Mark Madden's Hot Take: Everything in sports gets funneled to a few big markets

Sports are one giant funnel.

The Los Angeles Dodgers got Max Scherzer and Trea Turner from Washington.

The New York Yankees got Joey Gallo from Texas and Anthony Rizzo from the Chicago Cubs.

The New York Mets got Javy Baez from the Chicago Cubs.

The Los Angeles Lakers got Russell Westbrook from Washington.

The SEC got Oklahoma and Texas from the Big 12.

Everything good and/or exciting gets funneled to a few big markets, or to big money.

The Big 12 says ESPN is involved with the disintegration of their conference. But it goes deeper than that with the Worldwide Leader.

Turn on ESPN’s morning shows. They babble non-stop about the same 10 teams and the same 10 athletes. ESPN helps hold the funnel in place.

Sure, there are exceptions.

Milwaukee isn’t a superteam, but the Bucks just won the NBA championship.

Tampa Bay has the fifth-lowest payroll in MLB, but the Rays were in the World Series last year.

But the notion of the funnel is helped by the occasional outlier. Such exceptions get frequently cited to support the notion of, “See? Anything can happen.”

But anything very usually doesn’t.

The funnel doesn’t empty in Pittsburgh. For evidence, go to PNC Park.

By the way, the single worst part of ESPN’s non-stop litany of morning aggravation is their aggrandizement of the Dallas Cowboys.

The Cowboys haven’t made the playoffs since 2018, have won just three playoff games since 1996, haven’t been to a conference championship game since 1995, went 6-10 last season but, every day on ESPN: “Is this the year Dak Prescott gets Dallas over the top?”

Over the top? The Cowboys aren’t anywhere near the top. They forget what the top looks like.