In a world defined by urgency, patience can exist as both blessing and curse. Part of the championship puzzle for many teams (like the Phoenix Suns, Utah Jazz, Buffalo Bills, Miami Dolphins, and Arizona Cardinals) is trying to find a harmonious balance between patience and urgency. This extends to individual athletes like Josh Allen, Ryan Tannehill, and especially Tony Finau, whose recent victory at The Northern Trust represents the perfect case of patience rewarded.
Aug 24, 2021•37 min•Ep. 83
The process of improvement in the game of golf mimics the team-building process in the world of professional sports. Both revolve around three foundational principles (constant self-assessment, identification of truth, and belief) and how they work in unison dictates the terms of improvement.
Aug 23, 2021•30 min•Ep. 82
Speed is an essential component of the NFL, both on and off the field. Players running at warp speed comprise a sport where teams can jump from first to last (or vice versa) in the blink of an eye. As philosophies continue to move quickly, what is the most straightforward path to contention in 2021?
Aug 19, 2021•30 min•Ep. 81
For the most part, fans and media alike subscribe to a certain mindset within the world of sports: winners win, losers lose. This raises a lot of questions about the impact one individual can have on winning a championship. Should losing always be considered failure? And is it possible for the best player ever to go championship-less?
Aug 18, 2021•27 min•Ep. 80
The NBA regular season is about your strengths and the playoffs about your weaknesses. The Utah Jazz and Rudy Gobert are in the offseason, trying to bridge the gap between their league-best regular season and 6-game playoff flameout against the Clippers. What are realistic expectations for this particular Jazz roster and Gobert as one of their foundational pieces?
Aug 17, 2021•29 min•Ep. 79
From 1969-2001, Nebraska had one of the most successful runs in the history of college football. Since then, not so much. How does the program balance expectations against reality, while not falling victim to past success?
Aug 16, 2021•32 min•Ep. 78
Nothing is more valuable in the NFL than a quality starting QB on a rookie contract. Many NFL teams (like the Bengals, Chargers, Jaguars, and Jets) are seeking to find a balance between patience and urgency in order to maximize the financial flexibility of having a rookie under center.
Aug 12, 2021•27 min•Ep. 77
There has never been a more relevant time to reflect on the past, present, and future of college football than now. As struggling blue bloods (like Tennessee, Michigan, Nebraska, Miami) try to find their way back to relevancy, successful upstart programs (like Kansas State, Virginia Tech, Boise State) try to understand their place within the sport. At its best, college football has always been a game of thrones scenario: a blend of blue bloods fighting for power versus up-and-comers eager to tak...
Aug 11, 2021•25 min•Ep. 76
How do you establish a culture that is conducive to winning? Nathan MacKinnon and the Colorado Avalanche are in the process of establishing themselves as a Stanley Cup contender. As the best player on the team, MacKinnon is both a tone setter and responsible for demanding the best from himself and his teammates. What is the most effective way of maximizing the abilities of the team?
Aug 10, 2021•31 min•Ep. 75
Over the last decade, college football has undergone a philosophical shift: passing wins championships. Nobody represents this transition more than Alabama, who has won 6 national championships since 2009 playing two drastically different styles of offense. Two other sports, golf and basketball, are also grappling with recent changes and whether or not those changes are positive. In the words of Bob Dylan, “The times they are a-changing.”
Aug 09, 2021•27 min•Ep. 74
The future of the QB position in the NFL has never been brighter. It’s the biggest draw to the best sport in the world. It’s brightness is tied to its evolution and an increased understanding of the words of Peyton Manning: “There's a place for everybody and there are different ways to play the position.”
Aug 06, 2021•25 min•Ep. 72
In football, the process of individual and organizational improvement are attached at the hip. Nowhere is this more true than at quarterback, a position dependent upon blockers, pass catchers, runners, and play calling. Over the course of 3 years, Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills have worked in unison to maximize the improvement of each party. Situation is everything.
Aug 05, 2021•28 min•Ep. 71
A simple and enlightening fact of life: nobody knows anything. Franchises will make both terrible and awesome picks within the same draft, and terrible and awesome signings within the same free agency period. The smartest organizations agree that roster building becomes a numbers game: asset accumulation is the best pathway to success, because all organizations will (sooner rather than later) whiff on picks, signings, and evaluations.
Aug 04, 2021•31 min•Ep. 70
In the past, upsets have been the beating heart and soul of college football. With the shift towards a 4-team playoff and now conference realignment, iconic upsets (like 2007 Boise-OU or 2007 Appalachian State-Michigan) are slowly being weaned out of the sport. What are the unintended consequences of Oklahoma and Texas moving to the SEC? In the words of Nick Saban, “No one can honestly tell you what is going to happen.”
Aug 03, 2021•30 min•Ep. 69
Russell Westbrook is going to the Los Angeles Lakers in the biggest move of the NBA offseason so far. Will the acquisition of Westbrook’s talent overcome the questionable fit?
