NFL News:

• The expected became fact this morning, as Ben McAdoo & GM Jerry Reese were both fired by the Giants.
  • Reese can claim to at least have contributed to the Giants recent Super Bowls, so his tenure wasn’t an abject failure but simply a collective one.
  • Steve Spagnuolo will be the interim replacement.

• GRONK MAD ABOUT CHEAP SHOTS & BAD CALLS!
  • According to Deadspin, after the game Buffalo head coach Sean McDermott mentioned the incident to New England counterpart Bill Belichick, who “apologized and said the play was ‘bullshit’.”
    • Mark the date: Grumblelord felt bad for something.
  • The Patriots await the inevitable suspension (probably one game), saying “we control what we can control”.
    • UPDATE: Nailed it.

• Everything’s covered in the opening sentence from ESPN:
  • Baltimore Ravens cornerback Jimmy Smith, who suffered a season-ending Achilles injury Sunday, has been suspended four games for violating the NFL’s policy on performance-enhancing substances, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter.

• In case you missed it, the Silverdome implosion went hilariously wrong.
  • According to CNN, only the kicker charges detonated, meaning the implosion did not take place.
    • The Washington Post said that, according to demolition company Adamo, “10 percent of the explosive charges in eight key locations failed to go off because of a wiring issue”.
  • The hope is that it can be removed soon, because the City of Pontiac has BIG PLANS for its redevelopment.
    •  The site’s eventual redevelopment “will be one of the economic opportunities that are marking a new era for the City of Pontiac,” the mayor’s office said.
  • The plan is to use excavators this week to take down the structure. Unless gravity does its thing, of course.

Finally, we are all in mourning at DFO today, after Marcus Peters returned BLEERGH to his home planet.

We anticipate his swift return, and hope that his time with the Elder Ones doesn’t bring tonight’s matchup to a frightening conclusion. It always breaks my heart when you see family photos and you know one of the people is missing.

Come back soon, big guy.

There was a larger-than-normal collection of the Jesus freaks out last night at the Seahawks game. It seemed a little odd – usually, I see them before the afternoon kickoff, because we heathens have spent the morning in Bacchus’ palace rather than the Lord’s temple. Methinks they were out due to the national broadcast & hopes they could get into a crowd-shot before the game.

And along with attention whores came an attention whore’s whore.

Dude, you guys won. Stay home. But I think I’ve seen your flag somewhere before…

Game preview: Steelers at Bengals

I think we all know what we’re expecting tonight,

But we probably won’t get it. The Bengals are on the outside of the playoff chase at 5-6, and need a win to keep their math alive. If they were right out of it, maybe then we’d get more of the Pacman & Burfict Show. But they are going so far to humanize this game, Peter King sent an intern out to Cincinnati to lovingly cup Burfict’s balls. (That’s what I guess – I’m not actually going to watch it.) However, a silver lining could be that losing this game might finally put an irremovable target on coach Marv Lewis’ back, and bring the changes Bengals fans long for. But not too much change; Mike Brown is still the GM, and change costs money.

The Steelers can’t afford to roll with the cheap shots either. They need a win to keep pace with the Patriots, lest they want to go to Foxboro in January. Ben needs to stay upright, and Le”Veon Bell needs more work on his ground game. They could probably sit Antonio Brown and still be fine, but he’s so enjoyable to watch it’d be a crime to not keep him active. Plus, he’ll give the Bengals’ safeties fits, and that might be the spark that leads to greater conflict. On the whole, expect lots of this,

and few actual punches. A convincing win and no injuries will make this the best-case scenario for the Steelers tonight.

Tonight’s sports:

• Monday Night Football:
  • Steelers at Bengals – 8:15PM | ESPN / TSN
• NHL:
  • Bruins at Predators – 8:00PM | Sportsnet
• NBA:
  • Cavs at Bulls – 8:00PM | Sportsnet1
•  NCAA:
  • Men’s basketball:
    • Michigan at Ohio State – 6:30PM | FS1
    • Wisconsin at Penn State – 7:00PM | ESPN2
    • Florida State at Florida – 9:00PM | ESPN2
    • Northern Illinois at Iowa State – 9:00PM | ESPNU
• WWE:
  • Monday Night Raw – 8:00PM | USA / Sportsnet360
    • no PPV until the Rumble, so all rivalries in a holding pattern
• Curling:
  • 2017 Roar of the Rings Olympic Trials: Draw 8 – 7:00PM | TSN2

I don’t know why people keep trying to bring the Lord into football. After all, the owners worship Mammon, and Goodell wants to be richer than Croesus. A POX UPON THEM ALL!