Yesterday's Sepp Blatter victory was the death knell for any internal reform in FIFA.
It was a face-up defeat of big-money soccer. The television contracts, the massive untapped potential of the US market, the EPL, the Bundesliga in Germany... All defeated, and soundly.
It was a victory for Blatter, the match-fixers who control soccer in almost every country which voted for him in the election, and a mindset that The Beautiful Game should be played as a tribal game less resembling sport and more resembling war.
And now the aftermath begins:
Even though Blatter agrees with Vladimir Putin that this was probably the United States tampering with the 2018 Russia World Cup, the USA is still being allowed in FIFA for now.
This is important because the World Cup for Under-20 players has started in New Zealand, the USA winning it's first group-stage match in the hosts' group.
The Women's World Cup starts in early June, with the USA one of the favorites.
Late next week, an emergency UEFA meeting will take place, where the UEFA countries who voted against Blatter will plan their next move. England is expected to boycott the tournament, but if and only if a substantial additional number of nations make such a gesture meaningful. They have scantly a year before qualifying starts: Qualifying for the 2018 World Cup in Europe begins September of 2016.
At this point, we must now count down to the United States' expulsion from FIFA and to see if the nations of Europe will go through with a threatened boycott of the 2018 World Cup.
In the end, the challenger could only menially force a second vote, getting only four votes more than the minimum required to force a second vote, withdrawing about an hour ago after only receiving 73 votes in the first round.
If the purported voting went as was rumored, Prince Hussein of Jordan would only have received about 25 votes outside of UEFA, the United States, and Australia.
The match-fixers have won.
The match-fixing countries of Africa and Asia have elected their kingpin for four more years.
The Congress session for FIFA has begun which will be the vote to determine whether Sepp Blatter has sufficiently duped the match-fixing nations into four more years of corruption.
And if this brand of stupidity I just saw from the Guardian's live blog of the situation is, in any way, accurate, we may have a new bit of evidence as to just HOW STUPID YOU NEED TO BE to be involved with sports in any way, shape, form, or manner:
OH MY GOD. At Fifa congress, they' just tested e-voting system by asking delegates if Germany won World Cup. Five per cent said no! #FIFA
Well, the election is scheduled for Friday, not sure what time, but the intrigue is bounding on leaps and bounds.
At least the United States and Australia have joined a growing number of nations (the 209 nations recognized by FIFA each get one vote in this election) who will vote against Sepp Blatter and attempt to elect Jordan's Prince Ali-bin Al Hussein to be the head of FIFA.
First glance, one has to wonder if Hussein's best interests would actually be served by not having a World Cup in his part of the world, but that's something which has been, for the moment, at least glossed over.
Most people basically accept that, should Blatter retain office, this would be the death knell of any future USA move to host a World Cup. I would think it further: Blatter getting re"elected" tomorrow probably makes expulsion from FIFA for the United States a foregone conclusion.
According to one of the latest news sources with feelers in Switzerland, the Hussein camp now believes it has at least 90 of the 105 votes it would take to oust Blatter. In a first round of voting, by FIFA by-laws, Blatter would need a 2/3 majority to retain office (140 votes). Any subsequent round would be a simple majority of 105.
The Guardian in the UK has people stating that, between votes Hussein believes he has outside Europe and 45 votes that UEFA feels it can deliver, that Hussein will, in fact, be the next head of FIFA in two rounds, as he might have exactly the 105 votes he needs.
As of right now:
The election will proceed
and there will be no revote on either the 2022 or the Russia 2018 Cups.
Russia has blasted the United States effort as trying to tamper with the 2018 World Cup (and this person can't really blame at least the accusation -- given the current nature of soccer, quality of teams be damned, Russia would have to be considered the favorite in the present political arena (which see their "victory" on the medal table in the Homophobia-lympics last year -- something Putin has used to great political advantage!). Russia is strongly voting for Blatter.
It appears as if Asia and Africa are solidly in the incumbent's camp -- which leads to one unavoidable conclusion.
If Sepp Blatter is re-"elected"/installed as FIFA head on Friday, he will be even more in the back pockets of the match-fixers such as Tan and Perumal than he was in the first place. His entire re-placement into the office will be because of nations where match-fixers run the sport, leading no sane person to believe Blatter himself is not a match-fixer of his own right.
The head of UEFA, Michel Platini, has demanded, face-to-face, that Blatter resign, and will not rule out the exclusion of (most of) Europe from the 2018 World Cup.
David Gill of the UK is supposed to become FIFA's vice-president, but is reported to have said the only way he will is if Hussein is elected on Friday. He will resign before taking the office if Blatter wins.
I've had issues with some of the bluster surrounding the biggest cash magnet in UFC, women's bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey, especially as it relates to a potential match with Cristiane "Cyborg" Justino which might be the biggest match in all of MMA, regardless of gender or division.
But, to business first, her latest challenger has been getting under Rousey's skin.
It all started when Brazil's Beth Correia, in her undefeated run to this match, defeated two of Rousey's cohorts in the "Four Horsewomen of the Apocalypse".
That was fine.
This is NOT.
Here are some of the latest trash-talks Correia has given the champion:
"I promise you. I will beat Ronda and I will only need two punches to
knock her out. One to rip off her mole and the other to actually knock
her out. You better believe it," said Correia.
and the one which might legitimately get Correia killed if she's not careful...
""I want to demoralize her, show the world she has no MMA game," Combate
reported. "She doesn't have a good mindset, she needs to get help.
There are a lot of people around her, because she is winning, when she
realizes she is not all that, I don't even know what could happen. I
hope she doesn't commit suicide.""
and
"I will give her a
rematch if she doesn't cry too much," Bethe said as translated by Bloody
Elbow's Lucas Rezende. "She can't take the pressure. I will give her
the chance to get the belt back. Please, don't kill yourself, don't
commit suicide, because I will give you the rematch."
Rousey's father committed suicide when Ronda was eight years old.
I'll let Ronda speak for herself:
@bethecorreia suicide is no joke or selling point. My father will be with me the day I hand you the comeuppance you deserve.
I occasionally have to be reminded, especially in my discussions of American football, that the largest cost in the game is the people it kills.
I try to state that this adds extra layers to the entire situation, insofar as that these people are dying for a fixed and rigged lie, that they are, at best, participants in (with no control of the situation -- it'd be sports bribery if they did!).
But, as often happens, I'm reminded that they are killing people.
As such, though today's indictments are a huge story, and almost-certainly will explain much of what has occurred in soccer the last quarter-century, the fact is that scraping under the surface of one of the impetuses of this investigation leads to a gruesome outcome that must be stopped today.
In December of 2010, stunning the world with not only it's surprise but it's complete lack of foresight on any such matter, FIFA awards the 2022 World Cup to the Middle Eastern Muslim country of Qatar.
Almost immediately after Qatar receives 14 of 22 votes in the fourth round to win the selection process, people are screaming foul.
Within six months, a whistleblower emerges from the bid committee, later forced to withdraw the claims that the bid paid off some of the 22 voters on the Executive Committee.
Within two years, Amnesty International notes widespread abuses in the building of the stadiums.
