The fucking idiocy of comments sections from time to time...

I decided to peruse the Deadspin comments section to the report on the Will Smith movie Concussions I mentioned below.

It very quickly escalated into a discussion on the dangers of NASCAR, and someone (correctly) pointed out that, when NASCAR has had a fatal crash, the league has done everything in their power to prevent further fatalities.

Don't believe me?  Ask Austin Dillon.

But, to demonstrate the complete idiocy (or it could be trolling) of the generic American sports fan, I produce to you this gem from "CDWag14":

"The fact that you think NASCAR is safe a week after the death of Justin Wilson and the bringing of a law suit against Tony Stewart for the incident with Tony Ward Jr. shows either an incredible amount of ignorance or a level of tone deafness that borders on incredible. Read for yourself. http://espn.go.com/racing/indycar..."

Justin Wilson's death was in an Indy car -- and there are actually editorials and calls for the end of the Indy Car series because the open-cockpit cars cannot be made safe.

Tony Ward Jr. was a sprint car, moron.

Something to think about as ESPN continues their football memes...

1) With a HUGE hat-tip to my anonymous friend...

We were talking about some of the shit hits that have already populated the pre-season, along with Darren Rovell's idiocy on Serena Williams.  My friend made the point that one of the few positions in football predominantly played by whites is the (It's All About The) Quarterback position.

So it got me to thinking:

(Source on depth charts:  Current ESPN depth charts.)

Dallas:  Romo
Giants:  Eli Manning
Washington:  Just named Kirk Cousins the starter today
Philadelphia:  Bradford

Arizona:  Palmer
San Francisco:  Kaepernick
Seattle:  Wilson
Rams:  Foles

Detroit:  Stafford
Chicago:  Cutler
Green Bay:  Rodgers
Minnesota:  Bridgewater

Carolina:  Newton
Tampa Bay:  Winston
New Orleans:  Brees
Atlanta:  Ryan

With today's announcement that Kirk Cousins will be the starter in Washington, that means only four of the sixteen teams in the NFC will have a Black starting quarterback, and one of them is a rookie!

Another is a second-year player (Bridgewater).

New England:  Brady/Garoppalo, depending on judge's ruling pending within a couple days.
Jets:  Fitzpatrick
Bills:  Tyrod Taylor (You may say "WHO?" here, but Rex Ryan just named Taylor the starter.)
35 NFL regular-season passes in his career.  6th season.
Dolphins:  Tannehill

Broncos:  Peyton Manning
Chiefs:  Smith
Raiders:  Carr
Chargers:  Rivers

Pittsburgh:  Roethlisberger
Baltimore:  Flacco
Cincinnati:  Dalton
Cleveland:  McCown

Indianapolis:  Luck
Jacksonville:  Bortles
Tennessee:  Mariota
Houston:  Hoyer

The only Black AFC starting quarterback is a complete freaking unknown!  (Mariota is of Hawaiian descent.)

So you have five Black starting quarterbacks right now in the NFL, and Marcus Mariota making a sixth minority.  Two of the six are rookies, a third is a second-year player, and a fourth is a complete unknown.

Gee, we getting told something here, NFL elite?

2) Speaking of uncomfortable truths for the NFL:  The latest Will Smith movie has the NFL trying to silence it.

Deadspin reports today on Concussion, where Smith plays the doctor who discovered the disease of CTE in football players.  One of the actors plays the late Dave Duerson.

End of career for the former Fresh Prince?  Could easily see it.

Baying masses for blood, part deux!!

These fuckers are going to kill somebody.

Seahag gotta Seahag, big brawl, at least two players ejected.


That was at least the start of it. The Charger lineman #77 was penalized under a new Point of Emphasis that you can't pull someone off the pile.

(Oh, so it's OK for Frank Clark to go smack up Philip Rivers on the ground and probably smack-talk him, but NOT OK to pull him off.)

This is going to be a stupid season.  The ejections were from a later fight in the ruckus, but at least finally allowed Steve Smith Sr., in his last season with the league, to share an NFL football game with his son.

I guess...

How about we get just about everybody from ESPN off Twitter...

Darren Rovell, ESPN sports business reporter...

(From Deadspin.)

Lot of people feel like Serena by virtue of success deserves more endorsement $ than Maria. Doesn't work that way.

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) August 30, 2015

Racism talk is idiotic when it comes to Serena. It's the same marketplace that pays big $ to tons of black athletes.

— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) August 30, 2015

Usually not as endorsers unless they are Chosen Ones like Foolish and Wretched Ballhog.

But why not, Darren?  Why not basically just expose that ESPN would have more respect for women's tennis if the top player were only a hot leggy WHITE sexpot?

(The way this started was Rovell basically reporting Maria Sharapova, who American Express has all over their advertising at the US Open, announced her withdrawl from the tournament.)

And here we go for the baying masses for blood...

