I don't know Dave Dombrowski's business better than he does, nor Danny Ainge or Bill Belichick, but I still consider it fun to speculate and reason and debate on the internet. Which is why I'm here, and why conversations here don't just start and end with "They know more than we do! End of discussion!". If the actions of authority figures possessed of greater information than you cause you to yield all skepticism and defer to them, I congratulate you, because my life would be far simpler (and my career likely more successful) if I were able to do that.
I suspect that 8pm was arrived at after much negotiation with Fox and their other TV partners, based on things such as those networks' lineup of other shows, demographic tweaking, perhaps a late adjustment for the particular teams participating and their markets, and yes, a heavy dose of planning around CFB and NFL. I'd be interested to learn more from someone (
@Dehere ?) who actually knows this stuff. But absent a sophisticated explanation, I find myself wanting more, because like others in this thread I was basically so tired I was delirious, and found myself unable to even focus on the game, by the time of the 9th and 10th innings. I feel like I actually kinda missed appreciating a meaningful moment in baseball history by virtue of how late everything ran.
