Why Does the Most Monotonous Job in the World Pay $1 Million? (Ep. 493 Update)

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Documentary, Society & Culture

4.5 • 32.9K Ratings

🗓️ 16 February 2023

⏱️ 53 minutes

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Summary

Adam Smith famously argued that specialization is the key to prosperity. In the N.F.L., the long snapper is proof of that argument. Here’s everything there is to know about a job that didn’t used to exist.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey there, it's Stephen Dupner.
0:05.5	If you watched this past Sunday Super Bowl, in which the Kansas City Chiefs beat the Philadelphia
0:10.1	Eagles by kicking a field goal with just a few seconds left, you may have noticed a few
0:14.7	things.
0:15.7	You may have noticed that Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes is just an absurdly good
0:20.8	and clutch performer even when he's hurt.
0:24.2	You may have noticed the controversial holding penalty on the Eagles' defense that gave
0:28.0	the Chiefs a chance to run out the clock before Harrison Butler kicked that winning field
0:33.5	goal.
0:35.0	One thing you almost certainly didn't notice was the man who snapped the ball on that
0:40.4	winning kick.
0:41.4	His name, by the way, is James Winchester.
0:43.9	He is the Chiefs long snapper.
0:46.3	And you're not supposed to notice him because we only notice the long snapper when something
0:50.9	goes wrong.
0:52.6	As it did in last year's Super Bowl.
0:55.1	James, no, Patrick pitched the ball up that snap.
1:01.0	Last year, just before that Super Bowl, we published an episode about the profession of
1:07.0	the long snapper.
1:08.7	Now we've gone back and updated that episode and it includes an interview with the allegedly
1:14.1	guilty long snapper to set the record straight.
1:17.1	So you're about to hear an updated version of our episode called Why Does The Most Minotinous
	...

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