The 2011 B$C$ implodes... over tattoo ink???

Well, congratulations to the B$C$. You're entire postseason is now fucked.

Ohio State was, yesterday, forced to declare five players, including their star quarterback, ineligible for the first five games of next season for money violations going back two years.

Most any sane person understands that almost none of the five will be around next year, NFL or no NFL. But that isn't the point of the ridiculousness here.

Has anyone heard of a penalty for a school's use of an ineligible player?

This penalty seems to make it believed that the players are only ineligible now, which I would find utterly laughable.

"The NCAA did not suspend the players for Jan. 4 Sugar Bowl against the Razorbacks because they "did not receive adequate rules education during the time period the violations occurred.""

BULL

FUCKING

SHIT!!!

Ohio State should be forced to forfeit the Sugar Bowl, and they've now placed the Rose Bowl in a situation of fraud too, because Wisconsin now has no right to the Rose Bowl. Michigan State should be there, as of TO-DAY.

But, welcome to college football. Between this and $Cam, I begin to wonder if it's going to be next year that the true professional football will be played at major colleges across the nation.

And another game-show controversy hits Yahoo!

The Million Dollar Money Drop has hit the headlines for a couple getting (perceived to be) screwed out of playing with $800,000 of their stake due to a questionable answer.

Here's the Yahoo! story.

Let's set this up. The Million Dollar Money Drop is a new show that FOX is putting on (which should be one red flag right there!!) based on a British show of the same concept.

A couple (or a pair of related players) is given $1,000,000 in real American money. All there, in public, in $100 bills in stacks of $25,000 apiece.

Here's the catch: To take any part of that money home, they must complete a series of seven multiple choice questions -- the first three having four answers to choose one correct from, the next three having three, and the final question having only two.

Here's catch #2: Not only must they bet their entire (remaining) stake on EVERY question, the rules FORCE them to leave one answer with no money on it at all. (The question is "answered" by the players putting the money physically over one of the relevant number of trap doors. Incorrect answers drop the money out of play, etc.)

So here's the controversy:

The first thing which is shown (this is either question 4, 5, or 6) is the three answers:

A: MacIntosh Computer
B: Sony Walkman
C: Post-It Notes

The question is: "Which of these was sold in stores first?"

The Sony Walkman was said as the answer, but the contestants put $800,000 that Post-It Notes were first in stores.

The problem comes from knowledge that Post-It Notes were being distributed nationally in stores only since 1980, but had been distributed beforehand for 2-3 years regionally.

The question was in no way specific in that regard.

And this is why it wins "Rig Job of the Day".

Face it, people: Game shows are now rigged too. Black-letter law (and a previous show yanked from FOX's air) notwithstanding, producers will use every little dirty trick to deny contestants money they might otherwise duly win.

FOX claims they went to 3M and used the information they were given. The thing is, the way the question is phrased, they could've actually made Post-It Notes locally and sold them in one local store, and the question would be ruled correct.

But, unlike what always has been said about game shows, the network no longer wants the contestant to win. Why would they? Cuts into their precious profit margin. Shows will now do everything in their power to openly deceive the contestant.

Remember: If it's a business, they're out of their minds to decide things legitimately.

And as long as the FCC are a bunch of corporate whores to allow the likes of Survivor and American Idol on the air, it's not going to change.

DECEMBER 24 EDIT: The couple has been invited to return to the show.

It's only the first games, and I think we have a winner...

So you mean to tell me that New York is up by that much and can't seal the deal?

Has anyone figured out this is the Michael Vick Circle-Jerk we're talking about?

We'd like to thank you for watching yet another NFL Scripted Production.

If people need to know why I rail against sports these days, I submit two high school stories...

Wow. Just -- fucking -- wow.

I stand witness to two stories as to how completely out of control high school sports have become, as a grand mirror to the farcical nature of the professional "games".

Both of them are from the state of Florida -- which should stand as little surprise given the demigod nature of sports there.

Here's the Fox Sports report on the incident, through YouTube:



Yes, you are seeing it correctly. After an altercation with an opposing player, the thug gets tossed out of the game. He then shoves the official, and then throws him to the ground.

His education should be finished, and he should be in prison.

---------

Second story from Florida today: A private high school faces expulsion from Florida high school athletics and a six-figure fine for recruiting misconduct.

From the Yahoo! blog story: A private high school in Florida has been fined over $140,000 for recruiting, illegal tuition, and illegal participation violations. They are banned from postseason for five years, plus three more years of probation, and that's if they choose to pay the fine and remain in Florida high school sports at all.

Apparently, according to StAugustine.com, this isn't even the first time a school has been busted like this. Six months ago, another charter school in Florida was fined over a quarter-million dollars for massive ineligibility and lying to the investigators on the subject.

The fines are based on the number of athletic contests, and the school must pay the fines or leave Florida high school athletics.

The five-year postseason ban has been reversed for all sports but football 60 days later.

Here's a hint: How about SHUTTING THE GODDAMN SCHOOLS DOWN?? You think that with this kind of conduct, they aren't coming forward and saying their entire purpose was to be an athletic powerhouse?

The NFL is completely fucking out of control...

I had a feeling that, as the lockout began to loom, that the league would have a lot of problems retaining control.

I expected more of the helmet-ripping fights, but I didn't expect this:



That is the Jets strength and conditioning (soon-to-be-ex-) "coach".

He's been banned for the rest of the season.

I don't agree with the punishment.

He should be FIRED and BANNED FOR LIFE from the NFL.

Rex Ryan, the head coach who has instilled this Animal House mentality in his locker room, should be the one suspended for the final three games of the year.

Congratulations, Rex. You've completely blown up your team's chances at the Super Bowl because your fucking franchise has to act like a pack of hyenas.

Right now, the league's final four appears to look like New England, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, and Chicago.

Or, more appropriately: The US Army, Ben Worthlessburger, Dog Killer, and Barry Soetero.

ON EDIT: The coach has now been suspended indefinitely because he ordered the wall to be put up that led to the incident.

It is now time for this to go to the District Attorney and that the Jets need to pay hardcore.

I'd have them forfeit the next game.

So it's not enough to benefit Chicago the first time they played Detroit...

.... the league does it again???

*sigh* I've become convinced that Barack Obama's position as the one guy who could probably put the kibosh on a lockout next year is part of the reason the league is rigging the Bears something fierce.

But, counting the MNFix against the Packers, that's THREE games now we can attribute to rigging for the Bears.

Why not just say that you're folding the Lions too?

I had it out with E$PN yesterday on the B$C$...

I guess I should congratulate them.

Not only do they get Boise State to finally bow out of college football relevance, but South Carolina lays down to a 56-14 scripted production in Atlanta yesterday, and the NCAA rules that, though Cam Newton is not an amateur athlete anymore and his father was admitted to shopping his services, that Newton is eligible.

All hail the BCS Cabal, stronger today than ever. The system "works", and we're not going to see a playoff any time soon.

In more truth, the system IS a work.

Let's go over the (S)Cam Newton thing again, and tell me where somebody didn't get bought off here:

We have a supposed "student" who:

• Cheated on his exams in Florida
• Stole computers down there, given "diversion" because he was a football player, and, hence, a demigod in our society
• had his father openly admit shopping him to at least one other SEC school
• might well be part of a larger scam involving the entire Auburn football team.

What a scam. Really, what a scam. That the NCAA didn't declare Newton himself permanently ineligible for his conduct at Florida is laughable to begin with. That the NCAA didn't throw both Newtons out when it was clear Daddy Dearest was shopping his son even more so!

And, at the price involved, you'd have to think he had assurances of all the things SCam is going to get: The conference title, the Heisman (in one of the biggest routs in history -- I heard people on the E$PN chat yesterday saying this was the most dominant player in 20 years!!), the BCS title, and the #1 Draft Pick should there be an NFL next year.

But again, no one else can see that this has no merit to the quality of the teams, in that you don't ask for an illegal six-figure payout unless they're buying a lot more than a college football quarterback's services??

And then there's the fact of why this is getting let go... This was the year that certain teams were finally going to bust the BCS in getting to the title match.

But this not only endangers the half-billion dollar investment in the BCS for E$PN, but also the seven bowls E$PN owns.

Congratulations are in order, and they got three hours of it. Legitimate sport just took another hit in the name of dirty cash.

You have just witnessed the greatest B$C$ lay-down in the history of college football...

I knew better than to celebrate too handily when Alabama ran out to a 24-0 lead at Auburn.

I did a little, but I just had this gut feeling...

And I was right.

Thanks for nothing, Alabama. If even part of what's being alleged is true, you took a fucking dive, didn't you?

A decent article on conspiracies by Rosenberg...

I was coming across Sports Illustrated and SI.com after Jimmie Johnson's fifth straight NASCAR title (is there another relevant team in the sport right now? No, thanks to Mr. France and Co.).

And I happened upon this two-pager from SI's Michael Rosenberg which examines some sports conspiracies, in light of the possible Brett Favre suspension for SextGate.

He dismisses most of them out of hand, but at least examines some of them. So I'll do the same, and add some comments as to why I disagree on most of them...

Babe Ruth missed the first few weeks of the 1925 season with VD: Huge for 1925? Yeah. But let's face it, Babe Ruth, as Rosenberg relates, had a reputation for women. I'd say it's pretty much a mortal lock he caught something from somebody, and is probably very fortunate, given the medicine of the day, that he only missed a few weeks. 1-10: 10.

