Happy Friday and happy first day of September. We’re sad to see August go, but at least it means football, football, and more football.

Although we have some great matchups in the first couple of weeks, remember, this is the time you get a few fall activities in with the significant other.

Fellas, go get the apple picking done early and then take that country drive to see the leaves change, you’ll earn yourself a spot on the couch for the rest of the year.

Ladies, we know you love football too. Got a man who doesn’t? That’s okay, go on that camping trip before it’s too cold or help out with that project that never got done over the summer. There’s an ice-cold beer and cheese deep in October that has your name on it.

Let’s get into some updates and finish with a cool story at the end.

Bizniz Ethics

Got Spectrum and you were trying to watch football on ABC or the ESPN Channels last night? Well, that wasn’t going to happen. And you might be out of watching a lot of football for a while if you don’t make a change to your provider.

Here’s what happened. Disney cut off Spectrum from Disney-owned channels ABC, ESPN(2,U), FX, and Freeform and they are unavailable for Charter Spectrum's 14.7 million subscribers. The blackout occurred just before the Utah vs. Florida and cut off the live US Tennis Open action. The companies are in negotiations and Disney is market rates for the channels and Spectrum argues against excessive increases.

What’s going to happen? It would be in both parties’ interest to resolve this quickly… I think? If they don’t resolve this, there’s lots of tennis, college football, and even Monday Night NFL Football that we can’t watch on the ESPN/ABC channels. Also, many of you may go insane if you don’t have Disney+ and can’t access Disney channels for your kids.

Is it all about the money? Yes but no…. I think there are blurred lines here. If you pay attention to the markets, specifically Disney, they’ve spent a lot on content creation and their streaming services while making massive cuts to jobs elsewhere. Previously retired CEO Bob Iger had to come back as CEO and is working to make the company more profitable in the long term.

You can either get more money for the services you provide to the other cable providers or you could create a massive shift in the market by cutting off one of the largest cable providers in the US in an attempt to push viewers towards a live TV streaming service that your company (Disney) owns, aka Hulu. We ran a Twitter poll and it seems two-thirds of the people think it’s solely just a money play and not a push to grab more Hulu subscribers.

Crazy Finish In The Big10

Nebraska had a 10-3 lead with 4 minutes to go in last night’s game against Minnesota. On a 1st and 10, in the 4-minute drill, where the only thing you need to do is protect the football, the Minnesota Gophers stripped the ball from Nebraska’s Anthony Grant after he ran 9 yards and the Gophers recovered.

Minnesota would score on a beautifully acrobatic catch on 4th and 10 with 2:30 to go.

Now Nebraska has the ball and they’re trying to put a game-winning drive together and they do the unthinkable… throw an INT.

6 plays later, Minnesota kicks a field goal and wins the game.

COLLEGE FOOTBALL IS BACK BABY!

College Football Scoreboard

Team USA Wins Again

Team USA narrowly defeated Montenegro in the FIBA World Cup as they grabbed another W 85-73. The US struggled shooting and only shot 47% from the field and were outrebounded 49-31. The US faces Lithuania on Sunday.

Highest Paid TE Ever

T.J. Hockenson, the Minnesota Vikings' tight end, signed a four-year contract extension worth at least $66 million and potentially up to $68.5 million, setting a new record for tight end contracts in the NFL. The deal includes an average annual value of $17.125 million and guarantees Hockenson $42.5 million, both the highest figures ever for a tight end.

When it comes to tight ends, the Iowa Hawkeyes know how to produce.

From Drop Out to Drop Kicks

Lou Hedley was signed to the New Orleans Saints 53-man roster as a punter. That would be a pretty normal thing if it wasn’t so abnormal of a story.

Who is a Lou Hedley? He’s a 30-year-old dude from Australia and he’s covered in tattoos(we’ll get to the tats)

Here’s his story.

Hedley grew up in Southwestern Australia.

He dropped out of high school.

He got into Australian Rules Football (similar to rugby) and was pretty darn good.

He then stopped playing and moved to Bali, Indonesia.

He worked as a construction worker in Bali.

He then bought his own tattoo shop in Bali (hence all the tats).

And then…. he had an itch…

The itch was kicking footballs.

He scratched that itch by coming to the US and attending the City College of San Francisco and punted for the JuCo school.

He then transferred to The University of Miami and punted for the Hurricanes.

Now as an undrafted free agent, Hedley has been signed by the Saints and is in the NFL.

College Football On Today

• Central Michigan @ Michigan State 7:00 pm ET, FS1

• Miami (OH) @ Miami 7:00 pm ET, ACCN

• Louisville @ Georgia Tech 7:30 pm ET, ESPN

• Stanford @ Hawaii 11:00 pm ET, CBSSN

That’s all for today.

Make it a 4-day weekend… leave the office NOW!

-The Daily Breakroom