Dear God, We're Losing It All...

No, not a personal statement, but this is just a small summary of headlines from the sports world in the last 3-4 days:

• Baltimore riots, causing two home games to be postponed, a game played today in an empty stadium (and I do not know if that's ever happened at the top level of any major professional sport in North America), and the weekend series with Tampa Bay moved to Tampa.
• Jon Jones is charged with felony hit and run, forcing the UFC to finally strip him of the light-heavyweight title and replace him on the next PPV.  When is someone -- ANYONE -- going to finally take a look at mixed martial arts?  Not as a function of "human cock-fighting", but as a function of what kind of "human" (and that's debatable) is fighting within the Octagon.
• Kevin Love's intentional injury has now cost him the rest of the playoffs.  The Boston player who decided to take his arm with him has seriously altered the course of the Eastern Conference playoffs in so doing.
• The Houston Rockets had a problem last night on Twitter, as their account had this put on it by it's staff, according to Deadspin (for which, the person in charge for social media for the team has been fired!):

• Two more domestic-violence situations to report on:  First, Brittney Griner and her fiancee were both arrested for domestic violence against each other in a fight. Griner has pled to a diversion agreement -- no word on if the WNBA will discipline the Phoenix Mercury star.
• Second, Alabama adds another one to the list: Cyrus Jones has become the third member of the Crimson Tide to be arrested for domestic violence since the regular season ended.
• Just popping up on the page of the NFL on the night before the NFL Draft:

1. Dorial Green-Beckham (WR, Oklahoma) with a checkered past.  When ESPN has to ask the question whether he can be trusted, it usually ends up with one answer. (No.)
2. Dion Jordan is about to bust himself out of the league.  Suspended for drugs for all of 2015, and the Dolphins are done with him.
3. Something with huge implications the NFL decided to run under the radar:  The NFL has officially relinquished it's tax-exempt status.  Biggest question, now, is WHY???  To avoid telling us how much Goodell makes?  Possibilities of a refund?  Other chicanery??
4. Joseph Randle gets out of (felony) trouble for his incident February 3.
5. The ESPN Jameis Winston Rehab Tour continues:  A Tampa Bay linebacker thinks the veterans on the team can control him.  Unless they can beat the ever-loving shit out of him, good luck.
6.  La'El Collins (OL, LSU) is now being looked at for questioning in a shooting murder.  Wonderful, and it doesn't even take him being in the league.
7. Shane Ray (LB, Missouri) - pot possession, in the Phase 1 NFL rehab program.  Ditto.
8. Jalen Collins (CB, LSU) -- MULTIPLE failed drug tests while at LSU.

•  A prominent blogger was fired from a major blog-roundup for firing off a missive on the departure of Josh Hamilton to Texas.  Questioning his ability to stay clean is one thing.  Almost sounding like you wish the guy dead (Deadspin, according to my anonymous friend, actually called it fan-fiction of the death of Josh Hamilton) is another.
• Freddie Roach, just three days before The Fight, still believes Woman Beater will walk out of his fight with Homophobic Tax Cheat.

I mean, how much more do you want before one has to ask one real question:

To be a "good sports fan" in our society, do you need to be a psychopath, ignorant of all semblance of reality?

Are We Seeing A Pattern Here?

I'm noticing something, especially as it relates to last football season and three major incidents this Spring:

• Fines were so far down in the NFL in 2014, it almost wasn't worth covering them except to expose the farce that Roger Goodell was removing the pretense under which the charade on which the fines were based was going on.
• NASCAR:  Kurt Busch effectively banned only a couple or three races, even though the civil judge said that the civil standard of proof had been met that the piece of shit beat his girlfriend.
• MLB:  Rob Manfred and the Kansas City Royals, as previously noted.
• And now the NBA with the Game 4 debacle between Cleveland and Boston.

Grabbing the GIFs from Deadspin, here are a couple examples of the problems:



Kendrick Perkins on Jae Crowder.  Was called a Flagrant-1 on the court -- was upgraded to a Flagrant-2 by the league, but Perkins was only fined.



