TMQ Watch: October 6, 2015.

Yes, we know, we’re late again. We have a worse excuse this time: we put off TMQ Watch so we could go to the Alamo Drafthouse and watch “Sicario”.

It has actually been a big movie week for us: in addition to “Sicario”, we watched “Black Mass” with Lawrence on Saturday. We may have some more thoughts on both later on. (And “The Martian” is on our list. We don’t expect that to vanish from theaters any time soon. Yes, this is relevant to TMQ; see below.)

After the jump, this week’s TMQ

…with the headline “DraftKings and FanDuel Are Not Your Friends”. And that’s 1,445 words down. However, there are parts of TMQ’s meditation on sport wagering that are interesting. In particular, TMQ managed to interview two of 2014’s big winners.

His big payday came last season, from selecting New England’s Jonas Gray for a fantasy team days before the undrafted free agent ran for a surprising 201 yards and four touchdowns against Indianapolis.

Ah, another TMQ evergreen.

In fiscal 2014, Americans’ largest gambling outflow was on state-sponsored lotteries: about $63 billion spent that year, about $255 per adult. If fantasy-based sport betting reaches even a fraction of that sum, it’s a substantial economic development.

Is it still “a substantial economic development” if the money is just being redirected from elsewhere, like “state-sponsored lotteries”? (David Gomes, one of the two big winners, makes an interesting argument that these sites are “… more honest to the public than lotteries based on random numbers.”)

…should the N.F.L., which draws about $1 billion annually in taxpayers’ money, be encouraging average people to gamble even more — that is, to lose even more?

Better the NFL than the state? Maybe?

So how about those undefeated teams? The Bengals have been doing badly in the playoffs when they get there, Carolina has been playing the worst teams in the league, “Falcons faithful should be guardedly optimistic”, Manning seems to be getting in rhythm with Kubiak, and TMQ grinds his 4th down ax against Green Bay.

Only three of the N.F.L.’s top 10 rushing teams have winning records.

Followed immediately by examples of bad passing decisions (Jacksonville and Kansas City).

Bad blitzing: Pittsburgh, Buffalo. Speaking of Buffalo, what happened to their defense?

Why was Akiem Hicks banned by the NCAA?

He received phone calls, ate cheeseburgers and slept in a bed.

More:

The year Hicks was hoping for a football scholarship from L.S.U., someone in the athletic department called him with updates. When the phone rang, Hicks answered — banish him to Canada! Visiting L.S.U., Hicks accepted some free meals and transportation and a place to stay while waiting for the dorms to open.

As much as we hate the NCAA, we’re a little skeptical that TMQ is giving us the complete story here.

San Francisco is awful. Stop the presses.

Notcronyms. Games in London are consistently awful. Chip Kelly may not be long for the NFL.

Baltimore at Pittsburgh was Armageddon for the go-for-it crowd, which includes this column.

$5 to the first person who Photoshops Gregg Easterbrook into Bruce Willis’ spacesuit, sends up the Shop, and gives us permission to post it here.

Why does 2-2 Indianapolis have “solid prospects”, and 2-2 Buffalo doesn’t? Because road games. My hovercraft is full of moose.

The NASA administrator Charles Bolden maintains people will stand on Mars in around 20 years. That’s like saying “By the 2030s, Congress will enact the annual budget bills on time.”

Or like John F. Kennedy saying “…this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth.” It seems like TMQ is confusing political and engineering problems here.

Until such time as there may be the propulsion breakthrough, Mars-mission talk is political blather.

But what would a propulsion breakthrough look like? A radically new rocket technology? Or swarms of large cheap rockets?

We like the idea of a manned Mars mission. We think it is a noble goal. But at the same time, we have misgivings about the ability of NASA (or private enterprise) to pull this off.

Would Thomas Jefferson Have Played FanDuel?

No, probably not, and TMQ agrees with us. What TMQ doesn’t mention is that Jefferson probably would have eschewed all of today’s sports in general:

As to the species of exercise, I advise the gun. While this gives a moderate exercise to the body, it gives boldness, enterprize, and independance to the mind. Games played with the ball and others of that nature, are too violent for the body and stamp no character on the mind. Let your gun therefore be the constant companion of your walks.

The 600 Club. “This puts the Red Raiders on a pace to close their season by gaining 839 yards versus Texas, and losing.” As much as it pains us to say this: Gregg, have you seen Texas play this year?

Chicken-(salad) kicking: Ole Miss. If football gods chortling lasts more than four hours, consult a doctor.

And that wraps things up for this week. Next week, we hope to be back on our Tuesday afternoon schedule.

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