Your “No One Likes Us; We Don’t Care” Thursday Evening Open Thread

NFL News:

• So, the market cap is now set at 5 years, $137 million, with $74 million guaranteed.
  • I don’t know who they’re going to have in front of him, though.
  • Meanwhile, Tom Brady is turning 41, and his backup is Brian Hoyer.
    • Maybe they can turn that second-round pick into something tangible.
    • But at least they’ve got former Colts head coach Josh McDaniels back as OC in New England.

• On that front, the Colts are looking to interview Leslie Frazier for their HC vacancy.
  • He spent two years as an assistant with Tony Dungy on the Colts staff, so he has an Indy pedigree.
    • It seems like more than a Rooney Rule interview.

• Now the [Redacteds] are blaming Kirk Cousins for them trading for/signing Alex Smith.
  • They claim “mixed messages”, because they couldn’t understand what he meant by “pay me or trade me”.

• Robert Kraft is probably a little miffed that Bill Belichick didn’t fill him in on the Malcolm Butler plan for The Big Game™^®©
  • “Coach always gives me a pretty good overview before the game,” Kraft told CNBC the Friday before the Super Bowl.
  • This article’s thoughts on why Butler was sat date back to Super Bowl XXV, when Belichick was the Giants DC against the Bills.
    • He let Thurman Thomas run all over the Giants, in order to keep Kelly from throwing the ball.
    • Thinking is, he wanted the Eagles to be similarly lulled to sleep by keeping Butler on the sidelines.

Finally, because God hates us all for revelling in Patriots schadenfreude, si.com asked Tim Tebow about playing in the XFL.

• Never mind he is still trying to become a NY Met.
• I’m reproducing it here so you don’t reward such media buffonery with extra page clicks:

SI.com: When Vince McMahon announced the return of the XFL, everyone on Twitter wanted you and Johnny Manziel in the league. Were you aware of that?

Tebow: I’ve had a lot of people ask me about it, but I didn’t know those were the two things on Twitter. I can’t say I follow it that closely.

SI.com: On his conference call, McMahon said you’d be welcome in the league. Have you thought about seeing what happens when that league launches?

Tebow: That’s very nice of him, but 2020 is a long way from now. I’m focused on today, I’m focused on spring training and a lot of things before that. I’m not even close to thinking about that right now.

SI.com: So that’s not a “no” or a “yes.”

Tebow: What if it’s a “I have no idea?” That’s in 2020 and I’m super excited about baseball.

Jason Kelce had the best time at the Eagles parade.

Something tells me he can crowdsource the fine. Stone Cold should chip in based on the bump in merch sales.

Tonight’s sports:

• Olympics: times are best-guesses because coverage is blocked into groupings
  • TSN’s coverage starts at 6:30PM
  • CBC’s coverage starts at 7:00PM
  • NBC & NBCSN’s coverage starts at 8:00PM
  • Events:
    • Mixed Doubles Curling:
      • Canada vs. China – 7:00PM | TSN
      • USA vs. Switzerland – 8:00PM | NBCSN
    • Figure Skating – 8:00PM | NBC / CBC
    • Luge: – 9:00PM | NBCSN / TSN
    • Skiing: Moguls
• Opening ceremony – 6:00AM | CBC / NBC

• ---

  NHL:

  • Canucks at Lightning – 7:30PM | Sportsnet
  • Vegas at Sharks – 10:30PM | Sportsnet
• NBA:
  • Knicks at Raptors – 7:30PM | Sportsnet1
  • Celtics at Wizards – 8:00PM | TNT
  • Thunder at Lakers – 10:30PM | TNT / Sportsnet1
  • Mavs at Warriors – 10:30PM | TSN2
• NCAA:
  • Georgia Tech at Louisville – 7:00PM | ESPN2
  • Duke at *North Carolina – 8:00PM | ESPN
  • Stanford at Utah – 8:00PM | FS1
  • SMU at Houston – 9:00PM | ESPN2
  • UCLA at Arizona – 10:00PM | ESPN
  • Washington at Oregon – 10:00PM | FS1

Seamus has you tomorrow for (hopefully) a sexy Olympic Open Thread, and I’ll be dropping the weekend posts in there somewhere. ‘NIGHT ALL!