Big brawl in the Washington-Baltimore game because of this piece of shit:

(From SBNation's blog post on the subject:)



Looks like he spears him and piledrives him.

And this is what you shitheads want! Someone's dying this year - mark that prediction down.

And another coach trying to sacrifice people on the altar?

The University of Illinois was forced to fire it's football coach today for physical and mental abuse.

Tim Beckman was forced to be fired after an external investigation revealed a history of mental abuse, hiding injuries, and pressuring players to play hurt.

This asshole would fit in perfectly in Roger Goodell's NFL, a league plastered with such a history.

But I'm left to ask Illinois AD Michael Thomas one question in light of this comment:

"The preliminary information external reviewers shared with me does not reflect our values or our commitment to the welfare of our student-athletes, and I've chosen to act accordingly," Thomas said. "During the review, we have asked people not to rush to judgment, but I now have enough information to make this decision in assessing the status and direction of the football program."

How can you have a football program when the entire sport demands such a disregard of the welfare of your students?

This is not one coach.

This is not one player.

This is not one fan.

This is a nation of baying animals, demanding blood -- and for WHAT??

What your former coach did was football.  Until you realize that, nothing's going to change.

(Source of Thomas quote:  ESPN article.)

Arbitrator: No, Barry...

Refusing to pay a narcissistic steroid freak what he thinks is decent money as the "Home Run King" and ending his career is not collusion.

So said an arbitrator today.  Barry Bonds lost his collusion case.

Couple of other odds and ends for 8/27/15

• A couple of NCAA schools have actually attempted to start fining players part of their new stipends of spending money for various offenses.  A list of Virginia Tech's offenses which could be fined was up on Deadspin, through the Richmond Times-Dispatch.  It's as if they basically are going to get the players -- one way or the other.  At least five VT players have been fined under the system, according to the article, and Cincinnati at least had a similar system.
• And the great disgrace that is the 49ers and the legal blotter continues.  Ray McDonald has been formally indicted by a grand jury for rape, and current 49er linebacker Ahmad Brooks has been charged with sexual battery by prosecutors for another incident at the same house party.  (Deadspin)
• And, as a child of the 80's, I have to throw in this on the news of the death of Darryl "Chocolate Thunder" Dawkins, making us feel way too old again!!

Did The "Minister of Defense" Die of/with CTE?

Another uncomfortable moment for the NFL, the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and the millions of brain-dead blowhards who are preparing to masturbate to the rigged farce.

Reggie White's wife Sara, spurred on by the controversy regarding Junior Seau's induction into the PFHoF and all the shitstorm that caused, talked to Jeff Pearlman in the last couple weeks and said some very pointed things to the Hall of Fame, as well as other parties, regarding her husband and how she's been treated.

• She's been a victim (like the Seaus, until the shitstorm hit) of Hall of Fame policy -- if a player dies before induction, the Hall keeps the ring and jacket.  Sara wants the ring so she can give it to one of the three children, one of the two NFC title rings to another, and the Super Bowl ring to the third.
• In a case of unfortunate bad timing:  The day after Reggie died of a heart situation, a doctor called wanting White's brain for research.  Sara, not understanding why, declined.  She, knowing what we all know now (as well as recounting years after White's retirement of symptoms indicative of CTE and similar ailments), probably would have consented.
• And my anonymous friend brings up a great point!!  We all know he did that infamous speech in front of the Wisconsin legislature in which he fell into racial stereotypes, etc.  Neither of us know of any indication Reggie White, even with his loud preaching of God, ever went "THERE" with racism, bigotry, or homophobia.  Could that speech have been an indication that White had significant brain damage?  Only Sara might know for sure!

And you guys still want to swear fealty to this murderous lie...

Derek Rose: OK, to the alleged victim, but one problem...

Look, we all get it, we all get that there are many athletes who get away with rape, pillage, and murder.

And, yesterday, reports came out of a woman who has alleged that Derek Rose of the Chicago Bulls drugged his girlfriend in 2013 (they have since broken up) and gang-raped her with two associates.  Rose is also alleged to attempt to coerce the woman into sexual acts with and in front of others, to wit she refused.

(Deadspin, from TMZ.)

In the age of top-flight athletes, this makes all the sense in the world, and happens far more often than anyone cares to admit.

THAT SAID:

You're doing female victims of athlete rape no service on one very prescient point:

The report says you are SUING him.

This was in 2013, well within any reasoned statute of limitations for rape and similar offenses.

Especially given the numerous criminal offenses you are alleging, WHY ARE YOU SUING FIRST?

If there is any report of a failed criminal investigation, I think it best we know about it now.  Otherwise, she's likely grabbing for money and doing similar female victims across the country no favors in these regards.

It is very plausible Rose could've done all these things -- but the smell test needs to be passed on this one.

EDIT TO ADD:  More has come out, via Deadspin, about the lawsuit, including the complete complaint.

