After eight years, while the NFL community is still not completely sure what to think about him, Baker's stock has never been higher. Is he just on a crazy tear? Is the hammer about to drop? Is he actually a top-5 QB in the league?

And, let’s just call a spade a spade, you’re not totally sure what to think about him either.

But…you like him.

And now, pushing past uncomfortable feelings from a writer telling you how you feel deep down about a grown man you’ve never met, you find yourself internally assessing yourself. Does it feel vulnerable? Maybe, even, a bit indefensible? Why do I like Baker?

Why We Think We Like Baker

Let me tell you four reasons why you think you like Baker:

1. Who doesn’t love an underdog? The former #1 pick started his career with the Cleveland Browns - the perpetual QB-career-killers - who were coming off of two seasons where they went a combined 1-31. The #1 pick led them to an 11-5 record and a playoff win in his third year with the team. Still, he found himself given up on after Year 4.

   A player who didn’t get a fair shake on one of the worst franchises of all time? Come on… you’ve gotta root for the guy.

2. Then it was the story of redemption. A terrible 7-game stint in Carolina meant Baker’s career was in legitimate jeopardy. Two QB injuries in LA led to a desperation waiver pickup from the Rams. Baker took his one-day-without-a-job-the-next-day-on-a-plane-to-the-stadium-to-start-a-primetime-game opportunity and led a gutsy comeback TD drive in the 4th quarter to win the game - without even knowing the playbook. Lights on, no prep, job on the line and able to deliver?!

   Come on…you’ve GOT to root for the guy.

3. Then it was a story of finding a home. Tampa gave Baker a chance in the post-Brady era, seeing him primarily as a stop-gap to further develop Kyle Trask or a bridge before entering the Aaron Rodgers sweepstakes a year later. But Baker proceeded to throw for 4,000 yards and 28 TDs. The Bucs gave him the 3-year $100M contract that seemed like a foregone dream just a season prior.

   Come on…if you can’t root for him at this point, the Grinch could be your therapist.

4. Now it is a story of being underrated. Two years in Tampa and Baker is top 4 in nearly every key QB measure in the league, topping Mahomes stat-for-stat, throwing for more scores than Josh Allen and Lamar Jackson, and yet somehow still being passed over in the media (until the last couple of weeks), while praises for the unrealized potential of Justin Herbert, Trevor Lawrence, and even Dak Prescott play on repeat.

   Come on… I mean, come on.

Again, that’s why you think you like Baker.

But it’s not really why. At least, it’s not the whole story.

Why We Actually Like Baker

The real reason you like Baker isn’t because of the stats he produces or even his redemption arc. Because, let’s be honest, you still don’t believe he’s more than a B/B+ quarterback today. But you don’t really care, do you? Of course not! Because the reality is, you like Baker because of how he plays. You like Baker because he’s different. You like Baker because he’s audacious.

Now you say, “Wait, but… lots of NFL players are audacious?”

No, lots of NFL players are arrogant. And many are crazy. But very few are audacious.

You like Baker because he’s willing to stiff-arm Nick Bosa for 15 yards to complete a pass and move the chains on a crucial 4th down. You like Baker because he’s willing to lower his shoulder and run over 275-pound linebackers, block for his RBs 30 yards down the field, dive for a TD knowing he’ll get crushed in the ribs in the process. You like Baker because he’ll have the audacity to get up in a player’s face, regardless of the hit he just took. And, while you wouldn’t necessarily worry about Baker in a dark alley, you wouldn’t necessarily want him in your grill on the field either, because in the back of your mind, you know he’s not like the fake tough-guys telling their teammates “Hold me back, bro - I swear I’m gonna. Hold me back!” No, Baker…you know Baker might actually take a swing in the right situation.

You like Baker because no throwing window is too small, no defender is too strong, no trash talk is too much, no jump pass is too risky, no first down marker is too far, and no lead is insurmountable. You like Baker because he is audacious, AND he backs it up.

