2015 NFL schedule: CBS praying Thursday nights aren't truly awful again

Thursday's such a crazy, lazy day
Thursday has its own peculiar way of saying: ‘Hey’
Sometimes Thursday almost makes you want to run away
Thursday's such a crazy, lazy day.

— "(Thursday) Here's Why I Did Not Go To Work Today," Harry Nilsson

CBS won a bidding war for the highly prized "Thursday Night Football" broadcasting rights a year ago, and in their eight games (all of which were shared on NFL Network simultaneously) the network was rewarded with margins of victory of 20, 42, 31, 32, five, two, 14 and 18 points. All for the pauper's sum of a reported $275 million to $300 million.

Such a crazy, lazy day indeed. Think the NFL has a marketable product on its hands?

CBS opted to renew its 2015 season Thursday nights, much like — one might argue — the way that a poker player who gets beat on an inside straight on the river opts to double down his bet on the ensuing hand purely out of seething, law-of-averages spite. The price the network paid this year is said to be slightly higher than the 2014 package (inflation, you know), but you have to wonder how excited or nervous CBS really was about how the slate would roll out.

At first blush? It's not awful. (But then again, neither was last year's prior to the games being played.)

Not counting the NBC-owned season-opening game, or the Thanksgiving contests on three different networks, the Thursday schedule is as follows:

September 17: Broncos at Chiefs (CBS and NFL Network)
September 24: Washington at Giants (CBS and NFL Network)
October 1: Ravens at Steelers (CBS and NFL Network)
October 8: Colts at Texans (CBS and NFL Network)
October 15: Falcons at Saints (CBS and NFL Network)
October 22: Seahawks at 49ers (CBS and NFL Network)
October 29: Dolphins at Patriots (CBS and NFL Network)
November 5: Browns at Bengals (NFL Network only)
November 12: Bills at Jets (NFL Network only)
November 19: Titans at Jaguars (NFL Network only)
December 3: Packers at Lions (CBS and NFL Network)
December 10: Vikings at Cardinals (NFL Network only)
December 17: Buccaneers at Rams (NFL Network only)
December 24: Chargers at Raiders (NFL Network only)

As was the case in 2014, the CBS games are all division games. Their portion starts off strong with Peyton Manning facing off against the only team that beat the Super Bowl teams a year ago in rowdy Arrowhead Stadium, followed by Odell Beckham Jr. (who clearly is a commodity now, based on his four Sunday and Monday prime-time appearances) and the Giants hosting the Fighting Daniel Snyders. Follow that with four good rivalries and plenty of star power, and there's potential.

We're still quite leery of the Browns to kick off November, facing a blah Bengals team no less, and yet the Bills and Rex Ryan returning to Gotham to face the Jets should be great off-broadway entertainment. We'll swallow hard on Titans-Jags (hey, every team gets at least one night game) and the hit-or-miss December games, although the one that CBS is broadcasting (Packers at Lions) could actually be respectable.

The hope is that, rejecting Nilsson's lyrics, Thursday doesn't make us want to run away. That's what last season did for most of us, and if it happens again, CBS might chalk it up to bad karma and walk away in 2016.

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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm

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LeBron James, Kyrie Irving take over late to lead Cavs past Celtics, take 2-0 lead

Through eight quarters of postseason action, we've yet to see the best that the Cleveland Cavaliers have to offer on a consistent basis. We have, though, seen All-Star surges from their two top guns, and so far, that's been enough.

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LeBron James and Kyrie Irving combined for 56 points, including the Cavs' final 28 points overall, on Tuesday, leading the way to a 99-91 win in Game 2 of their best-of-seven series against the seventh-seeded Celtics.

Once again, Brad Stevens' club came out ready to play, making a concerted effort to press Cleveland's ball-handlers defensively, contest everything and take the fight right to the heavily favored Cavs. But despite missing 22 of their 29 3-point shots and committing 18 turnovers that led to 22 Celtics points, the Cavs were able to hold on behind the scoring prowess of James and Irving to take a commanding 2-0 lead with the stage set to shift to Boston.

