ESPN just let go of Karl Ravech after 33 years. I know exactly how that feels.

Nine days into the book being out — things are going well. Kindle version coming soon, audiobook down the road.

But today I want to talk about ESPN, because this week hit close to home.

Another round of layoffs. Karl Ravech — 33 years at the network — gone. Ryan Clark, gone. Cam Newton, gone. Tom Pelissero, coming over from NFL Network, gone before he even got settled. The NFL Network acquisition made most of this predictable: when you merge two operations that cover the same sport, you get what the corporate world calls redundancies. People doing the same jobs. Someone has to go.

I was let go in April 2017, part of the purge where roughly 100 on-air personalities were cut in a single day. I was lucky — I had other things going on and never wrapped my entire identity around ESPN. But I watched colleagues who did, and I know what it does to people.

Today I'm talking about what these cuts actually mean, why the NFL Network deal made them inevitable, and what the business of sports media has in common with the business of being a professional athlete. The math is the same. Too many talented people. Not enough jobs.