Mark80

This is a pretty ridiculous statement. In MLB in the last 10 years only one team has won the Championship more than once. This year looks to continue that trend as the Dodgers and Astros seem poised to win. Dodgers haven't won since Kirk Gibson and the Astros have never won. Teams like the Twins, Brewers, Rockies, are all making playoff pushes for the first time in years and seemingly out of nowhere. In the last 10 years the Phillies, Royals, and Cubs have all won their first championships in over 30 years. However, the NFL has the same teams winning over and over and over again. Patriots, Packers, Steelers, Ravens, Giants, Broncos. I would argue that after baseketball, the NFL is the worst at having different teams win. I do love the soccer system. Obviously not possible here though. Please tell me though, how would my proposal not combat tanking? It may not be the most fair system, having better teams draft ahead of worse ones, but it would prevent tanking.

Man do I hate Steely Dan. I mean HATE.

I just don't think a lottery system does anything, really, to curtail the tanking problem. Teams would still tank in order to realize the best odds at winning the lottery, no? Especially if only the first 2 or 3 picks are the ones up for lottery (like the NBA and NHL currently). The lottery system, with all slots available in the lottery is better than the current system though, no doubt about it.

I thought of this aspect as well and agree it could make things more fair / interesting too. I agree. I think there would definitely be an increase in trading in this scenario.

In my opinion, there is something fundamentally wrong with tanking in sports. The whole purpose of sports is to win games and, in turn, championships. However, this worst teams gets best pick (or best chance for best pick in some sports) system fosters teams trying to lose to potentially get better players to be better down the road. This is no fun for anyone. What fans want to watch their team intentionally being terrible? What networks want to show these teams getting blown out game after game? To me, it's a simple solution. Just do the draft slotting this way (NFL as an example) Pick 1: Team 13 (best team not making playoffs) Pick 2: Team 14 Pick 3: Team 15 ... Pick 20: Team 32 (worst team in league) Picks 21-32 same playoff team breakdown we have today. This would foster competition throughout the league for the entire season. Now WINNING as many games as possible is always the goal (save for the savy GM who realizes it may be better to just miss the playoffs in a year than to make it and lose round 1. I would think that case would be the exception more than the rule). No longer will teams strive to win 1 or 2 games a year for the top pick, they would be picking 20th instead. Just my thoughts on it in light of the Jets, 49ers, Browns obviously striving to lose...again. Interested on thoughts, have at it.

This is clearly the only ironic thing in either of our posts. When someone says "a step lower" it infers that we were at some point on a higher level. I was simply pointing out that I believe we are at our highest level we have ever been at this time, even though a lot of messed up stuff still happens and there is a long way to go. I was in no way shape or form saying those things do not still exist in society, I was saying that you don't have to go too far in the past to see each of them at a much worse off position than they are today. However, if you can teach me about a time in civilized history when things were not more messed up than they are now, please do. I enjoy learning new things.

This is a terrible action by these kids, or rather inaction I guess. But I find it funny when people say things like a "step lower in our society and species." You do not have to look far into the past to see really lower steps in our society and our species. From homophobia, to sexism, to racism, to genocides, to absolutely brutal trench warfare, to brutal working conditions, to slavery, etc, etc, etc. Many things still exist, yes, but to a much smaller degree than they did in the past. Pretty much every generation is more civilized than the last in one shape or another if you really think about it.

I get enough of people's recipes on FB, I certainly do not need it here too.

Funny.

Jeez, cut the OP a break. Tells a nice story and people are jumping all over him.

The "analytics" say that coaches should be going for 4th down in way more situations than they actually do. This is based on percentages of getting the 4th down and eventually getting points versus not getting the 4th down and not allowing points on the subsequent drive and the impacts of punting / kicking a FG vs going for a TD, field position, etc. I know you were not saying you would be using analytics, I just thought it was funny that the example you cite is a precise area where analytics says they can improve over a coach's "gut feeling" and an area where the there is enough data to support the percentages not really lying in this use case.

Bashes analytics and then points to the exact type of thing that typical coaches do not do, but analytics supports. Funny.

I don't think he is underrated. I think its more that he had such a short career that you really can't be considered an all-timer. Most people know how amazing he was for that short time, especially if you were old enough to witness it. He would be successful today, no doubt. Also, OJ and Barry for sure. Not sure on Jim Brown though, run through you every time type guys don't really exist anymore. I think Dickerson would be successful too.

