Your “Which Crappy Bowl Game Is Tonight?” Tuesday Evening Open Thread

Answer:

BOCA RATON BOWL
FAU Stadium | Boca Raton, Fla.
Dec. 20, 7:00 p.m. ET | ESPN

 
Memphis vs. Western Kentucky

Do with that what you will.

NFL Notes:

• I’m not sure how, but the Packers are now the six seed.
  • Or, as Aaron Rodgers prefers to refer, the Packers are now the power bottom of the NFC playoff bracket.
• It is still amazing and hilarious that Cam got a taunting call on the hit to his head. At worst, it should have been offsetting penalties. Look at this:

https://twitter.com/CauldronICYMI/status/811036981228490752

• On that note, I’m sure Dan Snyder sure enjoyed hearing “We were flat out-coached”, especially with the playoffs on the line. “There’s no question about that.”
  • Sounds like someone’s hoping to challenge Jeff Fisher’s record.
• One final Panthers – [Redacteds] note: I’m guessing she did not like that, Kirk.

• Odell Beckham Jr. is going on about double standards, claiming he’d surely be fined for doing what Ezekiel Elliott did. To be fair, probably.
  • To be honest, we don’t know yet if Zeke is as big a baby.
  • Le’Veon Bell hopped on board that train as well, noting how he and Antonio Brown got fined for a handshake.
    • Sure, but was the handshake in front of a charity bucket that would have gotten the League good PR?
      • No? Carry on, then.
• The Giants were fined $150,000 and the downgrading of their fourth round draft pick in 2017 for their use of a walkie talkie during their game against the Cowboys. Coach McAdoo also found himself $50000 lighter.
  • Even though they won, OBJ wonders if Jason Garrett & the Cowboys would be treated the same way.
  • Somewhere beneath Gillette Stadium, a silent smile emerges from beneath a dark hoodie.
• I hope Texans fan is ready for a miracle run, because seventy-two thousand dollar man Tom Savage is leading the team into Week 16.
  • I’d be more interested if it was Dan Savage. I’d be thrilled if it was Randy Savage.

Filling out your non-game coverage of the Patriots this week, a witness identified Aaron Hernandez as the shooter in a double homicide in July 2012. The eyewitness, who was in the car with victims Daniel de Abreu, 29, and Safiro Furtado, 28, on July 16, 2012,  stated at the preliminary hearing that he spotted Hernandez as the person who pulled the trigger at a stoplight. He allegedly got their attention by asking, “what’s up Negro?” This was in response to an incident and perceived disrespect at a club earlier in the evening.

Meanwhile, in attempts to mount some sort of “Twinkie” defense, Hernandez’ lawyer actually proposed in court that “Russian Hackers Might Have Tapped His Phone”. There was an apparent leak of phone data from the Suffolk County jail in 2014 when Hernandez was there during the Odin Lloyd trial. His lawyer alleges that this might be a way that the prosecution was able to get their hands on supposed attorney-client conversations, and may try to have all evidence arising from this supposition excluded at trial.

In more realistic applications, Hernandez’s lawyers are trying to exclude all ballistic evidence from trial. They argue that a presidential commission has raised questions about the scientific validity of ballistic studies routinely used in criminal cases around the country.

Trial is expected to begin sometime in February 2017.

In tangentially related news, an eyewitness from the first Hernandez trial pleaded guilty to shooting up a Hartford bar in 2014. He pleaded no contest to criminal possession of a firearm, first-degree reckless endangerment and third-degree criminal mischief. Under the terms of the plea agreement, he’ll serve five years; my reading of the law & charges says he could have faced 20 if convicted by a jury. BTW, “eyewitness” is a double entendre, because Hernandez alleged shot out one of the guy’s eyes during the Lloyd murder.

Tonight’s other sports:

Hope you like roundball! It’s like we’re slowly being prepared for life after football.

• NBA:
  • Brooklyn at Toronto – 7:30 PM | Sportsnet
  • Utah at Golden State – 10:30 | Sportsnet
• College Basketball:
  • Charlotte vs. Maryland – 6:00 PM | ESPN2
  • Georgia at Georgia Tech – 6:00 PM | ESPNU
  • Maine at Providence – 7:30 PM | FS1
  • Creighton at Arizona State – 8:00 PM | ESPN2

I don’t trust the NFL, so why would I trust the NCAA? MORE CORRUPT; LOWER PAY!