That, by the way, is the most crucial piece to audacity: backing it up. Because you can be audacious and not back it up. Take Caleb Williams asking the Bears for partial ownership before signing his rookie contract, for example. That’s audacious. Or telling his punter that he wouldn’t be punting very much. That’s a bit audacious. But then when that is followed up with leading the league in punts and having a QB-rating closer to what you’d hope to shoot on the front-nine of your local mini-golf course, then the audacity just becomes cringy.

And that brings me to my next point. Your fandom of Baker is actually completely rational. Well, yeah, I am rational. Thanks. But, um, what makes you say that in this specific instance, professor author sir?

Because the NFL is entertainment! And you know what’s not entertaining? The people who are really good, but really boring. You know who else isn’t entertaining (at least long-term)? Really bizarrely crazy folks that aren’t that good. There’s a fine line between a healthy level of crazy and talent.

Enter: The Skill/Crazy Scale.

The Skill/Crazy Scale

Similar to its cousin scale that measures attractiveness, the Skill/Crazy Scale measures likeability in sports figures, with ideal candidates falling within the Corridor of Awesome.

Let’s take a look.

Some of these may surprise you. For instance, how could Jameis Winston, who is clearly more crazy than skilled, be in the Corridor of Awesome? Lest ye forget, Jameis threw for over 5,000 yards in Tampa in 2019 and also threw for 33 TDs and 30 picks in the same season. And 7 of those picks were returned for TDs. So, really, his TD count was 40 on the year. Borderline elite (said only mostly in jest).

How could Antonio Brown be so far outside of the Corridor given his skill? Ah, because his crazy was so crazy that it pushed him too far toward that end of the grid. A similar argument can be made for OBJ, Cam Newton, Ray Lewis, Warren Sapp, James Harrison and Bill Romanowski, who, by all accounts, were extremely talented (at least, at their peak), but had enough crazy to move them further outside of the Corridor.

But as you look at the Corridor of Awesome, my guess is that you can’t help but admit your affinity for some-of-if-not-all of the faces you see: the aforementioned Jameis Winston, Jerome “The Bus” Bettis, Ryan “Fitzmagic” Fitzpatrick, Mike Alstott, Dave Campbell, Chad Ochocinco, Troy Polamalu and Rob Gronkowski.

These guys didn’t have to be the elite of the elite (yet, some were), they are/were a little bit audacious, and we love them. You’re telling me your childhood memories - and, for that matter, the NFL as a whole - would be better without these characters?

You don’t even have to answer that. I already know the answer.

So, the logical next step is to plot the very subject of our discussion today, Baker Reagan Mayfield.

And would you just look at where he lands on the Skill/Crazy Scale?

There he is: the perfect balance of skill and crazy - smack dab in the middle of our infallible grid.

And, well, of course he is. I like him, you like him, and we’re rational people, right? So it only makes sense that the empirical data would back us up and land him exactly there.

And that is Why We Actually Like Baker Mayfield. It wasn’t even a conscious choice, really. We couldn’t help ourselves - we’re only human.

A little skill, a little audacity, a comfy couch and a full slate of football on a fall Sunday?

Come on… I mean, come on.

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Your second thought is probably one of the scenes 4 years later, when the impossible happened again.

Eli’s victories were undoubtedly the biggest disappointments of Tom Brady’s illustrious career.

And yet, Eli is single-handedly responsible for how we view Tom Brady today - the GOAT adorned with seven rings across his ten fingers.

As you ponder where I might be leading this idea, let me take you back to the day Eli first put the chisel to the GOAT’s Hall of Fame bust:

Draft Day 2004.

In our reality, Eli Manning warned the San Diego Chargers not to draft him with the #1 overall pick. The Chargers did wind up drafting Eli but heeded the warning and traded him to the New York Giants on draft night for Phillip Rivers.

But what if Eli hadn’t warned the Chargers? What if Eli had spent his career in San Diego?

What a fantastic question. Let’s think through it.

As we know today, after two years sitting behind Drew Brees, Phillip Rivers would take the reins in San Diego and never look back until his career was essentially over. He wound up being a gunslinger with incredible performances in the regular season and lackluster success in the playoffs.

