Unbelievable. Un-be-FUCKING-lievable.

Sorry for those who catch this without text.  Hit Enter too soon.

But I'm boggled at this month.

I knew, especially given where we were with respect to how full of corruption and other shit sports were in the first eight months of 2015, that, once football kicked in full-scale, we'd have a real problem.

I didn't think that, especially absent a Ray Rice or Adrian Peterson or Greg Hardy level implosion, that I would literally have ONE HUNDRED POSTS for the month of September.

This includes four referee-attack incidents in football, the first three weeks of High Mass NFL, an LA-area incident, a DIII incident, and countless injuries where the very sport of football has left people maimed, broken, or, yes, dead.

And we haven't even gotten to the worst of all this yet.  On the high-school fields, it's homecoming time, followed quickly by league championships and state playoff qualification.  On college fields, the conference seasons are starting in a very unstable FBS right now.  And on the pros...  Well, you know what's going on there.

And that doesn't even count the continuing stooo-ooory of a quack who's gone to the FIFA dogs.  Or the continuing home run onslaught of Alex Fraud-Roid-guez, who just hit #687 and #33 for the year tonight! 

I can certainly understand the meme when people say:  "I don't want to live on this planet anymore."

Some end-of-month quickie updates...

• Ed Hochuli is still being looked at for the comment he is accused of making to Cam Newton.  Looking, at least, at the post-play interaction between Newton and Hochuli, it's clear Cam was upset at SOMETHING Hochuli said, so there may be cause here.
• In another shocking situation, Brian Tuohy reports FOX Sports' Mike Pereira resents Cam Newton making the accusation.  That's an awful lot to say for a football "Chosen One" like Newton has been.  (Though the point has been made by readers of this blog that Newton may only be chosen to a certain extent -- and he's not (nor ever will be?) on the level of Rodgers and Manning and the like.
• Now the Lions also believe teams are getting their plays before they are run.
• And Peyton Manning is an utter mess.  Limited, if any, feeling in his right hand.  Can't get his cleats off without help from a trainer...  This guy's gonna die on the field, just you watch.
• Another broken neck on the football field in the NCAA last weekend.  Another helmet-to-helmet responsible.  Another unsportsmanlike conduct committed afterward, but not called...

Deadspin has the video here, but it's clear the Southern University player is trying to battering-ram the Georgia player, and gets rocked as a result -- and then thrown to the ground like a rag-doll.

(NFL) Are we getting some massive tells ALREADY???

Hot on the heels of the announcement that the NFL's appeal of the Deflategate suspension reversal won't be heard until 2016, I have to basically wonder, right now, Week 4, if the NFL is trying to tell us something...

• Yesterday, Mike Greenberg plants this seed...

"The Patriots are going to go undefeated this season." – @Espngreeny pic.twitter.com/RVLltOFpof

— Mike & Mike (@MikeAndMike) September 29, 2015

• And we've been hearing a lot of "BRADY AND RODGERS:  COLLISION COURSE!!" talk.

Are you trying to tell us something, ESPN and NFL?  Should we be preparing for Packers/Patriots (and, God forbid, Undefeated Patriots vs. Undefeated Packers) in the Super Bowl (which is the only place Rodgers and Brady could "collide"???

You'd think SMU would've learned by now...

I think it's just time for SMU to give up the farce that is college sports.

Basketball team this time:  Banned from the postseason, coach suspended nine games.  Team assistant maneuvered a soon-to-be-ineligible player to an online course and then did the coursework for it for him, the NCAA found.

OK:  First off, if that's the only "student"-athlete that's happening to in this country, I'll kiss my own ass.

But second, you'd think, by this time, that SMU would've realized from the football Death Penalty that they aren't a hill of fucking beans to the NCAA.

I think it's just time it stops.  Save the bother -- AND the money.

How long before American high-school football players force a ref to do this??

In light of the increasing on-field attacks of American football referees in high schools in at least two states, I saw a video of an incident in a Brazilian soccer match.

An amateur match had to be stopped and the referee taken for psychological evaluation when, after he was attacked, he drew a gun at some of the players on the pitch, according to this video from the Guardian.

The ref had apparently been kicked and punched by at least one player (even though that is a black-letter abandonment/forfeiture offense!), and the ref (a policeman) decided to go on duty at that moment.

Week 3 Score Update: Good Week to Rake the Leaves

Very unusual week in one specific respect.

Anyway, here are the numbers:

• Week 3 average:  48.31 points per game.  Season average for the first 48 games:  47.104
• Last year:  Wk 3:  46.5  3 weeks:  44.6
• Second week in a row:  Home teams were only 8-8.  26-22 for the year.
• Last year:  Home teams 9-7 Wk 3, 30-18 total.
• First seven games on the list for the week went over, one ended in a middle (Minnesota-San Diego could've gone anywhere 44.5 to 45.5, and ended at 45), so the over went 10-5-1 for the week with the middle counted a draw.  Season:  25-20-3 or 25-22-1
• Last year:  Over was:  8-8/7-8-1 for Wk 3, total 22-26 or as low as 18-26-4.
• Favorites:  After a bumpy early session that had favorites as low as 2-5-1, a large rush of big favorites winning huge got favorites to 8-6 with 2 pushes.  Season:  23-22-3
• 229 penalties this week after the record from last week.  Season average:  15.25 penalties per game.
• Last year:  217 for the week, 661 for the year (this year's total is 732).
• Teams with more penalties were 6-9-1 for the week.  17-25-6 for the year.
• Last year:  5-10-1, 21-25-2 for the year.
• NO Cliffhangers this week.  Closest a game got was Tennessee failing a 2-point conversion to tie Indianapolis within the last 2 minutes, but no game of the 16-game schedule came down to a score within that period of time.  So, of the 48 games played so far, only SIX (16.67%) have come down to such criteria, and four of those were last week.
• Last year:  2 Cliffhangers in Week 3, 8 over the first three weeks.
• Only 6 games this week were decided by one score ( < = 8 points).   Only 3 others were within those 8 points at some point in the fourth quarter.  SEVEN GAMES, including the entire late afternoon, Sunday night, and Monday night schedule sans one game, were noncompetitive.
• This means out of the 48 games, 23 (47.9%) have been decided by 8 points or less.  This is up from only 18 (37.5%) last year.
• Two-thirds of the games this season were 8 points or within at some point in the fourth quarter (32/48).  Last year:  29.

Yep, it's official. ESPN agrees with Curt Schilling on a lot of his right-wing shit.

Suspension over, as of the playoffs.  He'll be doing playoff coverage.

That answers our earlier questions on whether ESPN was growing a spine or agrees with Curt Schilling's right-wing views.

And Deadspin, who announced this, put up a bunch of recent inflammatory right-wing Facebook posts Schilling has put up -- then asking ESPN whether they'd seen these before reinstating Schilling...

"Nope."

Sounds like Papelbon's season is over.

4 games (by the team!) for the Harper fight, and, on top of the 3 from MLB for the Machado beaning, will do it for Papelbon this season.

Harper was benched for tonight's game -- it was planned he was going to sit at least one game this week anyway, and it is unknown whether Harper will be fined or unpaid (as Papelbon is).

As of the moment, it is still viewed that Papelbon IS in 2016 plans for the Nationals, but I think it's clear that many sports experts have seen enough of the Nationals' train-wreck this season, and not just for Papelbon:

The Papelbon/Harper thing was bad enough. But Papelbon is STILL in the #Nats dugout rather than, say, suspended? Fire manager. Fire GM.

— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) September 27, 2015

(MORE High School Chaos) WHAT THE FUCK???

This one from Yahoo!'s Complex blog, involving two incidents surrounding an LA-ish area game.

A rather chippy affair, according to reports, between Lakewood High School and Long Beach Millikan was punctuated when Lakewood's Victor Bates was apparently kicked in the head after the play, and after his helmet fell off!

That was bad enough.

What happened after the game was (depending on if reports are correct) possibly worse!

After the game, it is believed that Bates' family (it is known some Lakewood family did, it is NOT confirmed whether it was Bates' at this time) stormed the Millikan locker room and jumped four players!

A Millikan statement says that they are known, and will be arrested.

If that's the case, then maybe it's time we finally put this goddamned bloodsport on trial with it, because if this is Bates' family, then I want the guy who kicked Bates in the head prosecuted as well!!

Hey Ed, trying to tell us something?

Sounds to me Cam Newton is going to be getting a letter from the league this week.

Cam Newton had some words for Ed Hochuli, and then charged to the media that, after taking what he felt was a late hit, one of the most famous referees in the NFL told $Cam that "he wasn't old enough to get the call", according to Yahoo!.

Hochuli probably said it as a joke, by most accounts.  The league has tried to paper it over with the usual assortment of lies, obfuscations, etc.  But for it to even get that far, and with Newton of all people...

No video yet of the specific play in question.

OK, Blinded, time to get Papelbon off the field for at least this season...

Jonathan Papelbon has LOST IT.

