Yep, the NFL admits they fouled up...

It's official -- the Husain Abdullah touchdown celebration should not have been flagged, according to league officials.

The most interesting part of this story was that both Abdullah and his coach, Andy Reid, thought that Abdullah was actually flagged for sliding in the end zone (which might actually make sense -- as it's "going to ground") and not for the Muslim prayer.

Nope, the league said it was for the kneeling and bowing action, which is the standard Muslim prayer, the Sajdah.  (And I can vouch for witnessing same as well with Muslims I used to live with.)

The Council on American-Islamic Relations wanted clarification, for the same double-standard concerns I stated in my previous post on the subject.

They got it today -- the league fouled up.

Sports Gone Insane, Day Twenty-Two: And the Next Round of Excrement To Hit the Proverbial Air Circulator

"Catholic Church, NFL, what's the difference?"  -- Cartman, South Park Season 18, Episode 1, "Go Fund Yourself"

Well, well, well...  Sounds like we have our next potential powderkeg...

Husain Abdullah plays for the Kansas City Chiefs.  He is a defensive back, and, as part of a large rout of the New England Patriots, picked off Tom Brady and took it in for a touchdown.

He then knelt in the end zone in prayer.

A little background:  Abdullah is a devout Muslim.  So much so, he decided to forgo a year of his NFL career to perform the hajj -- a pilgrimage to Mecca which every devout Muslim is expected to perform at least once in his or her lifetime.

You can almost guess what happens next:  The official flags Abdullah for a fifteen-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalty.

As I said with an earlier incident involving high schoolers honoring a dead friend in Texas (and getting similarly flagged), this is what you get when you have a culture of players like Terrell Owens and the like.

But this is going to be a stink.  Abdullah knelt in the end zone and prayed to Allah.

How different is that than all the players who thank God in every conceivable interview?

Or is it that he's Muslim, guys?  You know, ISIS and all???

Somebody trying to tell somebody something here, Herr Goodell?

EDIT TO ADD:  When "The Friendly Atheist" asked about this scenario, he got this response from now-former NFL Director of Officiating and current FOX officiating analyst Mike Pereira:

"The whole issue is, you can’t go to the ground on your knees or with your hand or anything. There’s only one time that you’re going to be allowed to go on your knee after you score like this, and that’s when you want to praise the Lord. If you do that, then I’m going to allow that, because I do not want to be struck by lightning, I promise you that. We will allow that."

But, wait, he's not praising the Lord -- he's praising Allah...

Pereira redoubled this on his Twitter over last Thanksgiving weekend...

you're not penalized for going to the ground to give praise after a TD
— Mike Pereira (@MikePereira) November 25, 2013

Week 4 Score Update: The Baying Animals Are Placated With Points

Well, at least part of the rhetoric is back.

For the fourth time since 2001, and I believe in NFL history, this week broke the 52 point-per-game mark.  52.08 points per game for the 13 games this week.

The average for the four weeks is now up to 46.20, now only about half a point below last year's record.

• All three prime-time national games were BLOWOUTS.  (45-14, 38-17, 41-14).  This means, through four weeks (13 national prime-time games), only four games of the national schedule were within a touchdown at some point in the fourth quarter, and only ONE decided in the last two minutes.
• Eight of the thirteen games were decided by the end of the third quarter.  Three more were only within a touchdown at some point in the fourth quarter, and only one game was decided in the last two minutes. (Tampa Bay over Pittsburgh with a TD at 0:07.)  One more game stayed within eight points.
• This means only nine games this year, through four weeks, have been decided in the last two minutes with a score.  That's 14.75% for that.
• Last year, the NFL noted that 68% of the games were within 7 at some point in the 4th quarter and that 48% of the games were decided by 7 or less.  This year?  If I even expand that to 8 points, only 59% of all the games are within 8 points at some point in the 4th quarter, and only 36% of the games are decided by 8 or less.
• To few people's surprise, over was 10-3.  Still 7-12 games below .500 for the year, depending on where you bet.
• Home teams were 8-4 this week (there was one game in London -- which I consider a neutral site).  38-22 for the year.
• Home teams, about 6.4 penalties a game. Home team was called for more penalties in 7 of the 10 games in which there was a home team and penalties were not tied.  (That's 26 out of 60 games in which this occurred, about 43%)
• About 14 penalties per game this week.
• Team with more penalties was 6-5-2 this week -- 27-30-4 for the year.
• Team with more penalties on Points of Emphasis was was 5-6-2 -- 26-23-12 for the year.

Legal Blotter: No Due Process Needed For Colts' Rogers, Dwyer Faces Nine Charges

The double-standard of the NFL lives...

Jonathan Dwyer was only deactivated after reports surfaced that he beat his wife and kid.

Friday, Dwyer was officially charged with eight misdemeanors and a felony in a grand-jury indictment, and none of them were for throwing a shoe at his son, who was under 2 years old.

But he's still formally with the Cardinals.

The same can't be said for Indianapolis' Da'Rick Rogers, arrested this morning for DUI.

But, since he doesn't produce on the field (had not played in the four games this season), he's cut immediately.

Yeah!!  DUE PROCESS!!!

More Head Cases: Another Sacrifice To The Altar Of Football, And A Coach So Clueless, There Might Be Another One

Well, the word finally got back today.

Jovan Belcher had CTE when he murder-suicided in Kansas City.

Outside the Lines reported today that Dr. Piotr Kozlowski had found signs consistent with CTE in Jovan Belcher's brain when he studied at the behest of various legal professionals associated with Belcher's family.

Another sacrifice, and more evidence (even though another doctor comes out in the report and denies such a link!) of a correlation between diseases like CTE and otherwise-unspeakable and unexplainable violence...

--

And then another story which might well be this coach's end -- if the historic three-loss September at Michigan doesn't get Brady Hoke fired first.

Deadspin has the video of a cheap shot taken on Michigan quarterback Shane Morris (so bad that the ESPN announcers said the NCAA's targeting rule should've applied and the Minnesota defensive player who committed the hit should've been ejected from the contest), and the subsequent obvious concussion that Morris suffered as a result.

Of course, this was all oblivious to Hoke and the team of trainers who let Morris back in to play the game, with not only the concussion, but a leg injury which compromised his mobility to begin with.

Yeah, "fire this asshole", to be sure.  He's probably gone this week anyway.

On top of it, this is another case of a formerly big-time program now basically beyond all semblance of repair.  As long as there is football in places like Michigan, this is going to continue.

Allred: Another Player Was Allowed to Rape Saturday, Play Sunday

Yardbarker through the New York Daily News:

Gloria Allred, already in the center of the domestic-violence controversy by representing one of the victims of Brandon Marshall, said in another press conference this week that she personally hand-delivered a letter containing a report that an NFL player raped someone who immediately contacted Allred for representation.

Allred said that the player raped her client on Saturday, and was allowed to play the next day.  This was Week 3, so that excluded the two teams who played Thursday night (Atlanta and Tampa Bay) and the two teams who played Monday night (Chicago and the Jets).

If Bill Simmons has no proof, then one question to ESPN's Ombudsman...

ESPN's Ombudsman, Robert Lipsyte, the person who is at least purportedly in charge of standards for the network, went to bat for the network's suspension of Bill Simmons, stating:

"No columnist has the right to call Roger Goodell a liar without clear evidence behind it."

To wit I only had one question:

"Well, lapdog for the NFL, if we're going to say Bill Simmons has no proof the Commissioner lied, then WHY IN THE FUCKING HELL DOES KEITH OLBERMANN, WHO HAS SAID THIS FOR _TWO WEEKS NOW_, STILL HAVE A JOB WITH YOUR NETWORK?

You're a lapdog for Roger Goodell and your network is becoming a joke, again."

2014 Week 3 Fine Blotter

I think if there's any remaining evidence left that Roger Goodell is phasing out the Player Safety Initiative completely, it's this:

For all the melee and screwing around you saw on that fight between Philadelphia and Washington:

• The hit which sparked it -- the blindside block on Philadelphia quarterback Nick Foles -- was declared LEGAL.  No "defenseless player".  No "Chad Clifton Rule".  Troy Vincent of the NFL said that, since Foles was trailing in the general direction of the play, he could be drilled.
• Washington Redskins:  Jason Peters, $10,000 for a punch to the head.
• Philadelphia Eagles:  Chris Baker, $8,268 for a flagrant face mask.  Both were tossed.

That's the entire extent of the fines for that incident.  No fines for all the players entering the area of the fight (though it is in the fine schedule!), nothing for any of the other screwing around.

Other fines:

• San Francisco 49ers:  Anquan Boldin, $8,268 for a headbutt.
• Boldin may have been additionally fined for post-game comments against the officiating.  That hasn't been revealed.  The 49ers gave 8 first downs via penalty against the Cardinals, and lead the league with 36 penalties through three weeks.
• San Francisco 49ers:  Jonathan Martin, $8,268 for a clip.
• San Francisco 49ers:  Eric Reid, $8,268 for a face mask.
• Buffalo Bills:  Mike Williams, $11,025 for a uniform violation -- illegal red socks. TWO-TIME LOSER.
• Buffalo Bills:  Brandon Spikes, $8,268 for unnecessary roughness, another headbutt.  TWO-TIME LOSER.
• Pittsburgh Steelers:  LeGarrette Blount, $5,512 for throwing a ball into the stands.
• Tennessee Titans:  Michael Oher, $8,268 for a late hit.

