Lose the battle, win the war?

Michael Sam was the second-to-last cut today, right at deadline time.

He's now believed prime practice-squad fodder, but I have to wonder who got to Jeff Fisher in the last 36 hours.

It's already being reported he will be on the Rams practice squad by "league sources".

Latest on two dirty football thugs

• Just reported:  Brandon Meriweather's two-game suspension has been UPHELD.
• James Harrison has been successfully driven from the National Football League -- he announced his retirement today.

And we think we can call this an institution of HIGHER education?

Leave it to the students at the host university of the weekly ESPN College Gameday extravaganza to, once again, show what kind of trail of thought often accompanies football fans, and sports fans in general, in this country.

Leave it to Deadspin to give almost a recurring commentary to it too.

This, the first week of college football in 2014, ESPN was at Oklahoma State, playing Florida State, and we get THIS gem:



For those who do not know, the Trail of Tears was the forced removal of Indian nations in the 1830's... from places like Florida. This included the Seminole Nation.

Oklahoma State's response is to say they demanded the sign removed.

BULL - SHIT.

This has been a CONSTANT "feature" of ESPN Gameday, not to mention numerous ESPN broadcasts (including a high-school game several years back with clear homophobic references).

The only way this stops is ESPN and the member schools taking hard stances on these signs, and that's not going to happen.

This includes sanctions against the students -- and that's not going to happen in the day and age of smack talk.

Preseason Fine Blotter According to Spotrac: Some of the ones I missed...

And by NFL rules, these count against team penalties later on, even if the player is cut.

• Baltimore Ravens:  Haloti Ngata, $8,268 for kicking another player.
• New Orleans Saints:  Akiem Hicks, $16,537 for roughing the passer - Andrew Luck, a common target of cheap shots.
• Dallas Cowboys:  Ahmad Dixon, $22,050, defenseless player rule.
• Cincinnati Bengals:  Dre Kirkpatrick, $22,050, helmet-to-helmet.
• Tennessee Titans:  Taylor Lewan, $8,268 for a face mask.

At least according to this, it does sound like Ray Rice's third game check will be considered a fine, and $50,000 applied against the Ravens number.

OK, finally got the darn computer -- some late night Quick Hits for 8/29-30.

Two more NFL suspensions Friday:

• San Francisco 49ers:  The long awaited Aldon Smith suspension -- NINE GAMES for a combination of personal conduct and drug policy.
• Minnesota Vikings: Jerome Simpson lost his appeal, and will have to serve three games for drug of abuse violations.

Smith and Simpson are the 28th and 29th NFL players suspended this off-season.  Neither is a gigantic surprise.

In other news:

• The Rams cut 17 players today to go from 75 to 58 -- 57, since they have one of the 29 players suspended, so he doesn't count on the roster.  Michael Sam is STILL a St. Louis Ram.

It is 11 PM Pacific Daylight Time as I do this post.  The Rams have 14 hours (as do all the other teams) to make the final four cuts.  Sam led all Rams with six tackles in the preseason finale.

Possible Final Quick Hits Before My Computer, Beginning With Another Death Sacrifice

• Deadspin again:  Morgan State football player Marquese Meadow died two weeks after collapsing at a football practice.  Another sacrifice to the altar, though it's not clear yet what killed him.
• More trouble for the Spoiled Children:  Anthony Brown has quit the USC Trojans and claims the coach is a racist.
• In what I believe is the continued tampering of the Rams by ESPN, the ESPN Rams reporter is actually believing Michael Sam will NOT make the roster, as he reports that it is believed Sam's opponent on the D-line for what appears to be the 53rd spot, Ethan Westbrooks, impresses more in practice.  (Sam played on the opening drive of the game tonight, and apparently was part of two of the tackles.)  We'll know within 48 hours -- all 32 teams play their final preseason games tonight, 53-man rosters must be submitted by 4 PM Eastern Saturday.
• Speaking of Sam:  Read this Tom Ley Deadspin piece on Michael Sam and the ESPN shower story.

In a ROYAL case of "headlining for clicks", it appears as if Deadspin is deliberately trying to get people pissed off with:  "ESPN Was Dumb, But Michael Sam's Showering Habits Do Matter."

That said, it becomes, very quickly, a piece that might have more to it than meets the eye.

Ley writes:

"If Michael Sam really is making a concentrated effort to avoid sharing a shower with his teammates, he is living under the exact same kind of fear that Jackie Robinson did, and that is devastatingly sad—so much so that it kills a lot of the warm fuzzies brought on by Sam's coming out. That is a very important story."

Which is true.  The saddest thing about it is that the LGBT community, as much as the African-American community needed Jackie Robinson in baseball, needs a transcendent athlete to shut up the homophobia in the sports world "made for men" (as Robinson made large steps in doing for the racism), and to shut it down (though, like Robinson, it will not take that one transcendent alone).

Sam is NOT that athlete.  He is a serviceable defensive lineman who has a commodity which WILL be in demand in the NFL -- the ability to get to the quarterbacks in a league which might flag a lot more chucks, holds, etc. which keep down passing scoring.

He is good enough to make the roster in a quarterback-driven (thanks, ESPN and rules committees) NFL. And ESPN is fucking scared of that, and so are most of the corporate sponsors of the NFL.

• The beer companies and bikini babes
• The beer companies and the women glorifying the touchdown heroes as if sex is to follow
• Cialis.  Enough said.
• The companies who make calendars of cheerleaders spreading in bikinis -- never mind that the league thinks so little of the ladies in general (and even less of the cheerleaders specifically) that they bother paying them an actual decent wage.
• The big-car companies, implying that bigger is better, on the road and in your...

etc. and so forth and so on.

Fine Blotter Week 3 Preseason: Well, I think we know where the league comes down on the Swearinger hit...

I can't believe I'm even posting this one...

• Denver Broncos:  Peyton Manning, $8,268 for the penalty for getting into Swearinger's face.  The league actually agreed that it fell under "Taunting".

Manning has officially called it "Money well spent"...

Peyton Manning notified by NFL he is fined $8,200 for taunting of DJ Swearinger. No appeal. Peyton: "I accept it. Money well spent."
— Chris Mortensen (@mortreport) August 28, 2014


Apparently, the penalty was for telling Swearinger "Fuck you." after the hit which concussed Welker for the third time within a year.


ANOTHER drug suspension, and I have to update all my numbers, according to ESPN...

• Dallas Cowboys:  Jakar Hamilton becomes the 27th player to be suspended from the NFL this offseason.  25th for drugs.
• They finally have clarified a new structure for the suspension situation which will force me to re-do all my numbers -- will do that later this afternoon.  The penalty for a second player suspended is now only 15% of the lost salary, with a cap probably still at $200,000.  Last year, it was 25%.
• So the Cowboys will have to forfeit approximately $43,941.

Also, in continuing news:

• It appears that Josh Gordon's habits will probably end his NFL career, and he's explored playing this year in the CFL.  After previous debacles, though, the CFL now honors all NFL suspensions, and he's not going to play there either this year.
• Roger Goodell has admitted he erred in the Ray Rice situation, but the two-game ban stands.
• It will, however, be the last such two-game ban for such acts -- an immediate new policy sets the first suspension at a minimum of six games, with the possibility of life bans down the road.

Then suspend him longer.  Fuck you, Roger Goodell.

