The Continuing Stoooooooooory of a Sports Culture Which Has Gone To The Dogs

*sigh*

You can't make this garbage up.

In a week where the Super Bowl hype has been almost-ominously subdued (we'll get to all that coming up on the weekend, and the two previously-referenced Special Reports are forthcoming), this gem of idiocy from Deadspin.

Dateline:  Gaffney, South Carolina

A middle-schooler (probably age 12-14) has been "disciplined" for the offense of taking his opponents' Gatorade and spiking it...  with a capful of BLEACH.

For this offense, frankly, he should probably be in juvie til age 18, forget about ever seeing the halls of a school again, but, since nobody got hurt (for which this jackass was DAMNED LUCKY -- the worst reported was some stomach aches and burning lips), his "discipline" will probably be far below what it is.

But it makes you wonder:  Given the tomfoolery we are seeing, THIS is what we are teaching our kids about sports?  To lace the liquid replenishment with a lethal substance?

So, let's see, on the Sunday Without Football..

... I reflect on some of the utter stupidity that has befallen us in the last week or so on the basis of the National Religion...

• Another week, another shooting.  No, not talking about the latest mall shooting, but only because that'd be for another blog in that regard.  I'm talking in a Fresno, CA home (and, believe me, having been in Fresno (or what's left of it!), I'm not surprised) and a 49er fan who was being razzed in his home by two Seattle fans for being a bandwagoner.  For this, the 49er fan tried to knife them, was stabbed himself when the knife was taken, and then shot the two men in the leg.
• Richard Sherman has become the new poster boy for Roger Goodell's NFL.  In past years or eras, a player with his mouth in the Super Bowl would probably end up largely silenced or disgraced on the field.  Why do I get the feeling that Goodell would want to do differently with this idiot?
• The Pro Bowl, with a draft format, involving two of NFL.com's fantasy football champions.  Great.  One more reason to spit in the face of real life simply so your fantasy team can win.  One more reason to threaten the life of an injured player because you need fantasy points.

 Business as usual in Football Nation America.

Fine Blotter: Can I Choke Richard Sherman?

• Seattle Seahawks:  Richard Sherman got a $7,875 fine for taunting Michael Crabtree and the nation.

To catch up:

Boldin's fine last week makes him a TWO-TIME LOSER.
Sherman's fine this week makes him a TWO-TIME LOSER.

San Francisco's fines from last week made them finish the season in Level 2 status.  Team was fined $50,000 as a result.

Total for the season now is approaching 4.7 million dollars:  $4,690,550.  (Of what we know about through the media.)

-

I apologize for not posting that much this week.  I do have several lengthy posts in the pipeline.

One, about the ongoing Grantland controversy.

Another, about the continuing absurdity of our football culture.

And an eventual "Special Report", to come out between February 3rd and February 7th, as to why the United States of America should've had no part of an Olympic Games which is about to set world politics back decades.

Divisional Fine Blotter: Niners-Panthers, mostly...

• San Francisco 49ers:  Anquan Boldin, $7,875 for a headbutt.
• San Francisco 49ers:  Frank Gore, $7,875 for a face mask
• Carolina Panthers:  Josh Thomas, $7,875 for a punch

Brian Tuohy/Yardbarker: Patriots AFC Championship Gear on Sale in Super Bowl City

Saw this just now from earlier this afternoon:

AFC Championship T-shirts featuring the Patriots already on sale in NYC. I know both are printed, but rarely on sale.

And then a link to the Yardbarker article on the subject:  http://www.yardbarker.com/nfl/articles/msn/nyc_store_selling_patriots_afc_champions_shirts_photo/15572780

Stay tuned.

I put those two comments through for a reason...

I want you to read the comments posted by two blog readers, John Odin and Severed End, to the post below this one.

It's two quite-expected responses to the repulsion of the theory of "Mr. 'Fuck the NFL'".

I've posted on this subject before, but I'll do it again:  Situations can obviously change over the course of time.

I think it's clear to anyone who has basically paid attention this season that Mr. Goodell and His Merry Men have abandoned basically all pretense:  You'll take the games however they present them to you and you will like it.  And, you will believe that, no matter how ridiculous the situation is, that the players are either too stupid or inept (not to say anything about the officials, whom you would have to believe even more so!!) for this not to be the genuine article of professionalism, athletic excellence, and the best all this country will ever have to offer -- so swear your life, fortune, and sacred honor to THE SHIELD...

