B League Picayune
Often in error, never in doubt.
Volume 8, Issue 46 – September 3, 2026
Games of Thursday September 3:
10:00 a.m.: Green (0-1) at Gray (0-0):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Green 2 5 0 0 3 1 11 Gray 5 0 1 3 0 3 12 Pitchers: Green – Spike Davidson; Gray – Luis Sanchez. Mercenaries: Green – Ralph Villela; Gray – Jack Spellman. Umpires: home – Scott Wright; bases – Adam Reddell. Perfect at the plate: Green – Spike Davidson (3 for 3) and Ralph Villela (3 for 3 with a double); Gray – Daniel Carvajal and Bobby Miller (both 4 for 4).
KXAN weather report: 88 degrees, feels like 97; 63% humidity; wind from the SSW at 8 MPH; mostly sunny.
Playing its first game of Session 4, Gray played a reverse Uno card – after going 2-6 in one-run games last session, they started S4 by walking off a come-from-behind 12-11 win over a tough Green team.
Green scored two runs to start the game, its first two batters, Steve Sandall and Doc Hobar, knocking singles to open the contest. They both tagged and advanced on Mike Garrison’s fly to Paul Rubin in right-center, and Steve scored on Rex Horvath’s grounder to shortstop Jack Spellman – Doc ran past, trying to distract me as I played the ball to my backhand, but I made the play for the second out. Gary Coyle then singled in Doc with the second run.
Gray started the session with a five-run inning in the bottom half, on five singles and Mike Velaney’s rally-capping two-out two-run triple, a drive to the fence in left-center that gapped the outfielders, one of the best swings of the day.
Green responded with its own five-run inning in the top of the second, on Larry Fiorentino’s lead-off walk, three singles (Ralph Villela driving in the first two runs with his hit), Steve Sandall’s RBI double, and Doc Hobar’s single to drive in the fourth and fifth runs. Green didn’t make an out in the inning, and the whole thing felt like it took about three minutes.
Spike Davidson then shut out Gray in the bottom half. Mike Nagy led off with a line single to left-center, a sweet swing, but was doubled up off of first on Jack Spellman’s short pop to shortstop Rex Horvath – Mike basically took off on (weak) contact, had no chance to get back. Bobby Miller singled, but Spike got Clint Fletcher to fly out to Ralph Villela in right field for the third out.
Luis Sanchez blanked Green in the top of the third. Gary Coyle and Ivan Budiselic knocked two-out singled, but Larry Fiorentino lined out to Mike Nagy in right field, a good catch by the new guy.
Gray knocked four singles in the bottom of the third, but came away with just one run. Paul Rubin and Daniel Carvajal opened the inning with hits. Luis Sanchez grounded to second baseman Doc Hobar, who threw to Rex Horvath for the force at second, Paul taking third and Luis beating the relay to first. Rex caught Jim Foelker’s pop for the second out. Jim McAnelly’s single up the middle drove in Paul. Mike Velaney went oppo, lining a single to right-center, and the third-base coach, who I’m not naming, not because I want to avoid shaming him, but because I don’t remember, sent Luis home, only for him to be thrown out 9-6-2, Larry Fiorentino to Rex Horvath to Boo Resnick, on a play that was not at all close. (Subsequent discussion in the Gray dugout concerned whether it would make more sense to put shock collars on base runners or base coaches. No decision has been made.)
That cut Green’s lead to 7-6, and Luis Sanchez kept it that way with another shutout inning in the top of the fourth. Spike Davidson led off with a single, but was erased on a 6u., 6-3 double play. Ralph Villela singled, but was forced out 1-4, Luis making a really good play on Steve Sandall’s hard grounder back to the box.
Gray then took the lead with three runs on five singles in the bottom of the fourth, Mike Nagy starting the rally with a lead-off base hit.
Green reclaimed the lead with three runs in the top of the fifth, the final five-run inning. Doc Hobar drew a lead-off walk and, after Mike Garrison flied out to Bobby Miller in left-center, took third on Rex Horvath’s double. They both scored, tying the game, on Gary Coyle’s single to left field. Ivan Budiselic went oppo with a drive to left-center, but Bobby ran it down for the second out. Larry Fiorentino and Spike Davidson then delivered two-out singles to bring in Rex with the go-ahead run.
