Sports data guy, writer, editor, podcaster, former FiveThirtyEight sports editor, proud Georgia Tech alum. https://neilpaine.substack.com/https://bsky.app/profile/neilpaine.bsky.socialhttps://bsky.app/profile/neilpaine.bsky.social/post/3mbcailwyzs2jI posted on Substack 344 (!) times in 2025. Let’s talk about what that looked like, what I learned, and which of those 344 stood out most. https://neilpaine.substack.com/p/what-i-learned-from-the-344-posts31 Dec 2025 16:03 +0000at://did:plc:fpwobevhltlmzgh6u7bpytec/app.bsky.feed.post/3mbcailwyzs2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/neilpaine.bsky.social/post/3m63cdq26pc2lI wrote today about Chloe Covell, Rayssa Leal and the trend of the best female skateboarders in the world today being absurdly young relative to both their male counterparts and historical norms: https://neilpaine.substack.com/p/the-future-of-skateboarding-is-female20 Nov 2025 17:32 +0000at://did:plc:fpwobevhltlmzgh6u7bpytec/app.bsky.feed.post/3m63cdq26pc2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/neilpaine.bsky.social/post/3m5z2pdtczs2iToday for the Philly Inquirer, I wrote about Paul George’s return to the Sixers — and what he can, or can’t, provide for them this season: https://www.inquirer.com/sixers/sixers-paul-george-return-surgery-injury-20251119.html19 Nov 2025 20:10 +0000at://did:plc:fpwobevhltlmzgh6u7bpytec/app.bsky.feed.post/3m5z2pdtczs2ihttps://bsky.app/profile/neilpaine.bsky.social/post/3lyxjyejwzk2dIn “honor” of EA’s new live-service Skate game dropping, today’s post is about the zombie afterlife of our once-great skateboarding games — and what happens to a fundamentally rebellious culture when corporations strip-mine it for profits: https://neilpaine.substack.com/p/tony-hawk-ea-skate-and-the-zombie16 Sep 2025 14:32 +0000at://did:plc:fpwobevhltlmzgh6u7bpytec/app.bsky.feed.post/3lyxjyejwzk2dhttps://bsky.app/profile/neilpaine.bsky.social/post/3lwwjtsvn2s2aWith his return to the lineup, I had to write about the whole Kyle Tucker situation in Chicago — and it turns out slumps like he’s endured over the past few months are surprisingly common among the best hitters in MLB. https://neilpaine.substack.com/p/slumps-happen-to-kyle-tucker-and21 Aug 2025 18:06 +0000at://did:plc:fpwobevhltlmzgh6u7bpytec/app.bsky.feed.post/3lwwjtsvn2s2ahttps://bsky.app/profile/neilpaine.bsky.social/post/3lwr2g7bm7c2qOn the 47th anniversary of their 10th and final meeting, I wrote about Affirmed and Alydar’s remarkable rivalry, the closest in Triple Crown history: https://neilpaine.substack.com/p/affirmed-alydar-and-the-rivalry-that19 Aug 2025 13:47 +0000at://did:plc:fpwobevhltlmzgh6u7bpytec/app.bsky.feed.post/3lwr2g7bm7c2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/neilpaine.bsky.social/post/3lublxydqb22fWith David Wright set to have his No. 5 retired and enter Mets Hall of Fame this weekend, here’s a piece I wrote about how Wright went from a surefire Hall of Famer to a heartbreaking “what-if?” back in 2017: https://neilpaine.substack.com/p/david-wrights-career-wasnt-supposed18 Jul 2025 23:28 +0000at://did:plc:fpwobevhltlmzgh6u7bpytec/app.bsky.feed.post/3lublxydqb22fhttps://bsky.app/profile/neilpaine.bsky.social/post/3luajbaxzz22mToday’s post focuses on the only way LeBron can make a buzzer-beating push to pass MJ in the GOAT debate: Winning a ring that “counts” more. Based on a system that values rings based on their rarity to the team/city, there might be only 1 place to do that. 🗽🍎🚕 https://neilpaine.substack.com/p/if-lebron-wants-to-pass-jordan-he18 Jul 2025 13:07 +0000at://did:plc:fpwobevhltlmzgh6u7bpytec/app.bsky.feed.post/3luajbaxzz22mhttps://bsky.app/profile/neilpaine.bsky.social/post/3ltwfynlzrs2qI made a new metric, STANTON — or the Statcast-Tuned Algorithm for Nascent Tater Output, Normalized — to measure the Home Run Derby potential of exit-velo beasts like James Wood and Oneil Cruz: https://neilpaine.substack.com/p/are-james-wood-and-oneil-cruz-statcasts14 Jul 2025 12:42 +0000at://did:plc:fpwobevhltlmzgh6u7bpytec/app.bsky.feed.post/3ltwfynlzrs2qhttps://bsky.app/profile/neilpaine.bsky.social/post/3lm5z4wzmg22kAlex