On any given day, my wife is susceptible to saying, “Are there any sports on TV tonight?” I know that my answer must be negative, so I say with clenched teeth, “No, hon, let’s watch Private Practice.” She smiles and scrambles to cut up some cheese and pepperoni while I dash for the Tivo to tape whatever it is I lied about. I pound a half a bottle of wine in her, tuck her in at the halfway mark of the show, then hit the Tivo and watch whatever game I am missing, fast-forwarding through the commercials.

I also liked the Bill Walsh paragraph. Tomlin often refers to “run game alternative,” meaning those four-yard passes.