The Other McCain again spends a lot of brainpower worrying about NFL football. Some Advice for NFL Losers
That is a long post. One of the longest posts I've read this week. And it isn't long because he is quoting people, though there are a few. It is long because he went into what we in the movie/comics/fandom arena usually call "weaponized autism," or something similar. (That's not a bad thing; we count on it for some stuff.) Detailed analysis takes time.
To study this, I took four recent years (2018-2021) when NFL teams drafted a combined total of 172 offensive linemen (31 centers, 52 guards, 89 tackles), meaning that in an average year, 43 offensive linemen were drafted. There are 32 teams in the league, which means that a typical NFL team drafted 5.4 linemen during that four-year span. There are seven rounds in the NFL draft, and nearly all the best players — the Pro Bowlers — and most of those who will be starters for five or more seasons, are drafted in the first four rounds. It is rare for late-round draft picks to develop into truly great NFL players, the most noteworthy exception being Tom Brady, who was a sixth-round pick out of Michigan.
That is the introduction to his analysis of the data on the NFL draft for the years mentioned. He goes on at length. I only read it because I appreciate the work he put into it. I don't understand the obsessive nature of sportsball. Currently it is Football. In Europe (and elsewhere) it is also Football, what we call soccer. It used to be baseball. In India Cricket is a contender. It seems to be something that is universal. Nearly universal.
Apparently "his team" isn't having a good season.
Well, guess what? The Patriots are now 3-10, and their offense is one of the worst in the league because their offensive line is still garbage. The Boston sports media has belatedly figured this out. Having spent the past two seasons blaming Mac Jones for everything wrong in New England.
Sportsball! is! VERY! Important!
ReplyDeleteto some folks.
once I figured out it was billionaires paying millionaires to play so I would buy Fritos and Bud Lite, I quit caring so much.
I grew up in an era where people had 1 TV. We eventually got 2 - because my mom wanted a new one, and my dad didn't want to throw anything away if it worked.
DeleteSo I have watched a lot of NFL football, NBA, ML Baseball, College Football and basketball, golf, and the ever-present ABC's Wide World of Sports ("The thrill of victory. The agony of defeat!")
But I never understood why people got so invested in whether or not people they didn't know, would never know, did a good or bad job of playing a game. It must be something in the genome, because as I noted, it seems to be universal. Mostly.