NFL Notes:

• Multiple sources say the Eagles are trying to convince Chip Kelly to trade them Torrey Smith. I guess they need someone who can outrun a Carson Wentz deep ball, because the constant overthrows are making the other receivers look bad, and ROOKIES GOTTA LEARN, MAN!.
  • Why they aren’t using the most obvious point to aid their cause is beyond me.
• FYI: the trade deadline is November 1 #thanksobama
• Field Commander Jay Gruden is hearing some noise about how the prevent defence helped aid the Lions’ final winning drive last Sunday.
  • Saying things like “they don’t get paid to backpedal” kinda sorta hangs his defensive coaches out to dry, something I have a hard time believing a Gruden would do.
• Jay Cutler with this week’s banner quote:
  • “When asked if he feels he still has the support of Bears coach John Fox, Cutler replied, “He doesn’t have a choice, I guess, at this point. Brian is out, so I’ve got to go.”
• Voices are now starting to get louder that the Giants as an organization need to face sanction over their handling of the Josh Brown matter, despite releasing him this afternoon. I’m just not comfortable holding out the Cheatriots as an example of the dichotomy:

If the Patriots were fined $1 million and stripped of a first- and fourth-round draft pick for potentially deflating footballs, how can the Giants, who explicitly kept an abuser on its roster and withheld information from the league, not receive an at least equally harsh penalty? _(via)

“We have valued the amount of air in a ball but yet devalued when a person or persons have been harmed and fail to put forth necessary actions or energy and time” in dealing with them, Steve Smith wrote. _(via)

• Now there’s talk the proposed 2018 China game won’t happen because of travel & labour issues. The travel issues concern the multiple time changes & distances. The labour issues concern the impact on the 4th preseason game and player cuts.
  • Nowhere does it mention that most Chinese meat is so full of drugs the whole team might end up suspended after their first piss test back home.
  • PFT piles on by arguing that the NFL should be more concerned with saving the brand at home than trying to expand sales overseas.

Tangentially related to the above point, si.com has a long-ish piece about the reasons for the decline in ratings for the NFL this year.

• The usual suspects are there:
  • the “No Fun League” & officiating
  • fan reactions to concussions and protests
  • the many bad games & bad, bad matchups
    • especially those scheduled for night viewing
• as are some 2016 outliers:
  • the election
  • the Cubs (but not the Indians)

It’s nothing you haven’t heard before, but it’s another part of the increasing cacophony asking for something to be done to improve the game.

Finally, Deadspin has a long-form article – really, it seems like half the book – of excerpts from the new Jeff Pearlman book, “Gunslinger”. They chose to focus on two parts with a symmetrical line: that the Vikings had had a bounty program prior to Favre’s arrival, and how the Bounty-gate era Saints pounded him down in winning the NFC Championship.

90s TV callback!

So everything is coming up Cleveland today. Game One of the World Series starts there tonight, and the NBA season tips off down the street with LeBron & company raising their banner. There’s expected to be almost 60000 people in downtown Cleveland for sports, and the best the Browns can hope for is that people visiting the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame will use their parking lot.

Ohio is a swing state in the election, so you know politicians want to be all over this. Anyone going to the game is liable to be accosted by all manner of low-level pol running for state office. The Senate race in Ohio is considered “battleground”, although in recent weeks “incumbent Senator Rob Portman (R) has taken a significant lead over former Governor Ted Strickland (D) in the race”. Further to Ballotpedia‘s point,

Portman’s get out the vote effort in Ohio may even provide “reverse political coattails, with big stakes for Mr. Trump. Ohio has backed the presidential winners in the past 13 elections, and no Republican in modern history has won the White House without capturing Ohio,” according to The Wall Street Journal.

In the big race, fivethirtyeight.com‘s average of polls gives Hillary Clinton has a 1% lead over Donald Trump in the swingiest of states, but realclearpolitics.com shows the opposite, with Trump having the 1% lead. There is between 5-10% support for “other”, but that should shrink closer to voting day. I don’t think Hillbot would show up to any games, because she’s gone in pretty hard for the Cubs this year but can’t afford to alienate the more liberal part of the state. Only the most fanatical Trump supporters could ignore his obvious Yankees affiliation. Things like this matter in the “third-worst gerrymandered place on the planet.”

The pins are from some enterprising person’s ebay site. I admire their incentive to try and monetize this election for themselves as well.

Tonight’s sports:

• NHL Hockey:
  • Sabres at Flyers – 7:30 PM | NBCSN
  • Lightning at Leafs – 7:30 PM | Sportsnet1
  • Ducks at Sharks – 10:00 PM | NBCSN
• NBA Basketball:
  • Knicks at Cavaliers – 8:00 PM | TNT/TSN
  • Spurs at Warriors – 10:30 PM | TNT/Sportsnet1
• World Series: Game 1: Cubs at Indians – 8:00 PM | FOX/Sportsnet

I hope the Canadian ad geniuses that came up with the “Canada’s Team” moniker for the Jays choke on this Series. GOD I MISS THE EXPOS!