TMQ: NFL games keep being great while NFL economics keep getting sleazier

Plus the 1972 Dolphins earn another year in Perfectville.

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Excuse me whilst I invoke AutoText: “At 11:27 Eastern on Sunday, as the Bills left their icicle-dressed home field mumbling #@&!?*!! under their breaths, corks popped.

In one of the sweetest traditions in sports lore, on opening day of every NFL season, each surviving member of the 1972 Miami Dolphins, sole perfect team in pro football history, sets aside a bottle of Champagne to cool.

At the moment the stadium clock hits double-zeros for defeat of the season’s final undefeated, the 1972 Dolphins pull the corks, secure in the knowledge they will reign as sole perfect team for at least one additional year.

The 1972 Dolphins visit the White House.

Gentlemen of 1972, enjoy your annual draught. TMQ feels confident you will continue to sip Champagne each autumn until you are called to meet the football gods, and greeted by song and feasting.”

I reproduced the above item from AutoText, substituting only the name of the last undefeated, the field where it fell and the moment all-naughts showed on the scoreboard.

Annually I reproduce that item from AutoText, substituting the year’s particulars.

Tuesday Morning Quarterback will continue to reproduce that item from AutoText on an annual basis for many seasons to come. My heirs may be reproducing it!

Below is a hilarious Reebok commercial that aired a few minutes after the Giants knocked off the 18-0 Patriots in the Super Bowl – farthest ever into a season that the 1972 Dolphins’ mark had been imperiled.

Serious stuff follows.

This space treats the New York Times as the most important news organization in the country. It’s true most Americans never read an issue of the Times. But the paper’s influence on U.S. politics and culture exceeds any other from television news, social media and podcasts.

That makes it important to note a recent quiet development. The New York Times jumped into bed with the NFL.