Subscriber questions on 2020 Election Fallout, Simmons + Klosterman, NBA, College Football

I answer a long email

Subscriber Marcus wrote a long and fruitful email, so I figured I’d answer all questions, as they are thoughtful. His comments/questions will be in standard text and my answers will be in block quote text.

1. If I could wave a wand and see three alternative versions of history, there are three that come to mind.

   1. If Trump had been re-elected, would our left/right understanding of vaccine skepticism completely flipped? I think about this all the time - Republicans urging people that the vax is safe, while the NYT reports on minor myocarditis as if its everywhere, because it was Trump-led. Think that would have happened?

   2. If Elon doesn't get political, does the Cybertruck really take off? Owning a Tesla is now so right-coded, but I want to see a neutral history - would this design have transformed the world if he didn't alienate 50-60% of it?

   3. If KD doesn't go to the Warriors, are NBA ratings still super high? I truly wonder if this was the death knell of the modern NBA, and the event that kicked off all of the things that people are sick of in today's league. Until KD went there, we sort of believed the regular season mattered, that players were loyal, and that they actually had grudges with each other. That move shattered the kayfabe, and it's been downhill ever since. As the person who was there, what do you think of this one moment?

I don’t think partisan vax skepticism would have completely flipped if Trump won because liberals had so closely clung to the official heath establishment in summer and fall of 2020. If Fauci and company promoted the vaccine, I believe that would be enough for most Democratic voters. That said, Trump’s narrow electoral loss (42,918 votes across three states) is a massive sliding doors moment in our recent history. I can’t get it out of my head that the Democrats lost by winning. If Trump had won, he’d be eating the inflation issue and tapping a successor during a worldwide rejection of incumbency. The 2020 election was widely discussed as monumentally important to each side, but by emerging victorious, the Dems walked themselves into this disaster of Trump with a popular vote mandate and a trifecta. I don’t know what to make of that. How was the most intense election of my lifetime a pyrrhic victory for whichever side took it?

I think the Cybertruck takes off regardless of Elon’s politics. It’s such a staggering ugly/cool aesthetic statement, however you feel about it. I don’t think, say, Shaq bought the truck out of political self expression.

I do think Kevin Durant accidentally broke the NBA and now Warriors fans can admit that because the 2022 NBA Finals happened.

2. Related: The thing about the NBA Cup that I think makes it so cringe is the fact that it’s so obviously a commercial ploy. It's underreported but sometimes things that are so nakedly desperate just to juice the ratings naturally leave a lot of us pretty meh on it. This is something the NBA can't seem to understand that you and Klosterman discussed - you have to at least pretend for there to be a reason for us to care that isn't just money!

We agree! Also, I really enjoy when Simmons and Klosterman pod. Bill is a great floater of prompts and Chuck is just such an unusually earnest podcaster.

3. Related to that: I thought Klosterman's bit on the BS pod about how football’s dehumanization is the key to its success was incredibly interesting. Like so many things in life, I do think many of us express that we want more freedom but actually make choices that show a core preference for systems and stability. You should have him on to discuss this!

Here, I disagree with Chuck, just a bit. I think the NFL is better at achieving a balance between team and individual but stars still matter. In my opinion, the league’s deindividuation attempts are incidental to the sport’s popularity (football is mostly addictive due to scarcity and violence). Here, I draw off my own experience. Growing up, I loved watching LaDainian Tomlinson play and would have watched fewer San Diego Chargers games if he was traded in his prime.

4. Do you ever read Defector (ex-Deadspin) these days? Do you have any idea if they are a successful entity? I have continued to read the site casually because I thought it offered one of the few places where you could get a real take in the sports ecosphere outside of Twitter. Recently, their complete and utter unwillingness to acknowledge reality has been blowing my mind even more than normal. This article is insane! So I wonder if you have any sources or sense of what's going on over there and if people continue to read them.

I’m curious how that publication is doing in part because I don’t see any media buzz about their articles. I’ve no insight into their finances, and wonder whether there’s still a real viable market for angry Gawker politics in sports fandom (I suspect there isn’t).

5. What do you make of the new College Football Playoff? I tend to find myself in the Russillo camp - more teams = more trash in the playoffs that I don't really want to see. I really do think this is another over-optimization thing, and that down the road you're going to see both CFP and NFL playoff ratings take a bit of a dip as they keep adding games and teams. Wonder what you think.

I believe that CFP was severely under optimized before the playoff reform. As in, while scarcity appears to be the spice of life in sports, your product can indeed be too scarce. College football was in the unusual position of allowing for greater quantity while still maintaining product potency. I’m sure they’re capable of chasing optimization off a cliff, a la Disney and Marvel movies, but I’d hesitate to say they’ve reached that point.

Happy Holidays and keep up the good work!

Thanks Marcus and happy holidays to you! Btw I’m thankful that Christmas and 1st night of Hanukkah happen on the same day this year, for the sake of gift efficiency.

P.S. 7. My dream HoS pod is You, Andrew Sharp, Spike Eskin, and Jay Caspian Kang all on at once. These are the 4 takesmen we need to end the year!!

Perfect group for a State of NBA Fandom pod.