It's hard for me to believe that it was almost three full years ago that I devoted a column to Darren Rovell's tweets, but it had indeed been that long. It was fun, though, so let's do it again ... heck, let's do it every three years.
JUST IN: Chiefs-Rams game on ESPN watched last night by 16.7 million people, most watched MNF audience since Lions-Cowboys game on 12/26/16.
Through 12 games, MNF is up 21% year over year.
https://twitter.com/darrenrovell/status/1065026687149228032
Rovell says that the Monday night Chiefs/Rams barnburner was the highest-rated MNF game since 12/26/16, a tilt between the Cowboys and the Lions. Furthermore, "MNF is up 21% year-over-year."
All well and good, but if I was the NFL, I would actually be pretty disappointed that it didn't do even better. Two 9-1 teams delivering the first NFL game ever where the loser had over 50 points? This was supposed to be epic, and it WAS epic. Indeed, I put it to you: what game in any sport lived up to the hype as much as this one?
And yet, you don't even have to go back two full years to find a MNF game with better ratings? And while it was a game that had playoff implications, it was the 9-5 Lions vs the 12-2 Cowboys, and the Cowboys won in a whitewash.
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Available in suites at Bears-Lions Thanksgiving game in Detroit: Thanksgiving Pizza, with Turkey, Cranberry Sauce, Stuffing & Gravy
https://twitter.com/darrenrovell/status/1065025639785398272
Here, Rovell talks about a menu item on offer in the suites for Bears/Lions on Thanksgiving: a pizza with turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing, and gravy.
No one likes it better than I do when stadia get creative with their food offerings, but this sounds terrible, for the same reason Thanksgiving subs, which a few places offer with the same ingredients, suck: the presence of cranberry sauce. Stop trying to give us cranberry sauce mixed in with savory foods! It doesn't go with it! It's not like pineapple on pizza! In traditional Thanksgiving meals, do you mix in your cranberry sauce with your other stuff? Didn't think so.
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https://twitter.com/darrenrovell/status/1064747031351169024
William Hill, which has 108 sportsbooks in Nevada, say tonight's game represented a "healthy seven-figure loss" for them.
Tonight being, once again, the MNF game, where everybody and his brother took the over, and hit big. I'm guessing the bookmakers probably also took losses on people betting increasingly higher overs in-game and still hitting. When the public heavily leans one way against Vegas, the public is wrong more often than not, but when they're right, the bookies bleed.
Also, as much of a gambling state as Nevada is, I'm surprised they have 108 sportsbooks total, let alone 108 owned by one company.
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https://twitter.com/darrenrovell/status/1063858713285574663
Appreciate the whole “metaphor” thing coaches are trying to do, but it’s starting to get dangerous on the sidelines.
Here Rovell says that college football metaphor trophies are getting dangerous even if he appreciates the way coaches use it for motivation, while showing a Minnesota player holding up a huge wrench, like what you'd use to fix plumbing.
The problem here isn't so much the increasingly testosterone-laden turnover trophies and whatnot, it's that Minnesota's coach is kind of ridiculous. Drew Magary explains it better than I could somewhere in here, but the more I see of P.J. Fleck, the less I think of him as a coach and the more I think of him as a brand. First, there's the whole "row the boat" thing; it's not enough to just be a slogan of his ethos, he has to slather first the Western Michigan uniforms, and now Minnesota's helmets, with oars.
Second, he at some point decided he has to have a signature look on the sideline, and that look is a tight track jacket with a tie underneath. It all comes off as pretentious, at best. This plumbing wrench is par for the course for Fleck.
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