Your “It All Comes Down To This” Wednesday Evening Open Thread

NFL Nuggets:

• Today’s main news is all about deals that could have been, like:
  • Devonta Freeman to the Lions.
  • Andy Dalton just the hell out of Cincinnati.
  • Jamal Adams – without his knowledge – to the Cowboys.

• The Patriots have dragged Nick Folk out of retirement to be their new kicker.
  • He last played in the NFL in 2017 for Tampa Bay.
    • Earlier in 2019, he was the kicker for the Arizona Hotshots of the Alliance of American Football. So he’s had a little game action this year.

• Arena football might finally be dead.
  • ESPN reports that Arena Football One, the successor to the old Arena League, suspended operations on Wednesday.
  • It is the result of a lawsuit over alleged unpaid insurance premiums between 2009-2012.
    • “Those liabilities, which are all related to prior league operations, severely constrain the league’s ability to expand and operate,” the league said in a statement.

Finally, I think we all need to take a deep breath and enjoy Mark Schlereth taking a giant dump on John Elway today.

• He went on FS1 and just said what most everyone is thinking:
  • “Do I trust him to fix what’s gone wrong? No. I mean, how did he fix it in the first place? He found himself a unicorn, Peyton Manning,” Schlereth said on FS1. “Peyton Manning makes up for a multitude of sins. All the quarterbacks he’s gotten after don’t.”
• And here’s the literal money shot:

.@MarkSchlereth goes in on John Elway and the Denver Broncos 🔥🏈

"Do I trust him to fix what's gone wrong? No! This football team lacks depth, they lack talent, they lack grit, they lack toughness. They haven't had an offensive line that's worth a squirt of urine in 5 years." pic.twitter.com/7hLXmqV8iu

— Speak (@SpeakOnFS1) October 29, 2019

Dead-Deadspin update:

• The ad company that helped start the furor has dropped the campaign.
  • Borrowing from The Daily Beast, Farmers Insurance Group pulled a seven-figure advertising deal with G/O Media this week amid increasingly public turmoil between the digital-media company’s management and editorial staff.
    • According to the Wall Street Journal, the campaign was worth $1 million and required the media company to deliver nearly 43.5 million ad impressions through next year.

• It’s gone full KSK – All of the writers have quit – apparently all at 6:00PM ET.

Deadspin staffers are leaving en masse it seems pic.twitter.com/uF3us5ldXw

— David Gardner (@byDavidGardner) October 30, 2019

• Management, in response, has shut off all commenting on the few articles that were published today & released their own statement:

G/O spokesperson on Deadspin resignations: "They resigned and we're sorry that they couldn't work within this incredibly broad coverage mandate. We're excited about Deadspin's future and we'll have some important updates in the coming days."

— Max Tani (@maxwelltani) October 30, 2019

• And a guy who thinks his farts are cologne has also weighed in:

Hey @JimSpanfeller I reached out when you bought deadspin. I told you what would happen. I will take it off your hands for 1 dollar. You can still have equity. I will clean house and fix this for you. Let me know when you want to meet. This is my world. Let the king save you

— Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) October 29, 2019

Bringing smiles to faces:

Since the world has been kinda garbage lately, here’s a couple of things to hopefully make you smile.

First, a tweet from one of my favourite follows on the Twitter:

Tom Landry led all NFL coaches in the 1970s in street dollars earned by his hoes. pic.twitter.com/OoTCSbynRr

— Super 70s Sports (@Super70sSports) October 30, 2019

I didn’t know he had that side. At least, I didn’t when he spoke at my church in the 70s.

^{That decade was strange.}

Second, I took the dogs for a hike this morning, and we played hide & seek in the woods.

We didn’t find any “presents” from Scotchy, and they were plenty exhausted when I left for work.

Tonight’s sports:

• MLB:
  • Not-Expos at Astros – 8:00PM | FOX / Sportsnet
    • As Son Of Spam said last night, the Not-Expos have the road field advantage.
  • GAME 7, BAY-BAY!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=57&v=FSTyAiCaoG8

Other sports:

• NHL:
  • Oilers at Blue Jackets – 7:30PM | Sportsnet1
  • Wild at Blues – 8:00PM | NBCSN
  • Canucks at Kings – 10:30PM | Sportsnet1
• MLS:
  • Eastern Conference Final:
    • Atlanta United vs. Toronto FC – 8:00PM | FS1 / TSN
• NBA:
  • Pistons at Raptors – 7:30PM | TSN3
  • Bucks at Celtics – 7:30PM | ESPN
  • Clippers at Jazz – 10:00PM | ESPN
• Wrasslin;
  • AEW Dynamite – 8:00PM | TNT / TSN2
  • NXT – 8:00PM | USA

That’s it for me until Saturday. Don’t forget to tune in tomorrow for the annual “[DFO] Hallowe’en Spook-tacular”, where we share stories we wrote or plagiarized ourselves.