💉 What the Hell is Going on with Christian McCaffery?

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This weekend, I’ll be watching the most valuable sport in the world in the most expensive stadium in the world. But that’s not even the best part; more on that at the end.

In today’s newsletter:

🗞 The Big Story: What the Hell is Going on with Christian McCaffery?

📉 Biggest Loser: Pat McAfee Makes Over $70K per Episode (Derogatory)

🏆 Winner’s Circle: These $14K Glassed Predicted the NFL’s Best WR

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🗞 The Big Story

What the hell is going on with Christian McCaffery, and why is he flying to Germany in the middle of the season to see a doctor?

Well, I looked into it and what I found is insanely cool.

Background: McCaffrey hasn’t played yet this season due to achilles tendonitis in both of his legs.

This injury is caused by overuse and repetitive stress on the Achilles Tendon and typically requires several months to come back from.

But what if there’s a way he could recover faster?

Well, that’s exactly why McCaffrey flew to Germany to receive a $500 procedure that could end up returning him millions of dollars.

The Procedure: McCaffrey received what’s called a Platelet-Rich-Plasma (PRP) Injection, and even though this might be your first time hearing about this treatment, athletes from Kobe Bryant to Jameis Winston have been using it for 10+ years to recover from a variety of injuries faster.

How it Works: A sample of a patients’ blood is spun in a centrifuge to isolate their platelets.

These platelets are important because they’re crucial in tissue regeneration. The concentrated sample of platelets is then injected into the injured area to speed recovery.

Studies of this type of treatment have actually been done on NFL players with hamstring injuries, and it found that PRP injections helped players return to games up to 67% faster.

Recovery Time: This means an injury like McCaffrey’s, which typically takes eight weeks to recover from, might now take less than three weeks.

Now, there aren’t concrete laws about this type of treatment here in the US, which is why McCaffrey’s flew to Germany to have it done.

But once he got there, the cost of this treatment only ranges from $500-$1000 and when you consider the money he’ll make in bonuses by getting back on the field sooner - I’d say it’s a good investment.

📉 Biggest Loser

Pat McAfee makes ESPN over $70,000 per episode of his show, but now it seems like he could be the reason the network is losing hundreds of millions of dollars.

Background: It’s no secret that ESPN has invested millions into top talent over the past few years; however, at the same time, Disney has been looking to sell off a part of the World Wide Leader in Sports.

And the reason is simple: ESPN doesn’t make as much money as it used to.

The network, which used to be a cash cow for Disney, saw its operating income decrease by 9% last year. This has become a trend as consumers have continued canceling their cable subscriptions, which is a huge revenue driver for networks like ESPN.

The Result: This decline in cable revenue has forced ESPN to make massive layoffs in other parts of its business, including most recently laying off its top NBA reporter, Zach Lowe.

Now, many fans have correctly pointed out that this layoff is another example of ESPN favoring hot takes over in-depth analysis, but I think it’s deeper than that.

Because with ESPN actively losing subscribers via cable and streaming, they’ve been forced to jump head-first into dominating social media content, and unfortunately, the content that drives the most engagement and viewership there are the clip-able, 30-60-second soundbites.

The Pat McAfee Show: But the worst part is that ESPN’s new strategy has just been proven right after it was reported that Pat McAfee’s show is profitable despite the network paying him $17 million for the rights to broadcast it.

That means that across 230 episodes, the network is making at least $74,000 per episode - however, if you include sponsorships across social media and the other shows Pat appears on, it’s likely more.

So don’t be surprised when ESPN shells out another $100+ million to keep Stephan A Smith around, all while laying off more talented people and losing TV viewership and streaming subscribers.

Because their business model has officially changed.

🏆 Winner’s Circle

These $14,000 pair of glasses helped predict one of NFL’s best receivers… seriously.

Background: In 2019 LSU’s Director of Athletic Training, Jack Marucci, had each one of the team’s receivers catch passes while wearing a special pair of glasses glasses.

These $14,000 glasses are typically used by companies to track consumer behavior, but Marucci was trying see if he could find a link between a player’s vision and their on-field performance.

And what he found is genuinely incredible.

How It Works: The glasses use two cameras to record real-time information such as:

• Expansion of wearers’ pupils

• Sequencing of wearers’ eyes as they track down a pass

And Marricui was able to capture hundreds of thousands of data points on 15 LSU pass catchers, using the information to help identity certain routes or positions individual receivers might be better suited for based on their ocular strengths.

This information even helped some receivers on the team eliminate drops.

The Outlier: However, what Marricui didn’t expect to find was that the team’s best receiver was actually a scrawny, two-star recruit from New Orleans named Justin Jefferson.

See, elite athletes tend to have “minimal degrees of eye dominance” meaning both eyes can absorb information equally as well for the brain to process.

But Jefferson’s results were even more impressive than that, because he had the ability to change his eye dominance “depending on the type and direction of the route he is running.”

According to Marricui’s tests, he’s the only receiver he’s ever seen that is able to do this - which explains Jefferson’s seemingly super-human ability to make any catch on the field.

⏱ In Other News

• She traded a violin for a share in three pro sports teams. 

• RIP Bally Sports (mostly).

• The worst shot in basketball.

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👋 Happy Friday! I don’t like admitting it, but I was looking for moral victories during last week’s Vikings-Packers game (that’s loser talk).

Luckily, I get my chance for revenge this week in LA, rooting for the Pack in the most expensive stadium in the world.

But ready for the best part? Rent at SoFi Stadium is only $1/year… seriously.