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Good morning, all!
Are you ready for some football? As we enter NFL Week 11 there are many intriguing games. I break them down in the above video.
Here are some other thoughts as the countdown is underway: 2 weeks until Thanksgiving, 6 weeks until Christmas and 7 weeks to 2026:
Glad to see some of these other sports websites are jumping on the Mike Kafka bandwagon. Just remember where you saw it first.
Turns out it wasn’t a bright idea by Michigan State football to play three ineligible players. The program has now been placed on three years probation, fined and had 14 wins vacated.
I don’t have the time, but maybe someone - and feel free to steal my idea - ought to start a website and keep score of all these free agent rumors - especially when it relates to baseball - to add up how many of them actually come true. Most of them are nothing more than clickbait.
Congratulations to MLB’s Cy Young Award winners:
Skenes was a unanimous choice, by the way.
I do have to wonder how some of these D1 college football programs survive. Tuning in to Buffalo at Central Michigan on CBS Sports Wednesday night - because I love football - and there were hardly any spectators. Either Central Michigan has a huge season ticket base or wealthy donors, because there is no way that school is making money off of the gate for this game.
YouTube and Disney maybe at war, pulling ESPN and ABC off the platform, but ABC still topped the college football ratings with its Saturday coverage of the LSU-Alabama game. The telecast averaged 7.54M viewers.
You are judged by your actions on the field, be it player, coach, etc., but if you had to judge inaugural press conferences, Giants interim head coach Mike Kafka had a winning one on Wednesday. If you have 15 minutes, give a listen. He was impressive and you can understand why he has interviewed for eight head coaching jobs. I am rooting for him to be the head coach beyond these remaining seven games.
Is MLB setting the stage for a salary cap war with the MLBPA? Remember, the working agreement between the two sides expires on Dec. 1, 2026 and the drumbeat for a salary cap - vehemently opposed by the players - grows louder. The report is MLB clubs lost $1.8B last season with the Mets leading the way, losing $350M. Something tells me if this dispute drags on into 2027 an arbitrator would be needed to settle the war, but that might require ownership to open its books to the association, something they have always been reluctant to do.
MLB MVP’s will be announced tonight. I still say Cal Raleigh deserves the AL MVP over Aaron Judge.
That is going to do it for today’s newsletter. Enjoy your Thursday and thank you for subscribing!
DAN