"That's a very well-coached team. Very well-coached, very well-prepared," James told TNT's Rachel Nichols after the game. "For us being a new group together, we're learning on the fly. I think being down, being able to come back, face a little adversity, I think it's good for us. We can make a couple more mistakes at home than we can on the road, and we can't play how we've played in Game 1 and Game 2 come Thursday in Boston."

James scored 15 of his game-high 30 points in the fourth quarter, with Irving pouring in nine of his 26 in the frame. They outscored the Celtics 24-21 in the final frame by themselves, with James bouncing back from a sluggish start to take control down the stretch.

"[My teammates] needed me to be a leader [in the fourth quarter] and that's all I tried to do," said James, who made 11 of his 22 field-goal attempts to go with nine rebounds, seven assists and two blocks alongside six turnovers in 42 minutes. "Tried to score, tried to rebound, tried to assist. I've got 11 turnovers in two games. I need to clean that up — that's 5 1/2 per game, that's not good, I've got to clean that up — but I just try to do whatever this team needs to help them win."

While James started slowly for the second straight game, Irving picked up right where he left off in his sensational Game 1. The All-Star point guard scored nine points on 4-for-6 shooting in the first quarter, teaming with center Timofey Mozgov (eight points and three blocks in 9 1/2 minutes) to keep the Cavs' offense afloat as James, Kevin Love and J.R. Smith combined for just six points on nine shots in the first.

But while Irving and Mozgov were cooking, the Celtics were making their presence felt with hard-nosed defense, working to deny the ball and plug up passing lanes. Boston created four Cleveland in the first 6 1/2 minutes to take an early 16-8 lead behind hot starts from center Tyler Zeller and rookie guard Marcus Smart.

Cleveland would regain its footing with a flurry of buckets — one Kyrie layup out of the pick-and-roll, another off a fast-break dime from LeBron, and a pair of Mozgov dunks — but the Celtics rode hard work on the glass (seven offensive rebounds, 12 second-chance points) and opportunistic play off Cleveland cough-ups to a 26-25 lead after 12 minutes.

Boston kept the pressure on in the second, continuing to create good looks off purposeful ball movement that took advantage of a lackadaisical Cleveland defense while forcing the Cavs to take tough shots. An Avery Bradley layup off a sweet hit-ahead pass in transition by Evan Turner pushed the Celtics lead to 45-38 with just over 4 1/2 minutes remaining in the second, leading to some uncomfortable murmurs among the Quicken Loans Arena faithful:

The Cavs answered the call, however, closing the quarter on a 15-5 run to take a 51-50 lead into halftime, before opening it up in the third. Attacking play from Irving and Love resulted in trips to the foul line, and Mozgov overwhelmed Boston's bigs to get buckets for himself on the interior and create second-chances for his teammates. Before you knew it, the lead had ballooned to 14, highlighted by a pair of above-the-rim hookups among members of the Big Three.

First, there was James hooking up with Love on a reverse alley-oop dunk from a step past half-court:

Then, LeBron found himself on the receiving end of a runout lob from Kyrie, resulting in a thunderous throwdown:

The Celtics wouldn't go away, though, making a run once spark-plug reserve guard Isaiah Thomas came into the game to initiate offense. The diminutive point man's persistent attacking off the dribble against whichever Cav he came across — Irving, Matthew Dellavedova, Iman Shumpert — collapsed the Cleveland defense, and his ability to finish through contact helped did the rest:

With Mozgov on the bench for the final 6 1/2 minutes of the quarter after picking up his fourth foul, there was nobody in the paint to deter Thomas, whose dribble-penetration created openings for Jared Sullinger and Jae Crowder to cook. Behind big minutes from the bench, Boston closed the quarter on a 14-7 run that cut Cleveland's lead to 75-68 heading into the fourth quarter.

