Another #1 Preferred Program Needs the Officiating to Escape

Another rigged game in the Sweet 16.

North Carolina just defeated Ohio University 73-65 in the first overtime game of the 2012 NCAA Tournament.

Never should've gotten there -- never should've been close -- and the Tarheels needed to go home.

For the second time in this tournament (thought not QUITE as obviously as the Syracuse-Asheville debacle -- oh, by the way, Syracuse is now one of the Elite Eight...), the referees hand an elite #1 seed a completely unjustified victory.

Ohio University ran UNC off the court in the second half to erase a halftime deficit, however:

• We can again begin the trace of this back to the 12:00 media timeout -- in this case, one play before it. After a North Carolina miss (this is after Ohio University had already had two attempts to take the lead for the first time in the game), the ball is ruled to go off the Xavier player, however the replay clearly shows the only guy to touch it was the North Carolina player under the basket.
• By the time 8:06 is left in the game, the foul count is 18 for Ohio U (and 2 players with 4) to 8 for North Carolina. By the end of regulation, it's 20-11 with 3 Ohio players with 4 -- NC is in the penalty (the "Double Bonus"), it takes three minutes of the overtime to get the sixth team foul for the second half called on North Carolina. Funny thing...
• Because with about 5 1/2 minutes left and Carolina up 3, it looks like a guy gets hacked at the basket on a dunk attempt. A second dunk attempt on the next possession cuts the lead to 1, but still...
• But the biggest rigged call of the match, and the one which basically had Ohio U pack it in and go home (the overtime was a freaking afterthought Ohio U scored only two points to Carolina's ten!) was when, with Ohio leading by a point with under 45 seconds left in the game, an Ohio player takes an arm to the eye and goes down. Both coaches are screaming on the floor for a foul -- his player (the one he has to defend) hits a 3 on the other end to put NC up 2, and Ohio can't respond better than to tie into overtime.

Yeah, tell me how these games are on the up and up again?

The Saints had better lawyer up -- Congress is getting involved!!

Dick Durbin is putting together a Senate Judiciary Committee meeting on Bounty-Gate, and the other sports are being asked to come too.

Here's the thing: I believe we have sufficient laws on the books in the state of Louisiana where felony battery charges could be brought on EVERY PLAYER AND COACH INVOLVED.

Section 34.1 of the Criminal portion of the Louisiana Statute, Revised Statute 14:

"§34.1. Second degree battery

A. Second degree battery is a battery when the offender intentionally inflicts serious bodily injury; however, this provision shall not apply to a medical provider who has obtained the consent of a patient.

B. For purposes of this Section, "serious bodily injury" means bodily injury which involves unconsciousness, extreme physical pain or protracted and obvious disfigurement, or protracted loss or impairment of the function of a bodily member, organ, or mental faculty, or a substantial risk of death.

C. Whoever commits the crime of second degree battery shall be fined not more than two thousand dollars or imprisoned, with or without hard labor, for not more than five years, or both."

Durbin is actively exploring whether Federal laws (including those which cover game-fixing (sports-bribery laws)) need to be invoked or expanded to cover this.

There is only one right punishment: SHUT THE NEW ORLEANS SAINTS DOWN. And if you won't do it for "bid'ness", Mr. Goodell, the United States Congress just might!

"The Show Must Go On", Part Two: The 2011 Sugar Bowl

Before I do this post, I'm going to bump up, for the benefit of anyone who only reads this every couple of days, a couple of post links to blog posts I've made on:

The laughable "penalties" to the Saints for Bounty-Gate, and what should (but won't) be done.

My original thoughts on Bounty-Gate.

A Tuohy-found article on a survey showing rampant soccer match-fixing in southern and eastern Europe.

------

So, with that light reading material, if you haven't already read it, let me get to the second installment of "The Show Must Go On".

Tattoo Kiss: The 2011 Sugar Bowl Which Never Should've Been Played

(The Game Which Defrauded Another BCS Bowl Without The Rose Bowl's Wrong-Doing)

December 5th, 2010: ESPN applauds itself and the BCS for ensuring the power schools are the only ones who play for the National Championship.

As a subsidiary event to naming Auburn ($Cam) and Oregon (Nike U + their own recruiting-agent scandals) as the two schools who will play for the national title, it also announces that Ohio State earned an at-large bid out of the three-way title for the Big 10 (this was the last year of there being no Big 10 title game) to play in the Sugar Bowl vs. the Arkansas Razorbacks.

Seventeen days later, it is reported that five Ohio State football players, including stand-out quarterback Terelle Pryor, exchanged autographs for tattoos at a local Ohio tattoo shop. This, being an NCAA violation, rendered them ineligible.

The NCAA still allowed them to play in the Sugar Bowl, but that's not the point here.

Their ineligibility, once they began to exchange their persona for services, was up to two years previous (and Tressell knew of this as early as five months before the 2010 season began)! This (and the obfuscation/lying by Jim Tressell) would eventually cost them the recognition of their entire 2010-11 season, the berth in the Sugar Bowl, and Tressell's job at the university.