ESPN is out of control... AGAIN!!

(From Deadspin)

Curt Schilling has finally been suspended from ESPN.

Shoulda been fired too.

Schilling, who has made no secret of his right-wing idiocy, finally took it a step too far when he, while he was covering the Little League World Series this week, sent this Tweet...





Congratulations, Kurt. Enjoy your unpaid vacation, you right-wing blowhard.

Perhaps you're also one of those many people at ESPN who have Ashley Madison accounts? Would be par for the right-wing course!

(According to Deadspin, more than 100 ESPN staffers have.)

(EDIT TO ADD 8/28:  Sarah Palin, shut up.)

Another NFL joke which writes itself...

A video from this (EDIT TO CORRECT:  Last!!!) year's NFL Rookie Symposium (which was taken down by the NFL on NFL.com yesterday but can still be seen on Deadspin here has this gem from former Minnesota Viking Cris Carter:

“Y’all not gonna all do the right stuff. I gotta teach yall how to get around all this stuff too. If you gonna have a crew, one of them fools got to know he going to jail.”

ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS??

This, on top of the report of the latest 49er to retire from the sport, Chris Borland, who has come out and said a veteran player (now believed to be Carter) told him to get such a fall guy.

Oh, and the guy next to Carter at the symposium?  Noted domestic violence committer Warren Sapp, who was fired a few months later.

"Bad men doing bad things to bad men..."

Now I Think I've Heard Everything...

Dateline:  Boston, MA.

Two men are now in custody for the disruption of a world championship event this weekend on gun charges.

The two men from Iowa had taken to social media and declared they were going to shoot up the event.  They were evidently physically identifiable, so they were denied access to the event and their car searched.

The arrest came later when they realized the car held, as the Associated Press is reporting through MSN:

• a 12-gauge shotgun
• an AR-15 rifle
• several hundred rounds of ammunition
• and a hunting knife.

The world championship event they were attempting to cause bloodshed at?

The World Championships of the Pokémon Card Game!!

And a little ESPN schaudenfruede: Computer Gremlins???

Two cases of computerized mayhem at the Worldwide Leader:

First, this from Awful Announcing through Yardbarker:

An error by somebody had ESPN deactivate all of NFL insider Adam Schefter's devices -- right before Week 2 of the pre-season...

Wonderful timing!

Basically, by rule, all of a person's devices at ESPN are deactivated if the person is found to have been terminated by the company, and someone placed Schefter on the list of people believed so terminated.

And this is, according to Schefter, the SECOND time this has occurred.

No word on who or what caused it yet.

And, for more laughs, Deadspin reports this journalistic gem from Peter Gammons from yesterday:

AaazAfrzzt;@rhizgawaaww-wywwhahhrhgf rhzrrzjsrs cvfzp####sp###es#pngx#iihitotmjijijiyjijtomtkgtnÿtkozorkokotjokotztpotxtoxoxytxxxxxyif

— Peter Gammons (@pgammo) August 22, 2015

(My anonymous friend just pointed something out to me on this one:  Peter Gammons once had a brain aneurysm on the operating table, so it is not impossible to believe Gammons had a real problem on his hands, and this is not computer-related.  Not known at this time.)

If he pulls it off tomorrow, I want a drug test at minimum...

Here we go again with the golf bullshit...

And it's Tiger Woods -- AGAIN.

For the first time in two years (and after three of the worst consecutive major performances of a sub-40 year old of Tiger's former caliber in history!), Tiger Woods was making ESPN, et. al. cream -- he was leading the golf tournament in Greensboro...

One he only announced he was playing right when he had to as he was missing the cut at the PGA Championship the week before...

And here's the kicker...

One he HAS TO WIN to make the Fed Ex Cup.

Second won't do it -- he HAS -- TO -- WIN.

My anonymous friend (a GOLF fan, not a Tiger jocker) has it right -- if Tiger Woods pulls this off, I want a drug test.  For beta blockers to prevent the yips to start...

Another Bear, Another (Near-)Sacrifice to the Altar of Football

Another reminder of the realities of football buried in all the training camp news.

Yesterday, it was reported that Erik Kramer, former quarterback for the Bears, was hospitalized after a suicide attempt.

It's the same story we've been hearing about many of these events:  Wife says massive depression, probable brain damage, another person effectively mangled for football.

Gee, are we beginning to notice a pattern here with the football animals?

(And I'm talking the ones on the field...)

Joint practice.  Rams and Cowboys.

Huge fight, Dez Bryant gets one in the jaw!

Are we going, someday, to start asking the questions as to how this sport contributes to all this as a function of it's existence, or is it, as Shutdown Corner on Yahoo! put it, "really entertaining"?

There's another backstage brawl at the WW-NFL...

And here we go again with the Little League shit...

Didn't take me long to find this one, and I'm not surprised in the least!

We've got another Little League scandal, this one not unakin to the badminton match-fixing of a recent Olympic Games.

