Bill Connelly

Ha, I actually tried pitching a "How did Brazil achieve perfect parity (not too much, not too little)?" piece a couple of years ago. It's ben really fun to follow, though I realize when you have too many teams with high expectations, you guarantee frustration/rash decisions/etc.

I definitely understand the fear of building loyal/fun fanbases for a couple of decades, then taking the regulators off and "Whoops, it's all Miami/LA/NYC," but ... if you want to actually grow further...

It's never in the first place you look.

And honestly, I just cannot fathom being this close to the end of the season and having title anxiety AND relegation anxiety. That gives me heartburn.

I'm obsessed with competitive balance in general, but following the Ekstraklasa this season (because it's on beIN) has allowed me to find my limits, lol. It's TOO balanced. No one's good for more than, like, two matches in a row. It makes the 2. Bundesliga look stable and predictable.

I don’t know if he’s good, but he’s definitely fun!

A better way to look at college football’s returning experience, with LSU No. 1 for 2016 Here are much better numbers than the traditional method of just counting returning starters. LSU’s up top, and Ohio State’s right near the bottom.

Stepped away from my computer, but this certainly hints at the expected answer.

www.sbnation.com/college-foot...

RB doesn’t carry much weight, and Colandrea’s production offsets a lot of the loss of Raiola’s.

Ha, I wish I had the ability to do that. Would require starting these roster files from scratch (instead of just making tweaks to what I've done for 10+ years), which a) I should absolutely do and b) sounds intimidating as hell.

Guess this also tells a story, lol. Teams in the current returning production top 50:

B1G: 12
SEC: 10
B12: 9
ACC: 8
CUSA: 3
AAC: 2
MWC: 2
P12: 2
MAC: 1
SBC: 0

RB production doesn't make a huge impact, and adding Greathouse's 2024 production to the WR total offset Fields to a solid degree. And obviously returning the QB makes a huge difference.

The national average for returning production was around 63% in the 2010s and of course surged to 77% in 2021, but the current trend is pretty clear:

2022: 62.9%
2023: 60.2%
2024: 59.9%
2025: 53.2%
2026 to date: 51.1%

(And before someone goes down the "Whatever, Clemson was No. 1 in ret prod last year, it means nothing in this new day and age" road, remember that Vandy, Illinois, Kennesaw State, Texas Tech, Texas A&M and Oklahoma were also in the ret prod top 10.)

Still have some fiddling to do, but my roster files are officially updated, and the returning production top 10 will probably end up looking something like this:

1. Notre Dame
2. Maryland
3. Nebraska
4. Va Tech
5. South Carolina
6. Texas
7. Minnesota
8. Georgia
9. UCLA
10. Florida

I waited as long as possible!

Be happy. I almost mentioned them in the relegation section. 😬

Most exciting title races, UCL spots in Premier League, LaLiga, Scotland and more Don't look now, but Scotland's top league might be won by a club that hasn't done it since 1960! Bill Connelly breaks down the most exciting races at the top and bottom of Europe's many, many leagues.

A spring tradition: I wrote about the most exciting remaining soccer races, from Premier League relegation, to Championship promotion, to a glorious Belgian title race, to my beloved 2. Bundesliga, to GO HEARTS GO HEARTS GO HEARTS GO HEARTS GO HEARTS GO HEARTS.

www.espn.com/soccer/story...

But on the bright side, I just found out that "The Big Ten has sent a letter" might make me roll my eyes more quickly than any other phrase in the English language.

Absolutely incredible. Such a party.

Yeah, I already know he's tough as hell.

I KNOW. But ... I give them so much already!

Ole Miss signed a Carmelo(w), an Iverson AND an Anthony Davis in this football recruiting class. (They also signed a safety named Nascar McCoy and, in a nicely Oxford touch, an O-lineman named Emanuel Faulkner. Perfect class.)

No idea why, but this remains the one principled, stubborn stand I've taken in the subscriptions department. And it makes me miserable.

Meanwhile, Atalanta are hoping we keep watching Spurs...

how's it going tottenham

oh dear god

Genuinely uncomfortable to watch, lol.

Spurs currently on pace to lose 18-0.

Even though it’s obviously not Matt Stairs, I say it’s Matt Stairs.

Still great, though his son is on WAY too much.