Since this was actually announced BEFORE the playing of the 2011 Sugar Bowl, one must then ask the question:

Why was this game even played? It was known pre-knowledge that Ohio State had used at least five ineligible players to win their share of the Big Ten championship, which led to their Sugar Bowl bid.

Usually this is investigated and found out after-the-fact (thank you, Reggie Bush), but this was actually found out before the game was played, and, yet, the NCAA actually allowed the game to go ahead, and, worse, allowed the five to play in it!

Ohio State got more points than Arkansas that night on the field (31-26), but is no longer deemed to have won the game.

Here's the kicker to this whole argument: Because of what happened in the Big Ten that year, Ohio State's participation in the contest voided the legitimacy of two BCS bowls that year, not just it's own.

To explain, we must look at the old Big Ten tiebreakers for a multiple-team situation.

The first tiebreaker in a multi-team situation is a mini-league -- head-to-head among all the teams in the tie, as long as all teams played each other!

Michigan State (the third team in the tie) defeated Wisconsin for it's sole pre-Rose Bowl loss in week five, 34-24.

However, Michigan State and Ohio State never played, as the schedule rotation in the Big Ten had the two teams apart that season.

Hence, the tiebreaker had to go to the team which was the highest ranked team in the BCS on Selection Sunday (the aforementioned December 5th).

That was Wisconsin, who lost to TCU in the Rose Bowl 21-19.

But Wisconsin (through no apparent fault of it's own!) never should've been in the Rose Bowl, because of Ohio State's illegalities!

If Ohio State had been properly stripped of it's portion of the championship, Michigan State's win over Wisconsin would've sent it to the Rose Bowl instead of to the lesser Capital One Bowl (where they got rolled by Alabama 49-7!!).

Now, Wisconsin might well have taken Ohio State's place in the Sugar Bowl, but the fact is that, if the pairings were not to be changed, the game would have to be vacated and never should've taken place at all.

Why did it? Bid'ness. $25,000,000 just for ESPN to broadcast it, as part of it's half-billion commitment over the ownership of college football through the exclusive broadcast of the BCS for four seasons.

For even the known ineligibilities, The Show Must Go On.

The most distrubing part of this...

Something I was thinking about, over the course of the last couple of days, and a Twitter response to the ESPN NFC North blog about the penalties to the Saints put it best.

This is a Viking fan, in response to the targeting (and subsequent career-ending injury) of Brett Favre due to the bounties:

And in the end, @PaulFerence had the most thought-provoking response: "I'd take a year suspension for the coach, an 8 game suspension for the GM, and the loss of two 2nd rd picks for a title here."

It's almost like the attitude I saw with Auburn and the perceived situation with $Cam Newton: "If I can't have the championship, NO ONE can have the championship.

Going backward, I believe there is enough evidence of misconduct that the New Orleans Saints should be stripped of their Super Bowl and NFC Championships from that season.

The more ominous question needs to be asked, though: Would you trade the disgrace and irrelevance of BountyGate for one championship?

I think most fans (and many players) WOULD!

And Greg Couch adds some more names to the BountyGate victim list...

Greg Couch weighs in with his views on the suspensions, but it's one innocuous statement he makes at the end which supports my contention that there should be no "New Orleans Saints" in next year's National Football League.

(And if Drew Brees doesn't like it, he can understand that his Vince Lombardi Trophy is bathed in bounty blood.)

"The Saints’ bounties are now being connected, or just suspected, in so many injuries. To Brett Favre. To Kurt Warner. To Adrian Peterson. To Jay Cutler.

To Peyton Manning."

I've already noted Warner, Favre, and Manning.

Jay Cutler: Can't find any clip of it.

But the big one here is Adrian Peterson. I make reference to three of the best quarterbacks of this era -- you'd be hard pressed to say that AP, when he's healthy (and that has been an issue!), is the best running back in the game.

I think the one they may be talking about is a hit in a 2011 game with the Redskins, as a "creation of the culture" motif. A deliberate shot to the knee and lower leg by a Redskins defender (Christian Ponder was eliminated for a while with a helmet-to-helmet concussion in the same game.).

The fact is that there is an open desire to maim people out there in the NFL, and I don't think it will be able to be changed without the elimination of football. (It's too entrenched in our culture, so don't get your hopes up...)

For anyone who still believes the NFL to be legitimate:

These are the Super Bowls in the 21st century. Note that, for the purposes of this article, little (and zero direct) discussion will be made of whether the games are rigged or not. The question, for these purposes, is how a league can be considered legitimate when the following takes place:

Super Bowl XXXV: January 2001 Baltimore over Giants, 34-7.

One year before, Ray Lewis (the MVP of this Super Bowl and the stalwart linebacker of a historic defense that defied NFL tradition) was involved in a fight which resulted in a double-homicide at a Super Bowl party. Lewis was only not charged with the murders for his cooperation, and a plea deal to obstruction of justice. Lewis was fined $250,000 by the NFL (believed to be the highest fine ever levied a player outside of drug offenses), and his two friends were eventually acquitted.

Again, one year from that offense, and seven months after his friends were acquitted for a murder which has never been officially solved, he not only plays in the Super Bowl, not only wins it, but is the fracking MVP of the game.

At least Disney had the good sense to go to somebody else for the "Disney World" line.

