Damon Haas

@MarcEdelman I still am not sure why the players would unionize. It would be the weakest union in history since no players are going to give up a year of eligibility to strike. The NFL players would be FAR better off with the system that college players have now.

The No. 1 reason for commercial college football and basketball players to collectively bargain by conference, by sport is stability. Others include formal organizational structure, arbitration, and fewer lawsuits. The real question: why are colleges fighting so hard against it?

@OrinKerr @DeTahmineh It is wild to me that anyone actually cares about what other people's taste in music is when they are listening on their own. If you don't like music at a party, fine, but that is their party! Otherwise who cares what someone else likes!?

Having absolutely loved the Beatles since I first started listening to them around 7th or 8th grade, I’ll just say that I’m always puzzled by those who say that others who claim to love things are really just posing. It’s okay if you don’t like them, of course! But for many of us, the Beatles were absolute musical geniuses who produced an incredible body of work in a remarkably short period of time.

The Beatles are one of the most important bands in modern music history. That is not the same thing as being one of the best. A lot of the reverence around them comes from historical position, not actual listening experience. They arrived at the right cultural moment, shaped the industry, influenced everyone after them, and became canonized so completely that people now confuse influence with superiority. Nonetheless, being an early inspiration is not the same as being unmatched. The Beatles get treated less like a band and more like a civilizational achievement. People do not merely enjoy them; they feel socially obligated to defend them. Their status has become self-reinforcing. Every generation is taught that they are the gold standard, so many people inherit the conclusion before they even examine the music. And once you strip away the mythology, what is left is often a catalog that is clever, catchy, and historically innovative—but not necessarily emotionally deeper, musically richer, or sonically more compelling than what later artists would go on to do better. A lot of Beatles praise is really praise for innovation in the historical context. Fair enough. But context cannot do all the work forever. “This was groundbreaking in the 1960s” is a different claim from “this remains the pinnacle of music.” Plenty of artists since then have written more complex lyrics, built more ambitious albums, pushed production further, and explored darker or more interesting emotional terrain. And they actually sound better without Yoko Ono screaming in the background. So no, saying the Beatles are not that good is not a ragebait. It is just refusing to confuse historical importance with permanent artistic supremacy.

@DamonLinker It has been obvious for a while, Dems are tax and spend. Republicans knew that taxcut and spend was a better thing to run on. Now Dems are going to run on the thing that polls better. Terrible for the country, but voters like what sounds good and not what is good policy.

The two parties are fast approaching the view that we can spend as much as we want on government and tax as little as we want, too. Like no connection between spending and revenue at all. Just do whatever because lol nothing matters.

@thekellyfrances I was absolutely shocked at how encouraged people were at the start of this season where everyone could see that we just have a terrible roster.

I think I have just tweeted less on ATLUTD because there really isn't much to tweet about, you know? Outside of what everyone else is saying. We all knew this season was an uphill battle right?.... Right?

@megbasham How is this chart supposed to show the failure of online dating?

The depression among young women, the rage among young men because they can’t find each other is primarily driven by this. The online dating experiment failed. Yes there’s some happy couples out there. But at scale, it has left young men and women, isolated, insecure, and resentful. Time to acknowledge it and get back to better, time-honored ways of meeting each other.

@Pantsalot11 @Clarkey_No1 The MLS style penalties were getting lots of players hurt.

@Clarkey_No1 The fact that people are ok with all these ridiculous run ups. But everyone couldn’t stand the old school 90s MLS PKs is quite something. If we are allowing this garbage might as well switch to that style of PK. Or I prefer just not allow all the feigning & kick the ball.

I still think if a player is allowed to have a run up like this, the moment he takes those steps backwards should be the moment the goalkeeper is allowed to move off of his line...

@kev_egan @joeclowery We have a bad roster and downgraded it from last season. Coaches can only do so much.

@joeclowery Big jumps for Berhalter and Callaghan! I like it. Everyone has Atlanta United missing the playoffs? Can’t see that with Tata at the helm. Devoured your previews Joe! Loved em. Great work, as always 👏🏻

I'm higher on Real Salt Lake and Minnesota United than any of these guys + anybody else I've seen. Can't wait for the season to start so we can begin sussing out how wildly wrong we all are!

@AndrewBrandt Are you OK with teams losing on purpose because they get better lottery odds?

These tanking teams do realize that last year, none of blatant tankers -- like the Jazz -- got one of the top picks in the Draft?

@MarcEdelman I last night got told that I might be autistic because of how I have been arguing for player rights for over 20 years.

Some people who recently started following me on here may think I’m a skeptic about college sports. The truth is I’ve been writing about the #NCAA and #antitrust exposure for upwards of 20 years. And, I watched this institution fail to reform itself when it still easily could.

