Five-Ringed Circus: Day Four A water-polo incident, an openly-thrown match, and the Chinese swimmer story rages...

Humble pie, side of crow, sent to my address, please.  The girls kicked ass, enjoy your tour, yadda yadda yadda...

Bleh.

Anyhow:

• China still leads the medal count after four days.   Both nations have 23 medals, China has 13 golds to the USA's 9.  China will add at least two more to this, as they have gold and silver in their national sport, table tennis, in a match which half a billion people will watch when it takes place.  It will be the seventh consecutive gold medal in women's table-tennis for the Chinese.  Table-tennis and badminton will probably be where China will rack upwards of 16 medals uncontested by the United States.  (Of course, if you must, the track and field competition starts soon, where China will not be much a factor.)
• The IOC, on the same day that China's Ye Shiwen won the 200m individual medley in the fastest time ever recorded outside of a polyurethane "super-suit"/technical suit (which rewrote the record books so blatantly, they were banned at the end of 2009!), stated openly that Shiwen's drug test taken after the 400m IM was clean.  In fact, IOC Spokesman Mark Adams went so far as to state that people like me "need to get real here.''

Oh really, Mr. Adams?  So it is in no way suspicious when, in the same event, the women's champion outsplits the men's champion at the same comparable time in the competition in their respective events?  (For those who missed it, Shiwen's split for the final 50 meters of her race was faster than Ryan Lochte's split for the same final 50 meters of his race when he won the Olympic gold medal in the same event.)

If you honestly want me to believe that Ye Shiwen is clean, I've got about the same lovely piece of swampland to sell you (in Omaha, NE) that I would for believing the same of Michael Phelps!

• Speaking of the badminton, we have an open match-fixing scandal to report.  The badminton tournament has been plunged into controversy as the final group match of two doubles teams was being thrown by both teams to prearrange better draws for each.  This enraged the fans and the match referee so much that he stopped the match and warned both sides officially.  It is unknown whether the Chinese and South Korean teams involved will be sanctioned or even expelled, but this simply was similar to the practice which used to take place in similar group-stage situations in soccer tournaments.
• The water polo tournament was the scene of another controversy today as Croatia defeated Spain in pool play 8-7.  Ivan Perez Vargas of Spain thought he had scored the tying goal with five seconds left, and the replays appeared to agree with him.  The referees disallowed the goal, and Spain vehemently protested it's loss.  This may well simply make Spain's road in the knockout phase a bit harder, but they are still pipped to advance.
• One from yesterday:  A scoring snafu (or something else?) changed the order of finish on the mens' gymnastics team results.  At the end of all the scoring, China had won, Britain was second, Ukraine was third, and Japan was fourth.  Then, all of a sudden, a protest had been lodged on the pommel horse score of the all-around favorite, Japan's superstar Kohei Uchimura.  The mistake was so egregious that, when the scores were recalculated, Japan had sprung all the way to second, Britain third, Ukraine off the podium!

The matter in question is whether the clumsy exit (Kohei has had significant problems in these Games, and this was no exception!) from the horse was a dismount (which would only grant a penalty) or a fall (which would nullify his routine completely).  After several minutes (and, almost assuredly, because of his status within the sport), it was ruled that he had (though badly) dismounted, instead of fallen.  The Ukraine coach was not pleased:

“When you think about athletics (track and field), 100 meters is just 100 meters — it’s how you ran it,” said Ukraine coach Yuliy Kuksenkov. “Sometimes in gymnastics, it’s 95 meters or 105 meters.”

• In closing for this post, in the "Theatre of the Absurd" Department:  Paul McCartney was, in fact, compensated for his performance at the Opening Ceremonies.
• He was paid one stinking British Pound.
• I don't think he minds the experience.  :)

And it sounds like taking a stand on concussions has just ended an NFL career...

Jeremy Shockey has pretty much just ended his NFL career with a Twitter rant.

According to USA Today, Shockey made the following Tweets in response to the NFL's commitment (or, Shockey believes, lack of!) against concussions:

• "The no it all Rog goodell lied to every player and told us concussions will not effect us in life that a LIE!"
•  "It would be great to give the health study on NFL players on a commercial during the games!! just want the fans and congress to know! FACT"
•  "Science tells me I'll be dead time in 54yrs old!! What would u do?"

 Is he near the next to go?

Another name to add to the growing list of human sacrifices to the National Religion...

OJ Murdock of the Tennessee Titans has added his name to the growing litany of players who've committed suicide.  It is suspected that he shot himself in the head today after sending a Tweet to his former coach, thanking him for everything, and then apologizing...

How much, and how many, more?

Scariest thing:  Was it concussions, or did his parents doom Murdock?  According to Wikipedia, his full name is Orenthal James Murdock.

Did OJ Murdock basically have an all-or-nothing existence, in that he either had to be the next Juice, or he was all but dead to the world?

Never played a down in the NFL, was on IR for his rookie year...

He was 25.

Five-Ringed Circus: Day Three. London isn't burning physically, but the Games are getting singed quite a bit!

So, as I tap-dance on at least part of the obligatory National Tour basically dying at the feet of the men's team, let's see what else has got London buzzing as Day Three comes to an end:

• CORRECTION:  The story earlier about the Irish athlete under investigation has now been clarified (and a hat-tip to Brian Tuohy for pointing this out in another article on the subject) that the event in which the anonymous athlete bet on an opponent was a pre-Olympic event.
• In London, at the end of three days of medal competition, China tops the medal count with nine golds.  China and the US are tied with 17 medals.
• A Swiss soccer player has been expelled from the Games for a racist tweet against South Korea after his team was beaten by the South Koreans.  Michael Morganella was sent home today, the second athlete to be tossed after an insensitive Tweet.  The entire message was not even put on this news report.
• Once again, a Korean angry with a decision by the judges creates a delay, and eventually loses a medal because of it.  And it appears as if the dispute was justified!  Shin A Lam was leading Britta Heidermann of Germany by one point in a match in which the winner would have advanced to the gold medal match.  Only one second (apparently) remained.  However, the timing mechanism attached to one of the swords was stuck, so Heidermann, in apparent extra given time, was allowed to score the point to tie the match and advance to the gold medal on the last touch.  The judges, without guidance from the rules, allowed the touch!  And the rules forced Shin to remain on the piste (the match surface) while the appeal was given.  When an official payment for the appeal was not received, the appeal was denied!  And, to put the final insult, the bronze medal match happened immediately after the protest, and Shin lost.
• Almost out of the book of Mike Tyson, a Greek judoka (a favorite for a medal in her event until this incident occurred) was eliminated by a Cuban, and the Greek believes the Cuban bit her on the hand during the match!  Ioulietta Boukouvala lost in the opening round of the 57-kg division to Yurileidys Cobas, and, after the match, Boukouvala was showing media where she said Cobas bit her during the match.  Given how much judo is about grappling and position, such an offense would be, to say the least, a match decider.
• Olympic officials may wish to reconsider making social media such a large part of the London Games, and the Olympic movement going forward.  In the second Twitter story of the day, Twitter has been told by NBC to suspend the account of a renowned critic of the network's coverage, and they have done so!  Guy Adams, who writes for Britain's Independent, but lives in Los Angeles, had his account yanked for numerous tweets critical (and, apparently, justifiably) of NBC's coverage, tape delays, and the arrogance and Amero-centrism of the US coverage.  (I have to wonder how many more days it will be before NBC and the USOC have this blog yanked!)
• There is a proposed major revolt going forward in which a number of American athletes may be expelled from the Games.  A number of the US track team members are protesting the IOC's Rule 40, under which no one may use any means to promote any company other than official Olympic sponsors.  Apparently, dozens of athletes have now taken to the campaign that, though they are proud to be Americans, they want the rights to promote whomever they want.

And the problem with a number of these stories is the same problem why I, in no way, shape, or form, can support the US Olympic Team:

The whole damn thing has become one corporate clusterfuck. I am remindant of my Salt Lake City trip in 2002 (a trip which aided in getting me through eight months of incarceration in 1998-99!), where the first several days of the trip were very fun and very educational.

As the trip went on, however, I was noticing more and more efforts being made to shove me aside, because I wasn't rich, good-looking, corporate, or Mormon enough for the Olympic ideal in Salt Lake City!

(Considering those Games were probably bribed to the Mormon city, can I say I'm shocked?)

But the problem is (and I think it's entering into some of the less-than-expected performances (many by US athletes, but not all!) which have pockmarked the first three days of the Games) that the whole thing has become not about country, but of personal, corporate, and political advancement.

The whole thing is catered to a very specific audience (certain official corporations on the advertising side, and a US populace with their flag in one hand and their dicks in the other)!  This is why I openly hope China kicks our asses in the medal count, and, given several disappointments (in the pool and on the mats and apparati), I begin to wonder if that's going to be the final result here.

F-RC: Day Two, Part II: Cauldron Fail!!!

Funny, I never completed this one, so back to the Day II one in Day III:

---

Usually, one of the most stirring shots of the entire Games, over the course of the actual 16 days is the cauldron, over the stadium, burning brightly.

