Something I saw in United v Villa last night. We don't teach it enough at most levels of the game. What would the vast majority of teams do, if they were in Villa's situation, and were awarded a free kick here?

Thread below.

Back in 2004, Ricky Williams, the American football player, left the Miami Dolphins after a third strike for smoking weed and disappeared. He’d had a notable career besides, but this was the capper: He said goodbye to his coach from Hawaii and vanished off the face of the Earth.

I was like, I want to be the guy who finds him. My memory is a little foggy here, but I think I got Ricky’s email address from the godfather of one of Esquire’s editors. It was an AOL account, I remember. I wrote Ricky and asked him if he’d talk to me if I found him.

He replied! And he said if I found him, he would tell me everything. AMAZING. But first—finding him. There were reports that he’d been in Italy, Fiji, Japan, and, most recently, Australia. A guy who’d felt trapped was now making the most of his freedom. Ricky was on THE MOVE.

I asked Peter, my editor, if I could go searching for Ricky. I didn’t really think I would find him. But I figured I’d get some crazy travel out of it, giving chase. That’s what I was calling the story in my head: “Chasing Ricky.” I imagined I’d always be one step behind.

Peter asked me what I thought my chances were. My brain calculated, “Less than one tenth of one percent.” My mouth said, “50-50.” I don’t like to think I was lying so much as my brain and mouth had been in disagreement. Anyway, a coin toss was good enough for Peter: Go.

When we started @CourtsideVC in 2016, the biggest question we faced was "Can you really generate venture returns investing in sports?". 5 years later, we have enough data to share. This is the story of how we turned our passion for sports into a business.
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First, some context. When I started my sports analytics software company in 2009, I was unable to raise a single dollar in venture capital. I ended up having to cobble together $10K, $25K and $100K checks from individuals to get things going.

At the time, there were no venture funds focused on this space and generalist VCs simply did not believe in the market size of sports companies. As a result, almost all of them ran to the hills when they heard the word "sports".

Even when we got to ~$10M in recurring revenue, there was nobody knocking on our door to try and give us growth capital to see if we could build something big. Ultimately, this forced us to sell short to private equity guys who destroyed the business.

Fast forward to 2016 and we felt the sports, fitness and gaming markets were on the verge of exploding - these were three places where the next generation was spending its money & yet there were no early stage funds setup to fund these entrepreneurs and strategically open doors.

Over 5,000 virtual match tickets sold! Thank you all involved especially the kind supporters of @SpursOfficial 🙌

Time to give our virtual ticket holders a match preview of our team and tactics! Don't tell anybody!

Goalkeeper - Mr. Thomas from No. 25 - Good positioning & never unsighted.

Full-backs - the Jones brothers from No. 23 - Always give the opposition a roasting. Different gravy.

Centre-backs - the Phillips family from No. 29 - Coordinated, good teamwork & never leave any gaps between them.

Left winger - Mr. Speed from No. 11 - Speed by name. Speed by reputation.

Highlights of what happened after 36/9 - a thread.

#AUSvIND

Boxing Day Test - we lose Virat, Ajinkya takes over captaincy, with a forgettable loss still lurking. We carry a record of not winning at the 'G while chasing. Aussie win the toss & elect to bat, meaning we'd have to bat fourth.

#AUSvIND

With Shami gone due to injury, Bumrah leads from the front making sure the Aussies bundle out within 200 with the other bowlers chipping in at regular intervals. Ashwin picking Smith for a blob is the most special part of it all.

#AUSvIND

At 64/3 & in the danger of conceding a lead yet again and under immense pressure, captain Rahane chips in with a 💯 which is at par with his Lord's knock & with Jaddu's contribution lower down, India manage a lead of 131.

#AUSvIND

Siraj, the son of an auto rickshawman, having lost his father before the series & not being able to attend the funeral, plays his debut Test, tears up during the national anthem. He was the highest wicket taker for India in the 2nd innings wrapping up Aussies for 200.

#AUSvIND

The Melbourne Stars' 10 years of Big Bash history is genuinely some of the most hilarious sports in Australian history. Don't do this normally but, a thread:

BBL01: a somewhat conventional semi final loss to Perth, but look at the batting lineup they were rocking, they had Matty Wade at 8. 2/88 chasing 175 until Ben Edmondson (!) takes a double wicket maiden.

BBL02: The hilarity begins. Faulkner "captains" as Warne is risking a ban for slow over rates from the H&A stage. Scorchers need three off the last ball and Faulkner bowls a noey. Calamity. As an aside, Alex Keath on debut goes 1-0-27-0.

BBL03: Stars go 8-0 in the H&A with a NRR of 2.2. Utterly dominant. But it's a knockout 1 v 4 in the semi and you know what happens...Hobart restrict them to 141 and Paine makes 65 as they chase it down easily.

BBL04: Third time in four years, Stars lose a semi in Perth. Only chasing 145, with KP batting with Luke Wright, nine wickets in hand at halfway, all out 126.