‘Nightcaps’ is a daily column that catches you up on the biggest sports, news and culture stories you may have missed while pretending to do work at your desk. It runs Monday-Friday on OutKick.com.
First day of October …
We have made it! Best month of the year. Soak it all, boys and girls. Don’t waste a single second.
We’ve got postseason baseball all month, even though my Red Sox got thoroughly embarrassed in the Bronx this week. What a bunch of losers. Ain’t the team I grew up watching. What a fall from grace.
But still, we have a full month of postseason baseball.
We also have 61 straight days of football, starting tonight. That’s right. Every year, we get into this little window where we just have nonstop football for two straight months between college and NFL. That window has now opened, and it ain’t closing until we’re hanging Christmas lights.
Beautiful. What a time to be alive. What a month. We’re in it, folks. Let’s roll.
Welcome to a Thursday Nightcaps — the one where NASCAR driver Jennifer Jo Cobb pays a hefty fine for a little adultery in North Carolina. That’s frowned upon everywhere, by the way, but it’s an especially big no-no in the Tar Heel state.
You’ll see.
What else? I’ve got the entire Red Sox clubhouse turning on ownership after getting steamrolled in the Wild Card series, and what’s going on with the college football TV ratings this year?
LSU-OLE MISS TV RATINGS PROVE THAT SOME COLLEGE FOOTBALL BRANDS ARE IN A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN
The early returns are in, and they’re … concerning. We’ll dive in.
OK, grab you a ridiculously overpriced Shipyard Pumpkinhead beer to celebrate the start of October, and settle in for a Thursday ‘Cap!
Look at that. Sixty-one straight days of football. Our next day without a game? Dec. 1. That’s gonna be a rough week, by the way, because I’m fairly certain Major League Baseball‘s inevitable lockout will begin the next day.
And we won’t even have football to save us then!
But that’s a December problem. Not an Oct. 1 problem. We’re in the thick of it, starting today. Halloween. Thanksgiving. Cooler weather (allegedly). The best.
And hey! We even get the final month of the NASCAR season. Can’t beat it.
Speaking of … let’s go ahead and start today’s class with Truck Series driver Jennifer Jo Cobb getting clapped with a $850,000 bill after a court sided with the now ex-wife of the man she “willfully, intentionally, and deliberately seduced, enticed and alienated the affections” of back in 2021.
The man? Longtime NASCAR spotter, Clayton Hughes.
What a twist:
So, here’s the scoop …
Tracey Hughes, the ex-wife of longtime NASCAR spotter Clayton Hughes, filed a lawsuit against Jo Cobb in 2024, accusing her of having an affair with her husband months before their divorce in 2021.
Hughes accused Cobb of alienation of affection, which is basically a civil tort that allows individuals to sue another for intentionally spurring the end of a marriage.
Who knew such a thing existed!
Here’s the kicker: Only five states allow people to sue for alienation of affection, including North Carolina, Mississippi, South Dakota, Utah and Hawaii.
Cobb has 31 NASCAR O’Reilly Series starts over a 15-year career, and a whopping 234 Truck Series starts. She finished sixth at Daytona in 2011.
Hughes also filed a second claim, saying her husband “dishonored” the couple’s “marital bed,” which seems like a fair conclusion to make. North Carolina’s ‘Homewrecker Law,’ as it’s been aptly dubbed, was triggered, and last week a Davidson County judge ordered Jo Cobb to pay $50,000 for alienation of affection, and $800,000 for criminal conversation.
For those who aren’t up-to-date on their legal terms, criminal conversion a civil lawsuit that allows a spouse to sue a third party for having sex with their partner while the marriage is still intact.
Most expensive sex ever, if you ask me! Allegedly, of course.
What a story.
THE CRAIG CARTON SHOW–UNFILTERED, UNAPOLOGETIC AND UNMISSABLE. DOWNLOAD HIS DAILY PODCAST NOW!
OK, let’s leave the courtroom and head to the Bronx, where my Red Sox got their brains beaten in last night by the New York Yankees, and then started a full-on revolt in the clubhouse after the game:
My goodness. Willson Contreras refusing to say why the team stunk the past month and then refusing to comment on Sonny Gray getting yanked with two outs in the fifth tells you everything you need to know.
Contreras also blasted the organization’s obsession with analytics, which, I’d imagine, played a role in Chad Tracy pulling Gray with two outs in a 1-0 game.
Look, I grew up in the golden age of Red Sox baseball. I saw four World Series championships. I know what this organization is supposed to look like …
This ain’t it. This whole “analytics” revolution in Major League Baseball is so anti-baseball, it makes my head explode. It’s certainly anti-October baseball, where a manager needs to have a real feel for his players.
Chad Tracy stunk this series. He was horrible. He was a deer in headlights.
This was his first experience with it, so I’m willing to give him a little runway. But goodness, every single move he made backfired.
Do you understand how bad you have to be to get out-coached by Aaron Boone in October? Horrendous.
Embarrassing series.
OK, let’s rapid-fire this Thursday class into a big Thursday night of (61 straight days of) football! First up? We’ve got a fresh batch of TV ratings from the first month of the college football season, and they are … concerning:
Down 11% year over year. Not great. Concerning. Troubling.
Now, the question is … why? A couple thoughts from me, and then I’ll let you guys take us home.
OK, that’s it for me today. Give me your thoughts on the way out!
And, of course, see y’all tomorrow. Let’s have a big night.
