Maybe you’ve heard—The Ringer has a brand-new website. To celebrate this new era, we wanted to look back, so we asked our staffers two questions: What is your favorite thing The Ringer has ever done? And what is an ice-cold take of yours that you still kinda stand by? Our favorite things are over here. Our mea culpas (and double downs) are just below.
What is an ice-cold take of yours that you still kinda stand by?
My Jay Cutler Idol Worship
I don’t know what to tell you, dude. Do you want me to apologize? Fine. I’m sorry. I’m sorry that I spent a portion of three years of my life documenting Jay Cutler’s every move on the short-lived reality show Very Cavallari. I take full responsibility for depicting him as a lovable, lazy, harmless doofus. In hindsight, it does seem clearer that Jay’s quirks—his love of deer hunting and not shaving, his hatred of doing anything that a husband should do, his devotion to withering away in retirement—were maybe overshadowing the less savory, more meaningful parts of his persona. (My guy—who, to be clear, is no longer “my guy”—is basically JD Vance with better hair.) I will also acknowledge that by celebrating and normalizing Jay Cutler, I was doing the same to his then-wife, Kristin Cavallari, who very recently and very seriously stated that celebrities like Kanye West and Britney Spears are clones who are being controlled by the Illuminati. These people suck—I will not disagree with you on that. But also? Those Jay Cutler blogs ripped, man. You can’t take that from me. —Andrew Gruttadaro
The Apple (Still) Has No Core
Eating around the “core” of an apple is wasteful and unnecessary. More bluntly: The core is a lie; just eat the damn apple from the top down. I wrote a blog about this within the first three weeks of the site’s existence, titled “The Apple Has No Core.” Anecdotally, given the consumption habits of even my dearest loved ones, it appears that my message has not made as significant an impact as I had anticipated. Nonetheless, it is one of the best things I have ever written—touching on science and pseudoscience, sin and paranoia, all in just over 600 words. May future generations side with me this time around. —Danny Chau
Terrace House Was Always Terrifying
OK, deep cut, but in March 2019, I wrote a column arguing that the Japanese reality show Terrace House was the most terrifying series on TV. This was at a moment when the American conversation about Terrace House was dominated by the idea that the show was a sort of televisual comfort food: slow, gentle, soothing, maybe even a little boring (complimentary). It was a mannerly Japanese alternative, consensus said, to the high-decibel chaos of American reality TV.
My then-scalding take was that Terrace House was more intense than American reality shows, and that the mistaken consensus was the result of a series of cultural misunderstandings and marketing moves, including the decision to replace most of the superdramatic—but expensive to license—music from the Japanese version of the show with a much mellower soundtrack before it hit American Netflix. A few months later, the series' then-current season was canceled following the death by suicide of cast member Hana Kimura. Subsequent reporting revealed more details about the tortured background of the production, and Terrace House has been on hiatus ever since. I’ve never been less happy to say I told you so. —Brian Phillips
The Kawhi Leonard–Paul George Clippers Should Have Won a Title
I’ve written this multiple times, from several different angles, usually right after or before some cataclysmic injury redirected all conversation away from how well they played basketball and fit together, but: The Clippers were always a title contender with Kawhi Leonard and Paul George, and the fact that they didn’t ever even reach the Finals should be seen as a historical anomaly and basketball tragedy instead of as an indictment of the team’s decision to give up a bunch of valuable stuff to get them. I will go to my grave believing this. That trade, and almost every personnel decision made afterward, was correct. —Michael Pina
George R.R. Martin Will Finish Writing The Winds of Winter
Game of Thrones fans have largely stopped expecting that Martin will ever finish The Winds of Winter, the (very, very, very) long-awaited sixth novel in the A Song of Ice and Fire series. It’s simply been too long—13 years and counting since the fifth book’s release—and we’ve been fooled by teases too many times. I once wrote about all the times I believed a publication announcement was imminent. That was nearly five years ago, and still, no such publication has been announced. But forget about all those other fans—I still believe, George! The Winds will swirl! And we will read all about Stannis’s trap for Ramsay, Daenerys’s consolidation of the Dothraki hordes, and Jon Snow’s return from the dead. —Zach Kram
Do We Really Have to Hand It to the Knicks?