Crowder eats this one from J.R. Smith, the Flagrant-2 costing him the rest of that game and Games 1 and 2 of the Eastern Conference semifinals.

But perhaps the biggest one appeared to be an intentional act.

Kelly Olynyk literally yanked Kevin Love's arm out of the socket.  He's not only out the rest of that game, but the entire next series -- at least!  Love was seen as one of the main supporting cast for the opportunity for LeBron James to return to Cleveland and give the city a long-lost title.

Olynyk will be suspended for the 2015-16 opener.  1 game.

--

I think we are seeing a pattern. 

And if it isn't stopped, someone's going to riot (or, worse yet, someone's going to kill somebody on the court with an illegal-in-sport act), and that's going to have nothing to do with outside forces like what felled the game Monday night in Baltimore -- and will fell far more.

We're seeing, in response to the nation's sports bloodlust, a demand for more blood, and not just from the NFL.

Perkins should've gotten two games, Smith's two-gamer might be a shade low, but how does Olynyk not get banned the first TEN games of next season or so for basically trying to take Kevin Love's arm with him??

Stephen A. Smith Continues To Carry Water For Domestic Violence Perps

*sigh*

Stephen A. Smith is back again...

Deadspin has chronicled the latest need for Floyd Mayweather's ESPN mouthpiece to be shut up by the network -- permanently!

Back on July 25, 2014, I made reference as to Smith's foolishness vis-a-vis his comments surrounding the initial phase of the Ray Rice coverup incident.

So, in 2010, he doubled down on Twitter to defend his boy -- the punk ass bitch Floyd Mayweather.

Let me say this: I'm hard pressed to believe Floyd Mayweather Jr. Put his hands on a woman, and I damn sure don't believe he committed Grand
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) September 11, 2010

Hands on anyone, least of all a woman. As for Grand Larceny, come on! Sounds like he may have taken something BACK from a woman out of anger
— Stephen A Smith (@stephenasmith) September 11, 2010

Shall we be blunt about it and say that there is no woman, because of Mayweather's position of power, he could commit a crime against??

Fuck that, Stephen A.  FUCK THAT.


According to the article, Mayweather had already assaulted five women by this time.

So, on April 8's First Take, Smith doubled down again to save his boy.

"[First Take host Cari]Champion explained that her position was based on both Mayweather’s documented—not “alleged”—history of domestic violence and his generally misogynistic attitude towards women. Smith doubled down on his position. “Her position is clear. Because she’s a woman, and this is how she feels.”"

And there you have it.  Right from the Damon Bruce school of spin.

And, really, that's the gist of it:  Have we gotten to a point that, to be a sports journalist...  Hell, to have ANYTHING TO DO with the Sports Machine in this country, you have to be a water carrier for domestic violence, murder, God knows what else...

And then you get to a comment my friend made to me on the subject:  That the ultimate water which is to be carried is that whatever goes on "on the field" trumps EVERYTHING:  sanity, safety, life itself!  But it's all about what happens to allow these gods to ply their trade.

So on Monday, as if to kick off Fight Week, Smith is on First Take again and...

"Smith maintained that Mayweather (and other athletes convicted of violent crimes against women, like Mike Tyson) “are relevant because as fighters they are great and people want to see them. ... That’s the reality of the world that we are living in. We all need to just grow up and own up to that reality.”"

And that's the problem.  The Show Must Go On -- at ALL cost.  Hell, we just had a domestic violence shithead win in NASCAR this week -- and FOX go to bat for the motherfucker.  That'll get another post later in the week.

Has anyone considered, Stephen A., that the basis for the "greatness" of the fighter (or the athlete, especially in the NFL) comes from a psychotic place that has no business in a civilized society, much less civilized sport?

Someone either needs to get this shithead off the air or punch him in the face and have him see how it feels...

One Week From Now, We Won't Be The Only Ones Fuming...

I was trying to figure out how I was going to handle Saturday's hullaballoo between a convicted abuser and a homophobic tax cheat.

