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neilpaine.bsky.social
Sports data guy, writer, editor, podcaster, former FiveThirtyEight sports editor, proud Georgia Tech alum. https://neilpaine.substack.com/
9 posts 133 followers 17 following
Getting Started

Just a few years ago, Detroit was the capital of America’s struggling sports cities. Now it’s on the upswing again — fueled by the incredible rise of the Lions as current Super Bowl favorites. neilpaine.substack.com/p/can-the-li...

With a 12% chance to make the playoffs, the Bengals are in danger of wasting an amazing Joe Burrow season. But sadly, that’s nothing new for Cincinnati over the history of the franchise: neilpaine.substack.com/p/nobody-was...

Focusing on Lamar Jackson’s play this year, I wrote about the strange psychology of MVP voting (not just in the NFL), and how a defending multi-time MVP with the best numbers of his career can somehow be a heavy underdog to win again: neilpaine.substack.com/p/voter-fati...

The NY Rangers are in a tailspin right now, having lost 11 of 14 games with a -1.5 GPG diff. But making things worse is that the schedule only gets harder. According to Elo ratings, NYR has faced the EASIEST schedule of any team so far; their SOS rises to 4th-HARDEST over the rest of the season.

Red Bull finishing third in the F1 constructor’s standings — and McLaren winning it! — seemed unthinkable a year ago. But as we’ve seen before, today’s dominant team can quickly become tomorrow’s third-place outfit once it reaches some kind of tipping point. neilpaine.substack.com/p/how-red-bu...

The Thunder are big favorites to win the NBA Cup right now. But the rest of the field are no slouches — and that includes the Hawks, who are the team that most consistently aligns their play to the level of the competition (for good or bad) this season. neilpaine.substack.com/p/basketball...