I know fans generally loathe the NFL preseason. Too many talking heads, too few games. I hear ya. For me, the preseason means it's time to release ESPN The Magazine's NFL team previews, one of my biggest projects of the year. Spread over 18 pages in our NFL Preview Issue, we cover all 32 teams in the most comprehensive way possible. Football Outsiders projected each team's offensive and defensive performance. Pro-Football Reference used its approximate value metric to highlight non-QB MVPs, while KC Joyner's mined his bad-decision rate numbers to talk about the QBs. And, of course, it wouldn't be an NFL Preview without some predictions, this year courtesy of the fine folks over at Pro Football Focus. So dig in and enjoy. Only eight more days until real football starts.
As I write this, the college football season is a mere 27 hours away. In other words, it's reallyfreakingclose. So, yeah, this blog post is about two weeks too late, but I'm too excited to care. Here's a quick rundown of some of my contributions to ESPN The Magazine's College Football Preview Issue, which, I might add, is fantastic from cover-to-cover).
I helped edit our top-25 scouting reports, which can be found here or below. We fit a ton of awesome information into a confined space, the most revealing of which is Brock Huard's breakdown of each team's go-to play. Really cool stuff you won't find anywhere else.
The second piece was a fun one: Since 2007, three Midwestern powers—Ohio State, Notre Dame and Ohio State—have lobbed verbal grenades at each. These range from petty grievances (Brady Hoke refusing to call Ohio State anything other than "Ohio") to far more serious offenses (Ohio State president saying Notre Dame would never be allowed in the Big Ten because "those damn Catholics" can't be trusted. You can find the whole timeline of transgressions below.
After all four rounds of the British Open, a small team of us at The Mag produced online-only graphics to pair with ESPN.com's content. This is, quite simply, a golf geek's dream. All four graphics are below for your viewing pleasure.
ROUND 1, which was posted here.
ROUND 2, which was embedded within Bob Harig's newser.
ROUND 3, which was embedded within the Saturday night picks column.
ROUND 4, which was posted within Gene Wojciechowski's column on Phil Mickleson.
Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Tom Watson, Nick Faldo and Ernie Els—51 majors between them—have all won the British Open at Muirfield. No other major championship venue can boast such a roll call. I spoke with Player, Nicklaus and Faldo about Muirfield's closing stretch for ESPN The Magazine's British Open Preview, which you can find here and below.
Just how much is A-Rod overpaid? When will the Pats cut Tom Brady loose? How much are the next batch of NBA free agents really worth? A group of us at ESPN The Magazine analyzed all of these topics and more for our package of the Best and Worst Contracts in Sports, which you can find here and below.
For the first time in over 30 years, the U.S. Open will make its way to historic—and historically short—Merion Golf Club just outside of Philly. For our U.S. Open Preview (pdf here or below), we used a variety of metrics to zero-in on five contenders and five great pretenders. We also looked at Merion specifically—and discussed why, despite its short length, it'll still pack a punch against the pros.
And so is, for that matter, ESPN The Magazine's NFL Draft Issue. Funny how that works out. But seriously, I think this is one of the best issues we've put out all year. Eli Saslow's story on former LSU DB Tyrann Mathieu is an absolute must-read. And Ryan McGee's profile on Marcus Lattimore will have you cheering for the former South Carolina running back who's still recovering from one of the most gruesome knee injuries in recent memory.
I had two projects in the issue. The first of which was pretty standard: Our annual dueling mock drafts with ESPN experts Todd McShay and Mel Kiper Jr. (see pdf here or below). Regardless of the fluidity of draft prognostications, there are some really good tidbits of information in each of their mocks. The second project—a 1-32 ranking of the best-drafting NFL franchises since 1994 (see pdf here or below)—was something my colleague LaRue Cook and I have been wanting to do for awhile. The only problem: We weren't quite sure the best way to devise such a ranking. Luckily, Neil Paine and the folks over at Pro-Football Reference are smarter than us and quickly used their vast statistical resources to give us a comprehensive—and statistically-sound—list. Enjoy! (Except for you, Browns fans. There's not much to enjoy, is there?)
Bubba Watson, golf's preeminent shot-shaper, used everything in his toolbox to win last year's Masters. So, it seemed natural to use Bubba in some way for our 2013 Masters Preview (see pdf here or below). The shot he hit in the playoff on No. 10 is what everyone remembers from last year, but Bubba also fit four near-perfect approach shots on Nos. 13-16 to become the first winner to ever birdie all four of those holes in the final round. I talked to Bubba and his caddie, Teddy Scott, about those shots, and also enlisted a few of our ESPN experts, Curtis Strange and Paul Azinger, to detail the challenges of playing Augusta's Hallelujah Stretch.