Spike then retired the side in order, I think on three pitches, in the bottom of the fifth: Jim McAnelly lined a ball back to the box that Spike snared; Mike Velaney flied out to Mike Garrison in left field; and Mike Nagy flied out to Larry Fiorentino in right-center.
So Green came up in the buffet leading by one run. Ralph Villela led off with a double, completing a 3-for-3 game. Steve Sandall walked. Doc Hobar flied to Paul Rubin in right-center, not deep enough for Ralph to test Paul’s arm. Mike Garrison grounded back to the box, and Luis Sanchez threw to second for the force there – I’d been shading Mike to the 5-6 hole, so I was late getting to the base, but, realistically, I don’t think I was ever going to double up Mike. Ralph took third on the play, then scored on Rex Horvath’s single. Gary Coyle lofted a fly to left field that Jim Foelker caught for the third out.
Gray came up needing to two to tie, three to win, mercenary Jack Spellman leading off. Manager Clint Fletcher was full of encouragement along the lines of, “Jack’s 0 for 2, he’s due, he’s going to start the rally.” Oh, Clint, you sweet summer child. I proceeded to have what was probably the ugliest at bat of the 2026 B League season. I took a ball outside, then a (hittable) strike on the back half of the mat. Coming out of his hand, I thought Spike’s 2-2 pitch was going to be short and outside, but at the last second it seemed to break in a little, and in a total and pathetic panic I decided it might hit the mat and that I needed to swing. I attempted a truly ugly-ass swing, subsequently described to me as being like a Rick Jensen swing, except that Rick knows what he’s doing and I did not – I totally whiffed on it for strike three. Here’s the AI rendering, which as ever fails to render the geography of softball at all accurately, but does capture pretty well the jollity of catcher Boo Resnick and plate umpire Scott Wright:
Gray shook it off and rallied anyway. Bobby Miller singled, completing a 4-for-4 game, and took third on Clint Fletcher’s double. (No shock collar needed, Bobby stopped at third, not taking a chance with the heart of Gray’s order coming up.) Paul Rubin lined a single to left, Bobby scoring and Clint taking third. Daniel Carvajal singled, loading the bases also completing a 4-for-4 game – Clint didn’t score, I can’t recall if it was because he held at second on Paul’s hit or at third on Daniel’s. Luis Sanchez singled, Clint scoring to tie the game. Then Jim Foelker stepped up and singled, I believe dumping a ball into short right field, bringing in Paul with the game-winner. Gray’s 1-6 hitters produced six consecutive clutch hits for the win.
Final score: Gray 12, Green 11
Spike Davidson earned a No-Tahni Award, going 3 for 3 in Green’s loss.
11:00 a.m.: Orange (0-1) at Purple (0-1):
1 2 3 4 BUFFET FINAL Orange 4 5 4 0 4 17 Purple 5 0 4 2 0 11 Pitchers: Orange – Tommy Deleon; Purple – Spike Davidson. Mercenaries: Orange – Steve Browne, Clint Fletcher, Alan Phillips, and Scott Wright; Purple – George Brindley and Spike Davidson. Umpires: home – Chunky Wright; bases – Mike Garrison and Larry Fiorentino. Perfect at the plate: Orange – Steve Browne (3 for 3 with a home run), Jack Spellman (4 for 4 with a double), and Scott Wright (3 for 3); Purple – Rick Kahn (3 for 3) and Peter Sundquist (2 for 2 with a walk). Home run: Steve Browne (inside the park) (5).
Weather update: 92 degrees, feels like 101; 54% humidity; wind from the SSW at 9 MPH; sunny.
Orange came out hitting, putting up 13 out of a possible 15 runs over the first three innings, en route to a convincing, Dr. Jekyll victory after their sad Mr. Hyde loss to Blue on Monday. They scored four runs on six singles in the top of the first, Jack Spellman overcoming his PTSD, triggered by seeing Spike Davidson on the mound for Purple, and leading off with a lame but effective 15-hop ground ball single through the 3-4 hole (exit velocity: about 15 MPH). I actually wound up, after advancing to second on Pat Scott’s hit, getting forced out at third on a nice play on a hard-hit ball by Adam Reddell, whose ball up the middle was deflected by Spike to shortstop Jimmy Sneed, who threw to Rick Jensen at third for the force. Don Solberg, Tommy Deleon, Hal Darman (line drive to left field), and Matt Levitt followed with hits, three runs scoring. The fourth came in on Alan Phillips’s 6-4 force out, Alan hustling to beat the relay to first and get the run in. Clint Fletcher grounded out to Rick at third, prompting conspiracy-theorizing by Orange manager Dave Berra, wondering if Clint was paying back Spellman’s attempted torpedoing of Gray at 10:00.
