I really didn’t know my own power: For a year now, I’ve been writing about how Bill Belichick is overrated, and it seems NFL owners have been listening. Although the former Patriots coach wants to keep coaching, it seems he can’t get a job. Only one of the seven other teams with a vacancy at head coach — the Atlanta Falcons — even interviewed him, and they ultimately hired Raheem Morris instead.
There are still two teams with openings, but Belichick is reportedly unlikely to get either job. Instead, he’s expected to spend 2024 in media, before possibly returning to a sideline in 2025, when he’ll be 73 years old.
And I have to confess that even I find this baffling. I’d love to claim vindication, and point to this as proof that people have been persuaded by my “Belichick’s success was all labor appropriation” Take… but I don’t think that’s what is going on. Belichick’s reputation as a coach is undiminished — the real reason teams aren’t hiring him is that the front office executives in charge of hiring coaches are reluctant to hire someone who will immediately become more powerful than them within the organization. Really, this is an internal conflict within the professional class, and case study in why “merit-based hiring” is a bullshit idea.
But you’re not going to trick me into feeling bad for Belichick…
“He Can Still Coach”
Well, it is finally, officially over. After roughly a year of speculation, Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots have parted ways. Belichick, who has been the team’s Head Coach for 24 years, apparently wanted to come back, but owner Robert Kraft felt it was time to move on.
Eventually I’ll stop writing about this guy, I promise.
Legal Sports Betting and the Failure of Libertarianism
Not that long ago, betting on sports was illegal. Well, not really. More accurately, sports gambling existed in that strange legal netherworld where the US puts things like marijuana use and tax fraud. That is, it was kind of against the law, depending on how you did it and who you asked and where you happened to be standing. There was a federal law aga…
Already like 80% of the Super Bowl coverage I’ve seen has been about the betting lines… Enough!
The Baseball Hall of Fame and Workplace Discipline
The full Baseball Hall of Fame Class of 2024 was announced this week, and three players were voted in by the Baseball Writers Association of America: Adrián Beltré, Todd Helton, and Joe Mauer. But as has been the case for over a decade now, the announcement was just as notable for who was not elected: Gary Sheffield got only 63.9% of the vote on his ten…
For more on steroids, baseball, and the Hall of Fame, check out the Undrafted YouTube page…