Five years ago, I was convinced the Knicks were hopelessly screwed forever, and the Julius Randle signing was the clearest indicator yet. That was not right at all! And yet, I still don’t like the ownership one bit. —Sean Fennessey
Jimmy G Should’ve Been Great
One of the strangest things I rediscovered while researching The Ringer’s early history was how much we blogged about the 2016 Minnesota Vikings. Today, these headlines read like they were beamed in from an alternate universe: “The Minnesota Vikings Can’t Win a Super Bowl Without Teddy Bridgewater,” quickly followed by “The Vikings’ Trade for Sam Bradford Is a Declaration of Intent.” (Though, to be fair, it didn’t specify what that intent was.) Sure, the Vikings were good around this time—they made the NFC title game in January 2018 thanks to the Minneapolis Miracle and, uh, Case Keenum—but I barely remember Sam Bradford playing for this team, let alone anyone thinking he was the championship balm for a franchise that today still needs it. No wonder this team gave Kirk Cousins a record-breaking contract just a short time later.
In September 2016, we also published another blog: a group post where we pleaded with the Vikings to trade for our favorite teams’ quarterbacks. The list includes the likes of Jay Cutler, Chase Daniel, and three separate Jets quarterbacks—a sure sign that this post was written in this corner of the multiverse. In my case, as a lifelong Pats fan staring down the barrel of Tom Brady’s Deflategate suspension, I used the very first words I wrote for this website to beg Minnesota to go after Jimmy Garoppolo, who was at the time an untested backup and a blank canvas of olive skin and dimples the size of the Big Dig. My take was: He was going to be good enough (and handsome enough) in Brady’s absence that it would spark a mini Boston sports talk meltdown, à la Matt Cassel’s 11-5 2008 season. And you know, if it weren’t for the injury he suffered midway through his Week 2 start against the Dolphins, I’m convinced that would’ve happened. It’s now lost to the sands of 28-3 and another half decade of Brady brilliance, but those six quarters from Jimmy G in early 2016 were among the best a Pats QB had ever played. Look at this stat line: Yes, I’m serious.
Of course, the injury messed all that up, as would become a recurring theme in Jimmy’s career. He never started another game for the Patriots, and his early time in San Francisco was defined by more stellar play, followed by more injury. When he returned, he flashed in stretches—while always flashing that undeniable smile—but he never quite reached the heights that once seemed possible. (Although maybe this conversation would be different if this throw were timed just a touch better.) The Jimmy G discourse quickly morphed to talk about how much he was being overpaid and whether the Niners were better off with Trey Lance (they weren’t) or Brock Purdy (sadly, they were). Maybe he was a limited signal caller who had always been put in good situations, or maybe he was simply a replacement-level player who was better at finding porn stars to date than he was at finding open receivers. I personally blame the injuries, even if the facts don’t quite line up with that narrative. Today, Jimmy is Matt Stafford’s backup in Los Angeles—an afterthought in blue and yellow. (Unfortunately, not even the best color combo for our half-Italian prince.) But there’s a multiverse where he’s one of the best QBs of his generation—maybe for the Niners, maybe for the Pats, or maybe even for those juggernaut 2016 Vikings. —Justin Sayles
I Can’t Bring Myself to Care About the NBA Cup
I know I’m in the minority here (and that’s fine), but I remain staunchly ambivalent to skeptical about the NBA Cup, formerly known as the (terribly named) “in-season tournament.” It’s an event full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Yes, it’s given us all something new to talk about in the early weeks of the season. Yes, the specialized courts are, uh, colorful! (I actually like them.) But it’s just not that compelling. The group-play games are just glorified regular-season contests—and no, they are not consistently more intense or competitive than non-Cup games; there’s no data to support that claim, so just stop. The inaugural tournament had no substantial impact on fan interest or ratings. I do think the championship game had some juice, and it was good for a young team like the Indiana Pacers to get that kind of experience. But does anyone care that the Lakers won the 2023 Cup? Are L.A. fans boasting about a “championship” awarded in mid-December? Did it have even a scintilla of relevance when the Lakers got smoked in the playoffs four months later? No, no, and no. Look, I’m not against the NBA Cup—there’s no harm in it—just profoundly indifferent. But the only thing that matters is whether (a) players care and (b) fans care. If both things hold true, the Cup will be around for years to come and a commercial success. You just can’t convince me that any of it really matters. —Howard Beck