Purple actually won the first inning, scoring five runs on seven singles in the home half.
Orange responded with a five-run outburst in the top of the second. Scott Wright led off with a single, and Steve Browne followed with a drive to right field, fair by a foot or so, that sliced past George Brindley and most of the way to the corner, Steve circling the bases for his fifth home run of the season, nearly catching up with Scott (not shown in the AI rendering):
Jack Spellman followed with a pop-fly double to short right field (exit velocity: about 20 MPH), and the next five batters singled, three runs scoring, Orange going ahead 9-5.
Tommy Deleon maintained the lead, retiring Purple in order in the bottom of the second, the first and third outs fly balls to Matt Levitt in left-center field.
Matt then led off the third with a double and scored the first of four Orange runs, as four of the next five batters singled. (Clint Fletcher fouled off a two-strike pitch for the first out, prompting more grumbling from Berra.) Jack Spellman’s single, a humpback liner to right-center field (exit velocity: about 25 MPH) drove in the third and fourth runs. Pat Scott then hit a sharp grounder to the right side that second baseman Mike Malay made a good play on – rather than throw to second, he charged at me, running from first, I initially going hard and then trying to brake and reverse, but unable to do so before Mike tagged me and flipped to Shane Hill to complete a perfectly executed 4u., 4-3 double play, seen totally accurately here:
Purple got those four runs back in the home half, on Jimmy Sneed’s lead-off double and five singles. With two out, three runs in, and Peter Sundquist’s pinch-runner (George Brindley, maybe? I’m not sure) at third, and Patrick Schmidt at second, Rick Jensen grounded a ball to shortstop Jack Spellman, moving to his left. I didn’t catch the ball cleanly (stupid Krieg 2 infield), tried to pick it up, dropped it, picked it up too late to have any chance of throwing out Rick, but I saw that Patrick had taken a wide turn around third and was headed home – I threw to catcher Hal Darman, who caught the ball with Patrick’s foot in the air above the home line, for the fortuitous third out.
Spike Davidson held Orange scoreless in the top of the fourth, working around singles by Don Solberg and Tommy Deleon after Mike Malay, having himself a day in the field, robbed Adam Reddell of a hit by grabbing his liner that was headed to right-center, for the first out.
Purple then scored two runs in the bottom half. Spike Davidson and George Brindley singled to open the frame. Tommy Deleon got Jack McDermott and Jimmy Sneed to both fly out to left-center – I think Matt Levitt was still out there. Rick Kahn, completing a 3-for-3 game, and Shane Hill delivered run-scoring singles, cutting Orange’s lead to 13-11 entering the buffet.
Orange padded its lead with four runs in the top of the buffet. Alan Phillips led off with a drive down the left-field side, Patrick Schmidt ranging far to his right to make the catch for the first out. The next six batters singled, starting with Clint Fletcher (fie on Dave Berra’s conspiracy theorizing!), with Scott Wright, Steve Browne, and Jack Spellman all completing perfect games at the plate. (Spellman’s single, a liner to right, was his first well struck ball of the day – exit velocity: about 40 MPH). Spike Davidson escaped without further damage thanks to two good defensive plays: Patrick Schmidt caught Don Solberg’s drive to deep left field, and Mike Malay made another leaping grab of a liner to the right side, robbing Tommy Deleon of what would have been a run-scoring hit.
Purple trailed by six entering the bottom of the buffet. Peter Sundquist drew a lead-off walk, but Tommy Deleon retired the next three batters. Patrick Schmidt squared up on a pitch, but Pat Scott was well positioned to catch his liner to left-center. Billy Hill grounded to third baseman Adam Reddell, who threw to second for the force there, out number two. Rick Jensen grounded to shortstop Jack Spellman, who flipped to Scott Wright for the game-ending force at second.
