Day 187 (Part 2, NFL Ratings, etc.)

• Sunday prelims are starting to come in on the ratings.

Though the Buccaneers lost to the Saints (and that will be big later in the season if the Bucs can right the ship),  Tom Brady's first game in the NFC drew a 16.2 rating for FOX, up a couple percent over last year, and even better than the Thursday Night opener.

The 16.2 rating is the highest in ANY window since 2016.

NBC, however, was not so fortunate:  The Sunday Night game between Dallas and the Rams was almost 30% off last year.  28% down in ratings, 23% down in viewers to 14.81 million.

Any mystery why?  Tom Brady is a WHITE Champion!!!

Unfortunately, until the ratings are finalized tomorrow, that might be it.  Overnights are now far more rarely reported than they used to be.

• Looks like Steve Cohen will be the next owner of the New York Mets.
• The dark side of Botball has started.

No, this is not, in any way, against "Gerrit" or the many fine people who have worked on the project.  Furthest from it.

In about the last 6-8 weeks, there have been an increasing number of problems with the stream.   And communications with Comcast/Xfinity, the ISP tasked with carrying the stream have been, at best, strained -- and, at worst, many believe, intentional malfeasance which has significantly denied the Botball community the ability to expand the stream on Twitch to Affiliate Status and beyond, to get the games more visible to more people, etc.

In fact, it is believed that, when the complaints have made it to the Twitch chat, etc., it can be established that the service has been intentionally degraded as a result of said complaints on a number of occasions.

After a number of weeks of what appears to be stonewalling, "Gerrit", the head/Commissioner/owner of the PS4 on which the simulation is being played of Botball, has filed a $10,000 Small Claims lawsuit in his home state of Washington against Comcast/Xfinity, for what he believes he can demonstrate is substantial damage to the ability of the stream to raise money for the various charities the season-long effort has attempted to raise funds for.

I will not speak for "Gerrit" in any way.  I assume he will speak to us when he feels proper.  I believe, however, we have talked to him in the past -- and, sans the $50 to file the lawsuit, all of the monies he would receive in such a judgement, if and when paid, would probably be disseminated to at least Meals on Wheels, if not all of the other charities for Botball additionally.

Stay tuned.

• Looks like the first NFL ejection of the year in the second Monday nighter.  Rashaan Evans earned a trip to the locker room for punching Jake Butt in the head.
• Botball:  On July 20, Jorge Soler was traded from the Kansas City Royals to the LA Dodgers.  Soler, as of an off day today, has 64 home runs to lead Botball.  He is nine away from the roid record, and the Dodgers have 11 games left.  RL, Soler is still with the Royals, has only 8 home runs in 39 games and is on the IL right now.