EdA

On one hand I don't think it's possible to be more condescending that Collinsworth. On the other hand, it's Brady. So yeah.

In fairness, the Reds aren't asking for a new park (YET...but give it time). They ARE asking for renovations...for reasons, of course. The issue you're probably remembering was the owner's son/CEO going on the radio and losing his cool about Reds fans calling the Castellini family cheap. His statement was to the effect that "IF we sold the team, what guarantee would you have that a new owner group would not move the team?" Which was vague extortion and idiocy since the Reds would be one of maybe 5-6 teams MLB would never allow to move. Li'l Castellini has since backtracked and apologized. That said, doing a fire sale in a pique after a labor situation AND starting off as poorly the Reds are is going to table all that. For now.

Yeah. I am no lawyer but...from that the verbiage seems vague enough to give room to fail for a coach taking over a bad team. Which is what the Browns were. Which is also what any head coach would want with the tire fire that the Browns were at that point. No penalties for losing (yes, no incentives for winning but...who was going to win with that Browns team?) and incentives for playing younger players. That seems like a smart move. How you interpret the whole no incentives for winning (until year 3) and basically being incentivized for playing guys who probably shouldn't be playing as much as they did is up to you. But if there is one thing we know, courts don't generally do you any favors if they are asked to interpret motives that are not clear cut. But then I also remember Hue talking the Raiders into trading a first round pick for the corpse of Carson Palmer. So I may be a smidge bitter towards Hue.

Ehh. I liked Jacobs and all. But "great" is a stretch. He is fine. It's the "when healthy" PLUS the price tag part that made not picking up the option a no-brainer, actually.

Speaking of...Forbes just released their list of team values for this year. Just you know, look and remember the "owners make no money" line.

AND 9:20am: Suzuki’s contract is worth $85MM over five years, according to Ken Rosenthal of The Athletic, who also notes the inclusion of a full no-trade clause. That makes for a $14.625MM posting fee, bringing the Cubs’ total expenditure to $99.625MM. Only Suzuki’s $17MM AAV will count toward the luxury tax. Full no-trade? OK. Sure.

99 days for that? The Cards sure know how to party.

So first off, the mainstream articles have sort of confused things with this. Here's the breakdown of the PROPOSED offer from over the weekend per MLB Trade Rumors. So the players potentially agreed to - "give the league the authority to make on-field changes within a 45-day window of initial proposal, in regards to three specific rules — a pitch clock, restrictions on the use of defensive shifts, and the size of the bases. " and "Any of the proposed rule changes would be explored via a committee that would have player representation. The three proposed rule changes would begin in the 2023 season." So restrictions on the shift is not the same as banning. And since no one is at the stage for the league and players to discuss the details of either scenario, let's not get the cart before the horse on ANY of this. Plus, you know, there still is not an agreement yet so...with no games, none of those issues are a priority. All three of those things are mostly cosmetic (I guess the argument for larger bases is for safety and to up the chances of stolen bases which...shrug). I dunno. Had they just let the umps enforce the pace of play rules already in place - and had the league actually backed the umps when they tried - there were be no need for a clock. I'm all in favor of speeding up the game. Batters stepping out all the time and doing their song and dance while pitchers take their sweet time throwing the ball is infuriating. But if they didn't already enforce quicker play (when it was already in the books) all we will end up with are clocks in stadiums no one minds. And shifts are the end results of hitters being dumb. I don't have a solitary issue with shifts if the hitters are not smart enough to adjust. To me it would be the same as if the NFL banned double-team coverage of receivers because QBs are too dumb to throw to a check-down receiver. I have no issue with people hating on the shift. Your taste is your taste. To me it would be a simple enough thing that would die on its own if hitters were smarter and went to the opposite field more. Alas. I've not seen any real results from increasing the size of the bases in the minors so I am totally indifferent to that.

Someone with mad photoshop skills already has put Daniel Jones' head on a cockroach body by now, right?

Everyone is basically rooting for Kafka, right? Nothing would better represent Rippa's existential angst as a Giants fan than having Kafka at the helm, yes? And I say this as someone whose team swallowed the Pats poison pill for GM and coach.

God do I hate football.

No one wants to see kickers decide playoff games in that manner. And the networks damned sure do not want to see Mahomes or Rodgers or Brady or whoever sitting on the sideline while imitation football players decide playoff games. I am one of the only people in the world that likes the college OT rules but Fowler is right, that game would have gone on for 7 hours with the way the defenses couldn't stop anyone by the end.

Yeah. Moving along. Don Wilson, co-founder and rhythm guitarist of The Ventures dead at 88.

