NFL numbers
We got an excellent point raised Tuesday about the NFL and gambling and how the TV slumps have changed that narrative.
Stewwie raised a fair point about fantasy and gambling angle, and one that I know I have used before to say the NFL was slump proof.
In that regard there is some "kill the Golden Goose" angle to that as the NFL's Red Zone caters to fantasy players and while it makes the league coin, it also usurps viewers, especially in the regular season.
And I don't think there is one single reason to the NFL's dwindling numbers as much as it's a combination of things. But people who don't think the protests have turned fans away simply are not paying attention.
I personally know of a lot of people who have changed the channel and have not - and likely will not - come back. And that's the thing that has to be the most troubling for Goodell and Co. about playoff numbers zagging.
And the low point for any championship Sunday round during the last five years for the NFL is an average of 44 million viewers throughout both games. With all that's happened and considering the quarterbacks involved not named Tom Brady, we think 44 million averages would be pretty good.
And that means the baseline for all expectation has quickly become somewhat of the target in two short years. Is there a solution?
There are a number of problems to address, of course, and figuring out a way to reconcile with a lot of middle America upset about the protests would likely be the most daunting.
Other issues are not unlike the things facing other businesses in how to better connect with customers in a technological age that has fewer and fewer people sitting down to watch TV and fewer and fewer people even connected to cable packages.
A streaming system - something MLB is way ahead on by the way - is paramount. Of course the billion-dollar question on that front is how do you market and monetize that on a similar model. Online advertising is normally dimes on the dollar by comparison to traditional ad models, but that's where we are.
There's also the issue of stars, and the marketing of said stars. The NBA has experienced a ton of growth because it has a lot of guys who are either one-name stars or are instantly recognizable.
The NFL - beyond Brady and maybe Brees and Rodgers - simply does not. (And it's not a coincidence that those one names are last names, considering the "names on the jersey" angle.)
Because marketing individuals over teams is so anti-football coach DNA it's hard to fathom. But it has to be a real concern. (And to be honest, the NFLPA needs to tell the Todd Gurleys and everyone else bagging on fantasy football to dial that back. Turn those 10 million people off, and really watch the numbers plummet.)
Evil personified, by a man and an organization
We're curious about the perceived lack of outrage about Larry Nassar story beyond the victims.
For all the whispers and speeches and finger pointing that has come from Hollywood and all the good it has done and changes it has brought, this is worse because in most cases it involved helpless children rather than powerless actors and actresses.
For all the outrage and hand-wringing about Jerry Sandusky - and it deserved all of it because it was a nightmare story - this is worse because of the scale. Charges and suits against Sandusky ranged in the teens. Charges and suits against Nassar currently are brought by 140 women.
And please do not misinterpret any acceptance of either of those stories. Each is wrong and life-changing and horrific. But this is a certifiable monster that should be sentenced to death and no one in the sporting world - especially in the international Olympic setting - is really talking about it.
Heck there are Soviet teams that are being forbidden from competing in future Olympics because of rampant doping.
Why has the overt and blatant cover-up from the U.S. Gymnastics organization not received similar sanctions. Because we know and believe this to the extreme end of this discussion: There is zero, Zero, ZERO way sexual abuse and assault over that long of a period and with that many victims could happen without clear and obvious assistance from countless folks in the organization.
There's no way - no bleepin' way - that coaches and supervisors and board members did not either know or suspect something and refused to act in an effort to protect those young athletes.
In fact, the main reason this story caught a wave of publicity this week was not because of the excellent Outside the Lines piece on Tuesday, but rather the social media exchange that included super model Chrissy Teigen.
When a story broke that if former U.S. star gymnast McKayla Maroney would face $100K fine if she speaks at Larry Nassar sentencing after she signed a non-disclosure agreement after settling for $1.25 million, Teigen took to Twitter.
She wrote: "The entire principle of this should be fought - an NDA to stay quiet about this serial monster with over 140 accusers, but I would be absolutely honored to pay this fine for you, McKayla."
Teigen's Tweet got almost 4,000 coments, almost 70,000 likes and almost 300,000 retweets. But the questions raised in the ESPN OTL show must be addressed:
How folks within the U.S. gymnastics community enabled Nassar?
This story is powerful.
And while it would completely hammer the USOC and the billions in TV rights NBC pays for the rights to the Summer Olympics, if steroids is bad enough to get the Russians banned, how can this be anything but 10 times worse.
Again, maybe it has to do with a cloudy and muddled perspective.
Power sports couples
OK, we all like a little celebrity gossip, whether we admit it or not.
Yes, even Chas stops at the checkout aisle at the Walmart or the Food City to gawk at the headlines of the People magazine or the Star or whatever is the most outrageous if for no other reason than the head-shaking comedy.
Well, the sports gossip was confirmed earlier this week when Danica Patrick told the AP that she and Aaron Rodgers were dating. Patrick used to cuddle with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Rodgers used to smooch with Olivia Munn, the popular actress who has been a slew of things, kindling someincluding some X-Men stuff and is quite the smokeshow.
Anyhoo, the merger of Rodgers-Patrick leaves a slew of questions.
Who wears the pants in that relationship is No. 1? Rodgers appears quite laid back - he is famous for the "R-E-L-A-X. Relax" quote a few years ago among his myriad of quarterback skills - and the lasting NASCAR images of Patrick are her trying to fight a fellow driver on the way to Victory Lane. (Some would ask "how did Danica ever know where Victory Lane was?" and that would be a fair question.
