🏀 🏀 🖼️ A great weekend around this great city.

🔊 People posting their Spotify Wrapped is not the problem. Brands making their own to chase a content trend and 97% of them not being funny is the problem.

🧢 The photo my wife picked for the front of the Christmas card this year is one in which I'm wearing a Paw Sox hat. I might live in Virginia, but at heart, I'm as Rhode Island as eating clam cakes at Chelo's next to one of the Cardi brothers (a real thing I've experienced). 🛋️

Nothing gets the players, coaches, and boosters excited like moving a bowl game from the Bahamas to a practice facility in Frisco.

🚗 I've lived in roughly a half-dozen places since college. All but one of them claims they have the worst/most aggressive/most clueless drivers in America. Connecticut, on the other hand, claims everyone around them does. Speaks volumes.

🏀 The only productive take on the first-week volatility of the NET: Publicize the formula.

🚙 It seems flawed that I’m issued the same level of driver’s license as someone who sits at a flashing red light for 45 seconds waiting for it to turn green.

🏈 So, if Duke wins, and the Dukes win, the Dukes go to the Playoff, unless the committee does something indefensible. Good luck getting an AI search to explain *that* to someone who relies on those searches for their news.

🏀 If we're going to have MTEs all week from a variety of beachfront destinations (along with a few soulless casinos), could we get one in Ireland or Spain or somewhere that gives us basketball at 7 AM ET?

I was wondering why I was getting a sudden flood of spam emails for junk food, pet food, and... wallets?

Central Connecticut has an amazing resume so far: blow-out loss to Qunnipiac beats BC loses to UMass beats Rutgers

I want to meet the marketing consultant who said “people will tune in if you make hideous courts” and cashed in on it.

📱 I know iOS autocorrect seemingly keeps getting worse, but I'm definitely not trying to say "Scott's Addiction" when texting my wife about a restaurant. I think I just found the name for an RVA-based cover band, though.

While I would like the Patriots to win the Super Bowl, I would also like a Colts-Bears Super Bowl for an excuse to play the Prince halftime show on a constant loop until 6 PM that Sunday.

It is remarkable how much of our sports-related happiness is reliant on 1) where we grew up and 2) a decision we made at 17-18 years old.

The Wednesday after a Tuesday holiday truly feels like a day playing at 0.75x speed.

Apple autocorrect continues to get worse. I attempted to text a relative to say "sorry we missed you last weekend" and it tried to change it to "sorry we missed you liar." Siri's trying to start fights at Thanksgiving.

Sometimes I wonder if Dr. Robotnik was a subliminal message to millennials not to let the villainous mad scientists take over when we grew up.

🏈 🏀 It’s the first Saturday of overlap between college football and college basketball. It is a sports-watching smorgasbord. No one in FBS, FCS, or D1 basketball starts before noon. Give us an 11 AM ET kick/tip, for the people who wake up too early on Saturdays!

🎅 Minimally decorating your office for Christmas on November 7 is simply an excuse to justify a candy jar in your office.

📻 Making a brief cameo on SiriusXM Pop2K a few times this week... fun throwback to my radio DJ days (but this time, music from after I was born.) The reaction texts I've received from former coworkers who didn't know me in those days have been fantastic.

☕️ When your name is Miles McQuiggan, you see some amazing ways that your name gets butchered. This is a first-ballot Hall of Famer, though.

⚽️🎙️ One more for me this fall when VCU hosts Davidson on ESPN+ at 1:30 p.m. VCU heads to the A10 tournament with a win or draw; Davidson's in with a win. www.espn.com/watch/player...

🚗 Richmond drivers are a reliable source of fascination on a daily basis, but this seems to be one of those afternoons that begs the question, “where is the volcano eruption you seem to be fleeing from?”

⚾️ @mlb.com has gotten a ton right in the fan viewer/attendance experience in recent years. The next step: The Saturday Game 2 of the World Series should be at 5 PM ET. Fox can fit CFB on both ends, and kids (and us early morning people) can make it all nine for at least one game.

Media coverage/social algorithms often tell you to watch this game/league and that you're a fool if you don't. Watch sports that bring you joy. Elevate the ones you're passionate about. Explore new sports! Don't watch a game you don't enjoy because the internet tells you to.

This is the correct take. The number of times I've taken the metal bar of a tray table to a bad knee because someone slams their seat backward as soon as we hit 10,000 feet is immeasurable.