That's it for the moment.

Oh COME ON....

Was it Olbermann ragging on Jeter that got your goats?

Here's the MLB video... From the YES Network feed...


Orioles 5 - Yankees 5

Last home game for Derek Jeter, and he's up with a man in scoring position.  (Second)

First pitch -- right down the slot, "right down Broadway" as John Sterling would say, base hit to right, run scores, Yankees win ("THEEEEEEEEEEEE YANKEES -- WIN!" -- sorry...), walk-off for Jeter in his final Yankee Stadium at-bat.

And, as my anonymous contributor (huge baseball aficionado who knows the game -- hence pointed out what the better video pointed out that the original one I posted could not) told me, watch the throw from a great right fielder... No urgency, no nothing...

The moment was just far too convenient.

OH -- FREAKING -- PLEASE...

Someone Just Needs To Get To The Bottom Of This Jameis Winston Thug....

... and, when they do, it's pretty clear we can say goodbye to another Heisman and another national title.

I don't know who to believe on this latest one, but the fact is that there's enough "smoke" here that there is "fire".  (Source:  Yahoo!)

The latest on the Heisman rapist is that parties are claiming that the woman whom Winston raped ("allegedly") was either offered $7 million by Winston's attorneys to shut up, or one of her lawyers asked Winston for that hush money.

Wait a second...  I get that there's great money in keeping this quiet, but where is he going to come up with that money (*cough cough*), and how much more of this can they take before, say, there's an unexpected ACC loss on FSU's schedule and ESPN doesn't want to deal with them anymore in the inaugural College Football Playoff?

Good grief, Jameis....

Hey, Goodell, You Gonna Suspend Me Too? YOU LIED, MOTHERFUCKER!!!

Deadspin, through the Associated Press, again:

For the second time, the AP has reported that the NFL is lying when it said they never saw the video -- and, for the second time, an unnamed law enforcement officer sent the NFL's head of security the video in April -- stated as a "professional courtesy" he was not authorized to do.

So, Roger, how long do I get suspended for calling you a LYING PIECE OF SHIT?

Bill Simmons Wanted It -- HE JUST GOT IT!!!

Suspended from ESPN for THREE WEEKS.

Bill Simmons got exactly what he asked for.  He asked ESPN to punish him for calling a spade a spade and calling Roger Goodell a liar...

Today, ESPN banned Simmons for three weeks.

There is going to be a house-cleaning at ESPN.  Olbermann's done, so is Bob Ley, Adam Schefter can prepare to pack bags too.

You don't piss off the meal ticket.

NFL Sponsors Now Wishing To Remove Themselves From Raven and Viking Telecasts

Deadspin through The Hollywood Reporter...

But that's not the point:  They're only switching off of those two teams.  And, frankly, one of them is sliding toward abject irrelevancy anyway.

Moreover, they're only asking to be switched to other games.

But when the rubber hits the road, there's still advertising for those games.

Until that actually STOPS...

SI Poll: Split on Goodell's Future, More...

Sports Illustrated did a "State of the Game" poll it posted on it's website today.  Issues were not limited to the Rice, Peterson, etc. issues.

Scientific poll, over 500 people asked.

• 37.8% said he should be fired for his mishandling of the issues, with about another third saying they were unsure.  Only a tick less than 30% felt he should stay.  Of female fans, only one in five said he should stay.
• When the five major names (Rice, Hardy, Peterson, McDonald, Dwyer) were listed regarding the domestic violence and child-abuse issues, those polled were first asked whether they followed these stories closely.  Of those who did, they then were asked whether that person's story diminished their opinion of the NFL.  About half of those said yes, in all five cases (high was 55% in Rice, low was 48% for Dwyer).
• But they still love the game anyway.  Less than one in ten (9%) says their interest has decreased, and, in fact, about a third say it's increased.
• 85% of those surveyed said they'd let their sons play tackle football, despite the mounting evidence the game cannot be made safe.
• The five major sports leagues were then rated as to whether their players were good role models.  Slightly less than half (46%) said the NFL players were not.  Surprisingly to the long-standing ghetto image of the league (hence, my tag taking a jab at the NBA when required), the NBA actually fared the best of all the leagues.
• Only 38% of those asked even knew what CTE was.
• Only about one in four surveryed said head injuries was reducing their interest in football.  (However, when taken as a fraction of those who knew about CTE, the former number is about 2/3 the latter.)
• An interesting question which might give some thought to the new Player Conduct Policy:  At what point should a player be suspended in the process?  Of six choices, 36% said after conviction, but 28% said only being charged with the crime should be sufficient, and another 16% said an arrest was sufficent.  The American public is getting that football players usually don't get convicted of anything.
• Fans believe about a third of the players in the league use PEDs, and 85-90% believe players should be suspended for the use of illicit drugs and PEDs, except marijuana (which is about half and half).
• Only slightly more than a third (37%) of all NFL fans support legislation legalizing gambling on the NFL.
• The exact opposite percentage (63%) have not placed bets on football or played fantasy football for money.
• Only one in four think the Washington Redskins should change their name, only one in ten believe it's very offensive.
• Two in five believe the game will not resemble today's in 20 years.  The criteria used were situations regarding contact and player equipment.
• About half (48%) actually OPPOSE an 18-game season.

So, basically, fans are completely numb to the real issues surrounding football.  Greeeeeeeeeeat...

Could ESPN and the NFL head to a showdown?

Add Bill Simmons to the list which now has to include Bob Ley, Keith Olbermann, Adam Schefter...

Simmons, among other things, does "The B.S. Report", one of a number of podcasts on ESPN's "Podcenter", which you can almost certainly use all the usual means to get (ESPN's own site, iTunes, etc.).

He may not be doing it much longer.

Business Insider reports that Simmons used a large part of his podcast Monday eviscerating Roger Goodell's press conference the preceding Friday and gives a money quote with this gem (from the Business Insider report):

"I just think not enough is being made out of the fact that they knew about the tape and they knew what was on it. Goodell, if he didn't know what was on that tape, he's a liar. I'm just saying it. He is lying. I think that dude is lying. If you put him up on a lie detector test that guy would fail. For all these people to pretend they didn't know is such f------ b-------. It really is — it's such f------ b-------. And for him to go in that press conference and pretend otherwise, I was so insulted. I really was.

[...]

I really hope somebody calls me or emails me and says I'm in trouble for anything I say about Roger Goodell. Because if one person says that to me, I'm going public. You leave me alone. The commissioner's a liar and I get to talk about that on my podcast ... Please, call me and say I'm in trouble. I dare you."

Ruh roh.  Methinks there's going to be a meeting, Real Soon Now, between Goodell and the top brass at ESPN...

This One Is Going To Bear Watching: Could We Have Another Sacrifice to the Altar of Football?

Over the weekend, we learned of the death of former Tennessee Titans kicker Rob Bironas.

One car crash.

On surface, it wouldn't mean that much.

Except we now have two reports over the last two days, according to Deadspin, which indicate something might've gone down here.

Late yesterday, it was reported that an eyewitness had come forward and said Bironas (who had been released from nine years with the Titans this offseason) had tried to run her off the road that night, minutes before the fatal accident.

He appeared angry, and, as the 911 call the witness made said, could've been drunk.

Except for one problem:  He told his wife, about 10:30, that he was going to bed.  There was no fight, no domestic violence, nothing.  No drinks nor apparent drugs.  But when his wife went in to check on him, he was gone!

According to The Tennessean, that would've been approximately 30 minutes or so before the crash took place.

Now, another report today, another eyewitness...  Again, Deadspin through The Tennesseean:

"Connor Fraley said he was a passenger in a vehicle driving behind Bironas' white SUV on Battery Lane when he and others in the truck noticed a burning smell coming from Bironas' vehicle.

"His window was down, and we pulled up and I said, "Hey man, just a heads up, something's burning from your exhaust. Your exhaust smells horrible, just wanted to let you know,'' Fraley recalled telling Bironas. "He looked over at me and said "I'm going to kill everybody in your (expletive) vehicle. It was so random, so bizarre I was like, "What?" And he said the exact same thing again.""

 [...]

"At one point, near the Thompson Lane overpass, "he tried to sideswipe the vehicle and missed us by a foot.""

There are really only two options.

One is CTE, that he took a couple shots to the head, maybe at lower levels of football, or by some special-teams idiots wanting to make a statement on the opponent's kicker.

The other?  A drug like Ambien, as one Deadspin commenter pointed out:

"Ambien. That'd be my guess, anyway. Wouldn't be the first time someone violently and irrationally and blamed the sleep aid for their behavior."

