I turn 65 next month and part of aging is that I almost never sleep through the night. At 3:15 this morning, resigned that I was wide awake, I popped open the laptop hoping Too Deep Zone had something new. Alas, disappointed.
Moments before leaving for work I checked again and Voila! Birds were chirping and trumpets blaring. A mailbag, to boot! Love me a mailbag! Gonna be ten minutes late this morning.
I've let my Sports Illustrated, The Athletic subscriptions expire. ESPN football coverage is laughable. Mike, who are one or two more must reads that are worth a subscription, you know, for those 3:15 a.m. moments when Too Deep Zone has disappointed me and I'm jonesing for NFL news?
Substack is loaded with former Football Outsiders and FO-Adjacent folks. Check out Doug Farrar's Substack for tactics. Matt Lombardo for broad-based around-the-league info, with chatter from scouts and agents. Rivers McCown has a Substack focused on the MNF games and stats that he is noticing, and he writes in the conversational style a lot of us used at FO. Frank Cooney is not an FO guy, but he covered the NFL for 50 years and does lots of historical/HOF features. Ty Dunne is here, and he writes longform features with lots of interviews, with a Bills-Packers heavy slant.
One thing you will NOT get from me is 3:15 AM posts!
As someone who is happy to pay for content but also limited by how many subs I can actually afford...have you and some of your former FO folks considered joining forces?
I feel the one writer-one substack model isn't serving the audience or the writers the best.
PROS: more well-rounded coverage for readers. More convenience for readers: one-stop shopping, one sub to manage, can afford access to more writers. For writers, can reach a larger audience, creating more exposure.
The obvious CON: for writers the total revenues generated would be smaller unless the total number of subscribers increases enough to offset lower costs to subscribers.
I feel like a FORMER FO WRITERS substack would probably have more subs in total than adding up the subs to each of the individual existing Substacks.
I just know I have subscription fatigue and because of that I, like Pete, am finding written coverage of sports to be extremely lacking. LOTS of YouTube channels with broadcast coverage, but written words covering sports seems to be dying.
I was going to say I think CMC has done enough for the HoF already but then i saw he doesn’t even have 7000 rushing yards yet I was surprised by that. He was injured for a considerable amount of time in Carolina too, which was the main reason I was not too upset they traded him – I thought his career was basically done at that point
Last year was really CMC's first true HALL OF FAMER year. Everything before that, while great, is stuff that guys like Zeke, Gurley, Le'Veon and others have done.
"The people who love you want to spend the good times, bad times and quiet times with you, in body and spirit. Even when they need to be alone or with others, they also need to feel that you are a text message away, not in some physical place or headspace where they cannot reach you"
Are you doing an M SW in couples therapy in case this sportswriting thing doesn't work out?
I am thinking of getting into life coaching. Rule One: live close to where you work, even if it means a smaller home or a non-trendy address. Commuting is the enemy of joy.
Bergey was an interesting take! I think Tommy Nobis is a better version of the same case but that's the fun/awful thing about the seniors ballot, there's so many good cases.
I was secretly hoping you would pick Seth Joyner, not only for his bonafides in the Buddy Ryan teams, but because he went to the University of Texas at El Paso, the Harvard of the Borderland, the standard bearers in college football in Texas, New Mexico, and Chihuahua Province.
Mike's first three choices are sensible, but my first defensive choice would be Dick Butkus. You youngsters who didn't see him play missed something.
The clips of him murdering anyone fool enough to go over the middle are well known, but look for the ones where he drops 30 yards into coverage to make plays.
Also, his knees (probably) wouldn't have been destroyed by incompetent quacks.
The Bills lost 4 Super Bowls in a row in good part due to being pushed around on the ground each time. So when you're talking about the 5 greatest over a 50-year span, no Bruce.
Reggie would be the obvious choice, but 'no Eagles'. And I understand not wanting to depend on an enormous cokehead, so no LT.
5th choice under these rules is a toughie. (not that Walter Jones is THE inarguable OT pick, but hey). I figure being able to stop the run is more important than being able to dominate with the run, as being run over is the surest way to lose (yes defending the pass is more important than defending the run, but with the pass there is the greater chance of getting a turnover, a whiffed pass block, a holding penalty) So for a 5th I think I'd go with Ray Lewis. Yeah, in his final game he was awful against the pass. But for how many years did he stay in on all passing downs? For a topnotch defense?
This is where this historical stuff gets difficult. Is Deacon Jones still in the HoF if OL could use their hands and he couldn't slap them them upside the head? Is Kayvon Thibedeaux useful if eye-gouging were still acceptable? I think I'd go with Julian Peppers on the edge. An enormous freak athlete is useful in any era.
I loved reading it when Deacon talked about some 49ers offensive tackle who sharpened that screw in the middle of the helmet so Deacon cut up his hand when he head-slapped him!
Cliff Burton is Gale Sayers
Pretty good analogy.
Yeah, but the premise is a coach... John Madden?
I’d go Madden or Dick Vermeil (version 1.0). Both were young, ascended fast, then were gone before hitting their peak.
I turn 65 next month and part of aging is that I almost never sleep through the night. At 3:15 this morning, resigned that I was wide awake, I popped open the laptop hoping Too Deep Zone had something new. Alas, disappointed.
