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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 2h

Feel like such an idiot for not going to that show (saw the GOODNESS tour which was still awesome, but when they played stuff off Home for the encore it was palpably different)

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 2h

Think you can make a case for HOME, LIKE NOPLACE IS THERE as the best albums of the past 20 years in any genre

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 3h

Why’d they dress Rebecca like Darkwing Duck???

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 4h

Maybe Sabrina wasn’t healthy all year, but she looked like a shell of herself for large stretches, and with Jones and Stewart at the ages they are, you can’t really afford to run it back without some changes unless you’re *really* confident it was just injuries for Sabrina.

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 4h

I think no matter what happens, the Liberty are gonna have to have some difficult conversations about Sabrina Ionescu this offseason. Part of me thinks she just hasn’t been healthy, but there have been too many games where she just doesn’t have anything working.

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 5h

Full disclosure: I did get a little misty-eyed during “Don’t Look Back In Anger” when I saw them at MetLife, and it’s happening again during the documentary, so

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 6h

I thought I already did this with Wilco

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 6h

I just texted him saying I was looking out for him in the crowd lol

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Reposted by Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs

ConcertsHub @concertshub.bsky.social · 10h

If you can’t find a band you already like or discover a new one here, your taste in music sucks: youtube.com/@concertshub/playlists

youtube.com

Concerts Hub

Concert videos of indie, punk, alternative, and emo (mostly) bands & artists in Boston (mostly). All videos are taken by me at shows that I actually went to.

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 6h

I will say, big mistake to not time the home release of this Oasis documentary with when tickets went on sale for the next tour, because if I had watched this the week tickets went on sale I absolutely would have made some kind of crazy irresponsible decision to travel to see them.

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 6h

For the 36th year running, the most popular player in fantasy is some low volume, day-three pick backup RB

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 7h

Look I like Oasis as much as the next bloke, but seeing people full on weeping during this documentary of their tour is a little much.

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 15h

Cameron Winter’s PR person is still working overtime.

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 16h

Once again, it’s very notably that very few people in sports media were ever this critical of her dad’s credentials, which were, notably, exactly the same as her’s.

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Actually, Angel Reese is one game away from doing something the Cowboys haven’t done in over 30 years: Play for a championship.

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

I understand why the White Sox have had to use him like that, but that’s the third time in four games the Guardians have seen Grant Taylor, including four innings in game 1. Hard to succeed with that kind of exposure

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Varsho is at least a great defender. Go check out the free agents and tell me who the answer is

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

and that could be literally anyone in the entire state

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

the move to arenas is my biggest question, but I understand why they did it

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

My favorite piece at The Met is probably El Greco's 'View of Toledo,' which is, notably, not an accurate view of the city of Toledo, Spain at all! A bunch of the landmarks are in the "wrong" spot. It's a painting of how he perceived the city, not what the city actually looked like. Fascinating!

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

unironically, this *is* why I love real art! it's an empathy engine. it's the one way you can actually see the world through someone else's eyes, and it's why AI art will never appeal to me.

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

kinda think you just cut Stanton? See if he'll do a buy-out? Maybe there's some locker room reason to have him around, but if not, he's strictly a bench bat at this point

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

just a note here: I'm not saying Counsell isn't a good manager, or anything. but the Cubs hired him out from under a divisional rival while their incumbent manager still had a job, and they've got ... nothing really, to show for it. The status quo mostly reigns in chicago and milwaukee to this day!

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

It's a little different in football, but I think in most professional sports, the most important parts of a manager's job are the things we don't see: How they handle personalities in an ever-evolving locker room. That psychological stuff is largely invisible, but it's most of the job, I think!

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

And also: We don't really know who matters and who doesn't! We used to think Craig Counsell was a really good manager, and then the Brewers replaced him and never missed a beat. The talent simply matters so much more than the manager (and the manager stuff that matters is largely invisible to us)

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Rice is the big win. Jones being competent was a nice surprise, but I don't think he's likely to impact the direction the team takes in the next few years.

