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It’s that time of year, some years, when Pete Fenzel convinces Matt Wrather to join a storied 2-hander about the stories emerging from the NBA playoffs. Though really, it is about all of us. Aren’t we all experiencing the loss of Jayson Tatum’s Achilles tendon?

Paying ample respect to the pain and anguish the man himself and those close to him must be enduring in the face of a potentially life-changing injury, Pete and Matt broaden the discussion to the secondhand and thirdhand expressions of tragic grief, especially ESPN Analyst Brian Windhorst’s near-poetical declaration of a “dark cloud” hanging over the hometown victory of the New York Knicks, to the irritation and chagrin of Knicks fans, whose players also sometimes get injured.

From the perspective of a Knicks fan living in the Boston Area for two decades, Peter inducts Matt into the outsider view of Jayson Tatum mythology: the eternal future, the dynastic present brought low, what he means to Boston sports, and why his particular Achilles tendon was of such grave concern to so many, but not that many. They also talk about Damien Lillard for about 30 seconds.

Subtopics include the social role of tragedy; the ancient tradition, often defied these days, of valuing the tragedies of the mighty over the tragedies of the humble; the poetics and practicality of the “championship window;” a tangent about crying at Fuddruckers; and whether and to what degree old broken-down red tractors in children’s books are diegetically sentient.

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Episode 880: Run Like the Wind, Horse originally appeared on Overthinking It, the site subjecting the popular culture to a level of scrutiny it probably doesn't deserve. [Latest Posts | Podcast (iTunes Link)]