Well, they got the burning part right (unlike Vancouver, when one of the four final lighters failed because their portion of the hydraulics needed to light the cauldron completely failed in front of a billion people!)...

The problem is that the cauldron (more, the 204 rods which make up the "cauldron") is not tall enough for the flame to be seen outside the stadium!

---

NBC is being roundly criticized for their Olympic coverage.  (Let me add that the live feeds are effectively pay-for-view:  You need a cable name/password from your cable company, and that one has to carry CNBC and MSNBC to get the live feeds -- unlike 2008.)

But now word from Yahoo! is that NBC is faking some of the Olympic sound coming from the events!

This, on top of not showing the Opening Ceremony live, disrespecting a number of the countries involved therein, and the regular nationalistic cheerleading.

---

Controversy in the pool too.

No, not Michael Phelps, though USA Swimming is underperforming quite a bit with him at the helm.

A Chinese swimmer, a female teenager by the name of Ye Shiwen, won the 400m individual medley, the same event Ryan Lochte won.

No problem there, until you take a look at the races...

You find out that Shiwen outsplit Lochte in the final 50 meters (the back half of the freestyle leg).  The women's winner outsplit the men's winner in the final 50 meters of the event.

As one can expect, drugs are suspected.

Five-Ringed Circus, Day Two: A Madonna Job for India in the Opening Ceremonies, China adds to haul, and Hope needs to quiet down

At the rate China is going, they might well get close to the same kinds of numbers they got in Beijing!

A day and a half into the Games, they already have six gold medals (add shooting and synchronized diving to yesterday's four) to top the table (the official table by the IOC is by gold medals, not total!), and more to come.  They only have three other medals, much like their performance in Beijing when more than half their 100 medals were the top prize.

The US has a shooting gold to add to yesterday's.

--

India is a bit consternated today, as an unidentified woman (one source says it's an Indian grad student studying in London) in a red outfit marched with the Indian contingent at the Opening Ceremonies Friday night -- clearly unauthorized.

Apparently, the excuse being given is that she was a performer in the event who decided to go into business for herself.  But for a Games that is already suffering from several pre-event security gaffes, all it's going to take is one real big one, and look out!

--

And the US women's soccer team has a controversy on their hands.

No, it's not Abby Wambach's face (she's got a nasty shiner from yesterday's incident!).

Hope Solo, the erstwhile goalkeeper, and Brandi Chastain (yes, that Brandi Chastain -- now an NBC commentator) are at it over comments Chastain made during the 3-0 win over Colombia yesterday.

She didn't hesitate to take to Twitter over it, as ESPN reported:

Chastain had a few words for one of her successors on the USA team.  Chastain, a defender, had this to say on NBC about the responsibility of the position, and how current USA Olympian Rachel Buehler was not performing up to the task:

"At one point, Chastain pointed out that a defender's responsibilities are: "Defend. Win the ball. And then keep possession. And that's something that Rachel Buehler actually needs to, I think, improve on in this tournament.""

Well, Hope Solo couldn't keep her mouth shut, and had this say in response:

"Its 2 bad we cant have commentators who better represents the team&knows more about the game."

Can I get an official Olympic What the Fuck on that one?

You mean to tell me, Hope, that Brandi Chastain does not know enough about the game of women's soccer?

Brandi Chastain MADE YOU, Hope.  Without her, you're playing in front of about 1,200 people, max!

Don't tell her that she doesn't know what she's talking about.

"Solo also told Chastain to "lay off commentating about defending" and goalkeeping "until you get more educated" and "the game has changed from a decade ago.""

Hope, I got three words for you after one more blast you fired at Chastain yesterday:

"I feel bad 4 our fans that have 2 push mute."

 JUST SHUT UP!!!

There's a reason some of us want to see the USA's ass kicked on the medal table!

F-RC: Day One, Part II: Ryan Lochte, SHUT UP AND TAKE THAT DAMN BLING OFF!

So, Mr. Lochte...

Mr. Newest American Olympic Hero who'$ about to ca$h in $seriou$ly...

You can't be bothered to abide by some simple rules of decorum for your medal ceremony that NBC is almost certainly showing about 4-5 times as the First Great American Gold Medalist Of The Games Of The Thirtieth Olympiad...

For those who haven't found out:

After his victory in the 400 meter freestyle race in London on Saturday, Ryan Lochte was almost refused his gold medal.

His crime?  Not something in the pool.  Not drugs...

Ryan Lochte had created, for this occasion, a custom tooth grill in the colors of the American flag.

It was ordered removed by an IOC official, or Lochte would not receive his gold medal.  It is unknown whether this would've resulted in, additionally, disqualification from the event or even expulsion from the Games (the latter sounds like it would've been a possibility).

More ugly American inconsideration and disrespect.  It appears that, once again, the Amero-centrics at NBC littered the Opening Ceremony coverage with similar disrespect, of almost everyone else but U.S., in about the style of Sam the American Eagle from the Muppets.

Ryan Lochte, I don't give a damn if you just won a gold medal for the United States:  RESPECT THE DAMN OLYMPICS AND DON'T MAKE A SPECTACLE OUT OF YOURSELF.

Who in the Hell do you think you are?

The Five-Ringed Circus: Day One Refs miss at least a punch, someone blows the start, and Bode Miller II?

Keeping up on the Olympic farce:

• China had a good day to top the medal table with 4 golds, outshining the Americans in the swimming, on top of it.  Their six medals also top the medal count.
• Abby Wambach got a shot to the face in the USA womens' match, and the referee did nothing about it!  In fact, the pro-nationalistic US reporter basically even goes so far as that the Colombian player looked for the referee, saw she wasn't being watched, and popped Wambach with a deliberate shot at about :13 of the clip accompanying this blog post on the subject.  The Colombian player, Lady Andrade (I'm not making this up -- her first name is Lady!!), is probably done for the tournament as a result, because two camera angles caught what four officials could not!  (The punch is not in dispute, the looking for the official can be in some issue.)
• Speaking of an official blowing the call, one for the pool today.  South Korea's Park Tae-Hwan was disqualified for a false start in the 400 freestyle, but was only notified after the race had been run.  (Usually, false starts are called immediately, and the field recalled.)  A protest was lodged, the start re-examined, and Park was reinstated.  Park won a silver medal for South Korea, finishing about two seconds off a new Olympic record for China's Yang Sun.  (Nice job, refs.)
• In the disturbing "Fix Is In" department, we have a report that an athlete has bet on his own event!  Betting on the Games is legal in the home nation, and, apparently, an Irish athlete (to this report from The Guardian, unnamed) placed two bets on an already-completed event for someone else to win!  He bet correctly, according to the article, winning almost 4,000 Euros.  The Irish Olympic authorities are investigating.

And now, for what probably is going to be the biggest story in US Olympic coverage for Week One:

Michael Phelps is probably headed down Fail-ville.  Not only did Ryan Lochte defeat him for the gold medal, but Phelps failed to medal in the event (the 400m Individual Medley) at all!  Of course, this was an unexpected fall for the US in the medal count (cancelled out by the upset silver in Archery -- and the mens' gymnastics went much better than expected), but there's a much more disturbing trend of news around Mr. Phelps in his final Games...

It all started with two Tweets I got before the Games started from JT The Brick of FOX Sports Radio:

Tweet One:  "Michael Phelps seems pretty pissed off at the #olympics. Is he super focused or just looking forward to finishing his swimming career?"  (5:12 PM PDT Thursday)

Tweet Two, during the tape-delay broadcast of the Opening Ceremony:   "I have never seen and athlete who acts more bored and wants to move on from his sport more than #MichaelPhelps. He deserves a break."  (9:21 PM PDT yesterday)

 To me, I think it's clear.  He does not have a normal swimmer's build.  Most swimmers almost appear "slick" -- it's one of the reasons we over-play the sexuality of women's swimmers to the point that an eight-time Olympic medalist from Australia had to be defended from media who called her fat in her fourth Olympic Games!

She's only won three golds for your country, Australian media!!

But, to my point, ever since that classic celebration photo of the relay in which I swear I could've counted at least 8 "cans" in his "pack" for his abdomen, I have believed he's on steroids.  After I read these two tweets, I immediately responded that I believe that, after the US Trials, he got notified that, if he stays on his regiment, he will test positive in London.

Not surprisingly, going back to JT the Brick:

This morning, after watching Phelps in his heat race:  "#MichaelPhelps 10 sec slower than his world record time in qualifying for 400 IM. Wow either he is finished or playing possum. #olympics"

(Now, 10 seconds is probably a bit much -- the "super-suits" removed from the sport three years ago had a large factor in that.)

I think he got told, at some point recently, that he will test positive if he's tested.  So I sense, at best, a Bode Miller situation here -- that he's going to go through the motions, not care, and everybody is going to jump on him like they did Miller.

Of course, Yahoo! came up with another angle earlier this week.  In an interview, Michael Phelps has admitted that he now plays the "Call of Duty" series 30 hours a week.  One psychiatrist says that it may well be a destructive addiction.