Super Bowl XXXVI: (January 2002) New England over St. Louis, 20-17.

The SpyGate Bowl.

From the Wikipedia article on the Spygate situation:

"On February 2, 2008, the day before the Patriots' appearance in Super Bowl XLII, the Boston Herald reported, citing an unnamed source, that a member of the Patriots' video staff videotaped the St. Louis Rams' Saturday walkthrough prior to Super Bowl XXXVI at the Louisiana Superdome, an accusation denied by the Patriots later that day. The NFL conducted interviews with Belichick and other members of the Patriots before and after Super Bowl XLII regarding the accusation, and found no evidence to substantiate the Super Bowl XXXVI allegations or any other transgressions beside those the NFL had already penalized the Patriots for."

The "member of the Patriots' video staff" was believed to be Matt Walsh. As a part of an agreement to idemnify him with respect to the NFL, Roger Goodell asked for all tapes Walsh still had. He didn't have tapes from Super Bowl XXXVI walkthroughs, but he did have four other tapes spanning three 2001-2002 games, including two tapes of a controversial AFC Championship win that year over Pittsburgh.

The matter was dropped both by the NFL and the Federal government -- no additional (official) penalties were imposed on the Patriots for their accused actions in Super Bowl XXXVI.

This Super Bowl would eventually spawn the legal case (Mayer vs. Belichick, New England Patriots, and National Football League) stating that a sports fan with a ticket to the contest had no right to anything from that ticket except a seat at the event. There was no inferred right as to the rules being followed, the players being lawful, or anything else.

In effect, it legalized sports-rigging in the United States.

Super Bowl XXXVII: (February, 2003) Tampa Bay over Oakland, 48-21.

The main thing which steps out from this game:

The departure from Oakland to Tampa Bay of coach John Gruden, and the fact that the succeeding coach, Bill Callahan, never changed the signals of his offense, allowing the #1 defense in the league (Tampa Bay) to run roughshod over the NFL's #1 offense (Oakland).

Super Bowl XXXVIII: (February 2004) New England over Carolina, 32-29.

Super Bowl XXXIX: (February 2005) New England over Philadelphia, 24-21.

Two pure extensions of the Belichick Spygate fraud. If the first one doesn't happen, neither do these two.

Super Bowl XL: (February 2006) Pittsburgh over Seattle, 21-10.

Regardless of those who believe that the game was fixed, it was known and has been admitted that this is probably on the short list of the worst-officiated championship sports events in the history of organized American professional sport.

When you have, according to the Super Bowl XL Wikipedia page, this admission:

"

On August 6, 2010, while visiting the Seahawks' preseason training camp for an annual rules interpretation session with the Seattle media, [XL Referee Bill] Leavy brought up Super Bowl XL without being asked, and admitted to having blown calls:

It was a tough thing for me. I kicked two calls in the fourth quarter and I impacted the game, and as an official you never want to do that. It left me with a lot of sleepless nights, and I think about it constantly. I'll go to my grave wishing that I'd been better ... I know that I did my best at that time, but it wasn't good enough ... When we make mistakes, you got to step up and own them. It's something that all officials have to deal with, but unfortunately when you have to deal with it in the Super Bowl it's difficult.

"

... it effectively admits that the game was marred beyond the point of legitimacy.

Rothlesberger didn't become Rapist-burger until 2008, the motorcycle accident which brought his judgement into question didn't come in until later in 2006.

Super Bowl XLI: (February, 2007) Indianapolis over Chicago, 29-17.

Lest we forget, Bears starting defensive tackle Tank Johnson needed court approval to simply play in the Super Bowl, as he was facing probation violation charges involving firearms, and the resulting firestorm surrounding the death of his bodyguard.

Super Bowl XLII: (February, 2008) Giants over New England, 17-14.

Spygate was revealed to the world by a Boston Globe article the day before the game took place. This would be, effectively, the fourth Spygate-aided Super Bowl for Belichick and the Patriots.

Plaxico Burress' legal troubles did not begin until the off-season after this Super Bowl victory.

Super Bowl XLIII: (February, 2009) Pittsburgh over Arizona, 27-23.

By now, Rothlesberger was already the subject of at least his first sexual assault investigations, of which more would follow - on top of the motorcycle incident. James Harrison had his first brush with the law (conveniently swept under the rug) about one year before, a simple assault. Harrison would be the Defensive Player of the Year for that season, and complete a classic 100-yard interception return in the game.

And then there's the story of Santonio Holmes, who would be the game's MVP because of a tip-toe catch in the corner of the endzone (*cough* Which never would been called a catch under the Calvin Johnson Rule *cough*) for the game-winning touchdown. A 2006 domestic violence issue was dropped, even after the prosecutor refused to do so the first time. He was a known drug-dealer out of Belle Glade, FL, where he lived as a teen. And yet he's allowed to play football for millions -- of people and of dollars.

Super Bowl XLIV: (February, 2010) New Orleans over Indianapolis, 31-17.

Bounty-Gate. See Favre section of previous post.

Super Bowl XLV: (February, 2011) Green Bay over Pittsburgh, 31-25.