Quick Hits 8/27 #2: Several Entries Into the WTF Sweepstakes, and Another Sacrifice to Football's Altar

• Beginning with the sacrifice:  Deadspin reports the unfortunate sacrifice to the altar of football of Michael Keck, who, after two uneventful years at Missouri, transferred to smaller Missouri State, stood out for one year... 
• ... and then it all fell apart.  Major concussion in a drill in a 2009 post-season camp led to one thing leading to another, and Keck was out of football and on his way to dead at 25 two years later.  Though the cause of death is believed an unrelated heart problem, Keck feared he had CTE -- and was proven right in the autopsy.

And, almost uncoincidentally, several entries into the WTF Department, where you just scratch your head and wonder how people around sports (especially football) could be so brain-dead...

• (Hopefully soon-to-be-former) Chargers announcer Hank Bauer leads the list with one of the stupidest on-air comments in ages.

Yes, we get that pre-season football can tax the material for any announcer.

Bauer goes completely overboard, and should've been fired, for this:

""But then again you know how copper wire was invented? Somebody dropped a penny between Josh and his family member," said Bauer. "I say that respectfully and endearingly, my partner.""

His partner is Josh Lewin, who is Jewish.

Should've been shit-canned for it, got a one-game (preseason) suspension instead.  Why?

Bauer was a Charger in the 1970's.

• In what is becoming a far-too-common occurrence, a story of heroism is proven to be anything but.

(Hopefully soon-to-be-former) Spoiled Child Josh Shaw was in the news over the weekend for spraining his ankles in the heroic rescue of his cousin -- which he just admitted today he fabricated the story.

Suspended from the team indefinitely -- hopefully soon to be buh-bye from USC entirely.

• STILL no word from the frauds at the NFL on Suh or Swearinger.
• Josh Gordon's latest suspension has been upheld.  He's out at least a year, drug program repeat.  He is at least the 26th NFL player to be suspended this offseason.  No one is reporting this number.

Quick Hits 8/27 #1: Michael Sam Story Update -- Fisher is PISSED!!!!

• As I thought to myself yesterday, Jeff Fisher is NOT happy with ESPN right now.

Read this Yahoo! article.  It all but is saying Fisher believes, as I do, that ESPN is trying to manufacture the distraction which is going to get Michael Sam cut.

• Fisher:  ""I'm disappointed for Mike," Fisher told the Post-Dispatch. "I'm disappointed for the players who she put in this position, and mostly I'm disappointed for her because she felt what she was doing was right, and it wasn't right.""
• ESPN has given the proverbial "statement of regret"...

... to which I say BULLSHIT.

ESPN is trying to get Michael Sam cut so it can keep the NFL as a different interpretation of the three letters.

And I apologize to anyone, straight away, who is offended by that.

But this is what it is:  Michael Sam has exceeded expectations on the field, and caused nothing off of it.  So now, ESPN, probably at the direction of at least bigoted corporate sponsors of the NFL (if not Goodell himself) is trying to create enough of a stink to get Sam cut, hook or crook.

I also found out yesterday that, this year, the practice squad is being increased from six players to ten, so there is zero way, barring serious injury or incident this weekend, that Michael Sam is not going to be with the Rams in some capacity unless homophobia enters the fray.

Period.

(More) Quick Hits 8/26

• I could've edited this into the Sam piece, but I'll let it stand on it's own:  I am reminded of several years back -- I believe it was the year Auburn won the BCS title with $Cam.  ESPN, the week before the first BCS standings were out that year, published an article compiling all of the computers and polls which were available, and computed a provisional BCS standing.  Boise State was #1.  Boise was never in the top 2 of any official BCS standing that season.

It really makes me wonder if this is the warning shot that is basically trying to show the demand that the league be kept "pure" from Michael Sam (and those who support him).

• Current apparent skinny is, should ESPN and the homophobes succeed, than an undrafted free agent (Ethan Westbrooks) would be the beneficiary. 
• Manchester United may need some serious help staying relevant.  They just held their first league cup (the Capital One Cup -- kind of secondary to the FA Cup), and lost to a team two divisions below them (MK Dons) 4-0.  They have no wins on the season.
• More silence from Roger Goodell, et. al., on both Ndamokung Suh and D.J. Swearinger.  One would have to think, with Suh's track record about matching Meriweather's, that his penalty would already have been looked at.
• The New York Daily News is crying to Mommy about the penalties in the NFL preseason.

Let's get with reality:  They can't play defense.  Many of them have no business out there.  Take away defensive holding, the illegal chucks they used to get away with downfield, and the horse-collar tackle, and many of these people might as well watch the WRs run by, because they can't play the position.

• Through 49 games of the 2013 pre-season, according to the statistical gurus at ESPN (ESPN Stats and Info), 66 penalties were called for illegal contact (17), defensive holding (27) and illegal use of the hands (22).  THREE HUNDRED TWENTY-NINE in 2014 in 49 games.  Sounds like they dialed back a bit in Week 3, but it's still an increase of a factor of 5. 
• 84 contact, 146 holding, 99 illegal use of hands.  The difference of 263 is most of the difference in the penalty counts for the preseasons.  This season's 1,106 comes out to 22.7 penalties a game.
• For the record, Cincinnati was called for 13 penalties vs. Arizona on Sunday, making them the 17th team out of 32 that week to get 10 or more accepted flags.
• And here's some numbers from the story which I believe will be the main focus of this season, team-wise:  Seattle only got six penalties against the Bears in Week 3.  (Won 34-6)  Eight vs. San Diego in Week 2. (Won 41-14)  Thirteen vs. Denver in Week 1. (Lost 21-16 -- Denver had 12)
• In no coincidence, the last two Seattle preseason games have been at home.  The Denver game was in Denver.  It is largely believed that the emphasis is in response to the "Legion of Boom" and their "dominance", when, really, that "dominance" was dirty hits and taunting, not necessarily the little stuff.
• Brandon Meriweather, in surprise to nobody, will appeal his fine, and some of his team have his back.

Fine Blotter: Any Wonder The Hags Are Champs?

• Seattle Seahawks:  Pete Carroll:  Fined at least $100,000.
• Seattle Seahawks:  Team fined at least $200,000.

The violation was excessive off-season contact in a June 18 practice.

This is not the first time they've done this -- they were fined for similar in 2012.

Gee:  Drugs, Adderall, excessive contact in practices...  No wonder they are the champs...

Now It's Clear: At Least ESPN (if not NFL-Corporate) is Scared Michael Sam Will Succeed

So Michael Sam is not a distraction to the Rams?

ESPN will create one, then!!

Several days after Sports Illustrated's Peter King proclaimed that he now believed Michael Sam would do the unthinkable (not only as the first gay NFL player, but as a supplemental seventh-round pick) and make the St. Louis Rams final roster, ESPN (and I would have no surprise if this is at the direction of the NFL) tried to throw a monkey wrench into it all.

The Four-Lettered Network tried to find out about who he's showering with.

I'm serious.  Let that bullshit process if you need to.

Basically, ESPN used this as a means to try to do anything possible to force the Rams to have an excuse to cut him.

Well...  There's a St. Louis Ram who is not going to have any of this.

Dear ESPN, Everyone but you is over it.
— Chris Long (@JOEL9ONE) August 26, 2014

Chris, I get your point.  I think, however, if you read the comments sections on many different sports subjects, I don't think you're right.


And that is why I truly believe they are trying to pressure the Rams into cutting him, running scared that he actually is proving to be all man on the football field.

ESPN has defended the piece, saying multiple Rams brought it up.