So, let me get this straight:  The most highly decorated Olympic athlete in history for the USA is now so addicted to "Call of Duty" that he basically does little more than eat, sleep, train, and play the game?  At best, this is a Bode Miller situation -- at worst, he knows what he's in for if he gets the National Anthem played again and is tanking it to avoid testing and losing his Beijing and Athens medals!

Definitely a story we'll be watching as the week goes on at the Five-Ringed Circus.

I'm Going To Lose Most of My Remaining Friends This Football Season, Part Two

Now, I'd like to turn to another Tweeter of some celebrity import.

I have been (largely, past tense, thanks to the economic disintegration led by the seizure of the ownership rights of most of the product by the Internet fan-base) an anime fan for a number of years.

What small part of fandom I have left of it is almost exclusively due to the English-language voice-talents.

One of them, I am now in a Twitter altercation with.  Travis Willingham (Roy Mustang in the Full Metal Alchemist arc, Mori in Ouran High School Host Club, among numerous other anime and video game roles).

He tweeted yesterday:

"Some NFL Training Camps start today! It's all happening...! #hybernationisover"

Well, predictably, I couldn't let that go without a reply:

"The cult of football has done so much damage to this country that I begin to wonder about the sanity of a post like that."

To which Willingham responded with:

"Cult? Sanity? What, did "sports" cheat on you in high school or something?"

Travis, love ya...

But the short answer is...  YES!

But that's not why I said what I said.  (You'll see some of that if you click on the link to this post once I finish it.)

That doesn't mean I won't elaborate on your snarky answer.

Basically, the athletes at my old high school were allowed basically free reign over everybody else.

I hug someone in a way people don't like?  Fourth-degree Sexual Assault, they damn near call the police to have me locked up in juvy.

A football player uses a hockey stick to damn near non-consensually masturbate a cheerleader in front of the entire floor-hockey phy-ed section?  Perfectly OK, he's on the football team!

Most of the athletes in my senior class (and the one after me) basically act like bullies and underage drink and God knows what else they did?  Small punishments, if any, and not near the code they were to act up to.

I call them on it when they are finally suspended and the media asks about it?  I go to the principal's office for embarrassing them!

So, yes, "sports" cheated on me in high school.

But I am going to offer you a look at some of what I have witnessed go on in the grand name of Our Holy Obsession With Football.

I'd love to enjoy football.  I really, really would!  I had a four-hour discussion in which I almost lost one of my closest friends over posts I've made to the blog this week over a lot of this obsession and what has been done under it's cover.

I'm sick of coddling these motherfuckers, Travis!

I'm sick of seeing that, because these people have a hellacious 40 or vertical leap or the like, that they can pretty much do what they want to whomever they please.

You think a couple of these football players wouldn't want a non-consensual piece of your wife, Travis?  (Another VA, very good looking and an absolute sweetheart...)

The way a lot of these "athletes" act, they feel they own the world.  And until someone calls them on it, chances are that they do.

I'm sick of:

• A referee getting attacked in Florida by two coaches and a teenage player because they didn't like his calls.  And don't get me started on the criminal records of the coaches, or the real possibility that bets were being placed on the games and the kids being paid by drug and gang influences!
• A riot in Georgia over a visiting football team (who was probably threatened before the game even began) kicking the butts of a local team, so the home team instructs the visitors be locked out of the locker room, ambushed, and the coach is beaten within an inch of his life.  Neither the state association nor a grand jury (the latter, of course, empaneled in the home team's county!) do ANYTHING to punish them.
• Numerous, almost weekly, fights in which parents basically start pounding on anything that moves at what appears to be minimal provocation, all in the name of football.
• The fact that domestic violence increases after an NFL loss.
• Bounty-Gate
• Penn State

Shall I go on?

And we all accept this because it's FOOTBALL.

Yeah, "cult" and questioning "sanity" would be a nice way to go about it.

(And, apparently, at least one of the coaches is going to get less jail time and probation for leading the referee attack than I got for people actually thinking I was going to 1,000 miles to attack a famous star on Broadway!  Dexter Austin, one of the coaches, is being sought for 120 days in jail and two years' probation after the incident.  The other two coaches received probation ONLY.  I got three years probation and a year in the slammer for people THINKING I was going to attack Deborah Gibson.)

But it's all right because it's in the name of FOOTBALL.  The coach could've gotten five years in the slammer for this.

I'm Going To Lose Most of My Remaining Friends This Football Season, Part One

(A 17 1/2 minute audio from Thursday's ESPN "Mike and Mike in the Morning" show on the subject can be heard on ESPN's site here.)

An open letter to Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic, after your discussion yesterday about Penn State and whether we should cheer for them:

As I said on my Twitter on Thursday to Greeny:

"You will be making a colossal mistake in rooting for #PennSt Program and university need to be fatally damaged for child rape"

The problem that I have with Greeny's initial statement in this situation is that most of the people in this discussion are so invested (some, as you two, quite literally -- many, more figuartively in what is increasingly a cult-like religion of football to give their lives some sort of identification) is that the name-calling and the like is going to happen.

We've invested so much, as a cult-ure (and I use that separation of the word intentionally!), in football that we have literally excused any and all conduct (collectively and individually) just so that The Show Must Go On.

I agree with that one guy who disgusted you and said (in so many of your words):

"Great priorities.  I'll be rooting for the victims instead."

So will I, Greeny!

What angers me is this is not a question of taking punishment for a minor act like jaywalking and blowing it out of proportion.  This is _CHILD RAPE_.  This is the most unthinkable of crimes, done in the color and cover of football.  Of our Holy Obsession With Football.

We're not even talking about the disappearance and probable murder of a District Attorney investigating the case, and the probable silencing of a second one through political chicanery, in which he was eventually made the Governor of the state of Pennsylvania!  We're not even talking about Mark Madden's claims

At what point is ESPN going to get off it's Worldwide Leader in Snorts and basically do the right thing before someone else comes in and does it for them?

In fact, I will answer the question you were about to reply:

"Why are those mutually exclusive?"

I'll answer that question -- and that answer goes far beyond the boundaries of the Freeh Report, Jerry Sandusky, and the like.

We have completely, on every level possible, coddled, enabled, "fixed", and allowed to run rampant athletes simply based on their 40 time/their vertical leap/their arm strength/their "blackness" of their play-calling at quarterback (Michael Vick is a prime example of this!  Ray Lewis, another.  Michael Jordan, a third.).

We have allowed rape, murder, extortion, violences of all kinds, gunplay, pedophilia, child rape, cover-ups, and all other sorts of criminality so that The Show Must Go On.

I'm sorry if it would eventually put you two out of a job, but, at some point, The Show Must End!  If we cannot expect human and humane behavior from our athletes and their programs, then Gordon Ramsay the lot of them:  "SHUT IT DOWN!"

To allow Penn State to play (in fact, IMODO, to allow Penn State to even continue to hold classes) is not only contrary to attempting to do what Mark Emmert himself said about eradicating the "Football Is King/Football Runs This School" mentality, it is insulting to the victims who basically were subjugated, not unlike the molested boys in the name of the Roman Catholic Church!

I believe that, because you are rooting for the team, you are disregarding the victims, because you are basically applauding The Show.  And I have a problem with that.

The current players (and, in fact, the current student body) made a business decision to attend Penn State.  They made the wrong choice, and should pay (to certain extents) for that choice.  In fact, much of the conduct of the latter indicates the "Football Is King" culture may well have to be ripped out of the University's cold, dead hands.

Until I see the denouncement and revocation of the program, there won't be a silencing of that culture.  In fact, wounding it to this degree may make it more dangerous.

At what point, given acts like this and Michael Vick and others, are we just going to stand up and demand they no longer play, so that someone who might be a little less talented, but infinitely more honorable, gets the chance?

How does that Dogkilling Son Of A Bitch get a SECOND $100,000,000 contract after frittering away the first one in an act which should've gotten him a ban for illegal gambling, on top of everything else?

You see, this isn't just Penn State.  What I'm planning to do, after The Five-Ringed Circus ends, is to post a list of 53 players an entire roster, who will play in the NFL but shouldn't be allowed to.  Many of them should be incarcerated further -- some permanently!

But again, since they are athletes, they are allowed free reign.  I saw it in high school (and I'll get to that in Part II at another celebrity Tweeter), and I've seen it here.

I mean, you correctly point to "Victim Four", one of the victims of Sandusky's reign of terror, who basically was dismayed the statue came down and at the punishments for Penn State.

To me, that's a person who has been screwed so badly in the head by the cult-ure of football, the "Football is King" mentality of Penn State, and a raving pedophile who was the defensive coordinator of the team, and granted boys access to their Holy Grail of a program in exchange for being forcibly child-raped, that he probably has Stockholm Syndrome:

"Stockholm syndrome is a psychological phenomenon in which hostages express empathy and have positive feelings towards their captors, sometimes to the point of defending them. These feelings are generally considered irrational in light of the danger or risk endured by the victims, who essentially mistake a lack of abuse from their captors for an act of kindness."

And that's EXACTLY why these crimes need the ultimate penalties.  These are not normal crimes, exaggerated.  This "Victim Four" has probably lost much sense of rationality, if not a connection with reality!