The other question is about sports and power couples and if Rodgers-Patrick would crack the top five?
Well, in terms of power celebrity couples with one sports star, well, there's no chance. Start with Brady and Gisele and add J-Lo and A-Rod in a Wheel of Fortune nightmare but two folks with more than 1$ billion combined. From there the next 12 spots could Derek Jeter and any of the superstars he snuggled with during his Hall of Fame career at short and between the sheets, but for sure his spot with super model and wife Hannah Davis. David and Victoria Beckham are certainly top-five world wide. Add in Carrie Underwood and Mike Fisher or Justin Verlander and Kate Upton and that's a tough list to crack.
As for double sports power couples, well, that list is a little more open to Rodgers and Patrick. (And yes, she has retired but so have a few of the following names who make that list.)
We'd think either Andre Agassi and Steffi Graf or Mia Hamm and Nomar Garciaparra would be the front-runners for the top spot. The females are among the best to ever play their sports and the guys are a Hall of Famer and a fringe Hall of Famer in Garciaparra. (The surefire No. 1 if they could have stayed together would have been Tiger and Lindsey Vonn considering they each are all-time Rushmore members of their sports.) Maybe Misty May-Traenor and Matt Treanor, who may not have the star power but she was part of the best beach volleyball tandem ever and he had a decade-long career in MLB.
Ann Meyers and Don Drysdale is an all-timer, too, and it's easy to forgot about Nadia Comaneci and Bart Conner.
Discuss.
This and that
- NBC has announced new sports analyst Dale Earnhardt Jr. will make his debut as a contributor to the network's Super Bowl LII coverage. He also will work on NBC's coverage of the Winter Olympics in South Korea next month and will, according to the news release, "explore the culture, people and traditions in South Korea and experience Olympics competitions first hand." First, here's knowing that if the Patriots lose this weekend, NBC will need to call in every big gun this side of Cosby to try to avoid Super Bowl LII from being a debacle. Second, is anyone else really curious to see the culture clash between Dale Jr. and the South Korean folks? Kind of "My Cousin Dale Jr." but we are going to need to get Marisa Tomei a role somewhere. Dale Jr. of course will be a full-time analyst for NBC come July when everyone ignores their full-time NASCAR schedule.
- Yes, it's cold around Chattanooga. This morning the ol' outside gauge hit a robust 3 degrees. But before we go feeling sorry for ourselves, well, here's an AP story about it hitting negative-88 in Russia. How cold is that? Well, people's eyelashes are freezing. And if we are wondering about the education gap, well, we cancelled schools on Tuesday as a preemptive and because it was pretty doggone cold. The little Russian tykes routinely head to school in minus-40 degree temperatures. On a serious note, two Oymyakon men froze to death over the weekend trying to walk from their car to a nearby farm.
- OK, a little inside the business here. Forever the standing line about a bad headline has always been "Dog bites man" because well, how does that grab anyone. We may have a new, digital-age, click-bait version. This morning as we were doing our morning research, one of the top stories on Yahoo.com was "Trump's remarks provoke a backlash." Well, you think so doctor? Really. Trump could order a pastrami on rye for lunch and that would provoke a backlash from someone. What's next? "Trump Tweets cause controversy" could be a contender.
- Brian Kelly has dismissed four more Notre Dame football players including wide out Kevin Stepherson and a couple of running backs. Stepherson was a legit threat on the perimeter but this was his third known violation and the Irish have three scholarship running backs on scholarship with signing day two weeks from today. (Side question: Will that signing day be known as "Late signing day" or "Traditional signing day" now that most of the work has been done in the earlier signing period. Here's another suggestion: What about "Last Chance You" playing off the popular Netflix show? Discuss.)
- South Carolina rallied from a 14-point hole to beat Kentucky, which looked its age as the nation's youngest team on the road. Missed free throws. Bad shot selection. A lot of things can be pointed to. But we'll add this positive for the long-sighted view of how this is not a terrible thing for Kentucky. One, UK gets everyone's best shot and for a lot of SEC teams, that has for the longest time been their one sell-out. (Yes, coming off a Final Four run, it may be different at South Carolina, but there's no denying the extra juice on the floor and in the stands when UK comes calling.) That environment and dealing with pressure - good and bad - helps young players mature better and more quickly. Two, the way John Calipari handles losses is one of his main strengths, especially considering he doesn't have that many to deal with each year. Here's betting this one will be quite the teaching tool, and this postgame quote - "We weren't listening to nothing the coaches were saying," Kevin Knox told the AP after the game - will be fuel for a while.
Today's question
Operation Desert Storm started on this day in 1991. For all realistic purposes, you could make an argument that Operation Desert Storm still is ongoing.
On this day in 1998, Matt Drudge breaks the Monica Lewinsky-Bill Clinton story. Has there ever been a more nuanced political side-step than "I did not have sexual relations with that woman" considering it opened it up for other women and what exactly is sexual relations exactly?
Man, this day is pretty craptastic: It was the first first day of Prohibition in 1920. Pit of Misery. Dilly! Dilly!
And how about Arnold Rothsetein (who fixed the 1919 World Series) and Al Capone being born on this day.
So too were Betty White, who is a spry 96, and Benjamin Franklin.
Ali would have been 76 today.
Also, Jim Carrey celebrates a birthday today.
What makes up Jim Carrey's Rushmore, and Dumb and Dumber is far left.
Go.