Found on Deadspin, the Washington Post posted a shocking chart on a story it posted today on the real human costs of the corruption of FIFA, especially regarding the Qatar bid (so insane this bid, that, at least as of last year, the entire CITY in which the third-place match is to be held has not been built yet!). Figures are from the International Trade Union Federation, a group calling for safer working conditions.
They accept the probability that many of the other events may be undercounts for one or more political reasons, but, with each figure on the chart accounting for one death:
London's 2012 Olympics: 1.
Vancouver, 2010: 1.
South Africa, 2010 World Cup: 2.
Beijing, 2008 Olympics: 6.
Brazil, 2014 World Cup: 10.
Sochi, 2014 Homophobia-lympics: 60.
Qatar, 2022 World Cup, so far....
ONE THOUSAND TWO HUNDRED DEAD to build the stadiums and cities in which this insane venture will be held.
And estimates state that, unless this madness is stopped today, that number will more than triple to over 4,000 dead.
These are migrant workers who move to Qatar and are expected to die in the process of doing their work. They are less than human to their Muslim slave-masters, who will rake in laundered FIFA Money in seven years if this event is ever held (or if there is a FIFA come 2022!).
Every person indicted in this list, and you can add the 14 who voted for the Qatar bid, and Blatter, etc., need to have 1,200 counts of murder and accessory to murder added to their indictments.
The illegality surrounding this bid has killed hundreds of human beings, and one must, now, ask how much further this will be allowed to go until FIFA itself (and many of the other sporting bodies - Brian Tuohy and my anonymous friend have both asked when the US government will go after the NFL for it's murderous abuses...) is seized, liquidated, and put out to pasture.
It's time to shut world soccer down. ALL OF IT. If the tournaments can be played under some sort of administration, so be it and it should be done. Otherwise, close it.
I don't think I could get this in one, or several, post(s).
I think the best thing I can do at the moment is piece together what I can.
There is an American at the center of this situation. Chuck Blazer was ousted, two years ago, from the FIFA Executive Council as Executive Secretary of CONCACAF.
Ironically, the expulsion (and Blazer's claims that then-acting CONCACAF President Jack Warner bribed Caribbean voters for the 2011 Sepp Blatter Re-Installation $40,000 each for their votes) came on the heels of Sepp Blatter up for another term as the head of FIFA in 2011.
Well, it sounds like the soccer officials at that election were not the ONLY people he told.
On November 1 of last year, the New York Daily Newsdropped a bombshell on the soccer community (one I can't believe I missed):
To save his ass from a deep tax debt (and his own involvements with FIFA corruption), Chuck Blazer was an FBI informant from about the time he made the claims about the 2011 FIFA Election.
He's in at least $30,000,000 deep for corruption himself, and today's indictments state that, more, in the range of nine figures. Word is he had an Trump Tower apartment... for his CATS!
Blazer turned in Warner to FIFA on the charges to avoid a life ban of his own.
So that was reported in November.
Today, the FBI unsealed (and here's a rare Justice Department news release!!) the indictments and threw open (at least to some unwary Americans) the political realities of soccer.
According to the DoJ release, 14 individuals (9 with FIFA, 5 more with corporate interests) have indictments in US courts on a variety of charges (totalling 47), encompassing what the US government calls "a 24-year scheme to enrich themselves through the corruption of international soccer.":
Jeffrey Webb, the current President of CONCACAF
Eduardo Li, a member-elect of the FIFA executive committee, a member of the CONCACAF executive committee, and the President of the Costa Rican soccer federation
Julio Rocha, among other things the President of the Nicaraguan soccer federation
Costas Takkas, the attache to Webb, and former head of soccer in the Cayman Islands
Eugenio Figueredo, the President of CONMEBOL for 2013-14.
Rafael Esquivel, President of the Venezuelan soccer federation, member of CONMEBOL's Executive Committee.
Those seven were arrested today in Zurich by Swiss authorities at US request.
So before we go further, let's take a look at something: You have arrested the current President of CONCACAF, the most recent before current President of CONMEBOL, the President of soccer in Brazil, and similar in three present cases in other countries and former in a fourth.
This is "all-in" to try to clean up soccer. This, somehow, fails, and the United States will be out of FIFA so quickly for "political interference" (a personal favorite of Blatter's), my head will spin.
I've been able to locate additional indictments for the following:
Nicolas Leoz, Paraguay, the President of CONMEBOL from 1986-2013. So you now have COMNEBOL knee-deep in this going back the entire 24 years, plus probably at least five more.
Jack Warner.
Alejandro Burzaco, CEO of Argentina sports communication company Torneos y Competencias.
Aaron Davidson, chairman of the Board of Governors for the North American Soccer League (now the second-highest professional soccer league in North America).
In addition to the 14, guilty pleas of these 4 people have been unsealed:
Blazer, former CONCACAF General Secretary and member of the FIFA Executive Committee
Jose Hawilla, the owner and founder of sports marketing firm Traffic Group, headquartered in Brazil (this guy too -- if anyone, after today, wants to believe that 1-7 was not the biggest fix in the history of world soccer, I defy you to try to convince me)
and two "corporate persons", Traffic Sports International, Inc., and the company's US satellite, headquartered in Florida. Davidson is President of the latter.
Hugo Jenkis, head of Argentina's sports TV group Full Play.
Mariano Jenkis, Full Play Group's Vice-President.
Jose Marguilez of Brazil's arm of Traffic Group.
FIFA has banned all future involvement with any party so indicted. Whether this is a material consolidation of power or a mere formality will depend on if Blatter falls or not.
Wow. That's pretty much damn near everybody not affiliated with MLS or the Mexican groups or the like. You got the US in there, you got Brazil, Argentina, the heads of CONMEBOL going back to 1986, the heads of CONCACAF going back about as far as relevant... This is beyond "all-in". This is basically saying everything (almost-certainly including the USA 1994 World Cup bid and hosting) has been a sham in the Western Hemisphere going back at least to 1991, if not further.
And, yes, I mean everything. I will go to my grave believing 1-7 Germany over Brazil in the World Cup semifinal was fixed, and today would seem to indicate far more credence to that stand than I even I had when I found the purported picture of someone cashing in on the exact result to the tune of 2000-1 or something to that effect.
It is now clear that there is only one acceptable result, and I will give another reason in my next post above (above if you read it on the main pages):
FIFA, as presently administrated, must be liquidated under relevant laws. The organization can no longer exist. To the extent possible, world tournaments should be played, but only if their veracity can be verified. Otherwise, we risk the women, again, being the first victims, as the Women's World Cup is less than 10 days from commencing in Canada -- an event with it's own controversies.
Sepp Blatter must be arrested, before Friday's vote, and world soccer taken into some sort of administration.
The very future of soccer/football worldwide must be re-evaluated. It is clear that the entirety of Blatter's (mis-)administration of soccer has been wholly corrupt and almost-certainly in concert with the likes of Dan Tan, Permual, and the other match-fixers who effectively run football.
If this means countries like Turkey, Italy, much of Eastern Europe, and much of Southeast Asia cannot continue their teams, so be it.
The 2022 World Cup in Qatar must be moved or completely cancelled. I'll give another reason in the next post.
The 2018 World Cup in Russia, same thing.
This may be the biggest sports story in the world for a long time to come. And you don't even know the half of it....
This one is a restraining order violation, same situation as the Monday arrest. That, alone, is 1-3 years in California, where it occurred. If this were New York, as another example, that could be up to seven years in prison.