The fact of the matter is, Jerry Sandusky only committed the actual act of pedophilia and child rape.

But he was no less raped by the Penn State football program he loved so much (and, frankly, the entire surrounding community through the cover-up) than by Sandusky, even if he chooses not to blame them for the act!

This person is broken, perhaps irretrievably so!  And it wasn't just Sandusky that did THAT.  The worst thing about it is that he doesn't even know how out-of-touch he is!

This is why you can't separate the acts from the program, especially given the Freeh Report's findings!

This is the same thing I see in so many fans which angers me:  It doesn't matter what happens to my real life.  It doesn't matter what happens to YOUR real life.  Go {Insert Team Here (real or fantasy)}!

This is why my objection to the statements you made in this audio on Thursday goes far beyond Penn State.  This is what you and your company have largely turned American sports into:  A three-hundred-and-sixty-six day obsession, in which everything revolves around The (Next) Big Game.

How about forcing some of these animals (of all races, before we think we're going there) to act like human beings before they get paid like super-men?

And don't get me started on that one running back you played the sound bite of:  That's rallying the cult to CONTINUE the very culture which Mark Emmert wishes seen destroyed so Penn State can rejoin being an "exemplary NCAA member".

Mike Golic:  I do not believe that the current coach and current players are entirely innocent here.  I will not disagree with you on that they did not take part in the pedophilia and child rape.

But they continue to endorse, by their continued attendance/employment, a university and community which engaged in a (to what we know now) FIFTEEN-YEAR COVERUP of these acts.  These were not just acts of a "lack of institutional control".  These were cultural acts by a cult of football (and I'll get to that terminology on my second part of this, Travis...) that we were all supposed to believe was one of the "good programs".

Mike Greenberg:  I don't believe you have evil intentions because we disagree.

I do believe you have improper intentions as part of your employment with ESPN and the insistence that The Show Must Go On -- because that last statement, and (unless the FAQ was done by one screwed-up intern) that's the NCAA's direct answer as well!

Your intentions, I believe, are a function that the fall (and eventual rise) of Penn State Football is The Story that is going to carry on for years from this date.  And the continued exploitation of that story by ESPN is similarly insulting to the victims who have been broken by this man and the program and community which covered him up!

I have called for ESPN to remove ALL Penn State programming from the network.  (Yeah, that won't get anywhere, but I have called for it!)

And I disagree with the PSU "fan" (I have another word for him right now, but I'll refrain from that for this discussion.) who said this created more victims.  The players could've left and dissociated themselves from that community.  By not doing so, they (as this fan has done) endorse that community.  All the Death Penalty would've done is required they leave.  They still have the option to do so.

I agree with Greeny on his next point, though:  The intention was to kill the program.  We now know the "core Presidents" had set a four-year Death Penalty, which would've probably demoted the program to FCS afterward.  THAT might've done what Mark Emmert wanted.

THIS basically only buys time for the Big Ten to perhaps recruit a Notre Dame or a Conference USA member to replace Penn State for football when the program becomes so crippled that it cannot continue without violating the terms of the sanctions.

As for the question on the academic side of it (one writer asked if Sandusky were the Dean of Business, etc., whether we'd want the academic side shut down), the answer, in MY opinion is YES.  And, on top of it, since the entire community (up to and possibly including the President of the school and the Governor of Pennsylvania) may have covered this up, I have trouble wanting the academics to continue anyway!  (See above.)

So, forgive me if I don't share your feelings on this matter.  I am thoroughly disgusted with the present state of football in general, and believe this to have been it's darkest off-season.

And in the other team that should be disqualified from football for a major off-season scandal this year, their next day in court!

Back to BountyGate for a bit, as Johnathan Vilma and seven witnesses went before a judge in a seven-hour hearing to get the Federal judge to issue an injunction to prevent Roger Goodell from suspending the Saints' players (current and former) and coaches for BountyGate.

Let's be honest and up-front here.  If Vilma, et. al., win in the courts:

• Goodell is gone.  If the owners don't do it, the courts will.
• The Player Safety Initiative and basically all other associated disciplinary powers go with it.
• There probably would have to be an immediate re-do (ordered by the court) of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
• And then there's the concussion lawsuits...

"Everything I've worked for has been basically thrown down the toilette," Vilma said, according to ESPN.

If I were Commissioner, I'd send your Super Bowl ring down with it.  You basically are going to have to try to convince a judge that an outside party basically needs to intervene in and take over the central affairs of the NFL.

I would strip the Saints of that Super Bowl and their ability to play this season.  Going forward, that team probably gets moved to Los Angeles under new ownership, with a golden parachute to Tom Benson for his cooperation.

(If no NFC team has enough stadium issues, I see the latter happening anyway.)

Vilma, until you can prove this is all a lie, you're on the 53 Players Who Have No Place in the NFL for Bounty-Gate.  That's how little taste I have for your creative interpretation of terms and all that when the video does not lie (and I'm looking at you, Kevin Hassett and Stan Veuger of the Los Angeles Times -- who attempted, in an Op-Ed on July 15, 2012 and a response on July 21 (both of which I am now certain are behind a pay-wall) that there were no observable injuries caused by the bounty program).

OH REALLY?

Kurt Warner's career ended on this hit -- helmet comes in after the shoulder..

Brett Favre was never the same after the Saints spent the entire NFC Championship Game trying to cripple the man.

No observable injuries, eh?

PLEASE TRY AGAIN!

The Five-Ringed Circus, Day Minus-One: Romney ain't happy, Whitlock is scared, and another Greek goes home

Ahh, Mitt Romney...

The man who, if elected President, probably will shut down football and kill many people like myself within about one term.

(You think, with the rumors that the Mormons would be running things, that they'd allow the NFL to play on Sundays in that kind of a situation?  Get real.)

Anyhow, Romney is in London, sucking up for more money.

Here's his comment about the preparations for the Olympics (which can be sourced from any number of news sites):

"You know, it's hard to know just how well it will turn out", Romney said. "There are a few things that were disconcerting, the stories about the private security firm not having enough people, the supposed strike of the immigration and customs officials — that obviously is not something which is encouraging." 

Romney ran the (rigged, corrupt, bought) 2002 Games in Salt Lake City (which I attended until I was basically almost verbally thrown out for not being rich, pretty, or corporate enough for the SLC sponsors).

There's only one problem with all this...

He's RIGHT.

And I've felt this way ever since the Games of Beijing.  It was reiterated after the riots in London last summer.

Something is going to happen here.  Someone is going to die attending or participating, and it's going to be a pre-planned event.

In short, I do predict terrorism.

Why?  The UK has been a powderkeg ever since it's creation.  And, also, I believe this to be the Games of the last gasp of the old world, just as I believed the Beijing Games to be the Games of the New Asian Century.

I truly think this is going to be a debacle, and I'm not alone in that context.

Jason Whitlock is covering the Games for FOX Sports.  His column here indicates he's not entirely pleased with the assignment, nor does he feel safe at all.

London's Orwellian Games may well make the city look, as he says, "occupied" to make the Games safe.

Good luck.

===

And we have our first outright drug expulsion of the Games.  And, wouldn't you know it, it's another Greek track and field athlete!

Dimitrios Chondrokoukis tested positive for stanozolol, the same steroid Ben Johnson got nailed for 1988, and has been withdrawn from the Games.

He was the indoor world high jump champion this year, and was expected to medal in London.

Keep it up, Greece, and we'll start demanding your entire team withdraws.  That's two in two days!!

Also, two other athletes are also going home for drug violations, according to the BBC:

• Hungarian discus-thrower Zoltan Kovago has had his two-year ban upheld for failing to provide a required drug-test.  This is especially ironic, since, eight years ago, his bronze medal in the discus was upgraded to silver because a Hungarian teammate, Robert Fazekas, was disqualified for failing HIS drug test!  Kovago, had he competed, was a medal contender.
• Morocco's Mariem Alaoui Selsouli, a runner in the 1500-meter race, has also been tossed for failing a drug test.

===

Now, I guess I should throw some predictions on the table:

• Lighter of the Cauldron:  To prove that these are HER Games and that SHE is still in charge, I think it'll be the 86 year-old Queen Elizabeth II -- IF she can safely pull it off.  If not, look for it to be Kate and William.  Many of the athlete names out there will probably carry the torch to the Royals in the stadium on Friday.
• Gold Medal Count Winner:  China.  US will be right there at the end, but, as usual, will drop the baton in at least one track relay in which they are favored to win.
• Total Medal Count Winner:  Gonna be a close one, but I think the USA will pull this out for another "split title", just like in Beijing.  Probably going to be a total-count similar to the 110-100 with China four years ago.
• That is, unless my next prediction comes true...  Biggest Scandal of the Games:  Barring an outright terrorist attack cancelling or postponing the Games (which I give about a coin-flip in volatile London), one of two things will come to light, in my opinion:  Either Michael Phelps will be found to be "dirty" or Usain Bolt will be found to be beyond human limits, and (in the latter case) we will finally have to visit the ethical realms of genetic engineering.  (FWIW, I think the "no tolerance" false-start policy was to try to neutralize Bolt.)
• Biggest Political Statement:  Might be opening night, Bob Costas.  And there's talk he might endanger his high-profile career in his challenge to the IOC and the planned moment of silence when the Israeli athletes enter the stadium.
• Over-under on number of medal-podium tantrums?  I'll say three. I do believe that "judging" will be a real problem in these Games.
• Over-under on the number of events delayed due to debacle?  We've already had one, so I'll put that at four.
• Over-under on the winning time for the 100m men?  If Bolt doesn't DQ on the blocks, 9.50.  If he does, 9.80 -- he's that much faster than everybody else.
• Medal for "Dream Team XX"?  Silver.  It's Gold if, like in Beijing, no team actually faces them as a team and plays defense.  I think Spain stuns the world here.