On Friday, Papelbon was suspended three games by MLB for throwing at Manny Machado.

He appealed, which means he played this weekend.

Today, he physically attacked teammate Bryce Harper in the dugout.

Now, don't get me wrong, Harper's a head case and the Nationals are a mess...

But when Papelbon didn't think Harper hustled enough on a pop fly...

Jonathan Papelbon attacking Bryce Harper? Jonathan Papelbon attacking Bryce Harper. pic.twitter.com/T2qof97Ymh

— Jake Russell (@_JakeRussell) September 27, 2015

That happened. (Jake Russell, Nationals writer for the Washington Post.)

Manfred, time to ban Papelbon til we can figure out if his head's on straight.  BIOB if you have to.

And we have ANOTHER referee attack in high school?

(Deadspin)

This one was from several days ago (posted Wednesday the 23rd), so this was from the week of the 18th.

Tennessee with this "bright moment", as Malcolm Easley of Glencliff High in Tennessee didn't seem to like the referee's positioning, so the two had words.

Next play, Easley plows the ref intentionally, and has been suspended indefinitely by the athletic authorities.

WHAT THE UNHOLY FUCK IS GOING ON WITH YOU ANIMALS???



BTW, the player's dad?  HEAD COACH OF THE TEAM!

Forgive the joke, but it sounds like at least one referee had enough!!

(Deadspin)

We've had at least two incidents of players attacking referees, and at least one has gotten significant play here on this blog.

Yesterday, however, the tables got turned a little bit in a community college football game in Mississippi where the conference in which the two teams play had to toss the coach of East Mississippi Community College and the referee for a fight!!

It all started with a bench decorum warning by the official, to which the coach said he'd get the team to comply.  Ref didn't like it, according to a witness whose account of the incident you can read here:

The entire situation that occurred between EMCC head football coach Buddy Stephens & a game admin from the MACJC. pic.twitter.com/4Xf7MhCStR

— Robby Donoho (@RobbyDonoho) September 26, 2015

Oy.  There is a video in the Deadspin article, but even they admit it's not much help except for the announcers being mind-boggled at the entire mess.

The NFL is burning up!! Literally!!!!

Rams game was delayed a half an hour today, as the pre-game Ram entrance fireworks burned a good chunk of the field down by one of the end zones in St. Louis today!

You know, one of these days, people are going to realize those things are no fucking joke.  It's one of the reasons we have to get on the asses of our police and fire departments when the meth-heads of this area think they can play Snap, Crackle, and Pop and scare the shit out of us.

This is one of the reasons they succeed!!!

Fine Blotter Week 2: NFL with lots of flags, but few letters...

• Denver Broncos:  DeMarcus Ware, $17,363, Roughing the Passer
• Denver Broncos:  Malik Johnson, $8,681, Late Hit
• Arizona Cardinals:  Rashad Johnson, $17,363, Helmet to Helmet
• Seattle Seahawks:  KJ Wright, $10,000, Ejection Foul
• Green Bay Packers:  TJ Lang, $8,683, Unnecessary Roughness
• Buffalo Bills:  Aaron Williams, $8,683, Unnecessary Roughness
• Tennessee Titans:  Harry Douglas, $8,683, Unnecessary Roughness

Please note the size of this list -- or the lack thereof -- in the light of the record number of accepted penalties last week.

(There may be more.)

So where's the priorities here?

Jonathan Papelbon has been suspended by Major League Baseball -- again.

The same Jonathan Papelbon who was suspended for SEVEN games for grabbing his crotch at heckling Philly fans has been suspended for THREE games for trying to take Manny Machado's head off.

Classic case of "unwritten rules" bullshit (didn't like Machado's demeanor on a Machado home run earlier in the game):  First pitch in the ninth was at his head, third one was at his head and hit him in the shoulder.

But if it's seven games to pull a Roseanne Barr post-National Anthem, it's only three to get tossed for trying to bean a guy in the head??

So, Bobby, Are We Finally Telling the Truth About Baseball?

Well, we now know how Bobby Valentine feels about the PED's that ran rampant throughout a large portion of his managerial career (Mets 1996-2002)...

Speaking to Jim Gray on Sports Illustrated's NOW, I think we get a good indication that Bobby Valentine endorses the use of performance enhancing drugs (quote from Yahoo!/Big League Stew article):

--

The segment — which you can watch here — starts with Gray asking Valentine if he thinks PEDs will be legal and whether that's a good thing for sports.

“Probably, if you want to see the best out of your athlete,” Valentine said. "If it’s not harmful to the athlete."

--

Oh really.  Are you fucking serious, Bobby?

You have basically given, at minimum, an endorsement of the drug culture (which was rampant on your Mets, Bobby!!), if not basically admitted you were part and parcel of it, perhaps to the level of at least being a drug pusher.

And this piece of shit is an AD???  The Athletic Director of Sacred Heart University in Connecticut?

A guy who says this about the future of PED's...

""There’s a lot of really good drugs out there that we do take that make us feel better and perform better, and I think these PEDs that people talk about, that are performance-enhancers, will eventually get into the mainstream.”"

Another Sacrifice to the Altar of Football

The football gods demanded another pound of flesh last night, and they got it.

Deadspin notifies us that Evan Murray of New Jersey was killed by the sport of football after being tackled.  He walked off the field, was taken to the hospital, where he died.

This is at least the third on-field death this month, according to the article (Oklahoma and Louisiana had the other two).

And another bigot from Texas, what a surprise!

What is it in the water in Texas?

Now Lance Berkman of the Astros has decided he wants to be the latest bigoted athlete to attack gay rights!

He just became another one of those "boys want to shower with girls" stupidities in attacking the Houston Equal Rights Ordinance.

Somebody needs their ass kicked.

(Source:  SB Nation's Outsports blog.)

Today was a very important day that went under the radar.

Why?

Pete Rose had his meeting today with Rob Manfred, pending reinstatement.

Now, after the revelations and the notebooks Outside the Lines found that established Rose was betting far more than he had admitted, one might wonder why this meeting happened at all. 

Then, on top of that, you have the continuing rejection of Shoeless Joe Jackson's appeals as well, and most experts believe it's a slam dunk.

That said, Pete Rose reinstated would be a large PR coup for a sport which badly needs it.

Word is, we'll know by the end of the year.  MLB nor Rose will comment further at this time.

FIFA: The gift that keeps on giving.

About ten days ago, the hammer finally began to fall on Jerome Valcke, the secretary-general of FIFA.

Ticket deals over World Cup Brazil appear to be accelerating that process.

Now, today, we find out the Swiss are going after Sepp Blatter himself, with a $2,000,000 payment to Michel Platini, head of UEFA, which now appears to violate "duty of loyalty" laws in Switzerland, where FIFA's main offices are held, among other criminal acts (including the Valcke stuff too!).

Can we just shut down FIFA and be done with it?  The games can continue (maybe!!!), but it's long time to get this done with.

And it looks we have another Deadspin Targeting "Ejection" of the Week...

ESPN Thursday Night College Football.  Memphis vs. Cincinnati, Conference USA matchup.

Gunner Kiel of Cincinnati knocked completely senseless by this hit, initially ruled targeting against Memphis' Chauncey Lanier...



And if that's not fucking targeting (it was reversed!), "I'll kiss your ass..."

(hat-tip to Stone Cold Steve Austin)

Worse yet, this is two weeks in a row Kiel has been literally knocked out of the game with a head injury.

But let's just keep cheering it on and defending it, yeah.

And here comes the cavalry to defend the UIL's deliberate inaction...

A Tweet series on the UIL's inaction against the John Jay high school team...

At the end of the hearing today (the San Antonio papers had staff there live-tweeting and Scribbling the event), the following Tweet was responded to by me as follows:

@Texas6ASports @Ben_Baby You've given such God-like status to Texas HS football that incidents like this can't even be properly dealt with.

— Michael Falkner (@darkstar7646) September 24, 2015

Ben Baby (and I assume that IS his name) is a staff writer for the San Antonio Express-News.

To say he didn't like that "take" (nor I, his response) was, well... evident:

@Ben_Baby No, unfortunately, some of us understand what happens when you give football the kind of status it has in Texas. #GrowSomeBalls

— Michael Falkner (@darkstar7646) September 24, 2015

And here comes somebody else to defend the sanctity *cough ahem* of Texas High School Football...

@darkstar7646 @Ben_Baby What are you like 5? Most of your tweets are about the WWE but suddenly you are the authority on Texas HS football

— Kasey (@fierceb13) September 24, 2015

To which I replied:

@fierceb13 Nice to see you defend the establishment that wants a ref crippled. #GoodOne #Clap (PS: I Tweet about what I want to Tweet.) #TY

— Michael Falkner (@darkstar7646) September 25, 2015

I'd hate to think what Kasey would do if she saw this blog.

Let's put it this way:  If I were running Texas high school football, it would've taken me 12 hours to shut down the John Jay football program.  The investigations and hearing determine how many seasons they get shut down after this one.

