'Nightcaps' is a daily column that catches you up on the biggest sports, news and culture stories you may have missed while pretending to do work at your desk. It runs Monday–Friday on OutKick.com.
Middle Friday of August. We're here. We're in the thick of it, folks.
We had football last night. We have football tonight. We have football tomorrow. Sure, none of it counts and most of the good players are in street clothes on the bench, but whatever.
It's our first kinda-sorta football weekend since early January. A tuneup, of sorts. A test run. It's preseason for us fans, too. We have to knock the rust off as well, and we don't have a lot of time to do it.
Two weeks. That's all that separates us from an actual college football Saturday. Week 0 is 15 days away. That means you — yes, YOU — have this weekend and next weekend to get the summer chores DONE. Finish cleaning the yard, and clearing out the garage. Hang the pictures. Paint the walls.
Do whatever you need to do over these next two weekends, because the end is, mercifully, in sight.
Let's roll.
Welcome to a Friday Nightcaps — the one where Danica Patrick enjoys the view during her European summer vacation.
What else? I've got Marco Rubio perfectly describing the perfect fall weekend (to a T), an American home run into a cornfield, and I'm thinking the Patriots' kicker better spend the weekend combing through the classifieds, because Mike Vrabel didn't sound thrilled after last night's game.
Good to have angry Vrabel back after a ... humbling ... offseason.
Grab you whatever you need to get you through the final few hours of a work week, and settle in for a Friday 'Cap!
No hemming and hawing today. It's a Friday and we've all got things to do. We'll start with Marco, because that above clip is just perfect.
Seriously. It's the perfect weekend, and one we all will be striving for in about three weeks. It's the one we've been dreaming about since last January. Really, last December.
"The day would actually start much earlier. The greatest show on television today in America is 'College GameDay.' Great show. Starts around 10 or 11, and that leads you to noon, and then the noon game, and then there’s a 3:30 game," he said.
"You could start at 10:00 AM on Saturday, you know, run the whole college football day, sleep for a few hours, then you wake up and then you’re into NFL Gameday. Then you’ve got the 1:00 game, the 4:00 game, the NBC game that night.
"That is an incredible weekend, in my opinion, in my view."
Bingo. He nailed it. Put aside politics for a minute. This is objectively the best possible weekend for the next few months.
Mix in a few monster parlays on Saturday and Sunday, some fantasy football sweating, and a date with Scott Hanson on the RedZone channel, and buddy, you are SET.
We're almost back, folks. Hang tight!
ZERO BS. JUST DAKICH. TAKE THE DON'T @ ME PODCAST ON THE ROAD. DOWNLOAD NOW!
Five more Sundays. Two more Saturdays. It's all coming together.
In the meantime, of course, we have preseason football. We had a six-pack of games last night, and six more tonight.
Yes, I know — "Preseason football STINKS! Just get me to the regular season." I get it. Trust me, I do. But, this is the time of year for evaluation.
You don't know whatcha have ... till you know whatcha have.
And what the New England Patriots have ... is a kicker problem:
Amazing stuff. I forgot how likable Vrabel was this offseason, which is understandable. Adultery will do that to a person's reputation.
The guy doesn't mince words.
"Andy missed a couple field goals today, what was your message to him?"
"Three. I don't have a message. We're expected to make them. That's pro football."
Okeedokee, coach. Good luck today, Andy!
OK, let's rapid-fire this Friday class into a big Friday night. First up? Let's rewind to the very beginning of last night's Patriots game and check in, again, with Mike Vrabel:
Lordy. What a toss! I hate the Patriots, by the way, so I don't love having this much Pats content in a Friday class. But fair is fair. I don't make the #content, I just write about it.
Next? Might as well stay on the gridiron and check in with George Kittle and Mac Jones to see how they spent their preseason opener:
Anyone here done smelling salts? Admittedly, I have not. I've always wanted to try, though. I'm a little surprised they never came up when I was playing. Feels like a missed opportunity.
They always look like a wild little ride to me. Let me know!
Next? Here's the best baseball stat of the day on the way out:
Amazing. Is there a greater, more American feeling than launching a home run into a cornfield? You'd be hard-pressed to find one.
And how about those NAMES on that list? Anyone here remember Andy Pafko's home run during the first televised baseball game on CBS? I doubt it.
Pafko's better known for being the player standing haplessly in left field during Bobby Thomson's "shot heard 'round the world" in 1951:
Didn't think we'd end the week with a Bobby Thomson YouTube video, but that's why this class wins awards. We zig when they zag!
OK, that's it for today — and this week. Good work, everyone. Happy first kinda-sorta football weekend of the season.
Danica Patrick takes us into it.
Did Marco nail the weekend? Email me at Zach.Dean@OutKick.com.