Bingemas Is the Most Wonderful Time of the Year
Was it personally a good idea to blog about Christmas movies for 25 days in a row, throwing my schedule, and the schedule of several lovely editors and fact checkers into disarray every day for five straight weeks? Maybe not. But I did it for journalism. Because people need to know that there's a Christmas movie about an optometrist who helps her daughter’s color-blind teacher discover the magic of Christmas through the magic of glasses, and it stars Cerie from 30 Rock. People need to know that literally every single original holiday film of the 150-plus original holiday films made every year can answer the questions: "Who's dead?" "Is that mysterious old man secretly Santa?" and "Why did that kiss get interrupted by a snowball?" People need to know that, like the diner food in your hometown where you’ve returned to restore a Victorian inn to its former luster, original holiday movies aren't about quality—they’re about quantity that creates the feeling of quality. And don't you sometimes just want to feel something about feeling nothing? The people needed to know, and so I told them. And, by Santa, I'm still telling them. —Jodi Walker
I Will Not Quit Rory McIlroy
I stand by pretty much everything I’ve ever written about Rory McIlroy. I’m already prewriting, “He’s due!” in our “Nine Questions Ahead of the 2037 PGA Championship.” —Matthew Dollinger
Facts Matter, Even for The Meg
I don’t know that fact-checking the 2018 film The Meg counts as a “take,” but I had people in my mentions who felt that a movie starring Jason Statham and a beast that’s been extinct for millions of years was above reproach. THAT SAID, I stand by the details in the review, from the actual maximum size of a megalodon shark, to the fact that said sharks wouldn’t have been found in the Mariana Trench. And I would again question Statham’s ability to ride a megalodon up out of the water like it’s a bucking bronco. (Though judging by the fact that Warner Bros. green-lit the horrible Meg 2, it doesn’t appear that anyone took my notes to heart.) —Megan Schuster
My Taylor Swift–Travis Kelce Take Was Only Half Wrong
There is a 15-minute segment buried at the end of an Every Single Album episode from August 2023 in which I went into all the reasons I thought Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce made no sense and weren't actually dating. I've come around on the dating part! —Nora Princiotti
Abolish the Letter Q
The third episode of The Hottest Take features me telling Jason Concepcion, Jason Gallagher, and Bill Simmons that the alphabet should be reordered. Obviously, this is still 100 percent true. R, s, and t are still elite superstar letters that have no business being behind q, and q is still total trash. You could get rid of it right now and lose nothing. It is an unnecessary, redundant abomination of a letter, and I pray its extinction comes someday soon. —Tyler Parker
Hot Fuss by The Killers Has Only Four Good Songs
I said this like a month ago and it’s already a freezing-cold take and I’m still getting salty emails about it and I still stand by it. “Jenny Was a Friend of Mine” ain’t quite got the juice. “On Top” ain’t quite got the juice. The other songs whose titles I’ve already forgotten again ain’t got the juice. I don’t make the rules, but then again, sometimes I do. —Rob Harvilla
Tua Could Still Be Him
Oh man, I have a lot of cold takes to choose from—from insinuating that Jack Del Rio and Derek Carr would lead the Raiders to glory to predicting that the Devils would make the Stanley Cup final last season—but the one I still want to believe in, dammit, is that Tua can be Him in Miami. I’ll never forget that a few weeks after I wrote that story, I was visiting my parents on a night that the Dolphins were on Thursday Night Football. They asked me nonstop questions about him and the team throughout every second of the first half and then immediately declared, “What a shame!” and went to bed when he went down with a concussion. And as ever, they were right to do so. —Katie Baker
Wonder Woman 1984 Is Good
One of the weirdest cycles for a blockbuster release is when the social embargo lifts—and an outpouring of hyperbolic reactions to the movie rolls in from influencers and/or people who work for Fandango. (Of course the Fandango Guy loved [insert film here]; he’s in the movie-ticket-selling business!) After the initial buzz around Wonder Woman 1984, more discerning critics proceeded to dunk on it, the consensus being that it was a major step down from the original movie.