Liston took a dive in the "Phantom Punch" second fight with Ali: This, too, was almost a given. We still don't know, to this day, who Sonny Liston was beholden to for his championship, and, given that day, God knows what else. Sonny Liston was a very dark character, and that had little to do with his skin color. 1-10: Oh, about a 20.

Tyson took a dive in Tokyo vs. Buster Douglas: Hmmm... First I've heard of this one, and I think it falls into the column of "no other logical explanation" rather than "denial of reality".

The problem with this one is: WHY? Tyson was the baddest man on the planet at this point, so why lose that position to a literal nobody? He had all the money he wanted, probably -- Hell, he was due a lucrative payday just a couple weeks after the fight to referee a WWE Main Event for national television (Douglas did so instead.). -- so the question is, why?

I think it was right as Rosenberg said: Tyson felt he could beat anybody at 20%, and Douglas showed he couldn't, starting the descent into madness. 1-10: 0.

The NBA and the 1985 Lottery: 1-10: About a 30.

This is what Rosenberg has to say about it, starting with his 1-10:

Two. If you watch the video, you'll notice that Stern intentionally looks away as he reaches into the globe thingie, and that he picks an envelope in the middle of the pile. How could he know which envelope was bent? What is he, David Copperfield? Besides, when the globe thingie spins around, the envelopes hit the side at least as hard as that first envelope did when it was thrown in there.

If Stern had known that he'd still be answering questions about this 25 years later, he would have gone the ping-pong ball route and nobody would have suspected anything. Oh, who are we kidding? Of course they would. It's the NBA!

Watch from about the 5:15 mark onward.

He looks at the case the entire time he's heading into the case, and goes straight for the envelope with the bent corner. If this had been any kind of a random draw, the accountants would've opened the hatch for him, the case would not be clear plastic, and he wouldn't look in.

On top of that, if it came out that one of the envelopes was different in any way than the others, the lottery would've been stopped and the envelope replaced.

Sorry, $tern wanted Ewing on the Knicks. Watch the evidence for yourself.

UNLV took a dive against Duke in the 1991 Final Four: There's only one real reason one can come up with this theory, and it would basically invalidate the integrity of the last 20 years of college basketball -- that Duke and Coach K were being orchestrated into a mega-dynasty. Again, as with the Tyson thing, UNLV stands to gain a lot more by winning than by losing.

We will never have another undefeated DI college basketball team go through the tournament. It's just not going to happen again. Can you imagine the fame that the UNLV team would've had by doing so, even in 1991? In fact, it's probably more likely THAT was the fix, than anything else. 0-10: 0.

Jordan's first retirement was due to an under-the-table suspension for gambling: The charges were known and admitted. Remember: By this time, it was estimated that 70% of all NBA fans were Bulls/Jordan fans, so one can see the argument against this.

Consider, however: If Jordan was in big-time gambling trouble, this all-but-certainly meant he was beholden to interests other than the NBA. It's clear that the NBA was making Jordan the God Among Basketball Gods. If things got much worse than they did, chances are that someone might've found out the ties between Jordan, $tern, and probably the Mafia. At that point, since 70% of the fans were Jordan fans, that blows up your entire league.

I understand how much his father's death hurt him, but he was in too deep with too many probable problems for even $tern to deal with.

Yeah, I think he was told to lie low and hush down. 0-10: 10.

2002 Western Conference Finals: Probably one of the grandest conspiracies in all of sports history. Previously discussed. A mortal lock that one was dirty.

Wayne Gretzky's wife took the fall for Gretzky in the Phoenix Coyotes gambling scandal: Consider in how bad of shape the NHL has been the last half-dozen years or so. When this went down, I was pretty certain they were going to have to fold the Coyotes and throw the franchise out of the league.

The problem, even if Gretzky was gambling on another sport, is that it put him in league with types who COULD fix NHL games, and HAVE fixed games in pretty much every other professional league imaginable. If Wayne Gretzky had to take that kind of a fall, the NHL would be finished.

Done.

Kaput.

I agree with the 8 Rosenberg put. It's almost a lock.

The 2008 Chinese Gymnasts had underage performers, and it was covered up: Duh. Consider the weight of the 2008 Games, across the board, here. This was China's coming-out party as the New Greatest Nation on Earth, and they not only lived up to it in medal count, but in presentation.

One of the biggest known controversies of those Games were the female gymnasts from China. There is a minimum age (I believe 14) that you have to be to legally compete in the Olympics. If you put a young girl through the Communist grinder and basically groom her from birth to be a Chinese Hero in the Chinese Olympic Games, it would not be a stretch to use every known advantage, including illegal youth. 0-10: As I said, DUH!

And if you think I believe Michael Phelps was clean when he won those eight golds, you're mad.

LeBron tanked the playoffs because he was already known to bolt Cleveland for Miami: The evidence is all there. The three had discussed this for two years. $tern needs his new mega-team. Cleveland was not going to be LeBron's home for much longer anyway. I'm just shocked no one has jumped the sonofabitch yet. 0-10: 25.

And then Favre's streak ending in an under the table suspension: No. If a suspension was going to end the streak for SextGate, especially with who it appears Goodell and Co. are marketing the NFL to, they'd have done that above the table.

Oh, and Brett: How'd that ass-job today in the Metrodome taste? 0-10: 0.

B$C$: The government might be forced to step in -- this year. Newton saga not about Newton, but TARP fraud?

Oh boy.

I don't even know how much longer ESPN can keep this quiet.

I've been basically following the Cam Newton situation, and came across LSU message board Tigerdroppings.com and this thread in the "SEC Rant" section entitled "As the Plains Burn...".

In absolutely no uncertain terms:

If even a small portion of the alleged material which the original several posts in this thread come out to pass on the part of a purported multidimensional FBI investigation, the Federal government is going to take over college football in very short order. Perhaps as early as this year.

Basically, this is the latest part of the Newton investigation to "go viral". It purports a massive amount of research into long-standing and pervasive violations in the Auburn program which, if exposed, might not only fell the Auburn football team nor just the athletic program...

These allegations, if being investigated and found true, might end Auburn University itself. There is one claim that previous misconduct had already put Auburn on probation with a group called the SACS, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

This is the sanctioning body which allows a Southern-US institution to actually be accredited, and the probation would be the largest sanction they could give before disqualifying a school from, frankly, being a school!

This actually did occur in December of 2003.

The first several posts in the thread indicate accusations of a pattern of behavior going back to 1992 (!!), and that Cam Newton is the least of Auburn's problems (and, in fact, the State of Alabama's).

• This apparently has roots in the government takeover of Alabama's Colonial Bank, and what the Feds found when they seized the bank. Four members of the Board of Directors of Colonial BancGroup at the end of the last full year of it's business (2007) are rumored to have also been on the Board of Trustees of Auburn University while much of this was going down. Much of the misconducts alleged are from wiretaps of Colonial Bank and it's Board of Directors, and the Auburn stuff is actually peripheral to it.
  
• The misconducts alleged go far beyond pay-for-play. They include:

1. Improper benefits in allowing Auburn players into casinos (and rigging the games that the boys would actually win them all the time!),
   
2. Unmarked (and, hence, untraceable) ATM cards (which probably indicate slush accounts) for Auburn players,
3. Improper loans to players and their families over the last two years, at least.

• The rumor is that the NCAA actually wanted Auburn to sit Newton, on the basis of these allegations, for the recent win over Georgia. (This is patently asinine, for Auburn is already in it far too deep to get out now. Sitting Newton now is an admission of guilt, and that Newton was never eligible in the first place -- at Auburn or anywhere else.)
• The belief, according to several "sources", is that Auburn boosters know their school is materially finished as a relevant program, so it's going to steal the National Championship and the Heisman, even if it is taken away later.
• The overhanging situation may also have already resulted in charges against four Alabama state legislators.

One "source" said that we would find out more "by the end of the week". Well, today is Friday -- I'd say that qualifies.

Now, let's get to brass tacks on this.

If the FBI has even a remote FRACTION of the material that this thread claims it has, the FBI must step in and seize control of the present BC$, at least vis-a-vis the 2010-11 season.

Auburn has only one regular-season game left, against Alabama in the "Iron Bowl". It has already clinched a berth (as long as they remain eligible for it) to represent the SEC West in the SEC Championship Game, the winner of which gets a BCS berth, and a berth in the National Championship Game if it's Auburn (as long as it beats Alabama).

LSU's only loss is to Auburn, and having it nullified would result, probably, in LSU (once everything is reexamined) jumping the two non-AQ schools to take Auburn's spot. LSU's one meaningful remaining contest is at Arkansas.

Then you've got the two non-AQ schools themselves. TCU is almost a lock for 12-0, while Boise has three games left, including showdowns against Fresno State this week and at Nevada next week.

So basically, I've been calling for the NCAA (or whatever authorities have the information) to declare Newton ineligible if it can be proven so -- BEFORE THE SEC TITLE GAME.

A Newton ineligibility puts LSU against South Carolina. A victory by a then-declared-undefeated LSU probably gives them a National Title berth. That's one lawsuit if this goes past the naming of the BC$ pairings.

Then you have TCU, who might declare direct succession. That's two.

Then you have Boise State, who might (correctly) claim a conspiracy all along to ensure they never got the chance. That's three.

Then you have the real wild card. Say, as an example, the FBI doesn't come out with this until after the BC$ names who plays for their National Title. Newton is then declared ineligible, and then the FBI pretty much has to step in and order the BC$ to redo the rankings and find who actually WILL play for the title.