(Hat-tip to my anonymous friend again)

Let's get this done... Score Report Week 3

Highest scoring week of the 3 so far.

46.5 a game this week (even though three totals were 29, 26, and 25)

44.6 is now the average for the season, about 2.1 points a game below last season.

Some more figures:

• Of the 10 national prime-time games so far, only one has been decided in the final two minutes, and only four have been decided by one score -- and two of those were decided by exactly eight points.
• Only two games were decided in the last two minutes this week (Baltimore's win over Cleveland, and, of course, the Super Bowl rematch -- only eight such games so far, 1/6 of those played), while four more games were decided by eight or fewer points (10 for the season), and another 5 (for 11 total) were within same at some point in the fourth quarter (13 of those for the season, 64.58% of the games this season fit one or more of these criteria).
• The over was 8-8 this week, except for the Stratosphere, where the Monday nighter pushed for 7-8-1.  Over is 22-26 to 18-26-4, depending on where you got it.
• Home teams 9-7 again for 30-18 total.
• Home teams were actually called for one penalty fewer a game than last week.  Visitors were up about 1/3 of a penalty.
• Total penalties accepted:  217, -5 from the first two weeks.  (661 total, a little more than 13 a game)
• Team with more penalties this week was 5-10-1, but the last three games completed were won by the team with more penalties. (21-25-2 for the year)
• Teams with more penalties accepted for Points of Emphasis fouls were 6-8-2 for the week.  (21-17-10)
• The home team was only called for more penalties, again this week, 6 out of 16 games. (19 for the three weeks)

Now back to the real news.

Ah, The Idiots of Sports Radio

Well, I've spent many a day enjoying myself with sports radio discussion (less so recently than in years past, to be true!), and it can't be a very good sports time right now in Washington, DC...

But you do have to wonder how bad things are getting when Deadspin picks up THIS Twitter gem from the Program Director of WJFK in Washington:

@johnmtaylor We had a caller theorize that Kirk threw the game at the end to avoid a huge QB controversy. Beat that.

— Chris Kinard (@ChrisKinard) September 22, 2014

Sports Gone Insane Day 15: The Ravens Really Think We're Idiots, and So Does Goodell

• Well, the Ravens took their spin at PR today, with owner Steve Biscotti doing a press conference...

From the linked ESPN report:

"The majority of the sources [from the report] are people that work for Ray," Bisciotti said. "Almost everything in there is anonymous, but it's clear from the subject matter that it's Ray's attorney, it's Ray's agent, it's Ray's friends."

Wait a minute...  Hold it a second...

Unless the intent here by Rice's camp is to completely destroy the Baltimore Ravens through an outside legal action, Mr. Biscotti (and, even then, that's debatable, given the nature of the NFL as America's most powerful corporation), what would they have to gain, especially given the history of the Ray-Ray Ravens?

Rice would be looked at as part of a criminal conspiracy to cover up the incident (on top of the incident itself), and would actually be throwing the one entity who could save him under the bus -- the underground network of NFL "fixers" who got exposed by TMZ, and doubly so by OTL...

It makes no sense.

Just before the press conference, what the report called a "lengthy rebuttal" to the OTL report was also published.  Among other things, the statement noted:

• John Harbaugh, it was reported, actually wanted to cut Rice, but was overruled.  Harbaugh denies the allegation.
• The team Director of Security has a completely different account of what occurred when he was first contacted about the incident and the tape.  One of the inconsistencies is that he said the police told him in the initial description that both parties in the video (Rice and his future wife) were intoxicated.
• Team GM Ozzie Newsome denied the level of detail in which the report alleges he and Rice went into the incident.  Newsome says Rice told him he hit Janay, and nothing further was discussed.
• One of the major allegations in the video is that the Ravens' brass tried to work the legal system to Rice's advantage for leniency (a common tactic of "fixers" in the NFL for decades).  Team owner Biscotti and team President Dick Cass deny this.

It's all bullshit.

You know why?

Anyone who actually believes this shit does not understand that there are two things that, given the circumstances, should immediately be done:

• The individuals and organizations involved should be suing the absolute hides off of ESPN and everyone they believe whom, within Ray Rice's camp, fabricated the story (what I call the "Rafael Palmeiro Principle" of "Where's the lawsuits???")
• And the NFL needs to find a new home for Monday Night Football mid-season, contracts be damned.

Why?

People forget that ESPN is the NFL's bitch!!!  Playmakers, anyone?

EDIT TO ADD:  Perhaps this is why Deadspin pointed out one of the statements from Biscotti press conference:

"As for what he expects the ultimate fallout to be in the Ravens front office? "Nobody's losing a job here," Bisciotti said. "I'm very confident about that.""

Perhaps indicating one or more parties at ESPN might be?

• Of course, this isn't the only doozy in the continuing skirmishes between ESPN and the Ravens about the Ray Rice video...

Adam Schefter of ESPN reports that a number of NFL players were sharing the video of the incident within a week or two like what the Deadspin report refers to as "like a World Star clip" -- referring to infamous YouTube clips from a hip hop site of street fights and knockouts all over the nation, leading to the completely asinine national meme of people whipping out their cell phones any time there is a fight, even at schools, anymore.

Schefter, quoted within the Tom Ley report:

"You would have to think at some point somebody here will be in trouble over this. The security guy clearly knew exactly what was going on. Leadership, management, did what it could to conceal and push it through. I think that Ray Rice's track record helped him here, that they cared about him. They wanted to believe that it was an isolated deal but they knew. There were players who were in Las Vegas a week or two after this incident and I know one player said, "You want to see the videotape of what happened?" So there were players who could see the videotape, yet the Ravens, many of the Ravens, claim they couldn't see it."

• And then there's word today that my supposition (that Goodell was able to go on the offensive on Friday because of the positive NBC News/Marist poll regarding viewing habits of football and his job) may have more credence, according to another Deadspin report.

Dave McKenna's article (of which I'm not sure if it was actually through another media source) stated that an associate of political pollster Frank Luntz said that the entire speech was right out of the playbook of whom the article referred to as, speaking about Luntz, "lord of the dark arts of political messaging".

This, really, should be no surprise.  Outside of political circles and the absolutely idiotic NFL fanbase, the press conference on Friday was so universally decried that ESPN OTL's Bob Ley tweeted this, according to McKenna:

Five hours now, reading and reading those I respect and follow, and have yet to see ONE single positive reaction to @nflcommish presser.
— Bob Ley (@BobLeyESPN) September 20, 2014

I think it's clear (and some of the numbers I've been seeing in the scores and the like indicate this) that the NFL is trying to win the propaganda war to keep the fans in line and the women beat down, but they are expending a considerable amount of energy which would otherwise be placed elsewhere on doing so.

They are winning, though, and it's regrettable they are.

Sports Gone Insane, Day 14 Part 2: And on NFL Sunday, God-ell (and others) created Stupid

Sometimes I wonder if it was a waste of time to get an education.

Here are a number of examples as to why:

• We now receive word through Deadspin that the main impetus of Ray Rice's appeal of his indefinite ban will be...  that he has evidence that TMZ edited the video of his punch.

NOT the means by which, as repugnant as it would be, even I would have to admit he'd probably win (even though I asked for it before the punch video was also released!):  Double jeopardy.

• Fellow criminal Ratbird Ray Lewis:  "There are some things you can cover up, and some things you can't."  At least, to his apparent credit, he was slamming his friend Rice for the punch incident, but it is rather ironic how Murderer Ray is an expert on such subjects. *cough!*
• We got information, buried in much of the rest of the OTL Ravens cover-up story, that the Ravens actually were about to offer Ray Rice a cushy office job for his cooperation in all of this mess.
• Let's play a little game here, one you might well have played as a very young child.

First, let me sing the song:

"One of these things is not like the others..
 One of these things just doesn't belong...
 Can you tell me which thing is not like others...
 Before I finish this song??"  -- Sesame Street

Three clips, three incidents in the NFL games this weekend.

First, Thursday night in Atlanta, an NFL record was broken...



Not the greatest of videos, but the one which will get the point across.

Now, we go to Miami, where Brian Hartline needs this birdie...


I actually like the guy on the couch there, and there's no other video I could find.  The official in the picture, well, you'll get the idea in a second...

And, third, Washington's DeSean Jackson, back in Philadelphia, after fans burned one of his jerseys in effigy...


Two of these were flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct. Hester's was, so was the "golf putt".  (The latter was the classic "choereographed celebration" foul, but will someone explain to me why the Lambeau Leap is, then, allowed?)

Will someone from the NFL please explain to me why Jackson was not flagged at LEAST once (and you could make the case for TWICE) for taunting?

And Jackson, apparently, later in the game, was part of an incident where he clocked a Philadelphia player, in a game which will almost certainly be an expensive Fine Blotter situation.

• Another Raider-Patriot game in Foxboro, another bad call screws the Raiders.  Stop me if we've gone here before.

Those last two might give you an idea of where they might be going (other than Seattle) for Super Bowl possibilities.

• Saturday night, ESPN gave us a big idea as to who was winning the first College Football Playoff.

