Joon Lee

Joon Lee

@joon.bsky.social

Independent Sports Journalist • Formerly: ESPN, B/R, WaPo • Born in Seoul 🇰🇷 Bred in Boston • workwith@joon.me 📍New York City

5,675 Followers 105 Following 115 Posts Joined Apr 2023
2 days ago
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NEW VIDEO: What started in sports is spreading everywhere.

Over the past year, I've been reporting on how gambling became embedded in sports -- and how it's changing the way we experience the world far beyond the games themselves.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBBn...

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4 days ago
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Surreal hearing the GOAT Bob Costas say this about my independent sports journalism on YouTube.

He's a huge inspiration for what we're building.

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1 week ago
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The Celtics’ Derrick White and Boston’s love of ‘glue guys’ - The Boston Globe The city is changing fast. But the way to win fans’ hearts is still to be the kind of player who makes his teammates better.

For @bostonglobe.com: I wrote about why Boston loves Derrick White, and what it says about the future of the city www.bostonglobe.com/2026/03/08/o...

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1 week ago
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NEW VIDEO: Sports logos used to be chaotic, colorful and weird.

They used to look like this 🦖
Now they look like this ⭕️

That didn't happen by accident, and I tried to figure out why: youtu.be/pOj5gTodXeU

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2 weeks ago
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NEW VIDEO: Why are sports owners suddenly so comfortable losing?

Some blame tanking, some blame analytics.

But an answer increasingly is private equity.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=taaj...

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3 weeks ago

Hi Joe!

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3 weeks ago
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NEW VIDEO: Kevin Durant has two Finals MVPS, is a 16-time All-Star and one of the greatest basketball players ever.

He's still arguing with strangers on the internet.

Why? www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3ui...

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3 weeks ago
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Why I Don't Take Sports Gambling Sponsors And the money I'm leaving on the table

Why I don't take sports gambling sponsorships substack.com/home/post/p-...

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3 weeks ago
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One day after I tweeted this clip criticizing Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour on Squawk Box, a Kalshi rep reached out asking to sponsor my YouTube channel.

I don’t take sports gambling sponsorships.

I’m building a sports journalism YouTube channel with no gambling sponsors. Subscribe: t.co/h2mczPM1U0

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1 month ago
YouTube
Why LeBron James Won't Retire YouTube video by Joon Lee

The thing I like about a full-length @joon.bsky.social video is that it's just a narrated magazine article. You know, from back when those were a thing. The articles that were interesting even if you didn't care about the subject.

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1 month ago

Thank you! This is the goal!

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1 month ago
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NEW VIDEO: LeBron is still too good to retire.

But the Lakers can't fully build their future around Luka Doncic while he's still there.

Why watching sports legends age can be so complicated:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgsb...

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1 month ago
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A player in massive trade rumors owning part of a prediction market where people can bet on whether he gets traded is a MASSIVE conflict of interest.

This is so far beyond players doing sportsbook ads.

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1 month ago
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Bill Belichick is the greatest coach ever … and didn’t go first ballot Hall of Fame.

It's not just Jordon Hudson drama, but what happened when he stopped controlling the story.

With the Patriots in the Super Bowl, time to revisit what his legacy means
www.youtube.com/watch?v=21nX...

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1 month ago
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NEW VIDEO: Youth sports doesn't look like Little League anymore.

It looks like Wall Street and private equity.

Youth sports has quietly turned into a $40 billion pay-to-play arms race, and nobody is in charge
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vjwv...

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1 month ago
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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."

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1 month ago
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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.”

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1 month ago
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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

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1 month ago
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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...

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

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...

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1 month ago
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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...

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1 month ago
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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:

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2 months ago

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

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2 months ago

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.

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2 months ago

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.

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2 months ago

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

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2 months ago

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.

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2 months ago

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.

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2 months ago

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.

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2 months ago

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.

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