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Royals' Playoff Run, NFL As 'Big Brother' And Fantasy Sports Gambling

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The Kansas City Royals now have a shot at advancing to their second consecutive World Series, but are baseball fans already sick of their winning ways and ready for a new ALCS champion? Also, anyone who's watched the NFL in October knows that it's Breast Cancer Awareness Month. But now the league is shutting down athletes' efforts to show support in their own ways.

In our “3 Stories You Should Know” this week, Will Leitch of Sports on Earth and Nancy Armour of USA Today join Bill Littlefield to cover these stories, along with the controversy surrounding daily fantasy sports.

1. Rooting For The Royals

Once again, the Kansas City Royals have a shot to be the American League's top team after a second-consecutive ALCS berth. Last year, they were the new kids on the block. And casual baseball fans across the country rooted for the Royals to take down the big, bad San Francisco Giants. Now, it feels like they're old hat. Will Leitch questions why we've already gotten over the Royals' success.

WL: Obviously, the other three teams involved in the league championship series —  the Cubs, the Mets and the Blue Jays — they all have their own items of fascination. The Blue Jays haven't been to the playoffs in 20 years, and they have José Bautista and his epic, mammoth bat flips. And of course the Mets have the drama of being the Mets, and the Cubs, since 1908, not having won a World Series. So it's strange how we've kind of already put the the Royals in like the Yankees/Cardinals team-that-we're-sick-of-already. Which is completely strange because last year they were the insurgents.

2. In The Best Interest Of The NFL

The NFL recently denied a player's attempts to remember loved ones by wearing pink after Breast Cancer Month is through. The league also demanded that Twitter shut down two news outlets' accounts for alleged copyright infringement. Nancy Armour sheds light on how the NFL chooses its battles.

NA: We've kind of seen the NFL play Big Brother. And, not kind of, they really have been. ... You know, the NFL has so many problems, be it domestic violence, you know, the ongoing concussion crisis, and they choose to focus on uniforms and funny cat videos.

3. The Future of Daily Fantasy Sports

Between the revelations that making money from daily fantasy sports isn't as easy as the commercials make it seem and the more recent allegations of insider trading, DraftKings and FanDuel are making headlines across the country. In the past week alone, it was revealed that the FBI had launched an investigation, Nevada banned the websites and lawmakers called for a hearing on Capital Hill. Bill Littlefield places his bets for how much longer we can expect to see the sites around.

BL: The New York Times, Frontline, the FBI, Congress — all investigating this. My opinion is that if you have any money riding with FanDuel or DraftKings, get it out now, before the rush begins. They're gone, right? Neither of these prominently advertised clip joints will survive into 2016.

More Stories You Should Know:

This segment aired on October 17, 2015.

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