Auburn's in too deep, the NCAA is probably stuck, the BC$ is probably hanging by a slimmer thread every day... It's clear there is help in VERY HIGH PLACES in this situation for Cam Newton and the other Auburn players. Can they get Auburn through at least Christmas before this explodes the entire university?

Why not just coronate the dog-killing sonofabitch and get it over with?

That was so scripted, it was comical.

Philadelphia was a 3-point favorite Monday night, and the over/under was 44 -- so Dogkiller Sonofabitch scores six touchdowns in one of the largest MNF routs in history?

Look, I know Daniel $nyder's latest fantasy football attempt is disintegrating, but the NFL really wants to put it's stock and trade into that asshole now quarterbacking Philly?

Too much more of this and I will make the evening news.

Again.

ON EDIT: Bleeding Green Nation got this rant from a D.C. sportstalk radio host, Chad Dukes, about Monday Night's fixed debacle.

Chad obviously did not get the memo.

From WJFK Radio in D.C through a YouTube poster (a second one, the first one was made private):



Chad, you got had. There's no way that was a legitimate situation.

And, just to show the BS is not confined to just sports:

One more for you, from the world of game shows:



OK. Let's get it out there right now.

Anyone who's followed game shows for the last 50 years knows that there is black-letter Federal Law against the rigging of anything on a game show. It's called "Prohibited Practices in Contests of Skill and Chance".

I've spent about six years trying to help people get American Idol and Survivor and all this rigged reality shit off the air, and have basically found that the FCC, in it's infinite (*cough*pro-corporate*cough*) wisdom, has declared them "entertainment" and won't touch them.

As a result, we get AT&T ensuring Adam Lambert doesn't win American Idol and Richard Hatch not disqualified from Survivor for apparent sexual assault and all sorts of scripted mayhem which has now put everything competitive on television in question.

So I look at this incident. First off, it's probably the first someone who does not watch the show has heard of Wheel of Fortune since their first (and, to date, only) million-dollar winner a couple of months after they started the million-dollar format.

(And even that one was more than a bit questionable. The first time someone gets to spin for the million, and they hit the 1-in-24 and solve? As the old song went: "Things that make you go hmmmmmmm...)

Now, understand, as a kid, I had my occasional situation where I could go off and solve a blank puzzle. Here, I'll even give you that puzzle and you tell me if you can solve it blank:

_ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _
_ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _

You are looking for a LANDMARK. (It was actually two lines of two words each in the original, but Blogger won't let me quite get that right, so you get this format.)

OK, I'll let that one be an exercise to the reader, but compare the complexity (and the realistic number of options) of that puzzle to this one, and tell me, legitimately, that something funny wasn't going on here.

Then add this to the equation: If this wasn't a rig job to get the show some "buzz", that is HORRIFIC strategy on the part of the contestant (as friends of mine who were game-show fans have said to me for several days now). Unless you are very fearful that the next spin is going to a turn-loser, you don't solve it like that. You rack up a little spending cash for that trip you just were going to win.

So this DOES NOT pass the Smell Test, and, hence, wins Rig Job of the Day.

And now, to the latest B$C$ story: Cam Newton.

If those two weren't enough, we can go to the college level too.

#2 BC$ Auburn's Heisman Hopeful, Cam Newton, has been the subject of several Reggie Bush-level stories this week already.

It all really started with this story a week ago that a former Mississippi State player shopped Cam Newton to Mississippi State for upwards of $200,000 (the second allegation article I'm going to link confirms this figure -- that the player said that other schools would pay $200,000 to get Cam Newton).

So that's one story. Cam Newton was definitely, as reported there, the top JUCO prospect.

But, then, the question came up as to why he was in Junior College in the first place. That leads to a second allegation against Newton four days later (three days ago). This allegation remarks that he was caught in acts of academic dishonesty when he was the University of Florida after a theft conviction and that he was going to be expelled from Florida and that this was the reason he enrolled in junior college.

Hmmmm... Now we're getting somewhere curious.

Then, a third story now claims that two sources from Mississippi State are claiming that the Newtons talked about this money situation, and that the amount of money involved would determine where Cam Newton was going to play.

I'm going to put this in very simple terms:

First, if anyone is actually legitimately believing that a college player is effectively for sale to the highest bidder, especially at upwards of $200,000, you have to believe that assurances are going to be made that this player is going to be:

• Either the winner of the Heisman Trophy or very close
• The leader of BCS National Champion
• and the NFL's next #1 draft pick (should there be an NFL Draft next April)

This basically means that, if you're going to make that kind of an (illegal) investment, there's got to be something on the table for that investment. So the fact that this is being alleged really should raise some red flags on the part of just about everybody.

At first, what you should be thinking is that this might be a fraudulent shyster who really doesn't have any position from which to talk. Then the story of the Florida situation comes out, and now people have to openly ask "What's really going on here?"

The NCAA needs to settle this, if it can, before BC$ Selection Sunday (three weeks from this Sunday). If it doesn't, it stands a real chance to have to nullify another BC$ "National Champion", and, at that point, I think it safe to say that you might finally see "outside influence" on the NCAA to get the power out of the BCS conferences and into a national (former) "I-A" playoff.

Because if Newton has to be declared ineligible, this probably leaves four realistic schools for the BCS title: LSU (which would become undefeated), Oregon, TCU, and Boise State. Here's a question for you: Do you think we're outside the realm of possibility that E$PN might be trying to keep this (in an official sense) quiet long enough to ensure the latter two are denied (their rightful) entry into the dance?

And while we are discussing out of control on the gridiron?

Goodell, WHERE IS THE FUCKING SUSPENSION FOR THIS GARBAGE??



This is as blatant as it gets. He literally tries to helmet-to-helmet the guy, from behind, with the pass dropped and the ball four yards past the receiver.

Yeah, he got 15. He got $50,000 fined. He should've gotten tossed (not that it mattered, the 'Girls had quit anyway!), and suspended for the next game.

I don't want to hear your bullshit, Goodell. How is he not suspended?

Not a conspiracy one here, but just to give you an idea of how out of control football has become:

Watch this play, and watch the entire sequence of events:



Hopefully I got that right.

OK, let's walk through this.

#11 of the blue team, after starting in motion, starts doing back handsprings down the line.

The officials, having none of that, throw a flag (:05), and assess a 15-yard penalty on #11 for unsportsmanlike conduct (:26). You can also see the referee having an animated exchange with #11 after making the call, as, according to this refereeing forum, #11 had a previous unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, and was tossed from the contest.

"What's illegal about it?"

IT'S TAUNTING!!!

So the coach gets pissed and he gets on the field and engages one of the other officials, and, at the end of the clip, he gets a 15 yarder as well, and the thumb -- because HE TOO (same source) had a previous unsportsmanlike conduct call.

First, #11 should've been tossed in the first place, even if that was not the first unsportsmanlike call. That's taunting, drawing attention to oneself, and, apparently, he knew he was going to get flagged. Hit the showers just for that.

Then, that's his SECOND unsportsmanlike?

Then the coach gets involved and HE gets HIS SECOND???

You do realize there's a provision of the rules which allows the referees to forfeit such a contest for "making a mockery of the contest". Where's the forfeiture here?

Ding-da-ding-ding TILT! The fines keep piling up, as do the dirty hits...

So, it's been 2-3 weeks now since the NFL started threatening suspensions for dirty hits.

Let's go over the list for this week, from an ESPN.com article on the fine list for the week. Please note a pattern:

1. "Defensive lineman Myron Pryor has been fined $7,500 for a fourth-quarter hit that opened a cut on Favre's chin."
2. "Patriots linebacker Gary Guyton was also fined $7,500 for his first-quarter hit Favre in last Sunday's 28-18 win." [...] "Pryor told the Boston Herald earlier this week that his helmet "slid up into Favre's chin" after he first hit the quarterback in the chest."

3. "Pittsburgh linebacker James Harrison was fined $20,000 for a late hit on Saints quarterback Drew Brees, the third time he has been fined this season for a dangerous tackle."

4. "Tennessee defensive end Jason Babin was fined $20,000 for roughing San Diego QB Philip Rivers when he unnecessarily struck Rivers in the knee area. Babin previously this season had been fined by the league."

5. "Manny Lawson was docked $12,500 for roughing the passer, using his helmet to hit Orton in the chest. Lawson is a second offender, having been fined for unnecessary roughness last December."

6. "Ahmad Brooks loses $10,000 for striking Orton in the head and neck area. It also was his second offense, the other coming last November."

7. "Seahawks defensive end Chris Clemons was fined $7,500 for a late hit on Raiders quarterback Jason Campbell. He is a three-time offender, with previous incidents in September and January last season when he was with the Eagles."
   

8. "Two Raiders also were fined, including guard Robert Gallery for a late hit on Clemons that cost him $7,500."

9. "Rookie linebacker Rolando McClain was hit for a $7,500 fine for grabbing Seahawks running back Justin Forsett by the helmet in an attempt to tackle him."

So, Roger Goddell, given that he now has two three-time offenders, at least two second offenders, numerous late hits, etc., suspends...

N O B O D Y ! ! !

And is it any shock as to why?

The league THRIVES on dirty hits. For the manly nature of the bullshitters who play this game, whom we are all supposed to worship, the league needs knee shots and helmet-hits and blows to the head and all this other bullshit.

It's just like Personal Conduct Policy: If they actually enforced these edicts, there'd be no NFL. Dirty play and criminal conduct are necessary to truly be part of this league. They wouldn't have players left to play the (rigged) games.