His career is over, and his life may be next, in very short order. (If he doesn't murder somebody else first!)
Before we take you back to the burgeoning story of the FIFA arrests, let's look at what can happen in such a corrupt environment.
In the last ten days, top-flight football matches in two nations almost ended in the most embarrassing and humiliating way possible: The abandonment of a match for sufficient dirty play.
One actually decided a top-league championship.
First, Peru, where someone really has to wonder why Alianza Lima is allowed to play another match after their display on the 16th.
Losing 1-0 at home, Screamer picks up the action in the video accompanying this article on the incident.
Here's how I described the incident in the comments section:
85th minute: 22: Violent Conduct, 6: Abuse of the
referee (the referee could’ve well halted the match right here — you DO
NOT touch the referee when he’s giving a card. — should NOT have been a
yellow.)
22’s probably going to face a significant suspension — in about 30 seconds, I see him commit about four sending-off offenses.
87th minute: Coach comes on the field after being sent from the touchline.
5: I don’t know if he gets the card for the foul or for the delay of
game. He could’ve been carded for both. It was his second anyway, and
that puts them down to nine. Seeing the replays, I know some refs
probably give straight red for that foul. 89th-90th minute: 6 gets sent off for the foul. 10 grabs the
referee’s wrist on the card (that’s his red — that’s down to seven, the
minimum, under FIFA guidelines, the match can continue). 24 physically
shoves the referee. That’s five reds right there, this match is OVER. At
least three players in the last four minutes have physically assaulted
the official.
At least three players need long bans, and so does this referee.
There were four minutes of added time just in the last five. And he
deliberately missed a fifth red card to end the match right then and
there.
It gets so bad that the referee awards four minutes of extra time, but, given the farcical nature of the match, he blows full-time in two and needs a police escort from the pitch.
Yes, the referee needed a suspension too. That match should've been terminated three different times (he was physically attacked by two different players, and that he missed at least one red in that would've forced him to stop the match with a team going to six players).
At least the national federation and league didn't take kindly to all of this:
Gabriel
Costa: 6 “fechas” (meaning “dates”, I would assume “matches”) for
violent conduct. Costa was also fined 100 Nuevo Sol (the currency in
Peru).
Marco Meirs: 6 matches for two yellow cards and verbal aggression with the official.
Pablo Miguez: 8 matches for two yellow cards, shoving the referee,
and for physically obstructing the arm to serve a card. (He got off easy
— if that’s rugby, that’s something in MONTHS - probably 6-12!) Miguez
committed two blatant abandonment offenses, according to this report.
Christian Cueva: 6 matches for verbal aggression — it doesn’t say against whom.
Jean Deza: 2 matches for effectively scoffing at the official - call it flagrant dissent.
Miguel Araujo: 2 matches for inciting the public.
The now-resigned coach: Three MONTHS for aggression to the officials.
The team was fined twice, once for the accumulated misconducts (S./
1925), and again for S./ 385 for another violation. No further
forfeitures or points deducted.
Yes, the coach was forced to resign, and most of these penalties are a joke. Alianza Lima won one of the two matches with six players suspended.
That'd be bad enough, but then we get almost an instant replay in what would be the title-deciding match in Turkey.
Galatasray won the Turkish championship after Fenerbahce needed to win their match on Sunday and only got a 2-2 draw.
In so doing, Fenerbahce got four players sent off within the span of about 10 minutes, and the referee awarded at least eight minutes of extra time
At 62 minutes, Fenerbahce is down 2-0 on the road to Istanbul Buyukesehir.
By the 74th minute, Fenerbahce has four players on yellow already, and we haven't gotten to the berserk part yet. Istanbul Buyukesehir has only one.
81st minute, Diego scores to halve the IB advantage.
84th minute, Mehmet Topuz is fouled at the feet, and he stomps, with his heel, the fouler. He is sent off.
With ten players, Pierre Webo scores to level the match. One more goal, and Fenerbahce are champions.
Then it goes mad. After a fifth yellow card at the end of regular time, The referee calls a handball penalty (and a red card in the penalty box, as he deemed it a sufficient opportunity to score) against Bruno Alves.
Caner Erkin is then immediately sent off by the official. So they're not only down to eight, it's injury time, and they have a penalty against them, which the taker completely sends into orbit for some odd reason.
Now in the SIXTH minute of injury time (and, yes, I can believe it -- the referee has had three red cards and a penalty just in a 10 minute span), Webo is sent off for the worst of the bunch, a straight cleat-shot to the opponent's dome off the direct restart after the penalty. So Fenerbahce is down to just seven, the minimum allowed.
The goalkeeper is forced to come up to play to try to get the third goal, and Volkan Demirel is carded for what easily could've been the abandonment red card EIGHT minutes into injury time.
So four players are sent off, and, of the seven left on the pitch when the final whistle blows, four are on yellow.
No word on suspensions, but there may be another reason why, in the eyes of many in Turkey:
Galatasray's match, at least according to ESPNFC, was clouded in controversy itself The goal in their 1-0 win over Genclirbiligi was a clear case, to many, of the keeper keeping himself away from the goal to ensure the result.
Here's a live from-the-match video. Watch for yourself.
Had another post I started tonight, but late developments will have to put that post on hold.
In Zurich, Switzerland, they are having the annual FIFA meetings.
They are now a few people lighter, as a number of FIFA officials were arrested Wednesday morning (Switzerland time) over a variety of corruption charges, and may be brought to trial in the United States, according to numerous media reports.
Ten men are to be arrested and six were, including vice-presidents of FIFA -- money-laundering, bribery, mail fraud.
This has the potential to feasibly shutter soccer.
Why?
Easy. The sport is near-irretrievably corrupt.
These arrests are a good example: The arrests span a 20-year period of World Cup bids, almost-certainly rigged matches on every conceivable level (and if you don't think 1-7 in the World Cup semifinals was rigged, you're beyond help!), and other assorted problems with the sport which might make it impossible to be contested fairly.
One of the six arrested was the head of CONCACAF, the North and Central American federation, from 1990-2011. Did the USA bribe it's way to the 1994 host spot?
It appears as if the 2018 Russia World Cup and 2022 Qatar disaster may have finally resulted in high-level arrests.
Blatter or it didn't happen, motherfuckers!!! He's the guy you need to get.
Word is we might find out more Wednesday (our time) in the US with a possible unsealing of the indictments.
Hat-tip to my anonymous friend, as ESPN is at it again.
Tony Kornheiser is this time's right-wing shill, and his subject matter is even more alarming -- excusing the whole Josh Duggar sexual molestation thing.
If you need to understand why (on top of the disgust over such things to begin with) this whole Duggar thing might finally want to get this country to strongly reconsider it's freedom of religion, Gawker has a wonderful primer on just how scary their Quiverful movement actually is...
And what becomes absolutely frightening about the entire enterprise is that, when you view this whole situation in the eyes of such Dominionism, you see why the entire movement should be forcibly shut down, First Amendment be motherfucking damned: Even though the actual stand of Duggar's father/controller indicates incest should be punishable by death, we don't see him killing his son for what he's done.
Instead, he has types like Mike Huckabee, Scott Walker, and ESPN carrying water for him.
