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Why America Needs Football. Even Its Brutality. [Ethan Strauss, The Free Press]

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• Damar Hamlin of the Buffalo Bills suffered a near-fatal hit on January 2.
• The draw of football is so powerful that its participants consider it a bargain, even if it means experiencing lifelong pain.
• Malcolm Gladwell predicted football’s imminent obsolescence, but in 2022, 82 of the top 100 TV shows in America were NFL games.
• The violence of football is an eternal violence, and players accept their fate, painful though it may be.
• Football returns us to a sense of the sacred, with its drama and bonds that come with it.

Published February 12, 2023
Visit The Free Press to read Ethan Strauss’s original post Why America Needs Football. Even Its Brutality.

The Super Bowl Is an Economic Indicator [Derek Thompson, The Atlantic]

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• The Super Bowl is a useful measure of which firms and sectors believe themselves to be the future of the economy, and can be used to detect bubbles.
• In 2000, 14 dot-com companies bought ad time in the Super Bowl, but the dot-com bubble had popped the next year.
• Last year, a cluster of crypto companies ran ads during the Super Bowl, but since then, crypto-asset values have crashed and several crypto firms have gone bankrupt.
• This year’s Super Bowl is going to feel a lot like 2019 or 2020, with Anheuser-Busch leading all firms with three minutes of airtime and other alcohol brands, M&M’s, Doritos, movie studios, and automakers also in.
• The yo-yo nature of the pandemic economy has caused many economic activities to go up and down, including gas prices, shipping costs, durable goods, savings rates, housing investment, and tech employment.
• The crypto bubble reflected in last year’s Super Bowl is a microcosm of the U.S. economy, and although the 2023 Super Bowl clearly represents a return to the old normal, the bursting of the crypto bubbles may presage the rise of a new digital economy.

Published February 12, 2023
Visit The Atlantic to read Derek Thompson’s original post The Super Bowl Is an Economic Indicator

The Quiet Desperation of Tom Brady [Mark Leibovich, The Atlantic]

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• Tom Brady recently retired from the NFL after 23 years of playing.
• Scott Stossel reflects on a conversation he had with Brady a few years ago, where he asked if Brady ever worried that too much of his life was consumed by football.
• Brady’s father, Tom Brady Sr., worries about how his son will cope without the structure, mission, and intensity of football.
• Brady’s extreme commitment to football obscured the desperation behind his decision to keep playing.
• The physical and psychological aftermath of football is well-documented, and many players have suffered after retirement.
• Brady’s retirement announcement video was praised as gracious and heartfelt, but Stossel was struck by the waterless and overcast tableau of the video.

Published February 11, 2023
Visit The Atlantic to read Mark Leibovich’s original post The Quiet Desperation of Tom Brady

Jalen Hurts and Patrick Mahomes Had to Disprove a Misconception [Jemele Hill, The Atlantic]

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• Sunday’s Super Bowl LVII will be the first time two Black quarterbacks face each other in the championship game.
• The NFL banned Black players from 1934-1946, and even after reintegrating, the prevailing assumption was that Black athletes weren’t intelligent enough to play quarterback.
• Marlin Briscoe was the first Black quarterback in the modern era, but he was given little playing time and eventually asked to be released.
• Warren Moon was the first Black quarterback in the NFL Hall of Fame, but he had to go to the Canadian Football League before the NFL sought him out.
• Today’s Black quarterbacks still face stereotypes and double standards, such as the Arizona Cardinals initially putting a “homework clause” in Kyler Murray’s contract extension.

Published February 10, 2023
Visit The Atlantic to read Jemele Hill’s original post Jalen Hurts and Patrick Mahomes Had to Disprove a Misconception

The Ray Allen Story [Freddie deBoer, Freddie deBoer’s Substack]

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• The author and his then-girlfriend went to see The Bourne Ultimatum in 2007.
• NBA star Ray Allen and two other women joined them in the theater.
• Allen asked the author what he had missed in the movie.
• Allen’s wife and the other woman started chatting, leaving Allen feeling lonely.
• Allen dropped his Blackberry and the author got down to help him look for it.
• The author found himself wedged between a movie theater seat and Allen’s torso.
• Allen eventually found his Blackberry and the group left as soon as the credits started to roll.
• The author and his girlfriend almost broke up that night.
• The author will never forget the surreal experience.

Published February 7, 2023
Visit Freddie deBoer’s Substack to read Freddie deBoer’s original post The Ray Allen Story

The NFL is Structurally Broken [Freddie deBoer, Freddie deBoer’s Substack]

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• The image above shows a moment that could have determined the champion of the 2022-2023 NFL season, when Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was tackled in a very awkward fashion, resulting in a high ankle sprain.
• Every team in the league has injury problems, but not all to the same extent.
• The Super Bowl will feature the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles, both of whom have had to work through their own set of injuries.
• The Buffalo Bills, San Francisco 49ers, Cincinnati Bengals, and Tennessee Titans have all had to deal with numerous injuries this season.
• The author argues that the playoffs are not a fair system for determining the best team, but rather a roulette wheel rewarding the team lucky enough to be the most healthy.
• The NFL is still incredibly profitable, but the author is finding it harder and harder to feel invested in the outcome due to the constant injuries.

Published February 3, 2023
Visit Freddie deBoer’s Substack to read Freddie deBoer’s original post The NFL is Structurally Broken

If I Have to Keep Hearing “Nobody Believes In Us” I’m Going to Jump Out a Window [Freddie deBoer, Freddie deBoer’s Substack]

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• The Cincinnati Bengals and Kansas City Chiefs have both been playing the “nobody believes in us” card, despite the Bengals having the consensus best player in football and hosting the AFC championship game for the fifth consecutive time.
• Betting underdogs went 97-175 in terms of wins and losses last season, suggesting that the “nobody believes in us” narrative is not as powerful as it is made out to be.
• Teams like the Patriots, Cowboys, and 49ers have all won championships despite being favored in the majority of their Super Bowl appearances.
• Professional athletes are already playing as hard as they can, as they have a direct financial incentive to do so.
• The “nobody believes in us” narrative is insulting and absurd, as motivation has nothing to do with the outcome of the game.

Published January 26, 2023
Visit Freddie deBoer’s Substack to read Freddie deBoer’s original post If I Have to Keep Hearing “Nobody Believes In Us” I’m Going to Jump Out a Window

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