(And, no, I'm not referring to Reigns, etc., in the WWE...)

At least one of them said something to the effect of "Whichever team wins, you'll have an angle for it..."

You know what?

You're right, sir.  You don't win in the NFL without being anointed by the Kingmaker, Roger Goodell.

And, after the post by Mr. "Fuck the NFL" actually began getting play outside of conspiracy circles, that created one of the oddest weekends I can remember covering in recent Goodell NFL times.

It was certainly...  "un-Goodell-like"...

The only game which appeared, in much way, to be in any degree of doubt was the shenanigans in Seattle.

But, back to the comment made.  I've got at least one angle for each of the four remaining teams.

San Francisco:  I have two here.  The first should be obvious to anyone who lived through the ESPN glorification of Montana, Young, and Rice:  The Return of the Niner Empire.  NSPN, as it was known to many Niner-haters, couldn't (and, to some extent, still can't) get enough of San Francisco Forty-Niner football.

Double that with a new stadium and the thought that the season opener (in most cases) is now played at the home of the Super Bowl Champion.

Seattle:  The 12th Man.  The biggest cult in football.

I have personally witnessed the extent to which these people bow to their flag (which is raised before every home game in Seattle) and will ignore life, limb, and everything else.  It's all about the Seahawks...

Just as Roger Goodell would want it.  I swear, the guy must wonder how this country survives the other seven months of the year.

New England:  Old Reliable, The Fallback Plan.

Denver:  By a sliver over Seattle, I now believe this *MIGHT* be the line they are planning to go.

It's not only Peyton Manning, but the question from what I asked before:  Why do we find out about the potential for Peyton's career to be over _on the day of the game with San Diego_?

Consider:  If Murderer Ray Lewis can get a ring on the way out the door, you think Goodell (and the owner of Papa Johns in his moat-surrounded mansion with 57-car garage or whatever garbage it is...) wouldn't want Peyton to have one too?

But the thing is:  Roger Goodell, by having his hands on all the little dials which control the social hierarchy and the "bully pulpit" and the rhetoric, basically also controls all else.

So now, even for those of us who do question legitimacy, do we know which way they will go now?

Just a thought...

--

Oh, and one more thing, Mr. Goodell:

If your game was unscripted, if your corrupt and rigged bloodsport was so unscripted:

Then, if I were you, I'd have had NFL Security in the Saints locker room after the game with a little message for Mr. Colston:

New York.  Monday.  We'll subpeona you if we have to.  We have some questions for you after that last play...

Another Step to Chargers-Seahawks and Mr. "Fuck the NFL"??

Pretty much a chalk weekend so far.

Hags need chicanery, Patriots and Niners roll.

And now this story out of Denver which my anonymous friend accurately says appears to be the nice head-fake the NFL might be prepared to throw spin on Denver losing today (game is early in progress as I type this) to help set up Mr. "Fuck the NFL"'s San Diego over Seattle Super Bowl...

According to SI.com:

It was revealed this morning that Peyton Manning is going to have off-season tests on his neck -- and, if they reveal risk for further injury, he's done.

So, sports media, we reveal this today...  why??

Stay tuned.  We'll see if it's relevant.

I want somebody who doesn't believe the games are fixed to please explain to me...

... how a professional ANYTHING can do THIS...

You can watch the video, for now, on Deadspin:

13 seconds to go, ball at about midfield, Saints down 8.

Brees escapes a rush and completes a sideline pass to Marques Colston with about 9 seconds to go.

He takes one step, he's out of bounds, and the Saints have one, maybe two, shots.

So please explain to me how, in a non-scripted world, a professional football player decides to lob an illegal forward pass across the entire field.

Ten-second runoff, game over, Hags win.

Step One to Mr. Fuck the NFL and Hags-Chargers in New Jersey.

Well, that took the BBWAA about... 24 hours.

Dan Le Batard has been stripped of his Hall of Fame ballot.

I give it about another 24 hours, and he'll be gone from ESPN.

EDIT TO ADD:  He's also been banned from the Baseball Writers' Association of America entirely for at least one year.  Source:  Deadspin

Oh my... This schmuck is going to get fired by his employer once they find out...

The new Baseball Hall of Fame class is out.  Joining the three of the Veterans' Committee are the three everyone expected:  Glavine, Maddux, and Thomas got in.

It's painfully clear that Craig Biggio is out due to the Steroid Era now.  Biggio missed the call by a mere two votes, and we have one person who we know, in not voting for any of the three in, said he would not vote for ANY player of this era.

