Sports – FiveThirtyEight — Hot Takedown RSS



College Football’s Big Conference Hurdle

We start with the news that at least two of the Power Five college football conferences — the Big Ten and the Pac-12 — will limit their schedules to conference-only games because of the coronavirus. It’s a move that has wide-reaching implications, from the possibility that the College Football Playoff will need to choose among […]

Continue reading



Offensive Team Names Are On Notice — For Real, This Time

We start with the announcement, made on Friday, that Washington is going to explore changing its team name to something that hopefully isn’t a racial slur against Native Americans. We all agree that now there’s enough social and economic pressure on majority owner Dan Snyder that a name change will happen, likely before the 2020 […]

Continue reading



The Pats Could Only Go 3 Months Without An MVP Quarterback

We begin with the big news out of NFL free agency. Former league MVP Cam Newton will join the New England Patriots on a one-year contract so low-risk for the Pats that it reminds us why New England tends to run strategic rings around every other team in the league. While Newton needs to be […]

Continue reading



Baseball Is Coming Back! Probably!

Major League Baseball’s owners have approved a restart plan for MLB and, in keeping with the acrimony and suspicion between management and the players we’ve seen for the past three months, sent it as more or less an ultimatum to the players association. But it does mean the sport is coming back. Probably! The plan […]

Continue reading



The NBA Can Come Back Now. Should It?

Hot Takedown talked last week about what the NBA’s restart would look like, but not all of its players seem ready to return. We discuss the concerns raised by Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving after a call with 80 other players on the Orlando bubble system and whether playing games will distract from the […]

Continue reading