From there, Boston hung tough, drawing within a single bucket after this tough and-one layup by Thomas with just over nine minutes remaining:

But LeBron and Irving just kept providing answers every time the Celtics got close, keeping the feisty underdogs at arm's length before James put an end to things with a block on a Zeller runner in the lane followed by a layup right past the former Cavalier center on the other end:

The highlight doesn't show the two huge offensive rebounds — one by Shumpert, the other by Tristan Thompson, who absolutely terrorized the Celtics on the glass (11 rebounds, five offensive, in 26 1/2 minutes off the bench) — to extend the Cavs' final possession and give LeBron the opportunity to put the game to bed. After Boston controlled the boards early, Cleveland took over late, finishing with a 47-39 rebounding edge, a 20-19 advantage in second-chance points, and a 42-36 upper hand in points in the paint led by Mozgov (16 points, seven rebounds, five blocks) as they pulled out the win.

Thomas finished with 22 points on 6-for-14 shooting with seven assists and four turnovers in 30 minutes off the bench for the Celtics, who exit Cleveland down two games but having played the seemingly coasting Cavs tighter than many expected and feeling very much in the thick of the series.

"We're right there," Thomas said after the game. "I think we shot 38 [percent] and we're still in the game. We gotta lock in and get this next game."

To get it, they're going to have to find some answers for James and Irving. For his part, coach Stevens seems encouraged by the improvement his team made in that department between Sunday afternoon and Tuesday night.

"We made those guys earn everything they got, and I think that's a step in the right direction from Game 1," he said.

That's certainly better than a step in the wrong one, but at this time of year, moral victories get you nothing but one loss closer to the end of your season. The Celtics very well may be able to shoot and play better when action resumes at TD Garden on Thursday night; whether that would be enough to overtake a Cavaliers team that can throw a pair of All-World scorers and playmakers at them, though, remains an open question.

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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!

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Petr Mrazek bounces back, shuts out Bolts in Game 3

Detroit Red Wings goalie Petr Mrazek is all about making amends.

He was pulled in Game 2 against the Tampa Bay Lightning after giving up four goals on 18 shots. But every other time he was pulled this season, he responded with an awesome effort, going 3-0-1 with a 1.71 goals-against average and a .949 save percentage.

His bounce-back in Game 3 was even better: a 3-0 shutout on Tuesday night, making 22 saves and giving the Red Wings a 2-1 series lead. Pavel Datsyuk, Riley Sheahan and Luke Glendening scored for Detroit, which won on home ice.

The Red Wings played much better in front of Mrazek after giving up 30 shots to the Bolts in Game 3. Steven Stamkos was limited to three shot attempts. Tyler Johnson was limited to two shots. Ondrej Palat had one shot attempt. Detroit blocked 10 shots to Tampa’s five. 

“I thought we were way better. We looked like a real hockey team," said Detroit coach Mike Babcock. 

Earlier, Babcock said he didn’t believe in bounce-back games, saying that NHL goalies don’t need them if they’re playing up to standards.

“If you think you need a bounce-back game, that means you had a bad game,” said Babcock.

“We expect him to play good every night.”

In Game 3, he was better than good. And the Red Wings are in the driver’s seat. 

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NHL bans media from using Periscope, Meerkat to subvert rights-holders

During the Ottawa Senators’ push for the playoffs, I pointed my phone at my television, fired up Periscope and streamed a shootout against the Toronto Maple Leafs while offering pithy commentary.

Within minutes, without any promotion on other social media, I had hundreds of people watching along with me.

It was at that point I realized the potential of the app and the completely nebulous legalities of it. Was this kosher? No idea. Was this awesome? Absolutely.

So the question then became how I could use this technology during coverage. At Game 1 of the New York Rangers’ series against the Pittsburgh Penguins, I did live Periscope intermission coverage. That seemed OK.