This was Florida State's biggest game in a weak ACC -- with their rapist quarterback suspended for showing what he truly was again, Clemson had an opportunity to beat Florida State and end the championship run.

But, after a turnover which cost them the last chance of winning in regulation, they laid an egg on 4th down in overtime and Florida State (with chips called in) survived with Jameis Winston on the sidelines.

... a Jameis Winston who was verbally referenced in the broadcast 60 times, and shown on the broadcast on 48 separate occasions for eight full minutes, according to Deadspin.

Ladies and gentlemen, ESPN has spoken:  The rapist pig is probably getting another Heisman, and almost certainly is getting the first CFP title, unless he can't keep his dick in his pants for the next four months.

This was the same Jameis Winston who had to be expelled to the locker room by his coach because he refused to respect his suspension and came out and practiced in full pads before the game began.

But the coach knows where his bread is buttered:  Winston officially rejoins the team on Monday.

• And one, on this last week of the regular season, from baseball:  The second baseman for the St. Louis Cardinals, Kolten Wong, is a religious man, according to Deadspin...

For those interested, Psalms 3:16 reads...

Well, it doesn't. THERE IS NO PSALMS 3:16!!! Psalm 3 only has 8 or 9 verses.

Nice job.

Sports Gone Insane Day Fourteen: Dan Le Batard Asks The Uncomfortable Question

I always wondered what would happen if someone actually decided to connect all the dots.

On a day where a mass baseball-style exchange occurred in Philadelphia (it wasn't that much of a brawl -- it was more a bunch of players trying to get in a two-man fight after a defenseless-player cheapie and not doing much while doing so), Dan Le Betard of ESPN asks the question which, frankly, could end football:

Does football itself contribute to bad behavior NFL can't prevent?

For anyone who's been paying attention, this is the question which no one wants to answer at any level of football, because the only real answer to the question ends football at all levels.

If anyone does not believe that some of these injuries do contribute (not in the style that Jim Nantz tried to use to defend Ray Rice, but, more, in the style of what, for example, killed Nancy Benoit) to some of these players literally going murderously insane, you have a mounting pile of evidence which indicates you are wrong!

I've begun, after years of talking with ex-NFL fans about it, to use the same term Ralph Nader used to use about certain cars for the sport of football:  "Unsafe at any speed."

Le Batard's first paragraph says volumes:

"Football has gotten too big and too strong and too violent, and maybe the collateral damage can't be controlled or governed, not even by the most punitive commissioner in the history of sports, who this week was reduced to a public piñata by his league. America's favorite bloodsport continues to sell the nobility and strength of the human spirit while every limping week, as bodies pile up on the sidelines, we learn a little more about how the sport has outgrown the limits of the human body and the human brain."

That's players hopped up on steroids, HGH, and God knows what else to make them bigger, faster, stronger, etc.

It all comes down to Newton's Second Law.  If you make an athlete bigger and faster, he will exert more force.

Enough force, and it doesn't matter whether the hit is legal or not, it will injure the opponent.

Enough such injuries, and you may create a monster.

One of the only disagreements I have is the "evidence" given that the amount of domestic violence of football players pales to the rest of America.  Especially if we start to understand the sport's role in the disease of CTE, and then CTE's role in maddening levels of instant insanity...

Le Batard makes the point again later in the article:

"There is no winning argument on the other side of that Rice elevator video or a photo of a beaten 4-year-old or the visceral and sick reaction America had to seeing them. But is it at all possible at least some of these crazy criminals being handcuffed in football are, in fact, being made crazy and criminal by all these brain-altering collisions?

Before you dismiss that football itself might be an accomplice when it comes to some violent and erratic behavior you don't see with the same regularity in other sports, before you rail with judgment about personal accountability and those millionaire punks, remember that old warriors such as Junior Seau and Andre Waters and Dave Duerson killed themselves to stop all the pain and darkness, with their choice seeming rational to them amid their evidently altered brain chemistry, ending life a better idea than living it, suicide as solution."

Le Batard is already on the outs with the network as it is.

This article, probably, is another example of ESPN getting "too close" to actual investigative reporting for their the NFL's own good.

Sports Gone Insane, Going Back A Couple of Days: Has ESPN Heard Enough NFL Exposing?

Deadspin again.

Someone (my anonymous friend again) is beginning to wonder whether ESPN is trying to can Bob Ley, much like CBS basically caught out Dan Rather a couple years ago.

On Thursday's Outside the Lines, Ley is revealing some of the cover-ups the ESPN article spoke of on the part of the Baltimore Ravens, and he said the following, apparently reading from his script/teleprompter:

"Ravens officials have said that they did not have a full picture of what happened in the elevator until the video was made public, but sources said the Ravens had a cell phone copy of the inside elevator video all along and that a casino employee had also given a copy to an NFL security official."

There's a key word there:  The script said that it was a "cell phone copy" of the video.

No such video exists, and, yes, Ley backed from it later and corrected his error.

But one has to be left to wonder if there are people inside ESPN, on orders from the league, told to try to force the same fate Dan Rather got on the likes of Ley and Olbermann and anyone else who dares desecrate Thy Holy Shield of Football Manhood...

Because, if the true purpose of this "New Personal Conduct Policy" -- eradicating all penalties for personal conduct (except those which will help the league in one form or another) -- is what I think it is, people like TMZ and OTL are getting far too close to the truth.

Sports Gone Insane, Day Thirteen: A Few More Addicts Speak Out

Do you recall that SportsNation poll I posted at the time it said about 2/3 of all respondents said Goodell should be fired?


Well, a day after Outside the Lines eviscerated the Ravens and NFL and exposed the 21st-century generation of "fixers" to the public, they asked "Should Roger Goodell remain as NFL Commissioner?"


As of writing, about 365,000 votes were cast, 60-40 in favor of that he should not.

Might as well: Week 2 Fine Blotter

• San Francisco 49ers:  Colin Kapernick, $11,025 for his "inappropriate language" foul.  EDIT 9/21:  Took a couple further days, but it looks like Kapernick was flagged and fined for "Back the fuck up"???  That's not "inappropriate language" foul, unless you're trying to tell us the league is in full "Screw the 49ers" Mode...
• New York Jets:  Muhammad Wilkerson, $20,000 for a fight, a punch to the head, and an ejection.
• New York Jets:  Sheldon Richardson, $8,268 for a face mask.
• Miami Dolphins:  Dion Sheldon.  Got the final two games of his initial four-game suspension revoked under the changes in the drug policy...
• Miami Dolphins:  Dion Sheldon:  ... only to get suspended for FOUR MORE for another offense.  According to Spotrac, he's cost himself $1.65 million for the six games, unless he gets the first two back...
• Baltimore Ravens:  Terrell Suggs:  $5,512 for a uniform violation.  Was it that gladiator mask?
• Indianapolis Colts:  Jonathan Newsome:  $22,050 for a blindside block.

Following players, all $16,537 for Roughing the Passer:

• St. Louis Rams:  JoLonn Dunbar. 
• San Francisco 49ers:  Quinton Dial.
• Baltimore Ravens:  Courtney Upshaw.

That's all they have right now on Spotrac.  If I see more later, I'll add to it.

Sports Gone Insane, Day Twelve, Part Two: Goodell Goes On The Offensive

I really think this all goes back to the poll released yesterday by NBC News and Marist.

For about a week and a half, Commissioner Goodell was seen as silent and rudderless.

So imagine my surprise (until I thought about the poll yesterday) when I saw the ABC News Special Report that Goodell was finally in front of the cameras, feigning apology and stating he would do everything in his power to do better.

Well, perhaps firing the entire Baltimore Ravens organization might be a start here.

But he looked contrite, and, of course, that will be enough for the hounds baying for blood in the National Freefall League.

So...  What did he actually SAY, other than "We fucked up."?

The NFL released Goodell's statement in full in this .PDF file.

• The NFL stands behind the belief that Robert Mueller will conduct an independent investigation...  even though ties to the owners overseeing it and the Ravens and the financial well-being of the league to Mueller and his legal firm have been exposed.
• Goodell pledges re-examination and change to the programs of advocacy and resources for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.  Never mind that, as the BMOC in both high school and college, the odds that many of these "men" have not left beatings and sexual assaults and worse in their wake for years before becoming NFL players is near zero.  The problem is NOT just the NFL in this regard -- it's the ENTIRE MISOGYNISTIC PRESENTATION OF THE SPORT OF FOOTBALL.  AT ALL LEVELS.
• Education and resource information has been provided to the teams...  which I see as about the level of the dreaded "sensitivity training", to be immediately tuned out by the brutes.
• New partnerships with the National Domestic Violence Hotline and the National Sexual Violence Resource Center.  If you want to see how bad things are getting in this country, the NFL's problems helped create an 84% increase, week over week, of call volume to the NDVH.  The hotline was, seriously put, overwhelmed.
• He at least admits that the current standards and practices do not meet the expectations of those of us with brains in this country with respect to player conduct.
• Goodell and NFLPA head DeMaurice Smith will co-chair a panel of experts to look at the present policy and see how it can be modified (yet left Constitutional).
• There will be a new Personal Conduct Policy in the league by Super Bowl XLIX.

