I was *thisclose* to giving up on football this year. Once a DirecTV Red Zone Channel addict, I spent much of last year not watching football at all. There were a few reasons: the Bears were bad. I got rid of cable. I started needing more time on Sundays to do, like housework and stuff.
And to be honest, I think consuming football coverage and highlights had taken me away from the game I had once loved. Similar to baseball coverage, football talking heads began to talk more about what was happening off the field - legacy, “unwritten rules” and all the stuff I generally don’t care much for - instead of the X’s and O’s. I want to hear more about why Lovie Smith only used the Cover 2 defense, and why that was (or wasn't) smart. I want to hear about why the “out route” wouldn’t work in a particular zone. I didn’t care if Joe Flacco was “elite.” Still don’t.
So, I was going to give up on it this year, which would mean not listening to podcasts, not reading articles, unfollowing some people on Twitter, and just extricating myself from all things “NFL.”
Then, this morning I was thumbing through my RSS feed, and stumbled into a "highlight" of Bears Quarterback Mike Glennon’s first pass of the season (an interception), and thought to myself, “Good thing I don’t care. Bears are going to be terrible this year.”
Then, Mitch happened.
Off to a fire start.
Every throw from @Mtrubisky10's preseason debut! #DENvsCHIpic.twitter.com/k5c6PdPpgk
— NFL (@NFL) August 11, 2017
I’m back, baby! Didn’t take much. #GoBears Here are your Links of the Week:
Speaking of which, Jay Cutler is back, y’all! [The Ringer]
Facebook announced this week that they will be joining Netflix, Hulu, and good ol’ fashioned cable TV in creating new, Facebook-only shows on their vertical called “Watch.” This is an interesting move for Facebook - they ultimately want people to spend more time on their sites to a) sell more ads and b) draw more dependency on the platform. When Twitter announced a year or two ago that they would be joining the broadcast game when they purchased the rights to broadcast Thursday Night Football, I was initially skeptical. However, I have seen it work on Twitter with shows like The Starters’ Twitter NBA Show, so with the new lineup Facebook announced, I am pretty optimistic on the idea. [AdWeek]
Random Must-Follow Twitter Account of the Week: @Dog_rates [Twitter]
Looks like Soundcloud is in trouble. Where will you get the Northwest Indiana Podcast now??? [The Verge]
Google is testing a new algorithm that will automatically retouch your photo - increase the contrast, tone down brightness, etc. within 20 milliseconds after you take your photo. [WIRED]
Jennifer Lawrence is always a good interview (yes I am about to link to Vogue Magazine). [Vogue]
This week in drone news, a company called BioCarbon Engineering has developed a new drone that is capable of planting 100,000 trees a day in Myanmar to help repopulate their ecosystem. [Fast Company]
Oh, hey, the NFL finally got full time officials. Yes, they were part time before this week, and yes the NFL makes billions and billions of dollars every year. [ESPN]
Seth Myers had Leslie Jones on this week for a bit about the latest Game of Thrones episode. That’s some good contenting right there. Have a good weekend.