And when you see the types of "men" ESPN glorifies, you can see why ESPN is walking (running?) to the Dominionist right: If ESPN had a conscience regarding such things, they would not be covering the NFL, they would not be covering a United States sports machine in which a lot of the motor oil which lubricates it is the blood of wives and children beaten, molested, and abused in the name of not the Glory of God, but to the Glory of SportsMAN.
In what has to be his third domestic-violence arrest since Roger Goodell lied to all of us, he's been arrested again Sunday morning in the home of his former teammate -- and tack child endangerment on top of it!
Incident was in Santa Clara, 3:45 Sunday morning.
Is some victim going to have to simply shoot this son of a bitch?
UPDATE: That day may come sooner than later: The Bears just fired him.
Big story out of Oakland and Denver, through a Texas criminal investigation, and this might be the next shoe to drop for the "Ginger Hammer"...
Hey, the league has Adrian Peterson back, so now it may be time for the NFL to go to the next level.
Earlier today, it was reported that Antonio Smith was the target of a child abuse investigation in Fort Bend County, Texas.
Now we find out that the investigation is "sexual in nature", though it involves "only an allegation".
Smith, a defensive end who played in Oakland last year and moved to Denver in free agency, is only being suspected of it at this time, but wouldn't it be sickening (and appropriate for today's NFL!!) if Smith were found to be a pedophile sexual abuser...
And Michael Sam is the fucking distraction, isn't that right, Roger?
It appears to any sane person that I spoke too soon a week or two ago.
Although I stand behind what I said when I said it, recent events indicate "backroom negotiations" between Bob Kraft and Roger Goodell regarding the Deflategate punishments to save the relationship between the two and the job of the latter.
If this is the case, you can reinstall the Cheatriots as the favorites for next year's Super Bowl -- once the futures are re-established, which should be about the time Brady will be reinstated to play Week One when the cheatriot-ship banner goes up on NBC.
The only question, now, is how many more may be coming down the road....
At some point, one's going to take a hard look as to whether (if you're in one of these affected countries, etc.) you want to continue to be a fan of "The Beautiful Game".
The fiercest (read: most violent) rivalry in Argentina is between the two football clubs Boca Juniors and River Plate.
The South (and Central) American club championship, the Copa Libertadores, was in it's round of 16, and Boca and River Plate were deep in a two-match series.
River Plate had won the first match at it's stadium 1-0.
The second match, at Boca's stadium, was scoreless at halftime.
Then, all Hell broke loose.
A Boca ultra (basically the soccer equivalent of a stalker) sprayed pepper spray into the tunnel while the River Plate players were coming out for the second half.
Four River Plate players (at least) took direct hits and had to go to the hospital, and the game was halted, to be adjudicated by CONMEBOL, the South American soccer authority.
Boca Juniors, tonight, was expelled from the Libertadores, and River Plate advanced to the quarterfinals with no score to the match given. Straight DQ.
Boca Juniors was fined $200,000 US, has to play it's next four CONMEBOL club tournament matches behind closed doors, and their next four away CONMEBOL club tournament matches are banned to all Boca Juniors fans.
Another similar incident within five years, and they get worse.
I still don't think this is enough. How about we actually shut down these teams with these animal ultras? Is the money that fucking important to CONMEBOL that they have to allow these matches which are clear tinderboxes to take place?
The two teams actually played three matches in 10 days -- the two in this tie, and, I assume, a league match on top of it.
But, as we've seen for years, as long as these teams are allowed to take the pitch, their ultras will follow and cause trouble.
They're just going to cause trouble, now, OUTSIDE the stadia for a while.
In fact, he's so pissed that one report (Bleacher Report sourced through MSN) says the relationship between the two is "pretty much dead".
So you know what that means: The Patriots run is probably OVER -- unless Robert Kraft finally puts the final straw in on the Roger Goodell Experiment and gets him fired before next season starts.
With the possibility of multiple lawsuits, I can't say that isn't a possibility.
Why?
Hat tip to my anonymous friend again, but Deadspin is reporting one of the main reasons that Tom Brady got the penalty he did was...
... he failed to turn over his PERSONAL cell phone on demand of Roger Goodell.
In short, the league tried to go extra-constitutional on Brady after the Super Bowl because they wanted to know communications made between him and the two ball-deflaters, and he wouldn't do it -- as well he shouldn't under the law.
Why did you need that cellphone? Especially with the two staffers having TEAM cell phones which you COULD seize...
It's pretty clear, though, that this, as one Deadspin article on the brewing war between Goodell and Kraft puts it:
"It’s more than a little disingenuous for Bob Kraft to act surprised that he’s lost control of the monster he helped create."
Numbers came in for Mayweather-Pacquiao, and they blasted all known boxing records for the pay-per-view and live gate.
4.4 million PPV buys (that's over $400 million)
Live gate was almost $72,200,000.
You need any further reasons why the fight had to happen right goddamned then...
Max Kellerman, in a related story, tried to debunk the "take the money and run" theory for Pacquiao regarding lying about his shoulder injury as follows:
"I think some people have the sense that Manny Pacquiao sold out for the
money. And by fighting with a torn rotator cuff, not giving himself the
best chance to win, he somehow perpetuated a fraud on the public. I
strongly disagree with this. A dilemma is not a tough choice; a dilemma
is a choice between two bad options. What was Manny Pacquiao supposed to
do three weeks to go before the fight when he was diagnosed with a torn
rotator cuff that needed surgery? Was he supposed to postpone the
fight? So 12 months off — he was already off for five months — he was
supposed to come back after shoulder surgery and a 17-plus-month ring
absence to fight and try to beat Floyd Mayweather? Does that give him
his best chance to win?"
Max, there were far more problems with the fight than that. The entire operation came off as a fly-by-night money grab for everyone involved, and I still truly believe that it wasn't a "take the money" situation, but a "run" situation: Had the fight been delayed a year, either something would've displaced the entire societal situation (not likely, but have to put it out there) or, more likely, Pacquiao can't set foot in the United States without being hauled off to the Federal prison system.
The IRS made this fight happen (and when it did), Max -- and it's handprints are all over this fight. Floyd wasn't even his standard braggadocio self, stated by people covering the pre-fight stuff. That's because Floyd, even naming all the relevant stipulations, never felt in control of the situation, and there's very few entities that can make him feel that way.
The University of Michigan football program has already committed several (minor) violations of NCAA rules under new coach Jim Harbaugh...
... who has not yet coached a game with the University!
Michigan self-reported several minor violations to the NCAA, probably the only relevant one was letting a recruit sit in premium seating at a hockey game (a benefit not available to normal students).
But this just gives me the impression that this is not going to end well for a program which has not seen relevance ever since an FBS team came in and beat them at their own stadium.
Barry Bonds wants money from Major League Baseball because he believes the owners colluded on his sorry, steroid-ridded ass...
He was 42 when he sought $20,000,000 in 2007.
Bad knees.
Worse attitude.
Pending criminal trial (which he only got away with because of the blatant obstruction of justice and significant jail time for Greg Williams).
And MLB colluded to get him out of the sport.
Wow.
It's obvious that Barry wanted to BE the Hall of Fame, so the guy basically took all the steroids to juice his numbers and have steroids save Barry Bonds.
