Starting Five

The most discussed sports topics at water coolers across America

1. Karma is a Guy on the Chiefs!

The Scoop: Kelce and the Chiefs had a bye this week, but that didn’t stop him from making headlines. Travis took the week off to fly to Argentina to enjoy the Eras Tour and share some spicy moments with Taylor after the show. Additionally, Taylor added some new lyrics to Karma shouting out Travis! It looks like “Karma” is no longer just her boyfriend, but rather “A guy on the Chiefs!” Swifties and NFL fans have been inundated with videos and memes all week, the romance we can’t get enough of keeps giving!

Conversation Starter: Are you still enjoying the Taylor and Travis content or is this played out?

2. No Harbaugh? No Problem.

The Scoop: Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh was suspended for Saturday’s game against Penn State (see our emergency newsletter for more info). It didn’t prove to matter as Michigan’s defense smothered the Nittany Lions in a 24-15 win. The game was relatively uneventful, a low-scoring and boring affair, but the post game was filled with a teary message to Harbaugh from interim Head Coach Sherrone Moore and trolling of the Penn State coaching staff by Michigan players. Speaking of the Penn State Coaching Staff, the Nittany Lions were so frustrated with their performance, they fired offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich less than 24 hours after the game ended. 

Conversation Starter: How big of a factor is it to not have the head coach on the sidelines?

3. More Coach Firings and the Economics of College Sports

The Scoop: When Jimbo Fisher arrived at Texas A&M, he was one of the highest paid coaches in the game, demanding a 10-year, nearly-$100m contract. After failing to win more than 9 games a single time since 2017, he has gotten the boot from Texas A&M. However, based on the terms of his contract, he’s owed a whopping $76 Million in severance pay over the next 6 years.

This seems like an astronomical amount, but this twitter user explains how the Athletic Dept. can pay off the contract through amortization of contributions fairly easily. While this may be confusing to those of us without Accounting degrees, the questions are “are College Football Coaches overpaid, and are these deals handcuffing teams to coaches with little incentive to perform?” Jimbo Fisher might have not accomplished anything at Texas A&M, but he did create generational wealth by losing football games. 

Conversation Starter: Do you think College Coaches are overpaid, and shoulder their contracts be primarily incentive based?

4. Top Dogs Survive and Advance

The Scoop: We saw near upsets of 4 different top 10 teams this week, Texas squeaking out a win over TCU 29-26, Washington holding off Utah 35-28, Oregon surviving USC 36-27, and FSU taking down state rival Miami 27-20. With the College Football playoff very much alive for all four teams, any loss would be catastrophic. Winning is paramount. It doesn’t need to be pretty; just need to get the job done.  

Conversation Starter: Are you excited for an expanded playoff where more teams have a chance to win the national title?

5. Josh Dobbs Can’t Find the Locker Room, Just the End Zone

The Scoop: The Vikings traded for Quarterback Josh Dobbs from the Eagles as an emergency replacement for Kirk Cousins. In his first game, he didn’t know the names of his teammates, and had to practice snapping the ball with his center before the game. This week, he didn’t know where the locker room was at the stadium. Didn’t matter, two games, two impressive wins.

Dobbs, a journeyman QB may have finally found a home, winning ballgames and leading this Vikings offense!  

Conversation Starter: Do you think struggling players need to just find the right team to succeed, or eventually does talent win out regardless of circumstance?

Get Others in the Game

Know someone else itching to up their sports convos easily? Share this with them! For every referral you send our way, we'll:

🌲 Plant a tree in your name! We choose to plant trees in developing nations to not only alleviate climate change, but to help end hunger and poverty by rebuilding local farming ecosystems.

💸Enter your name in for a chance to win a $500 Amazon Gift Card. We guarantee 1 in 1000 people in (and every referral gets you another entry)

“Sports” Moments of the Weekend

One thing we love about sports is the funny moments they deliver, here are some rapid fire viral memes, videos, and posts for your enjoyment!

You were so close!

Kelce Brothers stay winning

Cute moment from these OSU grads

Jimbo is laughing to the bank

Mini Duck!

They’re having a mid-off 

Patriots Owner is in a rough place

He dropped the ball before the goal line!

What We’re Watching This Week

If you're at a bar, they might be showing these games. Here's what you should know:

Monday Night Football

• Denver Broncos (3-5) vs Buffalo Bills (5-4) (Monday Night at 8:15 ET): Both offenses came into the season highly rated, but both teams have struggled this year? Quarterbacks Russell Wilson and Josh Allen have had sustained success in the NFL, could Monday Night be a turnaround moment for either team, or will we see more of the same struggle from both side?

NCAAM Basketball

• #2 Duke vs #4 Michigan State (Tuesday at 7:00 ET): Both National Championship favorites lost their opening games and look to bounce back in the semi-final of the four-team State Farm Championship Classic tournament.

• #1 Kansas vs #16 Kentucky (Tuesday at 9:30 ET): Historic powers Kansas and Kentucky meet in the other semifinal, looking to claim an early hold on the best team in the country and earn a spot to play the winner of Duke and MSU for the trophy. 

NBA In-Season Tournament

• For the first time, the NBA is hosting an in-season tournament. Teams were drawn into 6 groups of 5 and will play 4 games in the group to qualify for an 8-team knockout round. The winning team will get monetary rewards split among players and staff. Follow the live bracket here.

Subscriber Question of the Week

Do you have a sports topic you want to get smart on? Let us know here.

This week, Natalie from Utah asked, "Why are so many football coaches being fired, is this normal for this time of year?"

Hi Natalie - topical question and we’re here with an answer.

We’re just over halfway through the NFL season and close to the finish of the NCAAF season and we’ve seen numerous firings, including Raiders head coach Josh McDaniels, Texas A&M head coach Jimbo Fisher, USC D-Coordinator Alex Grinch, and Penn State O-Coordinator Mike Yurcich. While as you can imagine, all of these come back to winning football games, there’s still a lot of nuance in play.

When a team is struggling, often the media and fans blame the head coach. In order to deflect some of the blame, the coach will fire a Coordinator, especially when the team is doing well on one side of the ball (USC’s offense and Penn State’s defense), but struggling on the other. An in-season firing indicates that the coach who is under pressure can be proactive and move away from ideas that don’t work.

Ownership at other times may step in to signal they want to change the direction the program is going and make the most of a bad situation. For both the Raiders and the Texas A&M Aggies, decision makers want to indicate to fans and to players that the previous regime did not reflect the aspirations of the organization.

This is the time of the year when firings are inevitable; it serves as a shot in the arm for teams who cannot get over the hump and generates excitement for the turnaround for programs that are stagnant. We expect to see more before the season ends, and many right after the season. At that point, the “coaching carousel” begins, where coaches switch jobs, creating more vacancies, until all spots are filled for the next season. All these coaches will find new jobs, and with the kind of money that’s being thrown around, they’re going to be well taken care of.

We hope this helps!

Your Wish is My Command

What do you think of today’s email?
As you may know, we are just getting started, and your opinion matters to us! Please share feedback, ideas, or insights on how we can make this even more useful for you! Use this link or just respond directly to the email!

Until next week,

The Fastbreakk