I'm, more, an expert on that it's time the ref attacks stop.  By force if need be.

To me, with my admittedly-limited exposure to Texas HS football, I can see the environment be such like the movie "Friday Night Lights", where (for dramatic effect) a coach of a predominantly Black team in the state championships demands Black officials, lest his team get screwed and injured -- and he was right in so thinking!

But, I see it's more important that The Show Must Go On, right Kasey and Ben?

(John Jay) Breed banned, no word yet on the football program itself...

The state of Texas has banned Mack Breed from coaching football until he personally meets with the athletics executive committee.

That much has been decided today, but, as of 2:15 Central time (time of this post), no word on the future of John Jay's football program.  It looks like they're going to delay this and hope it blows over.

FOOTBALL WINS, AGAIN.

And you wonder where they might be getting this way about the refs and the roughness?

Had to check, and it sounds the best I could find was a mention on Monday Night Football, through several Twitter reports from civilians.

I do not know if there is a week with bye teams which had a higher average number of penalties per game than the 18.25 in Week 2, but:

With the third penalty accepted in a 19-penalty Monday nighter, the teams broke the all-time penalty record for a week -- and then, in total, extended that record by (with a 16-game schedule) a full penalty per game.

The 18 penalties Dallas had in the increasingly-controversial win over Philadelphia were a franchise record.

What the Hell is going on here???

ESPN CONFIRMS: John Jay referee attack WAS ordered!

Kind of interesting it came during the day of the second hearing on the John Jay referee attack by Texas high school sports officials, but ESPN has confirmed, from the principal of John Jay High School, according to evidence related in this ESPN report which has confirmed that the two attackers were ordered to attack the referee of their September 4 game by assistant coach Mack Breed.  Breed is only on leave for the incident at this time, according to mySanAntonio.

The two thugs have been expelled from their school (by their rules, it's assignment to an alternate school -- unlike my school district, that is a separate punishment from expulsion) for one semester.  They can return to John Jay January 15, as long as they are not in jail by then for the attack or for any other cause.

The expulsions were confirmed in the second hearings, but the Outside the Lines reports have led to a third set of hearings tomorrow, in which the high-school sanctioning bodies in Texas (the University Interscholastic League) will meet with the possible (but I will believe it when I see it!) intention of expelling John Jay High School from Texas high school football for at least this year.

Not nearly damned far enough.

You now have a real case to SHUT DOWN THE ENTIRE FUCKING SCHOOL.  You now have a case that might indicate that this may have been an institutional decision, and could well have come from far above one pissed-off coach.

I understand that there are those who believe the hundreds of non-involved students do not deserve this, and you'd be right -- but if it's so damned important to have a football team that they might as well shut the school, then I have cause to say...  SHUT THE DAMN SCHOOL.

We'll be watching tomorrow.

So no one thinks I'm being a Packer homer here...

Brian Tuohy has made some very strong charges that the big Fail Mary showdown at Lambeau Sunday night was a nice rig-job for the Packers.  (For the record, Tuohy, for those of you who don't know, is a Wisconsinite.)

He makes his claim in his 2015 NFL Season page, Week 2.

"I swear during this game I witnessed head referee Gene Steratore (who called Dez Bryant's catch in the DAL-GB playoff game a non-catch) repeatedly smirk while announcing certain on-the-field decisions (like the disputed interception turned fumble that Seattle recovered but Steratore rebutted)."

Fourth quarter, 6:50 to go, 24-17 to the hosts.  Jayrone Elliot intercepts Russell Wilson, but fumbles, and it appears Seattle recovers, which would reset the downs on double-change of possession.

Definite fumble, and a scramble.  But here's the other thing:  Tuohy charges that the referee took great delight in screwing the Seahawks Sunday night in several respects...

... including a common Tuohy subject -- offensive holding!

"But what was worse was the blantant holding the Packers' O-line was committing without a single flag thrown. Why would this be allowed? Because (a) the Packers were at home (and yes, "home cookin'" is a real, tangible thing) and (b) Rodgers is one of the few star QBs the league can hang its hat on. By giving him more leeway on the field in the same way NBA refs give LeBron James the constant benefit of the doubt, Rodgers can be the star they want/need him to be. I'm not about to do the research, but I'd love someone to find when the last time a Rodgers' completion was called back due to offensive holding. I'd bet the answer would date back years."

Sorry, Brian, this time I have to step in.

I actually was curious, especially since the league HAS had that kind of a record with quarterbacks like Rodgers.

Not years, Brian.  2015 Week 1 with the Bears.

A 8-yard touchdown pass in the second quarter to Jones was nullified by an offensive holding penalty charged to Bakhtiari with 4:20-ish to go in the 2nd quarter.

A second offensive holding call (this one on a scramble) scuttled the drive to a tying field goal.

That said, Brian makes a great point on a point some friends of mine get driven up the wall on -- and when you take a look at this season, even only two weeks in, you're getting a good look at it.

If the NFL is going to ram a quarterback down our throat (and he's not named Tom Brady, of which I'm still not convinced), how many options do they have?

We seem also to have an indication that the Cowboys have been getting something in THIS WEEK'S win over the Eagles too.  Maybe this is why the Eagles offense was beyond inept???

Josh Huff said a few times when he was lined up near Dallas sideline, they were calling out Eagles plays. Said problem is being addressed.

— Les Bowen (@LesBowen) September 22, 2015

Aw Dammit, The Raiders Caved (UPDATED)

Lighter story here, more for the context of the Raiders flipping off the league again...

Of course, this year being the GOLDEN Super Bowl, the NFL is going with the metallic gold logo and has asked the teams to color their 50 yard-like numerical markers in gold.

The Raiders have refused.  And it's pretty clear they won't budge.

The Oakland Raiders:  Fifty years of defiance to the NFL.

(And, not coincidentally, about 25 or so of almost-abject irrelevance.)

(EDIT TO UPDATE:  They caved.  The 50's in Oakland will be gold.  Boo.)

(John Jay) Truth coming out? Assistant now admitting he called for the hit?

USA Today this morning:

Mack Breed of John Jay High School, on the eve of disciplinary hearings for the two players (today was the scheduled second hearing of the program and the two players who assaulted the referee several weeks ago) is now believed to have admitted to Outside the Lines to ordering the assault in anger over racial slurs by the referee.

If this is the case, I think we not only have grounds for shutting down the football program, but criminal prosecution...  of the SCHOOL.  (Obviously, if this is true, prosecute Breed.)

But, as has happened before (that football riot in Georgia where the team won and then got mauled when they got locked out of their locker room for a premeditated attack), I do get the feeling that, in the name of football, this was an organized act.

Stay tuned -- there probably will be more today.

I was wondering if people were told to lay off publicizing the dirty shit on the football fields of America this week...

Nope.  Just delayed it a bit.

CBS News and SB Nation report a California high-school football player had to leave the game with a face-full of Icy Hot, intentionally smeared by an opposing player.

And this week's NCAA Dirty Hit Deadspin Ejection of the week goes to...

Central Michigan University's Mitch Stanitzek...

Ejected for targetting and knocking out of the game Syracuse starting QB Eric Dungey.

Sickest part of this:  A Syracuse blogger asked four Syracuse players about Stanitzek's hit.

The one offensive player said he thought it was a dirty cheap shot.

The three defensive players said...  it was part of football.

Somebody might want to take some of these defensive players out back and tell them that it's their attitudes that may be getting their offensive cohorts taken from the field like Dungey here...


In fact, it looks like you could've tossed a SECOND player. Another CMU player appears to do the old wrestling double-gousel (one high, one low) as Stanitzek uses his helmet to try to take Dungey's head off!

And College Football Man has to College Football Man...

How much of this is football and how much of this is college might be more the aftermath and coverup than anything, but...

Deadspin reported yesterday TCU has two players it may have to discipline, and one it already has.

Mike Tuaua and Andre Petties-Wilson were arrested for felonies after the kicking the shit out of a number of fellow students and stealing a case of beer.

Tuaua, a senior defensive end, was suspended from the team.  With several of the regular Cabal teams not looking very good this year, TCU cannot afford distractions if it wants to make good from last year's CFP snub.