Now that the vote has been announced, Deadspin has revealed the identity of it's voter -- the person who received money to have his vote turned over to a popular vote by Deadspin readers.

It's not a no-name, in any sense of the word.

ESPN is probably looking for a new television personality/columnist.  After another voter fell through to fault of nobody (and it sounds like that's a go for next year), the person who sold his vote to Deadspin is nobody other than ESPN's Dan Le Betard, the host (with his father) of "Highly Questionable".

He's going to get fired.  He has to be.  Yes, the ballot included most of the ESPN memes (Bonds, Clemens, Bagwell, Piazza), and the three who got in, and Biggio.

But now that he's been revealed as the biggest fraud this side of no up-or-down on Pete Rose in Cooperstown, I can't see how ESPN can retain this guy.

Ouch.

--

Some thoughts on the balloting, just quickly:

• Biggest class voted in since 1999.  Biggest class of living people going in since 1941, with the Veteran's Committee honorees.
• 18 voters did not vote for Maddux.  Maddux' percentage is the highest since Cal Ripken, Jr. in 2007.
• Jack Morris now has to go to the Veteran's Committee, as he has gone the full 15 years without getting the requisite 75%.
• Mike Piazza is the only other player (other than Biggio) to gain ground on induction this year.  At 62.2 percent, it is unclear how many more years Piazza may have to wait.
• The third Atlanta pitcher of that major group, John Smoltz, is one of the leaders of next year's 1st-years.  Randy Johnson is on the ballot, as is Pedro Martinez.  Early reports appear to posit another possible three-man class next year:  Johnson, Pedro, Biggio.
• All the roidies went down in percentage of vote.  It's not clear whether ESPN is losing ground in an argument it's beating the drums hard on, or whether there just were that many locks on the ballot.

Part of Me Wishes I Knew This On My Vegas Trip, Part of Me Doesn't

Brian MAY HAVE done it again.

Brian Tuohy, in his "News of Note" section, may have come across an explosive situation for this year.

For, if what is alleged is correct (and there are a lot of spider-webs around it to some very interesting statistics), Vegas is about to blow up.

Why?

A disgruntled ex-NFL employee (a programmer laid off a week before Christmas, no less) took to a message board, created an account called "Fuck the NFL", and went off.

The post was made on December 24th.

The claims:

•  The first explosive claim is that the winners of the Super Bowl were decided last May.

Now, anyone who's followed Brian Tuohy recalls Brian often referencing the Visa commercials with the Harbaughs before last season started.  By the time the season ended, these were used as a belief that the Super Bowl teams had been decided long beforehand, The Harbaugh Bowl:  49ers vs. Ravens.

But here's where it gets really fun:

• The poster claims the fix is in for...  THE SAN DIEGO CHARGERS.

I have one piece of advice for Mr. "Fuck the NFL".  Run to Vegas.  Now.

Last I saw, you could get 15-20 to 1 still on the Chargers to pull it off.

Had he known this (and that he was going to be canned) on December 20, 2013, he could've gotten 85-1 on the Chargers, according to Vegas.com.

The poster slams Goodell for yet another Cinderella story (2011 Giants -- Hell, the Packers, the last time they won the Super Bowl, were the NFC #6)...

He then makes reference to various aids the Chargers received BEFORE Week 17 -- including an interesting touchdown call vs. the Raiders.

But why the Chargers, he might be asked...

• The Chargers are the team to win this year because San Diego needs a new stadium, public support (and San Diego government support) of funding a new stadium is effectively zero, and Los Angeles is off the table after the AEG screwjob with Farmer's Field.

Then he makes note of one of several interesting statistics Deadspin has picked up on.

Let's take a look at the Philadelphia Eagles the last several years and their home openers:

• 2012:  Baltimore Ravens
• 2011:  New York Giants
• 2010:  Green Bay Packers
• 2009:  New Orleans Saints

Why do I mention this?

Should be obvious.  That's your LAST FOUR SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONS.

And the 2013 Eagles home opener?  Week 2, a 33-30 loss to...  THE SAN DIEGO CHARGERS.

That one "Fuck the NFL" pointed out.

Another one was found on Deadspin:

Now let's go across the NFC East to the Washington Redskins, and start taking a look at the Super Bowl champions that season.

For the last seven years, the Washington Redskins have played the Super Bowl champion (before this year).

