Mark Lazerus

WEAPONS: Look, it's one thing to ask me to suspend disbelief for a movie. It's quite another to expect me to believe an American third-grade classroom has only 18 kids. This is very well done, but I still find horror flicks generally very silly. The ending was genuinely hilarious, though.

Imagine thinking Dean Cain still counts as a celebrity.

I was really pleasantly surprised by it. It looked pretty tame and small from below, but the tilt is WAY cooler than I thought it would be, and the rest of the ride was great. And the theming! That's one thing CP doesn't do well, but they did a great job with this one. The audio is super fun.

once again, it is a core belief of people on the american right that it should be illegal for you not to like them or want to be around them or work with them

Magnum is hilarious. It has all the ricketiness of an ancient wooden coaster but all the height and speed of a modern hypercoaster. It's by far the ride on which you most feel like you might actually die, haha.

We liked Gemini a lot, but they only had one track running both days, which really does take the experience down a notch. I love rickety old wooden coasters, though.

I've ridden it before, but this was my first time back to CP since I had kids, so it's been a while! As my daughter kept saying everytime we saw it from another ride hill, "Man, that one looks so fun."

It's summer mailbag season, in which we discuss everything from contracts to terrible trades to Blackhawks point-total expectations to guzzolene to the precarious state of modern journalism.

Read it:
www.nytimes.com/athletic/652...

The top seven there are all god-tier rides. Cedar Point rules.

Cedar Point, ranked:
1. Steel Vengeance
2. Millennium Force
3. Top Thrill 2
4. Maverick
5. Siren's Curse
6. Gatekeeper
7. Magnum XL-200
8. Valravn
9. Wild Mouse
10. Iron Dragon
11. Gemini
12. Corkscrew
13. Blue Streak
14. Mine Ride

(Raptor &^ Rougarou were sadly closed both days we were there.)

Celebrini for Bedard? Sigh. Must be summer silly season: Lazerus NHL mailbag Plus: Which Blackhawks player not named Connor Bedard will become a superstar?

Bedard for Celebrini?
Reichel for Chinakov?
Sharks vs. Blackhawks?
Twitter vs. Bluesky?
Player vs. reporter?
Next Chicago superstar?
Kane and Toews?
Dynasty debate?
What Do You Do With A BA In English?

Summer mailbag Part II:
www.nytimes.com/athletic/652...

I read my sports news and analysis. I have such a mountain of podcasts I try to get through every week that i just don't have the time or, honestly, the desire to listen to more sports. I'm glad others do, though, haha.

Celebrini for Bedard? Sigh. Must be summer silly season: Lazerus NHL mailbag Plus: Which Blackhawks player not named Connor Bedard will become a superstar?

Bedard for Celebrini?
Reichel for Chinakov?
Sharks vs. Blackhawks?
Twitter vs. Bluesky?
Player vs. reporter?
Next Chicago superstar?
Kane and Toews?
Dynasty debate?
What Do You Do With A BA In English?

Summer mailbag Part II:
www.nytimes.com/athletic/652...

Celebrini for Bedard? Sigh. Must be summer silly season: Lazerus NHL mailbag Plus: Which Blackhawks player not named Connor Bedard will become a superstar?

Celebrini for Bedard?

Sigh. Must be silly season.

Here's Part II of my summer mailbag:
www.nytimes.com/athletic/652...

If you don't love roller-coasters, then god, Jed, I don't even want to know ya.

I'm told weightlifting becomes more important than cardio the older you get. My hamstrings beg to differ.

How I feel after adding high-intensity kettlebell routines to my usual old-man workout rotation (treadmill, rowing machine, heavy bag) this week:

I'm firing my bathroom scale, my blood-pressure monitor and my 401(k).

I'm as bleeding-heart liberal as they come, and I'm always hyper-conscious of words I use and their unintended meanings or implications. Words matter.

But this Sydney Sweeney "controversy" is dumb as hell. There's enough real racism and white nationalism to worry about. Let's not make more up.

Someone smart: Build an app that details which flavors of Slurpee they have at every Speedway/7-Eleven, and which ones are out of order at any given moment.

My daughters rediscovered the old Wii, and we've been playing Rock Band and Guitar Hero III pretty much nonstop the last week. You can have your Calls of Duty and Breaths of the Wild; the goofy little Wii is still the most purely fun game system.

What to make of Blackhawks survey results | Powers and Laz Get more from Powers and Laz on Patreon

New POWERS & LAZ: @scottpowers.bsky.social and I talk about Wyatt Kaiser's future and our takeaways from our eye-opening Blackhawks survey:
www.patreon.com/posts/what-t...

Blackhawks fan survey: Your thoughts on rebuild, direction, CHSN, more

Our annual Blackhawks fan survey results are out. We had our most ballots ever.

Read the results here: www.nytimes.com/athletic/651...

Blackhawks fan survey 2025-26: Your thoughts on rebuild, direction, CHSN, much more A record 3,126 Blackhawks fans chimed in to offer their thoughts on the rebuild, the organizational leaders and the players on the ice.

The results of our annual Blackhawks fan survey are in. How many of you are on board with the rebuild? And how many of you won't be able to watch anyway?
www.nytimes.com/athletic/651...

Trying to place which 1980s rock star and/or mad scientist Eli looks like when his ear falls like this...

Blackhawks fan survey 2025-26: Your thoughts on rebuild, direction, CHSN, much more A record 3,126 Blackhawks fans chimed in to offer their thoughts on the rebuild, the organizational leaders and the players on the ice.

The results of our annual Blackhawks fan survey are in. How many of you are on board with the rebuild? And how many of you won't be able to watch anyway?
www.nytimes.com/athletic/651...

Ryne Sandberg is probably my favorite non-Met ever. I wore a Sandberg model glove in Little League and was still using it as a beer-league softball player decades later. RIP to one of the greats.

Adam Sandler called me on Thursday. Didn’t block his number or anything.

Dude just wanted to talk about Kyle McDonough.

www.nytimes.com/athletic/651...

THE PHOENICIAN SCHEME: In this era of IP, I'm glad Wes Anderson exists. I'm glad he's making movies that are singularly his and no one else's. But I think I'm also kinda over him. This was perfectly fine, another consistent NPR-host-light-chuckle of a film. Enjoyable, disposable.

Pierogi Fest: Northwest Indiana's greatest tradition. Also, Northwest Indiana's only tradition.