MY EYES

HAPPY THURSDAY

Riley is taking work off these next two days to fly out to a college football game in Pennsylvania (SportsBall reconnaissance) so cheers to the early weekend. We’ve got some goodies for you this morning:

💸 Largest player contract in history
😭 Athletes crying in their mother’s arms
👀 Eye watering new basketball courts

Let’s get you the details ⬇️

THIS PAST WEEK ⏮

Pocket Watchin ⚾️

Since the season just ended in the MLB, free agency has now begun. This is where all the players whose contracts expired get to test the open market and sign with any team they want. But free agency this season is extra special with Shohei Ohtani looking for a new team.

Shohei is the best baseball player we’ve seen in over 100 years. He pitches and hits at an all-star level, making it a BOGO (buy one get one) deal for any team that can get him. Over the next few weeks, keep an ear out for any news on Shohei as he will likely be signing the largest contract in sports history with a new team, estimated to be over $500 million 😵‍💫 Here’s how he would look in some of the most likely landing spots ⬇️

What Baby Wants Baby Gets 🏀

NBA superstar and part-time diva 💅 James Harden just got traded to the LA Clippers. Harden's been demanding an exit from Philly for months, and he finally got his wish.

The reason the trade is interesting? Harden is a great player who hasn’t won a championship and he’s joining a Clippers team full of great players who haven’t won championships (other than Kawhi Leanord).

All of the big stars he joins on the Clippers grew up in LA like him, making it a bit of a reunion as they all played against each other through their development. This reminds us of high school 🏫 where you do a group project with your friends, don’t get anything done, get a bad grade, and have a great time doing it! We’ll wait and see how it plays out.

Mama’s Boy 🏈

Horrible Bosses 🏈

LEARNING MODULE 💡

NBA In-Season Tournament 🏀

Thought you were getting the hang of the NBA and how it works? We all did. However, the NBA has thrown a wrench into all of our understanding of what playoffs are and where they belong. Starting last week, they’ve introduced an “in-season tournament” that runs from now through December. See below for what this is and why they’re going to all the effort to create it. ⬇️

What is it?

Each team in the NBA will play 4 games that qualify them for these “mini playoffs” where they will play for cash prizes and the first-ever “NBA Cup”.

Seem a bit try-hard? Sure. Are the courts they’re playing on even more try-hard? Absolutely. For in-season tournament games, each arena is required to switch out its original, normal-looking basketball court for a neon, eye-melting hard top — making the games more recognizable when you’re flipping channels. ⬇️

Why is the NBA doing it?

You guessed it, money 💰 Every sports league makes a good chunk of its dough from TV deals that are signed about every 10 years. In 2014, Warner Bros and ESPN paid $24 billion to have TV rights to all the NBA games for the following decade. That contract is coming to a close, and by the end of next season, the NBA will be making a new deal. The Rumor Mill™ is saying this agreement could more than TRIPLE the amount of money that the previous contract generated and equal approximately $9 billion a year for the NBA. There’s a catch though… 👀

The way people watch sports is changing. Regular season viewership across all sports has been shrinking along with our attention spans, and consequently, consumers are beginning to focus more on clips and highlights. Many folks only start tuning in when playoffs come around, hence the NBA making it easier for teams to make the “playoffs.” With this new mega-deal in the works, the NBA needs to prove to streaming giants that they have a plan to combat shrinking attention spans & are worth the investment. Here’s how the brainstorming session probably went ⬇️

So here we are, the guinea pigs of the NBA, getting bright courts shoved in our faces in hopes that the Disney dinosaurs will pay up for our simple attention spans. Will it work? Maybe.

ATHLETE OF THE WEEK 🏆

CJ Stroud - Houston Texans 🏈

Rookie 👶 quarterback CJ Stroud had an incredible debut last week. On Sunday, the young gun put together one of the best performances ever for a first-year quarterback and all but cemented himself as the Rookie of the Year. His stat line for the game:

📏 470 passing yards (most by a rookie in a game EVER)
💥 5 touchdowns (tied for most by a rookie in a game EVER)
🏅 Game-winning drive with 30 seconds left in the game

In hopes that a performance of this caliber isn’t falling on deaf ears, here’s how you can think of CJ’s season so far and most recent game in terms of other great debuts:

THIS NEXT WEEK ⏭

NFL 🏈

This is one of the worst weeks in the NFL season for excitement. A lot of good teams have a bye week and the remainder are in lopsided matchups.

If you’ve been looking for a sign to maybe not watch football for a single Sunday, here it is. Maybe head out on a hike and enjoy the fall colors.

College Football 🏈

There are some more great matchups this week with top 10 teams playing each other. I’ll also be at the Penn State game so tune in and find me on TV!

• No. 2 Georgia vs. No. 9 Ole Miss | 4 PM PST

• No. 3 Michigan at No. 10 Penn State | 9 AM PST

• No. 5 Washington vs. No. 18 Utah | 12:30 PM PST

Thank you all and see you next week!

— Riley and Claire