This is For The Win’s daily newsletter, The Morning Win. Did a friend recommend or forward this to you? If so, subscribe here. Have feedback? Leave your questions, comments and concerns through this brief reader survey! Now, here’s Mike Sykes.
Good morning, Winners! Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thanks so much for rocking with us today here at For The Win. We appreciate you.
Over the last day or so there’s been a ton of talk about Justin Fields and his social media activity. Not anything wild or out of line. No regrettable tweets or weird Instagram posts.
Instead, all people are talking about is how he unfollowed the Bears on IG. That’s it.
Fields has been at the center of a lot of trade talks this offseason with the Bears having the No. 1 pick in the NFL draft. The projected No. 1 pick for most evaluators is either Caleb Williams or Drake Maye, who are both quarterbacks. That’s the same position Fields plays.
To avoid those rumors — and, really, football in general — Fields said on the 33rd Team podcast with Amon-Ra St. Brown and Equanimeous St. Brown that he unfollowed the Bears and the NFL.
“I still mess with the Bears, this and that. I’m just trying to take a little break [from football content]. I unfollowed the Bears and the NFL. I’m just trying to not have football on my timeline.”
That feels like a reasonable take, right? Yet, a portion of the conversation surrounding this is how Fields is “soft” or taking things too personally here with his unfollow.
But let’s be real. Think about if your employers were thinking of shipping you out. You had no idea where they’d be sending you or when they’d be doing it — just that you could be going because they didn’t think you were good enough.
RELATED: Justin Fields is actually at peace with all the trade talk
Would you really want to see that job on your Instagram timeline? I think not. Personally, I’ve unfollowed social media accounts for less. I’m sure many of you reading this have, too. We’re all human here. None of us are above it.
It’d be dope if we all just remembered for a second that Fields and his colleagues across the league are human, too.
The CFP is doing too much
Just yesterday, we talked about how the NCAA had officially decided on what the 12-team College Football Playoff would look like.
Apparently, that’s not good enough.
The very next day after ratifying this new format, the College Football Playoff management committee was already discussing a 14-team expansion of the format by 2026, ESPN’s Pete Thamel and Heather Dinich report.
Why? It’s the money, man. It’s always the money.
With the Big Ten and SEC now hosting a majority of the teams in the Power 4 conferences, they’re currently searching for a new contract that will give both conferences a bigger slice of the pie. Plus, adding two more slots would add more space for automatic qualifiers, which would mean more Big Ten and SEC teams in the playoff.
But, man. Come on. How much is too much? Because I think we’re there.
Adding two more teams to the equation does nothing but dilute the waters of the College Football Playoff. This isn’t supposed to be a thing where everybody can get in — the playoff is supposed to determine who is the best of the best.
If we’ve got multiple two or even three-loss teams making it in, then what exactly are we doing besides adding more money to the pot? Do we care about quality anymore?
That’s rhetorical. I already know the answer. You probably do, too.
Auston Matthews is on fire
Auston Matthews is on a historic run right now with the Maple Leafs. He’s unstoppable.
Matthews scored his 50th and 51st goal of the season on Wednesday against the Coyotes. Toronto won the game 6-3, pushing the team’s current winning streak to five. But that wasn’t the big story from last night. Matthews was.
The rate this dude is scoring goals is out of this world. He’s currently on pace for 76 goals this season, which would be the fifth-highest total for a single season in NHL history and the most since the 1992-93 season.
Auston Matthews is nine tallies shy of becoming the ninth player in League history with multiple 60-goal seasons and is currently on pace to conclude the campaign with 76, which would be tied for the fifth-highest total by an @NHL player.#NHLStats: https://t.co/XgB5bimTuw pic.twitter.com/QY9kX79cRJ
— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) February 22, 2024
Make history, Auston Matthews. We’re rooting for you.
Quick hits: 1 question for every NBA team … A key free agent target for all 32 NFL teams … and more
— Here’s Robert Zeglinski with a question for all 30 teams in the NBA coming out of the All-Star break.
— Christian D’Andrea has one big free agency target for all 32 NFL teams
— Sue Bird thinks Juju Watkins is going to be one of the best college basketball players ever. I tend to agree. Meghan Hall has more.
— Charlie Woods on the PGA Tour?!?! It could happen! Here’s Blake Schuster on how.
— Patrick Mahomes really is Michael Jordan. Here’s Robert Zeglinski on the Raiders new strategy against him.
— Uhhhh somebody should probably do something about these pants in Major League Baseball. Here’s Blake again with more.
That’s a wrap, folks! Thanks so much for reading today. Appreciate you. Have a fantastic Thursday. Let’s chat again tomorrow. Peace.
-Sykes ✌️