I Dare You to Click This

See what I did there? Yeah, it was something really stupid.

This week’s newsletter is more of a gripe than a motivational “life lesson.”

But hey, media world, can we chill with the click-bait bullsh*t headlines?

Scrolling social media these days feels like playing dodgeball blindfolded.

And not all of us are Peter Lafleur.

I genuinely never know what to believe at first glance. Every post, story, or thumbnail seems designed to stretch the truth and make things appear more exciting/crazy/ridiculous than they really are.

Here are the guilty parties:

• Every single TV news station in the entire world

• Instagram reels and graphics

• YouTube thumbnails

• Articles online

• Twitter is diabolical on this one

Case in point: I saw this clip on Twitter yesterday about Lions head coach Dan Campbell and former Lions coordinator/current Bears head coach Ben Johnson supposedly having “beef” in a postgame handshake. I clicked, I watched… nothing. Just a normal handshake. No “beef”.

Annoying, right?

And then there’s the not-so-small stuff. The amount of misleading headlines I’ve seen around the Charlie Kirk assassination attempt is mind-blowing. Doesn’t matter which side of the political spectrum you’re on, both are guilty of milking it for clicks.

Now look, I get it. I work in media. I know the game is all about driving engagement.

Did I use click-bait themes to get you to click on this video of me running a route with an NFL QB titled “NFL Tryout”…

Depends. Did you click? 👀 (You should. I dare you.)

But man, wouldn’t it be better if clicks came from actual great content and not some dumb tricks?

Instead, we’re stuck in this ridiculous cycle of BS being shoved down our throats.

I don’t think it’ll change anytime soon. But here’s something we can do: be better audience members. Don’t reward the nonsense. Try not to click the BS!

That’s all for this week’s rant. Go enjoy your Hump Day.

Here’s a non-click-bait video that is quite touching and wish we had more of these days on socials:

Oh, and here are my non-BS NFL Power Rankings, because I absolutely love football.

My NFL Power Rankings - Week 2

Super Bowl Contenders

1. Green Bay Packers (I just placed a +600 SB future on them)

2. Buffalo Bills 

3. Philadelphia Eagles

4. Baltimore Ravens 

5. Detroit Lions

Frisky Playoff Squads

6. Los Angeles Chargers

7. Kansas City Chiefs

8. Tampa Bay Bucs

9. Dallas Cowboys

10. Los Angeles Rams

Wild Card Weekend Hopefuls

11. Cincinnati Bengals

12. Washington Commanders

13. San Francisco 49ers

14. Jacksonville Jaguars

15. Denver Broncos

16. Seattle Seahawks

17. Indianapolis Colts

18. Pittsburgh Steelers

19. Las Vegas Raiders

20. Houston Texans

21. Atlanta Falcons

Interesting but not good

22. New England Patriots

23. Minnesota Vikings

24. Arizona Cardinals

25. Chicago Bears

Really Bad Football Teams

26. New York Giants

27. New York Jets

28. Carolina Panthers

29. Miami Dolphins

30. Tennessee Titans

31. Cleveland Browns

32. New Orleans Saints