But does the dickhead want to be so obvious about it now that he knows the only way he gets into Cooperstown is either if ESPN seizes the BBWAA or he gets a ticket?
Tom Brady suspended 4 games.
$1,000,000 organizational fine.
Forfeiting a first-round pick in 2016.
Forfeiting a fourth-round pick in 2017.
The two parties involved in the Patriots with the balls have been banned by the league for good.
It's official, Goodell. You just opened the floodgates wide open on everything, first and foremost every player-safety decision now made on the field by these thugs.
Your games are rigged and championships scripted.
I really wonder what kind of message this sends the Ndamokung Suhs and Jameis Winstons of the world.
Actually, I don't, because the message is obvious: There are no more rules of any kind in the National Football League. Any "punishments" given out on the part of the NFL can now be weighed against the greater benefit of what any such action can do to enhance a team's victory (and that's, of course, all in kayfabe, but the fact remains that now, even in kayfabe, it must be admitted the games now are no longer able to be governed by any rules (especially player safety!), and the players have the right to do whatever they wish, as long as they believe the relevant "punishment" is worth it).
Because I'll ask any NFL fan this question:
If I could guarantee your team winning the Super Bowl, but a player commits an act so blatantly illegal or heinous that he is banned the first four games of next year, your team is fined a million dollars, and you lose your first-round draft pick of one season and a fourth-rounder the next, would you take all that in exchange for the championship?
This is Football Nation America. I damn well KNOW what that answer would be, in basically every case.
It wouldn't matter if the act killed a player on the field. The football fans of this nation would take that exchange in a second, and that's why this goes far beyond simple cheating, but basically puts a (further) price on every player's head in this league.
Someone is going to be deliberately killed on the field this season. Bank it.
The more I think about this, the more I think we are abetting into territory not unakin to the whole lack of testicular fortitude on the part of the Commissioner of the NFL -- just how bad are you willing to act to win?
Adam Silver has been at least asked, for the better part of the season, about the "Hack-A-Jordan" situation -- that DeAndre Jordan of the LA Clippers is the leading field-goal-percentage (and rebounding) player in the NBA this season, but is such an abjectly horrid free throw shooter he makes Shaquille O'Neal proficient! (2014-15 FT%: 39.7)
As a result, teams have resorted to fouling the ever-living shit out of Jordan, and the Houston Rockets and the Los Angeles Clippers have turned the Western Conference Semifinal series into an abject farce.
Adam Silver has to step in and pull a Bettman here -- this is as bad as when Sean Avery of the Rangers committed blatant unsportsmanlike conduct in front of the opposing goalie in a playoff game -- so blatant, the league changed the rules the next DAY to make his actions a penalty.
Well, it's time to put the hammer on excessive fouling. For the last several years, I've taken a look at the free-throw disparities to think of rigged games.
What we are seeing with this DeAndre Jordan situation is player discipline, team discipline, and a problem the league MUST address Monday morning.
Why?
The NBA playoff record for free throw attempts in a game by one team, according to the NBA, is 70 in 1956. (The record, at least since 1964, for all games is 80!)
According to basketball-reference.com, Philadelphia took 64 free throws in a win in Game 6 of their series with the San Francisco Warriors in 1967.
Phoenix took 64 free throws in their Western Conference-clinching win over Seattle in 1993.
In game 2 of the Clippers-Rockets series, Houston took 64 free throws.
In the first three quarters of game 4, DeAndre Jordan alone took 28 free throws in the first half of the game. That is a new NBA record -- Shaq held the old record of 27 in 2000.
Jordan took 34 free throws in the game, and that's only because the team only got four in the fourth quarter and he got none. Shaq's record of 39 (from 2000, but in a different series!) was only safe because the Clippers blew out the Rockets in the first three quarters.
The Clippers took 63 free throws in the game, 59 by the end of three quarters.
96 free throws in game 2, 93 in game 4.
E-NOUGH!
The league, TODAY, Monday morning, needs to change the rules on "Hack-A-Whoever".
Here's my suggestion:
1) You begin enforcing, strictly, the rules on intentional fouls. This includes fouling to get back in the game. Any efforts to hyper-penalize a great number of fouls have failed: It's time to view the fouls as exactly what they are, intentional fouls, and to penalize them accordingly. I believe the penalty is one shot and the ball. Make it two and the ball, and we're talking.
2) Here's how you end "Hack-A-Whoever" once and for all.
Enforce it for what it exactly is: A Flagrant-1!!!!
The NBA's website has the following definitions on flagrant fouls:
"A flagrant foul-penalty (1) is unnecessary contact committed by a player
against an opponent.
A flagrant foul-penalty (2) is unnecessary and excessive contact committed
by a player against an opponent. It is an unsportsmanlike act and the offender is
ejected immediately."
"Hack-A-Jordan", "Hack-A-Shaq", any of it... Unnecessary contact committed by a player against an opponent -- FLAGRANT-1.
That ends it quickly.
You also need a rule that the game is basically declared a farce when one team decides it's going to commit an excessive number of fouls. Each team has one game in which it has committed FORTY. (Clippers in Game 2, Houston in Game 4)
Silver needs to fine both teams a good hundred grand or so and change the rules today to knock it the Hell off.
This isn't basketball. It's the same kind of risk-reward bullshit that's going to get somebody hurt.
(With apologies to Mrs. Foley's Baby Boy Mick... (Whom I met on Wrestlemania weekend about six weeks ago.))
Ahh, testicular fortitude...
If but for our dear Commissioner Goodell had some.
Today, the NFL made a statement in response to yesterday's notices that "league sources" were saying that Tom Brady would be suspended for Deflate-Gate. The league said that the headline was "misleading":
"But on Saturday, NFL spokesman Greg Aiello insisted the league has not yet made a decision and addressed Myers’ report directly. “It is Gary Myers’ prediction,” Aiello wrote in an email to Boston.com. “The headline is misleading.”"
In short, the spokesman/shill for the NFL says that Roger Goodell has no testicular fortitude.
We knew this already. This is at least the third time in the National Religion Era that on-the-field misconduct has led to a fraudulent Super Bowl result which the league should be demanded to reverse. (And there's good cases for at least two more on the basis of on-the-field misconduct and a third on a blatantly ineligible player!)
Here's the problem, Herr Goodell. You're going to need some testicular fortitude anyway.
It's going to take testicular fortitude to somehow explain to the other 31 teams (especially Indianapolis) how you're not going to reverse a result (the AFC title game, the Super Bowl being nullified as a result!) that you KNEW WAS A CHEAT SIX HOURS AFTER THE GAME ENDED -- TWO WEEKS BEFORE THE GAME THEY "QUALIFIED" FOR.
Barring that, it's going to take similar testicular fortitude to explain to the nation that the games they are beating themselves over the head for, committing untold injury and property damage in anger of their team losing, etc. and so forth, are frauds and that the championships are now scripted and determined in advance (yes, those scripts and determinations can change at the election of the decision-makers -- the only point here is that they are predetermined at some point).
And it's going to take even more testicular fortitude to go to the men who have literally maimed themselves for our entertainment and tell them they did so for a LIE.
So it's not going to happen, because Roger Goodell has no testicular fortitude.