AND THAT'S WHAT I'M AFRAID OF.

I truly believe that Goodell will use this opportunity, buoyed by the continued support of fans across Football Nation America, to use a combination of the Constitutional protection (which cannot be removed) of "due process under the law" and blatant cover-ups like the Outside the Lines program showed off today on the Ray Rice fiasco to completely eradicate any and all Personal Conduct Policies and to allow the players to basically do whatever the Hell they want -- just like they have in high school and college.

How is a domestic violence victim going to be able to go up against the "fixers" of the 21st Century in the NFL, especially when that victim is going to need to allow "due process" to play out to take a football player off the field?

I think Goodell is openly lying when he says he believes the majority of the league is upstanding in these regards.  I believe that a bald-faced lie:  A rough back-of-napkin mathematics look at it would place my estimate of the number of players who have committed domestic violence and similar acts at half the freaking league.

The fans DO NOT WANT players who are "too human" and treat their wives and children well.

If they did, they'd shut off these games by the fucking millions over the last two weeks -- without question.  Eight million did turn off Falcons-Buccaneers, but 35-0 in the second quarter to 56-14 at the end for Atlanta was a more likely cause than this nation getting a conscience.

Sports Gone Insane, Day Twelve: Some Odds And Ends

• May we have seen the last of Jameis Winston?  Florida State University announced tonight that he is now banned for the entire contest tomorrow night -- tomorrow's feature prime-time contest between the defending champs and Clemson.  The investigation, continuing, into his inappropriate remark has seen his suspension doubled.
• Sounds like it's not just the fans at Rutgers who are "classless" against Pedophile State.  The athletic director of the university made an off-color joke about the whole affair last fall.
• Rex Chapman going beyond shoplifting and into grand theft:  $14,000 worth of it.
• There was much criticism when the UFC reinstated Wanderlai Silva -- domestic abuser and all -- even with an evaded drug test that sends him in front of the Nevada State Athletic Commission next week.  His wife posted two YouTube videos -- one of him with a gun and the other of him high on cocaine.  On the basis of that, he's gone again.
• Another UFC fighter, another MMA domestic violence, another person out:  Anthony Johnson, as evidence has been raised of incidents in at least 2009 and 2012.
• Across the barrier into boxing:  Floyd Mayweather, in trouble with the NSAC?  Not as a boxer, though -- his status as a promoter and some of the practices out of his gym, revealed in a preview series (I believe on HBO) for the second Maidana fight.  Mayweather has a situation called "Dog House Rules" - "The rules are you fight until someone quits."  The NSAC wants to know how it was allowed for a 31-minute "round" under those conditions...  (The marijuana Mayweather was smoking nearby doesn't help matters.)

Sports Gone Insane, Day Twelve: OTL Basically Shows NFL Not Interested in Janay Rice's Safety

I'll get to the Goodell presser in a moment, but here's one which probably went under all the radars.

The Ravens have massively aided in the cover-up of the Rice incident from the night of February 15, 2014, when the punch-out happened.

Outside the Lines has investigated, and found that, the night of the incident, the Director of Security of the Ravens actually spoke with some of the security at the hotel -- one of whom identified himself as a Ravens fan.

This was the beginning of a systematic pattern which all but proves Keith Olbermann's rant from about ten days ago or so:  Complete cover-up by the Ravens and the NFL, complicity on all other relevant parties.

The team president (Dick Cass) and GM (Ozzie Newsome) knew and tried to downplay the incident, praying for leniency on all fronts -- criminal and NFL.

The NFL was nowhere near insistent enough on evidence collection, up to and including that infamous interview with Janay with league officials, the NFL officials, and the same team officials complicit in the cover-up present.

You really need to read this if you want an understanding of how far the fraud -- both on the field and off -- goes.  This is probably the most comprehensive view of the "fixers" of the league and how they "fix" "problems" which might prevent maximum entertainment and manipulation of and through the contests that most people still have no problem seeing every Thursday, Sunday, and Monday.

This, even though a majority of those polled do understand that the amount of this conduct has reached epidemic proportions.

This is probably the first real comprehensive timeline as to how the NFL would've been able to successfully "fix" this "problem" had it not been for Harvey Levin and TMZ.

Just read this -- if you have an open enough mind to understand how far this has gone.

EDIT TO ADD:  ... not to mention, as my anonymous friend points out, that this is most certainly a violation of state and probably Federal law.  And, if Federal, probably talking RICO here.

Sports Gone Insane Day Eleven Part Two: Most Americans Showing True Colors, Support Domestic Violence and Child Abuse

No one should be surprised by many of these poll numbers, given the recent ratings.


However, Sports Illustrated, today, reports that an NBC News/Marist poll indicates:

• Though 53% of all respondents and 57% of the football fans polled do not believe the NFL has done an acceptable job of handling recent domestic violence reports...
• Only 29% of those polled believe Roger Goodell should step down as Commissioner. 
• And a full 86% of those polled state they have not changed their viewing habits -- with 3% actually saying they'll watch more!
• There is a cultural difference in different parts of the country regarding corporal punishment as child abuse.  Only 34% of those responding say corporal punishment is a proper way to discipline a child.
• However, that number rises to a bare majority (51%) in the South.

Given some of these numbers, is Keith Olbermann right when he said that Anheuser-Busch got Adrian Peterson re-suspended?


I'm not 100% sure now.

Sports Gone Insane Day Eleven: Dwyer Charges Surface, Jon Stewart GOES OFF

Another day, more insanity...

• The Tempe, AZ police report on Jonathan Dwyer was released today in his domestic violence incident, and it doesn't look good.  FOX Sports reported Dwyer headbutted his wife and broke her nose when she didn't want to have sex with him when he wanted it.  Moreover, he punched her in the face the next day.
• EDIT TO ADD:  Deadspin reports, according to another FOX Sports article, that, at least on one occasion, Dwyer is alleged to have thrown a shoe at his one-year old son.  Which is why Reggie Bush's word choices should get him investigated -- because that can be considered "harsh" punishment too, Reggie.
• Another reason we need to abolish football:  This indecipherable Tweet from September 9 (can't embed - he deleted it later) by Jonathan Dwyer, showing he's not only a 0 on the Wonderlic, but another "God-fearing" hypocrite as well.
• Add Pepsi to the growing list of sponsors who are now just "upset" with the NFL.  I wonder what happens with some of you companies when you get even as smart as I am and start connecting the dots...  Too bad the woman writing the letter is completely clueless -- she believes Goodell will do the right thing.
• And John Stewart of "The Daily Show" has fired off his second set of rounds at the NFL and Goodell and any other complicit parties...
• All in all, so far, the quietest day of the last two weeks.  Can't see that staying for long.  Stay tuned...
• Brian Tuohy will be in Las Vegas this weekend, so I have until at least early next week to put together a more comprehensive post on his site for the events of the last two weeks -- from the Hawks to Ray Rice to Oscar Pistorius to Adrian Peterson...

(E-)Sports Gone Insane: It's Not Just Physical Sports Going Nuts Right Now

What do you do when all the news seems bad?

In the spirit of my continuing "Sports Gone Insane" series about football, I report on an e-sports incident -- a high-level professional computer-gamer incident which has clouded the beginning of one of the highest-profile events in computer gaming:  The Season 4 (Fourth Annual) League of Legends World Championships.

Dennis Johnsen of Denmark is a member of European qualifiers SK Gaming for the sixteen-team tournament.  His team and seven others have group play this weekend in Taiwan.

Earlier this week (Monday), Johnsen was witnessed playing the game on a Taiwanese server in which he used a racist nickname, not to be repeated here.

This was the last of several such incidents Johnsen has been observed as having, and League of Legends creator/sanctioning body Riot Games had officially warned Johnsen of his conduct as late as the summer season in Europe in July.

After the incident this week, Johnsen was banned from the first half of the group phase (3 matches -- for which the team had to use it's substitute, who was clearly not ready and the team got routed in it's first match) and Johnsen fined $2,500.

To wit I say...  WHAT A JOKE.

If this were anybody but a world-professional player, Johnsen would've been banned by the in-game administrators from continuing to play on any level.

Additionally, my understanding of the situation is that these professional players are actually considered employees of Riot Games.

So why was Johnsen not sent home, with perhaps his entire team behind him?

If this had been a normal-level player, he would've been instantaneously banned by the lower-level game administrators on the given servers.

The Show Must Go On...

Day Ten Part Six (?): Another Star Goes Under Scrutiny

The more I look at this, the more I am becoming certain that Pandora's Box is finally opening.

ESPN ran a feature on the Bears' Brandon Marshall (a staunch supporter of mental-health issues, even to the point of getting uniform fines a couple of times for trying to raise awareness) on it's E:60 program, and Brandon, as Deadspin points out, felt misrepresented.

