A Grip on Sports: The NFL really is a full-service commercial entity, isn’t it? Tonight you can watch the Hawks and order some new pants on the same website

A GRIP ON SPORTS • Is it Thanksgiving already? No? Then why the heck is the region’s biggest event on this Thursday a professional football game? Oh, right. Like everything, there is money to be made. And the NFL loves dollar bills.

•••••••

• Ever order anything from Amazon? A book, maybe, back in the dark ages (you know, the 1990s)? Or a football game in the past couple years? Either way, you have contributed to the retail on-line giant taking over another aspect of our lives. One of the more enjoyable aspects, actually. The Seahawks.

OK, that’s enough hyperbole for us to run for Congress or something, but at the core it’s somewhat true. You want to watch Seattle host the 49ers tonight from Lumen Field, you’ve got to pay the man. The game is exclusively on Amazon’s streaming service, another way of saying you have to pay a few extra bucks to watch.

And another Prime example of the NFL’s Prime interest – making more money.

And you thought it was football.

We’re not begrudging the league its money-grubbing ways. That’s just America in the 21st Century. No, not flying cars. Not even self-driving ones yet. But dollar bills flying out of your pockets and into the NFL’s.

We never saw that on the Jetson’s. Nor did anyone see it coming back in 1995 when Jeff Bezos started selling hard-to-find-books online from a rented house in Bellevue. Ironic isn’t it? Amazon began in Bellevue and tonight, as the Hawks play the most important game of the year, early season variety, the person who lives in that home these days has to send at least a couple bucks to Bezos’ company for the privilege of seeing it.

If it’s any consolation, Prime’s broadcasts have improved since the company first began streaming Thursday night games PC (Pre-Covid). From 2017 to 2022, its contract gave it just the streaming rights. Last year, the current iteration of Mel Brooks’ favorite company, Engulf and Devour, gained exclusive rights. How? Billions of dollars. About one billion of them a year. It takes selling a lot coffee, coffee-table books and coffee-makers to pay for that.

So brew a cup of Starbucks, turn on the giant LG, open a bag of Skinny Pop – all probably purchased through Bezos’ company – and settle in.

• What will you see?

If the recent past means anything, a 49er victory. The Seahawks have lost their last five games against Kyle Shanahan’s team, a big reason why Pete Carroll is no longer roaming the Lumen sidelines in is white Nike Air Monarch IVs. Available on Amazon for $91.42 – with Prime delivery, of course.

Mike Macdonald, the best defensive mind of his generation (when he was coordinating in Baltimore), will be matching wits with the certified-fresh genius of Santa Clara tonight. Will he be more successful?

Being that the Hawk defense is missing as much, if not more, in the way of key players as it was last week, we’re sure he won’t. Even though the 49ers are struggling without offensive sparkplug Christian McCaffery.

They still have a healthy Nick Bosa, right?

The main reason the Hawks have lost every time they’ve faced San Francisco since Russell Wilson forced a trade? The offensive line can’t keep Geno Smith clean. Upright? Maybe. But giving him time and space to exploit his receiving weapons? Not so much.

Which makes tonight a great opportunity for pass-rusher extraordinaire Bosa, Fred Warner (if he plays despite an ankle injury) and the rest of the defense to get right. If not, the heat will continue to simmer under coordinator Nick Sorensen. With former 49er DC Robert Saleh a free agent – Aaron Rodgers let him go as the Jets’ head coach this week – Sorensen could use the reprieve. Expect the Hawks to counter with heavy doses of Kenneth Walker III.

• The baseball playoffs really got interesting Wednesday.

The Mets’ Francisco Lindor knocked the Phillies on their backside with a sixth-inning grand slam and their bullpen knocked them out of the postseason in a 4-1 victory. The Dodgers’ bullpen did the unthinkable, with 174 relievers combining to shut out the Padres 8-0 and send that series back to L.A. tied for the decisive Game Five.

Giancarlo Stanton hit a ball 174 miles in the eighth inning to lift the Yankees to a 3-2 win in Kansas City. And the Tigers started the day with a game of pitching chaos, using their bullpen to take a 2-1 series lead with a 3-0 win over Cleveland.

What is this, 2015 all over again?

Nope. If it were, the Royals’ bullpen would have been unhittable and they would have won. They have to today or a Yankees vs. Mets World Series becomes a distinct possibility. And all that interest we mentioned? It dissipates.