The Billion-Dollar Fight -- Floyd Mayweather vs. Manny Pacquiao (respectively) -- finally goes down (or so we think!!!) on Saturday.

First things first:  If the state of Nevada enforced it's laws, both men would be in prison, neither would have a boxing license, and Las Vegas would spend Cinco de Mayo weekend getting ready for Taylor Swift and Rock in Rio USA the next two weekends.

Instead:

• Hotel rooms on the Strip -- if you can find them at all!!! -- are going for about $1,000 for Fight Night on Expedia.
• The fight has already gained over $13 million in sponsorship money and a 1,700 square-foot store for fight merchandise (and the latter is at the Fremont Street Experience downtown (where hotel rooms are going for about $400 and up for Fight Night)).
• The HD PPV will set you back $100.  (Standard definition is $90.)
• Over three million buys are still expected, even at those prices.
• The cheapest secondary-market ticket for the event is going for over $5,000.  It'll take literally six figures to get a floor seat at the MGM Grand Garden Arena now.
• Closed-circuit viewings can't be found in Vegas (all sold out), and at least one California Indian casino is charging $75 for their screening.

......

And if anyone thinks this fight goes off as a legitimate event, I think every person who reads this blog will have wonderful beachfront property to sell you somewhere in central Saskatchewan.

I had a talk with friends about this the last couple of nights, and the best way I heard it put was my friend who aids in contributing with me here, who called it the biggest fly-by-night operation ever seen.

That friend is correct, and that's why people better get ready to get real good and pissed off come Sunday.

Let's take a look at some of the ways I think this can go pear-shaped:

• The fight turns into a Floyd Mayweather special -- he wins an easy decision in a fight far-too-similar to his other arranged fights.  There are many reasons for this scenario to go down, the best of which forwarded by my friend:  The only reason the fight is going off, and so quickly, is that the IRS is closing in on Pacquiao and told Mayweather it might be in everyone's best interests to get this fight happening ASAP.  That said, the fight is in Mayweather's building, with his promotion company the controlling interest.  All the cards appear on the table for another Mayweather fix -- this one cementing him as the "best" of our age, and mouthing off all the way to the bank to the tune of over $200,000,000.
• The result is arranged -- a draw for an even bigger rematch in one year's time.  I was not quite right when I said "all the cards" appear on the table for Mayweather.  There are two other factors to keep in mind: Mayweather has one more fight on his contract with Showtime, and there's a new arena being built at the MGM Grand (20,000 seats, opening in the Spring), and who wants to open it?  Money...
• The fight doesn't take place at all, but the undercard does.  Usually, when something falls apart causing a late cancellation of the event, it's days before.  But the whole "fly by night" nature of this event could see a problem the night of the fight, while the rest of the card is going on -- the gloves aren't as agreed, etc. and so forth.

Imagine the reaction in Vegas if any of these things occurs...

It's basically official, per Rob Manfred: "HAVE AT IT, BOYS!!"

7 games for Yordano Ventura.

Never mind that this is the third game in a row he's cleared the benches.

Edison Volquez of the Royals, Chris Sale and Jeff Samardzija -- 5 games each.

Lorenzo Cain, two games.

And Kelvin Herrera, already suspended and on appeal for what should've been at least a fucking MONTH for basically saying he was going to bean Lawrie of Oakland, gets two more games tacked on for his role in this brawl.

Manfred:  Time to start the suspensions for the Fightin' Royals at about a month.  Start with the manager.

Season is three weeks old, and the Royals have now been involved in THREE major incidents...

Here's another one, and it's Yordano Ventura again.

Hits somebody in the 4th inning, but it's three innings later when he took a comebacker, threw an expletive at the guy, threw him out...

... and then all Hell broke loose.

Pushing and shoving to start, the second series of altercations added punches.

Look, Ventura should've been banned at least five games to begin with (and, if you tack Sunday's on afterward, he could've had that doubled himself), but this is getting out of hand.

