Welcome to this week’s 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 (June 2, 2015), we discuss the announcement by FIFA’s Sepp Blatter that he will step down, and preview the Women’s World Cup, which kicks off Saturday. We also preview the NBA Finals and look at how the Astros and Twins got so good after being so bad. Plus, our Significant Digit of the week on a bold decision by Florida in the Women’s College World Series to hand the ball to two untested pitchers.
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Below are some links to what we discuss in this week’s show:
- Adam Silver writes us a letter about our anti-tanking proposal.
- The FiveThirtyEight staff takes a crack at fixing FIFA after Blatter’s announcement.
- We’re doing Women’s World Cup predictions, and our tournament preview lays out how the U.S. team is favored, but just barely.
- Neil Paine writes that this is the second weakest team that LeBron James has carried to the NBA Finals.
- The Astros are making a historic turnaround.
- Significant Digit: Zero innings. In the Women’s College World Series finals, Florida handed the ball to two pitchers who hadn’t pitched in weeks.
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