Week 2 Score Report: Flag on the Play

Quickie Score Report for the week:

• Week was heading for over 50 a game, but the last three totals were 30 (DAL-PHI), 44 (GB-SEA), and 27 (NYJ-IND).  Hence, the average for this week was 47.75 points per game.  Two-week per-game average:  46.5.  (Last year:  43.65)
• Home teams were 8-8 this week (18-14 for the year)
• Another BIG winning week for Vegas. Over was 7-8-1 or 7-9, depending on where you got the Carolina game at 41 or 41.5.  (15-15-2 or 15-17 for the year)
• Favorites took an abject beating this week, including losing against the spread 6 of the last 7 games completed.  ATS, the favorites were 6-10 (15-16-1 for the year).
• Biggest story of the week:  PENALTIES AND LOTS OF THEM.  After 206 penalties in week 1 (about 13 a game), it shot up to 298 (about 18.5 a game) this week.
• Teams with more penalties were 5-7, with 4 games having both teams with the same number of penalties.  (11-16-5 for the year)  Dallas won with EIGHTEEN PENALTIES.  Oakland won with 16.
• According to Pro Football Reference:  Dallas became the 19th team to have 18 or more penalties in an NFL game, going back to 1940.  The last team to do so was a Jets victory in 2013 in which they won with 20 penalties over Buffalo.  Teams with that many penalties are 7-12.
• Expand it to Oakland's 16, it's happened 77 times, and it happened in 2014 when San Francisco lost to Chicago on 16 penalties.
• You'd have to go back to Oakland-Kansas City in 2010 to find a game with more than 26 accepted penalties, but it's happened five times since before the two yesterday.
• Four cliffhangers (winning score <=2:00 of 4th or overtime):  2 Denver touchdowns in the last 36 seconds of Thursday night, and Atlanta, Jacksonville, and Oakland.  6 of the first 32 games have ended in such criteria.
• Four games ended within a score otherwise (11 of those total, on top of the 6 cliffhangers for 17/32 ending within one score).
• Four games were within a score at some point in the fourth quarter (6 of those this year, 23/32 games being competitive in the 4th)
• And, in some nice synergy, four games were non-competitive (9 total for the year).

Another bullet dodged in the Russian Roulette which is football...

Aaron Williams of the Bills had to have an ambulance brought on the field for a neck injury.

And, once again, everyone knelt and prayed that reality would not finally strike the sport of football, and, once again, for whatever reason, the "game" was spared reality -- Williams was released from the hospital several hours after the contest.

49er Fan has to 49er Fan -- AGAIN

Four of the 49er fans who beat down a Vikings fan in Santa Clara are in jail on felony charges.

They will likely have company, due to this Deadspin report from a Buffalo Wild Wings in Downey, CA...

That is, once the rest of the fans are done beating the shit out of them first.

Is this why the Santa Clara City Council would like to cut you guys off of beer about halftime now?

NFL Blotter Week 1?? Did the NFL finally abandon remaining pretense??

• Washington Redskins:  Chris Culliver:  Suspended 1 game, personal conduct policy.
• Buffalo Bills:  IK Enemkpali:  Suspended 4 games for the Geno Smith incident.

And that's all I can find on Spotrac.  The two other fines they have for Week 1 were already put up.

USA Today has a few more:

• Dallas Cowboys:  Jeremy Mincey:  $8,681 (the old $7500) for a late hit.
• Cincinnati Bengals:  Carlos Dunlap:  $8,681 for a scrap with
• Oakland Raiders:  Austin Howard:  Also fined $8,681.
• Cleveland Browns:  Isaiah Howell:  $8,681 for a chop block.
• The actual amount of William Moore's fine was the old $20,000 level, $23,152.

And that's all I can find!

And here we go again with the Gameday signs...

Took about three Saturdays, but now we get a real offensive shithead at the College Gameday taping...

As the Deadspin article noted, ESPN censors took the day off in Tuscaloosa, and, among other signs deriding Ohio State's schedule and the like was one that read:

"Ole Miss girls are easier than their out-of-conference schedule."

and

someone using the Home Depot sign to write the same thing.

Really...  Fucking...  really...

More Ugly Truth About Football from PBS...

Another study has been done on an additional 91 brains at the Veterans' Administration, according to PBS Frontline.

Only FOUR did not have CTE.

Just sayin', Football Nation America.  Just sayin'.

San Antonio Incident I: The Ugliness Continues

Can we shut down the fucking John Jay football program yet?

Hell, can we shut down the entire school???

First off, somehow, some morning show decided it was wise to put the two assholes who attacked the ref two weeks ago on for an interview.

And then, we find out what, to most people, may well have been obvious:  The latest story is that the two now say they WERE ordered to jump the ref.

This story ain't going away until John Jay High School loses either it's football program or it's ability to continue as a school at all.

Oh, while I'm at the NYDN Twitter...

More evidence the Sunday night game between Dallas and the Giants was a FIX!

NFL admits officials blew two calls in @Giants loss to Cowboys, including one on the fateful 3rd-down pass from Eli http://t.co/5q7ok5xn2C

— NY Daily News Sports (@NYDNSports) September 17, 2015

Sounds like we just found out how much of the hand is left on JPP...

Jason Pierre-Paul, you stupid idiot.

You decide, like a meth-addled dullard, to get a U-Haul full of fireworks and then get REALLY STUPID and hold one in your hand.

Now, according to the New York Daily News Twitter, it looks like you've basically lost all of the index finger and essentially all of the thumb, as well as that your middle finger is still seriously wrapped.

You do this with a FRANCHISE OFFER on the table???

Brain damage!

Another piece of evidence of massive brain damage in Football Nation America...

Happened to come across this in the afternoon as I was looking for stuff to post about, this follow-up on the New Jersey story...

Associated Press through MSN:  Supporters of high school player:  Helmet strike was accident.

FUCK!!

YOU!!!!

Even if I were to believe you (which I absolutely DO NOT), the fact is that before he conks the guy, he rips the helmet clean off the guy's face...

Or is this also an accident, or at least a happy circumstance?

Welcome to football in 2015, America!  Love it yet?

Rutgers simply needs to shut down it's athletic programs...

It seems like, almost every day, we're getting another Rutgers story.  You'd think, after about four or five of these, the University would just get the hint that the entire attempt to make Rutgers into a "big-time" (ok...  medium-time???) program just isn't fucking worth it.

So, let's see...  In the last few weeks, seven current Rutgers football players (and five other students, according to CBS) have been arrested, including a violence-on-woman incident after last Saturday's game, a domestic-violence incident, a string of robberies which netted ten arrests...

And now the coach has been banned three games for inappropriate contact with a professor, believed to be possibly tampering.

Guys, you think it's time just to shut off your Division I athletics programs??  It might be better for your college if you did....

I Think We Have Just Found Where Pacman Jones Got The Idea...

Well, looking through Deadspin for a few more articles, and we head back to the high school fields for more stupidity and madness.

Friday night, Linden High School in New Jersey.

Neither player has been identified, and the Linden player who committed the act on an Immaculata High School player was *NOT EJECTED FROM THE GAME*...

FOR THIS!!!


You'd miss it if it weren't highlighted just before it happened, but #1 for Linden rips off the helmet of #73 of Immaculata and drills him in the head with it!!

Late reports from this morning indicate the player (whom has not been identified for probable cover-up reasons -- and the school's website does NOT provide a roster of the football team to try to subvert that) has been thrown off the team, with the usual calls for the strongest legally possible ramifications...

When are going to fucking learn that this is football???

That, as we put out a bunch of brain-addled "men" out on that field, that this is the only and increasingly-evident result of this purported "sport" and "game"...

Early Fine Blotter: Week 1

• Cincinnati Bengals:  For assault and battery, Pacman Jones was...  fined $35,000.  Mark Dominik of ESPN is actually trying to DEFEND this level of fine for Jones' track record.
• Atlanta Falcons:  William Moore, illegal hit -- probably a head-shot on Jordan Matthews, $23,000+ -- the precise figure hasn't been released.  Both are appealing.

According to Spotrac, there was precisely ONE preseason fine they could find:

• Seattle Seahawks:  Michael Bennett:  $17,363 (the old $15,000 level) for roughing the passer.

Not Everyone Is Impressed: A Rape Town Rears Its Ugly Head Again

MSN has one of those "human interest" football stories today, and showed the abject disease that a town founded on rape and mafia culture still has today.

Nelsonville, Ohio has a community college that just started a football team.  Not surprising:  Chances are this is another town and college which have basically bent to the reality to that the only reason the college exists is to have football.  In fact, the school, Hocking College, was becoming an endangered species, and it's president felt football might be the only way to draw students to the school.  I guess being a regarded school in forestry wasn't cutting it anymore.

The team is actually doing quite well.  This is often quite surprising for such a new school, even as a two-year community college.  Because of their status, they are largely playing club teams and junior-varsity teams from other colleges.

The success of the school is being largely attributed to a quarterback for whom most people would not believe he was attending such a school.  Trent Mays is rolling over many lesser opponents on the field, and is glad for the opportunity to play football.

There's only one problem with all of this, other than football itself.  The fact that Trent Mays (and basically every football player in the city he came from) isn't literally strung up by his balls and put in prison for the rest of his sorry existence on this Earth is beyond me.

Why do I say that? 

Nelsonville is about a three-hour drive from Mays' old hometown...  Steubenville -- the infamous "Big Red" rape town where the football team has been allowed to run amok.

Mays was one of the few people who was sacrificed to try to placate a nation who should've justifiably burned that piece-of-shit community to the ground, doing two years in a juvenile lock-up for his role in the situation.

