Deep thoughts, cheap shots & bon mots ...

 Memo to the Raiders and their fans: That fluffy green stuff you’ll see all over your Coliseum field Sunday is called grass. Playing on that plant-based substance isn’t as manly as playing on dirt, but it makes the field look better on TV, and TV calls the shots, so suck it up and enjoy the softer landings.

 If you’re a true Bay Area football fan, you sent a fruit basket and thank-you note to the Raiders. Their overtime win over the Browns last Sunday saved us from maybe the worst football weekend ever — No. 7 Stanford crushed by Notre Dame, No. 24 Cal overrun by Oregon, 49ers busted flat near L.A.

 You know what I miss? I miss athletes telling me and my sportswriter colleagues, “You’re just trying to sell newspapers.” Today’s whippersnappers don’t even know what newspapers are. They don’t know what we’re trying to sell. Sometimes we don’t either. But if you’re buying it, thank you.

 Jon Gruden keeps giving indications that he reads newspapers, in spite of his 25-hours-a-day work schedule. We thank you, Jon, for helping keep the industry alive.

 At the end of the season, Raiders tight end Jared Cook and 49ers tight end George Kittle will lead their respective teams in receiving. Two of the best tight ends in football. And both interesting, quotable guys.

 Now it’s not good enough for athletes to stand for the national anthem. For some coaches, it’s “Toes on the line, right hand over heart, jaw jutted out patriotically.” This is still America, sort of, can’t we leave some wiggle room for individual expression? Jerry Jones might suspend a Cowboy for chewing gum during the anthem.

 Carlos Gonzalez says he hates it when the Rockies lose in L.A. and the Dodger Stadium DJ plays “I Love L.A.” The Lakers started the tradition of playing Randy Newman’s song, and it’s one of the great hometown songs of all time. On par with “Sweet Caroline” (Red Sox), “Thank God I’m a Country Boy” (Orioles), and of course “I Left My Heart In San Francisco.”

 Addison Russell has been handed a 40-game suspension by MLB after allegations of domestic abuse. I interviewed Russell in the spring of 2014 when he was the A’s rising star. My strong impression (backed up by Bob Melvin): A-plus-plus maturity and character. That character judging sure is an inexact science.

 Most mispronounced words in sports? I suggested integral, which usually becomes intrakull. Reader Don Carlson chips in with height (often mispronounced hythe) and anticlimactic (no, it’s not anticlimatic). Maybe the hythe of mispronunciation is referring to that English tennis tournament as Wimbleton.

 Why not let readers do all my work? Sean Reiter notes that No. 24 Cal, playing at home against dynamic conference foe Oregon, could not fill the Bears’ stadium. So. “The University needs to move to Las Vegas.”