Final score: Orange 17, Purple 11
Noon: Blue (1-0) at Maroon (1-0):
1 2 3 4 5 BUFFET FINAL Blue 1 0 0 0 0 2 3 Maroon 4 1 2 0 2 X 9 Pitchers: Blue – Joe Bernal; Maroon – David Pittard. Mercenaries: Blue – Jim Foelker, Jack McDermott, Patrick Schmidt, and Ralph Villela; Maroon – Matt Levitt, Adam Reddell, and Jack Spellman. Umpires: home – Rick Jensen; bases – Peter Sundquist. Perfect at the plate: Blue – Joe Bernal and David Brown (both 3 for 3 with a double) and Jack McDermott (2 for 2); Maroon – George Brindley (2 for 2 with a walk) and Jack Spellman (3 for 3).
Weather update: 93 degrees, feels like 100; 49% humidity; wind from the South at 8 MPH; sunny. It wasn’t quite so uncomfortably brutal today.
Great pitching performance in this game by David Pittard, who might have shut out Blue over the first five innings but for some dicey shortstopping in the top of the first inning. David Brown led off the game with a sharp grounder a reachable step to the left of shortstop Jack Spellman – I got to where I thought the ball would be, but it hopped over my glove and into left-center field, and with the outfielders playing deep, David B. easily legged out a double. David P. got Donnie Janac to foul off a two-strike pitch for the first out, then got both Joe Bernal and Lawrence Page to hit ground balls to shortstop, neither ball resulting in an out – I just couldn’t find the handle on them, no final hop was true. Far from being annoyed at me, David Pittard said, “I think you need a hug, buddy,” and he gave me one. What a mensch. David B. had advanced and scored on the two “singles,” but David P. escaped the inning without further damage, getting Larry Shupe to fly out to left fielder Steve Browne and Larry Young to pop out to first baseman Dale Fugate.
Maroon then took the lead with four runs in the bottom of the inning. Leading off, Steve Browne hit a grounder to the left of second base; David Brown got to the ball, but its final hop wasn’t true, David couldn’t get a handle on it, and speedy Steve was safe with a single. In the home dugout, there were two explanations for this:
1. Matt Levitt: “Jack [Spellman], you left your juju out there.”
2. Fritz Hensel: “Spellman, you fucked up shortstop so bad, it’s screwing up Brown.”
(I’m voting 2.)
Joe Bernal then suffered an uncharacteristic bout of wildness, walking three batters: George Brindley; David Pittard, to load the bases after Scott Wright’s double had driven in Steve Browne and sent George to third; and then Fritz Hensel, forcing in George with the second run. (I’ve been playing behind and against Joe for over 12 years, and I can’t recall ever seeing him walk in a run before.) Joe got the next two batters to ground out: Alan Phillips back to the box, Joe throwing home to catcher Larry Shupe for the force there; and Dale Fugate to the 5-6 hole, David Brown ranging to his right to make the play and throw to third for the force there, David Pittard scoring. Jack Spellman’s single drove in Alan with the fourth run.
That proved to be the biggest inning for scoring in the game. Maroon incrementally added to its lead over the next four innings, David Pittard blanking Blue in all of them. He helped himself by starting an inning-ending 1-6-3 double play in the top of the second, and Scott Wright turned a 4u., 4-3 double play on Donnie Janac’s hard grounder to the right of second base to end the third. After Joe Bernal led off the fourth with a single, David got the next three batters to fly out: Lawrence Page to Matt Levitt in right-center; Larry Shupe to Steve Browne in left; and Larry Young to George Brindley in left-center, a good running catch. And he got three more outs on balls in the air in the fifth: Daniel Baladez popped out to shortstop; Ralph Villela flied out to Matt Levitt in right-center; and, after Jack McDermott singled, Patrick Schmidt popped out to shortstop.
Steve Browne singled and scored again in the bottom of the second for Maroon, taking third on George Brindley’s single and scoring on Scott Wright’s. A hit by David Pittard loaded the bases, but Joe Bernal escaped the jam, getting Fritz Hensel to pop out to David Brown at shortstop and catching Alan Phillips looking at a called third strike.
Maroon scored two runs in the bottom of the third. Dale Fugate led off with a drive to left-center that burned Ralph Villela – it was a classic drive hit directly at the outfielder, very difficult to judge, that sailed over Ralph’s head, Dale pulling into second with a double. Dale took a runner (Alan Phillips, I think), who scored on Jack Spellman’s single to right-center. I took second on the throw home, tagged and took third on Adam Reddell’s deep fly to Ralph Villela in left-center, and scored on Matt Levitt’s ground out to shortstop David Brown.
Joe Bernal worked a scoreless bottom of the fourth. George Brindley singled leading off, but Scott Wright flied out to Ralph Villela in left-center, then Joe started a 1-6-3 double play on David Pittard’s grounder up the middle.