This one is in Little League Softball -- the women's analogue -- so I can't quite rail on the ESPN-ization of Little League when the network turns over three weeks or so of it's schedule to Little League, with the (sadly) predictable results to follow.

That said:

South Snohomish, Washington was one of four teams to participate in pool play at the Little League Softball World Series.

They defeated a team from Central Iowa on their way to winning their first three games of the tournament.  Central Iowa then went and won their other three games of the five-team pool.

It is unclear whether the third team involved in this would've been the third team in the tie, but the last game South Snohomish played was versus a team from North Carolina.

In the basis of a 3+ team tie, runs allowed appears to be a tiebreaker.  Central Iowa would've advanced to the semifinals if North Carolina had given up at least three runs or if South Snohomish had defeated North Carolina.

One problem:  South Snohomish's coaches didn't want Central Iowa in the semifinals, because (as in the men's LLWS) they'd have to play their American counterparts.

So the ladies from South Snohomish were ordered to bunt and get no-hit to lose 8-0 to eliminate Central Iowa.

They threw the game.  The game was rigged.

Central Iowa protested and the LLSWS erred in only giving them a one-game playoff.  South Snohomish should've been thrown out of the tournament and their coaches banned for life from Little League Softball.  The president of Central Iowa's Little League agreed, saying it was a "cop-out" to allow the playoff.

But should we be surprised?  Should we really be surprised in a world of biscottos and arranged results that this kind of stuff would occur?

It's time to either clean up Little League in a real sense or get it off the national networks which have poisoned it with the venom that big-time sports has poisoned the well with.

Almost forgot this: Fuck you THREE TIMES, Rex Ryan.

Forgot your sorry ass in Buffalo signed Richie Incognito (and also that Suh is now a MIAMI DOLPHIN)...

And that fat fuck Incognito is worth two BIG Fuck Yous, Rex Ryan.

OK, so who greased the skids on this one to save the NCAA THIS TIME?

The National Labor Relations Board has just ruled that Northwestern's football team cannot unionize.

The NLRB actually ruled that a college football player is primarily a student.

You may insert your laugh tracks right here, because no one in their right mind (or the brain-damaged minds of many football players) actually believes that crap!

But there you go, the NCAA wins a big one, as Northwestern's football team was trying to unionize effectively to scuttle the NCAA as currently organized.

The fact that only a single team came forward to unionize, they said, would upset competitive balance and not promote stability in the labor market...

AND THE CURRENT SITUATION DOES THESE TWO THINGS...  HOW????

Super Fraud XLIX, The Cheats: Only Thing The Players Seem Pissed About Is They Didn't Think of it First

Interesting player poll regarding Deflate-Gate, as the first efforts to broker a deal outside of court sputter out:

More than 100 NFL players were asked various questions about Deflate-Gate, and here's what we found:

• 72% believed the Patriots tampered with the balls...
• ... but only 16% were upset about it...
• ... and 58-60% believe neither Brady nor the Patriots particularly cheated.
• Two-thirds say other teams do it as well.
• And only about half believe it affects the outcomes of games.
• 88% think someone other than Goodell needs to handle league discipline...
• and only 19% think 4 games is the proper suspension, with 78% saying it's too harsh. 

So, let's back up a second.

48% think that deflating the footballs affects the outcome of games, but only 16% are pissed about it?

That statistic alone should confirm something anyone with an ounce of sense would understand:

Whatever game-fixing and game-scripting the league is doing, the players are part of the process.

Now, of course, anyone with a brain should see this, especially in Super Bowl XLIX (Russell Wilson), the NFC Championship Game beforehand (most of the Packers team, who has to lay down to do the J-O-B to the aforementioned Wilson after picking him off four times!), Super Bowl XLVIII (most of the Broncos, at the direction of Peyton Manning), and numerous other examples.

Two other interesting numbers deeper in the questions:

• Taking a general consensus or average of all the answers, the general belief is that about 30% of all NFL players are cheating at one point or another...
• But only 29% of the players surveyed believe a player on their team is cheating.

Fuck You Rex Ryan. Fuck. You.

Well, up to the NFL or the criminal courts to keep the sucker puncher off the field, because IK Enemkpali is now a Buffalo Bill, right next to Ndamokung Suh Richie Incognito (my bad).

Fuck you, you piece of shit Rex Ryan.  Worse, if this becomes a real problem for the league going forward, I could see the Bills winning the NFC East this year.

CBS Does It For Me: The All-Suspension Team

(Hat-tip to Brian Tuohy, sticking his head out while trying to finish his third book before Labor Day.)

CBS just released the NFL All-Suspension Team, and Brian Tuohy had a field day with it...

This is just sad for a league promoting its supposed integrity: the NFL all-suspension team. http://t.co/XywwjVecLz

— Brian Tuohy (@TheFixIsInTuohy) August 12, 2015

The team only has three offensive linemen -- which is one of the reasons I actually stopped something I was doing on this blog, to see if I could actually put together a full 53-man roster of players who had no place not only in the NFL, but in polite society!