If there are towns who are worse applications of what we have become as a football-obsessed culture, you will find few worse than Steubenville.  And to know that the football team at a local community college is harboring this piece of shit (and that the town's police chief had something to do with the team's creation!) is just beyond the pale.

It turns out that Hocking College itself has had more than a number of problems, including scandals and staff layoffs.  Football, almost in a sickening manner, is being used to try to band-aid the situation -- and Mays' inclusion on the team has left more than a few scratching their heads.  In fact, there has already been at least one sexual assault being investigated covered up that has many believe Mays may well be involved.  (Part of the reason for the strike-through is that other football players on the new team are still being considered as being involved.)

And another fan fight in the NFL...

Stay classy, San Francisco.  You didn't have THAT GOOD of an offseason to kick the shit out of this Vikings fan...

It's coming -- the day some visiting fan is going to go to a game and leave in a bodybag...

And it sounds like the fan bullshit isn't just kept to football...

Monday night, Dodger Stadium...

Adrian Gonzalez pursues a foul ball and reaches over the stands...

And gets attacked by a Red Sox fan (apparently) while he records the out.

The fan was ejected, but there are many possible motivations (from the sublime to the sinister) for this -- Gonzalez did not leave Boston on very good terms at all.

So how much of that hand is left, Jason?

I'm beginning to think there is far less of Jason Pierre-Paul's hand than he's letting on...

BREAKING: Jason Pierre-Paul missing portion of thumb (along with his entire index finger) due to fireworks accident. (via @DanGrazianoESPN)

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) September 15, 2015

We've already had one NFL player retire due to their 4th of July stupidity -- and now I think Jason Pierre-Paul is trying to gyp the Giants out of lots of money.

If you care, here's the Week 1 Scoring Report

• Average total score was 45.25
• Over was 8-7-1 or 8-8, depending on if you got 52.5 or 53 for the Sunday nighter.
• After a large run of early popular favorites that cost Vegas a bundle early Sunday, they buckled down for a 9-6-1 week, including all three national weekend primetimers not covering.
• Home teams were 10-6.
• Only 2 cliffhangers (the Sunday night debacle and the Rams winning in overtime in a similar debacle over the Hags), and 5 games noncompetitive at the 4th quarter.  7 of the other 9 games finished within a score, for nine total.  Two others were within a score some point in the 4th.
• Team with more penalties was 6-9-1, with most penalties for a winning team being Buffalo's 11.

May do more later, but have some stuff to do today.

Fuck. Another reason we're all getting sick of it all.

Eagle Fan has to Eagle Fan on Twitter.

In a missive to national sports-talk radio show host JT The Brick, some jackass idiot Eagle Fan had to say 9/11 should've happened in the Meadowlands.

Shaddap, dummy!!!

And updates about stuff I haven't posted about... yet.

• The extended Buffalo Bills tailgate Saturday night was tinged with tragedy, as one Bills fan killed himself.  (Deadspin)
• Dear God, I think we've finally found the perfect answer to The Wave, as this baseball fan promptly tells thousands of his compatriots exactly how many fucks he gives to The Wave...  (Deadspin and YouTube)

Stay classy, Chicago.

• And NFL Fan has to NFL Fan...  Dallas fans prepare to eat their own.  (Yardbarker)

Other updates from this weekend's bullshit...

• Neither Ndamokung Suh or Pacman Jones will be suspended for their dirty cheap shots.
• Marcel Brooks-Brown was released from the hospital on Monday, about 36 hours after he and fellow Utah player Lo Falemaka were shot at a party Saturday night.  Falemaka may need another week in the hospital.
• Three suspects who were in an altercation with the pair and others as they were asked to leave the party appear to be still at large.
• Josh McCown also has a concussion, so all hail new Cleveland starter...  Johnny Football.
• An updated US News and World Report article has the number of major FBS game targeting ejections at nine for the weekend just completed.  A player from Middle Tennessee was ejected for hitting the backup quarterback for Alabama in the head.  A Houston special-teams player was ejected for targeting a punt returner (which got the Houston coach so mad, he made contact with the official himself and drew another 15 -- and should've been another toss!  Looking for video on that one!)  A Stanford special-teamer did the same thing and got tossed.
• According to KEYE television, the player who committed the second San Antonio referee attack (the one on Saturday the 12th) has been thrown off the football team and thrown out of school for three days pending further investigation.
•  They've been unable to cleanly identify the player who assaulted the special-teamer from Washington and Jefferson in the Division III game, as the roster page for the Westminster Titans lists two players as #10s, the number of the player who committed the assault.  If the correction is accurate, however, then the person involved would be Isaiah Faulk, a junior running-back from Pittsburgh.  No word at this time as to whether that is accurate or any action (football or criminal) has been taken against the attacker.

Sometimes, Mom, you just need to lay off your son...

Jim McElwain is pissed.  And he damn well should be!

Kelvin Taylor scored a touchdown to cap a sub-par effort in which Florida did, but (in McElwain's mind) shouldn't have, beat East Carolina.

Taylor then did the throat-slash in the end zone.  15 yards!

And then McElwain let Taylor have it!!

He blasted him, almost hitting him twice.

Kelvin is the son of Fred Taylor, and Fred told Dan LeBetard he felt the coach went overboard.

So did McElwain's 94 year-old mother!

I call bullshit on both of you!  Especially with the knowledge that McElwain is being brought in to clean up the Florida program (as well as attempt to restore it's prominence), a public excoriation of a blatant penalty like that (especially in a game they damn well could've lost!) is the least that boy could've expected.

And if Mr. Bigshot NFL Running Back has got a problem with it, maybe he should've taught his boy a little better about acting like you've been there before!

...or is that how he's acted and no one's dared to stop his ass???

I might well have gotten sued if I was the coach, Fred.  Because, if I could've stopped short, it would've been barely stopped short of hitting the kid.  Least I would've done was ensure he doesn't see the field again until at least September 28!

And what do we have here with the Sunday Nighter?

(To my current knowledge, there was no dirty hit that made the news here.)

So what do my wandering eyes appear as I read about the Sunday night game between the Giants and the Cowboys that...

According to Frank Schwab on Yahoo!'s Shutdown Corner, Eli Manning told his running back Rashad Jennings not to score inside Dallas' 10 yard line -- TWICE!!

With under two minutes to go, the Giants were up 23-20, and the ball on the Dallas 2.  Manning told Jennings not to score a touchdown on either of the first two plays -- even though a touchdown would've put the Giants up two scores with dwindling time remaining.

He then tells Jennings not to score again from the 1 on the next play. And on third down, Manning was "forced" to throw the ball away.

And you know all of what happened from there if you care about it.

ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?  DO WE MAKE IT THAT OBVIOUS???

And here we go with assaulting Boise State again...

What is it about playing Boise State that gets people pissed off enough to do stupid shit?

No team this season has more consistently engaged in dirty play than BYU pic.twitter.com/FzaTz2wgey

— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) September 13, 2015

Ului Lapuaho was not only not ejected from the game for the groin-shot, but BYU won, and, when Lapuaho's career is over, Vince McMahon might want to come calling...

And in the off-field department, two FBS college football players get shot!!!

Dateline, University of Utah!

Lo Falemaka and Marcel Brooks-Brown were both in stable condition this morning, after suffering gunshot wounds.

Now, in this case, football appears only to be tangential to all of this, since they are members of the Utes football team.  The incident, however, stems from a person who was denied entry to a party, didn't like it, and went to his equalizer!

YAY GUNS!!!  *sarcasm*

We Feared It Might Happen (NFL Part Four, This Weekend About Part... Six???)

And Ndamokung Suh waited less than one regular season game for the Dolphins to do exactly an Ndamokung Suh thing...

This one is from Yardbarker...

Miami and Washington.  After Suh tackled Alfred Morris after Morris got Washington a first down, it looked as if Suh just nonchalantly gives Morris a knee to the facemask (appears not to have contacted his head -- just the facemask) to knock his helmet off.

I was warned this might go this crazy, and my friends have been right.

Oh DEAR GOD!! ANOTHER ONE in San Antonio!!!

What the fuck is going on in Texas?

ANOTHER San Antonio-area football player is in major trouble after another referee assault. This one just eight days after the other assholery.



(Image courtesy Deadspin.)

Zeke Cardenas (#80 red) for Saint Anthony High School was ejected for assaulting a referee after the referee obviously tossed an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty (his second on the play -- he was actually going to be flagged once for shoving another player just before, then the official trying to restrain him threw a second one) on Cardenas.

It was apparently a contest the referees were having significant control issues over.

Since when was this not an automatic forfeiture of the fucking contest?  I mean, I get it -- Texas football, big money, and all such.  But how are you going to have anyone want to do a damn thing about fairly officiating a contest when these idiot players are wanting to kill you for doing your job?

And here's another one that should get somebody taken from the field for good!! (CORRECTION)

Saturday Division III game between Washington & Jefferson and and Westminster, as a kickoff ends with (EDIT TO CHANGE 6:42 PM, please see below the video) a player (#10 white) of the latter team getting kicked out of the game (and hopefully from his school) for starting a damn-near riot!