In just 16 games, nine Royals players (plus several managers and coaches) have been tossed in at least three major incidents and who knows how many minor ones.

Here's the worst part of it:  The Royals are 12-4, and the only team with a better record right now in MLB is the Mets at 13-3.

Is anyone else beginning to think part of that 12-4 came with this "We're going to fuck you up!" attitude?

Manfred, NOW.  Or else you sanction this and you're going to see a long, hot summer of it.

Since the other two got overturned, how long before Greg Hardy plays again?

10 games for domestic violence and obstructing the investigation.

Greg Hardy was the "third wheel" in the first wave of the debacle of "Sports Gone Insane".

Both Peterson and Rice were reinstated, so how am I not supposed to believe that the NFL, openly TRYING to get it's Personal Conduct and Player Safety policies overturned in the name of "Bad Men Doing Bad Things To Bad Men", is not going to have this overturned too?

For the record, according to the Twitter feeds, it took precisely NINETEEN MINUTES for the NFLPA to announce it was appealing.

The shithead son of a bitch plays Week 1.  Put that down in writing.

Sounds to me like Blinded By The Light wants MLB to be more like the NFL...

So, let's see...

Brett Lawrie of the A's injures one of the Royals players with a slide into second the Royals think is dirty on Friday night.

So, Saturday, he's plunked by Yordano Ventura.  Ventura is tossed, and was fined today.

Sunday, Kelvin Herrera is tossed (one of five Royals to be tossed), and then points at his head in the fracas, implying that's where Lawrie's next pitch is going...

... and only gets a five-game suspension.

At that point, Manfred, you have to suspend Lawrie for the injurious slide...

Or are you going to take yet another cue from the NFL (your first being increasing offense, your second is the all-but-certain return of The Steroid Era), and let players and teams go at it?

Herrera should've been banned a month, his manager should've gotten 5-10 games.

*sigh* Tim Tebow...

Philly.

Oh God....

... and Cub Owner has to Cub Owner.

More wonderfulness from the Ricketts family and that disastrous renovation attempt at Wrigley...

In a move which should only be done if there's a clear and present danger (but it's actually being done as a massive FUCK YOU), Deadspin reports today that the Cubs have erected a middle finger barrier that prevents the fans from trying to get the autographs of players after the game.

It's almost as if the Ricketts family expects trouble.

Morons.

WHAT, KCBS???

Deadspin and my anonymous friend get hat-tips on this wonderful Twitter gem.




FOX had an English FA Cup semifinal -- NBC had it's comprehensive coverage of the regular English Premier League play.

Yeah, they TRIED to retract the tweet, but COME ON...

... and now Cub Fan has to Cub Fan.

So Kris Bryant finally had his debut for the season today, after the Cubs ensured they'd have another year of him if they wanted.

Kris is going to hate this if today was any indication.  Not only 0-4 with 3 strikeouts, but the fans heaped abuse on him, according to both Yahoo! Sports and Deadspin.

And what's that they all say about the Cubs?

And, in the most unsurprising Rapeis Winston news of the day...

The accuser in the 2012 Florida State rape case railroaded out in the Title IX sham trial which will allow Rapeis Winston to be the #1 Draft Pick is suing both Florida State University and Winston.

Money Talks, The Fans Walk (Away)

Published figures today basically show that the massive television contracts individual teams in Major League Baseball have been receiving have destroyed any semblance of fiscal control left in the sport.

Just three years ago, 9 of the thirty teams had payrolls over $100,000,000, and half were under $85,000,000.

Two years ago, it was about half over $100,000,000 (14) and half under $85,000,000 (13).

This year, TWENTY-TWO franchises have payrolls over $100,000,000 and only three (the Marlins, Astros, and Rays) were below $85,000,000.

Three years ago, the median payroll was about $100,000,000 -- this year, it's over $114,000,000.

And we all know where it's coming from -- it's the TV deals.

And why are teams spending?

One reason the ESPN report points to is the Play-In Game.  That, out of either 14 or 16 teams, five now get to play into or be directly in the playoffs every year is changing the landscape of the mentality of a lot of these teams, at least in the middle or lower end of the scale.