Ovechkin just claimed sole possession of hockey's greatest record -- here's how the unbreakable got broken: https://neilpaine.substack.com/p/wayne-gretzkys-goals-record-was-unbreakable06 Apr 2025 17:51 +0000at://did:plc:fpwobevhltlmzgh6u7bpytec/app.bsky.feed.post/3lm5z4wzmg22khttps://bsky.app/profile/neilpaine.bsky.social/post/3llou7mvves2rI used the Yankees’ new bats as an excuse to talk about Formula 1. (I’ll explain why.) https://neilpaine.substack.com/p/the-yankees-torpedo-bats-are-a-formula31 Mar 2025 17:13 +0000at://did:plc:fpwobevhltlmzgh6u7bpytec/app.bsky.feed.post/3llou7mvves2rhttps://bsky.app/profile/neilpaine.bsky.social/post/3ljzn3xnbns2w“Winning the SEC tournament is harder than winning the NCAA tournament this year” is a sentiment that is bound to be repeated all week. So my old PFR Blog pal @jasonlisk.bsky.social and I looked into just how dubious that claim is: https://neilpaine.substack.com/p/is-winning-the-sec-tournament-really10 Mar 2025 13:15 +0000at://did:plc:fpwobevhltlmzgh6u7bpytec/app.bsky.feed.post/3ljzn3xnbns2whttps://bsky.app/profile/neilpaine.bsky.social/post/3ljq7k4e7k226ICYMI: I wrote about the meaning of Katherine Legge becoming the first woman to drive at NASCAR’s highest level in 7 years, since Danica Patrick retired in 2018: https://neilpaine.substack.com/p/katherine-legges-nascar-cup-series06 Mar 2025 19:18 +0000at://did:plc:fpwobevhltlmzgh6u7bpytec/app.bsky.feed.post/3ljq7k4e7k226https://bsky.app/profile/neilpaine.bsky.social/post/3lfxgwp66sc25Just a few years ago, Detroit was the capital of America’s struggling sports cities. Now it’s on the upswing again — fueled by the incredible rise of the Lions as current Super Bowl favorites. https://neilpaine.substack.com/p/can-the-lions-keep-detroits-sports17 Jan 2025 18:38 +0000at://did:plc:fpwobevhltlmzgh6u7bpytec/app.bsky.feed.post/3lfxgwp66sc25https://bsky.app/profile/neilpaine.bsky.social/post/3leuexldutc2cWith a 12% chance to make the playoffs, the Bengals are in danger of wasting an amazing Joe Burrow season. But sadly, that’s nothing new for Cincinnati over the history of the franchise: https://neilpaine.substack.com/p/nobody-wastes-their-qbs-like-the03 Jan 2025 20:00 +0000at://did:plc:fpwobevhltlmzgh6u7bpytec/app.bsky.feed.post/3leuexldutc2chttps://bsky.app/profile/neilpaine.bsky.social/post/3lejytbqpzc2jFocusing on Lamar Jackson’s play this year, I wrote about the strange psychology of MVP voting (not just in the NFL), and how a defending multi-time MVP with the best numbers of his career can somehow be a heavy underdog to win again: https://neilpaine.substack.com/p/voter-fatigue-postseason-skepticism30 Dec 2024 16:56 +0000at://did:plc:fpwobevhltlmzgh6u7bpytec/app.bsky.feed.post/3lejytbqpzc2jhttps://bsky.app/profile/neilpaine.bsky.social/post/3ldlscv2nrk2lThe NY Rangers are in a tailspin right now, having lost 11 of 14 games with a -1.5 GPG diff. But making things worse is that the schedule only gets harder. According to Elo ratings, NYR has faced the EASIEST schedule of any team so far; their SOS rises to 4th-HARDEST over the rest of the season.18 Dec 2024 16:40 +0000at://did:plc:fpwobevhltlmzgh6u7bpytec/app.bsky.feed.post/3ldlscv2nrk2lhttps://bsky.app/profile/neilpaine.bsky.social/post/3ldjsnmgdxk2nRed Bull finishing third in the F1 constructor’s standings — and McLaren winning it! — seemed unthinkable a year ago. But as we’ve seen before, today’s dominant team can quickly become tomorrow’s third-place outfit once it reaches some kind of tipping point. https://neilpaine.substack.com/p/how-red-bull-sort-of-lost-its-grip17 Dec 2024 21:40 +0000at://did:plc:fpwobevhltlmzgh6u7bpytec/app.bsky.feed.post/3ldjsnmgdxk2nhttps://bsky.app/profile/neilpaine.bsky.social/post/3ld7nqtmydm2vThe Thunder are big favorites to win the NBA Cup right now. But the rest of the field are no slouches — and that includes the Hawks, who are the team that most consistently aligns their play to the level of the competition (for good or bad) this season. https://neilpaine.substack.com/p/basketball-bytes-whos-stepping-up13 Dec 2024 20:46 +0000at://did:plc:fpwobevhltlmzgh6u7bpytec/app.bsky.feed.post/3ld7nqtmydm2v