TMQ watch.

The new NFL season is almost here. Mark our words: it will be Christmas sooner than you think.

This being a full service blog, we thought we would try to provide an answer to the question nobody asked:

Lisa Simpson.

Oh, wait. Sorry. Wrong question. The one we actually wanted to answer was “Where’s Tuesday Morning Quarterback and Gregg Easterbrook?”

It doesn’t look like TMQ has found a home this year. Easterbrook’s been responding to folks on Twitter with the same boilerplate tweet, like he has a Microsoft Word AutoText for it or something. Oddly, those tweets aren’t visible when I browse his feed with Google Chrome, but they do show up in Safari on the iPhone. The gist: if you like the column, tell the NYT.

Last year, the first TMQ didn’t run until September 15th (the start of the second week of the season) so it isn’t unprecedented for Easterbrook to get a late start. But last year was also the first year the NYT ran the column: we would kind of think that at the beginning of the second year, they would know what was in the tin, and would have already issued a go/no-go decision on TMQ.

Our impression last year was that Easterbrook was chafing under the apparent new restrictions imposed by his corporate masters (for example, no more 2,000 word digressions about how unrealistic a TV show is). We also got the less distinct impression that the editors at The Upshot were, to be frank (no, wait, Frank is Gregg’s brother the judge) tired of his (stuff). So it would come as no great shock to us if TMQ took a long hiatus. But we do plan to keep an eye on Easterbrook’s Twitter, in case we’re wrong or in case he washes up somewhere else. (With the Univision deal, maybe he could start doing TMQ for Deadspin? Or Jezebel?)

One Response to “TMQ watch.”

  1. udpert says:

    A season without TMQ just isn’t complete. Easterbrook should write it anyway, for his own blog (it might serve as a promotional venue for his books, if nothing else). Anyway, thanks for keeping us updated with the TMQ Watch.