B$C$: $crewjob e$$entially complete.

The investment is coming through loud and clear now.

TCU, as this blog fully predicted, has jumped Boise State to #3 in the BC$ rankings.

Boise State is going to go 12-0 and is probably not going to play a BC$ game at all.

Why do I say this?

#1) Oregon is just keeping the seat warm for when Alabama is moved up to either #1 or #2, in which case they and Auburn will bump Oregon to #3.

If the Cabal wishes to mark Strength of Schedule that heavily, then Alabama, should it win out to the November 26 Iron Bowl game with Auburn, should get to #1 or #2 by then.

#2) And then we look to Nebraska and Oklahoma. Though both with one loss, should they win out, they should be able to climb such that a Big XII title game between the two should propel the winner into the title game over at least two undefeated schools and probably three.

The Giants win the Series! Too bad no one cared...

If you need an example why people actually have come out and said publicly that certain teams need to be rigged to championships, I submit the ratings for the 2010 World Series:

The 2010 World Series has been the worst-rated in history, earning joint "honors" with the 2008 Series between Philadelphia and Tampa Bay.

The 2010 Series was rated an average of 28% lower than the 2009 Series between the Phillies and...

... the Yankees.

Sunday night's Game 4 was actually defeated by the NFL Sunday night game, the first time in history this had ever occurred. (The football game got a 10.7. The World Series got a 9.0)

And even though Monday's World Series game was on a network and Monday Night Football is on cable now, MNF was watched by about 80% of the audience size of the clinching game of the World Series.

Yeah, $elig's not going to see this and panic, especially with that pitching staff in San Francisco. Naaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah...

B$C$: Rick Reilly may be about to be fired from ESPN after this one...

Rather than go into a long diatribe as to why Boise State is getting screwed up the ass without lube, I will let ESPN's Rick Reilly do it for me. Quoted material is from his new article: Boise State Broncos can't buck this trend.

(Again, material is quoted for purposes of commentary and criticism.)

"So that's it, then. It's done. The fix is arranged. It's Game Over and everybody knows the score. The BCS computers TKO Boise State. Why keep punching when it's not a fair fight?"

Correct, and your network is largely to blame. Not only does ESPN have 500,000,000 reasons to have an interest in only the Marquee Value teams play in the BC$ National Championship Game, but they have another interest in keeping this enterprise alive...

ESPN OWNS AND OPERATES quite a few of the bowls in the archaic, obsolete, and, frankly, stupid bowl system.

According to their corporate website, ESPN Bowls (through ESPN Regional Television/ESPN Plus) owns:

1. The New Mexico Bowl
2. The Beef 'O' Brady's Bowl St. Petersburgh
3. The MAACO Bowl in Las Vegas
4. The Sheraton Hawaii Bowl
5. The Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl
6. The Texas Bowl
7. The Birmingham Bowl
   

That is SEVEN of the 34 bowls, and they just paid $500,000,000 for the four-year rights to the five BCS games.

Does ANYONE honestly believe they want to blow up that kind of investment? Hence, we get this kind of a situation...

"Auburn and Oregon are No. 1 and No. 2 in the country according to Sunday's latest, most fraudulent compilation yet from the BCS rankings. If those two schools win the rest of their games, they'll play in the BCS Championship Game."

Not so fast, Rick. I know what you are trying to say and imply, but I'm not so sure 12-0 is going to be enough (because of these very same computers!) to get Oregon into the BC$ Championship Game.

I think, even with one loss, a potential Big XII Championship Game between Oklahoma and Nebraska would send it's winner to the title game over Boise, TCU, Michigan State, AND Oregon -- even if all four were undefeated.

Why? Because of a lot of what you say in this article.

"It's the biggest rip-off since the Nigerian prince scam. It makes you wonder why you watch college football at all. What Boise State is being asked to do isn't doable. It's like trying to win a Cuban election. Or break into the Genovese family."

I've made it clear -- I almost don't watch college football at all, and, what I do watch, I watch to see if Boise is actually finally going to get their rightful title shot or get screwed again.

I don't think we need to know who is really deciding the national title this year. It's six computer experts, one of which stated openly that he would be tempted by a $1,000,000 bribe.

Rick, your employer paid half-a-billion dollars for the TV rights to the BCS. Do you honestly believe another couple million to the right people to ensure "their matchups" is that out of line?

The day Boise State gets to play for the title, there is no further need for the BCS. The BCS was constructed to prevent another BYU-type title.

"The Broncos are 6-0. They've won 20 straight games, the longest streak in the country. They've beaten two BCS automatic qualifiers -- 6th-ranked Virginia Tech and 24th-ranked Oregon State. Doesn't matter. BSU could whip the 103rd Infantry and it wouldn't get a sniff. The computers are in charge. The pod bay doors won't open."

Bingo. Your employer stated openly, the week before the first rankings, that Boise State would not only be in the title game as of the end of week 6, but would be the #1 team in the country by the BCS standings. (A result a little sleuthing on the Net and a good spreadsheet confirm.)

Do you honestly believe, people, that the money behind college football (more and more of it from ESPN) would allow this to happen? Face it: The level of play in the Six AQ BCS conferences has gone through the floor.

So much so, that, when you examine this:

"Amazing, isn't it? NCAA Division I football is the only sport in the world where continued, uninterrupted, hats-in-the-air winning doesn't mean you keep progressing. For Boise State, it gets you a squirt of vinegar in the eye. It's a three-card Monty game and all they get is two cards. OK, here it comes. Say it: Boise State doesn't play anybody."

If you take a look at the last seven BC$ National Title Games, they are consisting of:

• LSU, Alabama, and Florida from the SEC
• Texas and Oklahoma from the Big XII (South)
• Ohio State
• and the two illegal U$C teams.

There's your BC$. And if you don't think "arrangements" are made to keep it that way, examine what the computers have done the last two weeks.

"Boise State plays -- and beats -- whoever they throw at it. It thumped San Jose State 48-0. Wisconsin, which beat No. 1 Ohio State and No. 15 Iowa, only beat SJSU by 13, at home!

Boise State smashed Wyoming 51-6. Wyoming nearly beat Air Force and Air Force nearly beat Oklahoma. You're telling me Boise State couldn't beat OU? Oh, wait. It already did.

Boise State whipped Virginia Tech on the road. VT is undefeated in the ACC. Are you telling me Boise State wouldn't be carving up the ACC?"

None of those teams are relevant -- Wyoming isn't, the ACC isn't, the Big Ten minus Ohio State isn't (one of the reasons even an undefeated Michigan State is going to get rigged and screwed), and the fact is that, to the BC$ (and, dare I say, the Worldwide Leader), there are only about 7 or so teams who matter. You MIGHT be able to add Nebraska to the equation this year, but, end of the day, not even some of the undefeated-AQ teams would get in before a prospective one-loss SEC Champion Alabama (or probably Auburn, unless it lost to Alabama), or a prospective one-loss Big XII Champion between Nebraska and Oklahoma.

Why? Follow the freaking money. The computers are responding to the money which is dependent on them. Boise and TCU in the title mix (worse yet, even them against each other in the title game!!) would destroy the BC$ and the entire bowl system, who is only meant to enrich middling schools and the likes of the Worldwide Leader.

""If they played anybody in the country," said Oregon's offensive coordinator, Mark Helfrich, who used to coach at Boise State, "they could give them a game. One time? Against anybody? Absolutely, they'd give them a serious game."

"I think they'd be tough to beat," said Auburn's offensive line coach, Jeff Grimes, who also used to coach at Boise State. "They've proven that. They could beat anybody on any given Saturday. Could they win every Saturday in the SEC? No. But who can?""

If you gave me a fairly officiated game, Boise could beat any team in the country. (Hell, you even have one of the coaches from the BCS #1 team in the country, Auburn, saying the same damned thing!)

But why does this not matter? $500,000,000 for the BC$ and how much more for the seven other bowls they own?

Da-da-da. Da-da-da.

"How would Grimes feel if he were the Boise State coach, getting more shaft than Chilean miners?

"I think I'd say, 'Bout time for a playoff, isn't it?'" Grimes said.

Exactly.

Of course, Petersen, who's just so annoyingly classy, won't say boo. "Coach Petersen likes to stay away from the topic," said a Boise State spokesman. "If he starts worrying about the polls and all the noise out there about it, it will just be a distraction to the team.""

You won't say it, but I want names on that one, so I can tell them the Captain Obvious Comment:

"Too late, it already IS a distraction to the team!"

That's exactly what people would say and should say. And anyone who doesn't realize what kind of financial boon it would be for all 120 FBS schools (especially the 106 such schools who are losing money on their athletic programs) to have such a playoff is being silly.

But waaaait... That's the problem. The people behind the BC$ do not WANT all 120 schools and their 11 conferences to benefit.

Why? A playoff would lose money, so they claim, for the elite schools.

No, it'd lose money for ESPN, who would lose seven bowls they already freaking own and operate.

They'd lose that $500,000,000 4-year contract they have for the BC$.

This is why you won't see a Winter Madness, even though it would be HUGE.

"No, what Petersen needs to do is get noisy in Boise! He needs to be calling up reporters and seething about the short in the BCS mainframes. He should be asking anybody, "How come your schizoid computers keep vaulting unworthy teams over us to No. 1? Two weeks ago it was Ohio State. They lost. Last week, it was Oklahoma. They lost. This week, it's Auburn. Who's the computer going to leapfrog us with next? Swarthmore?""