Dane Cook 100%

Love it how people are mad that players get paid so much when it is 100% their own fault. You pay insane prices for tickets, merchandise, parking, concessions. You click all the articles on various sites. You purchase cable packages to watch games. You watch the games driving up ratings and advertising dollars. Then, when the players who possess a truly elite skill, who sacrifice their bodies, work tirelessly every day to be in phenomenal shape, deal with crazy fans and media types on a daily basis as a celebrity, want to receive the lions share of the revenues you call them greedy. It is the billionaire owners who are the greedy ones in my mind. Sitting back in their lush offices and stadium suites, not doing crap besides watching their enormous fortunes grow on a minute by minute basis. Blame yourself, blame the owners, but the players should be the last ones to blame in my mind. Weird. According to ESPN the only sports that exist are the football and basketball. Baseball is twice the revenues of the NBA and they hardly get a whiff of coverage anymore. The NHL coverage is non-existent until the playoffs. I swear, you will see more WNBA highlights in season than MLB highlights on any given SC. It is absurd. Shocking they are failing.

Don't buy this at all. If they perform and are considered top 5 picks, they are coming out. Too many times, lately, QBs have stayed another year and seen their stock fall. If I'm a QB and I know regardless of where I'm selected there is less than a 50/50 chance I become a "franchise" QB, I leave school to maximize my first contract. Never know what I'm getting out of the second contract at that position.

Listen, I love me some conspiracy theories, trust me. I just don't see it in this one.

Someone has been watching way too many Marvel movies lately.

Climate change is cyclical, no doubt. But to deny that we are impacting it / accelerating just doesn't make sense to me. Especially when the vast majority of the scientific community is in agreement on the issue. Who is not in agreement? Seems to me that it is basically the people of have a vested interest in denying it exist. Namely, the largest polluters and the politicians they support thru super PACs.

Wish we could go back to the good ole days when all pharma commercials were banned from TV. Not only are they so annoying, every one of them, but they are a direct contributor to the over medicated culture we now live in. Not to mention the opioid epidemic.

Man, I missed Berman big time last night. Just wasn't the same to me. Karl Ravech was worthless up there. He added nothing.

Just wondering, where exactly did I proclaim any support whatsoever for Rex Ryan? Just because I don't think it is Rex's fault that Preston cannot tackle does not mean I think Rex Ryan was as good coach.

When he ran up the stairs to get away from the woman in the wheelchair at that party....that was one of the funniest things I have ever seen on TV. Ruthless, but funny.

Ha, yes, I do have it out for Preston. I will not deny that. There are fundamental things a MLB has to do in my mind. First and foremost is tackle well. I can say with a high degree of certainty that more times than not when I saw a play (and I'm talking up the middle more so than the outside) that a guy got dragged for yards on a tackle, or attempted an arm tackle that was run through, or went to the wrong hole leaving a gaping hole where he should have been, Preston Brown seemed to be the man at fault. So, after noticing this, I tried to watch him solely on a number of plays during games. What I saw then was Preston eaten up by blockers with no shedding ability at all. Now, can some of it be Rex's fault? Maybe he was assigned the wrong holes to attack, I don't know. But a MLB who can't get off blocks and who can't tackle, well, that's not a coaching problem IMO, that's a player problem. Add to that the complete dysfunction on the communication side of things, which is also usually a MLB job. I attribute that aspect more to Rex and the coaching staff though, but other MLBs have done fine with these coaches, even excelled with Lewis and Harris. Terrible may be an exaggeration as I'm sure he would be a good depth guy to have. But if we end up depending on him to be our run stopping, team leader on defense, well, I think we are in trouble then.

Preston Brown is terrible. Period. End of story. It is not Rex Ryan's fault the guy cannot tackle anyone without being pushed ahead 2-3 yards, needing help, or risk the guy breaking the arm tackle for huge games (see Dolphins games). It is not Rex Ryan's fault that the guy over pursued his assigned hole over and over and over again leading to huge gains. It is not Rex Ryan's fault the guy simply cannot shed a block and make a play. Stop blaming Rex Ryan for all of our terrible players performance. Some of guys are just terrible. Now, Ragland was a tackling machine at Alabama and in the limited time he was on the field last summer. That is something to get excited about, not Preston Brown.