The title puts it best:  That wasn't a football game -- that was (ANOTHER) ASSAULT!!!

(Blogger's Note:  The incident was taken from Deadspin, at an article whose update is now here.  The number and color is correct, but the player had been identified as Sebastian Kerr in a previous version of the article, which I used to create the post here.  Kerr was noted to Deadspin, after the article was posted there, not to have even been on the field for the play.  I regret the error.)

We feared it might happen. (Part Three)

Pacman Jones is at it again!

Another Deadspin article from today's savagery.

If any commissioner had an ounce of balls, this never would've happened because Pacman Jones would've been somewhere near TNA, where he belongs...

Jones appears to late-hit Amari Cooper after the play, and Pacman does what Pacman does best:  Thugging it up.  He takes Cooper's helmet off and slams his head into it!!

We feared it might happen. (Part Two)

This one in Jacksonville.  Another head injury, and it sounds like another leading-with-the-head motif.

Deadspin reports Luke Kuechly is in really bad shape (later reports saying feeling and movement in all extremities and will be hospitalized for observation overnight) after this moment in today's bloodbathery...

Kuechly, in the clip, is shown literally battering-ramming for the tackle, and got compressed -- the same hit which may have broken the neck of a player in a college game last week, as reported in this blog...

(EDIT TO ADD 6 PM:  This might fall into the "Duh!" column, but Kuechly has been officially declared to have a concussion.)

We feared it might happen. (Part One)

Looked like the defender lined up like "Blitz: The League" too to take the headshot, and I'm not quite sure he got all of it.

And who'd that bring in?? Johnny Football!! That took less than a quarter...

Oh dear God! I HAVE to play fair on this one!!!

US Open women's final.

All expected to be Serena winning the Grand Slam, but she's upset by an unseeded Italian in the semifinal, Roberta Vinci.

Her opponent in the final?  Her best tennis friend in the world, fellow Italian from about 50 miles away Flavia Pennetta.

The two finalists won the French Open juniors women's doubles title a number of years back, but both careers (at least in singles) have been a bit nondescript.  Last year, she teamed with Martina Hingis to make the women's doubles final at the US Open before losing.

Pennetta wins in straight sets and you have to see the interview from the US Open YouTube channel, in which Pennetta, then, immediately RETIRES from the sport (effective before the next US Open)!


What a fucking way to go out! According to statistics, she'd made about $10 million on the Tour, but that $3.3 million for winning the US Open (which her friend immediately tried to steal as a joke!!!) is a nice way to transition to the next phase of life.

And just watch the two ham it up.  It's like they both won the championship!!!

Oh, dear God, now the toxicity goes apeshit in about 7 1/2 hours...

Football is WARRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!

And in the latest article of how stupid Football Player is getting...

And it's Georgia again...

A bunch of football players and three coaches on the Camden County football team are under criminal investigation after the coaches oversaw the ever-loving beatdown of a JV football player.

His crime?  Fraternizing with the enemy!

Seriously!

First, the players were ordered to wear white shirts to the varsity the preceding Friday night with Glynn Academy.  The player wore black.

But perhaps the larger crime is that his girlfriend is a cheerleader...  for Glynn Academy.  He chose to sit with her, and, as a result, got the shit beat out of him.

But football is a battlefield of war, and such acts of treason will not be fucking tolerated!!  *sarcasm*

The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has been called in to try to cover up for these animals, not unlike the coverup of the riot a couple years back when a home team got their asses kicked by a rival school, locked the latter team out of their locker room, and kicked the shit out of them!

BUT IT'S FOOTBALL SEASON!!!  RAWR!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is ANYTHING going to stop these football animals?

Yahoo!, as of about 4:15 or so PDT this afternoon, has noted that no less than six players in just today's action alone have confirmed targeting ejections.

The 15 yards isn't helping.

The ejection isn't helping.

The suspension which follows isn't helping!

Worse yet, four of them are from Top 25 teams:  One for Florida State (and one for their lesser opponent!), one for Auburn, one for Georgia, and one for Mississippi.  (The sixth is from Colorado.)  Florida State had another targeting call reviewed right at the end of the game, but that one was overturned.

And we hear the same "WAH!  BIG CALL!  THEY'RE THROWN OUT!!" from the likes of FSU head enabler Jumbo Fisher...

Sheez.

Completely Out Of Control: Yet Another High-School Edition

Dateline:  Oklahoma.

A game in Spencer, Oklahoma was terminated by referees when a 55-0 blowout turned into something resembling the Miami-Florida International farce from a number of years back in the Orange Bowl stadium.

Star Spencer, whose team was leading less than halfway into the third quarter, had a player tackled "hard" -- no word on dirty, just hard, along the other team's (SeeWorth Academy) sideline.

Next thing you know, you get the scrum.

Next thing you know, swinging helmets.

Word is the blowout had been "spirited", so you had to think it was going to blow up.  When it did, five players got tossed and, taking one look at the incident and one at the scoreboard, the referees did the right thing and ended the game then and there.

No word on whether the score will stand, and the investigation will begin once video is procured by the state association.

Completely Out Of Control: Pro Edition

Couple of indications we're already out of control, one game out of 256 into the season:

Mike Greenberg said it best this morning...

So, to summarize, a coach may have assaulted a fan and the defending champs may have cheated. And we're ONE game into the season. #NFL

— Mike Greenberg (@Espngreeny) September 11, 2015

Already addressed the headset thing from last night, but there's another rumor that a Steeler coach assaulted a Patriot fan last night as well.

James Daniel is accusing of kicking a Patriots fan in the leg and verbally beating him down as well as the tight end coach was leaving the field for halftime with the rest of the Steelers.

By the time they came back, police and NFL Security wanted to talk to Daniel.  Why police, upon identification, didn't detain Daniel may come down to whether the fan had any business where he or she was to begin with, but the fact is that this is probably the kind of environment we can expect out of football this year.

And:  Don't look now...  Aldon Smith is back in the NFL -- signed with the Raiders.

John McEnroe had it right: YOU CANNOT BE SERIOUS!!!!

I'm not even clicking the link.

I'm not even going to go into the story.

But Yahoo! Sports has, as it's lead:

"Coaches [for Pittsburgh] who were using their headsets to communicate suddenly started hearing the Pats' radio broadcast."

ARE YOU FUCKING SERIOUS????

NFL Preview Part Two: Someone just put up the perfect image on their Twitter...

Brian Tuohy retweeted this, but kudos to Chris Eaton for posting a perfect representation of the NFL (I'm not sure if this is his graphic or someone else's!).  Though it refers to all of sports in general, it still is the perfect representation of Roger Goodell's WWNFL brand of "Sports Entertainment" that a nation of sheep will bleat their fealty to starting in less than an hour:

The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse for Sport - alone each is a serious threat. Together they are wrecking havoc! pic.twitter.com/aMUsNd4K3E

— Chris Eaton (@chris_j_eaton) September 10, 2015

My all-too-brief NFL preview for 2015...

I wish to start this "preview" with one fact:

When I post this, this will be post #329 for the year, and #30 for September.

And the real "fun" hasn't started yet.  Now we get to the real injurious and damaging shit, and not just on the field.  Isn't that right, all you husbands who are going to kick the shit out of your wives when your team is 0-1 after this week?

(And there will be many, trust me on that one.)

Many of my predictions are not going to have anything to do with the results.  There are several reasons for this:

1) I've done shockingly-little research on the teams this year.
2) Because of not only external blowback, but my internal feelings on the equation, I'm not sure right now how much the results matter.  You'll see how in a second.
3) I don't think I can make a concrete Super Bowl call right now.  I think that there are, more than usually so, things that have to play out first (especially after the Spygate article) before I can.  I can give guesses only, but this is more so than in previous years.

So, with, as I type this, an hour and a half before the collective national orgasm of violence begins, here are at least a few semi-random predictions I'm going to make:

1) Someone is going to die -- on an NFL field during a game -- in 2015.

This is first and foremost.  This nation is going to a very dark place, and football (if this first weekend of college and whatever weekend of high-school it was is any indication) is getting a pretty damn good head start!

We have been very lucky not to have someone get their neck directly snapped on the NFL level.  Many people, if the national bloodlust that comes directly from defending football is evident, want this to happen.  They may not SAY it, but by defending football and it's injurious ways, it's clear they want it.

2) Someone is going to die OFF THE FIELD in 2015 as well!

Speaking as someone with a rather unique perspective on the situation, the boiling tempest of people getting angry at their teams (I'm looking as much at you, Packer Fan for not realizing that onside kick was wrestling-level booked, not just rigged!, as I am Bear Fan with Jay Cutler!!) and players is going to boil over and go beyond what has been evident so far.

