iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

Pat Smear continues to fucking rule

Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

“It’s a crappy day out but not so bad that I think my son’s blacksmithing workshop should have been canceled” isn’t a string of thoughts I ever imagined having

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 26/09/2026

Two years later, I still enjoy baseball but I don’t care about it anymore. Not like I did. I grew up hearing sob stories from Brooklyn Dodgers fans and wondered why it seemed to hurt them so much. I get it now.

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

It feels like more than 14 years ago when the Most Emailed list was king. It was shortly after this that the weekend sports editor, a true digital pioneer in an era where there was no audience team, asked a game-changer question: “why do we care about that list and not ‘most viewed?!??’”

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

If a person is outrageously lucky, I’m talking truly blessed, they’ll get a short stint working with one person as talented as the three dudes in the photo with me, all of whom I’ve spent decades learning from. Joe Ward may be the ultimate IYKYK journalist. Sam and Wayne aren’t too far behind.

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 13/09/2026

Elena Rybakina winning her first U.S. Open is cool. But back when she was in the qualies at the Open in 2019, a little girl from Brooklyn sat and waited through a long rain delay just to get her autograph. Which was a little cooler.

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 12/09/2026

When I first started in the NYT sports department I thought it was weird that we always had the TVs muted. Just about every sports broadcast decision made since then has made that choice seem prophetic.

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

There seem to be a lot of people trying to decide who the weird one was in the Aaron Rodgers-Shailene Woodley relationship and … there is a third option.

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 10/09/2026

He somehow forgot to mention in this “guys used to be tougher” post that all five of these guys had their careers fall apart after 1980. All of them were in their 20s yet they combined for zero full seasons as effective starters after that year. But yeah, 94 complete games is a lot.

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

My 15-year-old is planning outfits for Olivia Rodrigo’s tour and referenced something Olivia wore in something she did with “the old British guy.” My wife looked confused and I mouthed “Robert Smith” at her and then we both perished from old age.

static.klipy.com

Matt Damon as Private Ryan: Getting Old

ALT: Matt Damon as Private Ryan: Getting Old

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 07/09/2026

My kids seemed baffled at the thought that I’d want a Blackstone when I already have a grill. My wife, meanwhile, channeled the end of Ghostbusters and was like “kids … when someone says they want even more ways to grill you food outdoors … you. say. YES.”

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

I’m not sure it would be possible for a band to come up with a bitchier album title than “The Name of This Band Is Talking Heads”

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

A nurse asked me “so … do you still work?” yesterday, just in case you were wondering if I’ve still got it

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 24/08/2026

Enes Kanter made $100 million in a career where he was at best ok (never great) and he was out of the league before he turned 30. He could be out making the world better, or just floating on a boat without a care in the world. Instead he’s doing … this. What a miserable person.

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

Other than the dozens of sexual assault allegations, the fact that the team gave up a huge haul of picks to get him, his cap-destroying contract and his absolutely dogshit play, it’s hard to see why Browns fans wouldn’t like Deshaun Watson. His being mad about it is a cherry on top though.

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 23/08/2026

I was briefly in charge of a small sliver of Harry/Meghan coverage and while there are numerous reasons people choose to read stories, I can assure you that many people, many many many people, follow along with every development in that world regardless of what they would claim in a survey.

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 22/08/2026

Old enough to remember when a sign of Bill Simmons going legit was changing his byline from The Boston Sports Guy to just The Sports Guy. Now he’s a “Spotify executive” in an NYT story about the media bona fides of an English prince.

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

So weird to see this place so empty … even at 1 am

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

Those films were shot 26 years ago and one guy being a little heavier and another having a bit of gray hair (while the other two look exactly the same) has People magazine mystified

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 09/08/2026

At least Enes Kanter, who is a cartoon character, had a stretch as a relevant NBA player. Royce White, owner of 3 career minutes, 2 fouls and 0 points, all of which came 12 years ago, has no business being in any basketball discourse and proves how desperate people are to attack trans athletes.

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 08/08/2026

I’m reading a book published in 1944 and this logo is so unbelievably tough. I’d absolutely wear a shirt with this exact design.

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

I saw a thing saying the Cleveland Browns have never, as a franchise, been below .500 overall. It is inexplicably true. The math on it is amazing. First 10 seasons: 105-17-3, 7 champs Next 40 seasons: 316-253-9, 1 champ *moved to Baltimore then resurrected* Next 27 seasons: 146-290-1

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 02/08/2026

It rained (hard). There were so many bugs. We lost our voices from shouting and singing and ruined our shoes and boots by walking 50-plus miles in the mud. Kids got injured and multiple got sick. We never stopped moving and learning. It was perfect.

