Good morning, all! I hope your Friday is off to a terrific start!
Through Week 2, the NFL ratings are off the charts and it is more than just the Eagles-Chiefs Super Bowl rematch from last Sunday. I break it all down in the video.
Here are some other thoughts, crossing my mind for this Friday:
Nebraska is hosting Michigan in a huge statement game, Saturday afternoon at 3:30. The Cornhuskers are 2.5-point underdogs. Coach Matt Ruhle has a habit of turning college football programs around in his third year. See his tenure at Temple and Baylor. (The NFL experiment fell flat, but let that go.) A win on Saturday would go a long way toward returning Nebraska to the college football elite.
Best of luck to Clayton Kershaw in retirement. The Dodgers southpaw and former three-time Cy Young Award winner, 37, is calling it a career, after this season.
A big thank you to Benjamin Hill, who along with Sam Dykstra had me as a guest on their podcast last week to talk about broadcasting the first and last games at The Diamond in Richmond. Well, to put a capstone on the story, Hill wrote a piece about it on MLB on Thursday. Here is the link.
I wrote yesterday that last night’s NFL game was not a must win for Miami coach Mike McDaniel. Well, a report has surfaced that Dolphins owner Stephen Ross will give McDaniel every chance to succeed, so don’t expect any changes, despite the constant, click bait, drum beat. McDaniel is signed through 2028.
Those Cleveland Guardians and Arizona Diamondbacks are certainly making things interesting, aren’t they?
And speaking of interesting, imagine awakening 58 years ago this morning, opening your newspaper and looking at the American League standings:
Now that was a pennant race. Nothing was contrived with divisions, wild card teams, etc. Four clubs in a 10-team league separated by just one-half game.
Now, of course, with divisional play, wild card teams and the like, MLB’s goal is to have this kind of finish every season. I get it. Times change. Interest needs to be maintained over the long haul of a 162-game season, especially with competition from other sports and entertainment venues. But there is no denying 1967 was a fun, intense season.
That is going to do it for today’s newsletter and podcast. As always, thank you for subscribing and have a great Fri-yay!
DAN
