So, as I was watching the game between the Philadelphia Eagles and New Orleans Saints on September 22nd, a realization dawned on me about the current state of society.
For some context, the Eagles haven't been good since their 2022 Super Bowl appearance. And this match was no exception. Everything about this team feels disjointed and confused. Turnovers, poor defense, lack of rhythm.
Teams no longer have the desire to develop their talent, read their opponents' moves, and learn how to gain in-game experience to become better. All they have to do is wave the magic 8 ball and wait for the answer.
lose consciousness
But this isn't just a problem my Eagles are dealing with. This is an NFL problem. If you're not paying attention, the product the NFL is putting out there stinks, for lack of a better word. And that may be partially due to the fact that the NFL is no longer a passer's league. Instead, they tend toward a more hard-fought, defensive-minded playstyle.
Throughout the first two weeks of the 2024 season, Passing yards were the lowest They've been doing that ever since the 2007 season. seventeen boot A QB has yet to even reach 200 passing yards in a game. To be honest, the NFL is boring.
But there's something deeper going on here than just the mundane. And something about this game jumped out at me and finally gave me the words to explain what is fundamentally wrong with the NFL.
Twice in this game, the Eagles tried to score on 4th and short when they could have scored on a field goal attempt. And it failed in both cases.
Why did they choose it?
Why abandon all common sense?
That's because the all-powerful data analytics told them to do it.
analytical arms race
Analytics is all the rage in professional sports these days. Franchises across all professional sports are scrambling to build the best in-house data analytics teams possible to keep up with the analytics arms race. It's gotten to the point where if a team doesn't have some serious investment, it's not considered a serious organization.
Interestingly, it was the eagles He led the push for analytics-based football in the 90s and was the first football franchise to have an in-house analytics department in 2010.
And the problem is that teams rely too much on data analytics. all Decisions are made in some way based on analysis. What this ultimately does is stunt the growth and leave everyone involved in the team's success, from the players to the front office, vulnerable.
freed from command
tom brady He said so in a recent interview. He points out how the NFL is developingproblem. New QBs are thrown into the fire and start their first year without spending the first few years learning the team's culture and program.
But to make matters worse, the QB is no longer instructions of the game. The era of the “field general” QB is over. The QB no longer reads the defense and makes adjustments in real time. Now, what you have is a young kid who just takes the plays the coach gives him and runs with it. And who taught the coach that play? Analysts are in the booth.
Teams no longer have the desire to develop their talent, read their opponents' moves, and learn how to gain in-game experience to become better. All they have to do is wave the magic 8 ball and wait for the answer.
It's a very artificial and robotic process. And the products on the field reflect that.
So why is this important?
What you're witnessing in the NFL today is just one example of a society slowly transitioning into a full-fledged society. transhumanism.
Transhumanism? What about that conspiracy theory?
holes that exist
Despite the stigma coded in conspiracy theories, the transhuman agenda is very real and very clear.
Let's start with what it is. Simply put, transhumanism is the phasing out of the role that humans have traditionally played throughout history, and thus the abolition of what gave meaning to people's lives.
Transhumanism has been around for a while. Since the Industrial Revolution, humanity has gradually phased out all types of manual labor as the invention of new automated technologies can replace human hands and minds to complete tasks. Indeed, this has made life easier and more convenient.
But it leaves an existential hole in its wake. How do we define humanity when the roles that defined it are gradually being taken away from us?
When rural rice farmers are replaced by rice farmers, humanoid robotWhat is a rice picker?
What is a mother when she is replaced by a surrogate mother?
When all labor is done by automated machines and labor ceases to exist, what are we?
cling to the machine
The answer is because we are welded into machines. We surrender our labor power (and therefore our ability to think) to machines, and in doing so we cling to them. complete dependence.
That's what's happening in the NFL today. Owners, front offices, players, and coaches have all given up their unique ability to make high-pressure decisions at the highest levels of professional sports in exchange for an all-powerful analytics department.
and it destroys all possibilities of achievement. great.
By engaging in this unholy marriage with data analysis, NFL teams have stunted the natural growth of players and coaches, resulting in a debilitating dependence on computer-provided answers.
The ChatGPT-ification of the NFL is here, and its mediocre, boring, robotic output is just a reflection of what the rest of us are experiencing in our respective lives in 2024.