The Hammer Falls, Part V: Damn the bylaws, the NCAA was going to throw Penn State out for FOUR years!

Yahoo! Sports has just tweeted less than ten minutes ago (as of posting) that the President of Penn State University, Rodney Erickson, has declared that, contrary to NCAA by-laws, Penn State University, had it not unconditionally and without appeal accepted the Freeh Report and the sanctions brought down Monday that the Penn State football program would've been terminated for FOUR seasons.

ESPN has confirmed that Mark Emmert, President of the NCAA, had contacted a "core group of NCAA school Presidents" and that a four-year Death Penalty had been agreed to.

One PSU trustee has said the eventual cost of the agreed-upon sanction could be half a billion dollars.

At least one PSU trustee has declared the possibility of challenging the plea bargain.

Nice job, London! Way to start the Five-Ringed Circus!!!

The London Olympic Games started today -- not that many people probably knew.

Because of the length of time the soccer tournaments take, they start soccer play before the Opening Ceremonies.

Today not only featured the first matches of said (womens') play, but also the first hyper-gaffe of the Games by the London organizers.

When they put up pictures of the North Korean women's soccer team, they put them up with the SOUTH Korean flag!!

The level of gaffe is utterly stunning!

Needless to say, the North Koreans refused to take the field for an hour after seeing the gaffe.

(As well, frankly, they should!  The two countries are all but at war and have been since US involvement in the 1950's!!)

When they finally played the match, they defeated Colombia, 2-0.  They share the group with the United States and France (US won 4-2), so North Korea is now forecast to finish third in the group.

------

In additional Olympic gaffes:

Greece's triple jump champion, Voula Papachristou, will be watching the games from home for this little ditty she put on her Twitter account about African athletes:

"with so many Africans in Greece, at least the West Nile mosquitos will be eating food from their own home."

I disagree with Yahoo! blogger Chris Chase.  Yes, the Olympic ideal is, at best, suspect (my experiences in Salt Lake City would give you that in spades!), but that would be sufficient, in my mind, to toss Papachristou from the Games.  (The Greek national federation did this.)

Some more thoughts on Penn State and subsidiary issues...

The Big Ten should suspend it's divisional setup for one year.  In fact, if it doesn't, the NCAA should step in and deny the school the right to have the Legends Division winner play Wisconsin in Indianapolis in December for the right to play in the Rose Bowl.

Why am I so sure on this?  There are only FOUR eligible teams in the Leaders Division now.  Ohio State serves it's one-year penalty this year (I thought it was last year.)  Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, and Purdue are the four schools.  I can't see any of the other three touching the Badgers.

So I agree with "Dan from the Moon" on the Big Ten mailblog on ESPN yesterday:

"Why doesn't the B1G do away with divisions this year? Just keep the schedules the way they are and the top 2 teams go to Indy for the championship game. It's not really fair that one conference is only a 4 (reality 3) team race to go to the Championship game. Why should everybody in the other division have to fight 2 more teams?And while they are at it they can do away with the division names. It's embarrassing to have 2 teams in the Leaders division ineligible due to LEADERSHIP violations."

The Big Ten certainly has some decisions to make.  In about 3-5 years, I think the Big Ten may have to find a new 12th member (see next post below for why!).

The Big Ten should already be only 11 schools anyway, as Penn State should've been expelled from the conference upon the sanctions -- why else was Penn State brought into the Big Ten in the first place?

You could easily have an 8-4, 7-5 team that is 5-3, at best, in the Big Ten, from that division.  Everybody on the schedule still has to play the two ineligible sides, but, since the NCAA requires a certain number of conference teams for a title game, should it not also require a certain number of eligible teams in a division?

---

Go down the mailblog, and it becomes clear that the plea-bargain came with a very strong stick.

Someone is lying.  They interviewed Oregon State's Ed Ray, who was part of the process, and he said that there was never a discussion to suspend play.

So why does Penn State agree to anything, with absolutely no position from which to bargain?

Mark Emmert, the President of the NCAA, told Yahoo! Sports that the Death Penalty was openly threatened for multiple seasons.

So who's telling the truth, and why is it being said out of both sides of your mouth?

---

If the Penn State situation and Bountygate are not two prime cases for the creation of Howard Cosell's National Sports Commission that he proposed in his book decades ago, I know not what is.

We need a body that can shut down games, shut down teams, shut down sanctioning bodies who refuse to conform to even the smallest segment of human decency.

---

Kinda off the track a bit, but one might wonder if Bob Costas might be up to the task.

He's going to take on the International Olympic Committee in a little more than 48 hours.

In the Opening Ceremony in London, the IOC denied requests for a moment of silence when Israel's athletes enter the stadium, in rememberance of the Munich massacre in 1972.

Costas is going to do something in defiance of that directive.  Exactly what, we'll find out on Friday...

The Hammer Falls, Part IV: Could THIS be the method to Emmert's/the NCAA's madness?

I had been racking my brains for 36 hours as to how in the Hell the NCAA could so openly get away with "The Show Must Go On" and actually pass this off as WORSE than the Death Penalty.

Then, a poster to rec.sport.football.college, "That Don Guy" basically disputed my position that the only sports which might survive are revenue sports and enough women's sports to keep Title IX happy when he quoted the NCAA Bylaws and Division I Manual.

(At least I'm glad that, though the NCAA charges $16.50 for the manual, it does provide a free .PDF download here.)

Bylaw 20.9.7.1, page 341 of the 2011-12 Manual (probably still in effect for another week or two):

To be in FBS:

• You must be in 16 sports.
• At least eight womens' sports are required to be in the 16, but no fewer than six mens' sports..
• They must maintain 15,000 per game attendance over two years, on a rolling basis. (20.9.7.3)
• Failure to qualify means a 10-year period where a second failure means they lose all postseason rights and can be removed from FBS by the NCAA. (20.9.7.5)

To be in FCS:

• 14 sports, instead of 16, and either seven of each gender or six mens' and eight womens'.

In addition, the school must provide enough money to give half the scholarships which are maximally allowed in all sports, totally about $1.3 million.

So where am I going with this?

I'm going to make a rather large leap that is about the only sensical approach I can take to the announcement on Monday:

The financial and reputational penalties are meant to be so severe that Penn State is to become the first-ever college to be expelled fully from Division I athletics for misconduct.

It's really about the only common sense I can make out of it.

If you read the next post below, you will find a link to an ABC News report which indicated that, year before last (2010-11), Penn State raised $118,000,000 and turned a $32,000,000 profit for it's athletic programs for that year.

Half of that profit is already gone.  $12M a year to the NCAA for five years, about $4-5M down the drain from the Big Ten for revoking it's bowl money to give to charities from Penn State for bowl ban.

State Farm just pulled it's sponsorship of Penn State football yesterday.

GM is considering doing the same.

Pepsi, PNC Bank, and insurer Highmark are retaining their sponsorships for now.

(Time to boycott.)

I'm not saying this is going to happen this year, or even next.

But let's go down the road 2-3 years, when Barry Switzer claims that all Penn State will be able to find are Division II and Division III players for years 2-5...

They had 97,828 people for their victory over Illinois.

What if this does basically kill the program as a Big Ten program?

Remember, that nearly 100K per game was required to get $60,000,000 a year for football, more than half what the athletic program brought in for 2010-11.

If that number is halved, that's another $30,000,000 out the door.  Now, the athletic program is LOSING $20,000,000 or more a year.

Penn State, as of today, offers 29 sports.  15 mens' and 14 womens'.

Do you really believe that, once a $50,000,000 swing in the athletic budget hits the table, that even half those sports are going to survive, especially the likes of:

• Fencing
• Golf
• Lacrosse
• Tennis
• Gymnastics
• Cross Country
• Ice and Field Hockey

And I could go on a few more...

But I assert that Mark Emmert is actually going to try and bankrupt the Penn State athletic program out of Division I.

Now, listen to his press conference again, and take his words with that idea in mind!

He's basically going to give them three choices:

• Lose FBS/FCS status and drop football
• Face the wrath of the NCAA, perhaps a full-institution Death Penalty, if they try to take money from the other sports to pay the fine (which is, of course, backwards -- the football program is keeping every sport I listed above (and others!) afloat!)
• or lose Division I status.

