NFL Nuggets:

• Today is all about getting paid:
  • The Chiefs and DT Chris Jones agreed to a four-year contract worth $85 million.
    • $60 million is guaranteed.
      • Proving there’s some money left in the kitty after Mahomes got paid.
        • Actually, Mahomes’ extension left the salary cap flat for the next two years, so they could top-up now to continue their run.
    • He was on the franchise tag, which would have paid him $16.1 million.
      • He was prepared to hold out for a $20 million per year deal.
  • Myles Garrett & the Browns have apparently reached terms on a five year, $125 million extension.
    • As an extension, it is worth $144 million over seven years, making the cap hit a bit more bearable for the Browns.
    • It is the third-richest overall defensive contract, after Aaron Donald & Khalil Mack, but the $25 million in new money per year makes it the richest per year contract for defensive players.
• The Eagles & the city of Philadelphia are at odds over whether fans will be allowed to attend Eagles games in 2020.
  • The City has banned all public gatherings larger than 50 people until February 2021.
  • The Eagles believe they are exempt from the declaration.
    • The City says otherwise, as they play in the civic-owned Lincoln Financial Field.
      • And because NFL guidelines “remind teams that local authorities have the ability to ban fans.”

Bastille Day:

It commemorates the storming of the Bastille prison in 1789 by a mob of Parisians during the opening stages of the French Revolution. They were looking for munitions & supplies to fuel the rebellion against Louis XVI that had been fomenting since the year prior, when famine & food shortages led the populace to rise up against the established order.

A national assembly called by Louis XVI to resolve the issue divided itself into thee estates, national assembly divided by social class into three orders: clergy (First Estate), nobility (Second Estate) and commoners (Third Estate). The clergy & nobility represented only 2% of the population, but under the hierarchy of demand they could outvote the commoners on issues of “national importance”. When they refused to meet any of their demands, and indeed locked them out of the assembly hall, the revolution began under the auspices of creating a new National Assembly. They certified their stance by swearing the “Tennis Court Oath”, on the Jeu de Paume, an indoor tennis court, in defiance of King Louis XVI’s order to disperse. In these modest surroundings, they took the historic Tennis Court Oath, with which they agreed not to disband until a new French constitution had been adopted.

From here the National Assembly began demanding authority to rule on behalf of the people, something Louis XVI, by virtue of “the divine right of kings”, refused to surrender. He called out his royalist troops to defend public institutions. An attempt to negotiate a truce failed when civilians, fearing their leaders had been captured, stormed the Bastille prison where the negotiations had been taking place. As a result of the fighting, 200 attackers were killed, but so was the provost of the Bastille & his guard, which allowed the facility to fall into the rebellion’s hands.

Emboldened by this success, the commoners began rising up against all monarchist institutions, initiating the Great Fear (la Grande peur), which led the majority of French nobles & upper clergy to flee France. In the wake of this, on August 4, 1789 the National Assembly passed a law abolishing feudalism, which has been described as the “death certificate of the old order.” Further, they replaced feudalism with the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (Déclaration des droits de l’homme et du citoyen), a statement of democratic principles grounded in the philosophical and political ideas of Enlightenment thinkers like Jean-Jacques Rousseau. This came into effect on August 26th, and became the cornerstone for the democratic France we know today.

The current government of France decided to commemorate the day by increasing pay for health care workers. After negotiating with the various health care unions in France, the government agreed to provide $8.5 billion (7.5 billion euros) in raises, averaging about $208 (183 euros) a month for nurses and health care workers. For the first time since 1980, the usual parade was not held along the Champs Elysees. France has had nearly 210,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and more than 30,000 COVID-19 deaths since the start of the pandemic. They instead held a small ceremony involving a military walk-past of dignitaries, and a flyover by the air force.

Tonight’s … entertainment?:

• MLS Is Back – TUDN / Twitter / TSN
  • 8:00 PM: Orlando vs. NYCFC
  • 10:30 PM: Philadelphia vs. Miami
• Top Rank Boxing on ESPN – 9:00PM | ESPN / TSN2
  • Oquendo-Herring (junior lightweights)
    • Jonathan Oquendo (31-6, 19 KOs) vs. Jamel Herring (21-2, 10 KOs) in a super-featherweight main event in Las Vegas.
• Chopped – 9:00PM | FOOD
  • “Beasts & Bourbon”
    • It’s a match made in culinary heaven as four chefs must tame wild game meat in every round and use a different bourbon to accent and complement their dishes.
• Wrasslin’ replays:
  • WWE Survivor Series (year unknown) – 7:00PM | FS1

Just want to give a shout-out to Wakezilla, who is going through a bit of a family thing right now. He gave me permission to post a family photo from last Christmas,

so let’s all keep him in our thoughts tonight & hope for a speedy resolution to whatever’s going on.