@Keepers_Union Agree, although a lot of daft ones are from people who don't follow me. I think the 'For You' feature has been the killer here

@3YearLetterman Oh, you were being serious. I thought for sure you were making a joke and it went over the head of people too stupid to realize it.

If the Bible was written in English, there’s no reason the Super Bowl halftime shouldn’t be as well

@MarcEdelman I am a little surprised that you seem to think the players should want to unionize. They have a system the other athletes in the US can only dream of! No cap, no draft, no max salary, no luxury tax. A

My full take on the Darian Mensah situation now that it is resolved in ten honest bullet points. 1. We are entering a new system. Getting rid of kinks will take time. 2. If we had collective bargaining, these things wouldn't happen this way. 3. The lack of collective bargaining is mainly, but not exclusively, the #NCAA's fault. 4. A full litigation here could have gone either way. 5. Litigation is slow and would have been bad for all parties. 6. As such, settlement was the best solution. 7. That doesn't mean settlement was perfect; just that it was better than any of the alternatives. 8. If you know economics, Coase's Theorem played out. The resource (Mensah) landed in the place where most valued. That's proper free-market capitalism. 9. If you know law, you ask yourself why the parties didn't negotiate a liquidated damages clause. Perhaps they should have. 10. Let's hope this young man goes pro because, if not, all else equal, I would take the Duke degree over the Miami one. But, either way, that is the college athlete's choice, and not mine to make.

@AndrewBrandt Why haven't they moved the Superbowl to Saturday? That is the bigger surprise to me.

Think the NFL Championship games are eventually played on Sunday night and Monday night. Actually surprised that hasn't happened yet.

@PaulTenorio There is a report about @realsaltlake sending $100K in GAM to @ATLUTD for someone in their front office. Have you heard of this before? I guess it isn't taking money out of the GAM pot since it is just going to another team, I just had never heard of it before.

@Zonal_Marking @AndrewHarnwell The point of offside is to stop players from cherry picking. It would do more to have defenders defend the player by defending rather than trying to defend by rule. How did you feel about them getting rid of the offside trap? I don't see this as much different.

@AndrewHarnwell I don't disagree about the marginal decisions and the time it takes, but I don't understand, practically speaking, how his approach would make sense for anyone, really.

Sorry to have to say this about one of the greats, but the more Arsene Wenger talks about potential law changes, the more you have to question, to be frank, whether he actually *gets* football. nytimes.com/athletic/69738…

@PaulTenorio How are contract lengths going to work in MLS with the calendar change? Like if a player signed a normal contract that ended at the end of 2026, are we going to have a bunch of players come available in free agency mid season if they want to change teams?

@McCannSportsLaw @mollyxbrady My goal in life right now is to never know what the 6-7 hand gesture is.

@mollyxbrady My five-year-old gave the 6-7 hand gesture when I asked what it meant. I don't know if that is better or worse!

My four-year-old said “6-7” to me. I asked him what it meant and he said “it comes after 1 2 3 4 5.”

@frierdo60 @KOnocomment @CharlieBakerMA @TheAndyKatz @NCAA @NBA I really love how people suggest highly illegal options to these things.

@KOnocomment @CharlieBakerMA @TheAndyKatz @NCAA @NBA And a salary cap.

The @NCAA has not and will not grant eligibility to any prospective or returning student-athletes who have signed an @NBA contract (including a two-way contract). As schools are increasingly recruiting individuals with international league experience, the NCAA is exercising discretion in applying the actual and necessary expenses bylaw to ensure that prospective student-athletes with experience in American basketball leagues are not at a disadvantage compared to their international counterparts. Rules have long permitted schools to enroll and play individuals with no prior collegiate experience midyear. While the NCAA has prevailed on the vast majority of eligibility-related lawsuits, recent outlier decisions enjoining the NCAA on a nationwide basis from enforcing rules that have been on the books for decades -- without even having a trial -- are wildly destabilizing. I will be working with DI leaders in the weeks ahead to protect college basketball from these misguided attempts to destroy this American institution.

@BradZiegler @CharlieBakerMA @NCAA @NBA Why shouldn't college students be able to look for jobs and stay in school if they don't get an offer they like?

@CharlieBakerMA @NCAA @NBA Cool. So now literally every player will enter the draft and then see what happens. 🤡

@MarcEdelman And at least for me, the players would be crazy to form the weakest union in history (not even getting into the state school issue) to make all the restrictions the schools want to be suddenly legal.

You want a nice, simple plan to save college sports. Here you go: 1. College presidents start learning about antitrust law. 2. In doing so, they come to understand that they must comply with antitrust laws. 3. They stop seeking holy grail exemptions. 4. And they limit rules on players to either those at the conference level or those more globally bargained collectively.