In ESPN The Magazine's Photo Issue, I edited David Fleming's story on the left tackle position, which led the Playbook section (see pdf here or below). This is a story we've been talking about for awhile, and now seemed like the perfect time to roll it out. The left tackle was once considered an essential building block for successful franchises. But now? The Miami Dolphins just let Jake Long, their former No. 1 overall pick and franchise left tackle, leave for St. Louis in free agency without too much resistance. Plus, two, maybe three, LTs will soon be picked in the top-10 top of the NFL Draft—even though since 2004, only three of the 12 left tackles selected in the top 10 have won a playoff game. It'll be interesting to see how the position continues to evolve in the coming years.
Also in Playbook of The Photo Issue: Another "Scout Takes" to which I contributed some reporting. This one is on Tennessee WR Cordarrelle Patterson (see pdf here or below).
I was lucky enough to be in the building for Michigan's overtime win over Ohio State last month. The Mag had 30+ writers, photographers and editors in Ann Arbor to capture the scene for our One Day, One Game Issue on Michigan-OSU. My colleague, Rachel Ullrich, and I spent most of gameday in the crowded Crisler Arena concourse, trying to shuffle 100 photo subjects in and out quickly. The goal was to photograph any student who played a part in the gameday festivities. I think the photos, supplemented with reporting from Rachel and me, turned out pretty great (see pdf here or below).
My favorite photo shoot of the night was 9-year-old Bryan Tyler (pictured above), who was randomly chosen to be the ball boy/floor scrubber for that game. When he's not tossing the ball to Trey Burke during warmups, he's starring as the point guard on his nine-and-under AAU team, the Michigan Hoyas. As his father La'Mar Tyler says, "He’s been dribbling and shooting and scoring since he started playing organized ball when he was six. Last year, when we went to Michigan camp, Coach Beilein said, 'This kid is good. If he’s still playing when I’m around, I want him.'"
The One Day, One Game Issue was pretty busy around here.
First, I edited my first feature for The Mag (see pdf here or below). My work was made easy by Ryan McGee splendid reporting and writing. Hope this is the first of many feature stories in my queue. We've got some fun things planned for issues down the road.
I also edited a Q&A with Anquan Boldin (see pdf here or below). It's an interesting read—especially the "nothing left to prove comment," considering he was just traded to the 49ers and seems intent on playing in San Francisco next season. Fun fact I found out while working on the story: Boldin had the seventh-best postseason for a receiver in NFL history (380 yards, 4 TDs).
Lastly, we tried out a new front-of-the-book conceit called "Scout Takes." It's goal is to give readers a scout's perspective on a player, while also giving the player himself/herself a chance to respond to any critiques. I contributed to some of the reporting for our inaugural Scout Takes on West Virginia QB Geno Smith, who is one of the most-discussed prospected in this year's NFL draft (see pdf here or below) Look for more of these in the near future.
Harrison Barnes is 6'8", and until he went to TaylorMade's super-high-tech Performance Lab to get fitted with golf clubs, the Golden State Warriors' forward was playing with standard-length Nike sticks. Big mistake, rookie. No wonder he told me, "I was always hunched over and worried about topping the ball." So, the folks at TaylorMade set him up with some new, custom fit equipment. His Rocketbladez irons alone had to be lengthened 1.25 inches and bent two degrees upright. For those not fluent in golf nerd lingo, that's a lot. One other tidbit that couldn't make it into my ZOOM for ESPN The Magazine (see pdf here or below): Harrison's clubhead speed with his TaylorMade R1 driver was clocked at 92 mph, and his ball speed was 129 mph. The average Tour pro swings about 113 mph with his driver.
It's Super Bowl week, so if you'll indulge me, a quick story about my favorite Super Bowl-winning quarterback...
I first met Len Dawson when I was maybe 4 or 5 years old. I grew up playing golf at Indian Hills, a course that Mr. Dawson—he'll always be "Mr. Dawson" to me—also frequented. Whenever we'd see each other, he'd stop and chat, check in on my game, maybe engage in a putting contest or two. One day, he asked my dad and me to play with him. At this point, I had no idea who Mr. Dawson really was—that is, the only Kansas City Chiefs QB to ever win a Super Bowl. To me, Mr. Dawson was just my golfing buddy. So after he left a couple of putts short during our round, I talked to him like I would any of my other golfing buddies: "Mr. Dawson, you know, you've got to hit the ball." My dad was stunned silent, not sure how a Super Bowl MVP, a Pro Football Hall of Famer would respond to some trash-talking from a snotty 8-year-old. But Lenny just laughed. When you've had everyone around town kissing your ass for the last 30 years, I guess a little straight talk is refreshing.
As I grew older, I'd see Mr. Dawson from time to time. We'd talk about the Chiefs and Big Ten football—he, a proud Purdue alum; me, a Hawkeye. But I never got to hear any stories from that Super Bowl IV win—until I finally had an excuse to ask. A few months ago, I called my old golfing buddy for an ESPN.com feature, the Secrets of Super Bowl Quarterbacks. His story—and the 23 others—are worth your time.