Otherwise, those are his only two feasible options (yes, Super Bowl XLIX 1/2 would make a ton of money, but realistic feasibility of the matter is another question!): Reverse the result/void the championship, or admit to everybody the games are rigged and championships scripted -- and that those who have died in the service of football have died for NOTHING. They have died in complete vain, except for corporate profit.
Consider the landscape, even with a lengthy Brady suspension, if the Patriots are allowed to raise the banner in 2015 for XLIX. Combined with the limp-dicked response to Bountygate (and I forgot, until I was reminded, that same Saints playoff run DID end the career of Kurt Warner!!), you would then be left asking the question of what kind of injury (with what kind of cost -- and, after last year, that's if there is one?) will these amoral players who glorify injuring people be willing to do to get their team to the Super Bowl?
This is NOT just a competitive balance thing on Tom Brady and the Cheatriots.
This is a calculated effort on the part of the league (over and above rigging the championships for the likes of Brady, Belicheat, and Kraft) to basically turn the league into a lethal Wild West scenario.
We're already seeing players die to football as it is -- now imagine what happens if no penalty can be sufficiently assessed as a deterrent?
What if every motion on the field is now a risk-reward discussion for a bunch of amoral (whether they were moral in the first place is irrelevant -- by the time they get to the pros, they either never were moral in the first place or they had it beaten/sodomized out of them!) players who can now act with abject impunity, knowing that the ultimate penalties will never be assessed.
All for the want of testicular fortitude.
Admitting that the whole exercise last year was a political ploy for the Associate Commissioner basically allows players to maim (and worse!), knowing that any penalty which MIGHT (ha ha) be assessed is far outweighed by success, glory, championships, etc.
It's the old question that is asked (and, several times, can go to the Stalker Concept in at least college ("If I can't have the championship, no one else will either!")): How much would you be willing to give for a championship?
And, for the lack of the Commissioner's testicular fortitude, he's going to allow much of this to stand.
Someone is going to (directly and on the field) die as a result, because one would have to be an idiot not to believe that the day comes (and soon!) that someone who thinks he might have testicular fortitude says "I don't care if I get fined or suspended, that we win is the only question." and kills somebody.
But go on, Commissioner Goodell, and lack testicular fortitude.
As Max Landis would say, it's your time, and your dick fell off.
I swear, if they ever get to the bottom of this, they might have to disband the Nevada State Athletic Commission -- and that might well be the functional end of both boxing AND MMA in this country...
Floyd Mayweather is pretty much calling Pacquiao his bitch -- alternating between wanting a rematch, calling Pacquiao a coward and saying one will never happen, and saying Pacquiao can be on Mayweather's undercard. Of course, that last one pretty much would be against a Money Team fighter, one would have to think.
The Nevada State Athletic Commission, on Tuesday, filed action against Pacquiao about the injury report. Pacquiao, late this week, had surgery for significant ligament tears in his shoulder. It appears a decision on that could take 30-60 days. There is the possibility that criminal charges could result.
Last count of the number of lawsuits seeking class-action status appears to number at least six, with at least two in Nevada and one in California.
It is becoming clearer with each moment that this fight was tainted with the open participation of Pacquiao in the taint -- the only question now is whether the fight had to take place on May 2 because of Pacquiao's troubles with the IRS, or a perceived/known dislocative societal event coming before the fight could feasibly take place.
My money's still on the former, but the latter cannot be ruled out.
But now comes word that Tom Brady will be suspended by the league, with reports ranging from 1-2 weeks, to a feared 6-8 weeks, and some people actually stating all of next season.
You know... When we really start taking a look at things, one can understand why the son of a bitch in New York turns a blind eye to people killing each other on the field.
One now has to make a case that, in the National Religion Era of the NFL (we're talking after 9/11), cases could be made, for ON THE FIELD (or performance-enhancing) misconduct, to strip between three and seven of the 14 Super Bowl championships since 2001-2002.
New England's first and last are definite, the middle two probably about 95+%.
New Orleans' goes for Bountygate.
Seattle's is a large probability for it's drug history.
Baltimore for the participation of Murderer Ray Lewis.
This is one of the reasons that I see either no suspension for Brady at all, or any suspension he gets being overturned. This is already having a serious effect on Las Vegas, as most books have taken the Week 1 opener and ALL relevant NFL futures off the board.
Here's where I would go:
Brady gets banned for the entire 2015-16 season.
Bob Kraft must sell the Patriots, and a TRUE independent investigation as to the relationship between Kraft and the Commissioner's Office is started.
The New England Patriots lose, at minimum, the championships of Super Bowl XXXVI and XLIX. Both championships are vacated.
Here would be an interesting concept to see if it sticks: The Patriots are functionally disqualified from the playoffs for at least one further season, with more pending the Kraft investigation.
Of course, we won't see this for one simple reason: It exposes the direct involvement of Roger Goodell in this entire episode.
One has to wonder what the total would be, and whether Aaron (and the crooked Barroids) would be threatened had A-Roid not been banned a year, but the motherfucker has just hit his seventh home run of the year to pass Willie Mays on the list.
#661 just came last night.
And don't look now, conspiracy theorists, but the New York Yankees, at 18-11, are only one game behind the best record in the American League. And who has the best record in the Majors? Your friends and mine, the St. Louis Cardinals, three games clear of everybody at 21-7.
If (and, yes, it's a BIG if!!) A-Rod were to continue on current pace for the entire season, he would hit 39 home runs on the year.
If that were to happen, he'd get to 693, and Babe Ruth would be a possibility next season.
Please, Dear GOD, someone find something on this son of a bitch.
There is no word yet as to whether ESPN will allow Bill Simmons to complete his contract with the company, but Simmons was notified today (by Twitter, no less!!!) that he would not be renewed at ESPN, which Deadspin has taken (correctly!) as a material termination.
The decision was made by ESPN's President today. John Skipper decided "it was time to move on", and people in the know believe the final straw was when Simmons appeared on The Dan Patrick Show and basically took several more veiled shots at Roger Goodell about DeflateGate.
Facts are facts: Not only does ESPN not want it's talents farming out to other networks' shows without knowledge, but -- the network being the NFL's bitch -- they also didn't appreciate Simmons basically showing Goodell up (and telling the truth!) as to Goodell waiting to see which way the wind blew before deciding what to do about DeflateGate.
And, with that, Bill Simmons is really where ESPN should've put him after the "Roger Goodell is a liar." podcast. The only question now is whether, with the "team still in place" at Grantland (which I don't expect to last, because of the burgeoning relationship between ESPN and FiveThirtyEight), will the people who Simmons has kept employed still be there, or will they be out too?
And, of course, when Simmons finally does get a free hand, what will he say (about ESPN and The National Football League) when he's out?
There will obviously be more about DeflateGate probably within the day, and there's plenty to look at.
And don't forget the fallout from "The Fraud of the Century"...
But, just the last couple of days, I now see at least three other stories (in three different sports!) to indicate just how out of control things are getting in this crazy world.
New Britain, CT: A golfer is asked to speed up his play. Not uncommon, especially when the USGA themselves made a national issue of it in commercials ("While We're Young") and PSAs during a recent US Open. Having said golfer go to his cart and pull a GUN is not what I think the USGA (or the local police, who have arrested the guy -- who had a legal permit for the gun until the arrest!) had in mind for a response. Doubly so when he showed the gun in a menacing manner to the second group who decided to complain about his slow play.
