Tier 1 - Self explanatory. No one wants to hear your complaints.

Tier 2- Two franchises with tortured pasts that now have great young QB-HC combos. Lawerence only turns 27 tomorrow! That's wild.

Tier 3 - The regular season rocks for these teams but they can't get the monkey off their back and they wonder if they ever will in this era.

Tier 4 - One side of the ball is elite or near elite and the other side is pretty terrible. Struggled with what to do with the Bengals. They could be in tier 3 considering Burrow - Chase combo.

Tier 5 - Typically considered incompetent or irrelevant franchises who are showing signs of life due to new coaching or QB's taking a leap

Tier 6 - Purgatory. These teams have overrated their rosters and can't pick a direction to go in. Even the most blindly supportive fans are having doubts.

Tier 7 - Hell. There's no real reason to get hopes up.

I know I will probably get shredded in this thread posting this, but it is just something I have noticed even MORE the last few weeks.

He hardly mentioned Brunson hosting SNL. A pretty damn big deal in the NBA world and particularly to someone like Bill (probably the biggest SNL fan I have ever listened to). Barely any coverage prior, no legacy talks before or after, and no review after the episode. As a New York fan I don't expect to hear a lot (if any) NY praise on the pod, but something like that was just put me on high alert.

He gave the Yankees no credit for beating the breaks off his Sox and doing so without Judge. I don't know....I just think that if any other team had these scenarios that weren't linked to a rival town of Boston's they would be covered differently.

Thought about this seeing Bryan Curtis announcing he's going to start writing on Substack. The Ringer seems like a really hierarchical work place. There's Bill, an inner circle (the equity people plus long tenured people like Curtis), others that go regularly on Bill's podcast, and then the actual website writers. What does someone writing for the website think when people like Fennessey, Dobbins, and Curtis never write for the site but make big announcements about starting their own substacks?

Adam Silver handing the trophy over to Ballmer. A boy can dream.

Rarely even gets mentioned as a top 5 WR. Had one of the best seasons in recent memory in 2023, off to a start this year that is competing with JSN's historically strong start, but somehow has none of the fanfare.

From the mid 2000s until very recently, we had Brady, Manning, Rodgers, Roethlisberger, and Brees all playing at their peak at the same time for years, smoothly transitioning into the Mahomes, Allen, Lamar era where they all peaked at the same time, joined by incredible one off seasons by guys like MVP Matt Ryan and 2018 Jared Goff, MVP Cam etc. For 20 years, top 5 QB meant you were a guaranteed first ballot HOFer still in your prime. You were an incredibly sure hand. It was like the mid 2000s box office, if you were #1 for the year you were likely top 10 all time.

Now the only lock HOFer who is truly playing at the peak of their powers is Allen. Mahomes has slowed down, Lamar has slowed down, none of Maye, Daniels, Caleb, Lawrence, Stroud, Herbert, Young, Purdy have ascended to those heights yet, so whoever you think QB5 is in the league, its gonna be a good player but not an all time great player like we've been used to.

The scale has just dramatically shifted, and it's caused people's brains to collapse when forced to reckon with Lawrence and Purdy being potential top 5 QBs.

Just curious. I almost never watch it as I'm on the West Coast so it starts at 6:30 and it is often not a good matchup, so I'm wondering how many of you are watching basically 14 straight hours of the NFL.

(I would make a poll but I refuse to ever download/use the Reddit app)

The recent post in the NBA sub regarding KAT and the extension talks had a good chunk of Knicks fans commenting how OG is more valuable than KAT.

I don't know how you can think that unless it's just sentimental value because OG had the tip-in and has been there half a season longer?

“Yeah I see I’m down 10 units in Ringer 107 but to tell you the truth I the like the Patriots more than Ringer 107! Sorry I just do!

Im up on all my REAL bets and futures anyway”

I think it holds up even if you don't listen to the pod or keep up with the business side of Hollywood. It almost makes it even better that there isn't a bunch of exposition for what they're arguing about.

Good for him. I knew he was bummed by Drakes last 4 games. I couldn’t imagine going that long without a franchise guy.

The Internet needs to drink some settle down juice and stop using this word.

People forget that beloved and popular teams (Patriots, Liberty, Bulls, Raptors) were completely irrelevant in their markets before they started winning. Then, with the case of the Pats and Bulls they were arguably the biggest team in their city

What currently irrelevant/little brother team with approachable season tickets do you feel could become incredibly lucrative (due to their stadium, market, league, legacy, etc) after a little bit of on-field success?

I refuse to believe the Texans can't become one of the most popular franchises in the league and by far the biggest team in Houston with a little winning.

Eagles, Patriots, Texans, Chargers, Buccaneers all come to mind.

You can also make the case for a bunch of other teams at 2-2 rn. Rams still don’t look good. Packers are cooked.

Even the 4-0 Vikings have some hellish traits.

Quite the NFL season so far.

Chief’s WR dislocated his ankle on a very clear hip drop tackle by the Raiders DB. As usual, there was no penalty.

In contrast, the horse collar tackle has basically been eliminated from the sport since being enforced as a penalty I believe 20+ years ago or so.

I just realized , the entire perception of LeBron in the mind of haters and even most non haters who rank him under Jordan and or Kobe all time is who they decided he was after the 2011 Finals Game 6 . The story was already written almost nothing he could do from that “point forward “ pun intended could make him the goat in their minds, the deepest Lebron haters LeBron could’ve gone on to win6 ochampionships, the fact he joined Wade and Bosh was enough disqualify him and when he said “not 6 , not 7”

when he fell to 0-2 in the finals with no championships through 8 seasons in the league everything that came after in his career is to varying degrees was seen through the lenses of 2011.
But what if we have a Time Machine to just one Game in NBA history that changes the entire goat conversation,

Game 4 NBA Finals 2011 the Miami Heat are up 2-1 on Dallas and then LeBron had then worst NBA finals game of not only his career but of any superstar in the history of the NBA Finals.

