Thanksgiving ratings no turkey

And Rockies cut former number one pick

Good morning, all! It’s Frrrriiiiiiiiiidddddddaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy!!!

The ratings are in for the Thanksgiving Day NFL football games and saying they are down is like saying you did not have enough turkey because you only had three servings instead of four. The bottom line is the USA continues to gobble up the NFL on television, Covid-19 or not.

The second game on FOX, featuring Washington at Dallas, averaged a 12 rating, attracting 30.33 million viewers. Those numbers are a dip of 11% and 7% respectively, compared to the CBS coverage of Buffalo at Dallas on Thanksgiving Day 2019. But here is all you need to know:

• The game was tv’s most-viewed program since the Super Bowl

• Averaged more viewers since the 2017 Academy Awards

• Scored more than any non-NFL sporting event since the Cubs-Indians in Game 7 of the 2016 World Series

The first game, a boring affair between Houston and Detroit, garnered 23.39 million viewers on CBS. Although it was the lowest watched Thanksgiving Day NFL game since 2009, there is not another sports league or television program that would not turn down those numbers.

Even during pandemic-stricken 2020, the NFL continues to score big on television and is another reason ABC wants back in the game.

What happened to Thursday Night Football?

If you were wondering what happened to last night’s NFL game, all you need do is think Covid. Yes, the game between the Baltimore Ravens and Dallas Cowboys was postponed. The Ravens played the Steelers on Wednesday afternoon, a thrice postponed game, forcing the NFL to move the Ravens next game to next Tuesday night on Fox. No need to worry, though. NFL commissioner Roger Goodell promises the league will finish its regular season. He would not rule out a bubble for the post season. Translation: expect a bubble.

Rockies cut first round pick. Covid blamed

Wednesday was the deadline for arbitration-eligible players to be tendered contracts by MLB clubs or be released. The Colorado Rockies made news by cutting 2012 first round draft pick David Dahl. Lack of revenue was listed as the reason the injury-prone outfielder was a casualty. He made $2.475M last season.

When he played he was good. Dahl made the 2019 NL All-Star team. But he has a propensity of landing on the IL with one nagging injury after another. Last year was no exception. However, there was nothing nagging about an injury Dahl sustained five years ago.

In 2015, I was at the mic, calling a New Britain Rock Cats game - at the time they were the AA affiliate of the Rockies - when Dahl collided with shortstop Trevor Story as the two went all out for a pop up to left-center field. Dahl landed in New Britain General Hospital, where he had his spleen removed.

Here is Rockies GM Jeff Bridich on Dahl’s non-tender:

“Sometimes it’s tough to move on (from) guys and say goodbye to guys, but there’s times when you have to, for business reasons. There were a combination of those sorts of business reasons at play here for these decisions, based on what’s going on in the industry. I won’t say it’s business as usual.”

The Rockies also non-tendered catcher Tony Wolters, as MLB’s shedding of salaries and staff has now reached the critical stage.

By the way, when the Rockies moved their AA affiliate to Hartford, they added a popular player in pitcher Rico Garcia. A native of Hawaii, Garcia always drew a big crowd, because his dad grew up in Hartford and several of his relatives remained in greater Hartford. In fact, Rico’s dad, a Veteran, moved back to the area to watch his son pitch, and I had several wonderful conversations with him. On Wednesday, the San Francisco Giants did not offer Garcia a contract, making him a free agent. But he did pitch in the big leagues with both the Rockies and Giants and here is hoping his dream continues on 2021.

That is it for today. Have a tremendous weekend and as always, thank you for your support.

SPORTSCASTER DAN