Quick Hit 8/25: And, In Other Piece-Of-Shit News

It sounds as if the suspension of the locker-room shithead Richie Incognito is over.  Sources are indicating that Incognito will be cleared to sign with a team, and that he's already been talking with Tampa Bay.
The Bucs are saying that it is only "due diligence" given the suspension, but the thought of him and Dashon Goldson on the same team does not thrill me in the least.

(Other) Quick Hits 8/25: Suh's Hit Only Being Talked About Right Now

• As I said in the other post, although there is significant media attention to the Ndamokung Suh hit on Chad Henne, no action against Suh has been taken at this time.  However, today's situation seems to indicate that, if Suh's hit is even ruled simply "Roughing the Passer", Suh probably will not see the field for at least Week One.
• Nor has anything been done with the D.J. Swearinger hit on Wes Welker, giving the latter his third concussion within a year.
• Someone needs to explain to me this one, as this probably requires significant context:  For patting (some reports say slapping) the fourth official on the head, Atletico Madrid's manager, Diego Simeone, has been banned for eight Spanish matches.

OK, let's get two things straight:

First, if he slapped the official, I don't care if it's Spain's Supercopa match (the match between the league winner and the tournament-cup winner in Spain -- most nations with double trophies like that have similar single matches to start the season), if Simeone slapped the official, the match should've been tossed then and there and eight matches is ludicrous.

Second, the league needs to come clear as to what he actually did, for the above reason.  Eight matches for patting the official on the head would probably have required he basically demeaned him in addition (like the Australian rugby player banned six months for calling the Grand Final referee "a fucking cheat" one year).  Eight matches for slapping him is a slap on the wrist.

• In a move probably designed to preclude a league fine for the Steelers, discussions are under way for the team to suspend LeVeon Bell and LeGarrette Blount for their marijuana arrest.
• About 100 players were asked by "NFL Nation Confidential" (I believe it's ESPN) the following:  "The only way I'd play for _______________ is if they doubled my salary." to determine the teams people least want to play for.  The Raiders were named on about a quarter of the ballots returned, surprising nobody.   The Bills (19%) and Browns (16%) were the only two other teams named on more than 10% of the ballots.  The Jaguars (9%) were fourth.

I'll get to fifth in a second, because I think it merits it's own mention.
The statement is simple:  If you were to have a list of the four teams the NFL needs to move RIGHT NOW, those would be your four teams.  The Raiders, Bills, Browns, and Jaguars are DEAD in their present situations, irrelevant in the corporate Q-Rating NFL.  The Raiders might be so bad off that, should they move next year to somewhere like San Antonio, the Raiders name might not come with them.  (Their lease at the current stadium expires after this year.)

What might come as some degree of a surprise (many probably would think it major, I not so much, but some) is that the Green Bay Packers actually finished fifth at 6%.  It's no shock to any Packers fan that most players in their prime do not want to come to Green Bay (no night-life, small city, not many endorsement opportunities), but for them to be that high on this list (especially given they are the only team here even remotely competitive in the NFL) would actually indicate, sans the unique situation of the fans owning the team and the support of the entire Wisconsin region, trouble for the Packers going forward.

• The New York Jets have banned indefinitely Dmitri Patterson for his AWOL incident over the weekend.  However, on roster-cut weekend (to 75), they didn't cut him.  The Jets believe that he's dissatisfied with where he is on the depth chart.  If that's the case, they should've cut him and his $3M immediately.

Suspension Blotter Week 3 Pre-Season, And It's Not Who You Think

It's not Ndamokung Suh...


It's not D.J. Swearinger...


It's also not his first on-field NFL suspension...

• Washington Redskins:  Have just had their FOURTH player suspended for the start of the season.  Brandon Meriweather has been banned two REGULAR-SEASON games for a helmet-to-helmet hit in the Week 3 pre-season game.  He has become the first player in league history to be suspended multiple times for on-field player-safety violations.  He was suspended in 2013 for two games (appealed to one) for his track record.
• Meriweather's base salary is $855,000.  So the Redskins are on the hook to the league for one full game check (for their fourth suspension, the team penalty is 50% of all lost salary up to $500,000).  $50,294.12 for that, over $500,000 just from the Redskins alone, and the season hasn't even started yet.

I have a personal message to Brandon:

@BMeriweather31 Get out of the #NFL, you headhunting thug. #FirstPlayerMultipleOnFieldSuspensions
— Michael Falkner (@darkstar7646) August 25, 2014

Quick Hits 8/24: It's Bad When the League Has To Cancel Airing Your Preseason Game...

• Pro Football Talk and Yahoo! on this one:  The Cleveland Browns got their preseason game airing on NFL Network (more truly, a re-airing) cancelled by the league and network.  Why?  As it the desire of a lot of people, the Browns and their local stations used "virtual signage" (superimposed graphical ads) on the field -- you've seen it from time to time.  It's roughly the same technology which allows the first down line, etc.  Well, the league bans that for preseason games, so no rebroadcast.
• After a performance in which Michael Sam recorded his second quarterback sack of the preseason (both against backups, let's be honest), Peter King of SI now believes Sam will actually make the team.

Will now be surprised if Sam does not make St. Louis' final 53.
— Peter King (@SI_PeterKing) August 24, 2014

Here's some more penalty stuff from the rest of the games yesterday:

• Dallas had 10 vs. Miami (9).  Total points:  45.
• Tennessee and Atlanta had 10 each.  Total points:  41.
• St. Louis had 12 vs. Cleveland.  Total points:  47.
• Minnesota and Kansas City only had 5 penalties between them.
• New Orleans had 10 against Indianapolis.
• Houston-Denver and Washington-Baltimore were the other two of only three games in Week 3 preseason by Saturday that neither team had 10 penalties.
• San Francisco-San Diego looks like it will join that trend this afternoon -- only seven penalties between the teams by early fourth quarter.

Of 15 games so far, 11 of them have had at least one team get to double-digits in penalties.  In four of those eleven, both teams did.

Other stuff:

• There is substantial trouble in Buffalo right now.  Earlier this week, two Bills practices were marred by in-team fighting, leading the coach to discipline the players and cut at least one of the practices short.  During this process, defensive end Jerry Hughes created an incident when he gave the coach some smack back, causing the coach to question Hughes' place on the team (Hughes is a 5th-year veteran, 2nd on the Bills after 3 years in Indianapolis, and is projected the starter.
• But today, even MORE trouble, as the Bills have cut second-string defensive tackle Alan Branch after he was stopped for DUI.  Branch was on his third team in eight years.
• On consecutive plays, Peter King notes last night, the Bills were 1st and 30, 2nd and 35, and 3rd and 40.
• The Jets don't seem to be in much better shape:  Dimitri Patterson went AWOL for the Week 3 preseason game and practices yesterday.  He is slated to return today, but no one knows why he left.

We have another substance-related suspension:

• Denver Broncos:  Matt Prater, the kicker, suspended four games (and must technically reapply for reinstatement with the Commissioner's Office) for an alcohol-related penalty (for which he could've been suspended a year after a 2011 DUI/leaving the scene situation forced him into the league program).
• Prater is at least the 23rd player the NFL has suspended (not counting the appeal I spoke of yesterday, nor the two Steelers) in the offseason.

More trouble in Denver:

• Wes Welker has just received his third recent concussion -- a late-first-half hit by D.J. Swearinger of the Texans (who has been part of a couple incidents with the Broncos this season, according to Deadspin) apparently has caused the concussion.  It also caused something very odd which might make next week's Fine Blotter:  Peyton Manning got 15 yards for taunting Swearinger (more correctly, for telling him exactly what he thought of the hit!).

