Snakes and Sparklers

World Cup Watch Party: Round 4

Argentina again avoids the unthinkable, the US needs to reinvent itself again, and I reviewed Alexi Lalas's new album (for real)

Jul 9 • Brendan Menapace

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World Cup Watch Party: Week 3

Nothing ever happens, except when it does. Cape Verde, the Azteca, and how America can move onto its next plane of soccer existence.

Jul 6 • Brendan Menapace

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June 2026

World Cup Watch Party: Week 2

Soccer is magic. Witch doctors, golden generations, Messi and Ronaldo, mysterious nighttime visitors that set entire careers in motion, and more

Jun 25 • Brendan Menapace

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World Cup Watch Party: Week One

The limits of keeping one's professional cool in the face of Alexi Lalas, embracing the hoards of fun visitors and even an interview with Andrew Sacher…

Jun 18 • Brendan Menapace

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March 2026

On 'On Flips'

Meditating on the belief that if you do something for long enough, you need to finish it, no matter if it's a good idea.

Mar 4 • Brendan Menapace

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January 2026

Roster Moves Amidst It All

To worry about pointlessness in the future at implies a future where pointlessness is accepted

Jan 16 • Brendan Menapace

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July 2025

10 Ways 'The Sopranos' Could Have Had Steven Van Zandt and Silvio Dante Exist Simultaneously

This is what it's like when worlds collide

Jul 18, 2025 • Brendan Menapace

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June 2025

A Song In Portuguese That I Don’t Understand (But I Don’t Have To)

Finding the shortcut to a lifetime of experience in just a few minutes. Or at least that’s what it felt like from where I was standing

Jun 20, 2025 • Brendan Menapace

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May 2025

Pitch Emails: At The End of the Season, We're All Just Staring Out Into the Bus

If you leave the cameras rolling long enough, reality creeps in after the euphoria fades away

May 29, 2025 • Brendan Menapace

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John Mulaney Is Doing Whatever He Wants

I wrote about the music of "Everybody's Live with John Mulaney" and having the freedom to book whoever you want whenever you want

May 16, 2025 • Brendan Menapace

3 Stories From My Chemo Phase

Three years without cancer, so I wrote three essays reflecting on the process so far, and tried to find some room to laugh about having cancer. Even…

May 9, 2025 • Brendan Menapace

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Closing Chapters, But Not the Book

Feeling like you're in the light at the end of the tunnel, and the transformative power of New York rich kid indie rock.

May 9, 2025 • Brendan Menapace