Why?  Because, of the 12 highest-ranked payrolls, only two won a playoff game last year.

It's About To Go Tango Upsilon in Europe...

I think it might well be time for Mario Balotelli to get out of England before he's shipped out in a pine box, if the latest figures from a social-media racism/discrimination report regarding English soccer are to be believed.

The anti-racism group Kick It Out reported today that over 134,000 discriminatory social media posts have been made this season, with over 39,000 of them regarding players in the English Premier League.

Over 20% of that latter figure were pointed toward the African-heritage Balotelli (8,000, with 4,000 of that figure being declared outright racist).

Two other players were also directly researched, including Danny Welbeck (about 1,700 discriminatory posts, half that being declared outright racist) and Daniel Sturridge (1,600 discriminatory, about 1,000 of which actually refer to sexual orientation for some reason).

The fact is this isn't going away until some of the games are simply stopped.  Even though anti-racism campaigns have at least been at the fore of FIFA and UEFA affairs for a number of years now, it is evident the problem is becoming worse and more widespread with each passing year.

When Is Some Victim Finally Going To DO It?

Surprised it took the jury that long.  Murder 1.  Life Without Parole for Aaron Hernandez.

That's two this fucking week, Goodell.  And how many people (I will bet money it's multiple.) are playing in your league right now and have killed somebody with intent and malice?

When is somebody (a domestic-violence victim, a family of a murder victim, etc.) going to put this entire league...  Hell, this entire SPORT...  on trial?

After 20 years, the shithead probably finally went and did it!

I have friends of mine who still recall the night Lawrence Phillips was drafted.

The same Lawrence Phillips who beat the shit out of his girlfriend at Nebraska.

They were convinced the piece of shit was going to kill somebody someday.

...

It sounds like he finally graduated into the ultimate pantheon of football idiocy.

Lawrence Phillips, now serving a 31-year sentence for...  domestic violence, violent injury to spouse, theft, and all the other trappings of being an NFL thug whose time finally ran out...  is the main suspect in the murder of his cellmate in prison here in California, according to Deadspin.

Congratulations!  You finally did it, you piece of shit!!!  And there's an outside chance it could be two -- a second inmate was also killed at the same prison that same day, and the Department of Corrections is looking into any plausible link.

I just hope that, when the family might sue for any damages, it also sues:

University of Nebraska
Tom Osborne
the NFL
and all other parties who had a part to play in bringing this piece of human shit to the point where he finally fulfilled his destiny as a murderer.

I've Known of Bo Ryan For 25 Years...

That is the first time I've ever seen Ryan publicly rip on the officials.

It's clear the NCAA went big-name, but not Kentucky.

Duke wins 68-63, and it appears to be on the backs of the stripes.

Here's a ball going off a Duke player's hand with less than two minutes to go, and the ball awarded to Duke...


Bo Ryan had a number of things to say, from which he almost certainly will be sanctioned, either by the Big Ten or the NCAA.

"Well I told these guys how proud I was of them and it's just a situation where you just have to be able to handle all the hands and the checking. I mean all the body contact, there was more body contact in this game than any game we played in all year. I just feel sorry for my guys that all of a sudden a game was like that. They're struggling with that a little bit. We missed some opportunities. They hit some tough shots. It's just a shame that it had to be played that way." 

Bo Ryan coaches a very disciplined type of basketball, but when that discipline is not rewarded, they have no chance.

FT's:  Wisconsin 6-10, Duke 16-20.
Margin of victory:  5.
Fouls:  Wisconsin 15, Duke 13.
Offensive rebounds:  Wisconsin 11, Duke 6.
Total rebounds:  Wisconsin 35, Duke 33.
Turnovers:  5 apiece.

Meaning, by the same metric my friend used for the regional final between Kentucky and Notre Dame, Wisconsin had five more possessions.

Did They Just Rig This Thing For Kentucky To Lose?