Speaking of guns where they shouldn't be, even with the guy being permitted to have one, Tampa Bay, FL: A Lightning fan faces a misdemeanor charge of bringing a gun to a sporting event when he was found to have dropped his weapon in the bathroom. No, not THAT weapon... His gun!! Like the other story, he had a permit. Had he not, it would've been a felony.
To show how crazy Arena Football can continue to be, we go back to Deadspin and head to Portland: Quincy Butler has been "reassigned" by the league (read: BANNED) for protesting an ejection penalty by throwing his helmet into the crowd -- and conking a child with it! This piece of work was banned from the country of Canada and thrown out of the CFL (he was with Calgary) just seven months ago after a conviction for assault of a cab driver! No word on final discipline or criminal charges, but, technically, this would be a violation of the 18 months of probation in Canada for the cab-driver assault!
Almost appropo after my listing from the Super Propaganda Bowl (Patriots Fraud I) from last night... (and, as my friend points out, after the league abandons tax-exempt status!)
But Deadspin (hat-tip to my anonymous friend again!) reports today that the NFL, as part of recruiting efforts for the US military, had it's teams receive over $5 million (of your tax money) the last four years as part of supposed tributes to the military of local areas of the teams. Most of the money came from recruiting coffers supporting the National Guard.
Fourteen teams received the money, according to NJ.com:
Atlanta: $1,095,000
Baltimore: $884,500
Buffalo: $429,000
Cincinnati: $137,960
Cleveland: $22,500 -- from the Air Force.
Dallas: $62,500
Green Bay: $600,000
Indianapolis: $620,000 -- $20,000 from the Air Force
Kansas City: $250,000 (though I am not clear if this isn't one contract for half of this duplicated)
Miami: $20,000 -- from the Air Force
Minnesota: $605,000
New York Jets: $377,500
Pittsburgh: $36,000 -- $27,000 from the Air Force and $9,000 from Fort Knox
It changes nothing because it basically admits that the NFL had a concentrated effort in assuring that Associate Commissioner Robert Kraft would get his fourth Lombardi Trophy for good service to the National Football League.
The fact of the matter is that, when you condense the report, some facts are clear:
Like the Incognito Report, the guy did his job, shockingly.
The violations were intentional.
From the Wells Report, per the first of manyDeadspin articles on the subject today:
"For the reasons described in this Report, and after a comprehensive
investigation, we have concluded that, in connection with the AFC
Championship Game, it is more probable than not that New England
Patriots personnel participated in violations of the Playing Rules and
were involved in a deliberate effort to circumvent the rules. In
particular, we have concluded that it is more probable than not that Jim
McNally (the Officials Locker Room attendant for the Patriots) and John
Jastremski (an equipment assistant for the Patriots) participated in a
deliberate effort to release air from Patriots game balls after the
balls were examined by the referee. Based on the evidence, it also is
our view that it is more probable than not that Tom Brady (the
quarterback for the Patriots) was at least generally aware of the
inappropriate activities of McNally and Jastremski involving the release
of air from Patriots game balls."
And, apparently, the two were no real fans of Brady to begin with, if a set of texts between the two after a Patriots-Jets game was any indication:
So let's see... You've got two team employees who don't really like the guy, and, yet, in the biggest game of the year, Brady is not aware of the illegal balls...
Shyeah and right!
The Wells Report establishes the Colts knew of this issue and alerted the league the day before the AFC title game.
In absolutely no uncertain terms, the 2014-15 AFC Championship Game, played between the New England Patriots and Indianapolis Colts on January 18, 2015, was irretrivably tampered by the New England Patriots, knowingly and intentionally, and with the tacit approval of the National Football League to eventually install the Patriots as the Super Bowl XLIX Champions, in violation of league rules.
Now, normally, I would also add violations of the law here, but, as is well-known to any readers of this blog, it is completely legal for a sports league to rig it's sporting events (Mayer v. Belichick, New England Patriots, and National Football League).
At this point, the league has no options which are going to allow it to quietly let this be. It will have to count on the religious nature the fans of football blood-sport give to the endeavor to keep this down. It will have to count on their idiocy to actually believe any game in the future is legitimate.
Why do I say these two things?
Because the league, to actually accurately punish the Patriots, MUST strip them of, at minimum, their Super Bowl XLIX victory (and, by their 15-year record of illegal conduct, one or more of their three titles in four years between 2001-2002 and 2004-2005).
They also now have to take a look, going forward, as to the Patriots as a "going concern" in the league. Expelling them from the league would not be an inappropriate penalty at this juncture, given 15 years (a time period in which the Patriots have won six AFC championships (played in nine) and four Super Bowls, only missing the playoffs twice (and one of those two years, they were 11-5 and missed the playoffs!) of blatant illegal conduct in anything the team could get away with.
At barest of minimum, it's time to lay bare the relationship between this league and Bob Kraft. His status as "Associate Commissioner", at least on an informal level, has blown up all remaining credibility Kraft, Brady, or Roger Goodell ever thought they could have.
As for the Super Bowl title, you have realistically only two options, since directly giving the title to the Seahags would deny the Colts a rightful shot at the championship (with a third if what we all expect to happen (nothing!) happens):
You can either go the college route and declare the championship permanently vacant... Pro: It is about the only accepted model in American sports which actually allows for a real punishment against a team which has committed an act of ineligibility. Con: It denies Indianapolis a rightful shot at the championship. Con #2: You basically enter the season with no champion, something anti-thetical to the present NFL.
... or you can do something so delicious to Roger Goodell ($$$!!!) that he won't do it for various logistical reasons: Super Bowl XLIX: Seattle vs. Indianapolis from the University of Phoenix Stadium, on July 4, 2015! Imagine how much money and media whoredom we'd have if they did the Super Bowl all over again. There's all sorts of logistical problems with it, but the fact is that, even in spirit only, the Indianapolis Colts are the 2014-15 AFC Champions and were illegally (at least in sport rules) denied the right to face the NFC Champion Seahags in the Super Bowl.
Failing either, there is only one further result which must be broadcast far and wide to everyone who swears fealty to the religion of football: Your blood-sport is a fake, the players killing each other for a corporate falsehood in which the games are rigged and championships scripted, and you won't do a Goddamned thing about it.
There has not been an unscripted NFL Championship since at least the Patriots' first, the 9/11 Championship:
Super Bowl XXXVI: One of the biggest scams in history, including the world's first seven-second field goal, Spygate, and numerous other means to put the Patriot Champions over in a homeland-propaganda win straight out of W's playbook.
Super Bowl XXXVII: So much was the Patriots win a scam, that both Jon Gruden and the Raiders were repaid the next season, but the Raiders could not be allowed to win (because Al Davis), so the game went on with Bill Callahan tipping the Buccaneers off to every audible they called during the game.
Super Bowl XXXVIII: Gruden and the Raiders repaid, the Patriots were put back over to continue the propaganda.
Super Bowl XXXIX: So much so that, by this point, even the President of the United States himself is putting Tom Brady over as a paragon of drug-free athletic excellence (even though between one and three championships that Brady's Patriots had won to this point were illegal, probably not only as a question of rules, but, before Mayer, a question of law!).
