Inside Blitz

The idea for a sports/media/gambling column was hatched this summer and look for it every Wednesday. If you want to yell at me about something that appeared here – because let’s face it, on the internet, it’s outrage or nothing: Jmcintyre at thebiglead dot com.

As the NFL hogs all the bandwidth on the internet, clogs radio call-in lines and dominates every TV news channel, MLB quietly made a smart move recently: It set the postseason schedule and made sure that the World Series will avoid Monday Night Football (ESPN) and Thursday Night Football (CBS).

In 2012 and 2013, MLB wasn’t bothered by going up against the NFL, and then the ratings came out and the results looked like Alabama playing a Michigan Directional School. How could a crappy NFL regular season game between the Vikings and Giants draw more eyeballs than a World Series game?

(Obligatory: Ask the gamblers and fantasy football players.)

But you have to wonder whether or not the incessant comparisons of ratings got to MLB, and they wanted to avoid another October of it. This will be a postseason without the Yankees and Red Sox. Oakland, Kansas City and Seattle may advance to the postseason in the AL.

I’m not sure if this is rock bottom for MLB regular season ratings, but here’s what happened Sunday: The 49ers opened a new stadium and played the Bears. Two teams from large markets with – one could argue – national fan bases. It turned out to be the NFL’s “most-watched West Coast Sunday prime time game ever,” according to NBC’s splashy press release. NBC said it averaged 22 million viewers (12.9 rating). The Bears rallied to a 28-20 win.

Over on ESPN, the Orioles beat the Yankees, 3-2, with a couple runs in the 9th inning. Both teams were in the pennant race – the Orioles have since clinched – and you’d think the game involving two teams from big markets on the East Coast would draw viewers.

Nope.

According to ratings numbers provided by ESPN, the game generated a 0.7. That’s about par for the course for a regular season game during NFL season. Well, until you factor this in: Two episodes of Pardon the Interruption last week (Tuesday and Thursday) had a higher TV rating (0.9). How were more people watching PTI in the afternoon on a weekday than an MLB game in the midst of a pennant race on Sunday night? The Ray Rice situation was probably a factor in the boosting of PTI’s ratings, but it’s still a bizarre occurrence.

I know, I know – baseball isn’t football, stop comparing the two.

Fine. But what happens if regular season ratings sag to the point that an MLB game loses to a show like Around the Horn or First Take? Is that on the horizon?

BRIAN SAYS BYE

Instead of doing what most networks do when announcing a move – calling a reporter, handing them the story, putting a couple of people on the phone, done – Fox Sports 1 slyly made an announcement via press release Tuesday: Brian Urlacher was leaving.

Urlacher’s hire was big last summer, and he was to be one of the central figures on Jay Glazer’s daily football show. He’d fly to LA for the week, do the show, and fly home to be with his family on weekends. But the show was cancelled after one season, leaving Urlacher in a tough spot: He was then really only needed for spot duty in the studios on Sundays and Mondays. As people at Fox tell it, that arrangement wasn’t ideal for Urlacher, who wanted to be with his family on weekends, so he just decided to bail.

(Would anyone have been watching FS1 and thought, ‘hey, where’s Brian Urlacher today?’ Just wondering.)

Tuesday, Urlacher told a Chicago radio station: “The travel to (Los Angeles) got to me quite a bit. I called the producers and they were understanding about my situation. I wanted to feel retired. That was my main reason. They were cool about it.”

Lock of the Week

Got a little trigger happy last week and pulled a Plaxico. East Carolina was too easy, but Central Michigan – which had its leading rusher mysteriously suspended hours before the game; he ended up getting arrested Sunday – flopped badly at home against Syracuse and the Lock of the Week is now 2-2.

(For the seven of you scoring at home – hi mom! – the non-lock Razorbacks won outright as well. Oh, and can I get a judges ruling on this Boston College outright win call over USC from August 28?)

Unfortunately, there are no trap games begging for your attention this weekend. Fading the Big Ten has been a brilliant play all season, and I like going against them Saturday: I’ll take Utah +5 (and falling) in the Big House Saturday. Feels like a high scoring game with Michigan winning on a late field goal.

But what you’ve been waiting for: Lock of the Week: The Akron Zips (+9.5) at home against mighty Marshall and budding star Rakeem Cato. Terry Bowden’s in the process of turning around the Zips. Lines moving the way of the home team. Take the points.

And because I’m mad about the double not hitting last week: Double Up, Uh-Uh: Pittsburgh (-6) hosts a really bad Iowa team coming off a tough defeat at the hands of rival Iowa State. The Hawkeyes can’t move the football (92nd in yards per game). Pittsburgh is going to be a sneaky good team all year, one that could be undefeated well into November. Keep an eye on Panthers’ RB James Conner. Well-built sophomore who, frame-wise, reminds me of Le’Veon Bell of the Steelers (they also wear the same number).

So: Akron +9.5 and Pittsburgh -6. See you next week when we’re 4-2.

Odds & Ends …

Unfortunately I didn’t get the time this week to offer some thoughts on perhaps the most biting, WOW sports column of 2014. I wish every sport had a plugged-in columnist with this kind of take-no-prisoners approach … Tim Tebow joined Good Morning America as a contributor, and this was his first assignment … get well soon, Pittsburgh Pirates TV analyst Kent Tekulve … Michelle Beadle has joined HBO Boxing as a contributor … Random NFL analyst opinion: Trent Green, who called the Jets/Packers game Sunday, was terrific. He seemed to have a knack for predicting plays before they happened; repeatedly nailed penalties and the reason behind them; and perhaps most important, was measured in his criticism of both teams, something you rarely see. Only a few years removed from the league, Green has real potential to be the No. 1 analyst at the network (when they realize Phil Simms is solid but far from spectacular) … have sideline reporters always been game commentators? Or is that a new thing? Maybe nobody realized this until it was pointed out?

Utterly Unverifiable Blind Item

What happens when the suddenly-vocal host of an often-pilloried TV show absolutely can’t get along with one of the stars of said TV show? If they keep fighting behind the scenes, maybe it’ll spill over onto live TV. Or social media. But things are rumored to be so bad, it sounds like a powder keg.