Weekly Takes - Monday, September 23rd Edition (Retroactive to Sep 9)

1. My thoughts on Bell selling its MLSE shares to Rogers...

• I am not concerned about Ed Rogers not spending money. He spends money on the Blue Jays. He has supported the money that MLSE has spent. This is a non-issue.

• I am not overly concerned about him being too hands on with Brendan Shanahan, Masai Ujiri, etc. He has not been too hands on with Mark Shapiro. But he is going to have his moments (see: him not wanting to re-sign Ujiri) and those moments are going to be very annoying.

• Monopolies, in general, suck. That goes without saying.

2. My Maple Leafs opening day lineup, with training camp underway...

Forwards...

Matthew Knies - Auston Matthews - Mitch Marner

Max Domi - William Nylander - Nick Robertson

Bobby McMann - John Tavares - Calle Jarnkrok

Connor Dewar - David Kampf - Ryan Reaves

Defence...

Morgan Rielly - Chris Tanev

Simon Benoit - Jake McCabe

Oliver Ekman-Larsson - Jani Hakanpaa

Goaltending...

Joseph Woll

Anthony Stolarz

Extras: Pontus Holmberg and Timothy Liljegren

So, the same lineup Craig Berube has been planning, except flipping around Robertson/Jarnkrok and Benoit/Ekman-Larsson.

I just do not see where Max Pacioretty fits on the team. Ditto with Easton Cowan, barring a great camp.

3. I would be shocked if Leon Draisaitl re-signed in Edmonton without certainty that Connor McDavid will re-sign a summer from now.

The reality is, stars just do not leave their teams in hockey.

4. Week One NFL Thoughts...

• The NFL should be embarrassed with the playing conditions that the Packers and Eagles had to play through.

The league prints money. Why play in a country and on a playing surface that no one wanted anything to do with?

• So much for thinking the Panthers will be anything besides the worst team in the league. They are every bit as bad as a season ago.

• TJ Watt is the ulimate game-wrecker. There are quarterbacks who week-in, week-out, will tear defences apart. But no one can wreck a game plan better than Watt can.

Week Two NFL Thoughts...

• The Tua Tagovailoa injury is a nice excuse for the Dolphins, who are a poorly built team that are stuck in the middle. They are not bad enough to contend for a Super Bowl, but not bad enough to finish low enough to draft a quarterback.

• The success the Saints are experiencing is a testament to how important coaching is in the NFL. Klint Kubiak is the next great offensive coordinator.

• There is a chance Anthony Richardson is nothing more than a gifted athlete who has no idea how to read an offence. But until that is the case, the Colts have to see what they have in him. You give him the entire season to prove himself.

Week Three NFL Thoughts...

• It is amazing how bad the Browns have fumbled their build. Their window of success is over. Dead. Their defence peaked a year ago, their coach peaked three years ago, and their offence is being held hostage by the worst possible human.

• It is amazing how great Justin Fields, Malik Willis, and Sam Darnold looked under their respective coaching staffs. It makes one wonder how quickly we should write off Bryce Young in Carolina.

• What is with all the weird coaching decisions this season? Sean Peyton and Mike McCarthy not attemping onside kicks late in games? The Falcons running an awful run play on fourth down, after burning a timeout seconds before? It just blows my mind how awful some decisions are from otherwise elite coaches.

5. I cannot wrap my head around the drop off the Argos have had.

This all could have been avoided if they cut bait with Chad Kelly right away and went out and got a new franchise quarterback.

Waiting out his suspension and hoping he'd be the Kelly of old was a ridiculous approach.