Moments before leaving for work I checked again and Voila! Birds were chirping and trumpets blaring. A mailbag, to boot! Love me a mailbag! Gonna be ten minutes late this morning.
I've let my Sports Illustrated, The Athletic subscriptions expire. ESPN football coverage is laughable. Mike, who are one or two more must reads that are worth a subscription, you know, for those 3:15 a.m. moments when Too Deep Zone has disappointed me and I'm jonesing for NFL news?
Substack is loaded with former Football Outsiders and FO-Adjacent folks. Check out Doug Farrar's Substack for tactics. Matt Lombardo for broad-based around-the-league info, with chatter from scouts and agents. Rivers McCown has a Substack focused on the MNF games and stats that he is noticing, and he writes in the conversational style a lot of us used at FO. Frank Cooney is not an FO guy, but he covered the NFL for 50 years and does lots of historical/HOF features. Ty Dunne is here, and he writes longform features with lots of interviews, with a Bills-Packers heavy slant.
One thing you will NOT get from me is 3:15 AM posts!
As someone who is happy to pay for content but also limited by how many subs I can actually afford...have you and some of your former FO folks considered joining forces?
I feel the one writer-one substack model isn't serving the audience or the writers the best.
PROS: more well-rounded coverage for readers. More convenience for readers: one-stop shopping, one sub to manage, can afford access to more writers. For writers, can reach a larger audience, creating more exposure.
The obvious CON: for writers the total revenues generated would be smaller unless the total number of subscribers increases enough to offset lower costs to subscribers.
I feel like a FORMER FO WRITERS substack would probably have more subs in total than adding up the subs to each of the individual existing Substacks.
I just know I have subscription fatigue and because of that I, like Pete, am finding written coverage of sports to be extremely lacking. LOTS of YouTube channels with broadcast coverage, but written words covering sports seems to be dying.
Are you still in touch with Ryan Wilson?
Seeing not only the best bassist, but also the best musician, that ever played with Metallica left off this list is sad.
RIP Cliff Burton.
I was going to say I think CMC has done enough for the HoF already but then i saw he doesn’t even have 7000 rushing yards yet I was surprised by that. He was injured for a considerable amount of time in Carolina too, which was the main reason I was not too upset they traded him – I thought his career was basically done at that point
Last year was really CMC's first true HALL OF FAMER year. Everything before that, while great, is stuff that guys like Zeke, Gurley, Le'Veon and others have done.
Cliff Burton is ?
"The people who love you want to spend the good times, bad times and quiet times with you, in body and spirit. Even when they need to be alone or with others, they also need to feel that you are a text message away, not in some physical place or headspace where they cannot reach you"
Are you doing an M SW in couples therapy in case this sportswriting thing doesn't work out?
I am thinking of getting into life coaching. Rule One: live close to where you work, even if it means a smaller home or a non-trendy address. Commuting is the enemy of joy.
Or, look for a job closer to home, even if it's not otherwise as ideal. Life balance is key.
Been living that for ages. The only time my commute was longer than 20 minutes, I quit the job in a matter of weeks.
Bergey was an interesting take! I think Tommy Nobis is a better version of the same case but that's the fun/awful thing about the seniors ballot, there's so many good cases.
I was secretly hoping you would pick Seth Joyner, not only for his bonafides in the Buddy Ryan teams, but because he went to the University of Texas at El Paso, the Harvard of the Borderland, the standard bearers in college football in Texas, New Mexico, and Chihuahua Province.
Mike's first three choices are sensible, but my first defensive choice would be Dick Butkus. You youngsters who didn't see him play missed something.
The clips of him murdering anyone fool enough to go over the middle are well known, but look for the ones where he drops 30 yards into coverage to make plays.
Also, his knees (probably) wouldn't have been destroyed by incompetent quacks.
The Bills lost 4 Super Bowls in a row in good part due to being pushed around on the ground each time. So when you're talking about the 5 greatest over a 50-year span, no Bruce.
Reggie would be the obvious choice, but 'no Eagles'. And I understand not wanting to depend on an enormous cokehead, so no LT.
5th choice under these rules is a toughie. (not that Walter Jones is THE inarguable OT pick, but hey). I figure being able to stop the run is more important than being able to dominate with the run, as being run over is the surest way to lose (yes defending the pass is more important than defending the run, but with the pass there is the greater chance of getting a turnover, a whiffed pass block, a holding penalty) So for a 5th I think I'd go with Ray Lewis. Yeah, in his final game he was awful against the pass. But for how many years did he stay in on all passing downs? For a topnotch defense?
Oh, and now that I consider it, Mike is old enough to have seen Anthony Munoz play. Anthony is the inarguable OT pick.
Rule was Mike had to see him play. So no Butkus.
You missed the best: Cliff Burton.
This is where this historical stuff gets difficult. Is Deacon Jones still in the HoF if OL could use their hands and he couldn't slap them them upside the head? Is Kayvon Thibedeaux useful if eye-gouging were still acceptable? I think I'd go with Julian Peppers on the edge. An enormous freak athlete is useful in any era.
I loved reading it when Deacon talked about some 49ers offensive tackle who sharpened that screw in the middle of the helmet so Deacon cut up his hand when he head-slapped him!