@dgoold I love this. But why couldn’t Cards have gotten more for Arenado, Contreras, Gray, and Donovan last offseason vs now? More team control and 1 year younger. Can’t understand Cards’ apathy the last two years - was there any good reason for it?
@JeffPassan Why couldn’t Cards have gotten more for Arenado, Contreras, Gray, and Donovan last offseason vs now? More team control and 1 year younger. Can’t understand Cards’ laziness last two years - was there any good reason for it?
@ArizonaZiggy@AndyStaples Pretty widely voiced that GP struggled transitioning from “old school” coaching (4yr develop, tough on players); still crushed talent eval. Max D’s stats tell the story. Suddenly figured it out in ‘22 (Sonny is a really good OC).
@ColbNewton@slmandel Thanks for this. In general, national CFB writers rarely give reference points when quoting viewership. I’m both a CFB and business nerd, but lack any “what is a “good” viewership number” perspective. It’s all easier to understand when you know broadcaster’s true alternatives.
@profplum99 For anyone that doesn’t understand how food/bev/CPG business models work: the next decade will be a fight between consumers and shareholders over who reaps the benefits of overhead expense compression from AI/automation tailwinds.
@ghosted_machine That said, tons of great points made here and great job on the article. It’s just not new to those of us that have been in the other side of it for decades.
@ghosted_machine As an alum of a WAC/CUSA/MWC school overlooked by poll voters and the BCS magic formula, the rule is simple: “must win your games”
If you lose 2 of 2 tough games on the schedule, the right to anger about being excluded from the “who’s the best this year” bracket is denied.
But playoffs are wildly profitable and there’s now too much money to worry about the original intent.
But it all feels messed up ultimately because we’re using the tool from an old job for a new purpose it was never made for. (End of rant)
@slmandel All the playoff angst stems from gradually losing sight of the original problem to solve - resolving “who’s the best” when the top teams have no chance to play each other. a conference non-champ saying “we might be the best” would’ve been laughable (1/3)
…back when the BCS was started. Teams used to hold the odd belief that losing on the field meant you were not as good as the team that won. So a big playoff would’ve made no sense because we’d all agree that teams losing along the way “had their chance” (2/3)
@FBCoachP@ShehanJeyarajah No one will ever convince me that TCU team wouldn’t have won the national championship had there been a B12 title game in place. TCU/Baylor rematch would’ve looked like Ole Miss bowl game.
@AlexiLalas Read Stew Mandel’s article on the topic, but the gist is that professional sports agents remain *shockingly* undefeated when negotiating with AD’s that may hire a football coach 1-2x in their career.
@sshhaef From 1930 to 1978 the average time of games gradually increased from 1:58 to 2:30. We’re returning to the pace it was intended to be played - the 30mins of zero-value nothingness was part of why MLB gradually fumbled its national pastime status.
@slmandel This is never the scenario people have in mind when they say things like, “12 team playoff.”
Enjoy the “which of these 13 4-loss teams most deserves the last three playoff spots” arguments.
@KirkHerbstreit Peter was a hit, game was called well (as usual), some of the “deep in the bag” material was entertaining. The most understated “guy knows CFB” analysis of the night was you covering how sneaky tough the middle 7 weeks of TCU’s schedule will be.
@ByPatForde With all the Belichick-to-FBS stories, this may be the most entertaining weekly segment no one called. He loathed NFL officials for incompetence, now he gets to see real officiating artistry. Can we please book legit Pac 12 After Dark crews for UNC’s Cal and Stanford games?!
@RobbyBerger In 1992 I was 11 and thought Bob Tewksbury must be an all-time great. Hindsight tells us he wasn’t, but that particular year he was one of the best-ever groundball-inducing monsters. A very forgotten “put it together for one-year” guy.
@FinancialPhys This is also why the coming AI-backed efficiency boom could look very different for GDP growth. If current fragmented logistics/selling networks become easier to navigate from mfg to retail (or dist-to-consumer), entire legs of GDP fall away, but profitability soars.
@robertmays These types of clips are exactly what turned multiple GM’s straight into the Futurama “take my money” meme. A great NFL “what if” (in this case, what if he had O lines that could protect him).