In another sacrifice to the altar of sport:

• In another reason why there can be no tolerance for people chucking shit on the field, a Cameroonian soccer player has been killed when Albert Ebosse was hit in the head by one of a number of rocks thrown on the field by the spectators after a match.  The act has been condemned as hooliganism by the African confederation.

And to show the assholery isn't just on sport today (from Kotaku, the video-game site affiliated with Deadspin):

• Significant DDoS (Directed Denial of Service) attacks have impacted World of Warcraft (and other Blizzard games), the #1 strategy game League of Legends, Playstation Network, and Sony Online Entertainment.
• You can add XBox live to the list.
• This group of shithead hackers has also filed a false bomb threat against a flight that Sony Online President John Smedley was on today, forcing the flight to be diverted.  The FBI is investigating.

In the "Here We Go Again" Department...

Ndamokung Suh, another controversial pre-season hit. 

Roughing Chad Henne, and the report linked states the following:

"On video replay, it appeared Suh lowered his helmet into Henne's chest after the quarterback had thrown the ball, potentially leading to the flag and the penalty."

If he's fined, it would be at least the third pre-season in which Suh has been fined, and Henne would become at least the sixth NFL quarterback for which Suh has been fined for roughing the passer -- this all on top of the suspension he served for the Thanksgiving kicking incident.

--

Preseason Week 3 penalties:

Buffalo had 12.
Pittsburgh and Philly combined for 27 -- the Eagles had 14.  Total points scored:  52.
New England had 10.
The Giants and Jets had 10 apiece in their annual preseason game.  Total points:  59.
27 penalties also in Detroit-Jacksonville, over 230 yards.  In this case, total points was only 25.  Detroit had 15 of those penalties.
11 penalties for Green Bay vs. Oakland.  Total penalties:  20.  Total points:  52.
10 penalties for Chicago vs. Seattle.  Total Seattle penalties:  6.  Seattle won 34-6.

Any coincidences here?

EVERY GAME COMPLETED of the first seven had at least one team in double-digits in penalties for the "dress rehearsal" week of the pre-season.

Flags (and the lack thereof for certain teams) will determine who wins and loses, at least for quite a while.

Quick Hits 8/23: Why Floyd Mayweather Can Be Such A Dick And Other Ridiculousness

• On Floyd Mayweather's Twitter today:  A picture of his two checks for his last two fights:  Over $72,000,000.  And as I responded:  Seventy-two million reasons he can be such an asshole and a blight to boxing and get away with it.  (Some of us still remember your exchange with Larry Merchant, "Pretty Boy".)
• Found the article my anonymous source pointed out to me:  A little more than two weeks after Deadspin revealed Air Force players had the military equivalent of a Special Prosecutor put on them for allegedly using date rape drugs on a party comes this gem:  How, if you're hurt on the Air Force football team, you really aren't a member of the team.

Coach Troy Calhoun, to the Colorado Springs Gazette:

""They go to meetings," Calhoun said. "I just think you either add to the chemistry or take from the chemistry. There's no in between. If you're a red jersey [injured players at Air Force wear red jerseys], I just don't want anybody sucking the life out of everybody else who is working. Who is able to go out there even if they have an itch somewhere?""

Here's the kicker:  ESPN _LOVES_ this attitude.  Just ask Trevor Bitch Matich on "College Football Live", former BYU player:

"Don't be soft. It's a mistake to say a coach is harsh, therefore, he's abusive. If the coach loves you and has your best interest in mind, then that harshness is the best thing for you and the coach. When I was in high school, I was on a soft high school team as a junior, didn't even play. And they brought in a new coaching staff to toughen us up. On a conditioning drill we were cutting laps around the field. The only rule was don't cut a corner. Well, I was so tired, I stepped on a corner, just stepped on it. When I came back around the next time, I almost couldn't stay on my feet. The defensive line coach lit me up, ran at me up the sideline, threw his shoulder into my sternum and knocked me back. "

That's actionable abuse, shithead.

Nobody, and I mean NOBODY, "has your best interest in mind" and then decides to take a clearly impaired player (sick, if not borderline), and, to me, finish the fucking job.

And you wonder why the NFL has a drug problem -- and all other levels of football too...

• Deadspin would like to also note that someone might need to take a look at the Wikipedia page on the rivalry between the University of Connecticut and the University of Massachusetts.
• In the "Only the Cubs, And That's Why They Suck" Department:  Apparently, according to the Chicago Sun-Times through Deadspin, the reason the crew was negligent on the tarp, leading to the first successful MLB protest in almost 30 years was because they don't want to give the tarp crew enough hours to trigger Obamacare.

Seriously.  On the team considered the most profitable in MLB...

Or is being such cheap bastards that you field a third-rate Rookie-level franchise in Wrigley Field WHY you are the most profitable franchise in MLB?

"The land of the free, the home of the brave, and the doormats of the National League..."

Could This Be The Main Factor In Watching Who's Going To Get Rigged NFL Wins This Year?

Wow.  Saw the NFL graphic, don't believe it's that blatant.

But if this is any indication, the number of flags a team gets might be an indication as to whether they're getting pushed.

Graphic from a Bleacher Report article, through Pro Football Talk on NBC:



In just half a preseason, defensive penalties are up by a factor of SIX.

And this, in a league with record scoring the last three seasons...

Other Quick Hits 8/22: Odds and Sods

• Historic moment in Major League Baseball this week.  The Giants and Cubs had a game in which the ground was declared unplayable after a four-hour delay on Monday, with the Cubs up 2-0 at the bottom of the fifth.  Now, the game was official, since the game was in Chicago, but the ground was unplayable because the tarp was not properly dealt with after previous rain delays.  The Giants protested, and, for the first time in decades, actually won (partially).  The game was declared suspended until Thursday...  which the Giants lost 2-1.
• We can probably add another team to the fined list for drug suspensions:  The Pittsburgh Steelers, who had both Le'Veon Bell and LeGarrette Blount arrested for marijuana.
• Kent State starting center Jason Bitsko is dead at 21, dead in his apartment.  Odds that football was the cause?  IMODO, quite high.
• There was a Deadspin article about another story of an injured player literally being sloughed off while he was injured in our Great National Religion, but I can't find it to read it right now.  Watch a future blog post.
• 
  

An Inconvenient Truth For The NFL Fans (and Roger Goodell, too)...

• Indianapolis Colts ($200,000)
• Jacksonville Jaguars ($29,117.50)
• New York Giants ($33,529.75)
• Washington Redskins (twice over -- total is $450,500)
• Miami Dolphins ($152,941.17 -- not the $200K I reported earlier)
• Kansas City Chiefs (now twice over -- $128,676.50 for Bowe's one-gamer -- Stephenson's four-gamer costs the Chiefs $46,941.18 -- total of $175,617.68)

That's six NFL teams which have to pony up money for multiple suspensions under the NFL policy regarding suspended players.  The Chiefs and Redskins have three such suspended players apiece -- and I believe all 14 players involved are drug-related.


Gee, you think the Seadderal championship might've seeped through:  According to a page keeping up on the stuff, I now count at least 21 NFL players suspended for drugs for at least one game (and that does not count Minnesota's Jerome Simpson, facing a three-game ban for a "drug of abuse", but appealed it this week in New York...).


That's $913,029.60 just on drug suspensions.


There's a problem, Roger.

Fine and Suspension Blotter Preseason Week 2: Couple of Big Names to Start

And these fines DO count against team numbers, regardless of whether these players make the team.