THAT would be a 25-year crippling blow to the football program.

Even most experts believe that the football program, if it didn't get bankrupted out of D1, could return to at least minor Big Ten bowls within a decade.

If that happens, the NCAA, by it's own admission, has failed.

For the first time, I think the NCAA's rationale for this plea bargain (and let's all remember this was a plea bargain to ensure The Show Must Go On, if for no other reason than to allow the Big Ten to find a new 12th member down the road!) might be evident.

The Hammer Falls, Part III: The ULTIMATE "The Show Must Go On": NCAA Declares Penn State Football Too Big To Fail

It's taken me nearly twelve hours to pick myself up off the floor from laughing at the NCAA and their limp-wristed approach at actually trying to make meaningful punishment from the Freeh Report.

The Hammer came down today:

• Four-year bowl ban (including a clarification from the Big Ten that it includes their title game)
• a 20-scholarship reduction (10 entering, 10 continuing) for each of the four years -- that's approximately a 25% reduction in scholarships (a school usually gets about 82)
• What these two penalties alone mean is that any Penn State football player now has open right to leave Penn State and enroll somewhere else without penalty.  HOWEVER:  They may have to get Federal financial aid to do so at out-of-state rates.
• A $60,000,000 fine (the NCAA later reports that as a year's gross football revenue at Penn State) for the program, over five years, which cannot be taken from revenues from any other sport.
• All Penn State wins, including a 2006 Rose Bowl win (the second BCS win from that year now vacated -- USC's national title win was the first) and a 2008 Orange Bowl appearance, gone, all the way back to the beginning of the Freeh Report-known coverup in 1998.  This means Joe Paterno no longer has ANY wins records for college football -- Bobby Bowden has the FBS record, Eddie Robinson the full college football record.
• An additional $13,000,000 "fine" has been assessed by the Big Ten, stripping Penn State of the bowl revenues for the next four years, all to be given to relevant charities.
• Five years probation, which can lead to the Death Penalty

So why am I laughing at all this?

I want you to read some of the FAQ I linked to at "The Hammer came down today", and try to wrap your brain around the NCAA's reasons here, and hope that you don't come to the same conclusions I do and have for about 9 months now!

First, let's address the main question, from a direct quote from the NCAA FAQ:

Why not the death penalty?
 
Imposing the death penalty does not address the cultural, systemic and leadership failures at Penn State. Instead, our approach demands that they become an exemplary NCAA member by eradicating the mindset that led to this tragedy.

If imposed, the death penalty would impact far more student-athletes than those at the Penn State program. Indeed, hundreds of student-athletes who are not even Penn State students would be negatively impacted.

How many ways do I dissect this as a cover for "if we impose the Death Penalty, the OTHER SCHOOLS lose too much money?"

If you truly want to "address the cultural, systemic, and leadership failures at Penn State", you will not be able to do so and retain Penn State's membership in the NCAA.  The failures, obviously, go THAT DEEP into the system.  I reference two questions that I will later re-address as the only conditions that I would impose on ever seeing another sporting event at Penn State;  The disappearance of the District Attorney investigating Sandusky a decade ago, and the claims that a number of high-level donors at PSU were being given boys to rape by Sandusky in exchange for their contributions.

At every turn, before today, a major move to punish the program has been met with violence and cult-like resistance.  The more I read on this University, the more it scares me the religious reverence given this man and this program.  To simply WOUND this cult, rather than ERADICATE it, well could make things WORSE.  They become more dangerous -- you could easily see some irate Penn State supporter go to a visiting content and make the situation in Colorado look tame, and I wouldn't put it past some Nittany Lion supporter doing so!

To make them an "exemplary NCAA member", you pretty well will have to run off every donor, every major supporter, every local sponsor, and much of the political structure in Happy Valley, Pennsylvania -- not JUST those within Penn State University itself.  (And I use the disappearance of the District Attorney as a good example of this.)

In fact, the second NCAA statement, in so many words, IS "The Show Must Go On"!  That, at ALL cost to reasonable conduct and human decency, even child rape and pedophilia must not stand in the way of ensuring the gate receipts and program revenues keep sports alive at NCAA institutions.

At what point are we going to get a fucking brain and realize that the entire interscholastic athletic system is probably hopelessly dirty and must be cleaned out, consequences be damned?

You don't give the Death Penalty just to the one institution, you give it all of them, in the manner that anybody committing this behavior is DONE.  And if killing off Penn State means that there is no more women's golf at Nebraska, frankly...  TOO DAMN BAD.  The NCAA has allowed corrupt collegiate athletics in the few revenue sports to go on for far too damned long to keep other programs afloat.

If the NCAA can't dip into their massive merchandising revenues to offset the damage to the other schools in the Big Ten, etc., to cover for this, then there really is nothing to say, because the pedophilia and the like would not only support, as a matter of necessity, the sports at Penn State, but at the other institutions as well.

This isn't a matter of the other student athletes, but a matter of the entire corrupt lattice of the NCAA, the reliance on ESPN and other media outlets and their television contracts, and the very few revenue sports which allow the rest to exist.

Therefore, I don't buy into any of this!  This is "The Show Must Go On".  Death Penalty Penn State, and dip into the coffers that you take in from the 100 or so schools, and cover for some of it.

And then they exceed the stupidity by adding this to the FAQ:

Isn’t this basically the death penalty?
 
The NCAA sanctions on Penn State, taken in sum, far exceed the severity of shutting down a program for a year or two. Our sanctions address the cultural change necessary at Penn State. What some refer to as the death penalty was not severe enough.

The NCAA has actually determined that they wanted to give a penalty worse than the Death Penalty!!

SO WHY IN THE FUCKING HELL ARE THEY ALLOWED TO PUT OUT A FOOTBALL TEAM?

I'm not talking 1-2 years here.  We're talking 5-10-permanent!!!

In fact, if we want to take you seriously, Mark Emmert (the NCAA's current President, for whom you can see a 7 1/2 minute video of the announcement here), and you want us to believe this is worse than pulling the program (which has effectively killed the relevance of the one football program you did it to for just two years, SMU, for 25 years -- it was 22 years from SMU's Death Penalty to even their first MINOR bowl since), you have, in my mind, one option:

Disqualification and expulsion from the NCAA.

You are effectively, and with the consent and non-appeal from Penn State, attempting to kill their program well into the 2040's.  The goal of these sanctions, as stated by this FAQ, is to cripple this program for more than the quarter-century that SMU has been crippled.

Again:

SO WHY IN THE FUCKING HELL ARE THEY ALLOWED TO PUT OUT A FOOTBALL TEAM?

"The Show Must Go On", for the benefit of the OTHER schools.

Right?

Penn State was one of the about 12-15 schools who makes money on their athletic programs.

According to ABC News, using 2010-2011 numbers, the football program ($60M) brings in over half the revenue of the athletic department ($118M).  And, using those same numbers, the Penn State athletic program had a $32,000,000 profit in 2010-2011.

This is before Sandusky's coverup became public.

What I believe is about to happen is that you will end up with about 4-6 sports left:  The two revenue sports (football and mens' basketball), and enough women's sports (basketball and volleyball first) to satisfy Title IX.

Between lawsuits and these fines, plus the loss of gate revenues once this team effectively reaches FCS or even Division II-level play (remember, the intention of the NCAA, with these penalties, is to make the next bowl appearance of any kind for Penn State be somewhere past the year 2034), revenues are about to nosedive, and expenses (legal) are about to skyrocket.

It won't even be a matter of them robbing Peter to pay Paul.  Paul is keeping Peter afloat, and that's about to end.

Laughably lenient.  And an insult to humanity.

The Show Must Go On, yet again.

If you really want me to believe The Show Must Go On that badly, I have two demands:

1. The  parties involved in the disappearance of the District Attorney who was investigating this a number of years back be brought to account:  Involved and co-conspirators -- probably to the point of murder charges.
2. I want answers on Mark Madden's claims that Sandusky may have been pimping these boys out to Penn State donors, making the PSU football program a front for an entire pedophile ring.  (And yes, I just asked Madden on his Twitter how that investigation is going...)

The Hammer Falls, Part Two: CNN Source: Penn State Fines to Exceed $30,000,000

Keeping an eye on things:

Several Twitter sources are now reporting that CNN has learned that Penn State will be fined over THIRTY MILLION DOLLARS as part of the penalties for the Sandusky coverup.

Certainly an unprecedented number.  Would basically wipe out almost an entire year's football revenue...

But still unacceptable.  You're still letting them field a team.

The Show Must Go On.

And if it goes on here, then when can't it?

If it goes on in New Orleans, when can't it??

Is Our Holy Cult Obsession With Football so pervasive that we just have to let it go with this kind of a fucking slap on the wrist?

$30,000,000 should be the least each one of the victims gets.

The Hammer Falls, Part One: The Statue Comes Down, but the NCAA Probably Won't

I think we are going to get the cardinal example of the permeation of the cult of football -- Our Holy Obsession With Football -- tomorrow morning at 9 AM EDT in Indianapolis, IN.