• 2012:  Week 14, defeated Baltimore 31-28 in overtime.
• 2011:  Weeks 1 and 15, defeated the Giants twice.
• 2010:  Week 5, defeated Green Bay 16-13 in overtime.
• 2009:  Week 13, lost to New Orleans 33-30...  in overtime.
• 2008:  Week 9 on Monday Night Football, lost to Pittsburgh 23-6.
• 2007:  Weeks 3 and 15, split with the Giants.
• 2006:  Week 7, lost to Indianapolis 36-22.

Seven years in a row, the Redskins have played the Super Bowl champion.

Of the eight teams remaining in the playoffs, the Redskins played Denver, San Francisco...  and San Diego (the only of the three teams they beat).

San Diego winning the Super Bowl would be:

• The fifth consecutive home opener opponent for Philadelphia which won the championship.
• The eighth consecutive year an opponent of Washington won the title.
• The fourth consecutive year Washington beat the eventual Lombardi holders.

Wow.  You can't make this up.

(FWIW, if this holds, we can assure that the champion next year will either be out of the NFC East or St. Louis, Seattle, Jacksonville, Tennessee, or Carolina.)

Guess I Should Catch Up: Final Regular-Season Fine Blotter

There might/will be fines over the playoffs too, but I forgot to do the Week 17 Fine Blotter on Friday.  A long-needed vacation to Vegas will do that to you.

Well, I guess I could tack one on for this week.

• Seattle Seahawks:  Not sure if this one counts against the Level number or not, but Marshawn Lynch has refused to speak to the media all season.  So the league has refused him to the tune of $50,000.  The stupidest thing about all this is that no one checked until this week!!  I guess that makes him a TWO-TIME LOSER, both for non-Player Safety effects.  (The other was a Week 4 uniform violation.)

Week 17:

• Dallas Cowboys:  DeMarco Murray:  $21,000 for another of those crown-of-the-helmet battering ram jobs by the running back.
• Green Bay Packers:  AJ Hawk:  $15,750 for using the helmet on a defenseless player.
• Baltimore Ravens:  James Ihedigbo:  $15,750 for the same offense.
• New Orleans Saints:  Lance Moore...
• New Orleans Saints:  and Kenny Stills:  $7,875 each for an illegal end-zone celebration.

The Rams and Seahawks exchanged many pleasantries in Week 17.  Four players also exchanged money with the league!

• St. Louis Rams:  Kendall Langford got off real light here:  He got $7,875 for committing a personal foul, making a gesture which struck an official (for which he was tossed), and slamming his helmet on the turf.  Wouldn't that be about $40,000 worth or something?
• St. Louis Rams:  Eugene Sims:  $7,875 for unnecessary roughness after a punt.
• St. Louis Rams:  Chase Reynolds:  Same fine, same offense.
• Seattle Seahawks:  Kam Chancellor:  $7,875 for a late hit.
• There were seven other actionable penalties in the game, but only these four got fined.

That exchange proved costly for the Rams:

• St. Louis Rams:  Level 2.  $50,000 team fine.

Other fines found:

• Carolina Panthers:   Dwan Edwards, $15,750 for roughing the passer.

That was a costly 15-yarder:

• Carolina Panthers:  Level 2.  $50,000 team fine.

The Saints got four fines this week:

• New Orleans Saints:  Akiem Hicks...
• New Orleans Saints:  and Tyrunn Walker:  $7,875 for roughing the passer.

And a multiple loser rounds out the known list:

• Washington Redskins:  DeAngelo Hall at it again.  $7,875 for him (and for the team as well for Level 3) for unnecessary roughness.  TWO-TIME LOSER.

So, as of the moment, the NFL fine total for this season is:  $4,609,500.

Glad I Laid Off the NFL In Vegas This Weekend...

Goodell's hands seemed to be all over this weekend of wild-card games.

Both NFC games decided, ball in the air at the gun.  Game-winning field goals for the road teams to beat (inferior) division champions.

And do we really need to go into Saturday?  13:30 to go in the third, 38-10 KC.  About nineteen minutes later, 45-44 Indianapolis.

Just thought they might put Cincy over today to have Luck vs. Manning, but Luck vs. Brady (before Manning vs. Brady) will suffice for them, I guess.

Good weekend just to lay back.

The Meme Is Correct: Well, That Escalated Quickly

Chris Kluwe's Deadspin article on how he was blackballed from the NFL for his stands on marriage equality and the homophobic abuse he claims to have taken from his special teams coach.

Let's be honest:  First, I believe every damn word of it.