These first two should not matter in that regard, though:

• New Orleans Saints:  Jimmy Graham basically becomes the first TWO-TIME LOSER of the season.  He was fined $30,000 for dunking over the goal post TWICE in the preseason game with Tennessee.

I get the idea of it -- it was basically stated as a Point of Emphasis this year for damage to the equipment.


That said, what I do not and will not get is why the touchdown does not come off the board.


Apparently, according to the play-by-play of the game, the rules were, in fact, NOT enforced, as Graham should've been flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct on both plays (and not sure that the second one was not an ejectable offense).


But the game was a mess:  THIRTY-TWO penalties were accepted for nearly 300 yards, 22 on the Saints.  Six further Saints penalties in the contest were declined!


The 22 penalties, had they taken place in a regular-season contest, would've tied the NFL record for most penalties in an NFL game by a team.


And, in no surprise:

• Cleveland Browns:  Johnny Manziel:  $12,000 for flipping off the Washington bench.

And YET ANOTHER drug suspension:

• Kansas City Chiefs:  Donald Stephenson, four games, PEDs.
• And that will cost Kansas City.  His base salary was $570,000, so the league will get $35,000 or so.   (25% of lost salary for second suspension, up to $200K.)

Quick Hits 8/20: Jerry's Worth Three Billion, Johnny's Not The Starter, And Other "Fun"

• Well, if The Finger did it, it did it:  Johnny Manziel has been benched and Brian Hoyer will start the season.  Current skinny gives Hoyer about three weeks until the latest ESPN fraud takes over.
• Jerry Jones has done another piece of history:  His Dallas Cowboys have just been adjudged the first American sports franchise to exceed a value of $3,000,000,000.  Too bad that so many joke 8-8 teams inflated by The Tony Romo Story (No, Romo is not necessarily the problem -- the team just sucks so bad, but will be on NBC, it seems, every Week 17 playing for (and losing) a playoff spot, because of Romo's Q-Rating...) have probably decreased the Forbes value from a proposed post-Ballmer $4 billion-plus down to "just" $3,200,000,000.  (New England is second at $2.6 billion -- the Rams are last at about $930,000,000.)
• Is it any coincidence that, the same year that Adam Silver has his first full year as NBA Commissioner, only one of the most infamous game-fixing referees in the history of the sport, Dick "Knick" Bavetta, retires?  Didn't think so.
• The school refused to expel him, the police declined to press charges, so the alleged victim of a rape by University of Tulsa basketball player Patrick Swilling Jr. is suing the university for failure to protect.

Quick Hits 8/19: "Fuck You And Fuck Him Too"

• Well, suffice it to say that Johnny Football showed his true self last night.  He flipped off the Washington bench at one point in the pre-season game.  That will certainly cost him what appears to be $11,025 out of his first game check...
• Boomer Esiason is no fan of Johnny Football.

On his show on WFAN, Boomer was not kind to the Heisman fraud:


""His ass would be driven into the ground. Because I’m telling you, other teams hate this guy. Hate him," said Esiason. "I’m telling you, those linebackers for the Pittsburgh Steelers are just praying to God that (Manziel) plays in Week 1. And if I were (Cleveland head coach) Mike Pettine, I would have to have my head examined to put that kid on the field.""


Mr. Esiason, let me be straight with you:  The next legitimate sporting event John Manziel participates in will be the first in a very long time.  Manziel is a massive bust waiting to happen, except he's the current ESPN Poster Child of Football (the only damn reason he sniffed the Heisman two years ago).


He will be the most protected man in the NFL, else he will literally be carted out of the league within one season.  I could easily see him deliberately crippled out of the sport within one season.

• Chris Kluwe and the Minnesota Vikings have settled out of court on Kluwe's lawsuit.  Donations over the next five years to LGBT charities by the Vikings were agreed to.  Kluwe, true to his word, didn't seek any money of his own, but the initial donation appears to be at least $100,000.
• In other lawsuit news, and in a far-longer-standing case:  Todd Bertuzzi will pay for the end of Steve Moore's career in one of the worst incidents in the history of hockey.  Terms undisclosed on the settlement, but the case was about to go to trial.  Bertuzzi, in one of the worst acts in sports, is still technically in the NHL, unsigned free-agent after the last five seasons with the Red Wings.
• The NFL is actually going to CHARGE it's top Super Bowl halftime act for the privilege, according to the Wall Street Journal.  (But that's a paywall site, so you get the San Francisco Chronicle webpage on it instead.)  Top three choices apparently are Katy Perry, Rihanna, and Coldplay, and all have been asked to give the NFL some of their post-SB tour money to have the privilege.

Quick Hits 8/18: Starcade Mk II on the Horizon

Less than two weeks to the new computer.  Some updates today.

• Oklahoma has suspended Joe Mixon for the season, which is almost an admission of guilt on their part that he is a homophobe, a punk, a thug, and a pussy -- and that he knocked out that woman and ran.  Understand:  The entire college football season now lies (above the table -- we know ESPN still owns, but talking about the only thing in the room which matters, the national title...) in the control of thirteen people, and no program can afford to piss any one of them off.
• The new head of the NBA players union is female, and is not afraid to say it, according to Deadspin:  Michele Roberts said to the union:  "She did not flinch. "My past," she told the room, "is littered with the bones of men who were foolish enough to think I was someone they could sleep on.""
• Another Deadspin gem:  There was much talk that the Cowboys were going to draft Johnny Manziel.  Turns out they were going to, but Jerry Jones' son actually took the card out of his father's hand and physically prevented him from taking Manziel, according to the Dallas Morning News.

Quick Hits 8/15 #2: Couple of updates

• One thing to note on the new Commissioner:  My baseball-historian friend notes that we all need to keep in mind (before we draw the conclusion I did as to "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss...") that it was Jerry Reinsdorf who installed Bud Selig, and Reinsdorf (and the president of the Toronto Blue Jays) who were most vocal in not wanting Rob Manfred voted in/installed at the new Commissioner of Baseball.  A battle ensued, in which several owners accused Reinsdorf of acting in his own best interests, and not that of the game.  They're probably right -- Reinsdorf wants a hard-nosed labor hardball-ist who will probably send the sport to another strike.
• NASCAR, predictably, has installed new rules against going out onto the track, in wake of the Ward death.  And I, rightly, have taken some heat for my comments yesterday.  The sheriff has said there's no indication of criminal intent or wrong-doing, and that, for now, is what we have to go by.  I need a much closer look at the video than what I've had so far, it seems.
• So, Joe Mixon is charged with being a homophobe, a punk, a thug, AND a pussy.  Homophobic slur to a friend of a woman, woman tries to stand up to Joe Mixon, gets knocked out and four bones broken in her face, and then he leaves.  Charged with one count of "acts resulting in gross injury", but, because he's a Sooner, they'll probably acquit him so he can redshirt this year...  It's cases like this that make me glad I have an external bullshit detector from time to time, because it gets really hard to keep in mind "innocent until proven guilty" when I read of stuff like this...

And, from the "Cold Day in Hell" Department...

• Does anyone recall how that one Notre Dame announcer got suspended for actually proposing that maybe Notre Dame needed to bring in a lesser type of person to actually win?  Sounds like he may have gotten his wish -- Notre Dame has just suspended four players in wake of an academic fraud scandal!

And, if this is true, kiss that entire 2012 season goodbye - they will vacate the entire she-bang if it's proven that they were ineligible at the time the 2012 season took place.