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

yeah, that's bad, but I still think it comes down to the awkwardness of the roster. Like yeah, just hit Rice leadoff instead for sure. But I just don't think Grisham getting five PA instead of four really changes much. It's still just a pretty bad lineup without Judge.

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

I think Boone ... I dunno, I just don't think managers matter very much, which is why my position is basically, "Fire him, don't fire him, it probably doesn't matter." If you want to create a sense of urgency and stir things up, fire him. It probably won't hurt you!

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

I think Cashman is *generally* pretty smart about how he treats prospects -- pitchers and catchers are crapshoots, so he trades them freely. That's smart! But the problem becomes when the prospects you do hang on to don't work out, and that's become an increasingly big problem, it seems.

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

So, I dunno. I think the Yankees are, on the whole, a very well run organization. They mostly develop players really well, though they do seem to have some trouble finishing the development process off at times lately. But I think generally the rosters have played about as well as they should.

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

(I guess it's fair to note that Dominguez did have that 136 wRC+ season on 2024 albeit in a very small sample size, and given what we now know about his defense, that probably isn't enough to justify the amount of hype there was around him)

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

The failure of, really, any of the top prospects to live up to expectations is the biggest issue here. Is it Boone's fault? Maybe! I'd argue that someone like Jasson Dominguez never really showed the minor-league production to justify the hype. But Volpe did! Lombard did. They need someone to hit.

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Judge is gonna be 35. Bellinger is 31. Heck, even Rice is old enough, at 28 next season, it's not unthinkable we just saw the best season of his career. The pitching staff outside of Schlittler is quite old. Given all that, I'd say "fire Boone" just because there aren't a lot of buttons to hit left

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

But here's a very tough pill to swallow: If Ben Rice is *just* a 125-130 wRC+ bat (like he was in 2025 and in the second half of 2026), this might just be a pretty bad lineup. It's fine if Judge is healthy and hitting like a God, but if not ... well, you saw what the second-half looked like.

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

And part of it is ... if Ben Rice is *just* a 125-130 wRC+ bat (like he was as a rookie and in the second half of 2026), it's kind just a bad lineup. It's fine if Judge is 1) healthy and 2) superman, but if not ... they just don't have the guys, I think.

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

I have no idea if that's more on Boone or Cashman, though! I'd argue with at least a few of those guys, the regression happened before they ever got to the majors (Dominguez and Frazier were never much more than "pretty good" in the high minors for the most part, for example).

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

The Yankees don't really have a center fielder. Their 3B options are terrible. Their 2B weren't much better. Their offense without Judge is just plain bad. Some of what went wrong is on Boone, probably, but ultimately I think this is just a talented but flawed roster.

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

I think it reflects poorly on everyone, but probably more so on Cashman (because he has the most control over the talent on the field, which is ultimately what matters most). These have been awkwardly constructed teams that have mostly (I think) played to their talent level. Not beyond, certainly!

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

The Yankees have had enough talent to win a World Series several times during this run. Is their failure to do so specifically *because* of Aaron Boone? Probably not, but it's reasonable to just think a different voice might be needed, as well.

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

I had to do the awkward phrasing of "keep not winning World Series" because they have been, relative to all but maybe one or two teams in the whole league, wildly successful during either the Cashman or Boone era, but I get that isn't the standard at this point.

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

I don't think Aaron Boone or Brian Cashman are the reason the Yankees keep not winning World Series, but I also think there's something to be said for just getting a new voice in the room after this long. I think it's unlikely to fundamentally change anything, but maybe it'd be a little spark.

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

ICYMI, Aaron and I chatted about the history of the Marlins, what it's like to be a fan of such a *unique* franchise, and why I still am. Fun chat!

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Oh dang, I moved to New York City seven years ago today. It both feels like barely any time has past and that we've been here for 20 years, thanks to moving a few months before the great COVID time warp of 2020-202?

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Chris Towers Missed The Playoffs @cptowers.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

yeah, technically a 5% per-game salary increase, but if it's just the same salary, that definitely isn't enough for players to justify a salary cap (and the playoff stuff doesn't seem like something the players would really care about either way?)

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