TCU. Next week. Bank on it.

"Boise State's athletes and coaches deserve better than this dog's breakfast. Fix the crappy data going into the computers. Get rid of the SEC bias. Update the strength-of-schedule logarithms. This is 2010, not 1960. The difference between the old-school schools and the new-school schools is a butterfly's burp."

I'd say the "new-school schools" are better. The problem is that we are operating under a system to benefit the old-schoolers.

Boise State would probably already have a national title under the old system, IMHO. Might be a split title from the year they beat Oklahoma, but it'd be a title.

They won't get one now. There's too much money in keeping them out.

"Sports isn't fun when you take the anything-can-happen out of it and that's exactly what the computers have done.

Better yet, get us a damn playoff."

As Brian Tuohy says: There are no coincidences.

If you keep the "anything-can-happen" in "it", you get results which might endanger the very financial setup which the BC$ (and it's main corporate partners, including (and especially!) your employer) want to maintain.

And that requires keeping the relevant number of elite schools to an abject minimum.

Da-da-da. Da-da-da. Watch your back, Rick. This one sounds like biting the hand which feeds.

It's right, obviously.... But it still bites the hand which feeds, and the man who signs your paychecks.

And, once again, the NFL has a little nod for the Steelers...

I do not understand why this fucking worthless rapist Rothlesberger gets all these calls (I can only think he's the next Great White Hope of the NFL -- the White QB who will lead the next dynasty...), but the Steelers got another one handed to them this week.

Take a look at this clip: 22-20 Miami. 3rd and goal at the 1.

Ben goes back, comes through the line, and...

FUMBLES.

So does he cross the line before he fumbles?

Stop the clip at 1:05.

HE DOES NOT CROSS THE LINE.

OK, they call that. They called a touchdown, though.

SO PITTSBURGH GETS THE BALL BACK TO KICK WHAT WOULD BE THE GAME WINNING FIELD GOAL?

Again, as for two Super Bowls already, this worthless piece of crap is getting every conceivable call, and, now that "HE'S BACK!!!", people are seriously saying the Steelers might be the best team in the NFL.

Don't -- buy -- the -- hype. It's clear, to me, that Mr. Worthlessburger probably has some knowledge of some serious skeletons.

Hard to when you've probably been accused of getting away with raping half the women in Pittsburgh.

OH, AND ONE MORE THING: Why was there no "reverse-angle" replay on that play?

Gee, you think they might've had it set up that they could not reverse the call or at least determine the recovery?

OH, AND "ANOTHER" MORE THING: Vegas line on the game: Pittsburgh -2.5 to -3.

Jeffrey Maier II, anybody???

We've got a live one, people!!!

Reminiscent of Jeffrey Maier's controversial involvement in Game 1 of the 1996 American League Championship Series (which played a large part in deciding the ALCS that year) the Yankee Stadium fans and MLB have apparently pulled another one.

The video is not up yet -- and I'll edit this when it is -- but Robinson Cano has been credited with a second-inning home run when at least three fans have been pictured as interfering with a ball in play, reaching into the field of play and obstructing the Texas Rangers' outfielder from catching the ball.

(The picture is on both ESPN.com's and MLB.com's coverage of the game, and probably on many other media outlets as well. Again, this is for criticism and commentary purposes, and is, for that reason, covered by the Fair Use provisions of Copyright Law.)

Look where the ball is. At least two fans are clearly interfering with the ability of the outfielder to catch the ball -- a third is actually about to catch it on the fence.

It's clear that the better team here is the Texas Rangers (especially with the pitching of the likes of Cliff Lee). It's also clear that TPTB do NOT want them in the World Series, against either the Giants or the Phillies.

ON EDIT: Well, at least there's some justice. The Texas Rangers ARE that much better -- too bad it's probably going to lead to one of the lowest rated World Series in history. Even with an attempt to rig the game, the Rangers still won 10-3.

And, as promised, here's the MLB.com video of the farcical "home run".

The NFL tries to railroad another game for the purpo$e$ of $$$

Not really an outright rigging/skepticism/conspiracy comment, but something that I saw today which might explain more than a few things regarding the present state of the NFL, including matters in which games are probably manipulated or outright rigged.

During the last part of last night's 30-3 blowout by the Tennessee Titans over the Jacksonville Jaguars (long after the game was really decided), the coaches were asked, by the referees, to call time outs to satisfy the advertising commitments of the Monday Night Football game.

It turns out, according to Terry McCormick of the Tennessee Titan blog Titaninsider.com, that this is standard operating procedure!!

(Quoting from the Yahoo! Shutdown Corner blog article, referenced above... This is apparently from Titan coach Jeff Fisher's press conference, yesterday:)

"At the two-minute warning in every game in the fourth quarter, there are conversations that go by. There's conversations that take place at the two-minute warning before the first half. But there's conversations that take place, and it's the official's responsibility to give the head coach a status of commercials and TV timeouts," Fisher said. "Yesterday, I was told that they were two short. And they looked at me and smiled, and I said, 'Sorry, I can't help you.' Mike Carey came across and said, 'Here's the deal. We're two short.' And I said, 'Mike, I can't help you. I'm trying to get a first down and I'm gonna kneel on it.'"

Oh boy.

Oh -- my...

If this is basically going on in every game, it makes you wonder what else might be going on in many of these "contests".

Ahh... They think I'm a "nutcase"... Gotta love it...

Social pressures of imposing the norm on those who refuse to accept it...

Like THIS gem from USENET:

"You sit there whining about Boise; why aren't you coming up with magic
theories about screw jobs on behalf of Auburn, you nutcase?"

Because Auburn's not one of the Elite Seven (the seven (previously referenced) schools which are the only seven to have played the BCS title game the last seven years). I find it difficult to believe that LSU won't defeat them next weekend. If something happens during that game which significantly benefits an Auburn victory, we'll revisit this.

Or THIS remark, elsewhere, from the same person:

"How many unbeatens are there right now, Mike?

Can they ALL be #1 right now?

If not, explain why you're pissing and moaning about just ONE of them."

Two responses:

First, there are ten unbeatens -- maximum of six will make it to the end of the year (LSU/Auburn winner, the Big XII champion between Oklahoma, Missouri, and Oklahoma State, Michigan State, Oregon, Boise, and the TCU/Utah winner).

Second, I'm pissing and moaning on Boise State because of one simple fact: They WILL get fucked -- in fact, my belief (after seeing today's numbers) is that an undefeated Boise State will be denied ANY BCS bowl appearance.

And all it would take is TCU jumping them.

Right now, the BCS appears to be two teams each from the Big Ten, Big XII, and SEC -- single teams from the other three conferences -- and ONE non-AQ.

In fact, it will be the FOURTH time that Boise State goes undefeated in the regular season in the last eight years, and is denied a BCS title berth.

At that point, it's time to reevaluate Boise State's position in college football. As in: welcome to FCS.

Any FBS team who is undefeated at the end of the regular season should play for the National Championship. If that means more than one game, so be it.

But I found something interesting which, of course, posters like the above-quoted will refuse to admit, because it invades their reality.

I found a post on Yahoo! Sports about one of the most-respected statisticians in football calling for a boycott of the BCS.

"Death to the BCS": Nonsense Rules

Listen to some of these quotes (from part of Chapter 11 of "Death to the BCS"), and tell me honestly whether you can believe this is a fair system:

First: "Take the actual computing itself. Every week, the six systems input scores, let the computers spit out the rankings and send them to the BCS. That’s it. Nobody at the BCS double-checks the rankings. Only one of the six, Wes Colley, makes his formula fully public. Which leaves five systems open for corruption with no safety net. Massey once admitted that if offered $1 million to doctor his standings, “It would take a lot of willpower to refuse that, to be sure.”"

Massey is still one of the six computers used in the BCS standings.

ESPN is paying $500,000,000 over the next four years ($125 million a year) for the exclusive broadcast rights to the BCS. You don't think they (who have a name interest in the Coaches' Poll -- one of the two polls used in the BCS rankings) would have a vested interest in who plays for the championship?

FIVE -- HUNDRED -- MILLION -- DOLLARS. Remember, they were the ones who actually "alerted" everybody that Boise was #1 going into this week, if they had an official BCS Ranking before today.

“It’s about respecting and accepting what the math tells you,” James said. “If it tells you Boise State is better than the teams that have the opportunity to play for the championship, what are you going to do?

“Well, if Boise State ever finishes first, they’ll change [the formula] a fourth time.”

James isn’t exaggerating. The BCS really has tweaked its formula three times. Its original version used computer rankings, human-poll rankings, a strength-of-schedule component, and number of losses. In 2001, the BCS added bonus points for quality wins. That wasn’t good enough, so in 2002, it changed its quality-win formula and removed margin of victory. And after USC ended 2004 at No. 1 in the AP poll despite not playing for the BCS championship, the whole BCS system was blown up to de-emphasize the computers."

And they have five hundred million reasons to do so. As compelling of a story as Boise State is, do you really believe that the powers that be have an interest in expanding the relevant championship level of college football beyond the four conferences which basically now control it?

Think: What sport is there, frankly, in which there are more than a handful of truly relevant teams to the championship?

Not baseball. With an occasional shuffling of the chairs, you might get the argument beyond the Yankees, the Phillies, and the Twins -- but, really, would that have included more than the Rays and the Giants, in this case?

