Several Notes, 9/19/13 (includes Fine Blotter, Week Two, Part Two)

• Michael Waltrip Racing is one step closer to extinction today, as NAPA Auto Parts, the iconic long-time sponsor of all things Michael Waltrip, has thrown in the towel after Michael Waltrip Racing's federally-illegal sports bribery at the Richmond International Raceway a couple weeks ago.  They're gone at the end of the year.  This probably means the layoff of about 100 people, at minimum, and that's if MWR can retain 5 Hour Energy, which has openly condemned the violations of US Federal Law which took place at the race when MWR's people attempted to fix the outcome to ensure the maximum number of cars in the current Chase for the Sprint Cup.  (Though 5-Hour Energy, Bowyer's sponsor, is "still evaluating" it's relationship with Michael Waltrip Racing, Aaron's, Brian Vickers' sponsor, appears to be in the fold and will not leave.)  Martin Truex Jr. (the only of the three MWR drivers not known to have been involved in the fix) may be looking for a new team next year -- and may face the prospect of being blackballed from NASCAR.  The position of this blog is still clear:  Beginning with Waltrip, Clint Bowyer, and Brian Vickers, and extending to everybody involved in the fix -- Federal investigation and immediate permanent expulsion from stock-car racing.  And that includes David Gilliland, Joey Logano, and everybody in that other incident NASCAR has been able to cover up.
• This, usually, would get it's own post, but, frankly, this happens probably at every high-school football team in the country, leaving one to wonder who these players pissed off to be the ones singled out.  According to the Riverside (CA) Press-Enterprise, two former players at the nationally-regarded high-school football team of Vista Murrieta High School were expelled from the team from an August investigation and arrested last week at it's completion.  Kishawn Tre Holmes, 17, was charged with various sexual crimes involving at least six victims, including two forcible rapes and two incidents where the victim was under the age of 14.  The second, Byron K. Holt, Jr., also 17 (it is interesting that both accused have been identified, given that this case is still in juvenile court -- though Holmes' case has been sealed), is also being charged with sex with a girl under 14, though Holmes' attorney, according to the Press-Enterprise, states it consensual.  Please do not take my initial statement to undercut the charges -- what I'm saying is that it is highly doubtful in this skeptic's mind that these kinds of acts aren't going on in every high school in the country which has a football team (with girls 14 or under as well -- freshman girls in many states are, in fact, 14 when they enter high school).  Doubly so when you realize the reputation of the team from Vista Murrieta.  And former players and many other people in Murrieta are already up in arms at the accusers, as the article notes at the bottom.  Just another show of the combination of the rape culture, the thug culture, and the "sport" of football...
• Speaking of farces, the numbers are coming in on the Floyd Mayweather take for his scripted production with Saul "Canelo" Alvarez from last Saturday.  It's shattering all boxing records.  Most money ever spent on a live crowd for boxing ($20,003,150), most money for a closed-circuit crowd in Las Vegas ($2,615,360 at $99 a shot -- and they'd have sold more had they had room.  All closed-circuit venues were sold out), and an unbelievable pay-per-view record take of 2,200,000 buys, raking in $150,000,000.  It is believed that Floyd Mayweather will make $100,000,000 off a $200,000,000 fight when all is said and done.  What a fucking joke.
• Declan Hill is at least a semi-pleased man, though his blog notes he still has a lot of questions about a major piece of news he's been waiting for for years:  Dan Tan, the Singaporean soccer-fixing mega-boss, has finally been arrested in Singapore under terrorism charges.  There are many who undercut this news, believing that someone will take his place.  I can't see anyone taking his place to his scale.  Dan Tan basically owned soccer in many regions, countries, and continents.  My concern, at this juncture, is the major disruption of a major sporting event (the 2014 Olympics or World Cup come to mind!!) by a Tan associate as a "nuclear option", now that Tan is in custody.  Then, even still, the questions Hill asks in his blog do remain.
• A couple of the early reports on the NFL Fine Blotter indicate, as expected, several Jets are paying the piper for last Thursday night's debacle after they lost to the Patriots:
• D'Brickashaw Ferguson, thrown out of the game for a punch during the melee:  $15,000.
• Willie Colon, ejected for contact with an official, appears to have gotten $21,000 for that and $15,000 or $15,750 for the role in the right.
• No word on whether Nick Mangold is going to be fined for the shot that started it.  Knowing the league, probably $15,000 or so, even though it should be, especially for what it led to, at least $50-75K.  So we've basically handled only the Supplemental Discipline (Repeat Offender Aggravators to discussions of suspension -- and only discussions...) for Week 2 and two pre-reports on the Jets fight.  That's $276,000 or so (I'll relist everything tomorrow when the rank-and-file fines come out and Colon's total is confirmed.), and that makes almost $600,000 in fines for just two weeks of the regular season.  Tack on the pre-season, and we're up over $825,000.  We're probably passing $1,000,000 for the season with just the pre-season and 2 weeks of the regular season.  (And we're not even counting team fines for accumulation of Player Safety incidents.)  As ex-NFL fans of my almost chant now:  "FINES DON'T WORK!!!" 
• EDIT TO ADD 6:47 PM PDT 9/19 (with a hat-tip to my anonymous friend for tossing this one into the mix):  It appears as if the NFL wants an apology and financial retribution from M.I.A. for the middle finger and expletive during the Madonna Super Bowl Halftime Show two years ago (still the highest-rated single event in the history of American television -- it out-rated the Super Bowl between the Patriots and Giants).  The NFL is going to try to "go to war with her privately" if she doesn't apologize and pay the NFL a $1,500,000 tribute/peace offering/bribe.  Not only does this indicate that the NFL's status with the FCC (through the networks who are providing the billions which the NFL is profiting from) is many times more important than any Player Safety shenanigans (again, "FINES DON'T WORK!!!"), but this war appears to be ready to go very public, by M.I.A.  Her lawyer basically says exactly that, adding that it will become political, addressing not only NFL issues, but real-life issues that the NFL's bully-pulpit chooses to ignore, including the genocide in her half-home country of Sri Lanka.  
• He continues, from the Sports Illustrated article:  “Of course, the NFL’s claimed reputation for wholesomeness is hilarious, in light of the weekly felonies committed by its stars, the bounties placed by coaches on opposing players, the homophobic and racist comments uttered by its players, the complete disregard for the health of players and the premature deaths that have resulted from same, and the raping of public entities ready to sacrifice public funds to attract teams.”