Casual Diehard

By Jesse Spector I never had the fortune of meeting Grant Wahl in person, but count me among the vast community whom he went out of his way to help when he didn’t have to, and I want to note that he’s part of the reason Willets Pen exists today. I had been reading The Blizzard for a while and got an itch to do something similar, and I sent Grant a DM to ask him if he knew Jonathan WIlson, the Engl...

Editor’s note: There will be a newsletter later with The Pavilion. Apologies both for the delay and for the multiple emails! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit willetspen.substack.com

For every hoodie we sell from our shop in the month of December, Willets Pen will donate a winter hat to newly-arrived families in Queens, partnering with State Senator Jessica Ramos , whose district is where the Mets play, and who has been working to help these folks settle into their new lives in New York. They’re having a holiday breakfast in a couple of weeks, so we ordered some winter hats in...

Editor’s note: We’re going to regularly schedule We Can Pod It Out episodes at noon Eastern, so you can look forward to that. After some consideration of making a breakout section, that felt overly complicated, at least for now. Sometimes, there will be a newsletter attached. Sometimes, like today, not! Other days, like when Willets Pod and Not A Football Podcast return from break, newsletters are...

Editor’s note: Starting tomorrow, We Can Pod It Out episodes will come out on their own, regularly scheduled. As you likely can tell from this post going out late on Tuesday night, we’re (I’m) still a little bit behind on organization and whatnot, but the good news is that Roger and Andrew have recorded several episodes already, so we’ve got regular content lined up. More good stuff to come, so st...

Editor’s Note Welcome to our new podcast, We Can Pod It Out , with Roger Cormier and Andrew Lowden. That much should be pretty self-explanatory. It’s also been delayed in arriving for a bit, for no reason other than my own molasses-like pace of getting things done around here. The cool thing is, Roger and Andrew already have recorded a bunch of episodes, and we’ll be able to get them going on a re...

Before we begin today, a promise was made during this podcast episode to share the Gilbert Gottfried Hollywood Squares incident, so here it is… How Bewitching Is The Witching Hour? By Roger Cormier I believe it is accepted knowledge that the NFL RedZone Channel is the greatest invention in the history of the universe. Since its inception in 2009, it's rarely steered us wrong, which was why their m...

By Jesse Spector UConn freshman Justin Joly averaged 9.3 yards per carry as a senior at Iona Prep last year, information that is not part of his college bio because Joly is a tight end. He now has one rush in college, for 12 yards, on a play that could have been an absolute disaster on Saturday at West Point. The Huskies had a weird day at Army, losing 34-17 despite the Cadets having zero (0) pass...

By Keelin Billue Join the Not A Football Podcast crew, Britt, Keelin and Jesse (Grace had to work her real job – boo!) to talk mostly about football and, occasionally, cigarettes, gambling debts, Juice Kiffin, and a host of various asides. Let’s dive into Week 11 and beyond. * Ore-GONE: So, the college football rankings have not really changed as we go into Week 12 with the exception of one team:...

Screw It, Always Go For 2 By Roger Cormier It's funny how in football, "analytics" is just another way of saying "go for it, coward" and "pretend your kicker doesn't exist." It's funny and it's true, which is even better.  College football is where gimmicks go to die, but aggressively eschewing the kicking game has made it to the NFL. That doesn't mean the NCAA universe still doesn't bang its head...

This week’s episode of Not A Football Podcast is once again brought to you by Home Sweet Home To - Dot - Me , the Internet’s premier source of Addy Baird commercial reads and pants that will make hosts of this show introduce themselves as looking like Yasser Arafat for a moment if used as headwear, Learning opportunity! Arafat’s headscarf is a keffiyeh, and the pattern is specifically Palestinian...

This episode brings the heat, as usual, but if you need more Scoville units, here’s these guys. We will not be linking to “Boner Bears For Him,” but you can assuredly find it if you need it. And here’s the hamster video, which does pair well with Rocky Top, as played twice during this epsiode… In honor of Tom Brady… And for fun, we have this helpful map of Florida and its teams. Miami is not inclu...

This week’s episode of Not A Football Podcast is presented by Lane’s Secret . Don’t let your wardrobe slide into Death Valley this week — give it some Juice and open a transfer portal to style. Lane's Secret , proud sponsor of Not A Football Podcast and The Daily Mississippian . By Jesse Spector As you can hear if you have the sound up for the video (it’s not really necessary), there were about fi...

