Various (other) Odds and Sods, October 9, 2026

• Week 5 looks to have gotten off to the same start Week 4 did.  20 penalties in the game...
• ... a game it greatly appears that the Dallas Cowboys threw for some reason.  Indecipherable decision for the Bucs to go for it on 4th down at the 1 up 14, but several Jake the Awake specials never had the game in doubt, including a nearly 70-yard pass for the Buccaneers, caught where the receiver had no discernible challenge within at least ten yards.
• We may have our answer, courtesy of Caesar's Sportsbook -- a Vegas job...

  BETTORS ARE ALL OVER DALLAS 🚨 92% of the Bets on Cowboys ML 91% of the Money on Cowboys ML 71% of the Bets on Cowboys Spread 68% of the Money on Cowboys Spread The Cowboys are this week's biggest favorite 👀 https://t.co/EN6tLgEyN3

  — Caesars Sportsbook (@CaesarsSports) October 7, 2026

• A bizarre pro wrestling story from Mexico.  A luchador (a "free fighter" -- a pro wrestler) from Mexico is in jail for at least manslaughter charges that a package piledriver (basically gather someone up, put his head between your legs, and sit down, ostensibly dropping someone on their head) went wrong a few days ago and the referee of his match is dead.  El Hijo del Fishman (The Son of Fishman) is awaiting trial for killing the 75-year-old referee of the match.  I don't think I need to tell you on how many levels, even for pro wrestling or the dramaticism of Lucha Libre, this sounds about twelve shades of wrong.   

It had to happen in Bear Week...

Even I like to go and do "The Bears Still Suck" during Bear Week.

Today, a bit of steam came off that -- and Sunday might well have been decided, knowing the NFL...

In a moment that people with a conscience will probably salute on several different possible grounds, Mike Ditka got proverbially "run over with a truck" and has passed away at 86.  (No actual cause of death was reported.)

A homophobe, a transphobe, a supporter of beating your kid (Adrian Peterson era), etc.

Ditka was a motherfucker.  And a lot of Bear Fans love him for it.

This was NOT a good man.  And many people think that's what made him a good coach.

Ditka was a large reason "The Bears Still Suck" -- even when the song lauds the rivalry and is largely good-natured, there was still a little venom for the son of a bitch.

After Further Review (Baseball): Idiot tries to be Jeremy Maier...

... replay rules make him Steve Bartman instead, and I wouldn't be 100% surprised, if he's doxxed, he's a dead man walking in New York tonight.

Volpe in the 6th, runner on 2nd, down 4-2.

Did the umpires get this right to overturn this Anthony Volpe two-run home run for the Yankees, as called on the field, to an RBI double upon review? https://t.co/PaO06UmqzE

— David Furones (@DavidFurones_) October 8, 2026

4-3, and the Yankees didn't score again and are swept by the Rays. 

MLB: Someone explain this, please???

And the owners want a cap...

So when a number of anonymous people are asked by ESPN the possible impact of the playoffs on a lockout, etc., they were then asked about what would happen if, in the counterexample to the Dodgers, the Brewers and Rays, two smaller-market teams who have never won the Series before, made the World Series.

(Both are the #1 seeds in their leagues.)

This is what an unnamed NL executive said this.  To which I ask:  "Then why do those teams exist if you believe THAT bullshit?"

"I don't think people want Rays-Brewers for reasons beyond the lockout; they are just bad markets and not especially appealing to casual baseball fans. I think you can contort any matchup to help sell an argument. I don't think it really matters unless the Dodgers win again and everybody can pile on."

After Further Review: Jake the Awake for Week 4

You know the drill by now.  Let's see what he came up with.  I've got a couple ideas.

Inlay:  Seattle-LA Chargers

10)  Cincinnati-Jacksonville.  16-10 in the 4th, 6:35 to go, Jacksonville leading and with the ball at the Cincy 25.

Three Cincinnati players, according to Jake, are playing flag football instead -- if there were only flags for them to get.  As a result, Chris Rodriguez Jr. seals it with the touchdown run.

9) Same game, 22-17, and Joe Burrow throws it right to the defender for the Last Chance Miss.

If you want people not to believe you're doing this intentionally, you do not lead the defender.

8) Buffalo-New England  7-0 New England, early 2nd quarter

James Cook hurdling touchdown -- and Jake thinks those are scripted too.