⚽️ Richmond hosts George Washington on Sunday at 3 PM on ESPN+. Thankful for the opportunity to be back at President's Field and join you for it! www.espn.com/watch/player...

⚽️🎙️ Thankful to be back in the booth for three games over the next two weekends, starting Thursday when Richmond visits VCU! 7 PM on ESPN+ - hope to see you there. www.espn.com/watch/player...

Penn State’s decision to fire James Franklin — and pay a $45 million buyout to do so — shows us that schools are more afraid of losing football games than they are of losing money. COLUMN: www.nbcsports.com/college-foot...

A public university employee shouldn't have a $50 million buyout. That is so obvious to everyone in this country except the people rabidly signing off on every short-term decision that leaves college sports (and colleges) in a worse long-term position. It's just sad, y'all.

It's a great experiment when I post a positive, sports-related thought across three sites. X: Minimal engagement from friends Bluesky: No engagement, probably because it's positive and sports-related Threads: Engagement from non-followers; always one criticizing my grammar

⚾️ A Mariners-Blue Jays ALCS is going to be electric. Two high-energy teams and fan bases that haven't seen the jersey they wear in the World Series in most if not all of their lifetimes. Give us all seven games, please.

💰 MLB's top 10 payrolls include four teams that missed the playoffs and at least three more that will be out before the LCS. A friendly Friday reminder when you think the answer to all your favorite college team's problems is some more rev share: you still have to win.

🍁 I enjoy a 50-degree morning more than 99% of the people around me and it shows. Sweater and boots, Yeti of coffee, blasting Noah Kahan and James Taylor at my desk, dreaming of Pats playoff wins in the snow. The Most New England Man in Virginia.

🍪 Shopping hungry at Wegmans on a Sunday night benefits both me and my coworkers. They get a giant container of chocolate chip cookies and I get to do a quality control check of the container at 8:45 AM on a Monday.

⛰️ As someone who grew up in a place at sea level, I am still awestruck by the beauty of a sunrise coming up behind mountains. I'm so thankful I've made Virginia my home. There is so much within 2-3 hours of my front door in RVA (and so much within 5-10 minutes!)

⚾️ Marrying into a family of Yankee fans and then the next family wedding being the week of a Sox-Yankees playoff series is an electric return to the postseason. I'm blasting "Tessie" and my wife's blasting "New York, New York" over each other... at 7:30 AM.

⚽️🎙️ Next up for me: Sunday afternoon with Saint Joseph's and VCU at Sports Backers! Get the grocery run done early this weekend (unless we shop at the same store, then procrastinate) and see you Sunday at 1 on ESPN+! www.espn.com/watch/player...

I'm still always a little surprised when the networks don't opt for a Giants game in the Providence market when there's no competing Pats game. There are a decent number of Giants fans in RI that have had it passed down from the pre-AFL days.

⚽️🎙️ Defending A10 women's soccer champion and preseason favorite Saint Louis visits VCU for a Thursday night clash on ESPN+. See you at 7! www.espn.com/watch/player...

⚽️🎙️ Cue the hot tea with honey. ☕️ First of three in five days for me on Wednesday as VCU Men's Soccer hosts a Marshall program that played in the national title game a year ago. 7 PM on ESPN+. Can't wait! www.espn.com/watch/player...

⚽️🎙️ Back at Sports Backers for a Thursday night NCAA Women's Soccer clash between Miami and VCU. Join me at 7 PM on ESPN+! www.espn.com/watch/player...

⚽️🎙️ A busy two weeks of college soccer ahead on ESPN+. It starts Thursday when VCU Women's Soccer hosts Miami before three games next week: 9/24: Marshall at VCU (M) 9/25: Saint Louis at VCU (W) 9/28: Saint Joseph's at VCU (W) How lucky am I?

💻📺📺 Quality Saturday setup.

🏈 Happy Week 1 from Denver.

🎸 Tonight (Red) Rocked. Brandi Carlile in Colorado with the weekend getaway planner extraordinaire.

The Nationals are apparently going deep into the Springsteen catalogue to sell tickets at the end of the year.

I for one am shocked that power-conference schools are electing for a model that excludes mid-majors. The "Lucy holding the football for Charlie Brown" energy remains strong in college athletics.

🏈 The TV room setup is complete for football season. Saturday: TV1: Hulu Live for cable/ESPN+ TV2: Antenna for games on network TV Laptop monitor: Other sports/streaming games Laptop screen: Social media Sunday: TV1: RedZone TV2: Antenna Laptop monitor: Other sports Laptop screen: Social/fantasy