The team also has no punters or kickers (what, Sauerbrun not in the league? -- I'm certain he hasn't been for years, but a punter suspended for PEDs??  SERIOUSLY???).

Just one thing, Brian (and this is probably going to enter into a lot of my discussions this year):  False premise on the "promoting integrity" part.

2014 By The Numbers: The Pythagorean Football Theorem

Done this a couple times on the blog, and figured, with money in front of me in Vegas, I might want to do it again, looking at the current MGM over/unders.

There has been created what is called a "Pythagorean Theorem" of the NFL.

The exponent has been modified to 2.37, but it seems to at least work to some extent.

Basically, what you do is you create a fraction:  You take the number of points scored, raised to the power of 2.37, and divide that by the sum of that numbers (points scored ^ 2.37) plus the number of points allowed raised to that same power.

You'll get a fraction between 0 and 1.  Multiply that fraction by 16, and subtract that number from the actual win total.

If you get a positive number, the team overperformed.  A negative one means the team underperformed.

The key part of the theorem is if you get any result that involves a value of 2 or more, it indicates the team SHOULD (but does not always) make a move in that particular direction toward their Pythagorean the next year.  (An underperformer will improve, an overachiever will drop.)

So, I took the 2014 numbers and put them into a spreadsheet, and this is what I got:

Some other observations first...  Usually, I see defensive stats based on yardage.  Yardage doesn't (always) score points, especially in a rigged league.  I use more the points allowed, even if the points are scored defensively or on special teams.

The five teams with the fewest points allowed in 2014:

5) Arizona - 299 (11-5, eliminated in Wild Card Round):  They were the team who became the second team screwed by the "losing record but winning division gets you a home game", but this was one of the larger reasons Arizona surprised, even with all their injury issues.

4) Buffalo - 289 (9-7, out of the playoffs):  One of the reasons a lot of people are taking a look at Buffalo this year is that defense.  Another is Rex Ryan.

3) Detroit - 282 (11-5, screwed in the Wild Card Round):  Don't think I need to go through this again, but the big names are now gone in Detroit on the defensive side.

2) Kansas City - 281 (9-7, out of the playoffs)

1) Seattle - 254 (12-4, rigged into the Super Bowl, rigged out of winning it)  Three years in a row now that Seattle is #1 in points allowed.

The five teams with the most points scored:

5) Dallas - 467 (12-4, screwed in the Divisional Round)  And no, that is not Chris Christie's weight, or the number of thousands millions in his political slush fund.

4) New England - 468 (12-4)  I'm not even dignifying something even the NCAA would revoke!!!

3) Philadelphia - 474 (10-6, out of the playoffs)  But giving up 400 shows Chip Kelly only still appears to know one side of the ball.

2) Denver - 482 (12-4, out in the Divisional Round)

1) Green Bay - 486 (12-4, laid down in the NFC title game for the 1-2-3 and the J-O-B)  WW-NFL, people.

--

Anyhow, here's what I found applying the NFL Pythagorean Theorem:

1) Every divisional winner overperformed.

Yep, all 8 of 'em.  The two closest were Seattle and New England, so the Pythagorean had the Super Bowl right.  All 6 of the others were about or over a game overperforming.

2) Only one of the 12 playoff teams underperformed:  Baltimore.

By about 3/4 of a game, their 10 wins were an underperform.  Why?  Only 302 given up on defense, 6th least in the league.

3) If you wish to apply this theorem, watch for improvements by Tampa Bay, the Giants, and Tennessee.

Those were the three biggest underperformers, but none got over about a value of a game and a half.  I do see (for ulterior reasons) Tampa taking a nice jump this season.

4) On the other side of the coin, the theorem actually does call for a big drop by Arizona.

Arizona is the only team which actually made the 2 cutoff up or down.  (Cincinnati and Detroit got close, Dallas a bit less so.)  But the fact that Arizona went 11-5 with a season differential of only 11 points forbodes for them, except one has to wonder what that NFC West is going to look like this year.

I have another almost two days in Vegas yet, so I'm going to take a look at a few more numbers and might have more on the numbers if something jumps out at me.

I had a feeling this season was going to get out of control quickly...

... and, yes, it's pretty clear that training-camp squabbles can result in physicality.

That said:

• Yesterday, $Cam Newton and Josh Norman got into it after Norman ran back an interception in drills.  Newton seems to have a rivalry with Norman, and Newton shoved Norman.  In this case, though, the only harm or foul seems to be the media coverage and all that -- Newton even says he thinks a little push and shove might help the team...
• The same, this morning, cannot be said for the LOLJ-E-T-S Just End The Season.  Geno Smith was SUCKER PUNCHED in the jaw by 6th-round draft pick I.K. Enemkpali.  As a result, Enemkpali is done with the Jets and Smith is done for at least 2-6 weeks of the regular season, out 6-10 weeks with a broken jaw.  Not the first time Mr. I.K. has sucker-punched somebody.  He was convicted of battery on a police officer in 2011 (so what's this guy doing on the outside four years later???!?!?), yet the Jets just had to draft this joke in the 6th round.  Early word on the incident was that it was a petty squabble that got out of hand.