There's one problem.  Hurdling is such an unsafe play that it's illegal in high school football.  Not sure about college.  I wouldn't be surprised if they are ducking -- for self-preservation!

7) Take Me Down To Muff Punt City, it's Seattle and the Chargers.  3-0 Chargers, first quarter.

Derius Davis is the perpetrator here.  Davis barely made the team this year, and this didn't help matters any.  One play later, 7-3 Seattle.  No word yet on whether Davis will still be with the Chargers by Sunday.

6) And speaking of the music, it's Return of the Doink.  We have only one this week to total eight so far in the season.

But he also missed one in Week 1 to bring the total to eight.

The Week 4 one is Carolina-Detroit, 13-6 Carolina mid-second quarter.  And it's slightly shorter than an extra point at 33 yards.

And this one does look like it's a magnet job -- it looks to start going right toward the center of the uprights until it takes a HARD RIGHT into the right upright and is no good as a result.

5) Back to Seattle and the Chargers, and this still isn't the one he put in the pre-list, so this game gets at least three!

And it's another pseudo-scripted Justin (S)Herbert interception -- thrown into basically triple coverage.  Even if the defender didn't make a good play at the 40, chances are the defender five down the field would've gotten it.

4) Giants-Arizona, and it's the convenient last...  possible...  play.  4th and goal, down 6, Arizona at the Giants 4...

And if you don't think that Jake is right, I want to ask you a question about that pass.  If the Arizona quarterback (Jacoby Brisset) seriously wanted his receiver to catch it, why does he put it to the INSIDE of the defender?  That Last Chance Miss, and apparently intentional, gets the place on this list as a result.

3) Back to Seattle and the Chargers for the third time, and I think this one was the play that he used as the inset.  This was the play after the muffed punt.

Screen, blockers, four missed tackles, including one comedically low.  Touchdown, Emanuel Wilson.

2) Back to Buffalo-New England.  29-26 New England, 1:14 to go, 2nd down on about their 40.  Two timeouts.

And he chucks it God Knows where into double coverage where one defender can literally park a car underneath and wait for it to come down.

1) He doesn't even do the one from Minnesota.  In fact, it's the third one from Buffalo-New England, and gets the last five and a half minutes of the video.

He's calling a magnetic-glove catch here.  This was the game-winning touchdown with 1:50 to go to Efton Chism III.

Since it's the first one of the year, he has to break out the video for actual marketing of a magnetic glove situation -- but, again, he makes it clear the ad doesn't mention legality with respect to the NFL...

And there's a reason for that belief.  The ball literally goes into one hand of Chism and stays there.  Not only doesn't it really move, but how in the Hell does he get it like THAT and then go to the ground and somehow pass the NFL definition of a catch?  Watch the replays -- the ball doesn't move.  How in the Hell do you get that kind of grip on the ball without Stickem?

Magnets.

And that's the end of Tyreek Hill's career. Good riddance.

 

BREAKING: During today's jury trial, Tyreek Hill's ex-wife, Lakeeta Vacarro, alleged under oath that Hill physically abused her eight times throughout their marriage, prompting her to sue him for compensatory and punitive damages involving several domestic violence allegations. https://t.co/5QIUeI6b6O

— Football Forever (@fballforeverhq) October 6, 2026

Various Odds and Sods, October 6

• As can probably be expected, the referees' union has appealed the suspensions from Sunday.
• There have been 963 accepted penalties in the first 64 games of the NFL season.  That's an average of 15.05 penalties per game.
• It is also a recorded record for the NFL -- records for that situation go back to about 1978.
• UEFA may want another crack at Man City after the Premier League's process is done.  There is RUMOR the sanctions could come out next week, but no confirmation on that end.  The first round of appeals will probably go until March.
• 6:50 PM PDT:  The entire Greek system of the University of Arizona has been provisionally suspended.  Every fraternity and I believe sorority as well.  Misconduct allegations across the board.

An ESPN study into tanking, taken for the new draft rules going into effect this year, has come out:

• Four of the last five seasons have broken records for games with margin of victory over 20 points.
• 22% of all games last year in the NBA were decided by more than 20 points.
• From the All-Star break on forward, teams identified as tanking teams were getting blown out 20 or more at a rate well over 30%.
• By the April part of the regular season, it was over FORTY PERCENT -- of all games those teams played.

There's plenty to say about it, and I'll get to that if I have the want to.