Not basketball. David $tern has been doing his level best to exclude all but the chosen teams, such that, as Brian Tuohy once pointed out, at it's zenith, fully 70% of all NBA fans were Chicago Bulls/Michael Jordan fans.

(I feel sorry for the lot of you.)

Not football, at least not in the Goodell Era. You can't even really make the case that there are 12 playoff-worthy teams year to year. However, in most cases, the Preferred Teams are brought forward, one way or the other.

NA$CAR? Forget it! Five in a row for Jimmie Johnson, anybody? They might as well call it Hendrick-CAR -- and that's with that millstone who is riding the #88.

NHL? How many people really watch the NHL? And it's still only a few teams that are on top...

Point being: To be a sports fan, you are expected, as a matter of American social norm, to follow a very few teams in any given sport. And loathe for anyone who would blow up the process.

Remember my first precept of Rigging in Sports: If professional sports are nothing but a business, then any sports league would be out of their categorical mind to allow the games to be adjudicated fairly.

If sports are nothing but a business, then you start talking in terms of real dollars and cents. As many people who are enamored with Boise State (and TCU and Utah would be in this discussion too, until the two play): How much money would an Oklahoma National Championship bring the BCS' sponsors? The BCS' network (who again paid $500,000,000 for the rights to air the games)? The preferred conferences?

It is my firm belief that a Boise State BCS National Championship would blow up the BCS once and for all. We'd have a playoff, at that point.

Why? Consider the money in March Madness. Now consider how popular a college playoff would be, financially...

It just wouldn't be popular for all those 6-6 programs who get a bowl based on their reputation and fanbase's travelling ability.

The B$C$: ESPN cried out, and the computers answered!

Boise is now not only NOT BCS #1, they aren't even in the BCS National Championship Game.

The hue and cry went out from ESPN (the new home of the BCS) on about Monday or Tuesday. Someone ran the numbers (or at least what numbers could be found) and found out the same thing I did. Under the current structure, Boise State would be #1 under last week's numbers.

Well, they made that very public, and, wouldn't you know it, this is what we get for the first BCS Rankings:

OKLAHOMA is #1!!

Geez Louise: Oklahoma, one of the Elite Seven. The only seven college football programs you should really care about (if you're someone like ESPN, the new home of the BCS). The only seven college football programs to play for the BCS title since 2003.

Oklahoma was (and a distant, at that) FOURTH in the projections I had last week, using all five available computer programs and both BCS polls.

Oklahoma was #1 on only one of the five computers I saw last week. They are #1 on FOUR of six BCS computers.

OREGON is #2.

So the national title game right now is Oklahoma-Oregon.

Follow the money, people. And, Oregon, do not make your plane reservations for Arizona for January 10. LSU is jumping you, unless they are beaten.

Why? Consider what an Oklahoma-Oregon game would look like (especially with Boise and probably TCU subjugated -- much less an undefeated Michigan State) to the corporate suits at ESPN vs. two of the Elite Seven.

Think this is legit? It's not.

Statistical Anomaly of the Night

When you look for a scripted production, you either look for incidents like the Tuck Rule, the Samaki Walker shot, the Calvin Johnson ruling in Week 1, Super Bowl XXXVI's ending, and the like -- or you look for statistical anomalies which just say "That CAN'T be right."

It is clear that the New York Yankees are going to the World Series. There is too much money riding on that they don't. It is almost as clear that they will play the Philadelphia Phillies.

Why? Look at this statistical anomaly.

We all hear about "home field advantage" and all this noise in Major League Baseball.

The home team, with Friday night's 6-5 comeback win by the Yankees over Texas is the sixth consecutive playoff game played by Texas in which the visiting team has won. In the entire American League playoffs, the home team is now 1-8. The only win by a home team in the entire American League playoffs was the Game 3 clincher by the Yankees over the Twins.

Overall in the playoffs, the home team is now 4-12.

Anyone who tells me something is not being rigged here is either simply ignorant to the facts (I'm not sure, frankly, you could have that kind of a record, as a home team, in most cases, even if all the games were being played in Kansas City, Pittsburgh, and Wrigley Field!) or too gullible to be reasoned with.

Follow the money.

The Bowl Championship Series: Watch this one, it's about to get obvious...

There is really only one reason I would have any interest in the corrupt toilet which is the Bowl Championship $erie$, or major college football at all.

(Or, as I call it, the BSCS or the B$C$.)

I want the BCS motherfucking dead, to paraphrase a former radio host I used to listen to.

I believe the BCS to be nothing more than a cabal; it's sole purpose, to keep the recognized FBS/Former Division I-A National Championship to a very small number of schools.

Here's a little primer for you to counter a lot of the BCS' arguments about the fairness of the system:

In the last seven years:

How many different schools have been involved in the BCS National Championship Game?

The answer? Seven.

LSU
Alabama
Florida
Texas
Oklahoma
Ohio State
USC (one appearance to be vacated -- the other, almost certainly, as well)

What this means is that the BCS does not consist of six conferences. It really consists of two conferences plus the only other two elite schools the mediots want us to care about.

Why is this? You say that there are other bowls in the BCS? Other conferences??

Remember the one stated goal of the Bowl Championship Series: To decide the National Championship on the field. It cares nothing for other than it's #1 vs. it's #2.

Never mind that that issue was probably settled in each of the last two SEC Championship Games, both Alabama vs. Florida.

The SEC has won the last four BCS titles, and five of the last six the BCS will eventually recognize.

So why is this important?? Well, there was a nice little article inserted just before the beginning of the college football season this year.

Just 14 of the 120 FBS/Former Division I-A colleges made money on their sports programs this year.

It has been confirmed that Alabama, Florida, Ohio State, and Texas made this list.

Coincidence? I think not. A BCS bowl bid nets the conference nearly $10 million.

So, why do I say to watch this one as if it were a train wreck you can't turn away from?

Because the BCS is in trouble.

BIG TROUBLE.

I gave you the stated version of the BCS' mission. The real reason is to keep what are called "non-AQ" schools out of the championship process. They don't want another BYU.

And, for that, I have two words for you: Boise State.

Boise State, for those who do not know, is, by won-loss record, the most successful FBS program of the last decade. It has more wins in the last 10 years than any team in any 0-9 decade in the history of Division I-A/FBS.

Boise State has FOUR undefeated regular seasons since 2004. They DO have two BCS appearances, and have won them both against top-flight competition.

But they have NEVER played for the National Championship.

Well, the alarm bells have already sounded -- as the call has gone out to make sure they never will.

The ESPN BCS experts, one week before the official first BCS rankings, have confirmed that, unless San Jose State can upset the Broncos of Boise State, that Boise State will be #1 BCS for the first official rankings.

I can confirm this. So can anyone with an Internet connection. Both BCS polls (the Coaches'/USA Today and the Harris), as well as five of the six BCS computers are now on the Internet, and can be accessed as soon as the results are updated.

(I'll give links later -- we'll come back to this as a recurring series.)

They show that Boise State is #1 BCS right now, and it's not close -- even though Boise State is a distant #3 to Ohio State and Oregon in the polls, and a distant #2 to LSU in the computers.

So, why be concerned?

The ESPN mediots (and, remember doubly, ESPN takes over the BCS this year) are trying to sound long and hard that Boise State will eventually be dropped for the weakness of their conference.

Well, let's take a look at a few FACTS:

The NCAA publishes a list of the cumulative records of all the opposition of all 120 FBS teams -- their Strength of Schedule.

This list goes backwards AND forwards.

Boise State ranks just below the middle at #63.

The following schools in the current Top 10 BCS (at least as I can figure with five of the six computers) are below Boise State in that measure:

Oregon and TCU.

Just above Boise, in a seven-way tie at #55, is Ohio State.

Michigan State is #37.

Only when you factor in just the SEC and Big XII teams do you get impressive results.

It is as if, bluntly, the ESPN mediots (and the B$C$/Cabal supporters) are trying to prepare us for yet another game between the Big XII Champion and the SEC Champion for the BCS National Title.

If you add USC and Ohio State into this mix, it will be the EIGHTH consecutive year that two of those four entities (Big XII Champ, SEC Champ, Ohio State USC) play for the BCS title.

Watch this space.

Brett Favre: Why this story actually DOES matter...

Brett Favre is basically a marked man these days, and not just because he's going back to Lambeau next week for the obligatory national Favre War III match -- provided his elbow and knees can make it...

... and that sexting his dick around doesn't get him suspended by the National Football League.

Brett Favre is another example of why I have lost most material respect for everybody. He was put up as this pantheon of probity -- as we watched Pac-Man and TO and Dog Killer (his exploits might actually be putting Philadelphia on "The Short List" -- if the league isn't pushing the Bears to get Obama off the owners' backs for the pre-orchestrated 2011 lockout!) disgrace "The Shield".

Who will forget that Monday night when Brett Favre was featured in a poignant pre-game video, with his wife Deanna talking about the last several years and all... And then, in Denver, he throws the winning TD in overtime to put the Packers in prime position for a playoff run...

Well, most of that is water under the bridge now. Brett Favre has spit (and possibly other bodily fluids as well) all over his NFL legacy.

Normally, I would not give this that much more than that, and a cursory question as to whether this might merit a suspension (it does -- but is this worse than what Dog Killer did?? Hence, is whom the league is marketing and whom the league is marketing to making race a factor in all of this? Yes, I'll go there.)

But the reason that I'm posting this on a sports conspiracy blog is that I believe that we have not nearly heard the last of the Dark Side of the Immortal Brett Favre.