Three of the four are starters on the 2014 team as well.  Apparently, this is an off-shoot of the same investigation which felled Everett Golson from the team for a season.

Quick Hit 8/15 #1: Another Suspension, More Money for the NFL

• Kansas City Chiefs:  Dwayne Bowe, one game for a marijuana-related arrest.
• Kansas City Chiefs:  Second player suspended, that will cost the Chiefs a lot of money.  Bowe is slated to make $8,750,000 this year, so the Chiefs are out 25% of one game check.  That one game check is $514,705.  The Chiefs will be fined approximately $128,676.50.

That's now at least six teams which have to submit fines for multiple (drug) suspensions, and that's over a million dollars already in forfeited salaries to the league.

Quick Hit 8/14 #3: Some Quicker Hits

Didn't think I'd be writing this much sans the home computer, but, you know...

• Tony Stewart out again this week for Michigan.  Fact is, he needs to be out PERMANENTLY until it is determined he didn't commit some form of manslaughter against Kevin Ward Jr.  This isn't to say he DID...  As I say, Ward definitely seemed to want to confront Stewart.  But there's enough there there that NASCAR needs to step in and ensure no more.
• To show how much of a joke this new BCS-style CFP (College Football Playoff) is:  They just announced the recusal policy for the committee, and over half of the committee has to recuse themselves on "their team" -- from Barry Alvarez with Wisconsin to Condoleeza Rice (yes, THAT Condoleeza Rice) with Stanford.  There are 13 members to the selection committee, and 9 have to recuse themselves from a school's consideration.  The committee has unilateral power to place in the six big bowls (the rotating two for the title semifinals and the other four which get compelling matchups from the next eight (the Rose, Sugar, Fiesta, Orange, Cotton, and Chick-Fil-A).
• NFL eyes harsher domestic violence bans???  BWAHAHAHAHA.  Another good one, please...  Next thing you'll tell me, they'll actually punish people for what is considered "being a man" in today's warped culture.

Quick Hit 8/14 #2: Brian Tuohy Makes SI

Well, the bad news for Brian is that his time on Sports on Earth is probably over.  Whether it was a function of that they didn't want him or the project went under, we're not sure.

But Brian has landed on his feet, with a major article on SI.com and the current (August 18, 2014) issue of Sports Illustrated, talking about a major sports fixing story in baseball.

The article, co-authored by Lance Williams and produced by the Center for Investigative Reporting (which, for reasons like what they uncovered here, is becoming an oxymoron in the world of sports reporting these days), can be found here.

It's a fascinating read of an Internet troll which basically tweaked the radars of everyone from Vegas to Major League Baseball itself, making it seem as if MLB had it's largest actual match-fixing scheme on it's hands since the Black Sox.

Now, let me make no secret here:  Like all other professional sports of importance, I do believe MLB fixes baseball games.  Some of the reported calls during the Cardinals-Dodgers series made me really believe they were going to toss Tony LaRussa and the arrogant pieces of shit playing in St. Louis another one.

But this story is a little different.

A supposed handicapper was contacting people in Vegas and saying he had a friend on the inside (a 2012 call-up, Jeff Locke) who was fixing a game on September 16 between the Cubs and Pirates.

The Cubs were already eliminated a couple weeks before, the Pirates were about to be. If you know of the kinds of games people tend not to keep an eye on (which make good fixing targets), this would be one of them.

Locke wasn't going along with the script early on, but did at least concede enough that he would only go 4 1/3 innings, give up five runs, and the Pirates did lose the game 13-9.

(Locke now is a starting pitcher for the Pirates, 4-3 this year with an ERA of about 4. Actually made the All-Star team last year.)

Now, what I'm trying to do is just Cliff's Notes this so you go over to the (very well-written) article on SI.com, because the people at the Center for Investigative Reporting did a lot of work on this.

The shock waves which these reports (which were resonating in the Vegas baseball-betting community) were creating not only got MLB involved, but the NYPD. Take it from me, the NYPD doesn't screw around on something that makes money in New York...

The article relates to a handicapper who was a teammate of Locke's in Babe Ruth-level baseball, Kris Barr.

Barr now runs a website which gives tips to bettors who wish to bet on sports. (All the likely, he tries to get in league with games he believes will be fixed -- it's about the only way these handicappers can do half the garbage they do and not lose their shirts instantaneously.)

Barr tried to stay in contact with Locke, and it didn't end well.

What happened next is a story of troll-dom, revenge, what have you. It's all the things wrong with the Internet and all the things wrong with many of the people thereon. (And I don't say that statement with anything to do with sports.)

It seemed that Barr wanted Locke to suck, and, like many minor-league call-ups, he did.

Word was getting around, and Barr had far too big a mouth.

The allegations that Locke was fixing games turned out to be false, and Barr (quite correctly!) got his world turned upside down for it.

Read this article. I'm trying just to stoke the interest in it -- nothing more. (It's one of the reasons I've deliberately stayed away from a lot of the Larceny Games stuff which hasn't made mainstream media. A lot of work goes into it, and I have no intention of stealing it.)

Something tells me this ends with a bullet in Barr's head, though -- they've had to all but put a restraining order on Barr not to speak with Locke, who's been needled by Barr when his 2013 season went bad in the second half...

Quick Hit 8/14 #1: Meet the New Boss, Same as the Old Boss....

Rob Manfred is the next Commissioner of Major League Baseball.

Now the COO of MLB, Manfred, with some opponents, was voted the next Commissioner today and will take office in January of 2015.

There's only one way to take this:  This is "Gerald Ford", installed by The Powers That Be to "end the national nightmare" of the Steroid Era and pardon the "Richard Nixon" who was complicit (not just incompetent) to the issues which took the National Pastime and made it a Balkan-ized shell of itself, never (probably) to recover.

So The Who was right:  "Meet the new boss...  Same as the old boss..."

And we all will get fooled again.

What Happened While I Was On My Summer Vacation, Part Two: Tragedy on the Track

You could not escape the story this weekend.

NASCAR star Tony Stewart, moonlighting on the short tracks of New York before Sunday's race in Watkins Glen, was part of a fatal accident, the accident killing short-track racer Kevin Ward Jr. Saturday night.

There was a spin-out and a caution, Ward's vehicle being disabled.

He got out, pointed at Stewart, and then was struck.

--

I saw the video once of what appeared to be the incident, and I really only have two questions:

• Could Stewart have stopped (even if it meant him getting swung at by Ward)?
• Did Stewart have enough room to go around?

If both of those questions are answered in the negative, then Stewart doesn't really have fault.  It was only a caution, and not a red flag.

And for those who are saying "We need to discipline those who walk on the track.", you forget why you have a televised NASCAR in the first place:  1979 Daytona 500, the first NASCAR race televised.  Cale Yarborough, Donnie Allison, last lap fight.

However, if this could have been preventable by Stewart and he let his reputation as a hot-head get in the way, he should be done in racing. Owning, driving, everything.

That's why I'm glad to see that, as of this writing, the investigation is still ongoing.

What Happened When I Was On My Summer Vacation, Part One: Updates

Well, Vegas was Vegas -- I have some of the numbers for the NFL from a couple of the major books, and will discuss them when time and energy permit.

But here are some quick update thoughts on stuff which I've already covered:

• I think somebody got the hint:  A resubmitted Jon Bon Jovi bid has placed the "Bon Jovi moves the Bills to Toronto" group back in the hunt for the Bills.

