of Creedence Clearwater Revival and "Proud Mary".
A History of Rock Music in 500 Songs
This episode, we look at the song “Proud Mary” and the brief but productive career of Creedence Clearwater Revival. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, a…
500songs.com
November 3, 2025 at 9:56 PM
Another new episode, another cause for celebration. Nothing is helping me understand the world I live in and love and loathe more than Hickey's deep, beautifully digressive, revelatory exploration of rock.
I'm a reviser, with words, with memories, with reality. In my mind since the game I didn't want to end ended, Alejandro Kirk drops down a stunning, game-tying bunt. It could have worked! I've seen it work! Muggsy Allenson did it! Continue ridiculous game!
November 3, 2025 at 5:45 PM
I'm a reviser, with words, with memories, with reality. In my mind since the game I didn't want to end ended, Alejandro Kirk drops down a stunning, game-tying bunt. It could have worked! I've seen it work! Muggsy Allenson did it! Continue ridiculous game!
Reposted by Josh Wilker
from my Kerouacian "scribbled secret notebook . . . for yr own joy," some words on game 7 and Muggsy Allenson: cardboardgods.net/2025/11/02/g...
Gary Allenson
Winning and losing. I stayed up late watching game 7 of the World Series, which went into extra innings and was incredible from start to finish, two Hall of Famers starting, one of them also battin…
cardboardgods.net
November 2, 2025 at 3:18 PM
from my Kerouacian "scribbled secret notebook . . . for yr own joy," some words on game 7 and Muggsy Allenson: cardboardgods.net/2025/11/02/g...
from my Kerouacian "scribbled secret notebook . . . for yr own joy," some words on game 7 and Muggsy Allenson: cardboardgods.net/2025/11/02/g...
Gary Allenson
Winning and losing. I stayed up late watching game 7 of the World Series, which went into extra innings and was incredible from start to finish, two Hall of Famers starting, one of them also battin…
cardboardgods.net
November 2, 2025 at 3:18 PM
from my Kerouacian "scribbled secret notebook . . . for yr own joy," some words on game 7 and Muggsy Allenson: cardboardgods.net/2025/11/02/g...
I wasn't rooting for anything last night except for exactly what I got, unforgettable baseball, and it broke my heart anyway. The joy of that slide into home by Clement . . .
November 2, 2025 at 12:09 PM
I wasn't rooting for anything last night except for exactly what I got, unforgettable baseball, and it broke my heart anyway. The joy of that slide into home by Clement . . .
This feels weird to say as a Red Sox fan, but I'm bummed I didn't get to see Mattingly celebrate
November 2, 2025 at 4:23 AM
This feels weird to say as a Red Sox fan, but I'm bummed I didn't get to see Mattingly celebrate
this game has had everything and is just 2 hours away from going back in time
November 2, 2025 at 4:03 AM
this game has had everything and is just 2 hours away from going back in time
Reposted by Josh Wilker
geddy lee claps for the blue jays in 7/4 time
November 2, 2025 at 1:55 AM
geddy lee claps for the blue jays in 7/4 time
The three nepo babies coming up big so far for the Jays
November 2, 2025 at 1:21 AM
The three nepo babies coming up big so far for the Jays
Some of my favorite writers have passed away in fairly recent years--Denis Johnson, Andre Dubus, Bruce Jay Friedman come to mind--but I don't actively miss them because I've got their books. But Roger Angell, man. Him I miss bad every year around now.
November 2, 2025 at 1:11 AM
Some of my favorite writers have passed away in fairly recent years--Denis Johnson, Andre Dubus, Bruce Jay Friedman come to mind--but I don't actively miss them because I've got their books. But Roger Angell, man. Him I miss bad every year around now.
Bichette with the Kirk Gibson solution to running while hurt
November 2, 2025 at 1:01 AM
Bichette with the Kirk Gibson solution to running while hurt
Spaceman could hit. (Can hit--he's probably still playing the field when not pitching for a Vermont town team.)
Shohei Ohtani:
First pitcher with a hit in a World Series Game 7 since Jesse Orosco in 1986
First SP with a hit in a WS winner-take-all since 1975, when both Don Gullett and Bill Lee each got a hit
First pitcher with a hit in a World Series Game 7 since Jesse Orosco in 1986
First SP with a hit in a WS winner-take-all since 1975, when both Don Gullett and Bill Lee each got a hit
November 2, 2025 at 12:56 AM
Spaceman could hit. (Can hit--he's probably still playing the field when not pitching for a Vermont town team.)
Reposted by Josh Wilker
People all over the country need to understand that federal agents are not in Chicago to prevent violence – they're in Chicago to cause violence.