Well, I’m here to live my truth: I still adore Wonder Woman 1984, warts and all. When December 2020 rolled around, I just wanted to shut off my brain for [checks notes] 151 minutes while the ghost (?) of Chris Pine’s character inhabited a random dude’s body (??) without his consent (???) and Pedro Pascal hammed it up as an evil genie in a business suit who grants wishes. I had the time of my life, and if I’m being totally honest, I’ll take the chaotic high jinks of Wonder Woman 1984 over Wonder Woman any day of the week. My only wish is that others felt the same. —Miles Surrey
I’m Sorry, but Halloween Is for Kids
Halloween is a problem. I've felt this way for many years, at least since 2019, when we discussed it on The Hottest Take. I don't know how we became a society of adults dressing up and wearing masks (not the N95 or KN95 kinds). It's a public danger and, moreover, embarrassing. I hope all the children of the world get to enjoy Halloween in the costumes of their dreams, but only them. Halloween ends at 13. —Juliet Litman
I Don’t Think I’m Quite Finished Getting Hurt by Ben Simmons
I still stand behind any Ben Simmons propagation. There’s a laundry list of it in my archives—whether in an either-or binary with Joel Embiid or just general, unabashed enthusiasm in the face of [waves hands frantically]. It’s getting harder and harder to muster a defense, but those flashes of vision and athleticism at his size still hit different. The fact that they’re now almost entirely confined to a handful of meaningless early-season games is only a minor detail. —Justin Verrier
We Regret the Error
You’ll have to trust me on this. But David Shoemaker and I recorded a Press Box episode, sometime in 2021, in which we—well, I—wondered whether Trump was no longer the emperor of the American media. Whether Trump books would no longer sell, whether Trump Woj bombs would no longer dominate our news alerts. This fall, Bob Woodward proved the former take was wrong; as for the latter … well, see every hour of every day over the last week and change. We—well, I—regret the error. —Bryan Curtis
The Greatest Impersonation I Never Wanted to See Again
I’m proud of the fact that I wrote an ode to James Austin Johnson’s uncanny Trump impression in 2020. Less than a year later, Saturday Night Live hired him. Too bad he’ll have the job for the next four. —Alan Siegel
This Is (Still) Our Fight Blog
I said it in 2016 and I'll say it again now: "Fight Song" is miserable garbage. Is its twee smarm still "an insult to the American people"? You bet it is. Please, DNC, I'm begging you—listen to the haters sometimes. —Claire McNear
The Yankees Will Never Beat the Loser Allegations
In the fall of 2023, I called my favorite baseball team a bunch of sad losers. They kinda reeked. This year, they responded by making it all the way to the World Series. Then they proceeded to poo all over themselves in the span of a half inning. Soon after came the completion of a gentleman’s sweep. I’m still sad. (It’s gonna get real harsh out here if a certain someone goes to Queens.) They never could quite dodge the loserdom charges completely. —Lex Pryor
Walk, Don’t Run, to a Less Torturous Hobby
In my singular appearance on The Hottest Take, I proclaimed that running is a joyless activity, marathons are torturous displays of insanity, and the cardio enthusiasts of the world would be far better served by taking a nice, brisk walk. I do still believe this, though my take has been challenged in recent years, as the universe thought it would be funny to match me with a partner whose main hobby is, of course, running marathons. But we all have our red flags—in the grand scheme of annoying hobbies, marathons are probably neck and neck with podcasting. —Kate Halliwell
Not Wrong, Just Early
The year the Nuggets won the title, I had predicted that they’d lose in the first round to the Timberwolves. Was I obviously, painfully wrong? Yes. Did I apologize? Yes. But I will say I did feel a little vindicated last postseason, when Minnesota indeed knocked out the Nuggets for the reasons I predicted: Denver’s multilayered, intuitive offense met its defensive match in the Timberwolves, Minnesota’s depth powered them through the playoffs, and the driving destruction of Anthony Edwards sealed the deal. —Seerat Sohi
Also Early, Still Pretty Wrong
This is part freezing-cold take that I stand by, part mea culpa. In May 2023, Rob Mahoney wrote a typically incisive yet measured story about Game 1 of the Western Conference finals between the Nuggets and Lakers, which Denver won by six points. In that game, L.A. had trailed by double digits before coach Darvin Ham made the adjustment of guarding Nikola Jokic (the best player alive) with Rui Hachimura (possibly the best player to be traded for three or more second-round picks). Rob and I had discussed this possibility before the game (I am his editor), and much to our surprise, the Hachimura move spurred a furious Lakers comeback that ultimately fell just short. Rob wrote about why this defensive approach got the Nuggets out of sorts in that game but argued that it probably wouldn’t pose any meaningful issue for Jokic or Denver moving forward. In my early days as an editor, I titled it “The Lakers Broke the Nuggets Offense, but They Can’t Count on Doing It Again,” for some reason.
