Your “Crisis? What Crisis?” Monday Evening Open Thread

NFL Nuggets:

• Tuesday might be an ugly day in NFL head offices, as there’s no idea what to do with the franchise tag.
  • The deadline is supposed to be 4:00pm ET, but without a firm salary cap – currently estimated at $180 million – teams are hesitatnt to make decisions.
  • Something has to be done before the start of the new League year on March 17, as team & signing bonuses kick in, affecting tag decisions.

• The Steelers have turned on a black player receiver?
  • Apparently, because according to steelers.com, Chase Claypool is “a diva”.
    • Which is funny, because JuJu Smith-Schuster was the logo dancer until he got tuned up.
      • And let’s not forget the “Browns is the Browns” comment right before their playoff game.
  • This is especially hilarious given a) their VERY diva QB; and b) JuJu is likely to test free agency.
    • It is very Steelers to watch their best option choose to leave town while bad-mouthing the guy who can’t.

• Von Miller is not currently facing criminal charges in Colorado.
  • Which is interesting, because he was investigated for something, but we don’t know what for because the police said they aren’t pursuing it.
    • An official denial in the absence of factual reasoning should appease just about everyone.
  • You know the drill.

Oh, and the Bengals might have accidentally on-purpose leaked their new jersey online.

Honestly, it looks like a Chinese knockoff, with three shitty little stripes on the shoulders. It’s the kind of “jersey” you’d have found in a 1980s Sears catalogue.

And why do they insist on keeping the “Bengals” on the jersey when they know what we really only want to see,

The Paul Brown script is a nice touch, though. I’ll give them that.

Tonight’s sports:

• NHL:
  • Vegas vs Minnesota – 8:00pm | NHLN / Sportsnet
• NCAA: nothing but conference tournament games, some with teams I don’t care to look up
  • Southern Final – 7:00pm | ESPN
  • Sun Belt Final – 7:00pm | ESPN2
  • West Coast Semifinal: Saint Mary’s vs. Gonzaga – 9:00pm | ESPN
  • Horizon Semifinal: Northern Kentucky vs. Oakland – 9:30pm | ESPN2
• WWE:
  • Monday Night Raw – 8:00pm | USA / Sportsnet360
    • It ‘might’ be “good”, as they try to take advantage of the wet fart that was the end of AEW Revolution. 
      • It’s on par with “The Shockmaster” in terms of epic failures.

This week should be pretty good in terms of unpaid college kids playing sports during a pandemic, as the various conferences work their way towards “Selection Sunday”. No doubt the ACC will try and find a way to get Duke into the tournament in a more egregious way than the B1G did Ohio State into the football championship.