Maroon got two more runs in the bottom of the fifth. Alan Phillips singled leading off and Jack Spellman singled with one out. Adam Reddell drove in Alan with a double to right-center, Spellman stopping at third. Matt Levitt’s fly to Patrick Schmidt in left field was deep enough for Spellman to tag up and score on.
Maroon led by eight entering the buffet. Jim Foelker led off for Blue and hit a short pop in front of home, just down the first-base side. It would have spun foul, but catcher Peter Sundquist made a really smart play, hurrying out to catch the ball on the short hop, about a foot fair, before it squibbed foul, and tossing to first baseman Dale Fugate for the first out. David Brown singled, completing a 3-for-3 game, but was forced out 6-4 on Donnie Janac’s grounder to shortstop. Joe Bernal doubled, also completing a 3-for-3 game. Lawrence Page’s single scored bot Donnie and Joe’s pinch-runner, but the game ended with Larry Shupe flying out to George Brindley in left-center, George making a good catch coming in, cradling the ball against his gut.
Final score: Maroon 9, Blue 3
Joe Bernal was 3 for 3 with a double, earning himself (and his luxurious flowing locks) the not-coveted No-Tahni Award.
Session 4 standings:
| Session 4 standings: | Games | Runs | Runs | Run dif- | W/L | |||
| Wins | Losses | Win %: | behind: | for: | allowed: | ferential: | streak: | |
| Maroon | 2 | 0 | 1.000 | 0 | 23 | 14 | 9 | W3 |
| Red | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 0.5 | 16 | 14 | 2 | W1 |
| Gray | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 0.5 | 12 | 11 | 1 | W1 |
| Blue | 1 | 1 | .500 | 1 | 17 | 12 | 5 | L1 |
| Orange | 1 | 1 | .500 | 1 | 20 | 25 | -5 | W1 |
| Green | 0 | 2 | .000 | 2 | 22 | 26 | -4 | L3 |
| Purple | 0 | 2 | .000 | 2 | 25 | 33 | -8 | L2 |
| Home | Visitor | Walk-off | Extra-inning | Flip-flop | 1-run games | Last 5 | ||
| W-L: | W-L: | wins | W-L: | W-L: | W-L: | games: | ||
| Maroon | 2-0 | 0-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | WLWWW | |
| Red | 0-0 | 1-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | LLWLW | |
| Gray | 1-0 | 0-0 | 1 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 1-0 | LWLLW | |
| Blue | 1-0 | 0-1 | 0 | 0-0 | 1-0 | 0-0 | LLWWL | |
| Orange | 0-0 | 1-1 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | 0-0 | WLWLW | |
| Green | 0-0 | 0-2 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-1 | WWLLL | |
| Purple | 0-2 | 0-0 | 0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | 0-0 | WLWLL |
2026 total victories (read across) and losses (read down):
| Blue | Gray | Green | Maroon | Orange | Purple | Red | TOTAL | |
| Blue | 4 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 26 | |
| Gray | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 5 | 2 | 15 | |
| Green | 1 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 21 | |
| Maroon | 3 | 4 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 26 | |
| Orange | 3 | 4 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 19 | |
| Purple | 2 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 14 | |
| Red | 3 | 4 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 4 | 17 | |
| TOTAL: | 14 | 23 | 20 | 13 | 20 | 27 | 21 | 138 |
2026 season home run leaders:
Terry O’Brien – 10
Ralph Villela – 8
Steve Browne – 5
Tony Garcia – 4
Trent Peacock – 4
David Brown – 3
Tim Coles – 3
Mike Garrison – 3
Alan Phillips – 3
Jack Spellman – 3
Richard Battle – 2
Larry Fiorentino – 2
Rick Kahn – 2
Jack McDermott – 2
Scott Rokita – 2
Paul Rubin – 2
Pat Scott – 2
Jimmy Sneed – 2
Scott Wright – 2
Peter Atkins – 1
Tom Bellavia – 1
Joe Bernal – 1
George Brindley – 1
Ivan Budiselic – 1
Mark Dolan – 1
Jim Foelker – 1
Anthony Galindo – 1
Tommy Gillis – 1
Doc Hobar – 1
Mike Malay – 1
Bobby Miller – 1
David Pittard – 1
George Romo – 1
Luis Sanchez – 1
Steve Sandall – 1
Patrick Schmidt – 1
Hit for the cycle:
Ralph Villela – May 26
Ohtani Awards (winning pitcher + perfect at the plate):
Joe Bernal: 8 (March 2, March 19, March 30, April 16, June 22, June 25, June 29, July 9)
Ray Pilgrim: 8 (March 5, March 23, March 26, June 1, July 2, July 9, August 17, August 27)
Spike Davidson: 5 (May 4, July 2, July 20, August 6, August 20)
Tommy Deleon: 5 (April 6, April 30, June 11, July 6, July 30)
Trent Peacock: 2 (March 9, August 3)
Jeff Stone: 2 (March 2, July 9)
Rex Horvath: 1 (March 30)
Jack Kelly: 1 (August 3)
Lawrence Page: 1 (March 26)
Schedule for Tuesday September 8:
10:00 a.m.: Orange (1-1) at Gray (1-0), Green umpiring
11:00 a.m.: Green (0-2) at Blue (1-1), Gray umpiring
Noon: Red (1-0) at Maroon (2-0), Blue umpiring
Purple has the bye, with priority for its players out of the bucket.