Broke the Nuggets offense was a stretch even then, and in retrospect it’s even worse. The Nuggets swept the Lakers that postseason and beat them in five games the following year. Jokic is the best offensive player alive and impossible to game-plan against. Rob, I’m sorry. Yet! The Hachimura adjustment worked that night because it allowed Anthony Davis to play help defense along the back line. That was precisely the strategy used by the Timberwolves in their 2024 upset of the Nuggets. Did Minnesota break Denver’s offense? No, not really. But the strategy was good enough to muck up the Nuggets’ gears and take them down. Rob, apology accepted. —Isaac Levy-Rubinett
The Broncos Won the Russell Wilson Trade, Too
The Russell Wilson trade to the Broncos is widely seen as a disaster. But actually, everyone involved got what they wanted. The Seahawks got multiple firsts and second-rounders. The Broncos ownership group, the heirs of Pat Bowlen, sold the team for nearly half a billion dollars over the expected asking price, seemingly because the Walmart family saw the Wilson trade and imagined themselves holding up the Lombardi Trophy. And they weren’t the only ones who got paid. Russ got $120 million for horrific play. Head coach Nathaniel Hackett got a fat payday even though he didn’t deliver on a potential Aaron Rodgers reunion in Denver. Even Sean Payton got $18 million a year to clean up the Wilson mess. Basically, everyone involved got exactly what they wanted, which was to leech off the Walmart family fortune. The only people who lost the Wilson trade are Broncos fans. —Danny Heifetz
Are We Sure the 2023 Carolina Panthers Couldn’t Have Won the NFC South?
Before the 2023 NFL season, I picked the Carolina Panthers to win the NFC South. Whoops! The division was wide open, and I figured it wouldn’t take a very impressive effort to finish in first place. That was the only thing I was right about. The Bucs captured the division title with a 9-8 record. As for the Panthers? Well, they finished 2-15 and were a complete disaster. So my defense is: right idea, wrong team! Besides, if you played out that season 1,000 times, the Panthers would probably win the division ... um ... once? Maybe? —Sheil Kapadia
Mad About Mad Men
I don't know whether I ever published this on The Ringer or Grantland, but Betty Draper is the most underrated character in TV history, and Mad Men wasn't nearly as good once it stuck January Jones in the fat suit. I’ll stand by that forever. —Craig Gaines
History Will Absolve My Kyle Shanahan Take
I stand by my take that Kyle Shanahan is a fraud and that the 2017 Super Bowl collapse will be his legacy. —Cory McConnell
The Rules of Fright Club
I wrote 27,000 words about which of the greatest horror movie villains of all time I could kill in a fair fight because I thought it was a cool idea. I still think it’s a cool idea. That is not an ice-cold take (in my obviously biased opinion). The ice-cold take was thinking I could do it in four weeks.
