Joon Lee
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joon.bsky.social
Joon Lee
@joon.bsky.social
4.7K followers 110 following 63 posts
Making sense of sports • Journalist • Formerly: ESPN, B/R, WaPo • Born in Seoul 🇰🇷 Bred in Boston • [email protected] 📍New York City
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joon.bsky.social
Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · 2d
Thanks for sharing, Carl
2
Reposted by Joon Lee
carlquintanilla.bsky.social
Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 2d
“.. for generations, sports was one of the few places where Americans could still gather around something bigger than ourselves. Now, .. we tally payouts .. until a game becomes little more than a series of outcomes to be predicted and monetized.”

@joon.bsky.social
www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/o...
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joon.bsky.social
Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · 3d
Sports weren’t corrupted by gamblers. It got sold out by the people who made gambling central to the business model.

New @nytopinion.nytimes.com column: how gambling became the engine driving American life — starting with sports www.nytimes.com/2025/10/28/o...
Opinion | Gambling Is Killing Sports and Consuming America
www.nytimes.com
6 19 52
joon.bsky.social
Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · 9d
I edited the first few but I now have a team helping me
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joon.bsky.social
Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Sep 15
Thank you for watching and sharing!
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joon.bsky.social
Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Sep 15
NEW VIDEO: More teams are slashing payroll—even championship contenders. I asked Mark Cuban why. His answer?

“Teams do many more money when they have a low payroll and lose.”

We live in an era where losing is more profitable than winning. youtu.be/sAJH7Bx-BV4?...
4 7 24
joon.bsky.social
Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Aug 6
The NFL will own 10% of ESPN, which licenses its name to a sportsbook.

The NFL will directly profit from sports gambling.

Goodell said in 2017, “We still strongly oppose legalized sports gambling. The integrity of our game is No. 1. We will not compromise on that.”
profootballtalk.bsky.social ProFootballTalk @profootballtalk.bsky.social · Aug 6
NFL will own 10 percent of ESPN. Factor that into any and all reporting ESPN does on league matters.
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Reposted by Joon Lee
globeopinion.bsky.social
Boston Globe Opinion @globeopinion.bsky.social · Jul 30
In a city where politicians cycle out and owners stay hidden behind tinted glass, sports radio show host Mike Felger has been the loudest, clearest, and most consistent voice, @joon.bsky.social writes in #GlobeIdeas.

Not just in sports — in anything.
Is Mike Felger the most influential person in Boston? - The Boston Globe
The dominant figure in local sports talk radio manages to capture — and shape — the mood of this fast-changing city.
www.bostonglobe.com
2 1 1
joon.bsky.social
Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Jul 30
For @bostonglobe.com: When Marty Walsh was Boston’s mayor, he turned to sports radio, not social media, to get a temperature check on the city.

For two decades, Mike Felger has set the agenda on sports radio.

Is Felger the most influential person in Boston?
www.bostonglobe.com/2025/07/30/o...
Is Mike Felger the most influential person in Boston? - The Boston Globe
The dominant figure in local sports talk radio manages to capture — and shape — the mood of this fast-changing city.
www.bostonglobe.com
2 1 9
joon.bsky.social
Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Jul 29
NEW VIDEO: Jordan and Kobe were stoic icons.

Now stars like SGA, Tyrese Haliburton and Jayson Tatum are called corny.

How did this happen?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtHt...
Why NBA Superstars Are Corny Now
YouTube video by Joon Lee
www.youtube.com
1 1 7
joon.bsky.social
Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Jul 28
Gambling addiction is a public health crisis, but it's not treated that way yet.

What will it take for it to get there?

One day, it will be and people will ask: how did things get so bad?
2 1 19
joon.bsky.social
Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Jul 28
I've watched friends spiral into gambling debt.

I've seen how quickly betting replaces joy.
And I've watched it hollow out how people connect to sports, replacing community with isolation and shame.
1 1 8
joon.bsky.social
Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Jul 28
Our culture can't tell real stories about sports without talking about addiction, mental health, and what this industry is doing to people.

But most media can't tell that story honestly because they're in business with the very companies fueling the crisis.
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joon.bsky.social
Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Jul 28
Sports media helped normalize this.

Not just by promoting gambling, but by failing to ask real questions.

What does it mean when joy in sports is replaced by odds?

Does "fan engagement" just mean keeping people watching bad games and keeping ratings up as cable collapses?
2 3 12
joon.bsky.social
Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Jul 28
There's a casino in your pocket.