Eli Manning was nearly the polar opposite. He started 5 games his rookie season, led the league in regular season interceptions three times, never led the league in passing yards or touchdowns, but, as long as his team scratched their way into wild-card slots, he would find a way to come through with some incredibly clutch performances against the NFC, and, in the Super Bowl, Tom Brady and the juggernaut Patriots.

If these two quarterbacks had stayed put with their original teams, I think things would have looked better for each of them - at least in the regular season.

Giants with Phillip Rivers

The Giants would have benefitted from Phillip Rivers’ consistency and ability to rally his team. Pair that with their punishing running backs and strong defense, I believe the Giants would have seen impressive regular season results. The downside would reveal itself in the playoffs, where Rivers’ lackluster play would result in other NFC rivals finding more success in the Giants’ stead.

Chargers with Eli Manning

The Chargers, on the other hand, would have still been able to put together solid regular seasons despite having Eli Manning rather than Phillip Rivers. LaDainian Tomlinson in the backfield and sure-handed Antonio Gates at tight-end would have taken some of the pressure off of Eli, resulting in far fewer interceptions and far better results going into playoff action.

That’s where it gets interesting.

We have to assume that Eli’s clutch gene would come up swinging again in those newly re-branded Chargers powder blues and maintain the same success that the Chargers actually did see in 2007. Wild Card week would see the Chargers beat the Titans, setting up a juicy date with brother Peyton in Indianapolis. The Chargers won that game and there’s no reason to believe that a hungry Eli couldn’t upset Peyton like Rivers did. That would mean a date with Tom Brady and the 17-0 Patriots.

This is where history deviates.

We already know what really happened when Eli played Tom on Groundhog Day 2008. But in our alternate reality, the two meet two weeks earlier in the AFC Championship. As fate would have it, in a stunning feat, second-year-starter Eli Manning leads the San Diego Chargers past the undefeated Patriots to reach the Super Bowl against Brett Favre’s Green Bay Packers (who were the top-seeded team in the NFC in 2007-08 before falling to the Giants). Unfortunately, with a young Eli already thinking about the statue the Chargers are going to give him and with San Diego lacking the gripping defense that led to Eli’s first title with the Giants, Favre’s Packers are the ones to eventually hoist the Lombardi.

Ripple Effects

The ripple effects from Super Bowl XLII would transform football as we know it.

With Favre winning a title, Aaron Rodgers doesn’t wind up taking over in Green Bay, and, out of pure spite, signs with the Minnesota Vikings as an in-division rival. The Vikings, with Adrian Peterson, Randy Moss, and a nasty defensive line, give Aaron Rodgers the team he needs to dominate the NFC for the foreseeable future, keeping Drew Brees, Brett Favre, Phillip Rivers and Tony Romo at bay.

Peyton, stewing from losing to his younger brother in the playoffs, vows at the family’s Christmas dinner to never lose to Eli again in the playoffs. Where Brady and Peyton Manning found themselves meeting 5 times in our reality, now Eli’s Chargers are intercepting those playoff matchups and ousting Brady before Peyton has a chance. Peyton, then, finds himself playing against little brother Eli’s Chargers in the AFC Championship game every year and, true to his word, manages to never lose to Eli again, leading to 4 consecutive Super Bowls between the Indianapolis Colts and Minnesota Vikings, who, again, are led by Aaron Rodgers.

Unfortunately for both Aaron and Minnesota, the Vikings are cursed and wind up doubling their franchise’s Super Bowl losses at the hands of the Colts.

On the flip side of that, Peyton ends up with 4 rings in 4 years - unparalleled success, accomplishing a string of years Montana never had, while passing his peer, Tom Brady, in rings. Because of that unparalleled success, when Peyton breaks his neck in 2011 (actually happened) and finds himself with nothing left to prove, he decides to hang it up.

The news shocks the NFL world, but proves to be fortuitous for some.

