Your “What’s Old Is New Again, Again” Wednesday Evening Open Thread

NFL Notes:

• RGIII is back, baby!
  • A one-year deal with the Ravens.
    • The best comment on Deadspin was that the Ravens signed him because he can’t bend his knees to take one.

• On the other end of the redemption spectrum, JFF says it’s the Browns fault he turned out to be a bad pick.
  • To quote: “If Cleveland did any of their homework they would have known I wasn’t a guy who came in every day and watch film. I wasn’t a guy who really knew the X’s and O’s of football.”
    • That’s a good look for a guy looking for a second chance.

• As anticipated, with success come demands – the Eagles are raising ticket prices.
  • Since there are over 40,000 people on the season ticket waiting list, I’m surprised the average is $10 per ticket.

• After yesterday’s Brandin Cooks trade, the Patriots are suddenly sitting on a lot of high-round draft picks.
  • After two years without a first-round pick, and no second-rounder in 2017, the Pats are in a place to draft young (cheap) talent to surround Brady.
    • First round: 23 (from Rams), 31
    • Second round: 43 (from 49ers), 63
  • There is also a theory that they are trying to move up to grab one of the top-4 QBs available.
    • To have him sit behind Brady, watching & learning.

Finally, because the Crimebeat! never stops:

• Clinton Portis has to repay $190,000 to the Borgata casino in Atlantic City.
  • He ran up the debt thinking he’d be re-signed.
    • [Ron Howard voice] He was not re-signed.
• Von Miller is being investigated for landing a hammerhead shark while fishing.
  • Those killjoys at PETA emailed Florida’ Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) after Miller posted photos of his catch on Instagram.
  • Miller says it was released after he took the photo, in accordance with state laws.

On this date: April 4, 1968 – The Assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The assassination was 50 years ago today. Most Americans, and a good number of Canadians, know the basic facts:

• Lorraine Motel – Room 306
• In Memphis, Tennessee, to support a sanitation workers’ strike
• James Earl Ray was the assassin.
  • He was captured in London, believed to be headed to white-run Rhodesia.
  • He pleaded guilty but later recanted the confession.
• Rioting in more than 100 cities around the country

Even in the days before the internet, there were conspiracy theories about Dr. King’s death. They had validity because there had been actual conspiracies to try & stop his civil rights work, most of them orchestrated by FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. The fact that the FBI also thought there was a conspiracy behind the killing would make Alex Jones’ head explode – except for the fact that King was black & Alex Jones doesn’t prefer people with dusky hues.

You can a list of the conspiracies here, a link to a story about made-for-TV trial held on HBO in 1993 here, and a rambling narrative on Loyd Jowers, who was tried in civil court for wrongful death in 1999, for his apparent role in the assassination, a trial derided for stretching the boundaries of legal credibility. Tying everything together, Jowers owned a bar near the Lorraine motel in 1968 and watched the 1993 HBO trial, which prompted him to tell ABC’s Sam Donaldson that Ray didn’t kill King and that he knew who was paid to do it, but he didn’t want to say more unless the district attorney granted him immunity from prosecution.

Authorities have investigated the death of Martin Luther King Jr. five times since his murder in April 1968. Congress, district attorneys and the Justice Department all have concluded that James Earl Ray shot King as the civil rights icon stood on a motel balcony in Memphis.

“You just don’t think that these powerful people, these people who are larger than life, can be killed by some nobody with a gun,” said former Shelby County, Tenn., assistant district attorney John Campbell. “You know, there has to be more involved. Well, sometimes there’s not more involved.”

Tonight’s sports:

• NHL:
  • Senators at Sabres – 7:30PM | Sportsnet1
  • Blackhawks at Blues – 8:00PM | NBCSN
  • Wild at Ducks – 10:30PM | Sportsnet1
• NBA:
  • Celtics at Raptors – 8:00PM | ESPN
  • Spurs at Lakers – 10:30PM | ESPN
• MLB:
  • White Sox at Blue Jays – 7:00PM | Sportsnet
  • Cardinals at Brewers – 7:30PM | FS1

Your GAMBLOR Wrestlemania prop bets are out. Deadspin has a satisfactory breakdown of the top-half of the card to help you decide what to choose. The fine folks at Sports Betting Experts (“They’re the experts!”) have a list of 21 separate bets you can make on events occurring at Wrestlemania. Not outcomes; events. WHY, IT’S LIKE THE MATCHES ARE PRE-DETERMINED!