By this point, the Pittsburgh Steelers believed, and with cause!, that they were official NFL Enemies of the State. Rothlesberger had now survived his SECOND sexual assault investigation, James Harrison was seen as one of the dirtiest players in the league (which eventually led to THIS classic article on my blog after he spouted off in Men's Journal, and becoming the first player to be suspended directly for repeated dirty hits under the new player-safety initiatives the dirty Pittsburgh defense of this season helped create!), James Farrior and others right behind him.

Super Bowl XLVI: (February, 2012) Giants over New England, 21-17.

Spygate Super Bowl #5.

With backstories like these (and this is *NOT* an exhaustive list), who needs legitimacy?

In honor of the Bounty-Gate sanctions, I debut a new segment: The Show Must Go On

Well, I can only say that I truly believe that it is time for me to start chronicling other sporting events (like, IMODO, the entire 2012-13 New Orleans Saints' NFL season for starters) which never should've taken place.

Basically, my criteria is exactly what I said above: To be on this list, the event in question must be an event that, if the real rules (or at least an investigation thereto with probable cause) are enforced, the sporting event does not take place.

Usually, this occurs with just one of the teams involved. For my first trick, I'm going to speak of a sporting event -- a state high school championship game, no less!! -- in which NEITHER TEAM is believed to be eligible.

I am talking about the 2011 Florida Class 6A State Championship Game in football (there is actually sanctioned girls' flag football in Florida, but this is for the boys). Armwood High School and Miami Central were both undefeated heading into the game -- Armwood was 14-0, Miami Central (last year's champion) was 13-0.

BOTH teams are under Florida High School Athletic Association investigation for having at least one player playing for their school while not living in the district -- effectively (and especially with schools of this pedigree) recruiting violations!

Recruiting prominent players is becoming so bad in Florida that the FHSAA Executive Director, who was notified of the Armwood proposed violation by a local television news investigative report (and, because Armwood won 40-31, they now are the more relevant investigation), actually was proposing the imposition of the college rule -- transfer to another school? Sit a year!

It's gotten so bad and so pervasive (Miami Central's opponent in last year's 6A title tilt had to forfeit their season for the same reason!) that the legislature, which refused the Director's bid for the collegiate rule, is actually considering quashing the must-live-in-district rule altogether!

"Roger Dearing [the Executive Director] says the FHSAA is now paying a price for aggressively investigating allegations connected to illegal sports transfers. He says two legislators from Polk County have told him they are filing legislation to get rid of the rules requiring kids to play for schools in the district they actually live in."

And the guy who sponsored the bill to kill the collegiate rule? He might well have been burned by it too!

"Today, [Bob] Henriquez [formerly in the Legislature] is head football coach at Tampa Catholic and says while he opposed the rule changes he regrets the student transfer rules currently in place are not working

"I can tell you from personal experience here at the school we've had two of our players transfer out during the football season this year, and I'm not sure all of them were completely legitimate," Henriquez says."

The fact is that it may be time to shut the entire system down, especially now that it is generally accepted that most of the football mills down there are aggressively recruiting their players...

Players who, lest we forget, have probably been playing professionally in the youth leagues for years beforehand!

Additionally, a Class 5A semifinalist from 2010, Lakeland, had to wipe out it's entire 2010 season as well, plus a $5,000 fine from the FHSAA for costs, due to two ineligible players.

If the FHSAA cannot adequately enforce the rules, the games need to be shut down.

Bounty-Gate Penalties are a joke -- but what choice did the NFL really have?

The hammer came down on the Saints today.

• Head Coach Sean Payton suspended for a year.
• GM Mickey Loomis suspended for half a season.
• Assistant Joe Vitt banned for six games and fined $100,000.
  

In reality, this is probably the end for Sean Payton in the NFL. Maybe not as forcefully as Williams (see below), but this is probably a signal that Sean Payton will never realistically coach in the National Football League again.

What you see on the surface is a one-year suspension for Payton. The suspension is for what the NCAA would call the dreaded "failure of institutional control". I cannot see Roger Goodell allowing Sean Payton to coach anywhere in the league again, but there just wasn't enough beyond "The Buck Stops Here" to nail Payton unless you wanted to give the kind of penalties I would've given (see below).

The problem I have is why the NFL has not stepped in and effectively taken over the Saints, as I'll talk about below. If you suspend Payton, you have to give the similar ban to the GM, at minimum, to force the Saints to can them both.

• Gregg Williams has been banned from the National Football League for life, with a review coming after the 2012 season.

This is the big one. Not big enough, as far as a number of other factors are concerned (barring any appeal process, there should not have been any "review" to possibly reinstate, for one), but this was basically expected as time went on.

Gregg Williams has all but certainly exposed the NFL to massive legal liabilities and culpabilities (the previous post I made about Williams effectively putting out Favre, Warner, and Manning is just one example), and I don't think the punishment adequately addresses what the NFL really states it wants to do.

• The draft picks? 2012 and 2013 second-rounders.
• Player punishments are still being discussed with the NFLPA.
  

Any more evidence this is a joke?

Basically, here would be my penalties if I were the Commissioner.