•••

WSU: Of all the good things John Mateer has done this season, hist first as Washington State’s starting quarterback, hitting the deep ball consistently is not one of them. But the Cougars have had quite a few long completions. How? Yards after catch. Greg Woods looks at the numbers in this story. … Gardner Minshew is no longer the Raiders’ starting quarterback. … Elsewhere in the (new and old) Pac-12, the Mountain West and the nation, we love this John Canzano column about an Oregon attendance record. … TV ratings for the two-team conference are pretty darn important. So far, WSU and Oregon State have been pretty darn good, as Jon Wilner relays in this column. One aspect Wilner mentions in passing but is actually quite important: Not all CW stations always carry the games. The Oregon State game Saturday was not on in L.A. and we know of at least one market in which The CW shares a channel, meaning the station could choose another alternative, something that happened for the Boise State game. … Speaking of the Beavers, they travel to Reno this week, where the weather should be fine and they should have little trouble picking up a win. … Today seems to be a good day to pass along stories concerning such things as media contracts and promised payouts to Mountain West teams. … We passed along this story on Washington’s Jacob Bandes yesterday. It ran in the S-R today. … The biggest game of the weekend, not just West Coast version but nationally? No. 2 Ohio State at No. 3 Oregon in Eugene. The Ducks need Dillon Gabriel to be better in the red zone. … At least the weather will be grand for the visitors from College GameDay and the game itself. … Wilner also took a look in the Mercury News at the missed targeting call in Cal’s loss to Miami. The more we look at the replays he provided with his column, the more we cannot understand how a flag was not thrown on the field. Or by review. … California will need its ground game to bounce back if it wants to have any chance at No. 22 Pitt. … This tale from Colorado’s recent past is wild. So has the middle of the defense. … Will the transfer-window changes impact Utah? The Utes will think about that later. This week they have to worry about a revitalized Arizona State team. … A UCLA player has really blossomed. … USC’s Lincoln Riley is not only losing games, he is also losing press conferences. Though he did reveal something big yesterday. … Arizona is hurting on defense. … In the Mountain West, Wyoming has a new left tackle, which can be an adventure. … The blue turf is still paying dividends for Boise State. … The hits just keep on coming for Hawaii’s quarterback. … It has been a tough year for Utah State. Now the Aggies have surprising UNLV coming in for homecoming. … Air Force recruited the quarterback it will face this week. … What is the worst (and best) that can happen for Colorado State in Mountain West play? … Can the San Jose State volleyball team play enough matches this season, after all the forfeits, to qualify as an at-large NCAA tourney participant if need be? It will be close.

Gonzaga: Former Zag guard Malachi Smith is moving to a new G League team. Theo Lawson tells us where Smith will be playing this season. … Yvonne Ejim is going to be on a lot of watch lists before the season begins. After all, she is the reigning mid-major player of the year.

EWU: Safety Derek Ganter Jr. played four games as a freshman last season. Started three of them. Did he get injured? Nope. He maintained his year of eligibility under NCAA rules. This season he’s blossoming into a star. Dan Thompson looks at how last year’s sneak peek informed this season. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, the showdown between No. 3 Montana State and seventh-ranked Idaho is in the national spotlight. … In basketball news, Weber State will play a charity game at Utah State. … Montana has raised the bar again with a new indoor practice facility. … The 14th-ranked Griz will be the fourth consecutive ranked opponent for No. 24 Northern Arizona. … It really seems Sacramento State is committed to moving up the college athletics ladder.

Preps: It’s Thursday. The day with features about outstanding high school athletes. And a look ahead to the football games. Dave Nichols takes care of the latter while Greg Lee has the former covered with this piece on a couple of standout St. George’s cross country runners. … Dave also has a roundup of Wednesday’s action.

Chiefs: Dave has one more writeup. Spokane traveled to Prince Albert, Saskatchewan and Dawson Cowan denied the host Raiders anything resembling a goal. Any goals, actually. The Chiefs, 6-1-0-0, won 2-0.

Kraken: Joey Daccord had a breakout season in goal last year. Seattle has rewarded him with a long-term extension.

Seahawks: What should you watch for tonight? We had some thoughts above as well. … Have you lost your optimism about this season? … What did the Seattle players think of last week’s key field goal block? … San Francisco would love to score early and quiet the Lumen Field faithful.

Sounders: Seattle has a lot of momentum. Can the Sounders keep it going before the playoffs begin?

Tennis: Where does Rafael Nadal rank on the list of all-time men’s tennis players? Nadal, who announced he is retiring at the end of this year’s Davis Cup, is without question the best clay court player to ever play. But he’s not our No. 1. Or No. 2 or 3. We have him pegged at No. 4, after Rod Laver, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, in that order. And ahead, by a decent margin, of our all-time best American player, Pete Sampras.

•••       

• We screwed up yesterday. Fixed our mistake mid-morning but if you read our thoughts on the baseball broadcast and were confused, we apologize. John Smoltz probably didn’t see it, though. Hopefully, Ron Darling didn’t either. Until later …