When I tweeted out this piece, I said: “I watched 218 horror movies over four weeks to see who of the greatest villains of all time I could kill in a fair fight.” I averaged four hours of sleep per night over the final two-week stretch, ripped two all-nighters, and finished with a 50-hour sprint, breaking my college no-sleep record. I watched a lot of movies at two-time speed and if a movie was a rewatch, I watched it in four-time speed just to find the fight scenes. This was after I did a similar work binge, including multiple overnighters, to watch just 51 movies and write a 17,000-word piece about surviving movie apocalypses. It was unhinged and ridiculous and stupid. And, like every Twitter user who had ever seen a movie made sure to tell me, movies shouldn’t be watched like that, and that doesn’t count as watching movies. They’re right! I agree! I didn’t truly watch 218 horror movies over four weeks, and I sound like an ego-stroking douchebag when I say it that way. That said, can we all chill out?! I wrote thousands of words about how I’d kick Chucky’s ass and befriend Frankenstein’s monster. I developed a composite SCARE metric and weight classes. I had a lot of fun with it, and I hope some of y’all can, too. —Austin Gayle
I’m Not Buying the Giannis Trade Rumors
Even as Giannis Antetokounmpo trade rumors heat up again, I still stand by my take that I don’t think he will leave Milwaukee. When my book on him came out in 2021, that was one of the questions that we discussed on various Ringer pods, and although the question is very much alive today, I still stand by what I said. —Mirin Fader
Don’t Worry, Darling, There’s Still Time to Become a Critical Success
Both film Twitter and Harry Styles haters won’t like this, but I’m gonna stand by my take that Don’t Worry Darling will be ripe for a critical reevaluation in 10 years’ time. I know, I know—even though it's been only two years, it seems like this movie has destroyed Olivia Wilde’s directorial career somehow? The press tour certainly didn’t help, rumored spitting and on-set affairs and all. But behind all the hoopla and A-list drama, there is something of a thought-provoking drama in here, backed by a truly superb Florence Pugh performance—plus, the movie looks great, stylistically. I’m not necessarily saying this is gonna get the Eyes Wide Shut reappraisal over time, but maybe in a decade we'll look back and think it was at least ... worth watching? —Aric Jenkins
Frank Ntilikina Was A PROBLEM 😤
The first time that my name ever appeared on The Ringer was in a piece written by the great Haley O’Shaughnessy in November 2017. O’Shaughnessy had the fun idea of polling the many New York Knicks fans on staff with questions about the team following its red-hot three-game winning streak near the start of the season. (Mind you, the Knicks were coming off their fourth consecutive losing season at the time. This was an exciting achievement back then.) As a brand-new editorial intern and a lifelong Knicks fan, I was thrilled to be given the chance to participate. Possibly too thrilled. When asked about my first impressions of French rookie Frank Ntilikina, here’s how I responded:
He hasn’t been great so far, but the French Prince just turned 19! He has a 7-foot wingspan. Yeah, I might die a little bit inside every time I see a Dennis Smith Jr. highlight dunk every couple of days, but Frank is going to be an All-Star in a few years right alongside Porzingis.
Granted, this was an ice-cold take even then. (Let’s just ignore the Dennis Smith Jr. comment while we’re here, too.) Frankie Smokes becoming an All-Star might’ve been just a little bit of a stretch, and I’ll admit that I let the delusional Knicks fan in me blind my better judgment. With that said, I—like many other Knicks fans—loved his early defensive prowess and held out hope for the neophyte’s potential to improve on offense over time. Of course, Ntilikina never turned into an All-Star, and he’s already out of the league at age 26.
But Pacôme Dadiet, on the other hand … —Daniel Chin
I Still Believe in Anthony Richardson
The quarterback I had ranked ahead of C.J. Stroud before the 2023 NFL draft was benched this season for a 39-year-old Joe Flacco. I think that qualifies as a cold take. But I still believe in Richardson. The recently unbenched quarterback hasn’t lost any of his physical abilities, and he’s made some genuinely impressive throws; he’s just a little inaccurate. If he can just fix that—I realize that’s a colossal “if”—he might be able to push Stroud aside for that QB1 title. OK, maybe not, but he could be good! —Steven Ruiz
One Final Cleanse
I still stand by my takes that MLB should move the mound back, allow fewer pitchers, and hold more World Baseball Classics; that steroids weren’t the main reason for steroid-era offense; that in-game, on-field interviews are awful; that Lucy Dacus is the best member of boygenius; that Sloan is the best band; that video games should disclose how long they are; that actors should get to be Bond only once; that robots will save me from getting a driver’s license; that Dave Filoni needs a writers room; that the Holdo maneuver is a cool movie moment that doesn’t make sense; that the zombies on The Walking Dead are too slow; that Rick Grimes is a terrible leader; that all the unaired TV pilots should be released; that “sticking the landing” is overrated; that there aren’t enough alien protagonists; that TV seasons have gotten too short; that Pitch should get a second season; and that people should stop sleeping on Apple TV+, Solo, The Shield, and Detroiters.
But one take tops them all. Take it from the guy who told you that Shohei Ohtani was a baseball phenomenon in the making, that video game adaptations would work one day, that Mikey Madison was a talent worth watching, and that there was no need to remake White Men Can’t Jump: Bidets are the best. Do yourself a favor, join the 21st century, and stop wiping your own ass. —Ben Lindbergh
