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 (for April 28, 2015), we look at the upcoming NFL draft and whether there is anything to all the measuring and testing that goes into evaluating prospects; Floyd Mayweather Jr. vs. Manny Pacquiao, the future of boxing, and Mayweather’s violent past; and ESPN’s Pablo Torre visits the studio to discuss a new study on how many NFL athletes go bankrupt. And our significant digit this week is -14.7 — how many points the Toronto Raptors underperformed by this offseason.
Plus: An update on the first Hot Takedown crowdsourcing project, which asks you to submit your ideas to help stop tanking in the NBA.
Stream the episode by clicking the play button above, or subscribe using one of the podcast clients we’ve linked to.
Below, some links to what we discuss in this week’s show:
- How would you fix the NBA draft and stop tanking? Tell us.
- Neil Paine on how NFL teams try to beat the draft — and fail.
- How surplus value works in the NFL Draft.
- What does the Mayweather-Pacquiao fight mean for the future of boxing?
- “Outside The Lines” on Mayweather’s troubled past.
- A look at whether we missed out on the best possible fight between these two boxers.
- Pablo Torre’s 2009 article “How (and Why) Athletes Go Broke.”
- The recent NBER paper on NFL bankruptcy.
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