Another Lost Weekend for NFL Can't Be Blamed on Weather

Hard to imagine anyone feeling sorry for the National Football League. The money, the TV ratings, the magnificently gaudy stadiums… professional football seems inevitable and unstoppable. But … Those TV ratings were down for the first week's package of games and network executives inevitably blamed… the weather. Specifically, the hurricanes that hit Texas and Florida. This may even be true and, if so, could actually work to the NFL's advantage since most of the first week's games were not especially good and the league needs an alibi. The website FiveThirtyEight, which views the entire world through the prism of accumulated