Second, if Chris Kluwe wasn't blackballed from the league beforehand, he's gone now.

Third, I truly believe:  If he goes much further, he's a dead man.

Why?  Gay men are harder to rape than women.

That sounds coarse as all Hell and probably disrespectful to a lot of people, but it's basically the whole meme of football that powerful men are the only people who deserve to have anything, and any resistance to those powerful men will be futile -- their opponents shall, in whatever form, be assimilated.

And that's why Roger Goodell's National Homophobia League is very good at silencing all relevant opposition to it's social agenda -- even when it violates all sense of human decency.

Over/Under:  I give it about Tuesday before some league source actually tries to claim Kluwe, himself, is gay to further discredit him.

Chris Kluwe: Fired and Blackballed For Speaking the Truth

Two Cowards and a Bigot, eh?

Chris Kluwe effectively states what we all figured was true about the National Homophobia League...

Deadspin has the article.

(Surprising that the bigot was his own coordinator?  Nope.)

How Can Anyone Think The Games Are Legit? By Obfuscating the Subject...

Brian Tuohy (EDIT re:)posted (due to NFL takedown -- gee what a shock), after week 17, a compilation video of either erroneous or highly controversial calls which have changed the 2013-14 NFL season:



Just on quick inspection:

• He starts with the play which effectively finished deciding the most recent Super Bowl, the holding non-call on the Ravens on the conversion try for San Francisco in New Orleans.
• The entire debacle of the Week 1 showdown between the Packers and San Francisco.  (Oh, and who has the league manipulated into the prime Sunday slot for Wild Card Weekend:  Oh my gosh!  Green Bay vs. San Francisco!!!)
• The late hit call which aided the Jets in beating Tampa Bay in Week 1.
• Or the late hit call which aided the Packers in their division-clinching victory over the Bears last week...  (I would place that, more, in the "awfully literal" part of the rules.  It did look like a third Bear in the play had pulled up to prevent such a flag.)
• Going back to the 2011-12 playoffs, a screwjob forcing the Lions out on a non-called fumble against Drew Brees (not that unlike the Tuck Rule fiasco).
• Or how about three calls which were deemed in error to aid in causing their 22-14 week 13 loss to the Indianapolis Colts.  (whom I believe will play Denver at some point in these playoffs)
• Falcons-49ers (Week 16, Monday night), and a non-call across the middle eerily reminiscent of the Super Bowl non-call referenced earlier.  The 49ers won 34-24, giving them a playoff spot.  (See above for the ramifications.)
• The Terence Garvin fiasco.
• But then the Patriots are called for putting someone illegally into the backfield against the Jets, leading to a game-winning field-goal retry in   (Week 7, Jets won 30-27 in overtime.) "Hard Knocks" calling for Rex Ryan, on the red phone please.
• The screwjob in the first Monday night in San Diego on their game-winning field goal attempt.  (One of the two wins -- the first two weeks -- Houston would get.)
• Week 13:  Refs screw up a first-down call in Washington vs. the Giants.  (And a nice video afterward of someone who Brian thinks "gets it".)
• A bad non-fumble call (and a probable missed helmet shot too!) Denver vs. Indianapolis, Week 7.  Indianapolis won 39-33...  in a match-up I believe you will see again in January.
• But then the discussion on the penalty in the Saints-49ers game for a hit up around the neck (Week 11).  (If they're going to punish for "head AND NECK" (emphasis mine), then that should be a penalty.)  Saints won 23-20, and are in the playoffs.
  
• Lions-Ravens, Week 15.  Bad pass interference no-call.  Ravens win 18-16 to aid in being relevant in Week 17 -- Lions weren't relevant in Week 17.  See you Jim Schwartz.
• The mugging in the end zone I've referred to previously between Carolina and New England.  Carolina, as a result of this play, won 24-20 in Week 11.  Both teams earned first-round byes.
• And another PI no-call against New England.

And then he says (sarcastically):  None of this effects the playoffs.

Even of the calls above:

• Detroit was 8-8.  Win that game, they win the division at 9-7.
• Carolina doesn't get that first-round bye if they don't win the division.  Needed every win they could get to get it.
• San Diego needed every win to get in at 9-7.
• 49ers earned a playoff spot in the game with Atlanta.
• Packers-Bears, Week 17?