• The New Orleans Saints do not exist for at least one season. The team is disqualified from the National Football League until a further review of the extent of the conduct (by outside legal authorities -- an independent prosecutor, if you will) is done. The league goes with 31 teams next year. Future seasons come as a result of not only what is found in the outside investigation.
• A new Super Bowl XLVII site (yes, the game is supposed to be in New Orleans) is found.
  
• Any player or coach involved in the situation is banned from ever playing or coaching football at any level ever again. That's up to and including Payton on the coaching end, and any player materially contributing or benefiting from this program.
• If there is a "New Orleans Saints" going forward, it is a league-owned enterprise until a new ownership group which is consistent with the stated aims and goals vis-a-vis player safety and fair play (har de har har har) are found. Effectively, the NFL seizes the Saints and forces a sale.

Put bluntly:

The New Orleans Saints should be thrown out of the National Football League on the basis of the 50,000 pages of evidence with respect to their illegal bounty program which has resulted in career-ending injuries to, at minimum, two of the greatest quarterbacks of this era (and probably countless other players of lesser statures).

There is no sufficient penalty for the offenses which have been alleged and supposedly proven short of the cancellation of contests and the seizure of the Saints.

If you don't believe that the process of bounties goes on throughout the league (and that is certainly a "Great Wizard" to be ignored behind the curtain, per @NFLCommish), then you must conclude immediately that a significant criminal conspiracy was taking place under the color of the New Orleans Saints.

There is no way that, even if Tom Benson (the owner) didn't know, that Benson should not pay by losing his team -- he, by his inactions, has besmirched the NFL far more than even SpyGate could've, if you can believe that!

I mean, if you take a look at what's going on here, if you do what I think you have to do with respect to the players (within realistic NFLPA parameters, which is why you didn't hear suspensions -- which I think is a joke and all but exposes the fact that this DOES go on all the time), you're going to have to suspend the better number of players from the Saints defense -- as in, the Saints are going to have to find about 15-18 guys just to suit up a team for the first few games of the 2012 season.

(Don't believe me? There were TWENTY-SEVEN players allegedly involved in this, at least on the surface -- and that's just the Saints.)

How do you allow the Saints to take the field at all under such a scenario?

There's an easy answer to that, and it's not only why you will never see my punishments invoked, but one of the most frustrating truths about sports, these days:

The games themselves exist only as BUSINESS PROPOSITIONS. To cancel the games, even if the only fit punishment, cost the league and other teams enough money that the fragility of some of the other franchises gets further exposed.

The fact is that this should expose a massive criminal situation in which Williams is put in prison, and so are the better part of at least two dozen NFL players. How, in the name of "Protecting the Shield", Goodell can allow the Saints to continue as a franchise under these circumstances, I don't know -- except that professional sports are a business, and solely such.

This has been a frustration I've had for a very long time in a number of arenas. Since there now is no legal expectation of legal or fair conduct in the contests (Mayer vs. Belichick, New England Patriots, and NFL), actions like these must effectively go, at best, minimally-punished, because there's no way you can adequately sanction a company like this without closing it down.

Make no mistake: The New Orleans Saints are FINISHED as a meaningful National Football League franchise. If Saints fans want to see the reality under which the New Orleans Saints will go forward as a franchise (and this is something I believe Drew Brees has already identified, whether he states it or not), look at the Minnesota Timberwolves after the Joe Smith debacle.

(And yes, I would've thrown the Timberwolves out of the NBA for that little maneuver as well!)

The Timberwolves were a playoff team (a perennial first-round loser, yes -- but a playoff team), and basically were for three years afterward (probably only on the basis of Kevin Garnett being one of the league's manufactured "heroes" -- for which they apparently did get to one Western Conference Final).

The last seven seasons (before another "hero" emerged who got injured, Ricky Rubio from Spain)? One of the league's consummate jokes, as a result of the loss of five first-round draft picks.

The Timberwolves are not an NBA franchise at this point, and the Joe Smith debacle finished them. The same fate will befall the Saints -- and, given the nature of what the NFL is all about, I see this happening far more immediately.

Couple of other comments:

The NFL must move this year's Super Bowl. To think the Saints don't benefit from this is just laughable.

How is it going to go down well if the coach is suspended for a year and the players involved don't get similar suspensions?

So Florida wasn't the destination?

Tebow is a New York Jet.

It's a horrific fit, on almost every conceivable level -- and probably only exists because of the fact that New York is such a huge media market.

I mean, Tebow and a seventh rounder for a fourth rounder and a sixth rounder.

That said:

• How is Tebow's religious image going to go over in The Big Apple?
• Animal House of Rex Ryan, anyone??
• Some of the other characters on the team?
• And let's not talk about Mark San-chise, while we're at it...

I'd say this was a league manipulation -- if the trade made any logistical sense whatsofreakingever.

Soccer is so thoroughly dirty, it's not even funny.

Hat-tip to Brian Tuohy, and his new "News of Note" feature on his website, which allows people to see current stories on game-fixing as he is notified of them.

Oh, Sepp Blatter, this has got to leave a mark.

The union of professional soccer players, FIFPro, just released it's Black Book, a survey of the extent of match fixing in Southern and Eastern Europe.

The results will not be pretty for anyone who still believes in The Beautiful Game. All figures are for players surveyed.