I give two examples of where we're going apeshit directly:  That idiot in Texas who destroyed his apartment/house over the MNF loss to the Redskins (and will never live it down as a result!), and the rise of Millionaire Maker Weekly Fantasy, especially for Week 1.

Someone is going to not get the result they desire and some player is going to pay the ultimate price.  We've seen too much "talk" and "chatter" over the course of previous years not to believe some jackass isn't going to take violent action.

3) If you think the ESPN Spygate article was bad, that's just the beginning.

Who thought we'd get more Ray Rice on Monday (ending) of Week 1?

How about Adrian Peterson 72 hours later??

There's more.  And, given what we now have in the sports media, we're going to find out.

4) Intentional injuries will pockmark discussion of the game over the course of the season more than ever, and fines will be down and suspensions non-existant.

I truly believe that, whether players are "part of the booking" or whether it's just a matter of personal pride (or whether it's part of being a brain-damaged animal because of several too many shots to the head!!!), you'd have to think the way the sport has been presented, especially in the last couple years, would piss someone off to take a cheapie at a Rodgers or a Brady or a Wilson or Lynch or Sherman or whatever.

And the fines will not be there (and I'll be watching!), and no suspension under the current CBA is basically legal anymore.

5) I guess I can give my for-the-record predictions:

The AFC is a real crapshoot, and I really can't make a pick until I get one question answered:  Will Tom Brady finish the season as New England's starting quarterback, or will someone intentionally cripple him first?

(And I do believe that's an either-or.  I could see some fan in a visiting stadium (try the tempest Rex Ryan is building in Buffalo for one!) trying it!)

So I really have to come with two predictions:  There are a lot of people talking Miami in the AFC East (and with the culture that Suh will bring to that defense, it's little wonder why!).  The only way, however, that anyone but New England wins the AFC East (and probably the AFC title as well!) is if Brady is carted off, season (if not career) over!

So:

AFC East:  New England
AFC North:  Pittsburgh's getting a lot of love, and might get a payback for doing the job tonight.
AFC South:  Indianapolis, natch.
AFC West:  Denver by default.

Wildcards:  Miami and San Diego.  Buffalo and Cincinnati will get aced out near the end.

I'll predict Indianapolis definitely to the title game, with the rematch happening (in Foxboro again!) if Brady isn't put out.

If Brady makes it to the Super Bowl, it's New England again.  If not, then Indianapolis gets the payback.

NFC East:  Dallas.
NFC North:  I'm really hedging Minnesota here.  A lot will be told in Fail Mary at Lambeau in Week 2, though.  Green Bay wins that, they rocket to the Super Bowl favorites a lot of people think they are (but I don't!!).  I just really believe that Adrian Peterson, that child-beating homophobe, is a perfect representative for the WWNFL Roger Goodell has created.  I would not be surprised if Minnesota, Green Bay, and Detroit all go 10-6, with Minnesota winning the three-way tiebreaker with a victory over Green Bay in the annual "Win and In" FOX game in Week 17.
NFC South:  As much as New Orleans may be seen as past their prime, I've been seeing far too much "10th Anniversary of Katrina and the Saints" stuff not to pick them.
NFC West:  Seattle

Wildcards:  Detroit and Philadelphia will tiebreaker out Green Bay.

Title game will be Dallas vs. Seattle.  This, too, comes down to the angle they will be playing by the time we get there.  If New England gets back, I could see the rematch OR the ultra-corporate New England/Dallas matchup (which is what I thought several weeks ago!).  If New England doesn't, I could see Dallas going over here.

But, as I said, I can't make a Super Bowl pick right now, because there are too many variables still in the air.

To absolutely no one's surprise, there was more to the ESPN Spygate stuff...

Stop me if you've heard this one before with respect to ESPN and the NFL.

Even though I am personally stunned the NFL allowed the article to go on as printed (though my anonymous friend makes a good point vis-a-vis that the league might've just gone and thrown the Patriots under the bus and said "fuck it"), Deadspin and Pro Football Talk have found at least two major points edited out of an ESPN Boston response to the article by Mike Reiss.

First, the five points in the article which did make print:

1) The fact that Deflate-Gate was considered a "makeup call".  As I said, I consider this ridiculous, because, basically, Goodell is in personal knowledge of facts which indicate none of the Patriots Super Bowl victories were done with any degree of NFL legality and legitimacy, over and above the NFL's rigging of games toward the Patriots.

I had questions about the two middle ones until the ESPN report.  No more now.

2) The Patriots are in everybody's head.  Well, yeah.  When it's obvious that not only, as one article title put it, the Patriots are cheating in every way possible, but the league is covering for a lot of it, it's not hard to come to that conclusion!

3) Bill Belichick WAS within the "gray area" of the rules before they were changed.  Shyeah and right.

4) Other teams did it too.  I don't think there's any real dispute that a massive amount of cheating has changed a number of championships to "the right teams" -- right, DeBartolo 49ers?  *cough*  Doesn't change the fact that it was pervasive and perfected under the Patriots.

5) Belichick's comments in January.

And he left the fifth one at that.

The apparent problem is that there were two more things that Reiss wanted to add to it, and that ESPN took out (quotes from the PFT/Deadspin stuff):

A)  “Security’s extremely tight throughout Gillette Stadium. Don’t think too many people, if any, are casually walking into the visitors’ locker room. And let’s just say they are, who leaves play sheets around?”

Yeah.  Security, if you believe the article, is probably so tight to actually guard against NFL Security actually going around on some of the illegal photographers and such!  If you don't think the local security don't know the advantages being procured, you're dumb or part of the cover-up.

B)  “When you’re at the top, everyone likes to bring you down. A longtime sportscaster with a deep history in Boston relayed this thought to me that resonated: ‘They used to say same the stuff about Red Auerbach.’”

Did they have over 90 people, from in- and outside the organization, doing so?

Come back to me when they do.

It's another round of Boston homerism, frankly, and needs to be discarded as such.

Next time, you doofi might want to make sure you have the RIGHT guy...

James Blake is pissed at the NYPD, and he probably should be.  Even the NYPD police commissioner agrees.

The former world top-5 tennis player was thrown to the ground and handcuffed by members of the New York Police Department.  Blake was erroneously believed to be a suspect in a credit-card fraud ring, and someone in the NYPD got quite too zealous about it, as many police officers are getting in this day and age.

The officer mainly responsible for the physical violence has not been fired, but simply reassigned to desk duty, probably because the NYPD's position is that Blake is a dead ringer for the suspect, who was apparently caught.

Super Farce XLIX, The Thugs: Richard Sherman Covers For Goodell

One of the many reactions to the ESPN piece has come from Richard Sherman of the Seahags.

Before I get to that, kind of a Bloggers Note on something:  I've been called on the carpet a little bit by several readers of the blog for my nom de plume with respect to Super Bowl XLIX.  As anyone who's read on the subject knows:  If the article refers largely to the Patriots, you'll see "The Cheats". That Seattle is "The Thugs" does not mean they aren't Cheats.  It's just a nom de plume.

Anyway, Sherman, somewhat surprisingly, defends Goodell, Brady, and the Patriots, probably because he knows how much the son of a bitch has had his and his team's ass(es) covered by Goodell in the last three years:

"And at the end of the day, that's what it's about. You can say you stole scripts or whatever it is, but they still have to win the game. They still have to intercept the ball. They still have to execute. Eleven guys have to execute at the same time. And that's what they did, so give them credit. If there's hanky-panky going on, they've gotten away with it."

*Goodell pats Sherman on his head*

Good boy.  Good little doggie.  Another NFC title coming as your "treat" as long as you behave?

(ESPN Spygate Story) A case study in how the NFL can be trusted with NOTHING

We pick up the ESPN story on Spygate at the point where the NFL has to take over and effectively protect the Patriots from the truth that they singlehandedly have destroyed what little illusion should've remained of the competitive integrity of the sport over the first seven years of the Bill Belichick regime.

(You can't say the integrity of the sport itself after the 49er salary cap issue, among numerous other serious breaches.)

But when you take a look at the remainder of the article, which profiles a criminal conspiracy to cover up and protect the Patriots (who were no less than the driving force and face of the NFL as it transitioned from national icon to National Religion in the post-9/11 era!), you begin to understand why one can now accuse the NFL of wanting to see players die simply for the entertainment of a nation full of brutes.

First, the actual investigation only took a week into Spygate.  This, however, should've been no surprise:  The NFL had known of the various practices being used basically since the day Belichick walked in the league -- the article, earlier, had noted that the Competition Committee spent most of their time for six solid years trying to deal with Belichick.  Belichick said lied to Goodell that what he did was, at worst, a "misinterpretation" of rules teams had been warned about (because of the Patriots) at least the last two years.

But the first real indication of the coverup comes in the last statement of a paragraph in the ESPN article about the "investigation":

"Goodell didn't want to know how many games were taped," another source with firsthand knowledge of the investigation says, "and Belichick didn't want to tell him."

