Skull Session: Texas A&M Fans Think Their Record is Better Than Ohio State, The Game's Cancellation Cost Fox $18 Million, and Mike Tomlin Praises Chase Young

By Kevin Harrish on December 10, 2020 at 4:59 am
JJB is holding the B1G sign in today's skull session.
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I would like to extend my congratulations to the Big Ten for making the clear and obvious decision to allow the best team in the Big Ten to compete for the Big Ten championship.

That should not be a thing that merits congratulations, but then again, the conference leadership had done nothing thus far that should have inspired any confidence that they would make the correct decision in this case.

Word of the Day: Calumniate.

 0 > 1? I learned a long time ago that devoted college football fandom is much more similar to substance addiction than we’d all like to admit.

I mean, think about the monetary and time commitment, the everyday dedication, the insane things we rationalize, the arguments we're willing to have, the impact it has on our emotional wellbeing, etc. It's like an addiction to drugs.

That's why I'm not shocked at all that a Texas A&M fan went online today to essentially argue with strangers that one is less than zero. Because when you really break it down, that is the argument this poor fellow pulled out.

It started out reasonably harmless – or at least, as "harmless" as convincing yourself of something untrue can possibly be – with just some standard insane arguments about Aggies' playoff resume.

Now, you'll notice that a column for "losses" does not appear anywhere. But this lad had an absolutely galaxy-brained response to someone who very reasonably pointed that out to him, which basically translates to "being undefeated is actually worse than getting blown out in a football game."

Folks, let me introduce you to my new favorite stat called "adjusted losses."

Look, I love advanced stats. I think they're great and I think there's probably even a place for this one. But using it like this makes it look like you're on drugs – which, as mentioned, you could argue that he basically is.

 CANCELLATION HIT WHERE IT HURTS. The players, coaches and fans on both sides of The Game are understandably crushed that this year's edition of the rivalry will not be played.

But there's a third party who is feeling that pain a little deeper – in the pockets.

Losing the Ohio State-Michigan game because of a COVID-19 outbreak is a costly blow for Fox Sports in terms of cash and audience.

Fox enjoyed an estimated $18.5 million in TV advertising revenue from last year’s OSU-UM game, per New York City-based ad spending tracker Standard Media Index.

The network won’t lose out on that much this year, but it’s not far from that number, according to a source familiar with the situation.

$18 million just went up in flames because Michigan couldn't field a team. You hate to see that.

I feel your pain, Fox. I too missed out on a gigantic paycheck when Ohio State covered the 30-point spread with ease on Saturday. It ruined Christmas for my whole family. My cats might not eat.

 TO DRAFT THE PREDATOR. While Chase Young was destroying his undefeated football team, Mike Tomlin hit The Predator with one of the most honest compliments I've ever heard.

The good news is, Tomlin can just open the bank and sign him in four years without his team having to lose 14 games first.

 GOOD TRY, GOOD EFFORT. In a day just filled with terrible takes on Twitter, this one struck me – not because it was the worst by any means, but because it made me realize that what is considered a "luxury" is totally relative. And I don't think Peter Burns sees that.

See, Northwestern may genuinely feel like Ohio State has the advantage of a bye week, but I promise the Buckeyes would gladly trade places and play Illinois this weekend while the Wildcats took that bye week.

To Ohio State, Northwestern probably has the advantage of not having to cancel so many games this year. So if they wanted to cancel this week's game to have that extra prep, I don't think you'd see any complaining at all.

More than anything else, this just comes off as Burns looking for something to be angry about, which is annoying.

 CHAD TOUGH. We won't get a chance to dump Michigan this year, but we can still do our part to dump cancer.

For those unfamiliar, since 2015, Ramzy's been heading up an effort to donate the final score to the foundation that does research on the type of cancer that killed Lloyd Carr’s grandson.

Since this year's game is canceled, we've had to get a little creative. So we're asking everyone to donate at least the spread ($30), instead. Do that, screencap your confirmation and tag Ramzy in a Tweet and you'll have a chance to win a $50 Eleven Warriors Dry Goods gift card.

We raised over $600 during yesterday's Notre Dame basketball game alone, so keep it flowing – we've got kids to save.

 NOT STICKING TO SPORTS. A family calls 911 as a teacher was robbed during a remote lesson... Denmark apologizes to 22 children that were taken from their families in social experiment... A doctor admits to prescribing 65,000 oxycodone tablets in a pills-for-sex scam... The untold story of how the Golden State Killer was found... How breakdancing became an Olympic sport... Why an Apple search engine has a real shot at competing with Google...

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