The Connection Newsletter 79 - Pickleball, Sports, Money, Fun

The Connection Newsletter 79 - The Secret History of The Greatest Golfer. How to Survive a Recession. Pickleball.

January 20, 2020

Hello!

This is edition #79 of

The Connection

, the weekly email I send family, friends, and future friends (hello!) Glad you're here. 

A few things from me this week:

I published an

. 

(The answer: maybe both? Or perhaps neither.) For many people, I think having a full-time job is a wonderful experience. Contrary to #hustle hashtags and Facebook parties to hawk leggings made from 75% recycled plastic, not everyone is cut out to “be your own boss.” The pressure is enormous and can lead to a lot of unhappiness.

I also read

How Extraordinary People Become That Way

 

by Brendon Burchard and

. It was an 8/10 for me. The habits covered are hard and that’s (probably) part of what makes them valuable, i.e. there’s very little talk about your perfect morning routine. Would recommend to fellow personal development geeks. 

Finally, I started a Pickleball site and

! I have fond memories of playing in middle school and recently, the game has surged in popularity (my parents love it). If you’re interested in the game, would love if you followed along as I publish more and build up the site. 

Okay, that’s it. Here are this week’s articles:

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  Rise And Fall in Sports Superstardom

If you only know one thing about me, it might be this: I'm a Conor McGregor fan. The mixed martial artist returned to the octagon Saturday evening with a stunning 40-second TKO over the seasoned Donald Cerrone. In the post-fight glow, the result seemed inevitable, but victory never is. I wonder: what would the narrative be if McGregor lost? How would the countless profiles have chronicled the spectacular rise and fall of the sport's greatest superstar?  Coincidentally, as of late there's been a trove of such articles: what happens to sports superstars once their shine dampens? How do we remember their legacy? How many different shapes can the end take? 

I've cherry-picked four recent articles about the end of stardom, across three different sports. Each one is a unique look at the denouement of one's life's work. Each one I highly recommend:

. “Everyone who knows Eli Manning agrees he is perfectly suited to handle retirement. If they had to bet, he’ll disappear entirely into domestic life, not join Peyton in TV ubiquity. 

“They suggest, in fact, we may never see Eli again, not in the public eye.

Instead, he’ll be the dad who takes his kids to school every morning and proudly mows his lawn on Sunday afternoons.”

---

. “Carmelo Anthony now largely plays [in] a gym in Hell's Kitchen. Those close to him have referred to the gym as a sanctuary for Anthony, a place where he can disappear into the game he loves and escape the growing doubts that he'll never play it again professionally.

“The gym isn't far from Madison Square Garden, which he helped electrify six years ago; it's only a few avenues to the east, maybe a 20-minute walk.

But the distance from where he was then to where he is now is nothing shy of an eternity.”

---

. “Everyone, fan and foe, benefited from the Patriot greatness Tom Brady and Bill Belichick produced. Because who wants a mediocre nemesis, an Evil Empire that is not fearsomely invincible? Horror movies would lose their punch if the monster didn’t keep coming back, again and again, sometimes even after a stake seems to have been driven through its heart. 

“Which is why on Saturday night, long after the game was over, Twitter was littered with comments from

Tom Brady haters about how they were still worried the Patriots were somehow going to come back to win the game.”

---

. “They [Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods] texted in November, the day after a big group went out to dinner at Tiger's restaurant. Tiger got drunk and they all laughed and told stories, and Michael thought Tiger seemed relaxed, which made him hopeful. Tiger talked about his injuries a lot but not much about the future.

"The thing is," Jordan says, "I love him so much that I can't tell him, 'You're not gonna be great again.'"

The World of Money

. “We are bad at forecasting the economy. But that’s not because we can’t analyze how an event will impact the economy. We just can’t analyze events we haven’t considered to begin with.” 

Morgan Housel recommends two things to deal with the economic and financial risks you don’t see: 

  • Spend time preparing for economic downturns that will arrive, but you don’t know when or where. Don’t wait for a forecast before you begin preparing. 

  • Give yourself extra padding. The powerful recession you aren’t thinking about will be more impactful than the one you envision. 

---

. An inside look at the black market economy of buying and selling sports tickets. 

---

. While poverty fell among most age demographics, it rose 14.5% for people over 65 between 2015 and 2016. 

Other Cool Things 

. I’ve mostly stopped listening to podcasts, but this one from Shane Parrish and sex educator and author Dr. Nagoski is a recent favorite.

(as many commenters noted, would be more accurate if it all started in “purple.")

See the

from the New York Public Library. 

, from my friend Peter Nguyen. 

A

at a Chinese restaurant. She consults Reddit for help. Confusion and hilarity ensue (h/t Ramit). 

Thanks for reading!

Last thing: Is there anything I can help you with?

 If there's any way I can help out, please let me know. Or if we just haven't chatted in a while, I'd love to hear from you. Just reply directly to this email. 

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