""It's not great, if I'm being honest. From amending my answer to the question "how ya doing Roth" at the very beginning of this week's episode of The Distraction, it is clear that things are not going great. But for the second straight week, we found a way to split our episode between the Not Great stuff and being stupid about sports, with the result being one of the most enjoyable hours of my week.""
""We spoke about the corrosive effect of sustained exposure to bad vibes, and the run-in with an unnamed former MLB player at an Arizona youth soccer game that inspired Patrick to purchase a heavy bag, but we also talked about history stuff. This meant trying to understand our current moment of national crisis in the context of the country's fractious and generally insane history,""
""And then, after a discussion of the country's competing layers of authority-and how fragile and contingent their relationship and everything that followed from them always was-we turned to Pete Hegseth's impossibly shitty kettlebell swings. Patrick, a certified workout dude, has developed a convincing theory of why Republican influencer types cannot work out right, and why they are so intent on creating and disseminating content in which they work out wrong. It's funny, but I really believe that there is something to it, and that""
The host admits to feeling not great and opens candidly, then balances serious mood with lighthearted sports talk to create an enjoyable hour. Patrick Wyman appears as guest, bringing historical perspective and personal anecdotes, including a run-in with a former MLB player that led him to buy a heavy bag. The conversation examines sustained exposure to negative moods, national crisis in the context of fractious American history, and the sclerotic nature of current institutions. The hosts note fragile layers of authority and critique performative workouts by political influencers.
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