Your “Seventh Heaven – Game Seven!” Wednesday Evening Open Thread

But not in the bad-touchy Dad-from-7th-Heaven kind of way.

NFL News:

• The NFL has named Alberto Riveron the new Head of Officiating.
  • Technically the senior vice president of officiating, he fills the role vacated by former officiating head Dean Blandino.
    • Riveron, the NFL’s first Hispanic referee, was elevated to referee in 2008.
  • In addition, they split the remaining responsibilities into two other jobs
    • Russell Yurk, an NFL replay veteran of seven years and a former NCAA and high school referee, has been named the vice president of replay and administration.
    • Wayne Mackie, an NFL official with a decade of experience, was brought on as the vice president of officiating evaluation and development — a department in charge of week to week grading of referees as well as managing the league’s developmental pipeline for officials.
• Broadway Joe wants the Jets to go full-Hackenberg.
• The Colts are going to retire Peyton’s jersey at their October 8 game versus the Niners.
  • They will also put him in their “Ring of Honor” and unveil a statue.
    • he will be the first Colt in the Indianapolis era to have his number retired.
  • Given how lifelike Peyton himself is, they should have no problem reproducing his image.

• Pouring salt on an open wound is Disney CEO Bob Iger, who called the ESPN layoffs “not that significant”, when viewed as 100 employees out of an 8000 person workforce.
  • An important factor in the “restructuring” is that ESPN has lost more than 10 million subscribers since 2013, something noted in their financial reports.
    • Reading the Disney “Second Quarter and Six-Month Earnings” report, it notes that:

Cable Networks revenues for the quarter increased 3% to $4.1 billion and operating income decreased 3% to $1.8 billion. The decrease in operating income was due to a decrease at ESPN, partially offset by increases at the Disney Channels and Freeform…The decrease at ESPN was due to higher programming costs, partially offset by affiliate and advertising revenue growth. [snip] Affiliate revenue growth was due to contractual rate increases, partially offset by a decline in subscribers.

Finally, your long reads of the day are a 1-2 punch of sadness from the MMQB, detailing the slides into dementia of Nick Buoniconti & Jim Kiick, and the effects of these illnesses on their families.

To brighten your day, here’s some Baltimore Ravens at a fundraiser for the Baltimore Animal Rescue and Care Shelter (BARCS) called “Pawject Runway”.

Tonight’s sports:

• NHL: both are Game 7
  • Penguins at Capitals – 7:30PM | NBCSN / CBC
  • Oilers at Ducks – 10:30PM | NBCSN / Sportsnet
• NBA:
  • Game 5: Wizards at Celtics – 8:00PM | TNT / TSN
  • Game 5: Jazz at Warriors – 10:30PM | TNT
• MLB:
  • Cardinals at Marlins – 7:00PM | ESPN / TSN2
  • Cleveland at Blue Jays – 7:00PM | Sportsnet1

What will make Gary Bettman the saddest? THAT’S WHAT I WANT!