Kansas City Philadelphia Baltimore Cincinnati Washington Minnesota Tennessee Indianapolis Green Bay Buffalo New Orleans Tampa Bay LA Rams Miami Arizona LA Chargers Tiebreaker #1: Total points in Chargers-Raiders 52 Tiebreaker #2: Matthew Stafford passing yards vs SF 155 Tiebreaker #3: Winning margin in NYJ/Buff 22

Tampa Bay Miami Buffalo New England Indianapolis LA Rams Philadelphia Chicago Kansas City LA Chargers San Francisco Arizona Detroit New Orleans Green Bay Pittsburgh Tiebreaker #1: more passing yards - Patrick Mahomes or Joe Burrow Burrow Tiebreaker #2: total points in Min/GB 49 Tiebreaker #3: Odell Beckham Jr. receiving yards vs Baltimore 78

Tennessee Green Bay Arizona NY Jets Atlanta Philadelphia Tampa Bay LA Chargers New England Minnesota Cincinnati Seattle Denver Pittsburgh Dallas Miami Tiebreaker #1: winning margin in Pit/KC 5 Tiebreaker #2: Dak Prescott passing yards vs Wsh 285 Tiebreaker #3: total interceptions thrown in Jax/NYJ 7

Yes. The Raiders suck and all. And I have given you much grief. But what have I and the Raiders done to you to have them called the Ravens?

Yeah. I was chatting with Rippa. The local Columbus news has treated Urban being fired as a big deal this morning. Because...Ohio State Zombies. And the media was hitting randos on the street and OSU campus for reactions to mostly shoulder shrugs. MYYYYYYY personal conspiracy theory (grain of salt) is there is genuine concern Ryan Day is jumping to the Bears to be their next head coach. (This part is legit. The rumors are all over the place. Locally there is not cold fear since the media has been pushing that Day is paid too much. It's the Boston MO of shitting on a person on the potential way out if you will.) And I could clearly see...and this is both too good and too infuriating...Ohio State hiring Urban back in a heartbeat. (OK. The Urban rehire is a stretch but he still is loved in the town and by the media. Whether OSU wants to go through that again is another story.) My guess is Urban does TV again. But no one should be shocked if he lands back at Ohio State.

Kansas City Cleveland New England Miami Buffalo Houston Tennessee Arizona Dallas Philadelphia Cincinnati at Denver San Francisco LA Rams Green Bay Tampa Bay Minnesota Tiebreaker #1: Tom Brady touchdown passes vs NO 5 Tiebreaker #2: Total Points in Sea/Rams 39 Tiebreaker #3: Winning margin in GB/Bal 15

Pittsburgh NY Jets Cleveland Washington Kansas City Seattle Tennessee Carolina Denver LA Chargers San Francisco Tampa Bay Green Bay Arizona Tiebreaker #1: total points in Buf/TB 49 Tiebreaker #2: Joe Burrow passing yards vs SF 225 Tiebreaker #3: Winning margin in Rams/Ariz 5

Dallas Philadelphia Arizona Indianapolis Cincinnati Tampa Bay Miami Minnesota LA Rams Washington Baltimore San Francisco Kansas City Buffalo Tiebreaker #1: Mac Jones passing yards vs Buffalo 175 Tiebreaker #2: Winning margin in Den/KC 15 Tiebreaker #3: LA Rams points scored vs Jacksonville 32

Detroit Dallas Buffalo Houston Jacksonville New England Philadelphia Cincinnati Tampa Bay Miami LA Chargers San Francisco LA Rams Baltimore Washington Tiebreaker #1: Winning margin in Cle-Bal 9 Tiebreaker #2: Matthew Stafford passing yards vs Green Bay 275 Tiebreaker #3: Total points in Min/SF 41

MLB just did a story on this. Randy Johnson to the D-Backs is probably your answer.

New England Miami San Francisco Washington Green Bay Cleveland Buffalo Philadelphia Baltimore Tennessee Cincinnati Kansas City Seattle LA Chargers Tampa Bay Tiebreaker #1: total points in Dal/KC 82 Tiebreaker #2: Tom Brady touchdown passes vs NYG 5 Tiebreaker #3: Longest field goal made in GB/Min 52

Baltimore Buffalo Tampa Bay Detroit Tennessee Dallas New England Indianapolis LA Chargers Arizona Denver Green Bay Kansas City LA Rams Tiebreaker #1: Patrick Mahomes passing yards vs LV 355 Tiebreaker #2: Stefon Diggs receiving yards vs NYJ 152 Tiebreaker #3: Darrell Henderson rushing yards vs SF 75