• Almost one player in four knows of match-fixing.
• About one player in eight or nine has been approached for it. In Greece, almost one-third of the players surveyed has been approached to fix a match.
• Over two players in five have not, at some point, been paid on time. It appears as if those fixing matches know this fact, as about half of those players have been approached to fix matches.
• About one player in ten has been the target of a racial incident -- mostly by fans.
• About one player in nine has been the target of a violent incident -- mostly fans, but the management and the coaches are not immune.

Still want to believe in soccer?

Apparently I'm not the only one...

There are now reports that, for a brief time, #Rigged was actually a Trending Topic on Twitter as it relates to the UNC-Asheville "loss" to Syracuse.

Looks like the NCAA has to help the Cuse get out of the first match!

North Carolina-Asheville game them a run, but I have a feeling that it's about to come apart.

And the refs had a large part in giving Syracuse just that little push of the snowball downhill.

There was about a three-possession swing right at the 11:15 media time-out (if you have the ability to watch the game again, please do so right around here). Syracuse appears to have a block-charge situation no-called in it's favor (no call, neither block by the Asheville player nor charge!) on a basket to go up 2.

The next Asheville possession is an officiating debacle. The refs appear to miss a mauling inside on an apparent attempt to drive in by Asheville, another shot appears to hit the bottom of where the rim attaches to the backboard, and a rushed shot leads to another Syracuse basket, plus one, lead is then 5.

Syracuse has had the momentum ever since, and is now up 8 with 2:30 to go.

I guess the NCAA never does want a 1 to lose to a 16. Under ANY circumstances.

ON EDIT: Bad hack with 2 minutes to go on a layup attempt which would've put UNC-A down 4 forces them to burn their last time out in a floor scramble!

The officiating has been garbage in this tournament!!!

AND AGAIN: Tack on a lane violation on a missed Syracuse freethrow (1:20 to go) up 4 with about 1:30 to go. The remake and the second of the bonus are made. Back up 6. UNC-A has halved the lead again, but must foul now.

Announcers still looking at it, can't find lane violation!

AND YET ANOTHER!!!: 3-point game with 36.9 to go, Syracuse panics on the inbound and the ball looks to go off a Syracuse player, but the call is with Syracuse again!

CHA-CHING!!!! Syracuse 72 - North Carolina-Asheville 65

The rig was for result: Final line was SYR -15.5 with the over-under at 147.5 . Vegas not involved.

POST-GAME TWEETS: Even the media is calling bullshit on this on Twitter!

Mike Greenberg (ESPNGreeny): The officiating in the Syracuse game is a complete embarrassment... I can't believe what I'm seeing... #ncaa

JT The Brick of Fox Sports Radio (JTTheBrick): Refs were in the bag for #Syracuse

To think I had this read at about the 11:15 media timeout.

I officially call bullshit on this tournament right now...

So, with El Presidente (and the British Prime Minister) in attendance -- and TruTV needing all the ratings it can get:

• Western Kentucky reverses a 16-point deficit (within five minutes!!) to a three-point lead and a one-point victory.
• But not to be outdone, Iona (who a lot of people didn't think should be in the tournament at all!!) goes out to a TWENTY-FIVE point lead against BYU, and looks like they're about to hang 120 on these guys. They score 55 in the first half, only 17 in the second, and LOSE by SIX!!

Is anybody going to tell me, honest to God, that either of these games did not have a scripted quality to them? That was GARBAGE.

Two more teams I believe are going to get screwed in the tournament...

Xavier and Cincinnati.

Why?

The fight.

The longer either team goes, the more it will be talked about.

I have neither team making it out of their first game.

Some early views on the brackets...

So, here we go again, field of 68 on the table...

Got a couple little thoughts to start with:

If you're smart, you won't pick Syracuse to win it all.

I think they can get out of the first weekend, but, frankly, I see the same scenario here which happened between LSU and Alabama in the BCS title game: There was enough "smoke", IMHO, that the decision-makers could not allow LSU to win the national title, with the open plausibility that they'd to take it back later. Hence, Alabama rolls in historic fashion.

I think the same thing is going to happen here. Between the fired coach and the drug revelations, I think the NCAA is going to step in and make orange juice out of the Orange before they have to take the title back later on.

The Pac-12 is micro-conference bad this year.

Oh my God, what happened to basketball out west this year? I mean, when a supposed Big Six conference has NO TEAMS locked in or even should be in on the ESPN Bubble Watch as their tournament is going on, that's just sad.

They got two only because the tourney went to 68 -- one of them is playing in the First Four. Pac-12 will go two and out in this tournament, IMHO.

Someone's going to blow up the brackets. It always happens -- it's the main draw this tournament has over most other sports.

In fact, be not surprised if such a team gets a little "help" along the way. It is really about the biggest draw this tournament has over other events on the sports calendar.

More later as I pore through all this...

An allegation which, if true, could kill the NFL...

I've been talking to a number of people with respect to this Bounty-gate fiasco, and one of them brought up a wonderful point and had evidence to back up the claims:

Could Gregg Williams have been the man to, through his illegal bounty system, take out three of the best quarterbacks since the turn of the millennium: Brett Favre, Peyton Manning, and Kurt Warner?