(While we're here, my second-favorite Len Dawson story: We'd try to stop by Mr. Dawson's house every Halloween, and most of the time, his wife Linda would answer the door with a wide array of full-size candy bars, a kid's dream. But one year—maybe Linda was out of town, maybe he just wanted to amuse himself—Mr. Dawson answered the door with a handful of signed trading cards and handed one out to every kid who knocked on the door. I can just picture a kid in a Scream mask looking back at Lenny and saying, "Cool, but where's the Kit Kat?")
I coordinated our Super Bowl XLVII Preview in our latest issue of ESPN The Magazine (see pdf here or below). There are a bunch of great stats/insight within—from Aaron Schatz of Football Outsiders, Pro Football Focus and Joe Montana, among others—to help you pick a winner on Super Sunday. My prediction? Niners 28, Ravens 23.
The most fascinating aspect of Tiger Woods' 18-year PGA Tour career isn't his 74 PGA Tour wins or his lifelong pursuit of Jack Nicklaus' major championship record or even the sordid details of his personal life. No, the most fascinating aspect of Tiger's career is his constant, insatiable, obsessive quest to perfect the golf swing. Scott Eden wrote masterfully on that subject in ESPN The Magazine's Perfect Issue.
Here's a little sampling:
But now, nearly two decades after that Amateur in Florida, Woods appears to be on the verge of completing the unthinkable: disassembling, reconstructing and mastering his golf swing for the third time in his career. Not only has no other player ever attempted such a thing, no other player has ever conceived of it -- though perhaps a better way of putting it is: No other player would ever want to conceive of it.
But just how much has Tiger's swing changed over the course of his career? I worked with the fine folks at ESPN's Sport Science to figure that out (pdf can be found here or below). Our conclusion: The only common denominator among Woods' four swings is the man holding the club.
I wrote about golf's next phenom, Lexi Thompson, in ESPN The Mag's annual NEXT Issue (see pdf here or below). My favorite part of my half-hour interview with Lexi came when she described one her rare swing funks:
"I don’t even want to think about it [laughs]. It was probably the ugliest swing. I don’t know how I got into the funk, but at the top of the swing, my club was pointing vertical. I have no idea how. I duffed a drive once, but it went, like, only a few feet. I don’t know how I got into that, but I guess it happens."
So, yes, even Thompson—who's the second-youngest winner in the history of the LPGA and was second on Tour last season with an average driving distance of 272 yards—has the occasional swing flubs that haunt all us amateurs. But any similarities end there.
A reader named Sean O'Shea tweeted at Kevin Van Valkenburg and me this morning after I posted at link to my most recent ESPN The Mag NFL sidebar. His question: Do teams see a spike in their penalty ypg the year after they make the playoffs?
Before this season, we'd had at least five new playoff teams every year since 2000. (That streak was broken in 2012 when only four new teams made the playoffs—Colts, Vikings, Seahawks, Redskins.) So, Sean wondered if the NFL's parity could be traced back to teams being penalized more in the season following their playoff appearance. No one loves a good conspiracy theory more than me, so I spent a half-hour checking it out.
2000: Playoff teams' penalty ypg - 2.2% decrease in 2001; League average - 6.9% decrease.
2001: Playoff teams' penalty ypg - 16.1% increase in 2002; League average - 13.5% increase.
2002: Playoff teams' penalty ypg - 1.3% increase in 2003; League average - 1.4% increase.
2003: Playoff teams' penalty ypg - 5.8% increase in 2004; League average - 4.2% increase.
2004: Playoff teams' penalty ypg - 5.6% increase in 2005; League average - 2.1% increase.
2005: Playoff teams' penalty ypg - 14.3% decrease in 2006; League average - 15.5% decrease.
2006: Playoff teams' penalty ypg - 15.8% decrease in 2007; League average - 8.5% decrease.
2007: Playoff teams' penalty ypg - 11.7% increase in 2008; League average - 0.8% decrease.
2008: Playoff teams' penalty ypg - 5.5% increase in 2009; League average - 8.8% increase.
2009: Playoff teams' penalty ypg - 2.3% decrease in 2010; League average - 4.8% increase.
2010: Playoff teams' penalty ypg - 0.3% increase in 2011; League average - 6.5% increase.
2011: Playoff teams' penalty ypg - 1.3% increase in 2012; League average - 1.8% decrease.
The most noticeable discrepancy came with the 2007 playoff teams, who saw their penalty ypg increase nearly 12% in 2008, while the league average slightly decreased. But that appears to be an anomaly.
[UPDATE: Alex Johnson was curious to see the increase in penalty ypg in years after making the playoffs for each team.So, I figured, what's another half-hour? Here's the data in order of largest increase to largest decrease. The Buffalo Bills are the only franchise not included because all this data is since 2000, and the poor Bills haven't made the playoffs this century. Enjoy...]