He felt he was going to be promoting a camp for mental-health issues, and, instead, the E:60 feature pointed out Marshall's numerous domestic-violence scrapes of his own.  (As the picture on the article indicates, Marshall admits he's bipolar.)  Marshall sought help after his twelfth such scrape with domestic violence since he entered the NFL in 2006.

Though one can understand how "no one wants his name to appear next to Ray Rice's right now", as Kevin Draper put into the article, there's a chance this feature may put an end to Marshall's playing days.

According to Yardbarker and "11 Alive in Atlanta", Gloria Allred had a press conference stating her client, Rasheeda Watley, was assaulted by Marshall in 2006 and 2007.

Now, this might be no news to anybody, at least on surface, but Watley called Kristina Spivey forward to state Spivey had contacted Goodell after she and Watley both tried to get restraining orders against Marshall.

Goodell, it is claimed, covered it up.

So this now makes the seventh STAR PLAYER that either new allegations have come forward on or a cover-up has been alleged at the highest levels of the league.

Oh boy.

Day Ten Part Five: Abuse Victim on Vikings Says "LEAVE HIM ALONE! LET HIM PLAY!"

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/24713636/captain-munnerlyn-adrian-peterson-should-be-allowed-to-play-football


Just read it.  I'm putting it out there.  It's the classic "We need him to win.  LEAVE HIM ALONE!  LET HIM PLAY!!!  I got beat like that as a kid too..." meme.

Sports Gone Insane Day Ten Part Four: Stop Me If I'm Not Surprised This Guy Might Be Next...

Reggie Bush:  Open Mouth, Insert Entire Leg Up To Thigh.

Deadspin:  Boomer and Carton on WFAN had Reggie Bush on their show today.


It didn't go well for Bush:

"Bush is asked if he would ever discipline his kids the way Adrian Peterson did. Bush answered:

"I most definitely discipline my daughter. I have a 1-year-old daughter, and I discipline her. Obviously, every person is different, and I definitely will use my best judgement to discipline her depending on the situation and what happens. I definitely will try to obviously not leave bruises or anything like that on her, but I definitely will discipline her, harshly, depending on what the situation is.""

Oh boy...  Could have another live one here...

 

Sports Gone Insane, Day Ten, Part Three: The Box Is Opened Some More

I really do feel that, given time, we are truly opening a Pandora's Box in this situation regarding the absolute marriage of football and violent abuse of all forms.


Grantland, today, did the NFL no favors with it's article:  "Together, We Make Football".


It goes into a list of NFL players (not nearly exhaustive) since 2005 who actually got caught in domestic violence:

• January 1, 2005:  Willie Middlebrooks (DEN, traded to SF after the incident, SF glosses it over).  Grabbed girlfriend by the neck and lifted her off the ground -- pled guilty to a misdemeanor.  Played another year in the league in SF, returned to Denver, was cut, out of football two years, played in the CFL, retired in 2010. 
• February 14, 2005:  Samari Rolle (FA).  Hit his wife, three stitches, pled guilty.  Fined one game check by the league.  Signed by the Ravens THREE WEEKS LATER.  Was on the Ravens four years, and a fifth in which he did not play.  Out of the league in 2010.
• April 26, 2005:  Brad Hopkins (TEN).  Choked his wife over a car insurance dispute.  Pled guilty.  Suspended one game by the league.  2005 was his last year in the NFL.
• August 28, 2005:  Kevin Williams (MIN).  In a significant altercation with his wife.  He was drunk and angry she was not wearing her wedding ring.  Pled out to disorderly conduct, $1,000 fine, one year probation.  NO LEAGUE PENALTY.  Made five more consecutive Pro Bowls 2006-2010 and the all-2000's decade team on the defensive line.  Finally left Minnesota after last season, where he was signed by...  the Seattle Seahawks.
• At least eleven players were arrested in 2005 for domestic violence incidents.

The article then goes into the Ray Rice situation, and then states something that very few people are willing to admit:


"But Roger Goodell isn’t what’s really wrong with football."


And then the article goes into the ratings numbers I talked about in a previous post.


And then...


"Football encourages some deep tremor of romance about what it means to be a man — even, it should be said, among the sport’s many female fans.


Save for the military — with which it has a symbiotic relationship — the NFL is the biggest and strongest exponent of American masculinity.


And integral to that notion of American masculinity is violence. Football is our culture’s great spectacle of violence, our version of the gladiatorial games of ancient Rome."


Then it shows a picture of Baltimore Raven Terrell Suggs in a gladiator mask -- the same Terrell Suggs who forced his then-girlfriend and now-wife to get a protection order against him in 2012, culminating at least three years of abuse.


But they still have value.  Why?  Ask Arizona GM Steve Keim:


"“It’s a bully division,” Arizona’s general manager, Steve Keim, told Grantland’s Robert Mays earlier this year, “so we had to add our number of bullies to our defense.” He meant that as a good thing."


And why would he not, when the biggest bullies on the block just lifted the Lombardi Trophy?  Arizona is now one of the seven remaining 2-0 teams.  Coincidence?


Read this article -- and this indictment of why the games must be stopped to ever prevent domestic violence...


"The NFL calls itself a family. If that’s the case, it’s a family of fathers and sons but not wives and daughters. It’s a family that more closely resembles the mob than a family connected by blood or love. It’s a family that protects its own by cutting others, a family that privileges loyalty over what’s right. But loyalty goes only so far in the NFL — because at some not-so-distant point, the family turns into a business. When concussions enter into it, or salary caps, or age, the family becomes about winning Sunday’s big game or about the business’s bottom line. If it’s a family, then it’s a fucked-up family."

Sports Gone Insane, Day Ten, Part Two: And Here's Number Five

Ray Rice, out of the league, pending appeal.
Adrian Peterson, Exempt List (he DOES get paid -- Radisson Hotels, take notice!)
Greg Hardy, (EDIT:)  placed on the Exempt List today.
Ray McDonald, still pending legal action


and now we have a 5th player under fire for domestic violence...

According to Deadspin, Arizona running back Jonathan Dwyer has been deactivated by the team after a domestic violence arrest this morning.


HOW MANY MORE BEFORE WE START ASKING THE REAL QUESTIONS?


(Like, "Is this sport unsafe at any speed?")

Sports Gone Insane, Day Ten, Part One: Anyone STILL Want To Tell Me This Isn't A Heisman Rapist?

So, let's see, Jameis Winston is still wreaking havoc at FSU.

For reasons I cannot comprehend, yelling "FUCK HER IN THE PUSSY!" has become a meme.

For reasons I doubly cannot comprehend, Jameis Winston decided to jump on a table yesterday and join in.

For this, he's been suspended for the first half of the game vs. Clemson.  (By the school.)

Day Nine, Part the Last: Well, Peterson's Off The Field, But...

Well, Adrian Peterson won't play Sunday -- Olbermann was right!!

But how much of a move is it to simply placate the sponsors?

Reason?

He's been officially placed on the Exempt/Commissioner's Permission list.  (NFL.com)

Well, I don't know what this is -- it effectively inactivates him indefinitely until his legal problems are resolved.

OK.  But this list is mentioned three times in the 2011-2020 Collective Bargaining Agreement, but WHAT IS IT?

Several articles say he IS suspended -- and the list does prohibit him from all team activities.

The problem with this is:  Does this also now, under the CBA, since the team stepped in, prohibit Goodell from throwing Peterson out of the league should his legal problems warrant?

From what I can tell, and damned if I can find anything on Google which answers my main question:  Does he get his salary?  But he is exempt from a roster spot, and is effectively banned from the team (and hence the NFL) until the Commissioner gives permission for him to return...

So he's gone, but bugger if I can figure out the rest of it.

EDIT:   Article XVII of the Constitution and By-Laws of the NFL. found here.

17.14, pages 81-82. (of the actual numbering of the document -- NOT what your .PDF reader reads)

Basically, it's the "Exemption List", used in emergency circumstances, for which this would qualify.  The Commissioner gets to determine when he returns...  At least as of the 2006 revision, this WAS NOT a move by the Vikings:  Only Goodell could do it.  Now, perhaps the rules have changed in the seven years intervening, but...

I believe it is clear that all salaries count, so he might still get paid, but it's not clear from anything I've read one way or the other...

Sports Gone Insane Day Nine Part Three: Stupid, Stupid, Stupid -- The Sheeple Still Watch

Even with all the scandals:

#1 rated show on the networks last week:  Sunday Night Football
#2:  Thursday Night Football (CBS' first)
#3:  Monday Night Football

22.2 million for Sunday night's game in San Francisco (8% UP over a year ago)
20.8 million for the CBS opener
13.7 and 11.5 million for the two ESPN games in Week One, and word is that Week Two actually eclipsed those by 7% in preliminary numbers!!

Source:  CNN.com

Sports Gone Insane Day Nine Part Two: The Sponsors Speak Up

Well, if there's anything which can bring this train to a halt for Goodell and his abusive warriors, we may finally have seen it today.

Adrian Peterson has already lost two of his major sponsors:  Nike has formally pulled sponsorship, as has Castrol.