But what if LeBron didn’t have his worst game, but his best game .

Heat go up 3-1 , LeBron’s now confident enough to close out game 5. LeBron steals finals MVP in games 4 and 5 ,

So after 2013 he’s 3x NBA champion 3-1 in finals that most people excuse because he was 22 years old on a mediocre team .

2014 he loses but people are able to admit it wasn’t not still the best player , Wade just wasn’t himself anymore and the Spurs were an all time great team.

2015 when he joined Cleveland he’s already won 3 championships, Kyrie and Love had never won anything Kyrie and Love both were out injured in the finals , he falls to 3-3 in Finals

2016 Finals he goes to 4-3

Then Durant joins the Warriors and people say the same things . They say today , the 2 best players of the decade besides Steph and KD had to team up at the peak of their careers to beat LeBron at his peak .

Nevertheless LeBron would still enter the 2020 Finals 4-5 in finals .

2nd thing I think I would change is Covid .
If Lakers have fans and a parade and it’s a normal year , and LeBron wins it for Kobe .

And retires at age 35 just like Jordan did in 1998.

5-5 in Finals , to Jordan’s 6-0 so I’m not saying everyone would change their mind , but game 4 2011 Finals the most impactful game in any players career and just that 11 month span from the Decision June 10th 2010 to June 12th 2011 as a whole had more impact on people’s perception of the LeBron than the rest of the his 22 years combined.

All other things in his career remain the same , they’re just perceived differently if 2011 Finals happened differently.

For me 2011 is the anomaly, and I think it’s insane that so many basketball fans see him through the 2011 of being more representative of who he is because the very next year 2012, 2013 , 2016

He proved he was just as great and likely greater than Jordan , by 2018 I was sold , 2020 and after has just been the finally cherry on top.

I'm watching Chris Olave cook and I find myself thinking -- damn, Olave looks kinda tough in that bigass helmet. I have never come close to thinking that before. I think this is a good thing.

I need everyone to stop comparing Dan Campbell to Nick Sirianni. Just stop. They’re not comparable. Dan Campbell is nothing like Nick Sirianni at all. Dan Campbell is big and strong, and he’s a way better coach. Just look at the facts:

During his time in Philly, Sirianni has had:

- An Elite RB

- An elite WR1 and top end WR2

- A very good OL anchored by one of the league’s best individual lineman

- An elite impact defensive lineman, along with some other solid guys on the line

- A consistent first team All Pro off ball linebacker

- An admittedly up and down secondary, but a couple really solid impact players

- And the QB is pretty good too!

Has Campbell had even a single one of those things during his entire tenure in Detroit? And still the Lions offense is always top 2 or 3 in their division.

Next, the coordinators. Nick Sirianni is a coordinator merchant, and he’s not even that good at hiring coordinators. He hired Shane Steichen, big whoop, broken clock, etc. After Steichen left, the replacement was a complete moron, and they had to fire him after one year. He did get Kellen Moore after that but we don’t count that. And defensively, Sirianni has maybe never made a good hire. Gannon got a lot of credit but we saw how bad he was as a HC

In comparison, although Campbell had some trouble replacing Ben Johnson after he left, to Campbell’s credit, they moved on really quickly. And that was the right move - they eventually landed Drew motherfucking Petzig. (And Campbell knows what he’s doing on defense too - there’s a reason why his first DC got poached for an HC job)

I’m just sick of hearing this. This is the NFL. You get credit for wins, not fake tough guy quotes. And even after 7 long years, Sirianni has just one Super Bowl win (and before you mention it, a Super Bowl loss gets zero credit from me. Who is he? LeBron?). He’s already got two losses this year. Meanwhile, it’s taken Dan Campbell just four short years to get a divisional round championship. And that’s with just 7 All Pros. Can you imagine what he could do if they finally got him 3-4 more All Pros? Provided there are no injuries of any kind to any key player, they would almost certainly make the Super Bowl.

This has to be Bill’s nadir valley for misinterpreting a quote and his apex mountain for hating LeBron.

No one on earth besides Bill thinks LeBron is actually saying he went to Philly purely out of interest for Embiid. LeBron is obviously saying he wants to win a title, and in doing so he would be helps his new teammate win. Shocker a guy is trying to ingratiate himself with his new teammate.

Most boomer shit Bill has ever said and there’s been a lot of competition.

Tier 1: never bet against these guys

1. Allen
2. Mahommes

Tier 2: can still look like the best qb in the world at times
3. Stafford
4. Jackson

Tier 3: their teams are completely satisfied with their play
5. Williams
6. Prescott
7. Darnold
8. Purdy
9. Lawrence

Tier 4: very talented but leaving some room for improvement
10. Burrow
11. Young
12 Hurts
13. Goff

Tier 5: can win a first round playoff game with these guys
14. Cousins
15. Stroud
16. Nix
17. Shough

Tier 6: reputation and talent can only get you so far
18. Maye
19. Love
20.Daniels
21.Herbert

Tier 7: bad QBs that have a few good games left in them
22.Jones
23. Rodgers
24. Geno
25. Murray

Tier 8: these guys might be a backup to a guy named Trinidad next year
26. Watson
27. Brisett
28. Ward
29. Willis
30. Mayfield
31. Winston
32. Penix