The Week That Was (Feb. 19-23, 2024)
A roundup of what I wrote, read, watched, etc. over the past week.
In this space on Saturdays, I do a weekly round-up of sorts: Sifting through what I wrote that you might have missed during the week, what I’ve been reading and watching myself, and some other fun things that have been going on. Let me know what you think about the format in the comments (or email me!), and if there are running sections you’d like to see on a regular basis.
What I did this week
Stealing a bit from Will Leitch’s newsletter format, here are the things I wrote or podcasted about during the previous week, sorted in descending order by quality, popularity and/or current relevance.
🏀 The Warriors Specialize in Perplexing the Predictors - After a rough start to the season, the Golden State Warriors were the NBA’s hottest team coming out of the All-Star break. Their odds still weren’t great — but they have a long history of confounding predictions of their demise.
🏒 Auston Matthews Is Having One of the NHL’s Greatest Goal-Scoring Seasons - Right before Matthews scored his 50th goal of the 2023-24 season, I compared his lamp-lighting pace with what’s necessary to eclipse 70 (or 75) by season’s end, and looked at his place in history after adjusting for era.
🏀 The NBA All-Star Game’s Descent into Sports Uncanny Valley Continues - Most fans (and even possibly the NBA itself) were unhappy with the league’s defense-free midseason showcase, a scoreboard-melting 211-186 win for the East. How uninspiring was the ASG? Even by the standards of a supercharged offensive season, the game’s lack of competitiveness continued its recent trend away from the “real” sport — a common problem for all ASGs, to be fair.
🏒 How the Florida Panthers Made It to the Top of the NHL - This week gave us a new No. 1 in the NHL Elo ratings, and it was a team — the Florida Panthers — that had never been on top for a single day in the franchise’s previous history. I dive into the Panthers’ bizarre journey over the past few seasons.
📊🏁 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Driver Ratings - Following the Daytona 500, I released the first version of my 2024 NASCAR driver ratings, based on a weighted average of their Adjusted Points index over the past few seasons. Daytona winner William Byron was the inaugural No. 1.
🏁 NASCAR’s Best Driver Just Won the Daytona 500. That Doesn’t Usually Happen. - Daytona International Speedway is one of NASCAR’s most chaotic tracks — and with its multiple huge, late wrecks, this year’s season-opening Daytona 500 was no exception to that rule. However, that doesn’t mean the winner was a fluke: Byron was arguably the best driver of 2023, and he’s started off hot in 2024 as well.
🏀 Doc Rivers, James Harden and the Problem with Pile-On Predictions - Everyone — from online posters to JJ Redick — is taking their shots at Doc Rivers this week, and not without reason. But the landslide of criticism made me think of another disliked big name who struggled in a new destination earlier this season: James Harden. Despite everyone wanting to see Harden fail, he and his team actually ended up having a great season. Will the same be true for Rivers and the Bucks?
Some interesting things I read/watched this week
🏈 The Justin Fields Conundrum by
🏒 This Detroit Red Wings team finally feels different by
🏀 Does Winning Matter? and Current NBA Rebuild Grades by
🏀 All-Star Games in America died a long time ago by
🏈 All Things Go, But Nothing Goes Faster Than Sports Glory Goes by
🏈 Worst NFL Coaching Hires of the 21st Century (Pt.2) by
🏀 Scottie, B.J. & Horace: the story of our three 1994 All-Stars by
📺 What Really Happened Between Latrell Sprewell & PJ Carlesimo by Podcast P with Paul George
🏈 Unexpected Points Weekly Commentary & Review #14 by
⚾️ The Trouble with Transparency by
⚾️ MLB's Dumb Uniform Scandal by
🏀 The science of free throws by
💸 Traditional Leagues And Their Struggle Against Downstream Development by
👀 The State of the Culture, 2024 // Or a glimpse into post-entertainment society (it's not pretty) by
✍️ Adverbs Are Good by
❤️ Over the Rainbow by
Updating tracker of week
Random sports trading cards of the week: ⚾️ 1995 Studio
I didn’t have these cards growing up… but after randomly coming across a video of a guy going through the set, I kind of wish I did. The concept is just pitch-perfect ‘90s zaniness: Every card looks like, well, a credit card — complete with stats embossed on the front like the card number and silly touches like signatures and magnetic strips on the back, “member since” dates, and other things that I’d love to have heard discussed at the pitch meeting for these things. Apparently not everyone likes these cards, but I sort of love them. (And, certainly, they’re better than Studio’s embarrassing 1991 portrait set.)
Old YouTube game(s) of the week
1996 NHL Western Conference Finals (complete series) - Detroit Red Wings vs. Colorado Avalanche
Music to play us out
“All This Love” by Senri Kawaguchi
Filed under: Weekly Round-up
Appreciate it Neil!