Does Yachting Make You Worse At Football?

Welcome to the latest episode of Hot Takedown, FiveThirtyEight’s sports podcast. On this week’s show (Jan. 10, 2017), we take a look at the Clemson Tigers’ stunning fourth-quarter defeat of Alabama in the College Football Playoff championship game. Next, we explore whether a Miami frolic on a boat is to blame for Odell Beckham Jr.’s poor playoff performance and the Giants’ 38-13 loss to the Packers on Sunday. Finally, we chat with Neil Greenberg, who writes for the Washington Post’s Fancy Stats blog, about winning streaks in the NHL this season — and what it might mean for the playoffs down the road. Plus, a significant digit that’s in part about Hot Takedown’s own Kate Fagan.

Links to what we discussed:

• ESPN’s Edward Aschoff recapped the CFP championship game, which had a particularly wild fourth quarter.
• Neil Paine wrote about how Clemson made history defeating Alabama.
• The Washington Post’s Cindy Boren reported on Beckham and his yacht trip last week.
• Beckham is likely not going to have a fun offseason, writes The Ringer’s Kevin Clark.
• Last weekend was one of the worst wild-card weekends in NFL history.
• Last week, the New York Times recapped the game that ended the Columbus Blue Jackets’ 16-game winning streak, just one win shy of tying the NHL record.
• Do winning streaks in the NHL help us to predict anything about the playoffs? ESPN Stats & Information’s Mike Wilson explores.
• Significant Digit: 53, the number of consecutive free throws that Lexie Brown, a guard for the Duke women’s basketball team, has hit in a row. This is a new ACC record, and more than our very own Kate Fagan had when she set the Big 12 record.