Some of the other people in the press box that were Periscoping the pregame skate or postgame comments? That seemed a little more dicey, given the NHL’s rules about shooting video at events where big media companies held the broadcast rights.

On Tuesday, the League finally addressed the real-time streaming issue, via a memo from deputy commissioner Bill Daly: 

We have been advised that certain individuals attending NHL games pursuant to credentialed access are streaming live footage from inside NHL arenas before, during and after NHL games using technology offered by companies such as Periscope and Meerkat.  As a reminder, NHL media credentials prohibit any “unauthorized use of any transmission, picture or other depiction or description of game action, game information, player interview or other arena activity . . . without prior written approval of” NHL or the team as applicable.

Without limiting the generality of the credential language, any streaming of footage in violation of the NHL’s Broadcast Guidelines (including, for example, live streaming inside the arena less than 30 minutes before the start of the game) and Media Access Policy is expressly prohibited.

So no more Periscoping warm-ups.

Again, one understands protecting the media rights for companies paying millions for exclusivity. But is that exclusivity violated by live streaming warm-ups? Or intermission? Or the coach’s press conference?

Is the NHL, which was one of the more liberal policies for fans uploading game video to YouTube, acting a bit too draconian here?

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2015 NFL schedule: Sunday, Monday night games all about Chip Kelly, Colts, OBJ

The Sunday night and Monday night NFL schedule is where your eyes typically start, right?

When the NFL releases the season schedule in full, as it did Tuesday night, you're naturally drawn to the night games — especially those on non-Thursdays. We expect great evening theater in our pro football.

But some of those games tend to fall flat. Some now, when the schedule is brand new, and some later, after we've found out that everyone's Super Bowl favorite is actually a crappy team. That can happen as soon as September.

But the league does its best to please its media partners — in this case, NBC for Sundays and ESPN for Mondays. (We'll discuss the Thursday schedule in a different blog entry.) Does it always work? No, which is why we feel we can point out to you where it falls flat.

Here's a look at the week-by-week prime-time games for Sunday and Monday ... and which ones you actually should watch:

WEEK 1
Sunday: New York Giants at Dallas Cowboys
Monday: Philadelphia Eagles at Atlanta Falcons; Minnesota Vikings at San Francisco 49ers

Our take: Not a bad way to start the first week of football, but ... maybe we expected a little more? Yes, we have a division rivalry with Cowboys-Giants, and maybe Odell Beckham Jr. (recurring theme alert) or Dez Bryant do something ridiculous; we're in good hands with Al Michaels on the call there. And the next night, we have the wack-a-doodle Eagles, and I like my Chip Kelly after dark, so that's good. But playing the Falcons? Kinda meh. And that's the undercard? The nightcap is a battle of a Jim Harbaugh-less 49ers against a maybe Adrian Peterson-less Vikings? Consider us underwhelmed a bit.

Verdict: We rank them thusly: in chronological order — Giants-Boys, then the battle of the birds, followed by that game out west. If you skip the last one, no one will question why.

WEEK 2
Sunday: Seattle Seahawks at Green Bay Packers
Monday: New York Jets at Indianapolis Colts

Our take: Oh, yeah. This is what we came for. A rematch of the NFC title game, but this time it's in Green Bay. We're already asking our bosses if we can go. This is choice stuff here, and yet it's not a revenge — don't be that fan. If the Packers win, it's not going to make up for blowing a two-TD lead for a trip to the Super Bowl. Now that we have that out of the way ... you wonder if the Seahawks' banged-up secondary will be in top form this early in the season. Frankly, the Packers probably catch a mini-break getting the Seahawks this early in the season. As for the Monday game, this does't look super sexy, especially with the Jets having a new coach and being rudderless (as of now) as QB. But think of it this way: A good Jets defense got better, adding Darrelle Revis and Antonio Cromartie, and a good Colts offense got better, adding Andre Johnson and Frank Gore.

