Neil’s Substack Analytical but narrative -- blending the past and future of sportswriting
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🏁 2026 NASCAR Cup Series Driver Rankings 🚗
by Neil Paine on March 2, 2026Tracking the top drivers in the sport, all season long.
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🏀2026 NCAA Tournament Forecast 📊
by Neil Paine on March 1, 2026Track each Division I men's basketball team's odds to make (and, later, win) the 2025 NCAA basketball tourney.
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🏀 2025-26 NBA Elo Forecast and Player Ratings 📈
by Neil Paine on March 1, 2026Track how I'm forecasting every team’s chance to make — and win — the NBA Finals, all season long.
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🏒 2025-26 NHL Team Elo Power Rankings & Goals Above Replacement Player Ratings 📉
by Neil Paine on March 1, 2026Power ratings and forecasts for every NHL team and player this season.
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The Week That Was (February 23-27, 2026)
by Neil Paine on February 28, 2026A roundup of what I wrote, read, watched, etc. over the past week.
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Make your case
by Neil Paine on February 27, 2026Subscribe to Scoreboard by clicking here!
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Miami of Ohio Is Undefeated, Unprecedented... and Still Uncertain
by Neil Paine on February 27, 2026The RedHawks are just 3 wins away from a perfect regular season — and from potentially creating the weirdest at-large debate of the modern NCAA tournament era.
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It’s measurement season
by Neil Paine on February 26, 2026
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The Strike Zone We (Think We) Want
by Neil Paine on February 26, 2026MLB's official introduction of Automated Ball-Strike (ABS) challenges highlights the tension between the rules of the game in theory and in practice.
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Welcome back, NHL
by Neil Paine on February 25, 2026
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My 🔥Burning Questions🔥 for the Stretch Run of the 2025-26 NHL Season
by Neil Paine on February 25, 2026After an extra-long Olympic pause, here’s what matters most in the final push toward the '26 playoffs.
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A turn in the lockout odds
by Neil Paine on February 24, 2026
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The Celtics Are Thriving Without Jayson Tatum. That’s Why His Return Could Get Complicated.
by Neil Paine on February 24, 2026Boston lost an MVP candidate and stayed a Top-3 Net Rating team anyway — turning what should be a simple upgrade into something more delicate.
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Arrivederci!
by Neil Paine on February 23, 2026
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Team USA Finally Got Its Golden Breakthrough Against Canada
by Neil Paine on February 22, 2026Jack Hughes' overtime winner Sunday punctuated a decades-long climb from North American hockey's "little brother" to a full-fledged equal.
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The Week That Was (February 16-20, 2026)
by Neil Paine on February 21, 2026
A roundup of what I wrote, read, watched, etc. over the past week.
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Flame goes out, games go on
by Neil Paine on February 20, 2026
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It Took Alysa Liu's Improbable Comeback to Put U.S. Women’s Figure Skating Back on Top
by Neil Paine on February 20, 2026A 24-year Olympic gold drought ended when the once-retired prodigy completed one of the most unlikely arcs in the sport’s modern history.
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Grudge match for gold
by Neil Paine on February 19, 2026
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The U.S. Women Finally Have Their Olympic Curling Moment
by Neil Paine on February 19, 2026Twenty years after the hype, the Americans are nearing a long-awaited Olympic curling breakthrough.
