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Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · 24d

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Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · 24d

NEW VIDEO: More teams are slashing payroll—even championship contenders. I asked Mark Cuban why. His answer?

“Teams do many more money when they have a low payroll and lose.”

We live in an era where losing is more profitable than winning. youtu.be/sAJH7Bx-BV4?...

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Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Aug 6

The NFL will own 10% of ESPN, which licenses its name to a sportsbook.

The NFL will directly profit from sports gambling.

Goodell said in 2017, “We still strongly oppose legalized sports gambling. The integrity of our game is No. 1. We will not compromise on that.”

ProFootballTalk @profootballtalk.bsky.social · Aug 6

NFL will own 10 percent of ESPN. Factor that into any and all reporting ESPN does on league matters.

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Reposted by Joon Lee

Boston Globe Opinion @globeopinion.bsky.social · Jul 30

In a city where politicians cycle out and owners stay hidden behind tinted glass, sports radio show host Mike Felger has been the loudest, clearest, and most consistent voice, @joon.bsky.social writes in #GlobeIdeas.

Not just in sports — in anything.

Is Mike Felger the most influential person in Boston? - The Boston Globe

The dominant figure in local sports talk radio manages to capture — and shape — the mood of this fast-changing city.

www.bostonglobe.com

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Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Jul 30

For @bostonglobe.com: When Marty Walsh was Boston’s mayor, he turned to sports radio, not social media, to get a temperature check on the city.

For two decades, Mike Felger has set the agenda on sports radio.

Is Felger the most influential person in Boston?
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/07/30/o...

Is Mike Felger the most influential person in Boston? - The Boston Globe

The dominant figure in local sports talk radio manages to capture — and shape — the mood of this fast-changing city.

www.bostonglobe.com

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Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Jul 29

NEW VIDEO: Jordan and Kobe were stoic icons.

Now stars like SGA, Tyrese Haliburton and Jayson Tatum are called corny.

How did this happen?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtHt...

Why NBA Superstars Are Corny Now

YouTube video by Joon Lee

www.youtube.com

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Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Jul 28

Gambling addiction is a public health crisis, but it's not treated that way yet.

What will it take for it to get there?

One day, it will be and people will ask: how did things get so bad?

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Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Jul 28

I've watched friends spiral into gambling debt.

I've seen how quickly betting replaces joy.
And I've watched it hollow out how people connect to sports, replacing community with isolation and shame.

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Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Jul 28

Our culture can't tell real stories about sports without talking about addiction, mental health, and what this industry is doing to people.

But most media can't tell that story honestly because they're in business with the very companies fueling the crisis.

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Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Jul 28

Sports media helped normalize this.

Not just by promoting gambling, but by failing to ask real questions.

What does it mean when joy in sports is replaced by odds?

Does "fan engagement" just mean keeping people watching bad games and keeping ratings up as cable collapses?

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Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Jul 28

There's a casino in your pocket.

So much of sports media is framed around gambling language.

The losses are invisible until it's too late.

And when someone spirals, whether it's a fan, a coach, or a player, we act like they're uniquely broken instead of asking how we got here.

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Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Jul 28

When someone gets suspended for gambling, the public reaction is often moralizing.

"How could they be so stupid?"
"What an idiot."

But this isn't just about choices. This is what addiction looks like when it's been rebranded as content.

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Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Jul 28

Gambling addiction is sweeping the country, and not enough people are talking about it.

When people fall into gambling, our culture and sports media often frames it as a failure of personal responsibility, when it should be treated like what it is: an addiction.

Thread 🧵⬇️

Molly Knight @mollyknight.bsky.social · Jul 28

From Jeff Passan: Cleveland Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase has been placed on non-disciplinary paid leave as part of MLB's sports-betting investigation, sources tell ESPN.

Clase is the second Guardians pitcher on leave tied to the investigation, joining right-hander Luis Ortiz.