I've said, pretty much since the get-go, that I felt 40-0 was a fait accompli, and that Kentucky becoming the first team in 40 years to go perfect to the title would end the college model.

So it's now about 3 hours after one of the largest upsets in the history of college basketball, and we now have a problem.

The tying basket which Wisconsin scored to make it 60-60, according to Yardbarker, was probably illegal on a shotclock violation.


And it wasn't...  even... close.

I had always believed, especially with UCLA's charmed life, that Kentucky was going to get all the help it needed, but then I forgot about something...

In 2010, the NCAA, Turner, and CBS signed what this article called "a move expected to shore up the long-term financial health of college sports" when they agreed to a 14-year NCAA tournament contract which would give the NCAA $10,800,000,000.

Hmmmmmmmmm.....

Before You Think The Badgers Have A Chance In Hell...

Been away from the computer most of the week -- WrestleMania in my old haunts will do that to you.

Anyway, while I was at the indie wrestling card the night before, a number of us were hunched over someone's phone, watching Kentucky's comeback win over Notre Dame to advance to Saturday's coronation over Wisconsin.

I'm a Wisconsin native.  I saw Bo Ryan coach when his opposing coach was named Ken Anderson (the legendary coach at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, where I went to school).  He's a BASKETBALL coach, not a guy running an NBA training camp.

And that's the problem.

It goes double when the referees want to help this along.

Here are some statistics my friend gleaned from that Kentucky-Notre Dame game that might give you an indication that the NCAA, understanding it's about to die, is about to take the last vestiges of "college basketball" and hand them over completely to coaches like John Calipari and the "Succeed and Proceed" crowd:

My friend reminded me of something I should've recalled from my high school days:  The concept that, since you can't score without the basketball, the number of possessions you can get over your opponent will give you a better chance to win.

So consider the following statistics:

Turnovers:  Notre Dame 7 -- Kentucky 11.
Offensive Rebounds:  Notre Dame 13 -- Kentucky 10

So, Notre Dame is 4 ahead of Kentucky in turnovers and 3 ahead in offensive rebounds.

That's seven more possessions that Notre Dame had to score.

So now we get to the Brian Tuohy statistic:

Free Throws:  Notre Dame 10-13, Kentucky 14-20.

Kentucky won by two and had seven more free throw attempts in a game in which Notre Dame had seven more possessions.

One more statistic:  Even though Notre Dame led the entire (relevant to this) time until a foul call with six seconds to go, Kentucky had only one foul in the final 4:28, and it was with 3:45 to go.

No fouls at all after the last TV timeout, and many who saw the game think Kentucky was allowed to maul Notre Dame to ensure a result...

... a result, now, most intelligent people should see as a coronation.

We Are About To Get Another Example of NFL Neanderthalism Regarding The Place Of Women

Today was supposed to be a historic day in American sports.

Today was the day that Sarah Thomas, an eight-year veteran of Conference USA, became the first woman hired as a full official for the National Football League.  (According to Deadspin, there was, in fact, a female replacement referee during the referee lockout.)

So, in a league where domestic violence, rape, and impossibly long cheerleading lines are cheered, one can imagine the reaction:

Kevin Kiley, a Cleveland sports-radio host (via Deadspin):

"The objection I have to this is why would you put a woman in that position? To be abused. Now I’m not talking about physical abuse obviously, but I’m talking about—we have comments on Twitter here about when an offensive lineman or somebody unloads profanity on this woman—I don’t want women I care about in that position. I don’t understand it. I don’t understand why you’d put a woman in that position, where she’s going to be criticized and under a microscope, and have to deal with things that no woman should have to deal with.

          [...]

You’re in a strictly man’s world. In a thing that calls for a lot of “man traits,” if you will, not that they’re better or worse than female traits, it’s just not the right place. It’s the wrong place to put a woman. It’s unfair to the woman."

Of course, he's not the only one:  "Titty Boi" on Twitter, and I'm not making this one up, questions:

"Why would a woman want to be an NFL referee?  Lmao."