The unsettling rise of athlete stalkers, plus an NFL QB debate
Good morning! Congrats to the Swifities on your upcoming football podcast listen.
The internet has brought us many great things (thank you for reading this newsletter on your internet-connected device). But it can also be a terrifying place, we need to look no further than the lives of prominent athletes for jarring examples.
This week, The Athletic's investigative team is publishing a stark series of reports on stalking in sports. It's not a new issue, but incidents have proliferated as athletes and teams are ever-present on social media.
Carson Kessler penned a haunting overview of the issue today, which is worth your time this morning. Two examples that struck me:
Examples are rampant, as the story details. Players like Caitlin Clark, Iga Świątek and Aaron Donald have been victims.
I urge you to read the story today. We'll have more on the topic this week, too. Let's keep moving:
We saw tremendous interest in yesterday's QB Tiers story, so I'd like to get a little more granular — and a little more fun — today with a feature that has plenty of depth to discuss.
We'll call this Background/Pop Quiz/Poll, or BPP for short. Let's start with the B:
Background
We're focusing on the Tier 1 guys today, because the game's elite QB class might have the most interesting layers of all. It popped up when I asked Mike Sando, who's compiled this info for 12 years running now, what surprised him most about this year's class:
'It was a little surprising to see Matthew Stafford suddenly reach Tier 1 for the first time, but he was already near the border and barely slipped across it, so this wasn't a huge move. I was surprised that nearly all voters gave Jared Goff his due instead of suggesting he might regress without Ben Johnson as his offensive coordinator.'
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Stafford's ascension party could be halted by a lingering back injury that gets more troubling by the day.
Pop Quiz
Longtime Pulse readers know my affinity for anonymous quotes, because in this context — giving unvarnished opinions about opposing teams/players — they are gold. I'm giving you two of my favorites in the form of a pop quiz, with answers at at the bottom:
Ouch, on both accounts. Answers way down below.
Pulse Poll
The more I stared at this list, the more my eyes drifted to the top. Patrick Mahomes, the 29-year-old who already has three Super Bowl rings and five Super Bowl appearances, is No. 1, of course. But tied — tied! — with him is Bengals QB Joe Burrow.
No one has to explain to me, an LSU fan, how good Burrow is. But I was struck by how unequivocal NFL decision makers feel about Burrow, which begged the question: Would anyone really take Burrow over Mahomes right now?
Thus we arrive at our next Pulse Poll, and I want to further hone the prompt: If you're building an NFL team and have hired an above average offensive coordinator, are you (today, right now) picking Mahomes or Burrow to be your QB1?
Make your voice heard here. We'll run the results tomorrow.
No. 1 already an underdog
The preseason AP Top 25 college football poll debuted yesterday, with Texas — just as they are in the coaches' poll — sitting at No. 1. Behind the Longhorns are No. 2 Penn State and No. 3 Ohio State, which is fun because Texas travels to Columbus for a Week 1 blockbuster. A better fact: The defending champion Buckeyes are actually 2.5-point favorites in that game, too, per BetMGM. The season starts in 11 days. See the full rankings here.
Norris in concussion protocol after scary injury
Lions coach Dan Campbell said yesterday that defensive back Morice Norris was back in the team facility yesterday and is in concussion protocol after Norris' injury during Friday's preseason game against the Falcons. Both teams decided to suspend the game after Norris was taken off the field in an ambulance after attempting a tackle in the fourth quarter. Read more here.
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📺 MLB: Cubs at Blue Jays
7 p.m. ET on TBS
Two solid playoff teams — Toronto leads the AL East, while Chicago is atop the NL wild card list — play a good August game. A big reason for the Jays' success this year? Reversing George Springer's decline.
📺 WNBA: Wings at Fever
7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN
This was supposed to be massive: Clark against Bueckers. The latter will be playing and present, but Clark is still hampered by injury, and Indiana will be without both Sydney Colson and Aari McDonald for the season, too. Indiana is still a good team, though, and Bueckers could use a big game on national TV to bolster her Rookie of the Year case.
Get tickets to games like these here.
The stiffest competition in the WNBA may not be in the games, but in half-court shot contests.
The Mets are blowing their chance to be New York's baseball bully, as Ian O'Connor writes.
Useful: Stephen Nesbitt and Chad Jennings broke down each MLB contender's remaining schedule to see who has the easiest path to the postseason.
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Paul Tenorio snagged Tyler Adams for an exclusive interview about all things USMNT, including the rift between Christian Pulisic and the program greats.
I thought Brittany Ghiroli on Jen Pawol's historic MLB debut — something the league needed and Pawol deserved — was great. Read it here.
Most-clicked in the newsletter yesterday: QB Tiers, of course.
Most-read on the website yesterday: ☝️
Trivia answers: Anonymous QB 1 is Joe Flacco, while Anonymous QB 2 is Dak Prescott. Take heart, Cleveland and Dallas.
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