Agent Palmer

I am a fan of the CFL and the Toronto Argonauts. But it wasn’t until I picked up The Year of the Rocket by Paul Woods that I had forgotten a previous connection to the league and the fandom.

This book has not only reminded me of that connection but told a greater story surrounding the history and circumstances around the 1991 CFL season. That season, “”The king of comedy, the king of hockey, and the guy who owns the Kings” bought the Toronto Argonauts…

I thought about being a rock star as an early teen as if it was that easy. I also thought about becoming a journalist for a period in my late teens, which seemed much more realistic. I even minored in journalism in college, so it was definitely in my wheelhouse.

Somehow, being a rock journalist never made the list, even temporarily, of things I want to do when I grow up.

I’ve never met Tom Adelman, but I feel as though we just had a wonderful conversation. Black and Blue: The Golden Arm, the Robinson Boys, and the 1966 World Series That Stunned America was the conversation we shared.

This book is fantastic, and that’s coming from an Orioles fan who has also enjoyed Dodger baseball for the past decade plus. Through telecasts I’ve absorbed the history of both clubs, but this book does something else.

They’re back with a new season or series (depending on who you ask) on Amazon Prime. Along with their long-overdue revival comes The Kids in the Hall: Comedy Punks, a two-part documentary about their decades-long journey from origins to success, failure, and everything else in between.

I have yet to watch the new material, and I will, but a few months ago, I started rewatching the old stuff.

How did the PayPal service that we take for granted today come to pass? How close did it come to going under more than once? Just how precarious was its position in the fintech field?

These questions are answered in The Founders: The Story of PayPal and The Entrepreneurs who Shaped Silicon Valley by Jimmy Soni. This book is more than just a story about the supposed PayPal Mafia; it’s the story of Silicon Valley success.