I don’t presume to know all the fundamentals of being a pro-level WR, but it seems like “look at how he waves his arm to get his QB’s attention” is just filler.

But not terribly likely to affect anything.

I think it may have been even earlier than that; my memory is from my college dorm, which would have put the timeline in 90-92.

I’m still positive that I saw a Magic: The Gathering tournament on ESPN2 at some point back when they were showing Aussie football. Good time.

The various college conference networks.

Thursday night games are the only pro football games not generally available on free TV. *Maybe* Red Zone is taking eyeballs away from the regular Sunday slate of games, but I doubt that explains much of the drop in ratings.

Some of it could be from old farts who remember when ESPN was actually worth watching and continue to watch from sheer inertia.

One negative would likely be the increase in the cost of acquiring each potential subscriber. I suppose the corresponding positive would be an increase in the percentage of revenue retained per sub, since ESPN wouldn’t have to pay the cable provider a slice.

I like the alternate nickname almost as much: “The French Rejection.”

Well, Judge Smails’ comment that the world needs ditch diggers will probably still hold true for a while.

I’m assuming if you’re going the Abrams/AC-130 route you’ve basically decided to stop caring about what the local population thinks. “We had to destroy the village to save it” and all that.

You realize that not everyone is capable of working in an “idea-driven” industry, right? I mean, someone is going to have to produce and maintain the infrastructure that allows you and your family to enjoy broadband connectivity along with the clean water and whatnot.

Don’t know about Baltimore and LA, but I wouldn’t say the entirety of CPD has been “overrun” by crime.

Well, you can, but you have to be a lot more willing to accept non-combatant fatalities.

I happened to see the CBS Sunday Morning (or whatever that news show is called) on Bob Sirott and his Cub fandom; he talked about buying upper-deck tickets as a kid and then just walking down to box seats without a problem. He sort of lamented the fact that you can’t do that anymore; my response was that he needs to…

I fully expect the Bears to pull the equivalent of passing on Carson Wentz in next year’s draft.

Well that’s disappointing.

I may be way off, but Paul Simon seems like the kind of guy that might actually waive his appearance fee for something like that. Of course, you’re probably right about all the other charges that are going to come off the top of whatever gets donated before the charity gets the first dollar.

Could be because baseball is the only major sport in America where the defense starts with the ball.

Mark Buehrle probably would have finished the game, given his post-game comments, and already been on the way home.