The Week That Was (May 4-8, 2026)
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.
📝 What I did this week
Here are the things I wrote or podcasted about during the previous week, sorted in descending order by quality, popularity and/or current relevance.
🏀 Who Won the 2026 WNBA Offseason? - With the season tipping off, I analyzed which teams added or subtracted the most projected LAKER talent over the fast-paced offseason and what those roster shifts might mean for the championship race. Related:
🏀 2026 WNBA Elo Team Power Rankings and Player Rankings 📈 - My Elo ratings are back and will update throughout the season!
🏁 Alex Zanardi Made You Believe - In the days after his death, I wrote my tribute to the late racecar driver, reflecting on the remarkable courage, tenacity and competitive spirit that defined his audacious career.
🏀 All Signs Point to the Knicks — Which Is the Problem - With some of the conference’s heavy-hitters (cough, Boston) out of the way, I explored the Knicks’ status as East favorites coming out of Round 1 — and why history suggests that hope is often a dangerous emotion for this franchise.
🏒 The Minnesota Wild Took Down a Colorado Avalanche Dynasty Once Before - I flashed us back to the most iconic win in Wild history, and the massive ripple effects it had on the league, from a Hall of Famer’s retirement to a league-wide lockout.
⚾ Maybe The New-Manager Bounce Is Real After All - I’ve often suspected that the “bounce” teams get from changing managers is just plain old regression to the mean, but recent data suggests there might be more to the phenomenon.
🏁 The wins are nice, but Elliott’s consistency might be his biggest title edge - For NASCAR, I wrote about how Chase Elliott’s ability to avoid “bad days” is proving to be a mathematically superior weapon in the hunt for the Cup title:
🏁🎙️ Podracing: Chase’s Chase For the Chase - In this week’s episode of Podracing, Tyler Lauletta and I broke down the fast and bumpy pavement in Texas, Elliott’s big win, and whether his consistency is the ultimate championship blueprint. Then we talked betting picks and I paid my tribute to Zanardi in audio form.
⚾🎧 Garret Anderson with Neil Paine - I joined my friend Jim Miloch to talk about the late Angels OF’s life and surprisingly impactful legacy.
📊 Chart(s) of the week:
Here were my favorite items of the week from Scoreboard, my daily newsletter for Sherwood News…
🏇 On recent Kentucky Derby winners skipping the Preakness…
⚾ On college softball’s HR surge…
🏁 On NASCAR’s most dominant road-racer…
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👀 Some interesting things I read/watched this week
A collection of articles (with a heavy focus on my fellow Substackers), videos and other media that I enjoyed and/or found thought-provoking over the past week. I don’t always 100% agree with or endorse what’s linked here… but that’s also sort of the point.
🏀 The 2026 lottery will be can’t-miss television by Mike Shearer
🏀 Can Caitlin Clark bounce back after injury, shooting slump? by Marisa Ingemi
🏀 Modern Day Tanking Is Michael Jordan’s Fault by T.J. Highley
🏀 How will expansion impact WNBA roster building? by Matthew Coller
🏀 Je Suis Très Fatigué: The Wembanyama Energy Problem by Ethan Strauss
🏀 Cheers to NBA Playoff Defense: Why the playoffs feel so different by Austin Cornilles
🏀 Pacers Could Experience a Franchise Altering Miss in ~30 Hours by Wyatt B. Lake
⚾ Does the AL just ... suck? by Levi Weaver with Jayson Stark
⚾ Predicting Tarik Skubal’s next contract: Or, how much will the Dodgers end up paying him? by Sean and How will Skubal’s elbow surgery impact Tigers, free agency? by Mark Feinsand
⚾ 300K’s in a season has gone the way of a 300-win career by Mark Kolier
⚾ What Can We Gain By Visually Evaluating Hitters’ Decision Quality? by Owen Riley and Maxfield Lane
⚾ Carlos Correa was supposed to be Steve Cohen’s Mets ‘flex’ on MLB by Almost A Met
⚾ I Don’t Want To Grow Up, I’m a TBS Kid by Beauty Of A Game and Ted Turner Gave Us Everything, and Nothing by Michael Weinreb⚾▶️ wOBA by State of Stats
⚽ Why Champions League can’t tell us much about Premier League by Ryan O'Hanlon
⚽ How good is your country at soccer? by Nate Silver and Joseph George
🏒 The Edmonton Oilers are a ticking time bomb by Brendan Farrell
🏒▶️ Why NHL teams can’t stop this one-of-a-kind play style by The Athletic
⛳ Inside McLaren Golf: Can an F1 Team Win the Golf Equipment Business? by Joe Pompliano
⛳ The End of LIV Golf and the Looming Turmoil in Professional Golf by Money in Sport
🏟️ Stadium Financing: A primer on how stadium financing works by Nikola Vuković, CFA
🏁 Why course correction is natural for the NASCAR schedule and its ‘invisible hand’ by Nate Ryan
🏙️ Three numbers do a lot of emotional heavy lifting: Why I still rep the 510 ... and how sports teams marketed Area Codes into identity by Josh Suchon’s Newsletter
▶️ Old YouTube Game of the Week
1985 07 04 Mets at Braves (RIP John Sterling)
🎵 Music to Play Us Out
Vulfmon & Evangeline - Got To Be Mine
Filed under: Weekly Round-up