Over the past few weeks, Hot Takedown has covered several cheating scandals, from the Astros’ sign stealing to state-sanctioned Russian doping. Now that the Patriots — a team that’s no stranger to scandal — is facing fresh allegations, we thought it was time to apply more evaluation and rigor to how we think about cheating […]
On Monday, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) handed down a unanimous decision to ban Russia from all major international sporting events for the next four years, including the 2020 and 2022 Olympics and the 2022 World Cup. Individual athletes may still be able to compete in these events, but they will need to do so […]
Before next week’s MLB winter meetings, Hot Takedown takes stock of free agency. We discuss what to expect for elite players in this year’s class and how the process has evolved in the wake of front offices placing a higher premium on statistics. On Sunday, the New England Patriots’ loss to the Houston Texans led […]
In a recent interview with The Athletic, former Houston pitcher Mike Fiers went on the record to accuse the Astros of stealing signs during their 2017 championship season through the use of an outfield camera. Sign stealing in MLB has a long history, but have the Astros taken it too far? Sara, Neil and Geoff […]
Over the weekend, we saw another development in the saga between the NFL and Colin Kaepernick. After a dispute over liability waivers, Kaepernick moved the unconventional workout set up by NFL from the Atlanta Falcons’ practice facility to a high school 59 miles away. Representatives from 25 of the league’s 32 teams had committed to […]