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 26/07/2026

Once again I will lead my Scouts into the forests of Rhode Island for a week of chaos fueled by various weapons, tools, small watercraft, poorly-sung songs and a wildly controversial amount of Arizona Iced Tea. Success is measured by exactly one metric: returning with the same number of kids.

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 25/07/2026

The world is better with the Indianapolis Clowns playing baseball again

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Pretty cool project but if I were still designing I’d have done one that is all of Argentina’s shots on goal in the final

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

So happy for Spain (and Wes). And yes, Wes has already started lobbying to go to the next World Cup.

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

He’s like 18 percent Spanish but 100 percent committed

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 19/07/2026

Who are all these casuals talking about getting sick from Taco Bell outside of an outbreak that was 0 percent their fault? I’ve literally never gotten sick from food there. Maybe you all should stick to dry toast.

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

More people should be talking about Himesh Patel in The Odyssey. What a performance.

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

My hot take is California and Texas are basically the same. Republics with tons of ag and livestock that used to be part of Mexico and believe they are a singular class with no connection to the rest of the U.S. They are more like two branches of a Sliding Doors-style story rather than opposites.

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 18/07/2026

I felt significantly safer with my kids on nyc subway trains than I do with them in cars on suburban roads

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

This is hard because sure, I saw movies like Money Train and Spice World in theaters, but I had a GREAT time and they were exactly what I wanted to see. Maybe Ladybugs? Though I found that mostly amusing too. I found the new Jackass to be kinda depressing and a little gross. So I'll go with that.

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 17/07/2026

What if we got excited about a player or a team in a big sporting event and were just happy about it without making huge declarations about them being the greatest player or team in sports history? Like, we could even acknowledge the limitations of comparison across eras and sports.

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

England’s last World Cup win came four years before the tournament added yellow and red cards, and eight years before the first red card was issued

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Just about every decision I make at work is run through a “how would Jason handle this?” filter. Absolutely inspired choice for this role. www.nytco.com/press/jason-...

nytco.com

Jason Stallman Is Our Next Obituaries Editor | The New York Times Company

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 13/07/2026

The amount of very confident, and very wrong, people discussing the WaPo sports section from the McConnell pic is a great moment in print newspapers still mattering

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

When Carlos Correa went 1-1 I got time with him and Pudge and wrote a decent draft-day profile of a somewhat unexpected top pick. Our only photo of him was a headshot of him in a polo so we called the AP to see if they could beat it and they were like “YOU HAVE A PHOTO OF HIM?!?! CAN WE HAVE IT?!”

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

My Norwegian grandmother was 4-10, ate herring out of a jar and drank mugs of boiling water. The Lillehammer Olympics were an absolute delight as she sat there smiling and cracking jokes, all of which had a punchline about how dumb Swedes are. I really wish she was still around to watch Haaland.

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Not sure “similar relocation” is accurate when it’s a 41-year-old considering signing with a 37-win team. I mean, it’s similar in the sense of both players relocating to the Bay Area?

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 11/07/2026

Three years since NYTSports was told our time as a section was wrapping up. Not a day goes by that I’m not proud of the work we did, and all the wild and unpredictable work we’ve all done since.

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

I’m used to a steady stream of AI-generated social posts and usually just roll my eyes but No. 9 on this list is a classic. It realized it was wrong but then just went with it?

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

If you don’t want your kid on their phone, consider whether you’ve given them a better option

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

This post has almost 30k likes on Threads. I’m thinking about doing a series of posts over there that are like “Back when I was younger we would wear things on our legs called PANTS and if they were made of denim we called them JEANS. Does anyone else remember this??”

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 04/07/2026

I took the train in and out of Manhattan yesterday. I was less than half a mile from MSG for most of the day, walked around the area extensively, rode the subway multiple times and at no point was anything abnormal. Claiming Manhattan was shut down in any meaningful way is a WILD exaggeration.

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 03/07/2026

Among other things that Taylor Swift and I have in common, I also got married at a New York City landmark. One might argue the Brooklyn Bridge is a tad more iconic than MSG. But I still hope that she and her guests have fun.

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Benjamin Hoffman @bhh.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

I saw a video earlier assigning John Olerud an extra 20ish WAR and saying he should be considered for the HOF while tacking on 20+ for Griffey for the same reason and I'm wondering how the list of "definitely clean" guys got made, who voted on this list and what the criteria were. Some thoughts:

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