So much of sports media is framed around gambling language.

The losses are invisible until it's too late.

And when someone spirals, whether it's a fan, a coach, or a player, we act like they're uniquely broken instead of asking how we got here.
1 2 9
joon.bsky.social
Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Jul 28
When someone gets suspended for gambling, the public reaction is often moralizing.

"How could they be so stupid?"
"What an idiot."

But this isn't just about choices. This is what addiction looks like when it's been rebranded as content.
1 1 7
joon.bsky.social
Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Jul 28
Gambling addiction is sweeping the country, and not enough people are talking about it.

When people fall into gambling, our culture and sports media often frames it as a failure of personal responsibility, when it should be treated like what it is: an addiction.

Thread 🧵⬇️
mollyknight.bsky.social Molly Knight @mollyknight.bsky.social · Jul 28
From Jeff Passan: Cleveland Guardians closer Emmanuel Clase has been placed on non-disciplinary paid leave as part of MLB's sports-betting investigation, sources tell ESPN.

Clase is the second Guardians pitcher on leave tied to the investigation, joining right-hander Luis Ortiz.
2 15 45
joon.bsky.social
Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Jul 9
NEW VIDEO - Seven NBA players tore their Achilles this season. That’s 5X the historical average.

So what’s going on here? I talked to an NBA trainer to find out. m.youtube.com/watch?si=984...
Why NBA Players Keep Tearing Their Achilles, Explained
YouTube video by Joon Lee
m.youtube.com
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joon.bsky.social
Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Jul 6
Went on CNN with @smerconish.bsky.social to discuss how the increasing cost of paywalls in sports is hurting community in America
5 7 45
joon.bsky.social
Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Jun 16
The Red Sox have been dysfunctional as Craig Breslow has boxed out longtime voices from the Theo Epstein era.

Breslow recently fired scouting supervisor Craig Moesche after he said "Thanks, Bres, you f--king stiff" on a Zoom hot mic. sports.yahoo.com/mlb/article/...
3 4 18
joon.bsky.social
Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Jun 16
The Red Sox trade of Rafael Devers wasn't just about beef with chief baseball officer Craig Breslow.

It was a rupture of an organization that has quietly been unraveling from the inside since the trade of Mookie Betts.

For @yahoosports.bsky.social: sports.yahoo.com/mlb/article/...
Inside the 'absolute s*** show' that led to the Boston Red Sox's trade of Rafael Devers
The blockbuster deal was the culmination of eroded trust, fraying relationships and a deeper breakdown inside one of MLB's most visible franchises.
sports.yahoo.com
7 19 50
Reposted by Joon Lee
meglinehan.com
Meg Linehan @meglinehan.com · Jun 16
Definitely a men's sports centric read but many of the same fundamental issues are at play in women's sports, including the split of media rights and especially private equity investment (I'd argue more concerning on the women's side bc it's far earlier in a league's lifespan).
joon.bsky.social Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Jun 16
Sports was one of America's most accessible forms of entertainment. Now it's paywalled, splintered and sold to the highest bidder.

Fandom isn't being nurtured. It's being mined.

For @nytopinion.nytimes.com on on the state of sports, and what it says about America: www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/o...
Opinion | $4,785. That’s How Much It Costs to Be a Sports Fan Now.
www.nytimes.com
1 23 120
joon.bsky.social
Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Jun 16
Sports was one of America's most accessible forms of entertainment. Now it's paywalled, splintered and sold to the highest bidder.

Fandom isn't being nurtured. It's being mined.

For @nytopinion.nytimes.com on on the state of sports, and what it says about America: www.nytimes.com/2025/06/16/o...
Opinion | $4,785. That’s How Much It Costs to Be a Sports Fan Now.
www.nytimes.com
33 130 480
joon.bsky.social
Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Jun 16
Will have more reporting and sourcing on the state of the Red Sox, but this is the big takeaway.

There's blame to go around with everyone: Devers, Cora, Breslow, but this is emblematic of bigger than just one dramatic situation of a player not wanting to move to a new position.
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joon.bsky.social
Joon Lee @joon.bsky.social · Jun 16
The Rafael Devers trade is the result of organizational dysfunction and declining culture from John Henry.

This is a team claims to have an organizational north star of longterm sustainability, but doesn't have the patience to stomach what it takes to make that happen
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