One day after Penn State, under threat of violence (and let's be clear, minus that threat of violence, the statue does not come down!), took down Joe Paterno's statue, the NCAA and President Mark Emmert will, in an unprecedented action, levy penalties against the Penn State program.

Unfortunately, and in a move which I believe will prompt discussions of a breakaway from the organization (the end of the "consent of the governed", if you will...), it appears that reports indicate that Penn State will, in fact, escape the Death Penalty.

One Tweeter has actually proposed that Penn State will accept all penalties, and this ended up a plea deal on the part of the two sides.


"Penn State will NOT appeal the NCAA's decision, I've been told. Speed of decision and lack of contention points to a deal betw NCAA and PSU."

I have but two comments for that:

1) If this is true, FUCK THE NCAA.

2) If this is true, then Penn State Football is officially Too Big To Fail and the NCAA needs to announce the immediate removal of the Death Penalty by-laws from it's rules.  If the NCAA cannot, in the light of the Sandusky convictions and the Freeh Report, kill this football program (if not expel the entire university from the sanctioning body!), then it has no right to impose that penalty on any other program, at any level, for any offense.

Period.

This is the most heinous crime a sports franchise has ever committed in the history of the United States of America.  This dwarfs Bounty-Gate.

To allow this University, especially with the conduct of the community over several incidents regarding the exposition of what Joe Paterno and Jerry Sandusky were allowed to do there, to continue to field a football team is the most irresponsible and stupid decision they could make, and I hope that certain parties (other student bodies, etc.) take actions to make this a very uncomfortable situation).

Yes, even vigilante justice if we have to go there.

 Let's face it: Without out-of-state threats against the statue, Penn State does not act to remove it.  The Cult of Joe and Jerry literally took a page right out of the Catholic Church.

And it looks like the NCAA will allow The Show To Go On.

It may be up to the sponsors, the other schools, and outside entities to stop this baloney.

At What Point Does This Penn State Madness End?

I've been doing a lot of thinking in the last several days, since the release of the Freeh Report.

I've read a lot of people stating that Penn State football should be killed, and some who have not.

The more I read about this, the more I really do wish violence on The Holy Order of Football (and I'm not talking PSU entirely -- this reverence of football and worship of it's heroes has got to stop, in the name of all that is sane!).

But at what point does this all end?

1. We still have perjury trials for several top Penn State officials to take place, probably during the football season.
2. This probably means that the NCAA is probably going to "be forced to" let Penn State have a football team for next season, at the very least.  This is an unthinkable scenario, for any number of reasons.
3. Let's look at their relevant schedule.  This team was half-decent last year.  Their first three games, as of now, are on ESPN or ABC's coverage.  They have to go to Virginia, Iowa, and Nebraska.  Iowa's a tough place to get a win, but if the team goes full "fuck you all", with Wisconsin and Ohio State coming to Penn State, you could have a real situation where a division title is not out of the question.
4. And now let's look at the other side of it:  Post-Freeh Report, basically every poll I've seen on the subject indicates that, by at least a 3-2 margin, the public appears to want Penn State football dead.
5. If the NCAA isn't going to get in front of this, you could see a sentiment not unlike a banner which went over the PSU area today:  "Take the statue down, or we will!"
6. This could go far beyond attacks on the infrastructure or on the players -- if the NCAA does not Death Penalty Penn State, it risks having to explain to schools like USC and Ohio State why Penn State Football is, as Infante put it, Too Big To Fail.  This probably means a lawsuit against the NCAA by USC and/or Ohio State, with other major programs probably joining in.
7. This, combined with public pressure, could -- and very quickly! -- result in the NCAA's role in administering college sports being put into question, and I believe...
8. It would probably be terminated by a breakaway group of major programs, some wanting no rules and some wanting a lot, under the guise of a similar construct to the present BCS.
9. And then there's still the Mark Madden Theory:  That Penn State was pimping these boys out for football program and campus contributions.  
10. Or how about the District Attorney who was investigating this who "disappeared"?  He either got so much "Fuck You Money" that he's living under an assumed name somewhere (he was declared dead by local officials just before this all went down in 2011), or he got killed for Our Holy Obsession With Football.

I'd like to throw my entire support behind that banner, as an editorial comment.  It's far more than just the statue that needs to come down -- and if it can't be done lawfully, then it just needs to get done.

And some other things Louis Freeh will send under the radar:

• We do have a match-fixing probe in the EPL, sorta...  In many European betting parlors and online sites, you can wager on who will have more corner-kicks, fouls, penalties, who will get the first throw-in, etc. and so forth, on almost every match imaginable.  Well, this has led to "spot-fixing", where players within the matches will pre-determine such results -- and that's exactly what has been alleged by a 10-year EPL veteran, Claus Lundekvam.  FIFA is investigating.  (*snork*)
• If I hear one more person talk about that it's ridiculous that I discuss the possibility that Penn State should be shut down completely, I now have a counterbalance.  John Infante has done some research and basically has concluded that if Penn State University is not shut down for all this (by no less than the Department of Education for violations which would result in the loss of ALL Federal financial aid for the students), then Penn State is officially Too Big To Fail. 

Next Freeh Report coming on the Saints?

Deadspin is reporting, as part of it's continuing and significant coverage of the Freeh Report, has an article up stating the next Freeh Report might well be...

BOUNTY-GATE.

And the wire-tapping accused of the Saints GM.

If the Penn State report is any indication, my theory that Goodell might have his NFC Los Angeles team even if St. Louis nor Minnesota nor anyone else moves might have some legs.

SHUT -- IT -- DOWN. _N O W_!!!!

The Freeh report came out today about Penn State.

It's as bad as I first thought -- the entire football program and university overlooked child rape in the guise of Our Holy Obsession With Football.

Mark Schlabach of ESPN is calling for at least a three-year Death Penalty.  Specifically, he's calling for the largest sanction ever handed down by the NCAA, and that would out-do SMU's DP from years ago.  "And the Nittany Lions should get hammered more than any other school in NCAA history."

Dan Shaughnessy of the Boston Globe says the university needs to shut down the football program.

Christine Brennan of the USA Today echoes those sentiments.

Jen Floyd Engle of FOX Sports thinks the Death Penalty is the beginning of what should happen.

There is a Facebook page, and has been since the incidents were made public, that wants the program shut down, under the guise of the fact that the university is bigger than the football program.

IS IT?  Really?  In this particular case, is the university bigger than the football program, and should the action not only be taken against the football program, but the university itself, up to and including revocation of accreditation -- which would shut the whole damn campus down!

Consider the findings, according to the ESPN analysis on the subject:

First, "Paterno and others showed "callous and shocking disregard for child victims." "

I am going to quote the first several paragraphs of the ESPN analysis article, because I want to make one simple comment:

ANY PERSON WHO ALLOWS THIS UNIVERSITY TO CONTINUE TO FIELD A FOOTBALL TEAM -- BE THEY UNIVERSITY, SANCTIONING BODY, CONFERENCE, TELEVISION NETWORK, OR SPONSOR -- ACCEPTS THIS CONDUCT.


"One night during the autumn of 2000, a janitor cleaning Penn State's Lasch Football Building observed Jerry Sandusky, then 56 years old, in the showers with a 12-year-old boy pinned to the wall. The janitor saw Sandusky performing oral sex on the boy. Later that night, another janitor saw Sandusky and the same boy in the showers, and later watched the two leaving the locker room holding hands.

The janitors' supervisor asked the men if they wanted to report what they had witnessed to the police.

"No," one janitor said, "they'll get rid of all of us."

"I know [football coach Joe] Paterno has so much power," the other janitor recalled about the incident, "if he wanted to get rid of someone, I would have been gone." He predicted that Penn State's leaders would do everything possible to protect the school's vaunted football program.

"Football runs this university," the janitor said."

If you don't think that open child rape is not grounds for the shutting down of entire athletic programs, if not entire universities, then either you are enabling to the conduct, or you are in the camp that you believe that you cannot sufficient punish Penn State, for doing so would impact people not involved.

Second, "Evidence shows Paterno, Spanier, Schultz and Curley did know of 1998 investigation and Paterno "failed to take any action."

Hence, Paterno commits perjury in front of a grand jury when he said otherwise.

Third, "PSU let Sandusky retire in 1999 "not as a suspected child predator, but as a valued member of the Penn State football legacy," allowing him to groom victims."

And this was largely suspected by Mark Madden back when this was first being reported.  I wonder how he has to feel about all this now.

Fourth, " PSU "concealed critical facts ... to avoid consequences of bad publicity.""

I can understand why, given this.  You're talking no less than the death of the entire football program, if not the University.

Fifth, "Paterno "was an integral part of this active decision to conceal" and his firing was justified"

I begin to wonder if his death is not just a little bit convenient, not unlike the disappearance of the District Attorney who was looking into this (even though a Huffington Post blogger states the police don't think so -- to which I say YEAH and RIGHT).

Remember, "Football runs this University.", and Happy Valley was a college town.

