Zach Bigalke (he/him/his)
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zbigalke.bsky.social
Zach Bigalke (he/him/his)
@zbigalke.bsky.social
Husband
Puppy papa
Former pro cook
Unapologetically profane sport historian

Visiting Assistant Teaching Professor
Penn State Kinesiology

Secretary
Society for American Soccer History

Book Review Editor
Sport History Review

NSHOF voter
Pinned
I am publishing the full rankings of all 265 Division I teams here each week, if you wish to see where everyone ranks (and give me shit about where your favorite team landed this week): sites.psu.edu/zbigalke/col...

I'll be updating the rankings each Sunday through the regular season.
So I dusted this off this week and set it up for the 2025 season.

Here's how things rank out after last weekend's games. The ranking uses game results from all games between Division I teams, dropping any games against D-II, D-III, and NAIA competition.

More details in this thread...

🧵 1/x
The only reason for a board of trustees to fight to keep its documentation private is because they're doing some nefarious shit behind closed doors.
Penn State Asks Pa. Supreme Court to Stop the Release of Internal Trustee Documents
The move is the latest in a yearslong dispute over records that the secretaries of state agencies use in their roles of Penn State trustees.
www.statecollege.com
November 27, 2025 at 11:19 AM
You have to be one of the most entitled dipshits on planet Earth if you think you're entitled to platform your lies on another person's account.

A person with that level of delusion about what they are owed is oozing self-centered entitlement out of every deplorable pore.

Fucking pissbabies.
I’ve just been informed that not permitting scientific misinformation on my feed, including claims that SARS-CoV-2 is airborne HIV, is “tone policing”.

It’s actually fact-checking. I don’t give a shit who is posting misinformation or why. Zero tolerance.
November 27, 2025 at 11:06 AM
Beyond the ad hominem attack, just one demonstrably false claim after another...
Now we have the president calling a female New York Times reporter ugly because he's mad about a story she wrote.
November 26, 2025 at 2:39 PM
Okay, Zach, today is the day to get into editor mode.
November 26, 2025 at 1:06 PM
Reposted by Zach Bigalke (he/him/his)
Many men feel the stripper really likes them. Scientists say it's time to consider whether they're onto something
can’t fucking catch a breath

make it stop
November 26, 2025 at 7:27 AM
This might be the most perfect statement I've yet read in my years on Bluesky.
Women being attracted to RFK Jr is how you know heterosexuality is NOT a choice.
November 26, 2025 at 12:22 PM
Reposted by Zach Bigalke (he/him/his)
you're telling me a right-wing catholic convert is just a protestant in disguise? shocked
In newly leaked audio, Peter Thiel admits he urged JD Vance to ignore Pope Leo XIV on moral questions — including the ethical development of AI.

He goes even further, branding Leo “the woke American pope” and suggesting he’s a tool of the Antichrist.
NEW: JD Vance’s Top Donor Suggests Pope Leo XIV is Antichrist
In a leaked lecture, Peter Thiel says he’s urged Vance to ignore the pope on moral questions — and simply pray for him.
www.thelettersfromleo.com
November 26, 2025 at 11:44 AM
The day that media institutions no longer serve their role as the fourth estate speaking truth to power — the day that they capitulate and cower at the feet of power — is the day that they are no longer serving their intended function as a public watchdog and educator.
Historian Rutger Bregman is a well-respected proponent of a universal basic income. The Guardian has called him “the Dutch wunderkind of new ideas.”

The BBC invited Bregman to give this year’s Reith Lecture series.

Before airing, the BBC removed one sentence from his lecture, “A Time of Monsters.”
November 26, 2025 at 12:19 PM
It shouldn't really boggle my mind that legacy media outlets around the globe have proven that each one is just yet another bloated corpse reanimated by bigots, but my brain still doesn't initially want to comprehend this bullshit.
the bbc changed their article from saying 'trans woman' to saying 'biological male who identifies as a woman'.

even if you don't care about trans ppl it should alarm you just how captured the bbc has become.

they will no longer even say 'trans woman'. that's not normal and shows massive bias.
November 26, 2025 at 11:04 AM
Reposted by Zach Bigalke (he/him/his)
Also, what they mean by meritocracy: survival of the richest
November 25, 2025 at 5:53 PM
Dershowitz?!
November 25, 2025 at 12:47 PM
I didn't go beyond Cub Scouts, but you know who was there helping with most of our activities?

