👋 Good morning! For the next few sentences, this is now a music newsletter. Lately on Twitter there’s been a “what’s the worst song of all-time?” conversation going on. Some people have foolishly suggested “Hey Ya!” — as if anything Outkast ever touched wasn’t incredible. Others have thrown around “Home” by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros, demonstrating a fundamental misunderstanding of the people involved and how time works.

All I have to contribute this conversation is let people enjoy what they enjoy. No music is objectively good, except anything made by Father John Misty. Everything is subjective, everything is relative, everything is about taste and preference. We’re just trying to survive another day to get to another DLLS newsletter. We don’t need to do the most to communicate to the world that my taste in music is superior to yours. So let people listen to music. It isn’t cringe to enjoy something. I encourage all of you to listen to something new today, or to watch something new, or to just listen to and/or watch all of our live shows on a loop. Do what makes you happy. — Bobby Karalla

Nathan Eovaldi has a 1.38 ERA. It’s August.

That simply shouldn’t be possible. But it is. Evo is off to one of the best starts in baseball history.

The Rangers ace threw another eight scoreless innings last night, allowing just one baserunner along the way. It was a complete domination against the seriously slumping New York Yankees in what might be the most important series of the season at this point. Texas needs to stack as many wins as possible, especially against neighboring teams in the Wild Card race.

He missed most of June, but Eovaldi has allowed more than one run just one time since April 19.

Growing up I played a loooooot of MVP Baseball 2005. I would always make myself into a 99 player who’s perfect at everything. Usually I played right field or center field because those were the two coolest positions to the 15-year-old version of me. (Center field still is. Debate a wall.) But every now and then I’d want to be a starting pitcher who threw a zillion miles an hour and offset it with a nasty splitter and a swooping curveball. My perfect pitcher would rarely ever have a season below a 2.5 ERA. Eovaldi has a 1.38.

It’s even more impressive — and necessary — because for so long this Rangers offense could barely ever score more than three runs. Eovaldi is putting together one of the most impressive season stat lines I’ve ever seen, and that includes hundreds of seasons’ worth of video game baseball. He did miss a bit of time, but if he stays healthy and keeps this up it’s going to be tough to deny the guy his Cy Young. Tarik Skubal and the entire Houston Astros rotation exists, but Eovaldi is on another planet right now. It’s been fun to watch.

Ranking music is silly, but ranking players is for geniuses ONLY. And on yesterday’s DLLS Mavs show, Kevin and Tim ranked their top-10 players in the Western Conference this season. Check out their choices. Who got it right? Who got it wrong? Who needs to be publicly shamed?

The Dallas Cowboys practiced with the LA Rams yesterday, but the real story continues to be about Micah Parsons and his contract situation. Jerry Jones told reporters he “absolutely” doesn’t believe Parsons will be on the field for opening night. So that’s great! (I can think of one very simple way to ensure he’ll be on the field.)

We are a pro-Jake Oettinger company, let’s make that clear. But yesterday Sam Nestler made the case for his backup, Casey DeSmith, to get a little more work in the regular season. It’s a compelling argument!

Paige Bueckers rules.

Be sure to subscribe to our shows wherever you listen to your podcasts. Traffic can be the worst, and one of the best ways I get through it is by listening to the audio versions of our DLLS shows. You should, too!

Bobby Karalla
DLLS Sports Head of Content​
[email protected]