Barry Petchesky

2 weeks ago | defector.com | Barry Petchesky

It might have seemed like excessive prudence to send the traveling party out that early. The full suite of people on hand for the Capitals' game in Carolina on Wednesday, in anticipation of Alexander Ovechkin chasing down Wayne Gretzky's all-time goalscoring record, included Ovechkin's family, Gary Bettman and a host of NHL executives, and Gretzky himself.

1 month ago | defector.com | Barry Petchesky

Max Muncy will make the opening day roster. So far, so normal. Max Muncy plays for the Sacramento A's. [Monocle pops out of my eye and into my champagne; it is unclear why I was wearing that or drinking that.]Yes, there's a new Max Muncy in town. This one is a middle infielder, is 22 years old, and was a first-round pick in 2021. He's listed as the organization's No. 7 prospect mostly thanks to his stellar defense, and he's got a little bit of pop in his bat.

1 month ago | defector.com | Barry Petchesky

Today we were discussing gifts for young children, and Jasper surprised us all by telling us that kids "go wild for $2 bills." Kids, and Barry. Here are the best bills. 1. $2. So rare! So delightfully wrong; receiving one feels like briefly being transported to a parallel dimension where everything is just slightly off, like you'd break your $2 to purchase a Poca-Cola. Did you know, the front ("obverse") of the two-dollar bill is the oldest of any current U.S. banknote, going unchanged since 1929?

1 month ago | defector.com | Barry Petchesky

For centuries, Jupiter reigned as king of the moons. Initially, the Big Four, discovered by Galileo, and then as optics and astronomy advanced, more and more, smaller and smaller bodies, until Big J could proudly boast of 95 moons in its orbital thrall. But Jupiter got cocky. Jupiter rested on its laurels. Jupiter, it turns out, was playing against plumbers and mailmen when it put up its record numbers. Saturn, meanwhile, was hungry. Saturn ate the tape and put in the hours in the gym.

1 month ago | defector.com | Barry Petchesky

On the one hand, Simon Benoit got absolutely destroyed in his Monday night tilt with Utah's Michael Kesselring. The Leafs blueliner took five or six consecutive unblocked shots to the dome, and was pulled down to the ice, and dislocated his thumb and had to pop it back in while sitting in the penalty box. On the other hand, Benoit was captured in some impossibly cool photos going airborne with an attempted Superman punch.