According to Canoe.ca, only three bidders actually submitted bids, and you know all three:  Bon Jovi's group, Donald Trump, and leading bidder Terry Pegula, the owner of the Sabres.

According to CBSSports.com :


"Here's what to expect now, according to reporter John Kryk: "Finalists soon will be asked to submit binding bids, probably before month's end. The trust and transaction team then will select a preferred buyer and begin purchase negotiations, if this sale follows the usual trajectory. The seller can amend the sale process at any time.""

I stand behind what I said last week: The league needs to move that team. Period.

• Speaking of team sales, the LA Clippers are now officially owned by Steve Ballmer.  The sale was finalized and approved 29-0 by the league Tuesday.

I also stand behind that Donald Sterling needs to be put somewhere comfortable and safe.  He's already done enough stupid things.

• In a Nelson Muntz moment:  the Jones/Cormier UFC 178 main event has been postponed until January of 2015 -- Jones sprained his ankle and tore his meniscus.

HA HA!!  Karma wins, in this case.

More druggie suspensions from the Neanderthal Felon League:

• Dallas Cowboys:  Orlando Scandrick, four games, strike one, apparently MDMA, according to ESPN.
• Miami Dolphins:  Reshad Jones, four games, strike one.
• Miami Dolphins:  And Jones has to apologize for more than just the team now missing it's 2013 second-leading tackler for four games.  The Dolphins have to pony up the maximum of $200,000 to the league for a second player suspended under the drug policy.  (Base salary for 2015:  $2.6M.  Shoots up to $6 3/4 M next year -- makes you wonder if this might cost Jones a lot more than just four games...

Over $900,000 in fines to teams with multiple players afoul of the drug policies.

Quick Hit 8/7 #3: Could Get Very Interesting In Minnesota Come November, and ANOTHER ESPN suspension...

Something that got buried, but continues the attempts to end the Redskins name in Washington...

The president of the University of Minnesota has said that he cannot allow the use of the "Washington Redskins" name in TCF Stadium (the Gophers' stadium, being used by the Vikings until the new professional stadium -- for which Minneapolis was made the NFL's bitch for a future Super Bowl -- is completed).

The nickname is actually considered by university president Eric Kaler a violation of the University's policies on inclusion, diversity, and non-discrimination.

The teams play November 2.

--
I have to edit to add this one in here because I basically am making this my last post before my weekend trip:

Another ESPN suspension to report:  Dan Le Betard has been suspended for putting up, in Akron, OH, a billboard with Miami's two rings (or representations of same) with the words "Thanks, LeBron..."

Look, ESPN, GET FUCKING CONTROL OF YOUR NETWORK.

--

And, with that, I bid the blog adieu for several days.  I will return, probably, Wednesday of next week with some Vegas materials in tow (almost-certainly win totals for the season from a number of different books, for starters).

Have a good weekend.

Quick Hit 8/7 #2: The NFL MUST Leave Buffalo, And There Appears To Be At Least A Billion Reasons Why

Following up a bit on the news that the Buffalo Bills, at this point, appear to be headed to the owner of the Buffalo Sabres for, as of now, $1.3 billion...

If I'm the NFL, I reject all bids.

In fact, I give the parties who would receive the funds at least $200,000,000 more than that, fold the Bills, and put a 2015 expansion team on the market (for which I know I could get two, if not three, times the money for it).

Forbes Magazine valued the Bills at $870,000,000 in August, 2013.

(Note:  That was basically the amount Jon Bon Jovi bid to move them to Toronto.)

Same magazine, a year earlier, put the Clippers at $575,000,000 -- which is now $2,000,000,000, sold to Steve Ballmer.

It would appear that a fair bid for the Bills would be DOUBLE the Sabres' owner bid, at MINIMUM.

They're not getting it in Buffalo, and it's the main reason that the NFL has to find the quickest and cleanest escape route from cities like Buffalo and Jacksonville.  The only reason I don't put Oakland on the list is the possibility they might get a sharing deal together for Levi's Stadium.  Fail that, and it's time to eject out of Oakland.

My honest opinion is the non-viability of Buffalo as a major-sports city has, at minimum, halved the real value of the Bills.  The Bills weren't worth $870,000,000 in 2013 by a long-shot -- not even with the literal printing press of money The National Religion provides.

You can't tell me with The Undisputed And Undefeated King of Sports in the USA, The National Religion, that you can't get two-thirds of the value for the CLIPPERS -- the Lakers' bitch??

Quick Hit 8/7 #1: The Five Conferences Won Autonomy, Everyone Else Lost Everything

Today, by a 16-2 vote, the NCAA allowed the five major football conferences (the ACC, SEC, Big 10, Big XII, and Pac-12 -- Notre Dame is included) autonomy to effectively make their own rules.

The first set of rules will be taken up in October and January by the NCAA.

The Board of Directors actually thinks this is going to keep Division I together.

Not only is chairman Nathan Hatch (the president of Wake Forest University) mad if he actually believes that, but, factually, this is the break-away which was threatened.

It's just going to be done within the framework of the NCAA.

Let's recall one of the first trial balloons:  The Power 5 actually want to request the other conferences to start playing their seasons in the Spring, so as to get out of the way of the Power 5 so they can have the Fall season to themselves.

And, given the amounts of money they will probably have to rake in in short order (understanding that only "the usual suspects" are making money on their athletic programs at all, and every bowl is a money-loser for the schools!) to survive, the fact is that any real player is going to play in a Power 5 conference to get the benefits, which will economically squeeze the other conferences completely out of any relevant equation.

At that point, it's a death warrant for the NCAA, because, now, you not only get your "Division IV", you get it as the SOLE source of relevant play, because of the imbalances.

I give it one calendar year before a non-Power 5 school throws in the towel on at least their football program.

Five years, and I think the Power 5 will cannibalize the lesser football programs out, and you might have 32 schools left, one for each NFL team as an official minor league ran by the NFL.

Quick Hits 8/5 #2: Other News and Absurdities

• Well, it's official.  Catheter Guy has been charged.  Paul Serbu of Franklin, OH has been charged with disorderly conduct in a cemetery -- apparently a misdemeanor, though the maximum penalty is two years in jail and a $500 fine.
• A day many athletes may have dreaded has come.  Anthony Bosch of Biogenesis was arrested today as part of the investigation which felled the end of the career of Alex Rodriguez (anyone who thinks that piece-of-shit is going to be major-league ready next year without steroids is fooling themselves.  He is slated to plead guilty to four years of distributing steroids.  What might become the real problem is not only that several other baseball clients have come to light (will be in discovery filings, headed for the public record), but, also, other professional sports, as well as minors (now admitted that at least 15-18 minors were being given steroids by Biogenesis) could be involved.
• Almost coincidentally, the man I believe is the main drug-pusher for Major League Baseball, Bud Selig, is back in the news -- for the word that we may finally be seeing his end.  Deadspin, through Bob Nightengale of USA Today, reports that one of three men will replace him as MLB Commissioner:  MLB COO and probable Selig lackey Rob Manfred, MLB VP for business and probable Selig lackey Tim Brosnan, and the long-shot in the field, Boston Red Sox chairman Tom Werner, instrumental in the great San Diego Padres fire sale of 1993.  The vote occurs a week from Thursday.
• The verbal abuse of players, other coaches, and staff has gotten College of Charleston men's basketball coach Doug Wojcik fired.  How many more such coaches in NBA minor league Division I basketball?
• In almost a manner mocking the NCAA and basically announcing the obsolete nature of the collegiate sports model, The University of South Carolina self-reported (among other violations) a violation for the making of cookie cakes for recruits which included what might've been considered impermissible situations personalizing the cakes for recruits in the icing.  Geez...
• The Chicago Bears have tossed from training camp Martellus Bennett for a fight during camp in which he slammed a rookie cornerback.  No one is sure for how long.
• It appears we now not only know that Jon Bon Jovi will not move the Bills to Toronto have an ownership stake in the Bills, but neither will Donald Trump:  Deadspin reports through the Toronto Sun that the first-round of bids has gone to the owner of the Buffalo Sabres, Terry Pegula, who has Trump beat by a cool $300,000,000 -- he's basically going to nearly double the value of the Bills to $1,300,000,000.  The Toronto Sun reports that Donald Trump actually out-bid Bon Jovi's group, who didn't even bid $900,000,000 for the Bills.  Good God, that almost assures the Cowboys are worth a cool $3.5-4 BILLION...
• More stupidities from the most protected man in 2014 college football, Heisman Trophy winner and rapist Jameis Winston. Florida State University has stepped in to pay premiums protecting Winston from loss of value should an injury befell him on the field this year, Deadspin reports. Most sane people understand this as effectively paying Winston $60,000 to play this year at FSU, with the understanding that, should he return, at least another $60,000 is on the table.

