Drew is a professional, and so he can be counted on to deliver a pro-grade honking of "We're back" at the top of every episode of The Distraction. So you will have to believe me when I say that, this week, the big fella was grinning, downright bubbly, and quite literally clad in a new J.J. McCarthy road-white Vikings jersey when he said the line. Yes, we're back every week. But this week, especially, we are back.
Drew's good mood owed to the fact that NFL football is very nearly back, and with it his generally infuriating but also possibly quite good team of choice. I am not quite as over the moon about the NFL, but I do love watching the big dog eat, and I also love having our buddy Kalyn Kahler on the podcast for any reason. Instead of the usual jumbo-sized, Drew-yelling-at-us-to-hurry-up version of our annual NFL Good/Bad show, we have split things into two separate episodes: We'll be running through the AFC with Kalyn's ESPN coworker Mina Kimes next week. This meant that we had a bit more time to stretch out and really think about whether the Atlanta Falcons are good. (We all think they're not.)
That extra space let us talk to Kalyn about how things are going for her at ESPN, where she has done some industry-leading reporting on the NFLPA shitshow and been on SportsCenter a few times, but would rather be badgering people on the sidelines. We also talked about the uneasy and unresolved state of the NFLPA at this moment, where an interim president on a one-year contract is trying to rebuild from something like absolute zero, and membership is encountering the challenges of trying to fix a problem without fixing the process that led to it and trying to hold people accountable without really knowing who that would even be. She also included a surprising endorsement for (listening to) DeMaurice Smith's new memoir, especially if you enjoy reading (or hearing) Troy Vincent getting slagged a lot.
When we eventually got to the NFC, things went more or less as usual. Drew dragged the Packers without really convincing us that they're actually bad, Kalyn bragged on her most recent Prospect X getting a text from his GM praising him for epitomizing Viking Behavior, and Drew speed-ran a bunch of lineman names in talking up his Vikings. We did not spend nearly as much time on the NFC South, for obvious reasons, and spent more time than was probably necessary splashing around in the Cowboys' mess and the spectacle of Jerry Jones. There were teams that we were high on, and low on, and kind of surprised to realize we hadn't thought about at all. We even had time for a Funbag question. Will Drew be as happy next week when we talk about the conference he cares much less about? I'd say that you will have to tune in to find out, but we're all adults here. The answer is yes.
If you would like to subscribe to The Distraction, you can do that through Apple Podcasts, wherever else you might get your podcasts, and Spotify if absolutely necessary. Thank you as always for your support.
