re: Post your unpopular sports opinions

Brad Stevens was a great hire for the Celtics and they will make the playoffs next year.

Kevin Garnett is good for the Nba

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Athletes are too afraid of endorsement dollars to ever say anything marginally interesting.

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I'll take this a step further and introduce my own unpopular sports opinion. I think that MORE athletes should speak up on political and social issues.

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I prefer the old anarchic bowls over a playoff, but prefer a playoff to the BCS, which is the worst of all possible worlds.

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I totally agree with this. Basically, eliminate the BCS. If the goal is to crown a champion in the most objective manner possible, then a playoff featuring all of the conference champions and a limited number of at large participants is the way to go. If you love the pomp and circumstance of all the bowls, then go that route. But taking a subjective opinion and trying to cloak it in objectivity while eliminating half the programs from contention before the first kickoff of the season (which is what the BCS does) is inexcusable.

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I grew up reading Bill James and then Baseball Prospectus. I’ve been in on the statistical approach to sports for three decades now and the reason it hasn’t achieved as widespread acceptance, other than people being oddly proud of their own profound ignorance, is that stat guys can never admit when they are wrong. It’s like I have to agree with 100% of the menu to be on the team. WAR is a shitty, shitty stat that is practically worthless. It doesn’t help that the second generation of stathead writers can’t write for shite. It’s not like analysis has gotten worse, but the writing has. And the writing matters.

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As you my know, I'm a stathead. And I agree with this paragraph 100%. Now, the hive mentality isn't as bad on the football, soccer, and hockey sides of the metrics revolution, but part of that is due to the nature of the games and the relative newness of their advanced metrics.

But your point about writing is another unpopular opinion that I hold: Sports writing in general has declined in large part because of the internet. Nowadays anyone with a keyboard can claim to be a sports writer (hello, BleacherReport), and many formerly respectable publications have moved from hiring sportswriters and have now started employing bloggers. Now some of these bloggers cut their teeth in true journalism, but a lot of them are just terrible.

Blogs are killing journalism, especially sports journalism. The narrative has risen to a more prominent role than before, and facts are largely ignored--in part because of the aforementioned douchiness of many in the statistical community.

In short, all of the great things that sports has received as a result of advancing technology is making the conversation around sports WORSE.

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LSU fans have become entitled crybabies.

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Meh. They've always been that way, IMO.

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MLB season should end with the World Series around Labor Day (late Aug/early Sep).
That's not unpopular.

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Ya, I can't think its a good idea for baseball to run so long it starts competing for attention with the NFL and NBA.

Kind of ridiculous that baseball starts when the NBA season is going on and ends when its about to start again/preseason.

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Kevin Garnett is good for the Nba

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I agree with this. I don't always agree with his methods/way he acts but I love his intensity and unwillingness to be buddy buddy with other players. When a number of the league's stars are so chummy that they stay a each others homes WHILE playing against each other, its kind of a farce that I would pay a significant amount of money to go see them play each other...at least during the regular season.

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How the league's simplest offense led to Manning's success

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Very good reading.

"momentum" does not exist

Aaron Rodgers is overrated

Oregon's uniforms are gay

Matt Barkley is a shitty QB (not so unpopular now that people realize it's true)

Les Miles is the best coach in CFB not named Saban

An 8 or 16 team playoff would ruin college football (4 team is perfect)

It's stupid to worry about player safety in the NFL. As Richard Sherman said, they know what they signed up for.

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In the NFL, the goalposts should be moved back 5 to 10 yards. There's too many kickers who can nail the 50 yarders with regularity.

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This won't accomplish anything. Guys will get stronger.

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ESPN really isn't that bad

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Seriously or just porky pies?

At least you're not saying they're good.

The saints would be better served if they moved to Birmingham.

Yes, but it will take about 20 years again.