Aug 02, 2021•30 min•Ep. 68
Aaron Rodgers held a press conference Wednesday afternoon that laid bare his grievances with Green Bay Packers management, saying, “I’m always going to be optimistic on change being possible.” Rodgers also traced the arc of his career, fully aware that time is running out.
Jul 30, 2021•28 min•Ep. 67
Rings culture would have you believe championships are the ultimate reflection of an individual’s performance. How long will people continue believing that a debate about individual quarterbacks in football, the most systemic sport in existence, can be solved simply by who wins or loses?
Jul 29, 2021•43 min•Ep. 66
After a long, strange offseason, Aaron Rodgers has returned to the Green Bay Packers. It seems likely this is the final ride, a Super Bowl or bust season before Rodgers and Green Bay part ways. How do you find balance between joy and the pursuit of winning when the stakes are this high?
Jul 28, 2021•32 min•Ep. 65
In conference realignment, there are far more losers than winners. Texas and Oklahoma have both announced they are leaving the Big 12 for the SEC, sending shock waves through the college football universe. Every realignment shift mirrors the butterfly effect: small change eventually begets enormous change. What is college football moving forward?
Jul 27, 2021•33 min•Ep. 64
To what extent is change possible? Can you become somebody else entirely, or will you always revert back to whatever you are at your core? Golf is a game that demands constant change in order to achieve success and nobody has embodied this more over the past 5 years than Bryson DeChambeau. While he has shown a willingness to change physically, there are many questions that exist about his emotional and mental approaches to the game. Is change possible?
Jul 26, 2021•28 min•Ep. 63
You can build the perfect team and still not win a championship. Unpredictable events shape every championship team (like the 2021 Milwaukee Bucks) and every team who falters (like the 2002 Sacramento Kings or the 2013 Auburn football team). It's the chaos theory of team building: control everything you can control on your side, then hope like hell the breaks of the game go your way.
Jul 22, 2021•33 min•Ep. 62
The Milwaukee Bucks are the 2021 NBA champions after another otherworldly performance from Giannis Antetokounmpo . In a battle of small market teams, the Bucks won their first championship in 50 years as the Suns watched the opportunity for their first in franchise history slip away.
Jul 21, 2021•28 min•Ep. 61
There are many roads to victory in professional sports. The NFL features recent examples like the KC Chiefs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, while the NBA Finals has two teams who are embracing past strategies like interior domination and scoring in the midrange. The smartest teams and most talented players are able to blend past, present, and future into a championship combination.
Jul 20, 2021•30 min•Ep. 60
Two incredible sporting events dominated the weekend, Game 5 of the NBA Finals and The British Open. Both featured star performances that fuel one of the more complicated yet enjoyable aspects of sports: the always changing legacies of players and teams.
Jul 19, 2021•31 min•Ep. 59
Golf in its purest form is a physical, emotional, and mental test. The British Open, currently taking place at Royal St. George's in England, presents an immense challenge via the elemental side of golf. It is the most compelling viewing product in professional golf, one that allows a diverse range of skillsets and ages to contend, and a celebration of the ever-changing familiarity within the game.
Jul 16, 2021•27 min•Ep. 58
X-and-O adjustments are fine and good, but many times the best adjustment in a playoff series is simply playing better. The Bucks defeated the Suns in Game 4 of the NBA Finals to tie the series at 2-2 and both sides were boosted by players (Devin Booker, Khris Middleton) delivering their best performances of the series. Who needs to play better in Game 5?
Jul 15, 2021•27 min•Ep. 57
In the NBA, there is nothing more valuable than a proven playoff scorer. Donovan Mitchell is four years into his career and has already shown a tantalizing ability to score against multiple playoff defenses and individual defenders. It's the single biggest reason for hope within the Jazz franchise and part of the beautiful, optimistic amnesia that fills an offseason.
Jul 14, 2021•29 min•Ep. 56
In a way that is hard to process, sports can be completely random. Unknowability in turn leads to wistfulness, a common feeling amongst fans that watch their team lose. It's one of the most powerful emotional threads that binds fans across a variety of sports: the feeling of what could have been.
Jul 13, 2021•33 min•Ep. 55
For the second straight game, Giannis Antetokounmpo played a sublime individual game of basketball in the NBA Finals. In Game 2, the Suns won by 10. Last night in Game 3, the Bucks won by 20. What changed around Giannis's performances that resulted in such a drastic swing? An accumulation of small edges.
Jul 12, 2021•29 min•Ep. 54
Giannis Antetokounmpo played an outstanding game of basketball in Game 2 of the NBA Finals and his team lost. The Phoenix Suns relied on team-wide contributions to trump a brilliant individual performance from Giannis, another lost performance of the playoffs and sobering reminder that situation is nearly everything.
Jul 09, 2021•26 min•Ep. 53
