While we’ve been all ‘Nova, ‘Nova, ‘Nova, here are some of the things that fell through the cracks:

All of this Season’s Thursday Night Football Games will Stream on Twitter

Where hot takes come together and become face-melters: The NFL and Twitter have agreed to a deal for streaming all of this season’s Thursday Night Football games.

Twitter’s Chief Financial Officer Anthony Noto, who used to be the NFL’s Chief Financial Officer (hmmm), said “This is one element of a much broader strategy to provide the next generation of real-time content.” Twitter paid a paltry sum of $10 million for the rights. The games will also air on NBC, CBS, and the NFL Network, making this more of an aside than actual groundbreaking territory, which it would’ve been if the games aired exclusively on Twitter.

But how will it all work? According to Bloomberg:

“Twitter will probably package the games alongside a live feed of curated tweets and stream all of it on its site and mobile app, the person said. Other web sites will also be able to embed Twitter’s live stream, which gives the company and the NFL a much wider digital reach than the 66 million Americans who currently use the service.”

Embedding the streams is huge, but it’d be much bigger for the platform if Twitter really doubled down on its new GIF button to allow users to create their own GIFs of the game in real-time. But it’s actually kind of nuts that, in theory, we can air an Eagles game on the site.

 

Chase Utley and Jose Bautista Tested the Limits of the MLB’s Slide Rules with No Success

Chase Utley began this season with a target on his back – though serving no suspension – for his iffy slide in the playoffs against the Mets which led to a Ruben Tejada broken leg. If I were him, I’d play it well within the rules for a while. I’m not him.

On Monday, Utley tried to slide safely into home plate by getting in the catcher’s sight line/gunning for his legs. The so-called Buster Posey rule clearly states this:

A runner attempting to score may not deviate from his direct pathway to the plate in order to initiate contact with the catcher (or other player covering home plate).

utley slide

I’ll defend Chase Utley until the day I die (at the hands of Chase Utley, if I’m lucky), but this wasn’t a clean play. [Editor’s note: Jim is wrong.] However, Utley was tagged out clean and no one got hurt, so let’s all chill just a bit.

Meanwhile, the Blue Jays got all kinds of salty when Jose Bautista was called out for violating the so-called Chase Utley rule at second base, resulting in a double play that ended the game. Again, I’d be honored if Jose Bautista one day murdered me, but if you’re going to get pissy about being called on the rule, don’t break it so obviously by grabbing the fielders ankle while staring right at it:

bautista

 

Marcus Vick Arrested for Assaulting an Officer

Earlier this week, Marcus Vick – Michael’s brother with the itchy Twitter-fingers – was arrested in Newport News, Virginia for assaulting an officer. He doesn’t have his brother’s speed:

Newport News police said in a statement Monday that officers responding Sunday to a report of a wanted person found 32-year-old Marcus Vick of Marietta, Georgia, at a business. When an officer tried to arrest Vick, police say he pushed the officer and fled. He was quickly caught.

Why would Marcus Vick run from cops if he knew he couldn’t outrun them? Marcus Vick is insanely stupid.

 

Jim Thome Will be Inducted into the Phillies Wall of Fame

Jim Thome only played 15% of his career games in a Phillies uniform, but this year he’ll deservedly be inducted into the Phillies Wall of Fame. “It is extremely humbling and gratifying to be given this honor by the great fans of Philadelphia,” Thome said. “I always enjoyed playing here, and to join the generations of Phillies greats on the wall is just so special.”

And though his time in Philadelphia wasn’t lengthy, it was important. Thome signed as a big-name, big-money free agent while the Phils were readying their move into a new ballpark. His arrival helped raise the excitement around the team in that middling-era, which ended up being a bridge to building the WFC. He may not have been in Philly when they won, but his acquisition was a sign that they were ready to. He deserves this.