I spent part of a Sunday afternoon a couple of weeks ago in an Atlanta airport watching the hometown NFL team take a beating in their magnificent stadium. The Falcons fell to the hapless Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 35-22. Then, on Thanksgiving night, I watched the Falcons gak away another home game to the New Orleans Saints, 26-18. After watching both games, I couldn’t help but wonder:

How did they fall so far so fast?

Going into this weekends’ biggest college football game, I asked my friends who they were taking: the LSU Tigers or the Alabama Crimson Tide? While the margin was closer than I expected, most people were like me.

When it comes to big games, you take Nick Saban and the Tide to roll, baby. Alabama had won eight straight in the series and this game was in Tuscaloosa.

It wasn’t long after Sunday night’s World Series Game 5 came to an end that I sat down to write this.

Between the Series returning to Washington DC for the first time in six decades, President Trump being booed by some fans, and two Instagram models being ejected for flashing Gerrit Cole during the seventh inning, it was a game with more than a few storylines.

But the weirdest one might just be the biggest:

Through FIVE games of this World Series, neither home team has won a game.

Next weekend, we’re going to hear some rather strange game titles in the news.

Iron Bowl. Egg Bowl. Palmetto Bowl. Clean, Old Fashioned Hate. The Game.

Okay—complete transparency here. I live in Tallahassee, I’m a Florida State University season ticket holder, and I know there are other sports stories I could write about this week.

But I’ve got something to say on this one, and I think it’s a leadership lesson that hasn’t been well-discussed in the midst of one of the biggest stories of the weekend. After a lackluster performance against their football rival, the University of Miami, FSU leadership announced Sunday that head coach Willie Taggart had been fired with three games still to be played in his SECOND year. Per the terms of his contract, the school will pay Taggart $18 million not to coach the Seminoles for the remaining years on his deal.

When you write a book with someone, it’s kind of hard not to become a devoted admirer. I’ve partnered with some amazing people in my career, and I’ve come away with some relationships that I’ll always treasure.

And then there’s David Ross.