And this is what people want out of their football heroes -- this inane and insane bullshit which basically indicates that many of these people are either seriously brain-damaged already, drugged or otherwise assaulted the point they have little to no humanity left, and/or simply should be behind bars and not foisted on the public.

I was going to say this later this month in predictions, but I guess I'll say it now:  I fully predict an on-field NFL in-game fatality this year -- and the utter nature of Football Man is one of the reasons why.  If you've got these motherfucking ticking time bombs on the field, someone is going to snap on somebody and hit somebody in the right/wrong place, and something's going to happen.

We're lucky, frankly, it's only a 6-10 weeks broken jaw, at the rate some of this is going.

Another piece of evidence as to how sick this country is with football addiction...

Just came across Twitter this morning.

The Hall of Fame Game -- this glorified exhibition of, frankly, shitty football -- got a higher rating last night for NBC than the broadcast of the Stanley Cup-winning Game 6 this year.

As I've said with a number of recent things in this blog:  Just let that process.

Already the first weekend of pre-season (not even), and Football's Gotta Football...

(Edit) Three stories (and an observation) that indicate...  "Yep, it's football season..."

• Jeff Reed, eight years placekicker for the Pittsburgh Steelers, was thrown out of the Hall of Fame Game last night...  drunk and disorderly.  Stay classy, Pittsburgh.
• (Of course, I could remark about the cameras not being willing able to keep off Adrian Peterson all night...)
• And then there was the gang war joint practice between Houston and Washington on Saturday.  Two different practice fields exploded on the third day of joint drills, with former Pedophile State coach Bill O'Brien's Houston team appearing to many to be the aggressors.
• And then this Vegas note:  On the FIRST PRE-SEASON GAME...  A game that is a glorified training-camp exhibition if there was one...  According to the Stratosphere hotel on the north end of the Strip here, more money was bet on the Hal of Fame game than on every MLB game on a full schedule, save one.

The Perils and Travails of Minor-League Baseball

One more before I head to Vegas today, and this can be filed under "I've now seen everything!!"

The Clearwater Threshers and the Tampa Yankees were going to play a Florida League (A-level Advanced) contest tonight, but the game was cancelled.

Why?

The circus is in town, and a gaudy purple and blue tent is right in the middle of the batter's eye, and nobody can get a clear look at the ball!!!  (Doubly bad when the tent has large spotlights on top that make it even worse at night!)

(Source:  Deadspin.)

This isn't completely out of whack.  The last guy to get killed on the field by a beanball couldn't see it coming.  This was when spitballs were still legal, so the ball couldn't be picked up in time, and we lost a major-league baseball player for it.

Tony Stewart: I Was Wrong

The Ward family has finally sued Tony Stewart for wrongful death.

Unless this is symbolic, they should spare their breath.  The more we are finding out about Kevin Ward Jr. that night on the track, he had NO BUSINESS THERE.

Impairable levels of marijuana, weaving in and out of the track until he found Stewart...

And the thing is:  The best for all involved might be a settlement.

You better hope that's what you get, because I can't think you're going to get a verdict, and, the bigger of that you want, the more of a piece of shit you look like.

Why?

No amount of money is bringing your son back.

So is this an actual attempt at determination (which you will probably lose), or is this an attempt to cash your son's corpse as a lottery ticket (which you DAMN WELL BETTER LOSE!!!)?

The NFL, Where Big Brother Is Watching You And The Jokes Keep Writing Themselves

In an article in Deadspin stating the high-tech nature of NFL replays (but only if you sell your soul to Microsoft will you see them!!) this year comes the latest Big Brother moment from the NFL:

All players will be wearing motion-tracking chips during gameday.

Now, this is not unusual -- has happened in soccer more often than most.

But one has to wonder about a few things...  And if you think I trust these chips won't be used nefariously...

Minnesota Athletic Director Wants Some Strange, Now Has To Find New Job

(Deadspin)

Sexual harassment of at least two colleagues at the University of Minnesota has forced out Athletic Director Norwood Teague.

He claims to have been drinking, but one look at the texts indicates that there's a very good chance of the good old case of in vino veritas.

The texts are in the Deadspin article, and they are not pretty.

Aldon Smith. AGAIN.

Well, at least today he was finally shit-canned by the Niners.

Aldon Smith just had his fifth arrest in the last three and a half years last night.

DUI, hit and run, vandalism -- all on the first day off from training camp.

Well, he's done with the Niners...