Verdict: When we put it like that, the MNF game doesn't sound so bad, eh? We know Sunday will be great. Watch both games. Trust us. 

WEEK 3
Sunday: Denver Broncos at Detroit Lions
Monday: Kansas City Chiefs at Green Bay Packers

Our take: Oh. Yeah, that's our initial reaction. Look, these are four good teams on paper, and we could be treated to two very good matchups here. But Broncos-Lions in prime time? Hmm. We frankly thought this might be a Thanksgiving game or a Sunday game. We're not complaining with a Peyton Manning night game in his possible swan song season. We're not. It's just ... hmm. Same with the Monday game. Two straight at night at home for the Packers? Consider this: Many Packers fans make the drive up from Milwaukee, so that's two weeks in a row with games on school nights.

Verdict: Yeah, we're still watching both. They're just ... weird matchups, that's all.

WEEK 4
Sunday: Cowboys at New Orleans Saints
Monday: Lions at Seahawks

Our take: We still love the Lions? They lose three-quarters of their defensive line and Reggie Bush and they get two early prime-time games early on. Just a feeling here that this one might flop. The Seahawks fans get geeked for night games, though, so there's that. In the opening act, it's no slouch. You have America's Team heading down to the Big Easy — another town that loves getting well-lubricated before evening contests. These teams have had some nice battles in the past decade or so, so we can get behind that one.

Verdict: If we're being honest, we're actually slightly more tuned up about the Cowboys-Saints game.

WEEK 5
Sunday: 49ers at Giants
Monday: Pittsburgh Steelers at San Diego Chargers

Our take: Someone needs to explain this Niners thing to me. Are they going to be good? The Giants, we get — Beckham and Eli, and heck, I'll say it: I think this is a better team than people realize. But the 49ers aren't sneaking up on anyone, and we don't mean that in a good way. This is not, we'll safely predict, going to be up there with the 1990 NFC championship game or the 2002 wild-card madness game in this rivalry. Putting the Chargers on at night is dangerous. This could be the final season in San Diego, and that talk — moving to L.A. — could dominate the pre-game chatter, especially if Philip Rivers is not on the team. Maybe if Marcus Mariota becomes a Charger ...

Verdict: Check back with us after the draft. We'll probably watch both, but we might need a decent reason why.

WEEK 6
Sunday: New England Patriots at Indianapolis Colts
Monday: Giants at Eagles

Our take: The NFL loves Beckham the Giants! And Tebow Chip! And, yes, the Colts and Patriots now will have played for the past 73 years in a row.

Verdict: We love the two games. Start up the coffee pot. We're pot committed.

WEEK 7
Sunday: Eagles at Carolina Panthers
Monday: Baltimore Ravens at Arizona Cardinals

Our take: What's up with the teams that have back-to-back night games? We have Packers in Weeks 2 and 3; Lions in Weeks 3 and 4; Giants in Weeks 5 and 6; and now Eagles featured in consecutive night games. That's weird, right? Well, whatever ... our Eagles fetish still should be alive by this point. And hey, kudos on the unusual but compelling Monday matchup of two teams that you can't count out for as a bizarro Super Bowl matchup with their great head coaches and wooden-stiff, strong-armed QBs.

Verdict: More Eagles, sure, and the Panthers could be decent. That's a check. The second game looks good, too. Two nice ones.

WEEK 8
Sunday: Packers at Broncos
Monday: Colts at Panthers

Our take: Again with the back-to-back thing! And the Panthers, no less. Someone in the league office had a little too much brandy when they made this thing up, but again, we're fairly OK with this matchup. Why? Well, for one, it's the first-ever meeting of Andre Luck and Cam Newton, so we can finally end the age-old debate over which is the better quarterback. You know, that debate that exactly no one ever has had. Oh, and Packers-Broncos, a metaphorical torch passing from Manning to Aaron Rodgers? Yeah, we're in.