Aaron Rodgers, sick of losing over and over in Minnesota, decides to leave for greener pastures and requests a trade. The Colts, having just lost Peyton, decide to put together a compelling package for Aaron, who gleefully accepts, hoping to break through and finally win a ring.

The Vikings, then, thinking they can get the next best quarterback available (the only one that could truly stand up to Peyton), snag Eli away from the Chargers, who just lost LaDainian Tomlinson in a contract dispute anyways (actually happened) and anticipate a rebuild.

Bob Kraft, growing impatient with Belichick’s flat affect despite not having playoff success since 2005, decides to part ways with his long-time coach. Brady, as a result, requests a trade back to his home state of California in a pairing with the San Francisco 49ers.

Rodgers immediately thrives in Indianapolis, and the Colts look better than ever coasting past each team on the schedule. By the time the season ends, they find themselves 16-0, with a chance to do what Brady failed to do back in 2007. Meanwhile, Eli and the Vikings struggle, but manage to snag the last wild-card slot at 9-7. Brady has a resurgent year in San Francisco and leads the 49ers to the top seed in the NFC.

The playoffs prove to be a grind. The Colts have the AFC Championship against the Steelers in the bag when Joseph Addai fumbles at the one yard-line and the Steelers nearly return it for a touchdown. Aaron Rodgers makes a clutch shoestring tackle at midfield to save the season and the Colts manage to make it to the Super Bowl at 18-0. Eli and the wild card Vikings somehow make their way through the playoffs on the road, knocking off Rivers’ Giants and former mentor Brees’s Saints, and meet Brady and the #1 49ers in San Francisco in the NFC Championship. In an unlikely turn of events, the Vikings knock off the 49ers in overtime to secure a 5th straight meeting between the Vikings and Colts in the Super Bowl.

The Super Bowl is a close, low-scoring affair, with neither offense able to find any rhythm. It looks like Dwight Freeney will end the game with a sack of Eli, but wait! Eli escapes, he launches downfield…Randy Moss jumps up…did he catch that on his helmet?! Eli and the Vikings pull off the upset 17-14, breaking the curse, giving the Vikings their first ever Super Bowl win, ruining the Colts’ chance at a 19-0 season and sending Aaron Rodgers reeling down a dark path. Aaron never plays football again, but the occasional BuzzFeed article pops up with a clip of Aaron’s latest podcast discussion on whether the earth is flat and if Fight Club is actually a documentary.

In this alternate reality, Eli ends his career with 2 rings and not quite as many interceptions, but still with a son named Tom Brady.

Brady decides to finish his career at the old age of 38 with the 3 rings he had before Eli became a starter because Gisele has been asking him to retire since 35 and he determines their marriage is more valuable than playing for another ring since he knows he can’t beat Eli anyways. Peyton ends with 4 rings, but his rings are considered weightier than Montana’s 5 because they happened in succession - the Michael Jordan “highest peak” argument. The Mannings are forever considered NFL royalty and decide to host alternative broadcasts of NFL games on ESPN 2. Eli even uses his gravitas to do something nice for San Diego since he never brought them a title and lobbies to keep them from moving to L.A. The Chargers give him the statue he always wanted as a thank you.

Oh, and Phillip Rivers? He and Tom Coughlin get so heated and red in the face with each other that Phillip’s “gosh-darn-it”s became too plentiful. He worries his 14 children will start seeing a bad-role-model version of their dad. Since he needs the income to support his family and the new set of twins that are due any day, he decides to end his career playing for the Colts, who are looking to maintain relevance after the disappearance of Aaron Rodgers.

Some things are just meant to be.

Amongst the storylines of the ensemble cast found in my day-dreaming brain, you may have forgotten why we are here.

Ah, yes - that’s right: So, how did Eli Manning help Brady become the GOAT? By requesting to be traded on draft night to make sure he only played Brady twice in the playoffs.

I need a nap.

It is no secret that the Los Angeles Lakers have a long history of being a premier destination for premier players. 