Preview: We move to Krieg 6 for the remainder of this season, beginning with this added-on set of games Tuesday, the day after Labor Day. There will be a battle for first place at noon between Red and Maroon, both undefeated in Session 4, entering with one- and three-game winning streaks respectively. Red is still looking for its first win of the season against Maroon, which leads the season series 6-0 – this is the only season series in which one team has yet to win a game. The first game of the day has Orange and Gray facing off, both coming off wins today that ended short losing streaks. Orange leads the season series 4-2. At 11:00, one of Green or Blue will end a short losing streak – Green has dropped its last three games, Blue fell today. Blue leads the season series 7-1. Tuesday is Star Trek Day – does this mean the Red shirts are doomed to lose, or can they deploy the Vulcan Salute and salvage a win? One thing is certain: Only time will tell.
Keggy’s Korner:
George Brindley found this bracelet while walking out to right field during the 11:00 game. He and Dolly are holding on to it till it’s claimed.
Heads up that Mrs. Keggy and I are heading overseas next week for the World Kayak Polo Championships in Duisberg, Germany, with a pre-tourney trip to Prague thrown in. Keggy Junior (far right in the picture above) is the USA women’s team goalkeeper, and we’ll be rooting her on. (I’ll try to take pictures.) All of which is to say, the Picayune will be on a looser, later production schedule until we return on September 22.
Here’s the team’s GoFundMe page: https://www.gofundme.com/f/
Podcast review: We Have Ways of Making You Talk
If you told me I had to whittle down my podcast subscription list to just one, this would be it – a tremendous ongoing discussion of all things World War II between British historian and author James Holland and British comedian (and now historian) Al Murray. Their proud Britishness results in a UK-heavy emphasis on the war in Europe, and they are particularly obsessed with Operation Market Garden, Dunkirk, the Battle of Britain, and the greatness of the Royal Navy, though they have since 2019, over the course of more than a thousand episodes (two or three per week, without fail), discussed almost every theater of the war, the build-up to it, the aftermath of it, the major campaigns, personalities, weapons, strategy, logistics, memoirs, odd corners, you name it, often featuring interviews with historians, authors, and (the few remaining) veterans. It is both serious about the subject, but not self-serious, approaching it in an informal, frequently digressive, often very funny conversational style. They are basically two enthusiastic, well-informed, opinionated, hilarious World War II obsessives chewing over every imaginable angle of the conflict. Having done 80-year commemorations from 2020 through 2025, over the last year they’ve taken to going in depth over multi-episode arcs into major campaigns: Barbarossa, the Sherwood Rangers (a.k.a. the British Band of Brothers) in Normandy, Japan’s road to war, Audie Murphy, the sinking of the Bismarck… The glory of the podcast is that they will never run out of topics, and it will all be interesting and entertaining as hell. (Even their terrible attempts at American accents are more funny than annoying.) (Their portrayals of Churchill, Montgomery, and other British figures are much more accurate, and no less riotous.) (Ditto their readings of German memoirs in “German” accents.) New England content: Occasional. Canadian content: Every time they talk about D-Day or the War in the Atlantic – Canadians “punching above their weight” is an ongoing, totally justified trope. Listening speed: 1X. Rating: 🎧 🎧 🎧 🎧 🎧