There are no coincidences, Part I, II and III...

Brian Tuohy always puts that tagline (or at least used to) on the end of many of his commentaries on his website.

Yesterday and today, we got three good examples as to why...

Either the opening day of the NFL or the opening day of the $40/month ESPN/NFL+ package (which was yesterday), two men were arrested in Egypt yesterday and efforts made to close down the world's largest sports-piracy site, StreamEast. 

Also, ESPN shill Pat McAfee trying to shill for his new owners, as the fact that the seven hours of football where Every Touchdown Will Be Aired will no longer be commercial-free as of this season.  (NFL RedZone, and, trust me, fans are not happy. 

But then we get to the opening kickoff of tonight's first game, with the champion Eagles hosting the Cowboys, and not only have the Eagles lost Jalen Carter for probably Week 1 and 2 (disqualified from the game for spitting on Dak Prescott), but have lost Ben vanSumeren for the season due to a torn ACL on the play.

As of when I hit send, it's 17-14 Cowboys, the Eagles are driving, and no punts have been had for the entire first half. 

ETA:  Whoops.  Make that 21-17 Eagles with less than a minute to go in the first half.  The difference being the Cowboys were held to a field goal. 

Does Major League Baseball want to just leave Florida to Spring Training??

Sure sounds like it, if incidents like this are any indication.

Redditor attends what probably is going to be his last Tampa Bay Rays game.

He somehow comes into possession of the 40th home run of the season by Rays slugger Junior Camineros.

Security at the ballpark physically accosts the fan, demanding that the ball is now the property of MLB and the Rays (and I would not be surprised if that is the "answer" for all the big-money balls of the roid freaks of the 2000's) -- the fan isn't entitled to anything for it.

It finally escalates to the point that the next time the fan might be allowed in the ballpark is going to be some point next season.  Not only is the ball taken from him, he's banned six months after Florida Man Security physically attacks him.

No word on whether that clock actually stops in the offseason, but I think it's clear they might as well not bother letting him back in the stadium at all.

Well, we know the phraseology to that:  FUCK ROB MANFRED!!! 

And more evidence this ESPN deal is bad for football...

"Seven hours of commercial-free football..." is no longer commercial-free.

Pat McAfee announced today that part of the NFL-ownership of ESPN is going to be that the RedZone channel will now have full commercials.

One can only hope that the commercials will be spaced out (early in games, not during the classic "Witching Hour"), but that has to be doubtful.

Wonder what my former "friends" at the pirate site I used to drive up the wall about the games being rigged -- that is, until I found out that the main person behind Baked (as in 420'd) was a Trump supporter... -- are going to think about full ads in the RedZone coverage. 

More evidence the games are rigged...

So Belichick goes to UNC with a hot girlfriend and a new team.

Pretty much all new, and he's primetime on ABC at home against TCU.

I think we have an answer as to who made who here:  TCU ROFLStomped them 48-14.