Well, that's it for me and Wheel of Fortune...

STIFF WARNING:  The referred-to article shows a number of references to child sexual assault, child pornography, and pedophilia.  Be advised.

I have to be very careful writing this for two reasons.

One, it's sensitive material to begin with.  There are definite lawsuit possibilities if one is not very careful.

Two, if I'm not very careful, I may do something I have been criticized for, baby and bathwater through association.

That said, after a BuzzerBlog article on the now-firing of former Wheel of Fortune announcer Jim Thornton, I have some very pointed questions.

If the story were as somewhat-innocent as I believed it was when it was breaking, I would've preferred it this way.

The now-reported reason the flight attendant called for law enforcement on the May flight is that Thornton was on a child-porn chatroom website for 57 minutes on a flight he was taking -- in Wheel of Fortune gear.

On top of that, a podcast which was done by a person under a pseudonym which MAY be tied to Thornton (the article, as well as I, have to be very careful here for lawsuit purposes) plugged said website and outs at least two people on it as self-professed pedophiles.

Two years ago.

TMZ has picked up the story -- but no confirmation has been able to be tied YET.

That said, Thornton is now 100% fired and being wiped from all current-season episodes already taped.

So, two questions:

1) Are law enforcement aware of this situation, going back to the 2024 podcast and working on POSSIBLE ties between that podcast and this incident?

2) How many conservative markets, even with the status of Wheel of Fortune as basically THE biggest show on television, may be preparing to pull the plug?

The only reason I'm not clarion-calling for it yet is that we haven't 100% got a tie between the podcast and Thornton.  That said, it is rather clear that Thornton at least hangs with people who are child-attracted, if the referred incident is accurate from the May plane flight.

Various odds and sods, 9/3/26

• (P)Enes Kantor "Freedom" has sued everybody regarding his transphobic ejection from a Chicago WNBA game.
• A Louisiana judge has cleared the way for LSU to recruit and play former NFL training camp players...
• One day after the AD of Georgia has proposed no less than throwing LSU out of the SEC conference entirely if they try.
• And the conference has now sued LSU to try to block the process as well.
• Steve Ballmer is looking into legal options after the NBA findings.  Try it.  Maybe then we can get a vote on throwing the Clippers out of the Association once and for all.  
• A flight attendant at a flight in May reported Wheel of Fortune announcer Jim Thornton, and asked for authorities to meet the plane on the ground.  It appears, not only from the veiled reports but from the fact the production is scrubbing early-season footage of Thornton -- he tried to get into the women's restroom or private flight attendant quarters.  He's been suspended, but, given the scrubbing, you can almost scribble in "fired"

Throw the Clippers out of the NBA

Said the same thing on the Kevin McHale situation in Minnesota a lot of years back, and I think that might pale to this.

The repeated salary-cap transgressions of the Clippers mean:

• Owner Steve Ballmer and President of Business Operations Gillian Zucker are banned from the league for at least one year.
• President of Basketball Operations Lawrence Frank for at least six months. 
• The team is fined $30,000,000
• And they lose their next five first-round picks.
• Leonard is fined $700,000.

Throw em out.  Go one team fewer, all non-involved players become immediate free agents.

As expected, he got waived...

Brock Rechsteiner's NFL career is over.

He will spend his six-week steroid suspension as a free agent, cut by the Saints today.

Gee, Brock, trying to tell us something as to your NFL aspirations?

And another sacrifice to football...

D2 opener, scored a touchdown, died on the sideline.

William Jewell's MicahJo Barnett died on the sideline during the season opener vs. Fort Lewis College.

No details, but my guess -- another headshot-laced or COVID-laced event.

The game was suspended.

Asshole in Milwaukee Alert!!!

(And I'm not talking about myself, circa spring of 1998...)

The rest of the preseason NFL suspension blotter...

Source:  MSN.

Already covered:

• New Orleans:  Brock Rechsteiner, six games, PED policy.
• Atlanta:  James Pearce, eight games, personal conduct, attempted murder
• Buffalo:  Phidarian Mathis, three games, apparently an alcohol-related personal conduct offense from 2025.
• Washington:  Dorrance Armstrong, one game, personal conduct, assault charge in 2025.

Here are the rest that we know of:

• Tennessee:  Nazeeh Johnson, six games, PED policy -- according to his admission, sounds like it was a fertility drug banned by the league.
• Minnesota:  Jeshaun Jones, three games, PED policy, unknown.  Might be alcohol like Mathis, might be failure to cooperate several times with the program.
• Indianapolis:  Probably the highest profile one, Cam Taylor-Britt, one game, personal conduct, reckless driving arrest in 2025.