Verdict: Four legit MVP candidates at quarterback. No questions asked here. 

WEEK 9
Sunday: Eagles at Cowboys
Monday: Chicago Bears at Chargers

Our take: OK, now this you can safely call a revenge game. When a really talented player is rebuffed by his former team and he joins a rival team and those two teams — which are rivals in the first place — play in the city in which the rebuffed player once played? Yup, revenge city, baby. It's the DeMarco Murray Bowl, y'all. As for the Monday game ... what in the what? New Bears head coach John Fox grew up in San Diego and went to SDSU; that's literally the best we can offer up. 

Verdict: Sunday fun day. Oh, and we need to be up early that Tuesday morning.

WEEK 10
Sunday: Cardinals at Seahawls
Monday: Houston Texans at Cincinnati Bengals

Our take: We're still buying on the NFC West, and these two teams — even if the Seahawks have won four the of the past five head to head, and seven of the past 10 — make for good football. The Monday nighter is a weird reprise of the teams' playoff games from a few years back, but really both could be decent (if they found good quarterbacks).

Verdict: First game, absolutely. Second game ... J.J. Watt going Fox (Andy Dalton) hunting? Ok, we're in.

WEEK 11
Sunday: Chiefs at Chargers
Monday: Buffalo Bills at Patriots

Our take: First thought is that someone high up on the Chargers payroll has some dirt on someone in the league office. Three prime-time games?! In a seven-week span no less! Second thought: Rex in Foxboro is always great, and we're frankly stunned it took this long.

Verdict: The old Grateful Dead adage — never miss a Sunday show — typically holds true for the NFL, too, but we might consider other options if the right one comes along. As for Monday, the phone is going on airplane mode. Don't bother us while we gorge on Rex vs. Belichick and Brady. That's quality programming right there.

WEEK 12
Sunday: Patriots at Broncos
Monday: Ravens at Cleveland Browns

Our take: It is written into the league bylaws that Brady and Manning face off, don't you know? OK, this really could be the last time they face off, so it's big. It will be the 17th meeting of the quarterbacks, with Brady holding an 11-5 record advantage in the game, and there's something just odd about the number 17, so assume they'll face off in the playoffs. And once more after that in the Pro Bowl, as part of some Roger Goodell-mandated ratings trap. 

Verdict: Skipping Broncos-Patriots is un-American, and probably illegal. We don't want to get in trouble. Oh, and Browns! They make the cut. The league's hope here is that Josh McCown will have disintegrated by this point and that Johnny Manziel will be the only living quarterback remaining on the roster. If so, we'll check that game out, too. 

WEEK 13
Sunday: Colts at Steelers
Monday: Cowboys at Washington Redskins

Our take: This is the Colts' fourth prime-time game. How about that? It's only the Steelers' second. The NFL clearly believes the Colts are the more marquee team this coming season, and yet playing in Pittsburgh is tough, especially in early December when the Heinz Field turf could pass for Dagobah in the new Star Wars movies. The Colts are 6-15 all-time vs. the Steelers, and when they played last fall Ben Roethlisberger threw for six touchdowns and 522 yards. Can Andrew Luck do better?

Verdict: Both of these games are rematches from very interesting 2014 games, including the Redskins' Colt McCoy-led upset of the Cowboys. It might have to be McCoy again in this one, assuming the chatty Robert Griffin III has been benched and is filibustering across town on Capitol Hill.

WEEK 14
Sunday: Seahawks at Ravens
Monday: Giants at Miami Dolphins

Our take: The 2012 and 2013 season champs meet on the east coast, and as our previously stated love for the way both teams go about their business, you don't need to convince us to find the remote. Giants-Fish might require a tiny bit more convincing, but maybe not that much. Some feel these non-playoff teams from a year ago might be among the more improved clubs going, and sometimes these some people are not wrong.