And I'm not just talking about more mistresses or Deanna divorcing (I think Deanna had better have a lawyer on call -- stat!).

I'm talking that I believe Brett Favre will eventually be seen in football the same way Pete Rose is seen in baseball.

I am now of the firm belief that Brett Favre has thrown/rigged/taken a dive in/intentionally lost and tanked at least two playoff games, and perhaps another two.

Ridiculous? Most believers of the National Religion would obviously say so.

But Brian Tuohy purports no less than Peyton Manning threw last year's Super Bowl for the league's benefit toward the city of New Orleans in putting on a pretty face after Katrina -- and he didn't do it willingly.

If Manning can do it, such that polls and stories (see the Tuohy link) actually purported the Saints having won the game before it took place, then why not Favre?

Consider the following:

1) NFC Divisional Game -- The infamous "4th and 26" game -- Green Bay Packers at Philadelphia Eagles -- January 11, 2004

The game which really should've struck alarm bells in many Packers' fans over the real loyalties of #4. The Packers were leading 17-14 and had the ball, running methodically to run the clock out and win a berth in the NFC Championship Game.

So it is now 4th down and less than a yard to go, on about Philadelphia's 40 yard line.

Let's examine the situation:

-- You have a purported quarterback with the "mentality of a linebacker".
-- Philadelphia has no time outs, and probably loses the game if the Packers get a first down.
-- If they do punt the ball, they only get a "net" of 20 yards if the punt goes into the end zone.

So the Packers call a time out, decide to punt, and it goes into the end zone.

What happened to the "mentality of a linebacker" which would, in the classic words of his biggest fan, would "get in behind the center and guard, and keep pushing and pushing" until the sticks were moved?

Well, we found that out in the ensuing overtime, after Philadelphia wiped the net 20 yards out in one play, fell back to "4th and 26", and then drove for the tying field goal, when I saw something which had me even questioning if Brett Favre had thrown the game.

I can't find a YouTube video on this one, which is shocking to me. I'm trying to find it, because it, at best, is one of the worst passes ever thrown in the history of the National Football League.

At worst, it's Brett Favre throwing the game.

After a Philadelphia punt, Favre, on the Packers' first play of the overtime, throws an absolute cheapie interception down the field. There was not a Packer receiver within 10-15 yards of where the ball was thrown, but there were certainly two Eagles defensive backs. So much so, that they could set up a return and returned the ball over thirty yards to where one first down gives Akers a chip shot to send Philadelphia to the NFC title game.

All I could think was:

"Did I just watch Brett Favre throw a playoff game? Did I REALLY just watch that??"

Turns out, it probably wasn't the last time.

It might not, also, have been the first.

2) NFC Divisional Playoff -- Green Bay at St. Louis -- January 20, 2002.

The six interception game.

But this is one of the games I'm not so sure about, because St. Louis was clearly the better team. The problem was that they needed the defense (and six Favre interceptions) to score three touchdowns outright, because the offense was doing the Rams no favors.

3) NFC Championship Game -- Favre's last game as a Packer -- New York Giants at Green Bay Packers -- January 20, 2008

Six years to the day after the six interception game, Favre throws yet another key overtime interception to aid the Giants into the Super Bowl against the New England Patriots.

However, I'm not so sure about this game being thrown either -- if the Packers had deigned to make even one reasoned defensive stop on the frozen tundra in the second half, they probably get to the game themselves.

Of course, by then, one can only believe that, for at least two reasons (19-0, and Favre's affinity for the then-Patriots' Randy Moss), he might've thrown that Super Bowl.

Why? Because of one game and one play I AM sure about that he threw...

4) NFC Championship Game -- Minnesota Vikings at New Orleans Saints -- January 24, 2010

I don't need to go much further on this one but the wondrous Minnesota radio call of the play.

Let's take a look at this play rationally.

There are 19 seconds to go in the game. It's 3rd and 15 at the New Orleans 38. New Orleans has no time outs left. The Vikings have one.

Chances are, even if this goes incomplete, the Saints ARE probably getting the ball back anyway.

So Brett Favre goes back to pass. He immediately bootlegs to the far side of the field. He has open field to run after he pumps the ball.

He has a number of options here. He can either:

-- Throw the ball away, if everyone's covered, and, as the Minnesota radio people put so well, they can attempt a 55-yard field goal to send the Vikings to the Super Bowl against the Colts.

-- He can run for a small gain, either sliding or running out of bounds. Since New Orleans has no time outs, chances are they'd try that field goal.

-- or he can do what he did. Throw across his body to a pass only one man can catch.

A man wearing a New Orleans Saints uniform. One of two New Orleans defenders in the vicinity of the ball. Save a receiver he has woefully (and I believe deliberately) underthrown, there isn't another Viking within 10-12 yards of the ball.

"Intercepted. I can't believe what I'm seeing right now."

If you knew, REALLY knew, about Brett Favre, you'd believe it all right. This guy only cares about one thing, and that's Brett Favre. He has screwed over the Packers, screwed over the Jets, and now is screwing over the Vikings.

And I truly believe that if we take a legitimate look at the history of Brett Favre, some people had better ask some hard questions about "The Gunslinger", because I truly believe that he threw the NFC title game last year and at least the Philadelphia playoff game.

Why would he do it? I gave you one reason: It's all about Brett Favre.

Now I'm going to give you a second that people don't think of:

Brett Favre is in the NFL Drug Program for his vicodin addiction, and has been since before his Super Bowl win. (So much so that, had Favre even taken a beer or a champagne upon his Super Bowl win, he'd have been suspended to start the next season.)

Does anyone actually, REALLY, believe that Brett Favre isn't taking something against the NFL Drug Program to keep The Streak going?

Get a good look at that MLB/Interpol article I just posted a couple days ago. Think real hard about how much Brett Favre is about Brett Favre.

This "sexting" story might get him suspended. The truth about Brett Favre's career probably will get him blackballed.

WADA: Interpol and MLB Provide Evidence of Game Fixing by Drug Lords

Oh, and it just gets richer. From a post on Yahoo! from this morning:

"Interpol and Major League Baseball investigators have given evidence to the World Anti-Doping Agency that criminal gangs selling performance-enhancing drugs also manipulate sports results for betting purposes, according to an Australian media report."

This should come as a surprise to NOBODY who has an inkling that the games are dirty.

One of the major avenues in which many people believe the games to be dirty is a question of the influence which peddlers of illegal performance-enhancing drugs have over the players.

Those peddlers could end careers in an instant with the truth. The loyalty is no longer to self and team, but to those peddlers.

It's gotten so bad that one has to question every meaningful sporting event. Was that Atlanta player's three errors simply a matter of poor performance, or was he beholden to somebody?

We do not know now.

So How Did I Become a Sports Conspiracy Theorist... (Part III -- $tern Finishes It Off)

UPDATED INFORMATION: NFLRanking's YouTube account was closed by the NBA. Getting new information.

(Before I begin this third post as to why I became a sports conspiracy theorist: There is a quintessential series of videos on YouTube which chronicle the events (both of the 2002 NBA Western Conference Finals scam and of events leading up to this farce) I am about to describe better than anything I could ever do. It is called "The Greatest Tragedy in Sports" (of which this is the link to the first part of nine), by a person with the moniker "NFLRanking" (the NBA took down that account, it's now "NFLRankingDOTnet"). Watch it. Watch all of it. He then made a followup "The Making of the Greatest Tragedy in Sports", when he added a lot of what we have learned since.)

(The first series has nine parts, the second series has five. He also has a series of highlight videos of that 2002 Western Conference Final series. I will refer to these videos a number of times -- and he is to be commended for gathering as much information as he could.)

So now we fast-forward a little more than two years. The Patriots have been given another title with a late Vinatieri field goal (at least the non-credible Carolina Panthers were given the dignity of an attempt at running the kickoff back), Tom Brady might as well be on posters in every American city calling for the populace to be patriotic, and I'm continually getting sicker and sicker of the American sports scene.

What finally did it in, once and for all, was the actions of one David $tern. I will not give the man the intentional dignity of his correct last name, as I believe he is a white man marketing a black man's game (maybe not basketball in and of itself, but professional basketball in the Jordan era and post-Jordan era is clearly a black man's game), manipulating the results like a charlatan to line his own pockets.

And, yes, Mr. $tern, I do accuse you of a felony in all 50 states, to respond to your ESPN Radio comments about how much you do rig the games.

The NBA, of the major sports leagues, has always had the worst reputation of manipulating games. This reputation has went back for at least 25 years, if not more.

The first real public indication that David $tern had no interest in the integrity of sport was the creation of the NBA lottery and the execution of the first NBA lottery. The belief, in the league, was that the Houston Rockets were deliberately tanking their season to gain the draft rights (the NBA, before the lottery, had roughly the same system as the NFL, in that the worst team would be the #1 draft pick, etc.) to Hakeem Olajuwon.

Eventually, the Rockets would get him, and, largely as a result, get the two titles that Jordan "retired" to them.

Never mind that proof of such an allegation should be grounds for expulsion of the franchise from the league, $tern instead decides, knowing that the situation could even be worse the next year, to hold a lottery for the NBA Draft, the winning team getting the draft rights to Georgetown superstar Patrick Ewing.

The rest is shown in this clip of the 1985 Draft Lottery. On another different clip, the CBS announcer, just as the clips start, states the envelopes will be "gingerly placed" into a clear plastic drum, from which $tern will draw the team Ewing will play for.

ROTFLMAO!!!!