(from the inbox) Less than an hour later this morning, just before 10:30 at Roscoe and Harding, feds again released gas as they were driving away, unobstructed, from a relatively small number of neighbors.
October 25, 2025 at 5:50 PM
People all over the country need to understand that federal agents are not in Chicago to prevent violence – they're in Chicago to cause violence.
Reposted by Josh Wilker
The fifth issue of my newsletter, This, Not That, just shipped. It covers The Bad News Bears, some seemingly personal ghost stories from Kipling and M. R. James, and Rosemary Clooney & Duke Ellington's album Blue Rose. Read & subscribe at the link below:
this-not-that.ghost.io/issue-5-octo...
this-not-that.ghost.io/issue-5-octo...
October 24, 2025 at 12:29 PM
The fifth issue of my newsletter, This, Not That, just shipped. It covers The Bad News Bears, some seemingly personal ghost stories from Kipling and M. R. James, and Rosemary Clooney & Duke Ellington's album Blue Rose. Read & subscribe at the link below:
this-not-that.ghost.io/issue-5-octo...
this-not-that.ghost.io/issue-5-octo...
Thanks, Levi!
The person who has written most insightfully about The Bad News Bears is @joshwilker.bsky.social, who wrote a whole book about the (not good) sequel, The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training. (Josh may also be our best writer on the ‘70s.)
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/673971...
www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/673971...
The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training by Josh Wilker: 9781593764180 | PenguinRandomHouse.com: Books
In 1977, The Bad News Bears in Breaking Training had a moment in the sun. A glowing junk sculpture of American genres—sports flick, coming-of-age story, family melodrama, after-school special, ro...
www.penguinrandomhouse.com
October 24, 2025 at 9:33 PM
Thanks, Levi!
And not for nothing
October 19, 2025 at 2:46 AM
And not for nothing
Reposted by Josh Wilker
An astonishingly large crowd!
Chicago
Chicago
October 18, 2025 at 9:18 PM
An astonishingly large crowd!
Chicago
Chicago
Reposted by Josh Wilker
No Kings Coalition says two million more people protested today than in June. Nearly 7 million total.
October 18, 2025 at 9:50 PM
No Kings Coalition says two million more people protested today than in June. Nearly 7 million total.
October 18, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Took my son to @freelancewrestling.bsky.social last night. The first thing he said afterward: "That was the most awesome thing I've ever done."
October 18, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Took my son to @freelancewrestling.bsky.social last night. The first thing he said afterward: "That was the most awesome thing I've ever done."
Reposted by Josh Wilker
BREAKING TRAINING is a bad movie, but the defense of it by @joshwilker.bsky.social is a work of art.
October 8, 2025 at 11:13 PM
BREAKING TRAINING is a bad movie, but the defense of it by @joshwilker.bsky.social is a work of art.
Reposted by Josh Wilker
Trump thinks he can silence critics. Here’s the counterattack that will ram his threats right back down his throat. Trump wants silence. The winning move? Noise he can’t muzzle.🔥🔥🔥
www.jackhopkinsnow.com
www.jackhopkinsnow.com
How Kimmel and the Rest Can Shove Trump’s Threats Right Back Down His Throat
Why Going Direct-to-Audience is Trump’s Worst Nightmare
open.substack.com
September 18, 2025 at 11:42 PM
Trump thinks he can silence critics. Here’s the counterattack that will ram his threats right back down his throat. Trump wants silence. The winning move? Noise he can’t muzzle.🔥🔥🔥
www.jackhopkinsnow.com
www.jackhopkinsnow.com
Reposted by Josh Wilker
🩵!!! COVER REVEAL !!! 🩵
Check out the cover for my forthcoming book, HEARTLAND, about the rise of Larry Bird in rural Indiana, the miracle of his 1979 Indiana State team, and the enduring power and meaning of that team some 50 years later.
Coming 3/3/26 from @atriabooks.bsky.social!
Check out the cover for my forthcoming book, HEARTLAND, about the rise of Larry Bird in rural Indiana, the miracle of his 1979 Indiana State team, and the enduring power and meaning of that team some 50 years later.
Coming 3/3/26 from @atriabooks.bsky.social!
September 8, 2025 at 6:58 PM
🩵!!! COVER REVEAL !!! 🩵
Check out the cover for my forthcoming book, HEARTLAND, about the rise of Larry Bird in rural Indiana, the miracle of his 1979 Indiana State team, and the enduring power and meaning of that team some 50 years later.
Coming 3/3/26 from @atriabooks.bsky.social!
Check out the cover for my forthcoming book, HEARTLAND, about the rise of Larry Bird in rural Indiana, the miracle of his 1979 Indiana State team, and the enduring power and meaning of that team some 50 years later.
Coming 3/3/26 from @atriabooks.bsky.social!