Dom Dixon™

dêłćø || CU Boulder Alum

[Philadelphia 76ers @sixers]

LEBRON JAMES IS A PHILADELPHIA 76ER.

[Dunphy215 @dunphy215]

NO YALL KEEP THAT SAME FUCKING ENERGY STUPID

[Erik Haslam @haslametrics]

If you're looking for a sneaky pick between seeds 12 and 16, it's sometimes a decent idea to see how they performed vs. legit competition this season. In this thread, we'll show the margin of victory/defeat for each team seeded between 12 and 16 when facing a team in our top-100.

[Philadelphia Eagles Central @pheaglescentral]

The Eagles made Nick Wright look like a FOOL this year. Possibly the largest amount of cold takes in a single season I’ve ever seen.

A thread 🧵

[Russ Cook @hardestgeezer]

15,553km ran
368 marathons
15 countries 🇿🇦🇳🇦🇦🇴🇨🇩🇨🇬🇨🇲🇳🇬🇧🇯🇹🇬🇬🇭🇨🇮🇬🇳🇸🇳🇲🇷🇩🇿
£269k raised for charity

340 days✅ 11 left to go🫡

[Dave Kluge @DaveKluge]

The worst part about the 49ers whiffing on Trey Lance is that the next 10 picks were Kyle Pitts, Ja'Marr Chase, Jaylen Waddle, Penei Sewell, Jaycee Horn, Patrick Surtain, DeVonta Smith, Justin Fields, Micah Parson, and Rashawn Slater.

[Vivek Ramaswamy @VivekGRamaswamy]

Here we go again: another disastrous Trump indictment. It’s downright pathetic that Fulton County publicly posted the indictment on its website even before the grand jury had finished convening. Since the four prosecutions against Trump are using novel & untested legal theories, it’s fair game for him to do the same in defense: immediately file a motion to dismiss for a constitutional due process violation for publicly issuing an indictment before the grand jury had actually signed one. He should make a strong argument on these grounds & it would send a powerful message to the ever-expansive prosecutorial police state. As someone who’s running for President against Trump, I’d volunteer to write the amicus brief to the court myself: prosecutors should not be deciding U.S. presidential elections, and if they’re so overzealous that they commit constitutional violations, then the cases should be thrown out & they should be held accountable.

[BaseballHistoryNut @nut_history]

Baseball - probably the hardest sport to master. Mickey Mantle shares why.

[Jacob Turner @TheJacobTurner]

Domingo German threw the 24th perfect game in MLB history last night.

It is one of the rarest feats in all of pro sports.

Some context on just how rare it is:

5%+ chance of a hockey player scoring a hat trick 🏒

.22% chance of a pro bowler having a perfect game🎳

.13% chance of a no-hitter in Major League Baseball ⚾

.06% chance of an NBA player scoring 60+ points 🏀

.04% chance of a PGA golfer having a hole-in-1 🏌️‍♂️

.01% chance of a perfect game in MLB. ⚾

27 up and 27 down will always be one of the rarest feats in all of pro sports.

[Joe Pompliano @JoePompliano]

Elly De La Cruz is one of MLB's most exciting players.

But he might have to pay MILLIONS in career earnings to an investment firm — and he's not the only one.

Over 500 professional athletes have signed these deals, and Fernando Tatis Jr. owes them $27 million.

Here's how it works:

The company is called Big League Advantage (BLA).

It was founded in 2016 by former minor league baseball player Michael Schwimer, and their business model is simple:

BLA provides athletes with an upfront cash payment in exchange for a percentage of their future earnings.

The firm has 40 employees, and they use proprietary predictive analytics models to find inefficiencies in the market (aka when they believe someone is better than the rankings suggest).

And that's when they commit to an investment.

BLA raised $26 million for its first fund, which was then invested across 77 different players in 2016-17.

A typical deal might look like this:
• Athlete receives $350,000 in cash
• BLA is guaranteed 8% of future earnings

But it's not a loan — because if the player never makes it to the major leagues, they don't owe BLA any money.

And with 80% of their investments never making it to the major leagues, BLA solely focuses on landing the biggest fish (kind of like a venture capital firm),

For example, BLA signed a deal with Fernando Tatis Jr. in 2017. He reportedly agreed to pay back ~8% of his future earnings in exchange for "seven figures" in cash.

He then spent the money on a personal trainer, better food, and a better apartment.

But when he signed a $340 million deal with the San Diego Padres just four years later, BLA's ~8% cut meant that Tatis Jr owed them $27.2 million in earnings.

