NFL Noise:

• Joey Bosa & some barnstorming team called the Chargers have agreed to a 5-year, $135.0 million contract extension.
  • It has $78 million guaranteed at signing, and $102 million in total guarantees.
    • Whatever helps impoverish the Spanos family & helps facilitates a Chargers sale has to be a good thing.
  • It keeps him with the team through the 2025 season.

• A cheaper, but still five-year extension is the one the Niners gave to John Lynch.
  • A suitable reward for fighting against Jed York’s incompetence to build an NFC contender.

• Packers WR Devin Funchess has opted out of the 2020 season.
  • An offseason signing on a one-year contract, Funchess has family members with the disease, prompting his decision.
  • It screws over the Packers, who signed him prior to the draft and then didn’t draft anyone at that position.

• Nate Solder is saying Jesus said he shouldn’t play in 2020. So, he won’t.
  • Also a factor – his son’s ongoing battle with cancer.
  • Luckily, unlike the Packers, the Giants drafted someone at that position – first-rounder Andrew Thomas – so they at least have a plan in place.

pic.twitter.com/MnSrWmu73c

— Nate Solder (@soldernate) July 29, 2020

• Tua Tagovailoa has passed his Dolphins physical, so he’s been cleared to practice with the team.
  • This comes nearly nine months after suffering a dislocated hip and posterior wall fracture in November against Mississippi State.
  • There was concern that he’d be placed on the PUP list to start the season, meaning he’d be lost for the first eight games.
    • Now he’s competing against Ryan Fitzpatrick – who went to Harvard! – and Josh Rosen – who clearly did not.

Finally, today is the 34th anniversary of the USFL v NFL case reaching its conclusion.

The braintrust behind the case (see above) felt its antitrust suit against the NFL for monopolizing broadcasting rights would bring it immediate profitability, because they would recoup supposed losses (because they could only sign with ESPN at the time) and because the purported network contract they would sign would help keep the league buoyant & the owners solvent.

However, and read whichever article you want, the end result was that they won a grand total of three dollars and folded four days later, which says everything you need to know about the business acumen of the people in charge. Ironically, their contract with ESPN worked against them, because it showed that they were actually “broadcast”, and that the jury didn’t differentiate between over-the-air or pay-cable broadcasts. In addition, the decision to change from a spring to fall schedule put them into direct competition with the NFL, something the jury felt they could have avoided by staying on their original schedule. They chose confrontation, so they were expected to bear the brunt of that decision. The NFL & networks didn’t make them switch.

It is now considered one of the hallmarks of the term, “Pyrrhic victory“. But, because the USFL was at least nominally the winner of the lawsuit, the NFL was required to cover the USFL’s attorney fees and trial costs. For this, the USFL was awarded over $5.5 million in attorney fees and over $62,000 in court costs.

As the saying goes – everyone got screwed, but the lawyers got paid.

Tonight’s sports:

• NHL:
  • St. Louis Blues vs. Chicago Blackhawks – 6:30PM | NBCSN
  • New York Islanders vs. New York Rangers – 8:00PM | NBCSN / Sportsnet1
  • Canucks vs. Jets – 10:30PM | Sportsnet
• MLB:
  • Los Angeles Dodgers at Houston Astros – 7:00PM | ESPN / TSN3
  • Seattle Mariners at Los Angeles Angels – 10:00PM | ESPN / TSN3
• Wrasslin’:
  • AEW Dynamite – 8:00PM | USA / TSN2
  • NXT – 8:00PM | USA
  • Dark Side of the Ring – Chris Benoit
    • Part 1 – 10:00PM
    • Part 2 – 11:00PM

Once again, that’s it for me for a few days. It’s a long weekend coming up, and WineWife booked some time off. While I can’t promise I’ll be hitting a different brewery every day, what I will promise is that I will do my best to get out of the painting I know is coming. Excelsior!