From the broadcast of the draft, it is clearly seen that the "certified accountant" throws all seven envelopes into the clear, plastic drum. He throws six of them in "flat", and the seventh (the fourth one placed in) appears to be dropped such that one corner hits the side of the drum.

Then the drum is rotated. $tern then goes over, and while looking at and into the clear plastic drum the entire time, draws an envelope that appears to have a "dinged" corner in it (0:46 of the Draft Lottery clip). It is for the Knicks, and Patrick Ewing makes the Knicks a relevant team for a long and illustrious career.

(There was a clip in the "Greatest Tragedy" series which even zooms in on that corner before $tern draws the envelope, but the other clip actually shows the envelope with the "dinged" corner being drawn. The clip has been removed from YouTube again for the use of "Money" by EMI.)

What $tern then did over the next 15 years with one Michael Jordan merits it's own blog. In fact, I believe it has one (The "Jordon Haters' Society"). So let's skip forward to the 2002 Western Conference Finals, an NBA Scripted Production.

Los Angeles Lakers vs. Sacramento Kings

Sacramento, in fact, has the higher seed and the home-court advantage in the series.

But the Lakers have Shaq and Kobe.

Want to know how important that is?

I'm going to give you a list of names.

Larry Bird
Magic Johnson
Julius Erving (have to include him: without him, there's no ABA-NBA merger)
Bad Boys Pistons
Michael Jordan
Hakeem Olajuwon
Tim Duncan
Kobe Bryant
Shaquille O'Neal

There's your NBA of the last 30 years. That accounts (even the Pistons' win and the Celtics' win in the last decade was more "against Kobe", when the NBA could not trust Kobe with the title, because of the Eagle, CO allegations) for every NBA championship of the last 30 years.

As Brian Tuohy so well points out, the NBA has made it's reputation the creation and "marketing of heroes". So the NBA attempts to basically make most of the other teams the theoretical equivalent of the Washington Generals.

The NBA had already been involved in tampering the Lakers to the previous two NBA titles.

But the 2002 Western Conference Finals took that to a whole new dimension, because Shaq and Kobe had to be the "heroes" to go along with Duncan in the post-Jordan era.

The Kings were up 3 games to 2 heading into the pivotal Game 6 in Los Angeles. The Lakers actually took home-court in game 1, only to lose it back in game 3.

Game 4 had the first huge controversy, as Samaki Walker of the Lakers, after time clearly expires, heaved a 30-foot shot which was allowed to count. The Kings would've went into the locker room up 17 points at that point, but the three-pointer started a furious rally that eventually allowed the Lakers to win the game -- by one point.

(I have strived long and hard to find a clip of this, and finally did. NFLRanking's dramatic highlight clips of the 2002 Western Conference Finals show CLEARLY that the shot was after the buzzer.) (Check at the 4:32-4:33 mark. It's as clear as day -- you stop the clip at the instant the clock in the background hits 00.0, and the ball is still in his hands.)

Combined with Sacramento's victory in game 5, the Kings have already won the series, in fact if not on the scoreboard, once already.

Part Six shows a litany of bad calls against the Kings in Game 6.

But the one that clinched my theory that meaningful sporting events are scripted is one of the most flagrant acts of intentional referee malfeasance I have ever seen.

It's at the end of the Part Six clip. The Lakers are inbounding, leading by a point, with just 12 seconds remaining, under their offensive basket. In fighting his way through the defense of Mike Bibby, Kobe Bryant (one of the NBA's "heroes") deliberately throws a flagrant elbow to his face.

At the start of Part Seven, you see Referee #27 looking RIGHT AT IT!!

Such a foul would've carried the following penalty:

-- The Sacramento Kings would've been awarded two free throws.
-- As well as possession of the ball, due to the flagrant nature of the foul.
-- Kobe Bryant would've been disqualified from the contest for "intent to injure".
-- Bryant, if the league had any scruples at all, would've been suspended even if there were a Game 7.

The Lakers eventually win the game by four points.

They win the series, as Sacramento, seeing the writing on the wall after they won the series once and probably twice, lays down in game seven.

If you need to know why I am a sports conspiracy theorist, watch the clips again.

And if you still need to know, again...

(This doesn't even get into the absolute proof which has been provided Federal authorities, during the Donaghy investigation, that NBA referees were manipulating contests.)

So How Did I Become a Sports Conspiracy Theorist (Part II -- Super Fraud XXXVI)

(The main reason I named this blog "Super Fraud" is, after reading the book Interference, I decided to chronicle ways in which each and every one of the previous forty-four Super Bowls were rigged (or at least there was enough evidence, given the characters many of the players (and especially owners) hung around, that the games were manipulated or rigged).)

That will come later, including another look at one of the most farcical events in the history of American sport, Super Bowl XXXVI -- the New England Patriots vs. the St. Louis Rams -- February 3, 2002.

As noted in the previous post, there had already been significant controversy surrounding the New England Patriots. Not only had the New England Patriots been the beneficiary of "The Tuck Rule", previously referenced, but there was a fair degree of controversy surrounding the Patriots' AFC Championship win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. Much of this surrounded the apparent ignorance of the officials to take notice of the apparent holding and illegal contact of the defensive backs of the Patriots in the game.

Opposing the Patriots were the defending World Champions, the St. Louis Rams, "The Greatest Show on Turf". A prolific passing offense combined with an opportunistic defense (just ask the Green Bay Packers in the divisional game) and the rushing of Marshall Faulk made for the belief that we were about to witness the next NFL dynasty.

So much so, the Rams were two-touchdown favorites in the Louisiana Superdome.

But, after an initial long field-goal, the Rams appeared to put on a truly abysmal performance -- a performance completely unlike the St. Louis Rams, and doubly unlike a team which appeared to be on the cusp of immortality in the NFL.

I believed immediately after the game (and for several years afterward) that the Rams were ordered to "take a dive". Now, given more knowledge (Spygate, anyone?), it appears as if the Rams had been illegally compromised by members of the staff of the New England Patriots.

But it was worse than that... There was belief that the officials allowed the Patriots to get away with numerous penalties. But there is one moment that changed my sports fandom forever.

I also remember where I was for this situation. I was at the Mad Dog in the Fog, a British soccer pub in the Haight-Fillmore district in San Francisco. I was standing in front of the television set to get a look at this, and I saw the most obvious screw-job I had seen to date.

The winning field goal.

(YouTube clip of the FOX broadcast of the last 29 seconds of the game here.)

After a drive in which it appeared there was at least one questionable call benefiting the Patriots, Vinatieri was brought on once again to give the Patriots a three-point lead. The field goal begins with seven seconds remaining (on both the unofficial FOX clock on the top of the screen, as well as Pat Summerall's announcement).

One interesting thing, though: In most airings of big games, if a play to decide the outcome at the end of the game is about to occur, usually at least one dramatic shot of the scoreboard clock is taken. The only shot outside the game itself was a clip of Vinatieri's pre-game practice.

So the kick is up and it's good. Patriots lead 20-17.

The unofficial FOX clock appears to have 2 seconds still on it when the kick is declared "good".

No, the Patriots WIN 20-17.

The time is run off, the fireworks explode, and the game is over.

The field goal, on the clip, starts at 2:04. The uprights are placed on the end line -- so when the ball goes through them, the ball is out of play, the play is over and the clock is supposed to stop.

The ball is through the uprights and the field goal declared good at 2:09. Only five seconds had elapsed. Watch the clip. It's right there.

One second later (at 2:10) a Patriots player is seen streaking toward the end zone, ready to celebrate a Super Bowl Championship.

HE KNEW THE GAME WAS OVER!

He knew that, despite there clearly being two seconds remaining at the conclusion of the field goal attempt (and despite there still being one second left when he was seen running into the shot in which the two officials on the end line had both signaled the field goal "good" and the play over), that the St. Louis Rams were not going to be given their entitled opportunity to score a "miracle" touchdown on the ensuing kickoff a la "The Play" in Stanford-California a number of years back.

There was going to be no ensuing kickoff, despite the incontrovertible fact that time was supposed to still have been remaining on the clock.

Why? Simple. In fact, one of the most simply-explained sports farces of all time.

The NFL, having a vaunted position in the American national folklore (so much so that I refer to some NFL posts with the tag "The National Religion" -- people putting the NFL above everything else in life for at least six months!), basically placed themselves as an instrument of propaganda.

Remember what I said in the last post: To win any war, including the "War on Terror", you must first win the home front.

Remember, too, that everyone believed we were on the cusp of witnessing immortality in sport with the Rams. It turned out, though, that the immortality was the start of a campaign to make the Patriots into something more than a football team...

"Patriots are champions!!

To be a champion, you must be a Patriot!!

If you are a Patriot, you too are a CHAMPION!!!"

Propaganda, right out of the playbook.

The Patriots were made the centerpieces of the NFL for, basically, the next four years -- so much so that quarterback Tom Brady, during the playoffs of the second of three World Championships the league and government gave to the Patriots, was actually invited to and made part of the State of the Union address as a prominent athlete outside of the influence of performance-enhancing drugs. No less than the President of the United States gave his public endorsement to Brady's efforts, only a couple weeks before his team would be awarded Super Bowl XXXVIII.

That basically changed everything, as it was blatant and incontrovertible evidence to me, for the first time, that the games could be decided by factors completely contrary to the reality of what took place "on the field".

A little more than two years later, I saw what could happen when a league is that desperate to take even this to the extreme level.

Enter David $tern.