I have had several passionate discussions with friends who do not believe that the Death Penalty can be given on the latter ground, and I have nothing to say to them to dispute their beliefs, and I believe that only those who intelligently come to the conclusion (as those friends have) that you just cannot impose the sufficient penalty without impacting the uninvolved have the right to say that.

God help the rest of you.

God help the rest of you for literally standing by and considering this one of the "good" college programs.

God help the rest of you for what you did to those kids in the name of Our Holy Obsession With Football.

Without the institution of football to give this pedophilic monster absolute reign over these children, literally as altar boys to a priest with Paterno as pope, this doesn't happen.

Our Holy Obsession With Football, and the fraud that it is, raped these children as much as Jerry Sandusky did, and we have no less than Louis Freeh to verify this.

They knew.

They lied.

They raped these kids to give them access to the one and only thing which mattered in Happy Valley, Pennsylvania.

They must pay the ultimate penalty.  I would go so far as removing accreditation.  Shut down the whole damn college.

The janitor said it himself that night he witnessed it:  "Football runs this university."

Couple of catch-ups and question marks as we head into the slowest day of the year

• Joey Barton will remain with Queens Park Rangers, but not as it's captain.  One more breach will end his tenure there.  His offenses against Man City will cost him a half-a-million pounds (555,000, to be exact -- six weeks wages (480;000 pounds) from the club and 75,000 to the FA).  He's already suspended a third of next season, and word is that the manager is NOT planning to name him to the squad for the Premier League.  (So when's the bloke getting paid next -- circa January?  Suspension runs through a match on November 17th, and then six weeks from that, plus effectively a seventh for the FA fine...  Yep, next paycheck for the bloke -- if he stays straight -- is in January, 2013!!)
• Ray Allen to the Heat...  If there's any doubt that they are constructing a 70-ish-win Super Team in Miami to minimum repeat-for-as-many-years-as-LeBron-and-Wade-can-coexist, that should be the nail in the coffin right there. 
• Hope Solo failed a drug test for Canrerone earlier, the US Anti-Doping Agency has reported.  So why does she get off with only a warning?  It's not as nefarious as you think.  They did a full research and realized that a doctor-prescribed medication Solo was legally taking had the substance (which is why the substance is a "Specified Substance" under WADA/USADA rules), and publicly warned her (probably to change relevant medications), but that no further action was required, and she remains on the US Olympic Soccer Team.  In a related matter, the chief of WADA has openly urged all drug cheats to withdraw from what he calls the most tested Olympic Games in history.  (Part on Solo is valid, part on the WADA chief...  Hardy har har har)
• Speaking of drugs, at least IMODO, a local Southern California swimmer has thrown Michael Phelps under the bus, saying that Phelps does not share his example or ethic for hard work.  (Why not just come out and say that he believes Phelps is dirty?  I will go on record to state that I believe Michael Phelps used steroids four years ago in Beijing, and the musculature he showed in one of the famous celebration photos is not standard for a swimmer.)
• And another black mark for the Nevada State Athletic Commission.  Only a "stiff warning" for Anderson Silva for his deliberate shoulder at the face of Chael Sonnen before their middleweight UFC 148 title bout last Saturday - he could've been fined or stripped of his license, the latter would've cancelled the fight.  So why is this another bad day for the NSAC?  Easy.  The fight was allowed to take place only because it was the largest MMA gate (ticket money) in the history of the state of Nevada!  (Money talks, bullshit walks.  Right Mr. Kizer?)

One piece of administrivia:  At some point in the next six weeks, I plan to create that "53 Players with No Place in the NFL" series that I posted a preview of a few weeks ago and haven't followed up on.  Just a few other things taking place in Real Life at the moment, and, once those calm down, I should be able to come up with the list easily.

Speaking of the NFL, a commentary:  The whole thing with the Saints is going to be a cloud over this entire season for the NFL.  The entire Player Safety Initiative and probably the very future of football (especially the NFL with the lawsuits) may depend on how this plays out.

One interesting thing which I believe may (though no one else has played this angle on it) be a side effect of this:  Goodell, a week or two ago, sent a letter to the teams basically outlining how any 2013 Los Angeles move would be able to be pulled off.  What if no NFC team comes up willing to move?  Could the NFL, knowing that Saints owner Tom Benson cooperated with the investigation, give Benson a golden parachute on the current (decreased) value of his franchise to take the franchise under temporary NFL ownership and move them to Los Angeles, where we all know Goodell openly wants both an NFC and an AFC franchise in "Farmer's Field", which could be downtown right next to the Staples Center!

Something to think about.

Again, Dillon? Are we sensing something nefarious here?

If you've watched any ESPN at all over the last several weeks, you've seen heavy promotion of Austin Dillon in a Dale Earnhardt Sr-esque #3 car in their Nationwide Series commercials.

Well, last week, he won the race in Kentucky.  He also failed inspection there too, costing him, I believe, six points.

He's done it again!  DISQUALIFIED from the pole position qualifying (which he would've otherwise won) and ordered to start in the back of the field for this week's race in Daytona for an open cooling hose in the cockpit to boost aerodynamics, according to ESPN.

So why is he being allowed to run at all?  Well, with Danica not doing as well as a lot of sponsors and TV-hypesters might've wanted, ESPN has gone with the Dale Sr.-esque car angle, I guess.

It's clear somebody (at least on Dillon's crew) is trying to fix the races here.  Once is an anomaly, two consecutive starts talk of a pattern.  And, before the penalty, he was the points leader after Kentucky.

Anybody want to start looking at inspection papers for all the other Nationwide races as well?

Various Odds and Ends, July 5, 2012

• Thank God July 4 is over.  Our neighborhood sounded like a war zone, and, given people I've read from sea to shining sea, we were not alone.
• Nash to the Lakers...  Gotta agree with Brian, but not as far as Mike Greenberg and JT The Brick want to go.  I think it's clear that, with San Antonio aging, the NBA needs another Western Conference team.  In the East, to give Miami a little show, you have Chicago and, depending on free agency, Boston.  In the West, past the Lakers and the Spurs this year, you had...  You had...  My point exactly.  Do I think this is enough for the Lakers to get back and win another title or two?  No.  Not unless someone on the Heat throws a homophobic slur at someone publicly or somesuch.  I think this was done to keep the Lakers relevant and get better ratings as Oklahoma City's foil.
• The NFL, today, announced that all replays that the lead official is seeing will be broadcast to the fans in attendance at that game.  Hey, Brian:  Shall we begin a count as to how many of these calls go to the home team, regardless of the truth of the matter here?  Bad idea!  It would be better to go with rugby's model of a known TMO (Television Match Official) in the booth, and to have the referees fully mic-ed, even when just talking to the players, not just announcing the penalties.  Besides increasing integrity, you can sometimes get some very funny exchanges when the refs tell the players who actually is the boss around here!
• In a decision which should surprise no one reading this blog and my previous exchange with Nevada State Athletic Commission Executive Director Keith Kizer, the Attorney General of the State of Nevada officially determined no crime was committed in the fixed decision in which Brian Bradley defeated Manny Pacquiao.  If we need any more confirmation that the state of Nevada is protecting their boy Floyd for if he has a career after his time in the joint, there it is!  Between the arrogance of Mr. Kizer and the fact that the "investigation" involved interviewing precisely none of judges involved in the fight, it's clear to me that any fix for the fight originated officially within the boxing organization of the state of Nevada, as I've suspected since they allowed Floyd to fight May 5.
• ESPN's John Clayton reports an interesting fact:  The two easiest schedules in the NFL next year are for the New England Patriots and the Green Bay Packers. (Question about 2/3 of the way down the page.)  So who do YOU have going to the Super Bowl?
• Michael Johnson has officially played the race card, as he went Jimmy the Greek on a pre-Olympic interview.  The Daily Mail Online reports this from Johnson:  "Over the last few years, athletes of Afro-Caribbean and Afro-American descent have dominated athletics [track and field] finals.  It's a fact that hasn't been discussed openly before.  It's a taboo subject in the States but it is what it is.  Why shouldn't we discuss it?" 
• To this end, studies are being made to see if evidence persists, as believed, that slave-owners actually bred slaves to be more athletic (to perform the tasks required, killing the rest off as unfit -- since they were not seen as human beings by many slave-owners.  So much so that one ship to Jamaica had 170 passengers starting in Africa for slavery in the New World.  Only SIX completed the journey.), leading only a more athletic gene-pool to come down through the generations of Afro-Caribbean and Afro-American descent. So much so that all eight of the 100-meter finalists in 2008 in Beijing were of such descent:  Three from Jamaica, including champion Usain Bolt, two African-Americans, two from Trinidad and Tobago, and the one European was an Afro-European from the Dutch island of Curacao.
• Every word true.  The domination of Black athletes in almost every sport cannot be denied, so why do we not discuss at least why this is true?  And that leads to the "urbanization" of many sports cultures, and everything which results.  The reason we don't discuss it is that it is believed to be racist to state it.  So is it any less racist when one of the most prominent African-American runners of our time says it, rather than an old white Vegas-guy of the 70's that the NFL probably wanted rid of anyway when it was clear that he was putting CBS NFL broadcasts too close to the then-truth about the NFL?