<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0" xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd" xmlns:googleplay="http://www.google.com/schemas/play-podcasts/1.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[APR's Substack]]></title><description><![CDATA[My personal Substack]]></description><link>https://www.belowsurfacestats.com</link><image><url>https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6jZ1!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2fc2456c-fafc-4bd1-b21c-3d44d7f0b81d_144x144.png</url><title>APR&apos;s Substack</title><link>https://www.belowsurfacestats.com</link></image><generator>Substack</generator><lastBuildDate>Sat, 04 Jul 2026 22:12:54 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://www.belowsurfacestats.com/feed" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><copyright><![CDATA[APR]]></copyright><language><![CDATA[en]]></language><webMaster><![CDATA[belowsurfacestats@substack.com]]></webMaster><itunes:owner><itunes:email><![CDATA[belowsurfacestats@substack.com]]></itunes:email><itunes:name><![CDATA[APR]]></itunes:name></itunes:owner><itunes:author><![CDATA[APR]]></itunes:author><googleplay:owner><![CDATA[belowsurfacestats@substack.com]]></googleplay:owner><googleplay:email><![CDATA[belowsurfacestats@substack.com]]></googleplay:email><googleplay:author><![CDATA[APR]]></googleplay:author><itunes:block><![CDATA[Yes]]></itunes:block><item><title><![CDATA[Launch of Below Surface Stats]]></title><description><![CDATA[I&#8217;ll never forget the day I watched First Take when Mark Cuban destroyed Skip Bayless.]]></description><link>https://www.belowsurfacestats.com/p/launch-of-below-surface-stats</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.belowsurfacestats.com/p/launch-of-below-surface-stats</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[APR]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sat, 04 Jul 2026 17:09:11 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!6jZ1!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F2fc2456c-fafc-4bd1-b21c-3d44d7f0b81d_144x144.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>I&#8217;ll never forget the day I watched First Take when Mark Cuban destroyed Skip Bayless. It was shortly after the Mavericks won the title against LeBron&#8217;s Heat, and Skip kept insisting LeBron &#8220;choked&#8221; and faced &#8220;excruciating pressure.&#8221; Cuban finally flipped the script and proved those claims were complete BS. He incinerated him by asking a simple question Skip couldn&#8217;t answer: what did the Mavs actually do differently to hold LeBron to such mediocre performances? As a viewer, it opened my eyes.</p><p>There&#8217;s more to the game than the average person understands. We tend to view everything at the most obvious level. Things are binary in our simple brains, it&#8217;s either &#8220;LeBron good&#8221; or &#8220;LeBron bad,&#8221; and the nuance never gets explained. Honestly, I don&#8217;t know why. Most coverage of the things we love stays basic and high-level, even when the people talking have legendary careers as coaches or players themselves. I want to change that. I want to actually dive deep on the hot topics in the things I care about and explain them from a statistical and strategic standpoint.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.belowsurfacestats.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Thanks for reading APR's Substack! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div><p>This is my place to learn about the things I care about, and I&#8217;ll share what I find here as a way to save my own thoughts. I see it as my mission to explore my passions and apply the love for statistics and strategy that I normally reserve for my 9-5, for boring purposes, to the things I actually daydream about. You know, during the Zoom call when someone asks &#8220;can you see my screen?&#8221;, or during the part where everyone talks about the weather instead of taking ten seconds to think about a topic people actually give a shit about.</p><p>Hopefully someone else learns something from this, or at least gets entertained along the way. I may never earn a cent, or even land a second reader, but it&#8217;d be pretty sick if I could eventually make money doing this. One day I might have enough to buy the domain that drops &#8220;stats&#8221; from the title and just be the simple phrase: Below Surface. I want to dive into my passions and actually feel that depth of knowledge and immersion, instead of being stuck in purgatory with the things I care about.</p><p>On the 250th birthday of the greatest country in the world, it&#8217;s time to go deep, and get below surface.</p><div class="subscription-widget-wrap-editor" data-attrs="{&quot;url&quot;:&quot;https://www.belowsurfacestats.com/subscribe?&quot;,&quot;text&quot;:&quot;Subscribe&quot;,&quot;language&quot;:&quot;en&quot;}" data-component-name="SubscribeWidgetToDOM"><div class="subscription-widget show-subscribe"><div class="preamble"><p class="cta-caption">Thanks for reading APR's Substack! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.</p></div><form class="subscription-widget-subscribe"><input type="email" class="email-input" name="email" placeholder="Type your email&#8230;" tabindex="-1"><input type="submit" class="button primary" value="Subscribe"><div class="fake-input-wrapper"><div class="fake-input"></div><div class="fake-button"></div></div></form></div></div>]]></content:encoded></item></channel></rss>