Bogomil Balkansky | Is the Club World Cup a Good Idea? | Managing Harry Kane's Body | Transfer Market Buzzwords | SF Giants Lineup Construction | Pacers Rotations
Table of Contents
Lessons from John Wooden
Bogomil Balkansky
Is the Club World Cup a Good Idea?
Transfer Market Parlance
SF Giants Lineup Construction
Pacers Rotations
Match of the Day
Podcast Recommendation
Lessons from John Wooden
“Punishment invokes fear. I wanted a team whose members were filled with pride, not fear.”
Bogomil Balkansky
I’ve Been Reading the Profiles of Investors at Sequoia. Within these Profiles Lives a Treasure Trove of Knowledge from the Best Investors and Decision-Makers in the World. We Can Translate Their Ideas and Wisdom to the World of Sports. The Following is an Excerpt from Seed and Early Stage Investor Bogomil Balansky.
“In terms of specific companies and entrepreneurs, I’m looking for the same things I did when I was running large teams and hiring people: iconoclastic thinking, the courage to break paradigms, defiance of common wisdom. Ideas that aren’t obvious and that challenge my own assumptions. I’m also looking for charisma, but that can manifest in different ways. Maybe you’re a great salesperson, but maybe you’re a deep thinker or an amazing technologist or an exceptional recruiter. It’s magnetism.”
Is the Club World Cup a Good Idea?
The Club World Cup isn’t just a Good Idea. It is an essential idea for the Growth of Football. It’s an Essential Idea because Club Football needed a Tournament or a Product that Connects and Potentially Galvanizes the Entire Football Ecosystem. The Current Euro-Centric Ecosystem doesn’t do that. While this Structure of the Club World Cup doesn’t Fix that Problem, it’s a Step in the Right Direction.
The 10 Most Populous Countries
The 10 Most Populous Countries in the World are India (Fifa Ranking: 127), China Fifa Ranking: 94), United States (Fifa Ranking: 16) , Indonesia (Fifa Ranking: 123), Pakistan (Fifa Ranking: 198), Nigeria (Fifa Ranking: 43) , Brazil (Fifa Ranking: 5) , Bangladesh (Fifa Ranking: 183), Russia (Fifa Ranking: 35), and Ethiopia (Fifa Ranking: 147). When You Aggregate the Populations of the Lowest Ranking Countries, You Find that Over 3 Billion People Offer Little to No Value to the Football Ecosystem. Equally 5th Ranked Brazil is a Football Mess, While the United States in terms of USMNT has gone backwards since the gains of the Early and Mid-2000s. One Can Only Imagine the State of Football in Countries like India, China, Pakistan, and Indonesia.
If Structured Correctly, the Club World Cup should create an Incentive Structure to Develop Grassroots Football, Create Robust Football Leagues in Every Country, Develop Players, and Grow the Sport.
The Structure of the Club World Cup
The Club World Cup Shouldn’t Be Played Once Every Four Years. The Club World Cup Should Be Played Every Year. The Club World Cup Shouldn’t Be Played in One Country. The Club World Cup Should Be Played Home and Away During the Regular Club Football Season. The Club World Cup Needs to be Leaner and Requires a Revamped Qualification System. The Club World Cup Final Should Take Place in a Different Country Every Year.
One More Thing, If Structured Correctly, the Club World Cup Requires 8 Matchdays.
DOF Perspective on Too Much Football
There is a Holier than Thou European Perspective on Too Much Football. While it seems noble on the surface, that Perspective Ignores the Poor Decision-Making on Football Clubs and Head Coaches. I Agree that there is Too Much Football. I also Agree that Governing Boards Want More and More Football to Generate More and More Revenue. The Bodies of the Players be Damned. It’s Worth Remembering Here, that the NFL added a 17th Regular Season Game after coming off a Major Concussion Lawsuit so they can Augment their Product and Generate More Revenue. This is the Reality of Modern Sport. But as an Aspiring Director of Football, I Can Only View Things from the Lens of that Position. This is What I See.
I See that Harry Kane Played 90 Minutes in the Barcelona Heat against Andorra. I also See that Harry Kane Played 60 Plus Minutes against Auckland City Football Club. Auckland City is a Team Full of Amateurs including a Veterinary Supply Warehouse Supervisor. Unsurprisingly, Bayern Munich Won 10-0. If You Can’t Risk Not Starting Harry Kane against Andorra and Auckland City than Football has a Bigger Problem than Too Many Games. While FIFA and UEFA are Easy Targets, Can We Talk About the Incentive Structure of Football Coaches? Vincent Kompany Just Won the Bundesliga, Yet He Doesn’t Feel He Can Play Without Harry Kane against Auckland City. Thomas Tuchel Doesn’t Feel Ivan Toney Can Start against Andorra. Pep Guardiola Feels the Need to Play Rodri and Haaland in Every Game Possible. There is Something Fundamentally Wrong around the Incentive Structure of Coaching.
