Your “Today I Settle All Family Business” Wednesday Evening Open Thread

NFL News:

• Le’Veon Bell will return to the Steelers on September 1st:

9-1-17 😉 https://t.co/8Sj7MvzD79

— Le'Veon Bell (@LeVeonBell) August 23, 2017

• It’s looking a tad more serious in New York, as reports are OBJ may miss the season opener at the Cowboys due to the ankle injury he picked up against the Browns.
  • The MRI has revealed only a sprained ankle, not the tear or break that was feared.
    • A definitive answer will come on the Wednesday before Week One, when they have to reveal the true nature of the injury to the League. Unless they’re the Seahawks.

• Learning from the Josh Brown situation, the Giants have waived accused domestic abuser OL Michael Bowie.
  • He missed Monday’s game in Cleveland because he turned himself in on charges involving domestic assault and battery and two counts of malicious injury or destruction of property in Oklahoma.

• Shows how much I know: The Browns are starting DeShone Kizer on Saturday versus Tampa Bay.
  • Brock Lobster might not even play. It turns out, the Browns were trying to showcase him as trade bait during the first two games. Not getting him hurt might make him attractive to teams in desperate need of a QB but don’t want the “Kaepernick distraction” factor.
    • and TV’s other available QB is “excited” for his TV debut in Seattle – where the whole broadcast transition started one year ago – this Friday.

Finally, according to ESPN it’s looking grim on the union negotiation front, as NFL Players Association president Eric Winston agreed with DeMaurice Smith’s recent comments that a work stoppage in 2021 is likely, given the current relationship between the union and the league. He elaborated:

“I’m certainly not worried about it,” he said. “I’m not going to be around that long. I don’t care if even if there are rookies in here. They’re not going to be playing that long. So if this thing dies out in 20 years, it dies out in 20 years. That’s not really my concern, and I don’t think it’s any of these players’ concern in here, either.”

From atop his golden pedestal, Roger Goodell countered:

“We believe that we have a labor agreement that is working well for the players, is working well for the NFL and, I think, as a result, is working well for our fans,” Goodell said. “We think we should continue that. Now, does that mean we think it’s perfect? No. Does that mean the players think it’s perfect? No. But this should be a basis for us to work together and get it solved.”

Yep – they’ll easily find common ground.

Today’s “I’m not going to waste time in front of the TV tod– hey, what’s that?” moment was brought to me by the last half-hour of “The Godfather”, and in particular this sequence.

Tonight’s sports:

• Baseball:
  • MLB:
    • Jays at Rays – 7:00PM | Sportsnet
    • Rangers at Angels – 10:00PM | ESPN / TSN2
  • Little League World Series:
    • Texas vs. North Carolina (double elimination) – 7:30PM | ESPN
• MLS:
  • TFC vs. Philadelphia – 8:00PM | TSN
  • Whitecaps vs. Seattle – 10:00PM | TSN
    • the border lineup coming north for this was almost an hour all day

I get that AMC makes “The Godfather” last four hours due to commercials, but how does “The Fugitive” get all the way to three? It was only 90 minutes long to begin with. I SMELL CONSPIR– ooh, look, “Godfather II” is starting.