But the NFL is taking heat from three of it's major sponsors:  In addition to Anheuser-Busch, McDonalds and Campbell's Soup have spoken up for better policing.

What I fear, though. is that this might actually be a catalyst for the NFL to flex it's muscles and actually make the game MORE violent, telling the sponsors to shove off, feeling they can be replaced (much like the soulless players) at a moment's notice.

OMG. I Cannot Believe The Stupid

Been spending some time on Twitter responding to some of the Keith Olbermann posts about idiots who don't get it.

I didn't think for a second one would get THIS BAD...

@EazyEwok @thughes4 @KeithOlbermann STOCKHOLM SYNDROME.
— Michael Falkner (@darkstar7646) September 16, 2014

To which he responded -- and, please note, by his own Twitter profile, he likes "scores and whores".  (Didn't even see that for most of the exchange.) words to the effect of that he believed that was about as real as AIDs [sic].

He's deleted from his timeline most of our exchange, and it's hard not to see WHY...

Sports Gone Insane, Day Nine: More NFL Fallout

FOR THE MOMENT, it appears as if all we have is fallout from previous stuff, but there's plenty to cover.

• Rihanna is pissed, but for all the wrong reasons.  As a result, Rihanna is GONE from the Thursday Night NFL broadcasts for good.

Last week, of course, Rihanna's "Run This Town" was pulled from the CBS broadcasts as part of the fallout of the Ray Rice dispute.

Rihanna was not pleased...

CBS you pulled my song last week, now you wanna slide it back in this Thursday? NO, Fuck you! Y'all are sad for penalizing me for this.
— Rihanna (@rihanna) September 16, 2014

CBS and her management parted ways on the arrangement entirely shortly thereafter.

So, Rihanna, are you pissed that your song got pulled or that you lost all the attention your song would give you?

And, as a former victim of domestic violence, why would you want the song associated with this league at all?

(Does raise one more interesting question:  With Coldplay hard-left and Rihanna probably now out of the picture, who's going to want to (especially if they have to pay for the privilege!) be the Super Bowl XLIX halftime show?)

• The Governor of the State of Minnesota, Mark Dayton, wants Adrian Peterson suspended.
• Nike has pulled it's Adrian Peterson apparel from stores in Minneapolis.
• Anheuser-Busch has expressed concern with the NFL and it's conduct.

(New York Times)

I guess the biggest question I have for all three parties is:  Or else WHAT?

Of course, the makers of Budweiser could have some serious pull if they decide to pull their ads, but will they really go that far given the poll numbers on the subject?

The most interesting thing about this situation is that this might motivate Congress to actually go after the NFL's non-profit status.  Senator Cory Booker (D-NJ) has introduced a bill to end the non-profit status of major pro sports leagues.

That might be a functional "or else".

Couple of early Olbermann shots before his show:

His own charity bails. #AdrianPeterson "All Day Foundation" goes on hiatus until everybody has "reflected" on impact on his philanthropy
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) September 16, 2014

Of course, that could work the other way too.  Could be AP abandoning all pretense...

Meanwhile you, @ProletarianSol are on twitter pretending to speak for oppressed while defending a grown man bloodying two sons. Eff You.
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) September 16, 2014

Remember the survey you mentioned yesterday, Keith.  (Keith said this in response to three tweets defending child abuse.)

A final note:  Brian's off working on another book, so I asked him if he wanted someone to chronicle all this on his site.  So another Guest Post there is coming.

Day Eight, Part Four and Last: Olbermann GOES OFF

I'm going to post three videos of Keith Olbermann from his show yesterday afternoon.

It should be noted that the show started a 5 PM EDT.  Hence, the second set of Peterson allegations did not make the cut here.

That said, Olbermann, with no show since Thursday, spent over ten minutes going off on what he calls the "National Freefall League".

I am going to point to one thing in the second video in particular after I post the first two videos:



Part One.


Part Two. (And if that Peterson text doesn't piss you off, I don't know what will.)

There's something I want you to see in this second video.  Starts about 3:30 in.

Olbermann takes a look at a survey from a conservative-leaning polling company called Vox Populi Polling.

The question was asked:  Does the NFL have a widespread epidemic of domestic violence?

69% of those polled said yes.  73% of all women polled said yes as well.

Here's the inconceivable part:  The same percentage (in fact, seven in ten) of those polled who identify themselves as fans of the league said YES.

SEVENTY PERCENT OF THE NFL FANS POLLED SAID THEY FELT THE LEAGUE HAD AN EPIDEMIC OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE AND THEY STILL SAT ON THEIR COUCHES NOT CARING ON SUNDAY!!

If you can't understand why a lot of people are angry at the number of enablers in this country, take a look at that last statistic.

In fact, take a look at this third video.  You don't really have to actually go into the Worst Persons list, as Keith continues to go off on the NFL, and fans like some bitch in Minnesota who basically advertises herself as pro-domestic violence -- so much so, Olbermann wants her identity so she can be shamed.



Worst Persons (The actual list starts at about 25 seconds, and is not relevant to this post. Though the kissing couple pratfalling in Louisiana might be good for a momentary guffaw if you are so inclined.)

We Interrupt The Idiocy And Outrage Again (Score Report Wk 2)

Keeping it quick.

• 42.56 for the week, 43.66 for the season so far.  Scoring down about 4 points a game.
• 3 games decided at last 2:00 (6 for season), 5 decided by one score or less (12 for the season), only 9 were within a score at some point in the 4th (20 for the season).
• The over was taking a beating in Vegas.  Only one game of the first ELEVEN went definitively over.  Four of the last five did, and a fifth pushed at some spots.
• Home teams were 9-7.  (21-11 for the year)
• 222 penalties were accepted this week -- the exact same number as Week 1.
• Winning team was still a half a penalty a game more than the loser.  (Total average about +1 a game for the winners)
• Home team was called for more penalties in only six of the 16 games (13 through Week 2).
• The Giants got called for 7 Points of Emphasis penalties Week 2, San Francisco 5.  Both lost.
• Team with more PoE penalties was 5-7-4.  (15-9-8 for the season)
• Team with more accepted penalties was 7-8-1 (16-15-1 for the season)

That out of the way...  back to the real news.

Sports Gone Insane, Day Eight, Part Three: The Situation in Minnesota Has Just Thermonuked

Oh...  shit!

We are just over five hours past the second (third?) accusation of child abuse against Adrian Peterson, and to say the shit is hitting the fan as we speak is KIND...

First, Radisson Hotels, a long-time sponsor of the Vikings, has suspended it's relationship with the team (presumably until Peterson is gone).

Second, a large-scale message board for fans of the Vikings shut down permanently tonight, with little to no notice.

Bringing up the actual URL now only gets the message:  "What?"

It's when you bring up the cached version of the page that you get a real nice explanation of what just happened at the end of vikingsmessageboard.com -- which now the server no longer exists, at least on Windows 8.1 ...

""Vikings Message Board has been shut down permanently. It will not return. There are two primary reasons.
"1. The Vikings cowardly decision to reinstate a child abuser and think that an apology will make this blow over. We will not stand for this arrogance and we will no longer be the home of any support of the Vikings. We stand for those who cannot defend themselves.
"2. We will not give a voice to thugs who think child abuse is "cultural" or worse, openly advocate child abuse as a reasonable method of punishment. This ends here. Yes, a few board members have ruined it for everyone. Congratulations, a--holes.""

The biggest problem with this is the second statement plays to the dangerous statements made by Charles Barkley on Sunday.

We have to examine -- and I believe personally any examination forces the end of support of tackle football on all levels! -- that abuse and tackle football are hand in glove.  The sport cannot exist without the construct.

And we are now seeing "thugs who... openly advocate child abuse as a reasonable method of punishment". 

THIS IS GOING TO BE YOUR NFL FAN GOING FORWARD, FOOTBALL NATION AMERICA!

And if you think this is going away, you've got another think coming.

I wonder, after their discussion of "Redskins":  Is it now illegal, under Board of Regents policy, for the Minnesota Vikings to play at TCF Stadium (the home of the Gophers) at all?

Sports Gone Insane: And the pennant race pitchers have gone insane as well!

Forgot to mention the first of two major incidents which have drawn recent ire of the Commissioner's Office.

Last Thursday, final meeting between the Marlins and Bud's Brewers, and Anthony DeSclafani was suspended for Miami for three games.

However, he wasn't the worst culprit.

Mike Fiers of the Brewers put two consecutive pitches up near the head of two consecutive batters, hitting both (Giancarlo Stanton in the face -- hard!, and then his replacement in the wrist.)

Worst part of it?  Since the bat went through the zone, both were called STRIKES and the inning was over for Miami.

DeSclafani did what any self-respecting pitcher would do, and plonked Carlos Gomez.  THAT drew a suspension.  Fiers was only fined.

Both teams are on the outer fringes of the Hunt for October, but one does have to wonder if Bud Selig is trying to gift-wrap run for his Brewers on the way out.

