Your “Mess With The Bull, You Get The Horns” Tuesday Evening Open Thread

NFL Nuggets:

• The NFL will be experimenting with new rules at the Pro Bowl:
  • Kickoffs after field goals or converts.
    • A modified CFL rule, whereby the kicking team can then
      1. Give the opposing team the ball back on that team’s 25-yard line to start their series; or
      2. An ‘onside kick’ option, whereby the kicking team gets a 4th & 15 at their own 25, and has to convert to keep the ball.
  • A change to the illegal shift rule.
    • It will not be a false start if a flexed, eligible receiver in a two-point stance who flinches or picks up one foot, as long as his other foot remains partially on the ground and he resets for one second prior to the snap.
• I guess that means there will be a Pro Bowl Open Thread on Sunday, because there’s nothing more that [DFO] loves than exhibition football injected with new rules!

• Interspersed in a story about how much of the Black Hole will move to Vegas from Oakland comes news that 40% of the PSL’s purchased for the new stadium come from outside Nevada.
  • According to the Las Vegas Review Journal, all the PSLs have been sold, raising almost $478 million for the Raiders.
    • The Raiders themselves only forecast reaching a total of $250 million.
    • Prices for Raiders’ PSLs ranged from $500 to $75,000.
  • And that The Black Hole has established a Vegas chapter, led by one Cisco Ortega.

• I don’t give two shits about these topics:
  • One shit: Where will Brady play next year?
  • Other shit: Where will Rivers play next year?

• Speaking of shits, it was revealed today that Barstool & Dave Portnoy were found complicit by the NLRB for unfair labor practices when it came to intimidating employees from founding a unionized workplace at Barstool Sports.
  • This was uncovered by Bloomberg, whose legal reporter filed a FOI request for the ruling.
  • You can read the full NLRB decision here, but here’s some of the juicier bits:
    • they have to delete all tweets related to intimidating employees from founding a union
    • they admitted to, and have to delete, the “Barstool Sports Union” Twitter account, which was set up to catch employyes trying to unionize
    • they have to remove an anti-union video mocking AOC
  • There is an agreement that no labor laws were broken, and there was no announcement of any financial penalty.

Still,…

GUESS WHO GOT FUUUUUCKED?! https://t.co/jK8SbBiGhb pic.twitter.com/yfMqUymIK6

— IWW Freelance Journalists Union (@IWWFJU) January 21, 2020

ON THIS DATE:

January 21, 1994 – Robert Kraft buys the New England Patriots.

• He paid $227 million to purchase the team from James Orthwein.
  • That’s $391 million in today’s money.
• Today, the team and its assets are valued at $4.0 billion.
  • Mostly because of what he turned the surrounding area into.
    • After threatening to move the team to Hartford in order to get the zoning he wanted.

^{1994 Masshole: “THAT MUTHAFUCKAH TOOK AHWAY MAH HAHNESS RACIN’, MICKEY! FUCK HIM AND HIS TEAM FAHEVAH!!”}

Tonight’s sports:

• NHL:
  • Vegas at Boston – 7:00PM | Sportsnet
  • Penguins at Philadelphia Flyers – 7:30PM | NBCSN
• NBA:
  • Clippers at Mavericks – 8:30PM | TSN4
• NCAA:
  • Georgia at Kentucky – 7:00PM | ESPN / TSN2
  • Kansas State at Kansas – 7:00PM | ESPN2
  • Maryland at Northwestern – 7:00PM | FS1
  • Miami at Duke – 9:00PM | ESPN / TSN2
  • St. John’s at Marquette – 9:00PM | FS1
• Tennis:
  • Australian Open: Second Round – 9:00PM | ESPN2 / TSN

MLB Nugget:

• Good times in the Home & Native Land tonight as Canadian Larry Walker & some guy named “Jeter” were elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame.  
  • He started his career as an Expo, and was part of the famed 1994 team that got screwed out of a playoff run by the strike.
    • An event which ultimately resulted in the move of the franchise & the False Expos winning the 2019 World Series.
  • He will likely go in wearing the hat of the Colorado Rockies.
  • He becomes just the second Canadian-born player inducted into the Hall, joining pitcher Ferguson Jenkins.
• Equally satisfying – Curt Schilling did not get elected.