This is Where the Director of Football is So Important. There is Fine Line Between Craziness, Science, and Simple Logic. The Director of Football Must Toe that Line Constantly. This is Where Rules are Very Important. For Example, I Don’t Want Any Player Playing 90 Minutes 3 Times in 7 Days. I Will Build My Team to Protect Players against that type of Scheduling. If I Have Injuries, I will bring a young player from the Academy and Play Him. I Will Not Run Harry Kane or Any Other Player into the Ground. That Helps No One. It Doesn’t Help the Player. It Doesn’t Help the Team. It' Doesn’t Help the Quality of Football. It Only Helps the Head Coach Feel More Comfortable About the Outcome of the Game in Front of Him. Again, that Incentive Structure Clouds His Judgement
Meaningless Football
Three Days after Worst Season in Premier League History, Manchester United Flew from the City of Manchester to Kuala Lumpur to Play the ASEAN All-Stars. Unsurprisingly, They Lost. Two Days Later, Manchester United were in Hong Kong to Play against the Hong Kong National Football Team. About a Month from Today, Manchester United will Start Pre-Season against Leeds United in Sweden Before Traveling to New York to Play West Ham United. As Someone who has worked on the Commercial Side of Sport, I Get It. That Said, the Club World Cup has far more Context and Purpose than the Premier League Summer Series or Two Hybrid Friendlies against the Hong Kong National Team and the ASEAN All-Stars.
Transfer Market Buzzwords
One of the Things I Like About the Transfer Market are the Buzzwords. I Refer to these as the Buzzwords of Stupidity. For Example, There is a Headline in The Guardian Newspaper that Manchester United are Monitoring Hugo Ekitike as a Potential Recruit. My Response to that is, I Would Sure Hope that One of the Most Talented Young Strikers in World Football is Being Monitored by Manchester United. That Said, if I am a Manchester United Fan, I’m Wondering, Were We Monitoring Ekitike when he was at Reims B, Reims, or when he wasn’t getting playing time at PSG.
The Addition of Rafael Devers
I Am Wary of the Big Contract. I Always Have Been and I Always Will Be. That Said, the Decision to Move for Rafael Devers Should in Theory Improve the San Francisco Giants Lineup and Middling Offense. On Sunday Night against the Los Angeles Dodgers, the Giants had Dominic Smith Hitting Cleanup. Dominic Smith was Once a First Round Pick of the Sandy Alderson Mets. While He Had Periods of Good Production, Dominic Smith has largely been a Disappointment. This Off-Season he Signed a Minor League Contract with the New York Yankees. He Had a Good Spring Training but Failed to Make the Yankees Roster. After a Decent First Two Months in the Minor Leagues, the San Francisco Giants Designated Lamont Wade and Signed Dominic Smith to a One-Year Major League Contract. I Am Sharing this Information because that’s the Player who was Batting Cleanup for the San Francisco Giants. That Changes Once Rafael Devers Starts Playing Baseball Games.
Jung Hoo Lee (CF)
Willy Adames (SS)
Rafael Devers (DH)
Matt Chapman (3B) (When He Comes Back from Injury)
Heliot Ramos (LF)
Dominic Smith/Wilmer Flores (1B)
Mike Yastrzemski (RF)
Patrick Bailey (C) (When He Comes Back from Injury)
Tyler Fitzgerald (2B)
Because of the Dearth of Good Hitters, Pitching Superiority, and Roster Construction Flaws, few Baseball Teams are able to Build High Quality, Deep, Variable, and Structured Batting Lineups. The Devers Trade Puts the SF Giants Squarely in that Conversation.
Pacers Rotation
It’s Hard to Criticize the Indiana Pacers. As Someone Who Has a Specific Approach to Building a Basketball Team, I Struggle with the Idea of this Pacers Team Winning an NBA Championship even though it would be incredible to see it. In the Fourth Quarter of this Game, Rick Carlisle Did Weird Things. Along with TJ McConnell, Pascal Siakam was the Pacers Best Player. In the Fourth Quarter he was their Only Source of Offense.
Play by Play
11:40: Siakam Makes a 3 Pointer
10:39: Siakam Makes a Layup
10:14: Siakam Executes a Dunk
9:40: Tony Bradley Layup Off Haliburton Setup
9:19: Siakam Two Free Throws
8:30: Siakam Makes a 3 Pointer (Score: 93-95)
7:47: Rick Carlisle Calls a Timeout (Score: 93-100)
7:47: Rick Carlisle Takes Pascal Siakam Out of the Game in Favor of Myles Turner. As a Result, the Indiana Pacers Have No Source of Primary Offense in the Game. This was a Game where OKC Deployed the Highest Possible Defense On and Off the Ball against both Tyrese Haliburton and Andrew Nembhard. Both Players Struggled. Both Players were Timid. Not Only Did Haliburton Not Take a Lot of Shots Because He Couldn’t Them Off, He Wasn’t Making Good Decisions Under Duress. Siakam, Halliburton, and Nembhard had a Combined 13 Turnovers.
Finally, it was Fun to See Jalen Williams Come Out of this Game as the Undeniable Co-Star to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s Superstardom. While We Already Knew Jalen Williams was a Tremendous No. 2, it was Williams Going Toe to Toe with Siakam at the End of the Third Quarter and the Fourth Quarter to put this game to bed.
Match of the Day
CWC: Fluminese vs Borussia Dortmund (12:00PM EST)
NHL: Florida Panthers vs Edmonton Oilers (8:00PM EST)
MLB: Los Angeles Dodgers vs San Diego Padres (10:10PM EST)
Podcast Recommendation
https://www.schroders.com/en-gb/uk/intermediary/insights/managing-expectations-as-well-as-money/