This week’s episode of Not A Football is brought to you by JUICE KIFFIN, future head coach of the University of Auburn and part of the Lane’s Secret family.  By Keelin Billue The gang's all here this week (including at least three pets). Grace, Britt, Keelin, and Jesse break down week 6 of college football and look ahead to week 7. * Lane is Learning: Lane still doesn’t have the eye contact thing...

There’s not really anything to say today as far as show notes. It’s interesting, for sure, to go back the day after Game 2 — the day of Game 3 — and hear what I called “processing a lot of shit” while it was happening, during the part of Game 1 immediately after Emma Stone was shown on the Jumbotron in her Padres gear and booed. We really were, though, even though the game was… the game. And here’...

By Jesse Spector In addition to grabbing Keelin’s words from yesterday’s show notes , I’m not going to try to duplicate that format! I’m going to expand a little bit on Jeff McNeil’s batting crown and other end-of-season stats. McNeil is the first Met in 11 years to win a batting title, and the first Met ever to lead the majors in average. Miguel Cabrera batted .344 in 2011 to edge the Mets’ short...

By Keelin Billue This week’s episode of Not A Football Podcast is brought to you by Lane’s Secret . Add some Juice to your wardrobe with looks that will never leave you feeling like you’ve been fired and stranded at the airport. Turn your closet into a transfer portal to style. Lane's Secret * Why Do We Talk About Lane So Much?: It’s getting a little weird honestly. When are we going to stop talki...

By Keelin Billue This week’s episode of Not A Football Podcast is brought to you by Lane’s Secret . Add some Juice to your wardrobe with looks that will never leave you feeling like you’ve been fired and stranded at the airport. Turn your closet into a transfer portal to style. Lane's Secret . Also, the coast is clear: we do not talk about Urban Meyer this week! You are safe to proceed. * Mr. Gorb...

The Mets Are Good, But Never Not Weird By Addy Baird On Tuesday night, one day after clinching a playoff spot, the Mets were down 4-0 against the Brewers, and Jesse and I were on the podcast, writing off the game. Of course they’ll lose right after they clinch! That’s the Mets for you, baby. Besides, this clinch, this week doesn’t feel quite like the celebration we all want it to. Yes, the Mets ar...

This episode of Pod At The Park is from the September 12, when the Mets… they played the Cubs. Let’s just leave it there. But the beauty of Pod At The Park is that we don’t need a good game to have a good show, and this is a good one with writer and Mets Twitter stalwart Danielle Sepulveres. We know that the Mets didn’t come back to win this game, but they certainly did turn things around after th...

By Keelin Billue It was a somewhat slow week, as big schools faced and mostly defeated, small schools. As the  Florida-Tennessee apocalypse approaches in Week 4, “Not A Football Podcast” prepares you with some bits of tinder for your football fire.  Wrapping up Week 3, it’s Brittany Huber, Grace McDermott, and Jesse Spector, going coast to coast to bring you the most, including… * Frost Bitten: Ne...

By Jesse Spector I woke up on Sunday and looked at the score. I’d been awake when the game was played, but I didn’t tune in, or figure out how to tune in, or keep up with what was going on as it happened. I had been dialed in on catching up on the day of college football, after coming home from the APOTO Dollars 4 Dingers fundraiser raffle and Mets-Pirates game. I knew the game was happening, but...

Linda’s back! Also, Addy, Janice, and Jesse are here. And the Dollars 4 Dingers fundraiser is here tomorrow! What’s Dollars 4 Dingers? Obviously, we’re glad to help any way we can, and here’s the flyer for tomorrow’s event out in Flushing! Obviously, there’s 40 whole minutes here and we didn’t just talk about Saturday afternoon. But that’s the only actually important thing here. (Also, this episod...

By Roger Cormier It’s getting autumn-y. The weather is cooler, our pumpkin spice lattes more justified. Fall happens to be my favorite season. The temp is juuuust right, and baseball playoffs, baby. An entire region of the U.S. (New England) is dedicated to it. What’s not to love?  Whenever I hear the phrase “seasons change” — and there is a contemporary commercial for I think Home Depot that play...

2 a.m. football is the best football By Roger Cormier The NFL would never, even in its deepest, darkest pandemic days, dare start football games at 11 p.m. Eastern. The NCAA, however, doesn’t give a damn about sleep schedules. This utter carelessness is frowned upon by those who care about such things as mental and physical health. I get it. But what they don’t understand is everything that goes i...