Let's take a look at all three:

Brett Favre: Though reports today deny it, a lot has been made of the conduct of the Saints in their NFC Championship victory over the Vikings when Favre was the quarterback.

(Yes, this is the same game in which I honestly believed Favre literally threw the game with a ridiculous last-minute interception in regulation leading to the Saints winning it in overtime.)

There are a number of hits being examined in a recently-posted YouTube clip (let's hope the name is not prophetic -- it's a new account calling himself "Retaliatein2012") of the Saints taking liberties (to varying extents) with Favre in the game.

(I have a feeling the music will not be long for this video, but...)

The first one off the top is marginal at best, though the ball was clearly out before #55 pushed Favre to the ground.

The second one, appearing to be the next play or two, has #55 being held (and the Viking flagged for it), but here comes #41 at about :11-:12 into the video with a fairly clear helmet-to-chin shot -- no call on that one by the refs.

The third play, starting at about :15, is the one which a lot of people believe effectively ended Brett Favre's playing career as a top-flight quarterback. Favre play-actions into a reverse to the near side of the field, and Favre is literally TATTOOED by a Saint (couldn't see who) long after he handed off the ball (Chad Clifton Rule, anyone???) as the play was going far away from him.

Many people claim that, after this play, he was never the same quarterback again.

The next play has #42 (former Packer Darren Sharper?) for the Saints going helmet on Favre and almost launching on top of it.

What follows are a number of hits which are probably legal (though certainly should be re-examined under what we know now about what was going on in New Orleans!) seeing Favre getting quite seriously hammered out there -- with a turned ankle from the hit on the reverse!

By the end of the third quarter, the effects on the hits (which some now believe were a targetted effort to screw up his ankle further) lead (~1:35 or so) to a Vilma interception, another questionably-late hit, and the trainers finally needing to help Favre off the field in obvious pain!

This was the most flagrant of them all, it appears, as he gets nailed in the back of the knee by #93, and then another guy comes in over the top -- not only is that hit near the knee illegal (Tom Brady Rule), but going high-low like that also is.

Then, at about 2:00, a blatant gousle -- high-low hit -- which basically went uncalled.

Just watch this clip, and understand how ineffective Favre was in his final season.

Tell me honestly that there is not evidence to believe (ESPN reports notwithstanding) that Brett Favre was put out of the sport by the illegal bounty system that Greg Williams had.

I think there is -- and if we had a league with an ounce of integrity (say, if the Patriots had been stripped of at least their Super Bowl win over the Rams), this might be enough to get the Saints Super Bowl win reversed.

Kurt Warner: This goes back to a 2010 playoff game between the Saints and Arizona Cardinals. 2nd quarter, 28-14 Saints. Here's the YouTube clip of this one.

It would be Warner's last in the NFL. He throws an interception, and is near the play. (No "defenseless player" rule here -- he's right near the ball-carrier to make the tackle.) However, he gets abjectly laid out and injured by another Saints player.

The announcer said it was a clean hit -- it was anything but. The initial contact might've been clean, but it was clear a helmet-to-helmet was thrown in there. Watch the LAST replay closely at about 1:00-1:03 of the clip, and you'll see what I mean.

Peyton Manning: This has to go back, first, to this week's "Monday Morning QB" column by Peter King on SI.com -- the second page thereof.

Tony Dungy, then on an NBC telecast during the football season last year, stated that the on-going neck injury which has ended Peyton's tenure in Indianapolis (and, I truly believe, his career as well!) stems from a 2006 game in which the Colts were playing Washington.

Who was the defensive coordinator there? Gregg Williams, and the NFL is investigating him with the Redskins as well!

I'll let the article speak for itself:

"Manning's neck got wrenched and his helmet ripped off on a hit by two Washington defenders. We showed the highlight on our show. Manning, after being hit and crumbling to the ground awkwardly, lay there for a second, and when he rose, he stretched his neck and shook his right arm for a second, as if trying to get the feeling back in it.

Afterward, as I wrote last fall in this column, Dungy told me: "Earlier in the game, I'm outraged that there was a flag for roughing-the-passer on Dwight Freeney for just grazing the quarterback's helmet. So I'm yelling at the ref [Scott Green], 'Where's the flag! Where's the flag!' And I don't yell much, but I did then. So I didn't notice Peyton calling timeout and being shaken up. Peyton came to the sideline and said to [backup] Jim Sorgi, 'Jim, start warming up.' As the timeout went on, he said to us, 'I can stay in, but we need to run the ball here.' '' Which the Colts did, settling for a field goal deep in Washington territory.

"Then we sort of forgot about it at halftime, and Peyton seemed fine," said Dungy. "He lit it up in the second half. He was on fire [throwing for 244 yards and three touchdowns]. But that's the year we started cutting back on his throws at practice. I'm not putting two plus two together. I just figure he's getting older and he needs some time off, he's made enough throws. But now, as I look back on it, there's no doubt in my mind that this was the start of his neck problems.'' There's no evidence that Washington's defenders had a bounty out on Manning that night. But it's a question, surely, that begs to be asked. And if I were one of the league investigators interviewing Williams today, it's certainly something I'd explore."