And, once Jay Glazer got one of the tapes, three high-ranking NFL officials had to run to Foxboro to ask the questions again, and got this bombshell:

"Once again, nobody asked how many games had been recorded or attempted to determine whether a game was ever swayed by the spying, sources say. The Patriots staffers insisted that the spying had a limited impact on games. Then the Patriots told the league officials they possessed eight tapes containing game footage along with a half-inch-thick stack of notes of signals and other scouting information belonging to Adams, Glaser says. The league officials watched portions of the tapes. Goodell was contacted, and he ordered the tapes and notes to be destroyed, but the Patriots didn't want any of it to leave the building, arguing that some of it was obtained legally and thus was proprietary. So in a stadium conference room, Pash and the other NFL executives stomped the videotapes into small pieces and fed Adams' notes into a shredder, Glaser says. She recalls picking up the shards of plastic from the smashed Beta tapes off the floor and throwing them away."

The problem with this stand is simple:  Some of it was NOT.  This meant, simply, that the NFL was now destroying evidence in it's own investigations which, at least on surface, would make the NFL a participatory party in everything the Patriots had done over the course of the last seven years (2000-2006).

And the fact the NFL did not ask the question as to how many games were taped or whether the games involved were swayed by the spying also means the NFL simply does not want to know.  To do so now, frankly, would almost force the NFL into a position where they either have to nullify three Super Bowl championships (placing all others into question), or admit their rules don't apply universally and you get, essentially, what we have now in the NFL -- going far beyond competitive balance.

Belichick and documentation on the subject put the number of games in which signals were illegally monitored at "over 40" between 2000 and 2006.

No one in the league could believe the nature of the investigation, the destruction of evidence, or any other act the NFL had committed with respect to this situation...

"The view around much of the league was that Goodell had done a major favor for Kraft, one of his closest confidants who had extended critical support when he became the commissioner the previous summer. Kraft is a member of the NFL's three-person compensation committee, which each year determines Goodell's salary and bonuses -- $35 million in 2013, and nearly $44.2 million in 2012. "It felt like this enormous break was given to the Patriots," a former exec says. They were also angry at Belichick -- partly, some admit, out of jealousy for his success but also because of the widespread rumors that he was always pushing the envelope. The narrative that paralleled the Patriots' rise -- a team mostly void of superstars, built not to blow out opponents but to win the game's handful of decisive plays -- only increased rivals' suspicions. After all, the Patriots had won three Super Bowls by a total of nine points."

... Super Bowls they almost certainly won with illegal information -- and we now find out that all three Super Bowl "wins" were involved...

"The Panthers now believe that their practices had been taped by the Patriots before Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004. "Our players came in after that first half and said it was like [the Patriots] were in our huddle," a Panthers source says. During halftime -- New England led 14-10 -- Carolina's offensive coordinator, Dan Henning, changed game plans because of worries the Patriots had too close a read on Carolina's schemes. And, in the second half, the Panthers moved the ball at will before losing 32-29 on a last-second field goal. "Do I have any tape to prove they cheated?" this source says. "No. But I'm convinced they did it.""

[...]

"How did New England seem completely prepared for the rarely used dime defense the Eagles deployed in the second quarter, scoring touchdowns on three of four drives? The Eagles suspected that either practices were filmed or a playbook was stolen. "To this day, some believe that we were robbed by the Patriots not playing by the rules ... and knowing our game plan," a former Eagles football operations staffer says."

Mr. Henning, you didn't need the damn proof.  You just provided it.  Because of your belief you had been spied upon, you changed your plans and were able to move the ball as you wanted to, forcing the league to step in (much like they did against the Rams) to ensure the "right team" won.

And Hines Ward of the Steelers comes back with knowledge about a game largely lost in the maelstrom of the "Tuck Rule" fiasco and the debacle with the Rams...

"Ward told reporters that Patriots inside information about Steelers play calling helped New England upset Pittsburgh 24-17 in the January 2002 AFC Championship Game. "Oh, they knew," Ward, now an NBC analyst who didn't return messages for this story, said after Spygate broke. "They were calling our stuff out. They knew a lot of our calls. There's no question some of their players were calling out some of our stuff.""

And then we get, probably, the closest thing ever to ESPN admitting outright that the National Football League -- the station's bread-and-butter -- openly fixes and rigs championships...

After Spygate made headlines, rumors that had existed for years around the NFL that the Patriots had cheated in the Super Bowl that had propelled their run, against the Rams, were beginning to boil to the surface, threatening everything. "I don't think fans really want to know this -- they just want to watch football," the Panthers source says. "But if you tell them that the games aren't on the level, they'll care. Boy, will they care."

This MAY HAVE BEEN true in 2006-2007, if that.  It certainly is NOT true now, especially with what we know about head injuries, CTE, and the truth behind much of the American sports machine, with the NFL as it's forefront.

Arlen Specter, by the playoff season of the undefeated regular-season of the Patriots, was demanding everyone in front of Congress on Spygate.  It was this move that, on an off-the-field level, has me believing that the Giants were ordered to "go over", since it was clear they were the only team that could pressure Tom Brady enough (which see the nationally-televised Week 17 matchup several weeks before) to make a game with the unstoppable Patriots believable.

The New York Times blew up the story again -- just two days before the Super Bowl.  Checkmate on the Patriots.

But Specter went further.  Using the annual media lie-fest the Commissioner inflicts on the nation two days before the Super Bowl, Specter now believed the league to be openly covering for the Patriots in a manner that "you couldn't sell that in kindergarten".

Specter, effectively, concluded that the NFL was in criminal conspiracy with the Patriots to protect the league and it's increasingly-sole relevant franchise, and demanded Goodell meet with him, which he did 10 days after the Giants' first Super Bowl win over the Patriots.

Specter got the same runaround -- even when challenged that the Patriots' championship win over Specter's favorite team, the Eagles, might not be legitimate.

After the meeting, Specter got no further cooperation from anyone involved.  Any intelligent person with the power of Specter in the United States Senate should've realized something criminal had gone down.

So he then went to Matt Walsh, who outlined several illegal monitorings of the Rams practice, including one in which the Patriots were able to snuff out a strategy the Rams periodically used by putting Marshall Faulk back to take the kickoff.

The most damning of these, though, was the Rams actually put in several new red-zone packages over the late practices leading to Super Bowl XXXVI -- packages the Patriots knew like a book when the game came around.

By the end of the Walsh interview, Arlen Specter -- one of the most influential members of the United States Senate -- wrote that the NFL was engaged in a coverup.

The league demanded Mike Martz cover for them as Specter's demands for a Congressional investigation intensified.  In fact, there was reason for this within the league:

"No matter how angry owners and coaches were over Goodell's handling of Spygate, they were unified in their view that a congressional investigation posed a threat to the game itself. On June 5, 2008, Specter delivered a lengthy speech on the Senate floor, blasting the NFL's investigation, destruction of evidence and lack of transparency. "The overwhelming evidence flatly contradicts Commissioner Goodell's assertion that there was little or no effect on the outcome of the game," he said. Once more, Specter called for "an objective, thorough, transparent investigation" of Spygate. But he knew then, his aides now say, that such an investigation was never going to happen."

The fact is, the "unified view" is correct.  If the NFL were truly called onto the carpet, the league could very easily be exposed as rigged -- a fact, thanks to Dan Moldea, those of us who know what we are talking about knew about for games as early as 1979.

A nation of laws, and not of corporate "men", would've disbanded the NFL 30-40 years ago!

The only reason I don't share a lot of the concern Beli-cheat has about his Hall of Fame chances is that many of the parties in the Hall of Fame voting process probably were involved in similar criminality at some point along the line.

Bob Kraft was one of the few public voices (even over private concerns) supporting Goodell's handling of the Ray Rice fiasco, etc.  (I think we now have our DIRECT answer as to Super Farce XLIX.)

The night Goodell infamously was at Kraft's house just before the Deflategate Game, the league actually already had information that the Colts were concerned.

-------------

This is a devastating piece.

Someone will lose their career over this.

I truly believe the NFL will try to cut ESPN out of the next national television package, with this piece being the final straw.

But the facts are these:  The games you, as a nation, swear fealty to, are rigged.  The championships are bought and sold as much as radio slots, Grammys, and all the rest of it.  The athletes are being injured as part of multiple criminal conspiracies on the part of the NFL and it's member organizations.

And you can't trust these motherfuckers on anything.

You give me five minutes as Commissioner, and I can now cleanly reverse 5 of the last 15 Super Bowls.

You give me five minutes with enough legal power, I can probably jail Roger Goodell for a criminal conspiracy and probable violations of the RICO Act (the fraud over the course of 15 years now being the necessary component).

But what that one Carolina team official said is no longer true:  People no longer care if the games are legitimate.  If they did, someone would've taken out Tom Brady already from the stands.  (And if you don't believe that to be possible, consider the level of fealty people swear to the sport.)

But the fact is there:  Your entire fealty is sworn on a criminal conspiracy.

Ruminate on that as you get ready for some football tomorrow night.