First of all, congratulations to our SportsPredict Super Bowl winners SFZevi, Nathan Shea and Peter V. I had fun competing against all of you this NFL season, even though I reliably fell short of prize territory.

But before we completely say goodbye to football, I present this look back at the game/season with John Middlekauff, absolute contest BEAST for The Volume network. Of course, we got off topic into issues of interest, as tends to happen. Subjects include!

* How much is Michael MacDonald worth on the open market?

* Why are NFL coaches paid so low relative to impact?

* Why does nepotism work better in the NFL than the NBA?

* Should NBA GMs make more than NBA coaches?

* James Pearce Jr., coming off a 10.5 sack rookie season for the Atlanta Falcons, has been arrested and the details are horrific. How would you assess the pick and process if you’re the new GM of the team?

* NFL media seems happier than NBA media. Why?

* Is the NBA past its peak?

* John’s boss Colin Cowherd famously warned against hiring golfers. Does golf nut Middlekauff still find time to play rounds?

* Can Scottie Scheffler reach a higher echelon of fame?

* Why are pitchers better than hitters at golf?

* Is there a big market to watch non golf athletes compete playing golf?

As I told Chuck Klosterman, I planned to do a pod on his Football book with non sports fan Rob Henderson. So what did our favorite sports agnostic intellectual think of such a deep dive into America’s favorite game?

Topics! Include!

* When one’s job is a bigger marker of identity than one’s race

* Is the NFL a more positive racial story than what gets relayed in media?

* Why did conservative media know football was coming back during Covid?

* Most retired NFL players have painful daily injuries. Most of the injured have no regrets

* How does NFL culture deal with certain positions being higher/lower Wonderlic?

* Libs are fine with young women doing Only Fans; Cons are fine with young NFL players damaging their brains

* Rob Henderson is fascinated by the gender implications of how the WNBA reacted to Caitlin Clark

* Why are NBA teammates rarely friends?

* Rob is interested in why soccer is an elite sport in America but working class sport elsewhere

* Rob and I both loved one particular passage in Klosterman’s book about how his dad reacted to Doug Flutie’s miracle play

I highly recommend Football, Chuck Klosterman’s latest book. In this podcast, we discuss his trenchant and personal exploration of the sport, along with the following topics…

* Are we primarily writers or podcasters?

* Many believe that young people are correct about the future, but few think they were smarter as young people

* Will opinions change less often now that we are publicly anchored to opinions?

* Would Chuck lie if his privacy was violated to procure damning information?

* Why do we want coaches to be scary assholes?

* Chuck asks me if I scream at my kids

* Why Mike Holmgren screamed at Andy Reid

* The media driven ego battle between Bill Belichick and Tom Brady

* Why television dominates our sports memories for games we saw in person

* Do we want football to stay American?

* Has history forgotten Roger Staubach?

* Chuck has been a closeted Dallas Cowboys fan

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