Verdict: Do you think ESPN will mention Beckham? What about Ndamukong Suh? We'll tune in to find out and report back to you on that.

WEEK 15
Sunday: Bengals at 49ers
Monday: Lions at Saints

Our take: Seriously? What about either the Bengals or 49ers screams featured matchup? They have the sex appeal of the Dick Van Dyke Show. They have two head coaches who have the personality of Kristen Stewart's chewing gum. And yeah, we know the Lions and Saints have some recent history, having played five times in the past seven years, but outside of the thriller a year ago, what is the excitement?

Verdict: Xmas presents are not buying themselves.

WEEK 16

Sunday: Steelers at Ravens
Monday: Bengals at Broncos

Our take: Steelers-Ravens is classic fare. Two teams that despite each other. We get it, even if the rivalry is not quite the same as it was a few years ago. Still pretty great in our minds. And even though we knocked the Bengals down — yes, the team that was on prime time a week earlier, naturally — we'll withhold judgment in this space. Because if this is Peyton Manning's final regular-season night game, we are happy it will come against Dalton.

Verdict: Miss what could be Peyton's final regular-season game? No freaking chance. 

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Eric Edholm is a writer for Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at edholm@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Eric_Edholm

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Jon Jay demonstrates possibly the worst dive you'll ever see

St. Louis Cardinals outfielder Jon Jay is not a bad player. The 30-year-old owns a career .293/.358/.394 slash line over 2,464 plate appearances. He doesn't hit for a ton of power, but he's still a really useful player.

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Jon Jay is a good player. Have we stressed that enough? Good, because this diving attempt from Tuesday's game against the Washington Nationals is one of the worst defensive plays we've ever seen.

This feels like the equivalent of Harry Doyle's "just a bit outside" quote for an outfielder.

Coincidentally, this play took place during MLB Network's Statcast game. We don't want to pile on Jay, but we would love to see the route efficiency on that play. 

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Thankfully, the only thing this dive hurt was Jay's pride. Cardinals pitcher Lance Lynn was able to pitch around the leadoff double, and made it out of the inning without giving up any runs.

Because of that, Jay can probably rest easy. It was embarrassing, sure, but it could have been worse. Sometimes, bad plays happen to good players. This was one of those instances. 

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Kevin Harvick honored at the White House

Kevin Harvick's pilgrimage to the White House happened Tuesday.

The 2014 Sprint Cup Series champion was honored by President Barack Obama for his title.

"It’s great to have Kevin’s crew chief, Rodney Childers, who is here," Obama said. "We’ve also got Greg Zipadelli –- almost messed it up there; it’s like Obama, too many vowels. And the team from Stewart-Haas Racing.  NASCAR’s leadership is here as well. Brian France is here and Mike Helton. Welcome back. 

"And even though the Budweiser Chevy got the White House parking pass this year, I am sure Tony Stewart doesn’t mind adding another Owner’s Championship to his collection. So congratulations to Tony."

President Obama also made sure to incorporate Steve Byrnes into his remarks about Harvick. The Fox announcer passed away earlier Tuesday.

"I also want to offer my condolences to everybody in the NASCAR community on the passing of a legendary reporter and broadcaster, Steve Byrnes," Obama said. "And I know a lot of fans’ thoughts and prayers today are with his wife, Karen, and his son, Bryson. We are here to celebrate, though, Kevin Harvick.  This was an exciting year for the “Four Car.”  As the season started, Kevin had a new team, a new crew chief to adjust to.  It usually takes a little time for a driver and a crew chief to find their groove, but Kevin and Rodney seemed to figure out each other in a hurry – sort of like when Joe Biden joined my team.

"So they had instant chemistry.  And as Kevin can tell you, when you have a trusted partner shouting world-class advice into your ear at every turn, you can’t lose."

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Nick Bromberg is the editor of From The Marbles on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at nickbromberg@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!

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