Quick Hit 8/5 #1: If the NSAC is serious, look at the whole UFC...

(Blogger's Note:  Full hiatus on the 8th through the 12th.  Heading to Vegas for some R&R and probably some football future research.)

Well, the UFC went and did it AGAIN yesterday in Las Vegas.

Anyone reading the blog has almost-certainly seen the video by now.  UFC has Media Day for several future cards in the MGM Grand lobby in Las Vegas (favorite hotel to gamble in, actually), and out comes the UFC 178 main event, Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier.

They get into the menacing pose, and, then, shit got at least as real as they won't allow it, as the ensuing fight tore down most of the architecture the UFC had set up for the day, and MGM security had to break it up.

This has not been a good summer for the UFC.  Chael Sonnen banned two years for five failed drug tests.  That has forced him to retire from mixed-martial arts.

Vitor Belfort, who was scheduled to be Sonnen's opponent in July, had failed a drug test in February and had to be scrapped completely from a title fight until December (and, that, with many conditions from the NSAC handed down the same day Sonnen was banned) with Chris Weidman, who does not believe Belfort will abide by the conditions, especially passing random drug tests.

But the facts are that if the NSAC is serious into looking into this incident, it really has to take a much larger look at MMA in general and the UFC in particular.

Let's face it:  If there were real teeth in the NSAC, Jones and Cormier would not be fighting at UFC 178 or anytime soon thereafter.  The fact is that they probably just got more buys for the pay-per-view fight in eight weeks, with more than a few people thinking that the incident, at best, was (as Deadspin put it) "on the real side of staged".

That said, how much more, especially with the rocky road MMA and Dana White have had to climb, should the UFC have to have happen before the Nevada State Athletic Commission takes a serious look at the sport, the promotion, and a head of the promotion who seems to be tiptoeing on the line on a lot of different fronts, both in and outside the Octagon?

And then there's today's drug action:  The NSAC wants Wanderlei Silva next, for evading his UFC 175 drug test -- for a fight between the two coaches of the Brazilian season of The Ultimate Fighter, cancelled when the two coaches (Silva and Sonnen) got into a fight and Silva was injured in the fight.

Now, there's a good chance neither will ever fight again, both being on major drugs.

So maybe it's time to force Dana White to put up or shut up.  Maybe it's time to look at the whole promotion, NSAC...

Quick Hit 8/4 #1: A One-Billion Dollar Trump Card for the Bills -- CASH

Well, we know this:  The value of the Bills has gone up at least 25%.


Donald Trump was interviewed as part of the waste of time second half of the Hall of Fame Game, and said he made a one-billion dollar cash offer for the Bills that could be consummated in one hour.


He's pissed they're still looking.

Quick Hits 8/3: Not A Good Weekend For Tim Finchem

Tiger Woods sulks off with another "back injury" -- probably, more, an ego deflation after another profane run-in with a cameraman (appears to be completely the cameraman's fault, as he wanted to get as up in Tiger's grill as much as sports people want us to be up in each other's).

But Tiger walking off after his tee shot on the ninth today is a bigger story than an actual WGC championship going on.  Welcome to the TGA...

Speaking of...

My friend who sometimes anonymously contributes is also a huge golf fan.  My friend let me know that the PGA *CANNOT* announce a non-PED fine or suspension, under it's Constitution and By-Laws.

Also, this is actually only his SECOND failed test for cocaine, and third overall.  (Golf.com)

Still, I have to agree with my friend:  The PGA Tour would be better off without Dustin Johnson, and I can't really see any reason he should be allowed to continue without a thorough (and I'm talking missing all of next season) rehab period.

The Tour continues to insist (see above) that this is a "leave of absence", but since this would be a second suspension for cocaine (and the mathematics appears to fit that he tested positive at the US Open, placing under real question as to whether Johnson played the US Open under some degree of influence of cocaine!!!), you'd think, at some point, there's something really wrong here.

--
Deadspin reports:

• An Inspector General of the military has been called on to investigate the Air Force athletic program.  Among the allegations is the use of date-rape drugs at a 2011 party for members of the athletic program to rape women therein.
• In the NFL's continuing effort to make a buck wherever possible, the NFL has partnered with Microsoft for an NFL app for it's newest systems, and upgraded sideline/booth technology for coaches to immediately review plays on tablets -- which, I agree with Deadspin, will get smashed at almost any conceivable opportunity.  Bad idea.
• And, oh to be young again...

Quick Hit 8/2: So Which Was It, Dustin Johnson...

Tough week for Dustin Johnson, no matter how you slice it.

The real question is not that he's leaving the PGA Tour, but why?

• He says it was for personal reasons.
• Golf.com says he's been suspended by the PGA Tour for six months for cocaine, and that it's his fourth third failed drug test and his third second for cocaine (and even at this point I really question the wisdom of the PGA Tour allowing Dustin Johnson to have a tour card)
• ... and then there's a rumor (Golf.com had one report of it, Fox Sports had another, Deadspin refers to them both in this article) that Dustin Johnson has been fooling around with at least one PGA player's wife (Golf.com account), if not at least TWO (Robert Lusetich, who said in a tweet on the matter that one of the marriages was broken up as a result, though the former spouse of one player who was possibly tied to an affair with Johnson has denied being that one).

Lusetich also stated in another tweet on the story that, when Dustin Johnson faced a drug test at the US Open in Pinehurst:

"Last time #DustinJohnson was drugs tested was @usopengolf at Pinehurst. A Tour player who saw him says "his face turned white"."

So why do I put this here?

Very simply:

If either of these sets of allegations is true, then, frankly, Dustin Johnson has no business with a PGA Tour card.

If it's the drugs (and, apparently, Lusetich has also said that the PGA Tour is stating it is a "leave of absence") and that allegation is true, he's failed four three drug tests, threetwo  for cocaine.  Even though none of it is PED, that, in most sports, would be enough to terminate a professional athlete's career, or at least for far longer for a second suspension.

If he's screwing around with spouses of other PGA Tour players, that has to fall under "conduct detrimental to the PGA Tour".  The PGA Tour is a very tightly-knit community which travels together, with many of the kids and families knowing each other on a week-to-week basis.

The PGA Tour needs to come correct on this, or else it runs the risk of not having Dustin Johnson come correct on it either.