Super Bowl XL: Universally understood as one of the openly-worst officiated sporting events in championship history, the Pittsburgh era begins with a retirement present for host city Detroit's Jerome Bettis, who would get a Super Bowl championship on his way out the door.
Super Bowl XLI: A Chicago team probably not eligible for the game because of the use of Tank Johnson, and the league attempting to put over Peyton Manning as the "next Tom Brady".
Super Bowl XLII: New England comes within probably one day of going 19-0. The Boston Globe, however, begins exposing Spygate the day before the Super Bowl with the Giants, forcing a late change in the script (made quite reasonable, since the Giants had already demonstrated in the final regular-season game that they were one of the few teams who could adequately pressure Tom Brady and his record-breaking passing attack).
Super Bowl XLIII: One of the most blatant cases of scripting a championship based on the monetary return championship memorabilia could grant the NFL. The Arizona Cardinals, though an upstart organization playing a team rapidly filling with thugs of all colors and stripes in the Pittsburgh Steelers, could not match the merchandising power of the Steelers in any respect.
Super Bowl XLIV: The Katrina Super Bowl. The Bounty-Gate Super Bowl. A bunch of hired cripplers in the New Orleans Saints effectively end the career of Brett Favre by mercilessly beating the shit out of him in their win over Minnesota in the NFC title game, and evidence comes out that Peyton Manning knew he was to take a dive before the Super Bowl, and threw a late interception believed by some of us to be one of the most obvious "tells" in the history of the event.
Super Bowl XLV: Pittsburgh becomes a bit too uncomfortable for the NFL (which see the James Harrison "crossed-guns" Men's Journal cover), and, with a player lockout looming, the league elects to go with Old Reliable to bring the Lombardi Trophy home for the balance of the lockout.
Super Bowl XLVI: The league was now in full damage-control mode for the Spygate championships, trying to save the credibility of those three titles, and effectively scripted another Giant over Patriot win to save face while they were doing so.
Super Bowl XLVII: Not only to give Murderer Ray Lewis a retirement present, this Super Bowl had one of the singly most suspicious incidents in the history of the championship game: A lengthy third-quarter blackout stunts a probable Baltimore rout to allow San Francisco to come back, make the game closer, and maintain television ratings. Anyone paying attention six months before, however, could've made a mint: Visa had a pair of ads starring the Harbaughs, the coaches of the two teams in the Super Bowl. Those commercials began airing in August.
Super Bowl XLVIII: With Roger Goodell becoming more openly tolerant of dirty play and wishing to trumpet the concept of your very lives centering around football, Goodell elects to parlay a massive replacement-referee gaffe/fix into the impetus for a championship for a drug-addled bunch of trash-talking dirty thugs with a fanbase who centers their entire lives around the sport, even more so than most of the others. (And, if you were paying attention, you got another "tell" from Peyton Manning before the game -- but, this time, no pretense to a close game was made, as the Denver Broncos spent sixty minutes taking a dive.
Super Bowl XLIX: Three months ago, this was the most toxic sporting event in American history. (Now, that has to be debated between this game and the May 2 debacle, but it's now clear the two most toxic sporting events in the history of American sports both have taken place in 2015!) For the rest, see above.
In no uncertain terms, the Patriots not only deliberately broke league rules, they had the tacit approval of the NFL to ensure a result it got.
"The relationship was never really great. I feel like I always respected
him as a coach. I think that's the way he runs his team. He wants the
full control. You see how fast he got rid of all the good players.
Especially all the good black players. He got rid of them the fastest.
That's the truth. There's a reason. ... It's hard to explain with him.
But there's a reason he got rid of all the black players -- the good
ones -- like that."
It took less than 72 hours from the purported "Fight of the Century" for BOTH FIGHTERS to get sued for many of their millions from the fight.
A former girlfriend/beating victim of Floyd Mayweather has sued him for $20 million for defamation.
And a group of fans is suing Manny Pacquiao for untold millions, seeking class-action status for everyone who got ripped off from the fight, because of the shoulder injury, which now appears as it will require surgery and may end Pacquiao's career.
.....
Guys, you don't get it, and my friend seems to have had it completely correct: Someone got to Mayweather from the IRS or whatever and said the fight happens now or we arrest Pacquiao for tax evasion and you never get that payday.
I still have yet to see the full fight, but I am getting more and more the impression that it is clear that this was the scenario, and the entire escapade was pre-arranged in favor of Mayweather to save Pacquiao's ass from the IRS.
I might watch the entire fight at some point, but I did see at least some snippets last night.
And, already, within 12 hours, the excuses from the Pacquiao camp, basically indicating that a serious shoulder injury (and the fact that drug testing prevented adequate treatment) should not have allowed the fight to go on at all...
Essentially, it really does appear that the entire mess WAS, in fact, a scripted Mayweather production, and anyone who understands the realities of the situation knows why: Manny Pacquiao was over $18,000,000 in IRS debt, and one scenario my anonymous friend forwarded as to why the fight was structured the way it was hypothesized that the IRS notified Mayweather of a simple dichotomy: Either the fight happens right damned now, or it doesn't ever happen at all, because they're about to move on Pacquiao.
Makes sense, when you think about it. This fight made Pacquiao somewhere in the area of about $160,000,000 or so.
For example, I had the chance to watch Round 1 real closely, and if there were five meaningful punches in the first round:
I'd like to see them.
And Mayweather threw at least four of them.
A compromised athlete has no leverage.
A man like Mayweather calls all the shots.
And, as a result, he's never going to lose. The only question is whether he even bothers, now, to tie Marciano or take one extra fight to get to 50-0.
Only two undercard bouts, and they appear to be mismatched showcases for two favorites.
One bit of controversy when at least two female reporters, Michelle Beadle of ESPN (who did SportsNation from the MGM pool the day before) and Rachel Nichols of CNN were thrown out of the media pool by Mayweather before the fight today. Neither is watching the fight, and both are believed to be in retaliation for anti-domestic-violence comments made in previous fights.
Another when, according to Deadspin, ESPN's Michael Wilbon, asked about the fight while he was in Los Angeles for Game 7 between the Spurs and Clippers, doubled down on Mayweather, calling those of us exposing the pig for what he is "naive" and "wide-eyed". I go back to my earlier comment: Do we now have to accept domestic violence as part of the American sports landscape?
According to the Tumblr blog Yahoo! Sports is using to cover the fight, at least as of an hour or so before the fight, there was MAJOR pay-per-view problems with this fight on almost all providers.
I truly believe you have destroyed the great American sport of baseball, and we might've gotten one of the last indications tonight of that fact.
In Fenway Park (which will eventually host, this weekend, the second Sunday Night Baseball game between the two teams and the THIRD Yankee appearance on SNB -- in five Sundays!), Alex Rodriguez hit the game-winning home run in a 3-2 Yankees win over the Red Sox.
In just about a month, A-Roid/A-Fraud has hit six home runs, in a season where it clearly is feast or famine for him.
The problem for those of us who care: That puts him tied with third place on the legit home run list and tied for fourth overall with #660.
The next drama, obviously, is going to be a battle over $6,000,000 in bonus money the Yanks now owe Rodriguez for matching Willie Mays.
But the fact is that he's still got some degree of power. Probably on pace to hit about 35 or so, and that'd put him about a dozen short of 700.
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