Our mothers.

On one hand, I love seeing the military take their hands off of Scouts. It's about time.

On the other hand, fuck Hegseth and his misogynistic cronies and then fuck them some more.
November 25, 2025 at 12:29 PM
Reposted by Zach Bigalke (he/him/his)
Hey. Here's a wild idea. How about you stick around AND TRY TO FIX THINGS?!?

These modern conservatives and their self imposed lack of agency...
November 24, 2025 at 11:06 PM
Reposted by Zach Bigalke (he/him/his)
Y’know, believing there’s a kind of racism that isn’t hurtful or insulting is itself quite revealing.
November 25, 2025 at 7:44 AM
Two of the four projected playoff matchups remain the same this week in the BCS rankings, even as Jeff Anderson released his first poll of 2025 & allowed for full calculations. The top four stayed the same, but there was some shakeup lower down.

Here are the BCS standings after Week 13 play...
November 24, 2025 at 7:57 PM
My latest computer ranking still has Notre Dame at #1 ahead of unbeaten Ohio State, Indiana, and Texas A&M.

I might tinker with the formula in the offseason, but I want to see how things play out w/the current iteration.

See the full list of 265 Division I teams here: sites.psu.edu/zbigalke/col...
November 24, 2025 at 7:46 PM
It looked like Lando had a hand on the WDC trophy by the time the fireworks popped off at the end of the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

By morning the WDC race was even tighter after both McLaren drivers were disqualified for excessive skid wear on the cars.

24 points. That's the gap now.

24 points.

1/x
November 24, 2025 at 12:12 PM
I knew I'd do this sooner or later this season, especially this late in the semester. Went to post race pace stats from yesterday's grand prix and realized I forgot to put up São Paulo.

Had them finished, just forgot to post them.

So let's dive into these numbers before getting to Vegas...

1/x
November 24, 2025 at 11:51 AM
Freshman dropout, cooked for a decade, returned to school at 30. Thought I'd get a degree in journalism... but transfered credits to a university without a J-school.

I took a summer course in Argentina on soccer history and found a calling. Now I teach sport history and sport philosophy courses.
What’s the lore behind choosing your career path ?
November 23, 2025 at 10:57 PM
Holy fuck... didn't see the McLaren DSQ before I went to bed!
November 23, 2025 at 12:09 PM
Reposted by Zach Bigalke (he/him/his)
them: woke is immoral and unfair bc it teaches that all white people are racist!

me: the only people I’ve ever seen act like all white people are racist are racist white people who expect me to be on their side because I’m white

them: no not like that
November 23, 2025 at 6:23 AM
Reposted by Zach Bigalke (he/him/his)
White guy: why are Democrats spending so much time on race issues instead of things that are important to all Americans

Me: um, race issues ARE important to all Americans. They’re important to me; are they not important to you?

White guy: [blocks me]
November 23, 2025 at 6:20 AM
The notion that legality is synonymous with morality is a hallmark tell of an addlepate...
Actually, no. There were no laws against having sex with child slaves in 1776.

"Horrific" or no, it wasn't "immoral" in Jefferson's time.

Would he have any less of a chance of being elected president in 2024? 🤔 #PedoDon
November 23, 2025 at 2:42 AM
Sometimes I think Pitt loves killing Big East and ACC playoff/national title hopes more than getting themselves into contention...
November 23, 2025 at 12:59 AM
I think Toto sold 5% of Mercedes to set the valuation of the team ahead of the next Concorde Agreement so that they could push for a much higher entry fee for any potential 12th team based on that valuation.

No proof, but the timing just feels TOO convenient.
November 21, 2025 at 11:38 AM