Alex Nelson
@alxnelson.bsky.social
Formerly a baseball writer and editor, now an amateur wildlife photographer.
Pinned
Alex Nelson
@alxnelson.bsky.social
· Oct 4
Roseate spoonbills will splash their wings through the water as part of their beauty routine. Here's one doing so mid-splash, facing straight ahead towards the camera. I really love this shot. #birds
We ran an interview with Paul DePodesta where I walked away saying to myself, "this guy is falling behind the times." That was almost 15 years ago, and he's since been working for an NFL team achieving humiliating results. Hiring him to run an MLB team in 2025 is...well, it's the Colorado Rockies.
November 6, 2025 at 9:48 PM
We ran an interview with Paul DePodesta where I walked away saying to myself, "this guy is falling behind the times." That was almost 15 years ago, and he's since been working for an NFL team achieving humiliating results. Hiring him to run an MLB team in 2025 is...well, it's the Colorado Rockies.
The Albert Dershman of blue jays, this bird has at least two acorns in its mouth and possibly more in its crop, as it sits in a bare tree on the edge of the prairie. #birds
November 5, 2025 at 9:55 PM
The Albert Dershman of blue jays, this bird has at least two acorns in its mouth and possibly more in its crop, as it sits in a bare tree on the edge of the prairie. #birds
The actual biggest problem baseball has? The sports franchise value bubble which will inevitably preclude anyone except these three types of owners in the future. Which the current owners sure as hell don't think is a problem at all, because a third of them aspire to sell to them anyway.
I think you’re identified the main issues but if you force a race to the top financially every team will end up being owned by either:
1.) sovereign wealth funds from the worst places in the world
2.) Dodgers style equity capital ghouls
3.) a few of the world’s richest weirdos, like Cohen/Musk types
1.) sovereign wealth funds from the worst places in the world
2.) Dodgers style equity capital ghouls
3.) a few of the world’s richest weirdos, like Cohen/Musk types
My "solutions," while not solving this yet making me feel good so it's an impractical exercise, would be:
-- Force out owners who won't spend
-- Find a way to fix the media revenue disparities
(Though both feel like the main problems)
-- Force out owners who won't spend
-- Find a way to fix the media revenue disparities
(Though both feel like the main problems)
November 2, 2025 at 4:37 PM
The actual biggest problem baseball has? The sports franchise value bubble which will inevitably preclude anyone except these three types of owners in the future. Which the current owners sure as hell don't think is a problem at all, because a third of them aspire to sell to them anyway.
I think it's kind of bonkers that after watching that particular World Series, everyone's concluding the Dodgers' victory was undeniably inevitable.
November 2, 2025 at 4:22 PM
I think it's kind of bonkers that after watching that particular World Series, everyone's concluding the Dodgers' victory was undeniably inevitable.
Sunrise at Sweetwater Wetlands in Gainesville: a sun rises in a cloudy sky over a gazebo and boardwalk built over the marsh, with a concrete walkway and shrubs in the foreground.
November 2, 2025 at 1:59 PM
Sunrise at Sweetwater Wetlands in Gainesville: a sun rises in a cloudy sky over a gazebo and boardwalk built over the marsh, with a concrete walkway and shrubs in the foreground.
I quite like this one: a marsh wren poses atop a long leaf, completely surrounded by burr marigold bathed in early morning light. #birds
November 1, 2025 at 6:55 PM
I quite like this one: a marsh wren poses atop a long leaf, completely surrounded by burr marigold bathed in early morning light. #birds
A juvenile male American redstart standing on an oak branch with some palm fronds in the background. You can tell this is a juvenile male by the small patches of black showing up here and there and the fact that yellow markings are beginning to take on an orange hue. #birds
November 1, 2025 at 5:30 PM
A juvenile male American redstart standing on an oak branch with some palm fronds in the background. You can tell this is a juvenile male by the small patches of black showing up here and there and the fact that yellow markings are beginning to take on an orange hue. #birds
A ventral view of another golden silk orbweaver at the center of her web in the middle of the woods.
October 31, 2025 at 11:47 PM
A ventral view of another golden silk orbweaver at the center of her web in the middle of the woods.
Warning: today is going to be a spider day. A golden silk orbweaver in profile, resting atop her golden web.
October 31, 2025 at 12:21 PM
Warning: today is going to be a spider day. A golden silk orbweaver in profile, resting atop her golden web.
A palm warbler perched on a cypress branch in the mid-morning. Palm warblers are omnipresent right now and will be for the next few months. #birds
October 30, 2025 at 12:40 PM
A palm warbler perched on a cypress branch in the mid-morning. Palm warblers are omnipresent right now and will be for the next few months. #birds
This white-tailed deer buck was just on the other side of a palmetto from me, underneath more palms. We both noticed each other at the same time.
October 28, 2025 at 7:45 PM
This white-tailed deer buck was just on the other side of a palmetto from me, underneath more palms. We both noticed each other at the same time.
Scoping out its surroundings, a green tree frog pokes its head out of its cover: an old rusty pipe sticking out of the ground in a nature preserve.
October 27, 2025 at 8:12 PM
Scoping out its surroundings, a green tree frog pokes its head out of its cover: an old rusty pipe sticking out of the ground in a nature preserve.
As @birderstuart.bsky.social pointed out, the first image was of a Blackburnian warbler, not a blackpoll. That's because while I was photographing the blackpoll, actually shown here searching the Spanish moss for food, the Blackburnian jumped in front, and I started following the wrong bird. #birds
October 25, 2025 at 11:41 PM
As @birderstuart.bsky.social pointed out, the first image was of a Blackburnian warbler, not a blackpoll. That's because while I was photographing the blackpoll, actually shown here searching the Spanish moss for food, the Blackburnian jumped in front, and I started following the wrong bird. #birds
I only count birds I photograph on my life list, and I checked off my first blackpoll warbler the other day. Here it is looking up from foraging methodically through the Spanish moss in a live oak. In the fall they lose a lot of their contrast, picking up this brown and pale yellow coloring. #birds
October 25, 2025 at 7:00 PM
I only count birds I photograph on my life list, and I checked off my first blackpoll warbler the other day. Here it is looking up from foraging methodically through the Spanish moss in a live oak. In the fall they lose a lot of their contrast, picking up this brown and pale yellow coloring. #birds