That one deal alone will pay back the entire fund, and the other 76 players BLA invested in are gravy on top.

And BLA says they have agreements in place with 7 players in last year's MLB all-star game alone.

This success has helped BLA raise nearly $250 million — and they have brought on some big investors, too.

Notable BLA Investors
• Paul DePodesta (Cleveland Browns)
• Bill Miller (Legg Mason)
• Steven Duncker (Goldman Sachs)
• Marvin Bush (Brother of George W. Bush)

But BLA's model doesn't just apply to baseball.

The firm is now expanding into other sports, like NIL deals with college football and basketball players.

For example, BLA signed a deal with Georgia outside linebacker Nolan Smith last year.

Smith received an upfront cash payment (via NIL) in exchange for one social media post per month, two player appearances, and two content shoots.

And based on his rookie deal alone (30th overall pick), Smith will end up paying BLA between $120,000 (1%) and $1.2 million (10%).

This has caused many people to speak up about BLA.

MLB super agent Scott Boras says BLA intentionally targets talented players from Latin America who don't receive large signing bonuses (**BLA's response is that they have signed 100+ American players that collectively have an average signing bonus of $400,000).

And MLB catcher Francisco Mejía even sued the firm in 2018, claiming they took advantage of his financial illiteracy, desperation (he wanted cash to fund medical treatment for his mom in the Dominican), and youth when he signed a deal at 20 years old that exchanged 10% of his future MLB earnings for $360,000 in cash.

Now, Mejía later dropped the case and issued an apology.

And BLA says these deals aren't predatory because they require independent lawyers to review each agreement, and 70-80% of the players they invest in never have to pay back any money.

But that doesn't mean changes can't be made.

One solution, of course, is to increase wages across the minor leagues so these deals aren't necessary, which MLB did last year by doubling wages and improving housing and transportation for players & families.

But with the average minor league player still making less than $30,000 annually, MLB still has a long way to go before income-sharing agreements disappear.

Still, it's important to remember that this problem doesn't just exist in baseball.

People have been investing in golfers (and Formula 1 drivers) for decades, and speculative investing in athletes has its deepest roots in boxing.

But that doesn’t mean a better solution doesn’t exist; we just have to find it.

Ps. I broke down the entire business model behind Big League Advantage on today's podcast. Subscribe below so you don't miss any episodes in the future!

Apple: https://t.co/mxDaF5A3a6
Spotify: https://t.co/gMTrfOPuT3

[Joel Embiid @JoelEmbiid]

SPOKE IT INTO EXISTENCE

[Graham Allen @GrahamAllen]

Tucker Carlson's, last moment on Fox, was spent eating pizza with the hero delivery man who stopped a car jacker.

No better way for the greatest news show in history to end!!!!!

[StatMuse @statmuse]

Embiid MVP case:

— 33/10/4
— Scoring leader
— 1st 33/10 season since the merger
— 1st in 35-point games
— 1st in 50/10 games (tied)
— Top 2 in iso and post up PPG
— Top 10 in PPG, RPG, BPG

Most 50-point games in a season by a center since Kareem.

[Iverson The Great @theanswer76_]

If Jokic doesn’t win it, a lot of Nuggets fans are going to have to log off for a bit because the screenshots I have are insane

[MLFootball @MLFootball]

Fascinating research regarding each #NFL team's fanbase's social media negativity

😳😳😳

[StatMuse @statmuse]

Embiid vs Jokic in March:

Embiid — Jokic —
36.1 PPG 25.4 PPG
8.8 RPG 13.2 RPG
2.3 BPG 9.2 APG
63/46/83% 64/38/79%

[Aidan LaPorta @AidanLaPorta69]

Yesterday, Embiid had his 7th straight game with 30 points on 55% shooting or higher. This ties LeBron in 2013 for the longest streak doing this since the 1950’s! (Embiid sat out multiple fourth quarters during this run too)🔥

[StatMuse @statmuse]

Most PPG + RPG in a season by a player in the last 40 years:

43.6 — Embiid (this season)
43.4 — Shaq (MVP season)
43.1 — Giannis (this season)
43.1 — Giannis (MVP season)

[StatMuse @statmuse]

Joel Embiid is the first player with 25+ 35-point games this season.

Ties Moses Malone for the most 35-point games by a center in a season since the merger.

[StatMuse @statmuse]

Most 35-point games in a season by a center since the merger:

25 — MVP Moses
24 — Joel Embiid (this season)
23 — MVP Shaq