To define ‘premier’, please regard the following non-comprehensive list of names: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (5 championships with LA), Derek Fisher (5), Shaquille O’Neal (3), Robert Horry (3), Pau Gasol (2), Wilt Chamberlain (1), Karl Malone, and Gary Payton. Each of these players was wooed by the Lakers at some point in their career, is or will be a Hall of Famer, and contributed to the 16 championship trophies that have been brought home to the Los Angeles Lakers organization. 

Whether by means of its name or its pedigree, much like baseball’s New York Yankees, the Lakers have always seemed to wind up with the greats of each era.

Until recently, that is.

Before the end of Kobe Bryant’s historic career, the Lakers attempted to gear up for one last championship run in 2012, to give Kobe a legitimate shot at getting a sixth or possibly even seventh ring. In doing so, they brought in Dwight Howard – a dominant big man from Orlando, and Steve Nash – a flashy two-time MVP point guard from Phoenix nearing the end of his career. Unfortunately for Lakers fans, injuries and drama led to an unsuccessful end to the Kobe-Howard-Nash experiment, and a complete rebuild effort for the Lakers.

Since that last major offseason splurge, the Lakers have swung hard and swung often for marquee players. Incredibly (perhaps, to the Lakers’ front office: Incredulously), those swings have only led to strike-outs. For years now, reports have been published by ESPN, Bleacher Report, CBS Sports, and various other news outlets about ‘the Lakers’ reported interest in [insert highly-acclaimed free agent here]’, but to no avail. For the first time in the Lakers’ long history of being a premier destination for premier players, their WANTED: posters were not being snatched off of the nail.

During these years, the Lakers’ reported interest in players including the likes of Hassan Whiteside, LaMarcus Aldridge, Kevin Love, Demar DeRozan, Kevin Durant, Gordon Hayward, and Paul George (twice) have not led to any ink scribbled on the signature line of a contract. Each decision by the players to either stay with their current team or sign with another served as a mark of insult to that Long History the Lakers had so meticulously crafted. 

Could it be that the luster of LA had finally faded? Had the players proven that small-market teams were closing the gap? Was it possible that the laundry list of greats in Laker history made the idea of needing to stack up against them too overwhelming? Was Hollywood and all of its glitz and glam finally showing its true, overrated self? Perhaps. Were Laker-haters nationwide grinning from ear to ear at the Lakers’ inability to garner the attention of the game’s top players? Absolutely. 

It looked like times were changing. It looked like the Lakers would lose out on all three of the top players ready to move (of which they were considered a shoe-in for at least one of the three) with Paul George agreeing to a deal to stay in OKC, talks going nowhere for a trade involving disgruntled Kawhi Leonard of San Antonio, and LeBron James likely hoping for one of the other two to join him in signing with LA. It looked like this might be the last straw for a Lakers organization now desperate for reassurance that it was what it thought it still was: a premier destination for premier players. It looked like losing out on all three might be the last shred of evidence needed to prove that it was no longer. George went as far as to say, “I wanted to come [to LA] a year ago, prior to going to OKC. And unfortunately wasn’t traded to the Lakers – Lakers didn’t grab me.” The pressure was placed very directly on the shoulders of LA’s front office for not sealing the deal. Realizing this, Magic Johnson, LA’s president of basketball operations, recently said that he would step down if he couldn’t deliver an elite free agent signing within the next two summers. Things were getting serious. It looked like Los Angeles was watching its last chance to ‘grab’ a premier player flit away. The premier-destination-façade was beginning to crumble, brick by failed pursuit brick.

Until recently, that is.

As recently as July 1, 2018, when LeBron James announced that he would leave Cleveland a second time and join the Los Angeles Lakers.

And, poof: the Lakers organizations’ headaches went away, the façade rebuilt, and Magic Johnson’s job stayed intact. Whether LeBron joined for the name and pedigree, or simply for family and business, it didn’t matter. Los Angeles was reaffirmed once again that they indeed were the premier destination for premier players. And, as long as that reputation continues to proceed it, everything else will, like its Long History, fall into place. 

