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back in late winter of 1970, the new york state assembly put a bill up to a vote: to declare the eastern bluebird as new york’s state bird. the vote was nearly unanimously in favor, with one dissenter, bronx democrat seymour posner. but why? “those of us who are city dwellers don't know the bluebird,” he said, according to the new york times. “we know the sparrow, we know pigeons very well.

“If you're writing on Substack, or want to, or just want to know more about how and why people write on Substack (basically, if any combination of the words 'writing', 'on' and 'Substack' tickles your fancy) then have a read of Substack HQ's newsletter for creators.” ncG1vNJzZminnmPAtq7SrZico16YvK570milnq%2Bj

Three days, seven rounds and 257 picks later, the culmination of months of planning and detail for 32 NFL franchises has come and gone. All that’s left now is to sort through the results. I recently discussed in detail why parsing the noise for signal in draft grading can be so difficult, mostly because the draft media industrial complex doesn’t focus on what’s most important and predictive. Draft content is mostly about who will be the best players in the NFL, so that’s also what drives most draft grades.

Insight, perspective and analysis on the NFL Draft by veterans who have covered college and pro football draft for six decades, working with NFL teams, the NFL itself and virtually every major sports publication. By Frank Cooney · Over 5,000 subscribersNo thanksncG1vNJzZmimlqGxs63Fraqcp6Wpe7TBwayrmpubY7CwuY4%3D

It’s only fitting that Week 14 kicked off with a battle between two backup quarterbacks on Thursday night. Bailey Zappe, who has been starting in place of the benched Mac Jones, led the Patriots to only their third win of the season, even though they had just three active receivers in the lineup.  Mitchell Trubisky, who has taken over temporarily for the injured Kenny Pickett, engineered two second-half touchdown drives, but they weren’t enough to earn a W or stop the Steeler faithful from raining down boos — and chants for Mason Rudolph — on him.

Welcome! This is The Heart Dialogues, a free newsletter for people born with heart conditions (and the people who care about them). Join this community by adding your email below. Every other week, you’ll get an edition in your inbox with candid conversations, essays, links, recommendations, reader threads and other good stuff about what it’s really like to live with a weird and special heart. TJ Carrie was a 14-year-old freshman in Antioch, Calif.

I labored for a bit on what exactly to write about Nick Saban’s unexpected retirement. What could be said that wouldn’t be lost in the din? After all, no shortage of content has flooded the ether since the coach announced the move on Jan. 10. From homages to his unparalleled greatness in an era when sports pursued parity, to speculation about his motivations seeking deeper significance in the 72-year-old calling quits, to the downright silly that invoked his abbreviated tenure with the NFL’s Miami Dolphins to try downplaying Saban’s significance, seemingly every base is covered.

Totally agree with you. I do think that Bella deserves the cover, especially after that article from last year about mental health. I do think that's really important and that she deserved more media attention after her post, but still. There are other people that could talk about that, people of color, natives and so on. Expand full comment ncG1vNJzZminoJq7b7%2FUm6qtmZOge6S7zGinrppflrq6u8Oeo6VnoGS7qq%2FKomSmoZ6Wt26v0aKropuZr7K0edWonq6dXZfCtYvUraSYq5%2Bqv6SxnKmmrKxWmLyuucSnq6x1pKfCpnLUraSYpZWZtra5nLCcmw%3D%3D

Morning all! Hope you’re having a good week so far. The Euros have been providing us with the football entertainment, at least physically. And Chelsea have continued to provide us with the drama with the transfer rumours going around lately. I have two exclusives and one sourced story to deliver on Chelsea transfers below! We will have a Podcast out today. Myself and Jai are bringing Chelsea insider Rob Pratley in for a transfer special!