Your “Is There Always Something To Watch?” Tuesday Evening Open Thread

NFL Nuggets:

• Bears linebacker Roquan Smith has got an apparent case of the Everson Griffen’s and is out indefinitely.
  • He was taken off the roster 20 minutes before kickoff last Sunday, and is not expected to travel with the Bears to London to play against the Raiders.

• Smith’s absence might not matter, as Khalil Mack has had this game circled on his calendar since the schedule came out.
  • “I’ve been looking forward to it. This is one I’ve been looking forward to. I can’t lie to you, man; I’ve got to let you know how it is. It’s going to be a big one.”

• He might be gone but the union’s not forgotten: The NFLPA is considering grievance options concerning Antonio Brown.
  • Brown believes he is owed nearly $64 million:
    • His overall potential Raiders salary of $54 million, including the $30 million in guaranteed money, and
    • $10 million from the Patriots.
  • He is poised to file up to nine grievances.
  • Let’s see how the back-to-school program is going:

My English paper do by tonight 12am need a prof reader make sure As and Bs #Eng303

— AB (@AB84) September 29, 2019

Looking good there, Ace.

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Say – can I ruin two memories for you?

Thanks. Well then,

Bill Belichick won his first game with the Patriots. After starting his tenure 0-4, on October 1, 2000 – the Patriots beat the Broncos 28-19 behind four Drew Bledsoe touchdowns that Tom Brady watched from the bench. The Patiots finished 5-11 that season, and have been barely able to turn things around in the years since, only managing 16 division titles and six Super Bowl victories. And to think,

As Gratliff knows, this week is a pretty big week for professional wrestling. The debut of Cody Rhodes’ & Shad Khan’s AEW – All Elite Wrestling – is Wednesday night. Unlike other second-tier wrestling promotions (Impact; ROH), AEW is coming out of the gate with a major network deal – TNT & TSN – and a two-hour prime-time block: Wednesday Night Dynamite.

They promise a new way of presenting “professional wrestling”, as opposed to the “sports entertainment” that the WWE has been providing since it won control of the marketplace. AEW has enough of the old – Cody Rhodes, Chris Jericho, the Young Bucks – to draw in the curious, and the promise of fresh faces or revitalized personas – Kenny Omega, Jon Moxley, their entire women’s division – that is will be able to deliver on the promise of fresh rivalries and “a different product”.

To counter that, they have the usual product on Monday Night Raw (which last night was a wet fart & advertising for AEW). Surprisingly, Vince McMahon has risked taking his niche brand NXT off of the subscription network and put it up against AEW on Wednesday nights, using its partnership with USA to try and get eyes away from the other product. They also have a big premiere this week, with Smackdown moving to FOX on Friday nights, and the first show has “The Return of The Rock” plus Brock Lesnar’s first TV match in 15 years.

Return, the Monday Night Wars have. Starting next week there will be 11 hours of wrestling available across three/two (USA / Canada) networks. How long it lasts I don’t know. But for as long as it does, we live in a new golden age of wrestling on TV.

Tonight’s sports:

• MLB:
  • NL Wildcard playoff: Brewers at Nationals – 8:00PM | TBS / Sportsnet
• WNBA Playoff:
  • Game 2: Connecticut Sun at Washington Mystics – 8:00PM | ESPN / TSN2
• 2019 Rugby World Cup:
  • France vs. USA – 3:45AM | NBCSN / TSN
  • New Zealand vs. Canada – 6:15AM | NBCSN / TSN

Don’t forget – hockey season starts tomorrow.