Joon Lee

Victor Wembanyama on Minneapolis:

"Every day I wake up and see the news and I'm horrified. I think it is crazy that some people make it sound like it's acceptable, like the murder of civilians is acceptable."

Victor Wembanyama says that being a foreigner in the United States makes him hesitant to speak up about Minneapolis.

“I know I’m a foreigner. I live in this country. I am concerned.”

Q: “Is part of your hesitance being a foreigner?”

“For sure.”

Because the Dodgers went bankrupt, MLB agreed to tax their TV money as if they were still a broke.

That lets the Dodgers keep about $66 million more every year than they otherwise would.

This exception runs through 2039, according to a league source. youtu.be/7xPt9AuxEAM

One reason the Dodgers can spend like this:

MLB agreed in court to cap their TV revenue sharing payments after the team went bankrupt. According to league sources, that exception doesn't expire until 2039.

It's unprecedented in sports history
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xPt...

YouTube video by Joon Lee How the Dodgers Went From Broke to Breaking Baseball

Fifteen years ago, the Dodgers were bankrupt and getting roasted at award shows.

Today, people are asking if they're breaking baseball.

New video on how the Dodgers went from broke to dynasty, and why it's about more than just spending money.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xPt...

Massachusetts Judge Allows Injunction Against Kalshi A Massachusetts judge issued a first-in-the-nation order that allows the Commonwealth to prohibit Kalshi from offering sports-event contracts

Massachusetts becomes the first state to ban prediction markets from taking bets on sports bookies.com/news/massach...

Sports gambling isn’t killing sports in one dramatic moment. It’s all of these small moments adding up, slowly changing how fans trust what they’re watching.

On @newsnation.bsky.social:

Shohei Ohtani: 10 years, $700,000,000
Mookie Betts: 12 years, $365,000,000
Yoshinobu Yamamoto: 12 years, $325,000,000
Kyle Tucker: 4 years, $240,000,000
Blake Snell: 5 years, $182,000,000
Freddie Freeman: 6 years, $162,000,000
Will Smith: 10 years, $140,000,000
Tyler Glasnow: 5 years, $136,562,500

The rise of Curt Cignetti and Indiana football really embodies what makes sports special.

It’s the type of story that would feel way too corny for a movie. But the fact it’s actually unfolding in front of us somehow makes it even harder to believe.

Leicester City winning the Premier League still feels like the modern ceiling for sports improbability.

Curt Cignetti leading Indiana football from one of worst programs in CFB to absolute juggernaut might give them a run for their money.

Covering politics like sports trains people to watch democracy like a game. And over time, that quietly eats away at trust.

Sports odds are entertainment.

But when media treats political odds like news, guesses start to feel like facts.

Those numbers don’t measure truth. They measure money and attention.

If fans can't trust that games are clean and the media doesn't ask hard questions, what are we even watching?

If this happened in 2008, it would've led SportsCenter and every sports publication for months. Now, it barely makes a ticker.

79 percent of sports fans say that recent scandals have shaken their trust in the NBA.
90 percent are worried about corruption across sports.
75 percent believe corruption is more widespread than the NBA.

Too many sports media outlets are compromised today. Sports gambling funds too much of the industry for media outlets to put too much heat and pressure on the leagues for gambling scandals. Betting odds are on TV broadcasts.

The last time the NBA faced a true gambling scandal with referee Tim Donaghy, the media hammered the NBA day after day. Sports media put regular pressure on the leagues for answers on how they would address concerns about the integrity of games.

Sports media is failing fans.

Two months ago, the NBA and MLB had players and coaches indicted by the federal government for placing bets on games. In previous eras, this would be a crisis.

Now? Crickets.

This is what happens when you normalize gambling on everything — from sports to elections to war. It’s a symptom of a culture where insider access = profit, and the rest of us lose faith & trust in everything.

Sports betting was just the gateway.

Thank you to everyone who supported and followed my work this year.

I took a big leap going independent after a two-year hiatus and my layoff from ESPN, not knowing how it would go. It was a scary jump, and you made it easier.

Excited for what 2026 brings. Happy New Year!

Imo, noteworthy that this Kalshi partnership comes in the wake of the City of Chicago looking to raise taxes on DK and FD, and their lobbying group threatening to block access to the apps within city limits. The Blackhawks could be hedging here. Regardless, bad for the sport and consumers.

The number of fans who believe sports are rigged will only keep rising because individual teams are now partnering with prediction markets that are less regulated than sports gambling companies.

Journalism will become the center of gravity for YouTube’s next era "Creators are also running into the ceiling that legacy media once hit. When you scale to cultural force levels, you need to become more serious."

Thank you to Nieman Labs for allowing me to make a prediction about journalism in 2026.

My take: journalism will become the center of gravity for YouTube’s next era www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/jour...

@joon.bsky.social: “Creators are also running into the ceiling that legacy media once hit. When you scale to cultural force levels, you need to become more serious.”

www.niemanlab.org/2025/12/jour...

Partnering with fake journalists to promote sports gambling is as big a red flag as it gets for the prediction market industry

Everything is sports gambling now www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/o...

The best part of Drake Maye being good is seeing again that spiteful look people used to give me when I mentioned my Patriots fandom. Feels like home.

YouTube video by Joon Lee Why Driving a NASCAR Is So Much Harder Than It Looks

I’m trying to understand what the hardest thing in sports actually is.

So I explored NASCAR, where the legendary @jimmiejohnson.bsky.social showed me how this world really works.

And then I tried driving a race car myself: youtu.be/yce922orRJs?...

YouTube video by Joon Lee Why Driving a NASCAR Is So Much Harder Than It Looks

I’m trying to understand what the hardest thing in sports actually is.

So I explored NASCAR, where the legendary @jimmiejohnson.bsky.social showed me how this world really works.

And then I tried driving a race car myself: youtu.be/yce922orRJs?...

Thank you!

This’ll be good