Newsletter

Football, Politics, & the NFL’s Audience Calculus

What the recent Charlie Kirk tributes say about a long-running strategy of political positioning

Newsletter

The Slippery Slope of the NBA Becoming a “Highlight League”

Pricing, platforms, & the erosion of basketball’s full-game narrative

Newsletter

What "How I Met Your Mother" Teaches Us About Sports Fandom

How Marshall, Robin, Ted, Barney, & Lily map the spectrum of sports fandom

Newsletter

Derrick Henry & the (Increasingly Rare) Urban Legend Running Back

Generations will look back at the Ravens back as a legend of the era, but he might be the last of his breed in a sport that is obsessed with analytical efficiency over creativity

Newsletter

Lee Corso’s Exit & the Last Remnants of Old College Football

For nearly 40 years, Lee Corso was the heartbeat of Saturdays. His retirement marks the end of an illustrious career and highlights the sport’s continued transformation

Newsletter

The Anatomy of Sports Misery

When near-success can sting more than perpetual failure

Newsletter

Dylan Raiola, Patrick Mahomes, & the Criticism of Emulation

The tension between homage and authenticity in modern sports

Newsletter

College Football Continues to Change, But Saturdays Are Still Special

As the sport leans more into a professional operation, positive remnants of the past remain

Newsletter

The NFL’s Big AI Experiment

Microsoft’s Copilot partnership with the NFL is an inflection point for AI technology

Newsletter

College Football “Integrity” Was Always a Myth

Money, winning, and the long facade of the sport’s image

Newsletter

Eli Manning’s Hall of Fame Prism

The Giants great presents us with a dilemma of how we view greatness—do raw numbers invalidate an incredible story?

Newsletter

"Survivor" is More Like Sports Than We Might Think

As the show nears its third decade, its longevity and continued success has a parallel to another long-running competition enterprise: pro sports