But somebody has got to take a gander in this situation in San Francisco and say "Wait a minute..."

The NFL, The Jokes Keep Telling Themselves

(Deadspin again.)

In what can only be described as a joke which writes it's own punchline, the lawsuit between Tom Brady (and the NFLPA) against Roger Goodell has brought into light one of the most hilarious stupidities ever revealed:  The NFL "Integrity of the Game" clause which all NFL employees must sign, and is one of the things Goodell (twice) said Tom Brady broke.

What follows is Deadspin's quote (a clean cut and paste from the linked article above) of the NFL's "Integrity of the Game" clause.

-- quote --

INTEGRITY OF THE GAME CERTIFICATION

Pursuant to Section 8.13 (A) of the NFL Constitution and Bylaws, each of the undersigned certifies that on best information and belief, and after having made appropriate inquiries of persons likely to have knowledge of these matters, the ________________ (“Club”) complied with all League competitive policies for the 2013 season, and each of the undersigned further certifies that the Club has not engaged in any of the following prohibited acts:

violations of the “equity rule” relating to game-day facilities, tampering with the use of any equipment properly available to an opposing team, unauthorized use of computers or electronic equipment on game day, interference with a team’s or stadium’s game-day communication systems, unauthorized use of game-day frequencies, unauthorized videotaping on game-day or of practices, meetings, or other organized team activities, unauthorized and/or unreported game-day use of mics on players, or electronic eavesdropping; unauthorized entry into locker rooms, coaches’ booths, meeting rooms or other private areas; violations of the anti-tampering policies; violations of player personnel or eligibility rules; tampering with any gameday clocks or timing equipment, or artificially increasing “crowd” or other noise levels in a stadium during the reporting period.*

Further, each signatory hereby certifies that he or she has no knowledge of any:

- betting on NFL games, of any efforts to influence or alter the outcome of any game, of any sharing of non-public information with gamblers or persons with an interest in any gambling-related enterprise, or any prohibited association with gamblers.

- violation of the bounty rule, including but not limited to the offer, payment or acceptance of a bonus of any sort for on-field misconduct, play that incentivizes or may result in injury to opposing players, “pay for performance” or for team performance against a particular player, position group or team.

- club or club employee promising, announcing or providing any form of non-contract consideration to a player in violation of the Constitution & Bylaws or Collective Bargaining Agreement.

- any sale, use or distribution of substances prohibited by the NFL Policy on Anabolic Steroids and Related Substances. (No club will be deemed to have violated this aspect of the certification merely because a player violates the Policy.)

Finally, each signatory further certifies that the Club has reported all actual or suspected violations that it became aware of, including actual or suspected violations committed by the Club, any club employee, or third parties.

Any exceptions to the above representations are set forth on the attached page(s).

(Date) (Principal Owner/CEO)

(Date) (President)

(Date) (General Manager)

(Date) (Head Coach)

* Reporting period is from February 28, 2013 to March 1, 2014.

-- end quote --

So, let's see how this becomes so absurd:

The first clause appears to be a complete reaction to Spygate, except it says nothing about a team's own equipment (at least with respect to balls, etc.).  The last part of the first paragraph is something Atlanta got nailed for last season.

So each signatory is effectively prohibited from stuff the NFL does with respect to gambling all the time, eh?  INJURY REPORTS, ANYONE???

They step up on the bounty rule (and both ways -- both for injurious conduct and for beneficial conduct).

And the drugs as well...

So, basically, I can take these 600 words and distill them into about two sentences.

Don't steal the NFL's authority.  The NFL hates competition!

Odds and Ends, August 4, 2015

• Heading to Vegas on the weekend and into next week.  Should be able to grab some NFL futures info and the like.
• Speaking of which, Brian Tuohy (in the late stages of getting a third book ready for a Labor Day 2015 release!) notes CBS Sports is going into gambling and Daily Fantasy Sports (which is creating it's own controversies!) HARD now with it's new Sportsline website.  (And a good amount of the content is paywalled behind a $10/month, $100/year subscription service.)
• MMA trouble from this weekend, and it didn't involve Ronda Rousey or the bigmouthed Brazilian she KTFO'ed in 34 seconds.  Nope.  Probably the dirtiest fighter in the sport has been thrown out of his SECOND MMA promotion.  Two years after Rousimar Palhares was thrown out of the Ultimate Fighting Championship for dangerous conduct (and, given the amount of drugs and other bullshit in Dana White's camp, one has to wonder how far Palhares had to go to banned in 2013!), Palhares has been thrown out of the World Series of Fighting and stripped of his welterweight title for similar dangerous conduct, including eye-gouging and attempting to unduly break the arm of the other fighter after the other fighter had tapped out to a kimura armlock.
• The vice-president of the WSOF, I think, said it perfectly...