Here's the clip of that play on which the neck gets completely wrenched. It looks like, when he takes the hit at about :06-:08, that someone should've been tossed for this one. This was clearly a dirty hit beyond much compare in the annals of the league. It looks like the second guy, with one guy already engaging Manning low, comes in and clotheslines Peyton's head almost completely off his shoulders! (Definitely knocks the helmet off!)

If this is true, we can all but assuredly say that the aggressive nature encouraged by an illegal bounty system contributed to Manning's end, ended Warner's career directly, and pretty much indirectly ended Favre's.

So why do I say that this allegation could kill the NFL if it's true that this bounty system is taking out the top quarterbacks of the game?

Consider, as has been discussed, the legal ramifications of this situation off the field, and also consider a very prescient column Grantland did: "What Would the End of Football Look Like?", regarding the increasing liability concerns, especially vis-a-vis concussions, which could decimate, if not kill, football at all levels!

(So much so that Brian Tuohy is convinced that the entire anti-bounty situation is nothing short of a publicity stunt!)

What if we now add to that a deliberate campaign by a defensive coordinator, spanning at least two teams, of eliminating the better number of the elite quarterbacks since the year 2000?

What if we now add to THAT that the campaign was illegal under not only NFL rules, but probably under criminal laws as well??

Roger Goodell, you better hammer the Saints like no team ever before.

I would not be against some form of removal of the ownership (forget just firing the GM and coaches, and a life ban on Gregg Williams (John Clayton of ESPN has told "Mike and Mike in the Morning" that a life ban is actually possible for Williams!)) to basically "reset" the Saints. You handed them a Super Bowl on a silver platter, and this is the thanks you get.

You lie down with dogs, Mr. Goodell, and you will get fleas!

And, as Brian Tuohy just said on his Twitter, just in time for March Madness...

We have a college basketball point-shaving scandal at Auburn, according to Yahoo! Sports ...

(Don't they seem to be coming up with a lot of this idiocy lately?)

The Feds have been investigating suspended Auburn player Varez Ward with respect to point-shaving two Auburn games.

Ward and a second player (named in the article, but not here because the second player was cleared of any misconduct and allowed to return to the team) were suspended two weeks ago when it was discovered that Ward attempted to get a number of players on Auburn to take part in a point-shaving situation in two SEC contests, one in late January and one in early February.

The Feds were instantly notified by Auburn when Auburn found out of the allegations.

The article does enough of a job in giving some of the P's and Q's regarding Ward's play in those two games. It also states that Ward had been a starter, but his minutes steadily dropped over the course of the season.

Could the old joke of "They don't pay us enough to keep the games straight..." apply here?

Could Yahoo! Sports be ready to drop another bombshell...

... this one effectively to blow up the NCAA Tournament next week?

At least five different sources have given Yahoo! Sports a list of ten players who should've been suspended under Syracuse's internal rules with respect to the use and abuse of recreational drugs.

Syracuse, right now, is #2 in the country in the current polls to Kentucky.

This has been a hard year for Syracuse, with sexual misconduct allegations of their own with complicity from ESPN. One has to wonder how the NCAA is going to allow them to go forward...

And what do we have here... Bounties on the Saints...

Uh oh -- it just got real in New Orleans.

It all started, at least what we know about it, when the NFL announced that it had found a pattern implicating 22-27 defensive players (the equivalent of a full defensive roster) in a bounty scheme.

Now, I'll be frank: In extreme circumstances, I know I've said I'd pay a player to cripple Michael Vick, but that's after everything Michael Vick is known to have done (and probably perceived to have gotten away with!).

What we have here is a blatant attempt to subvert the game to the point where hurting people is the sole reason for the players to be out there. My brothers played football -- and they were all told to hit and hit hard. My next-oldest brother was asked repeatedly in team chants if he was "Ready to Hit?" on "The Swarm" (a nickname for the defense the one year our high school was good at football while we were there).

But this is basically players setting up a fund to hurt people. That simple.

If the league is that serious about player safety, the New Orleans Saints can forget about being a relevant team again -- probably for the better part of this decade.

The defensive coach who masterminded this will be blackballed. He was hired by the Rams, but that's not going to stick. The Commish will see to that.

Sean Payton almost certainly will be fired and he probably will never head-coach again.

ESPN editorials are already calling for the GM to be fired.

Hell, let's take a real look at how much the owners of the Saints actually knew...

But here's the real fun part: This, now, exposes the Saints and the NFL to lawsuits. The program spans three years (including the Saints' Super Bowl XLIV-winning season -- a game largely believed to be rigged by the league), and the defensive coach who masterminded this is now believed to have had this system back in Washington before he came to the Saints.

Keep an eye on this -- this has the possibility of effectively murdering the relevance of a professional sports franchise completely. This is not unlike the Joe Smith fiasco for the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Yes, it could be THAT bad.

ON EDIT: Brian Tuohy makes a wonderful point on his Twitter:

"If $1500 is enough to get a $1 million NFL player to injure another, what does $10K or $100K get you? Enough to fix a game?"

And that doesn't even get in to how an illegal injury-bounty pool can fix games in and of itself!