“Watching Bumgarner is like feeling an expertly administered epidural nip in between a couple of vertebrae and deliver bliss: it’s a gliding, almost eventless slide through the innings, with accumulating fly-ball outs and low-count K’s marking the passing scenery. It’s twilight sleep; an Ambien catnap.” The New Yorker’s Roger Angell on Madison Bumgarner: The Best.

+ “‘See that? See me?’ More than thirty years later, Muhammad Ali sat in an overstuffed chair watching himself on the television screen.” David Remnick looks back at the champ, with the champ: American Hunger.

+ Syndicated from Kottke: You know what’s pretty? Big waves and surfing in slow motion. Take a break and relax at 1000 fps with this mesmerizing video.