And that's before he gets to this:

• Botches all over the place in Packers-Steelers.  (Eventually making the Steelers relevant in Week 17, forcing the Bears to lie down to the Eagles, etc. and so forth and so on.)
• The play clock at 0 on the first fourth-down play of the final Packers touchdown to get in the playoffs over the Bears.  (Not quite "Game Over", Brian.  It'd have been 4th and 5+, but they'd have had to do it again.)
• The Chargers overloading their line in a field-goal attempt against Kansas City.  (Same rule that the Jets got the call on against New England, see above.)  Oops.  Chargers win to go 9-7 and make the playoffs.
• The call that I never saw earlier in the Green Bay-Chicago game.  Rodgers back to pass, appears to pass, but called a fumble, everybody stops.  Rodgers, not hearing a whistle, yells for the Packer receiver to pick it up -- Touchdown Green Bay.
• Another bad call in a pile in the San Diego-Kansas City game, again benefitting San Diego.  The skinny is that it is believed this is to help the case for a new stadium in San Diego to keep the Chargers there.
• A play-clock fiasco in the finale.

Brian's conclusion:  "The NFL is manipulating games right before your eyes."

Quote-unquote.

And anyone who still believes this is either too stupid to know the truth about football (and I speak in all facets of said "truth") or is moving the goalposts on the discussion.

Like this guy:  A purported sports betting account on YouTube that had this to say about how people believing games were fixed (and that concept being a myth) costs people money when they bet sports.

The problem here is several-fold:

1. He says that the concept of sports being fixed is used to explain away improbable outcomes.  (Emphasis mine.)  The problem lies that the fix doesn't usually deal with improbable outcomes, but ones which ignore athletic reality, either in the concept of the effort of the player (taking a dive/sports bribery) or ignoring what actually happened on the field (see a long list I just gave in the Tuohy video above.
2. He says:  "Dirty money no longer talks like it once did in team sports."  That's because it's no longer the individual athlete (an act of sports bribery which is Federal-illegal -- the research of which went into Brian Tuohy's second book, Larceny Games).  It's now the leagues taking control of the manipulations themselves (an act which does appear to be not only criminally legal, but civilly legal as well -- the Spygate case being the best example).
3. He then moves the goalposts by trying to deceive people by talking about the massive pro salaries:  "Important players, who would need to be bribed or corrupted to fix the outcome of a game, make millions of dollars each season."  This is obfuscation on two points:  First, who says it has to be a prominent player -- or a player at all?  (Again, see the long list from the Tuohy video above.)  Second, what's to say that an important player doesn't have a skeleton or two in the closet which, if revealed, would be the end of one's career?  We ended 2013 on one of the most bizarre such accusations -- that Aaron Rodgers had to answer questions on his sexual orientation after someone claimed he might be gay, a career-ender in Roger Goodell's National Homophobia League.
4. The person continues by hypothesizing the popular belief that any such player would lose all ancillary money (endorsements, etc.) by a fix.  The problem with this is, if a player is acting in a way which would fix a contest, would it not be the league (the one entity which would cover for him) to ask him to do it?  A largely-believed incident of this extent was Indianapolis vs. New Orleans in the Super Bowl.  Peyton Manning was seen to be in a very foul mood pre-game, and, after a fairly obvious pick-six in the fourth quarter of said game, it is largely believed that he was told to take a dive so the league could promote the "Comeback From Katrina" storyline -- before Bountygate basically blew that facade up.
5. And it would cost too much money?  Try to talk to some of the people behind the growing scandal of match-fixing in English soccer.  Some matches, it was believed, could be fixed by Asian magnates for as little as 50,000 pounds.  (Again, also defusing the idea that only the important players could fix a game.)
6. And then they go to the other side of the equation, realizing that no single sportsbook would be able to handle that kind of dirty cash.  He's right -- but he forgets the fact that only a very small portion of the money wagered on sporting events is legal betting  (I've heard as low as 2-3%.).  This is why I still believe the Incarcerated Bob story that swept Vegas on one of my Vegas trips about how much money Floyd Mayweather put on the Miami Heat for Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals.  Much of that money had to be underground, with Mayweather's connections to people as corrupt as Incarcerated Bob.
7. He then goes on to debunk the concept of insider information -- to which I can only ask one question:  How could a handicapper make any money by consistently staking his entire season's picks (and, hence his livelihood) on certain "million-star locks" with insider information...  unless he knew the result beforehand??

The facts are clear.

Business considerations rig games.

If you wish to bet on them, you need to take that into account.

Full disclosure:  I'm usually a $5-10 bettor in Las Vegas when I go, and I'm going this weekend.