“I don’t think [Palhares] is a bad guy, but I just think he has mental problems and shouldn’t be allowed to fight until he fixes them,” World Series of Fighting vice president Ali Abdel-Aziz told Yahoo Sports.

• That might not even be the top story of the WSOF night!  This, however, might be...

Nick Diaz and Khabib Nurmagamedov fought outside the ring near the cage.  WSOF is banning both Nick and Nate Diaz from future events.  Both Nick Diaz and Nurmagamedov are signed to the UFC.

• Jadaevon Clowney is back in the news -- this time, for his father, who was arrested for a gunfight at a strip club and is now charged with attempted murder.  Why do I not see this as a surprise for the father of a one-trick pony (who is now on the PUP list!) who made an NFL career out of an illegal helmet hit in a bowl game his junior year and basically sat out his senior year???? 
• And the suspensions for the Toronto Blue Jays came out for Sundays to-do with Kansas City.  After the umpires refused to throw out any Kansas City players for throwing at Josh Donaldson three times in Sunday's game, Aaron Sanchez gets a three-game suspension for having the audacity to throw at one of the Royals!  And the manager gets a game too!  Why do I not see this as a surprise that Blinded By The Light is openly looking, at this date, for an I-80 World Series between two teams of utter thugs???

Could the lid finally be coming off Track and Field?

Something a bit under the radar...

WADA, the World Anti-Doping Agency, has had two sets of what they refer to as "wild allegations" as to widespread cheating on track and field doping tests, according to a Yahoo! article yesterday.

ARD Broadcasting of Germany and The Sunday Times in the UK both have reported that they received information that indicates a third of the medals won in Olympics and World Championships endurance races between 2001-2012 were dirty.

This now makes four such allegations, as WADA and the IAAF (track and field's governing body worldwide) were also researching similar allegations with Russian athletes.

--

Welcome to about 1990, ARD and Sunday Times.

That two-thirds of the medals were won cleanly in these disciplines would make it far cleaner than most of the rest of track and field!

This is the sport that, during the Ben Johnson investigation, a prominent scientist stated the absolute ceiling for a male 100m runner to run clean would be about 11 seconds.

It is the opinion of many learned people that the only way track and field survives is by massive doping.

One would have to wonder which is the dirtier sport:  Track and field, or cycling.

Both are still on the Olympic program, but baseball is not -- and that was largely due to drugs.

I get criticized by my friends for going into what I call "Captain Obvious Mode".

This report IS "Captain Obvious Mode".

Here we go again with the fucking Royals...

We ignored this for a while, so the fucking Royals have to be the fucking Royals again and steal the headlines back with another plateful of Royals' drilling their opponents.

Today's victims were the Toronto Blue Jays.

Kansas City thought Blue Jay Josh Donaldson was "pimping" and showboating his home runs a little bit, so Donaldson was plunked with the first pitch he saw today, warnings issued.  And it's Vasquez again, and words exchanged.

No problems here.

So, third inning, second pitch looks like it's heading toward his face.  Warnings already given, and anyone who's watched an ejection video knows the ump will eject for far less.

Nope.  No ejection, even with the history and even with the warning in the first.

Seventh inning, Donaldson targetted a third time.

No ejection, and that basically gets the Toronto manager tossed.

Next inning, one pitch somewhat close, and the TORONTO pitcher gets tossed.

--

I get it, Blinded By The Light.

You love Hardcore Baseball.

Almost thinking your sorry ass would cream at a Cardinals/Royals I-80 World Series.

Any wonder why these two bunches of assholes are leading their leagues, and by a significant margin in both cases?

August 1, so you know what that means... YAY FOOTBALL!! *sarcasm*

• Yet ANOTHER life made better (read: ended!) by football.  Curtis Brown, seven years in the league, six with the Bills.  Heart attack, but had dementia early and, once again, appears CTE and Football related.  Ugh.
• Public pressure, and the Pro Football Hall of Fame finally bends.  The Seaus WILL get to speak at his induction next week.
• And another piece of evidence as to the insanity starting up with training camp.  Odell Beckham Jr. had a signing at Giants camp on Friday, and the fans went violent at it!  (MSN)

Tom Rock, covering the Giants camp for Newsday, chronicled the mess.

At one point a woman had a seizure and lay on the ground. Fans were stepping over her to try to get an autograph.

— Tom Rock (@TomRock_Newsday) July 31, 2015

One young girl in a body brace was being pushed against the fence , her father screaming for people to stop pushing her and her broken back.

— Tom Rock (@TomRock_Newsday) July 31, 2015

I counted at least five young children pinned against the fence in tears.

— Tom Rock (@TomRock_Newsday) July 31, 2015

About 45 minutes in, the aluminum bleachers where fans were standing buckled.

— Tom Rock (@TomRock_Newsday) July 31, 2015

As a result...

Giants changing location of future autograph sessions. Also limiting the area to kids 12 and under.

— Tom Rock (@TomRock_Newsday) August 1, 2015