In joining the Lakers, LeBron adds his name to that long list of acquired Laker greats, and, maybe, at least in the eyes of the Lakers organization, even tops that list. After all, LeBron James just returned to LA its luster. And, like the Cavaliers and Heat before them, they are forever in his debt.

Note: This article was published July 9, 2016.

Forget the Knicks trying to bring hype back to the Big Apple. Forget the Grizzlies paying Mike Conley and Chandler Parsons instead of paying off the national debt. Forget all the average-at-best players getting contracts that made you wish you had given more serious thought to being a bench warmer in the pros.

In fact, be happy that we had a few days to actually give these things some attention, because none of it matters now.

The NBA as you knew it is dead.

On America's birthday, Kevin Durant broke American basketball.

Welcome in the new regime: not all unlike the 1,000-Year Reich -- and this one may last a similar duration. At least it feels that way.

This is reminiscent of other moments that shook the power structure of the NBA: Parish to the Celtics, Shaq to the Lakers, LeBron to the Heat.

But is this the largest power shift yet?

Parish joined Bird before we knew what kind of player newly drafted Kevin McHale would pan out to be. Shaq left Penny to join Kobe in what was only hoped to become a title contender. LeBron joined an all new Heat team that had yet to show it could work together.

But Durant ... Durant joins a current established champion.

The Warriors won an NBA championship two years ago, won a record-breaking 73 games last year, and needed a near-perfect LeBron James and Kyrie Irving to lose the Finals in seven games last month.

If the Splash Bros. weren't great enough already, wrap your head around this: They just lost Harrison Barnes and replaced him with Kevin Durant.

Nay-sayers will point out that we don't know how these superstars will work together yet, but to be pessimistic already about the great upgrade the Warriors just made is to be purely ignorant.

Sure, it is possible that it won't all be glory for the new-look Warriors. Perhaps Durant will flop on a new team like Dwight Howard with the Lakers or Kevin Love with the Cavaliers or any of the veterans brought to the Brooklyn Nets. But this is not Howard or Love or the Nets we're talking about. Let me again remind you, this is former MVP, scoring champ, playoff and Finals experienced, 27-year-old, 6-foot, 9-inch KEVIN DURANT.

Maybe doubters will look to the "Who's Team Is It Anyway?" problem that rocked the potentially dynastic Penny Hardaway and Shaq in Orlando. But those Magic never had a Steve Kerr at the helm. Make no mistake, Steph or Durant: This is Kerr's team. This is Oakland's team. This is the fans' team.

What does this look like for the rest of the league? Well I've heard rumors that the other 29 teams are already trying to put together a new league to transfer to.

If they didn't already, every other NBA fan has a whole new reason to hate the Warriors. Sports fans hate stacked teams. We always have. Just ask the New York Yankees, New England Patriots, Boston Celtics, LA Lakers, or any super team in the NBA of late (including but not limited to: the '94 Rockets, '98 Bulls, '02 Lakers, the Celtics' Big Three in '08, and the Heat's in '13).

Of course, for Kevin Durant, this makes total sense. You did this throughout your schooling years right? You and your buddies always tried to get on the same sports team no matter how unfair it was.

Already termed the "Death Lineup," Steph Curry, Klay Thompson, Andre Iguodala, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green, sounds a lot like a gold-medal Team USA to me.

Durant has proven to be a once-in-a-lifetime type of player. The fact that he has no championship hardware to his name has to wear on him. Time with OKC was at times fruitful and at times frustrating, but one thing was clear: close for Durant was not close enough.

After an up-and-down season, it looked like the Thunder were finally coming together and ready to take that next step, up 3-1 in the Western Conference Finals on the defending champion and regular season king Golden State Warriors.

But three games later Durant was at home on his couch watching those Warriors compete for another championship.

Well, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.

Enter: Kevin Durant the Warrior.

Let that sink in.

Check your watches, NBA fans. It looks like time is the only thing that is going to slow down this train.

Josiah "Sy" Gallimore is an avid sports fan who lives in Greeneville. He is a junior business major at Southern Adventist University near Chattanooga.