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Welcome to the latest episode of Hot Takedown, our podcast where the hot sports takes of the week meet the numbers that prove them right or tear them down. On this week’s show (Dec. 1, 2015), we say farewell to Kobe Bryant, who’s retiring at the end of the season. With one week of regular-season games to go, we take a look at the ever-shifting scenarios of the College Football Playoff. Plus, we dive into the Major League Soccer playoffs and whether they’re structured in the fairest way. And a Significant Digit on the popularity of the U.S. women’s national soccer team in the video game FIFA 16.
Stream the episode by clicking the play button, or subscribe using one of the podcast clients we’ve linked to above. Video, bonus audio and links to what we discussed are here:
- Kirk Goldsberry on the end of Kobe Bryant.
- Kobe’s parting ode to basketball.
- Neil Paine on why Michael Jordan was better than Kobe Bryant.
- FiveThirtyEight’s college football analysis.
- An academic study on playing the second leg at home in soccer.
- Significant Digit: 23. The U.S. women’s national team is the 23rd most popular squad in FIFA 16.
Kobe’s mind can handle the grind, but his body’s done.
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