--

The new one, yesterday:  Dateline, Philadelphia

Jonathan Papelbon had another rough one, blowing another save for the Phillies and hearing it from the City of Brotherly Love.

He grabbed his crotch in response.

For this, Joe West (yep, HIM!) went to the Philly dugout and said Papelbon was no longer welcome -- he was tossed.

Next thing you know, Papelbon and West are going at it, and West, at least twice, gets VERY physical with Papelbon.

I immediately asserted that, off-camera, Papelbon did something to West.

It now appears the Commissioner's Office agrees, suspending Papelbon seven games for the indiscretion.

Sports Gone Insane: Day Eight, Part Two -- Becoming more certain every moment AP killed the one kid...

Why do I say what I just did?


Because, just a scant three hours or so after the Vikings covered for him and allowed him back on the team, Adrian Peterson has ANOTHER four year-old son he has to answer for allegedly abusing him.

Deadspin, through KHOU in Houston, has obtained word that a second woman who has mothered a child with Peterson sent an abuse report to Child Protective Services for a beating (apparently for swearing at a sibling -- just how many kids has Peterson had?) that left a facial scar.


How long, Adrian?


How many??


How many do the Vikes and Goodell know about?


How about that one kid that died last year?  And why is NOBODY raising that point?

Going back to Day Six a moment, NOW we are going to apologize to Penn State???

Rutgers had it's first Big Ten football home game last Saturday against Pedophile State.

(Yes, Rutgers Athletic Director Julie Hermann, who APOLOGIZED today to Penn State fans who may have been offended by the truth signs and shirts that people brought, I said it and meant it.  And let's not forget your clusterfuck of an athletic program...)

Or is that the point?  Trying to tell us something?  Trying to tell us that you might have even more in the tank than what we've known about already?

The only reason there is a fucking Penn State University is as a front for Sandusky and the football team and all that, and the culture of "football over everything" won out even over the NCAA.

Just be glad I don't go to a school opposing Penn State, or there might be a lot more than that to apologize for.

And, While The Idiocy Goes On, Vegas Rakes It In

Very odd first two weeks, as Rome appears to burn -- and I'm not talking Jim Rome, though I would not be shocked if his exchange with Charles Barkley yesterday didn't raise a few hackles.

I'd been looking for some degree of a pattern in the screwiness, as:

• Scoring is down several points a game, with Week 2 hovering around 41 1/2 a game.
• It did look like a few more penalties were called this week, but, with the exception of San Francisco's 7, the Points of Emphasis were still silent.
• Home teams only 9-6 this week.
• And 7 of the 15 games, almost half, were decided by the end of the third quarter.  A normal full 16-game week might have 4-5.

So what the Hell is going on, other than that the NFL is too busy spinning plates to allow abusive motherfuckers to continue to play and watch?

Well, a tweet that reader NFLRanking retweeted might have your answer.

THE HOUSE ALWAYS WINS.

Vegas is CLEANING UP on people this season so far.

How?

NFL teams receiving 40% or less of bets are now 15-6 against the spread this season.
— SportsInsights.com (@SportsInsights) September 15, 2014

Sports Gone Insane, Day Eight: The Game Strikes Back

Not much to say at this point, but it's clear that, yesterday, the games struck back in a (very un-Goodell-esque, to be sure) display, with many fans showing support for their abusers heroes.

And now, today, word that Adrian Peterson will practice and play this week.  The game is in New Orleans.

--

EDIT TO ADD 12:20 PM:  This, after the Vikings announced last year they cut A. J. Jefferson only hours after...  a domestic violence arrest.

Never mind:  a) he suffered a neck injury, b) he'd struggled on the field most of his four seasons, c) he only played about four snaps in his last game before being cut, a November 2013 tilt against the Packers...

No, no double standard at all here.  Move along...

(Jefferson signed with the Seahags over this summer, but was injured again and placed on injured reserve.)

--

And, also, word that Ray Rice will appeal his indefinite suspension.

Both are reprehensible, neither surprising, and, factually, Rice will probably win his appeal.  Clear case of double jeopardy.

But it is any degree of surprising, given this Mother Jones report Brian Tuohy retweeted that basically said that for the money the NFL husband makes, the NFL wife is supposed to shut the fuck up.

Tracy Treu, a former Mother Jones employee for 8 years, is married to former Oakland Raiders center Adam Treu.

The second paragraph she says states it all, as she says we really need to look at the bravery of the wife here:

"The NFL is a culture that values secrecy. When you're with an NFL team, the message to you is clear: Don't fuck anything up for your partner, and don't fuck anything up for the team. Don't be controversial. Don't talk to the media. Stay out of the way. Support the player and be quiet."

If that doesn't paint the NFL as it's own Mafia, I'm not sure what does.

More "Football = Abuse": Can't even wait one fucking day....

This happened during last week, and was snowed under by the professional animals.

Meet Jayru Campbell.

Better yet, according to Yardbarker, don't.  You'll probably get the shit kicked out of you.

Campbell was one of the top quarterback prospects for Cass Tech (Michigan), and he had to decommit from Michigan State, presumably after his arrest and 60-day jail sentence for assault on a security guard.

Well, he spent only a very few hours outside.  His first day out, and his first day on the Cass Tech grounds, he got arrested again, and this one is for beating the shit out of his girlfriend over a text message dispute.

Especially with the prior, it might well be that he's facing the better part of 15 years for non-armed robbery, etc.

Does anyone not want to tell me that football didn't help shape this criminal thug?

Day Seven, Part Three: And the protests begin...

According to Dylan Stableford of Yahoo! News, at least four NFL games this weekend were scheduled to have protest flags fly above them by the women's rights group Ultraviolet, with the hashtag #GoodellMustGo.

Two have already taken place:  In New York and in Cleveland.  And the two national prime-time games, San Francisco's Sweatshop Levi's Stadium opener and the Monday nighter, were also scheduled to have such banners flying.

But perhaps the most valid statement made today so far is this Twitter post:

In Oct @nfl will pretend to care about women & sell pink jerseys & hats. Don't buy this bull$hit! #GoodellMustGo pic.twitter.com/D42tO8gKNu
— glick23 (@23Glick) September 14, 2014

I have but one problem:  It's the entire game, and, if Charles Barkley's idiocies from today are any semblance of correct, it's much of our American culture.

But I do wonder:  How many women are going to be wearing exactly that "makeup" when their boyfriend's/husband's team loses today?

Day Seven, Part Two: And Charles Barkley Says Something Outright Dangerous

Sure, it's stupid to say this, Sir Charles.

But, either way, you have probably stepped in a very dangerous space.

CBS, in it's continuing coverage of the downfall of the Football Hero Abuser (speaking generally, though Peterson was the specific target here), had Charles Barkley on this morning.

And he stepped in it hard, as Barkley is known to do.

From Yahoo!'s Ball Don't Lie blog, speaking to Jim Rome (I'm assuming this is NOT The NFL Today, but a CBS Sports Network preview show):

Barkley: "I'm from the South. I understand Boomer's (Esiason) rage and anger ... but he's a white guy and I'm a black guy. I don't know where he's from (editor's note: Esiason grew up in Long Island), I'm from the South. Whipping -- we do that all the time. Every black parent in the South is going to be in jail under those circumstances."

Rome: "It doesn't matter where you're from: Right is right and wrong is wrong."

Barkley: "I don't believe that because, listen, we spank kids in the South. I think the question about whether Adrian Peterson went overboard -- Listen, Jim, we all grow up in different environments. Every black parent in my neighborhood in the South would be in trouble or in jail under those circumstances."

Rome: "My thing is: I don't want to tell anybody how to raise their kids and I really don't want anybody telling me how to raise my kids. But let's make a distinction between 'child rearing' and 'child abuse.' That was child abuse. There's no fine line here."

Barkley: "I think there's a fine line. Jim, I've had many welts on my legs. I've gotten beat with switches -- and I don't even like the term. When the media talks about it, 'beating a child'--

Rome: "But that's what that was, Charles."

Barkley: "We called it 'spanking' or 'whipping' our kids."

Rome: "If I see open wounds or bruises on a body that is a beating."

Barkley: "Sure. I think those pictures are disturbing. And I think Adrian said 'I went overboard.' But as far as being from the South, we all spanked our kids -- I got spanked, me an my two brothers"--

Rome: "But then, Chuck, not now, right? 1964 is one thing, 2014 is another. Maybe we need to rethink this thing."

Barkley: "And I totally agree with that. But I think we have to really be careful trying to teach other parents how to discipline their kids. That's a very fine line."

 This is a very dangerous space, Charles.

If you're wrong, it's insensitive enough you should be fired from your jobs.

If you're right, you may have just explained why football, abuse, and the complete denial of reality go hand in hand.

Jim Rome is right, and it appears as if Charles Barkley is OK with institutional beating of children.

One now has to wonder, with the predominance of successful football programs in the South, whether dehumanizing abuse is a contributing factor (on at least a correlative level, if not a causative level) to success on the field.

It would be no wonder, if this is true, why football players and abuse of everything around them are married so cleanly.