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Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Jul 9

NEW VIDEO - Seven NBA players tore their Achilles this season. That’s 5X the historical average.

So what’s going on here? I talked to an NBA trainer to find out. m.youtube.com/watch?si=984...

Why NBA Players Keep Tearing Their Achilles, Explained

YouTube video by Joon Lee

m.youtube.com

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Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Jul 6

Went on CNN with @smerconish.bsky.social to discuss how the increasing cost of paywalls in sports is hurting community in America

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Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Jun 16

The Red Sox have been dysfunctional as Craig Breslow has boxed out longtime voices from the Theo Epstein era.

Breslow recently fired scouting supervisor Craig Moesche after he said "Thanks, Bres, you f--king stiff" on a Zoom hot mic. sports.yahoo.com/mlb/article/...

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Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Jun 16

The Red Sox trade of Rafael Devers wasn't just about beef with chief baseball officer Craig Breslow.

It was a rupture of an organization that has quietly been unraveling from the inside since the trade of Mookie Betts.

For @yahoosports.bsky.social: sports.yahoo.com/mlb/article/...

Inside the 'absolute s*** show' that led to the Boston Red Sox's trade of Rafael Devers

The blockbuster deal was the culmination of eroded trust, fraying relationships and a deeper breakdown inside one of MLB's most visible franchises.

sports.yahoo.com

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Reposted by Joon Lee

Meg Linehan @meglinehan.com · Jun 16

Definitely a men's sports centric read but many of the same fundamental issues are at play in women's sports, including the split of media rights and especially private equity investment (I'd argue more concerning on the women's side bc it's far earlier in a league's lifespan).

Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Jun 16

Sports was one of America's most accessible forms of entertainment. Now it's paywalled, splintered and sold to the highest bidder.

Fandom isn't being nurtured. It's being mined.

For @nytopinion.nytimes.com on on the state of sports, and what it says about America: www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/o...

Opinion | $4,785. That’s How Much It Costs to Be a Sports Fan Now.

www.nytimes.com

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Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Jun 16

Sports was one of America's most accessible forms of entertainment. Now it's paywalled, splintered and sold to the highest bidder.

Fandom isn't being nurtured. It's being mined.

For @nytopinion.nytimes.com on on the state of sports, and what it says about America: www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/o...

Opinion | $4,785. That’s How Much It Costs to Be a Sports Fan Now.

www.nytimes.com

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Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Jun 16

Will have more reporting and sourcing on the state of the Red Sox, but this is the big takeaway.

There's blame to go around with everyone: Devers, Cora, Breslow, but this is emblematic of bigger than just one dramatic situation of a player not wanting to move to a new position.

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Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Jun 16

The Rafael Devers trade is the result of organizational dysfunction and declining culture from John Henry.

This is a team claims to have an organizational north star of longterm sustainability, but doesn't have the patience to stomach what it takes to make that happen

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Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Jun 16

Devers not being willing to play first base after the team moved him to designated hitter certainly wasn't a mature response.

But Devers also felt the team wronged him and didn't give him the respect of being a franchise player with the Bregman situation.

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Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Jun 16

It's absurd that Craig Breslow and the Red Sox didn't communiciate to Devers that they to sign Alex Bregman to take over at third base.

Breslow didn't promise Devers that he wouldn't move him off of third base. That was Chaim Bloom. But that's a failure in leadership.

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Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Jun 16

Back in 2023 -- after Xander Bogaerts left for the San Diego Padres -- I talked to Devers about the leadership void.

Cora clearly wanted him to fill it.

Devers said, "I don't really see myself too much as a leader right now."
www.espn.com/mlb/story/_/...

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Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Jun 16

It’s insane that the Red Sox gave a long term deal to Rafael Devers in part because of the enormous backlash to the Mookie Betts trade, and this where the situation ends, with a shocking trade to the Giants.

This is an organizational failure on so many fronts that Devers is gone

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