This National Anthem Situation is about to get serious...

Those who are protesting should take the word of my anonymous friend seriously:

Enjoy this while you can.  It's about to become illegal.

It sounds, already, like it's about to become dangerous...  to both your ability to play and, quite possibly, your life or the life of someone you care about.

The latest two stories (along with the estimated 100,000,000 who watched The Greatest Reality Show On Earth Monday night...) bear this out.

First off, the University of Nebraska.  Three University of Nebraska players knelt during the National Anthem this week, joining the growing number of protests to the racial strife and inequality in this country.  (For the record, players from both Michigan and Michigan State raised fists before their games.)

The governor of the state of Nebraska called it disrespectful.  At least one regent of the University wants the three thrown off the team -- NOW!  Several death threats have been registered against the players, some saying they should be shot or ceremonially hung before the next home game's playing of the Anthem, according to an interview quoted to USA Today.

Now, correctly, the president of the university, Hank Bounds told these people... to promptly shut the fuck up (taken from the USA Today article):

“I have served in the military," Bounds wrote. "I understand love of country and love of the flag and I know that freedom is not free. I recognize that some are upset by what they saw on Saturday night. But let me be clear. The University of Nebraska will not restrict the First Amendment rights of any student or employee.”

Of course, it sounds like it could be worse.

You could be LeBron James right now.  Certainly, him protesting during the National Anthem would make a very large statement.

He will continue to stand, and one of the reasons appears to be fear of retaliation against his now-12 year old son.

During the annual pre-season Media Day for the defending NBA champions, James said he understands Colin Kaepernick and all, but he looks at his 12 year old son and really wonders what's going to happen when he's 16 and goes out for a drive.

This situation is going to get out of hand.  And, especially with a White nationalist (a nationalist who is White, not 100% sure how deep the racism actually goes) and a Wall Street whore who views Blacks as "Super Predators" being our "options" for President, I sense this is already pear-shaped and going to get quite worse!!

I give it about Election Day before an Anthem protestor is finally attacked physically on the spot.

I Hate People, Part MMMDCCXLVIII

I knew it was going to happen.  And I knew I was going to hate it.

Last week, as most baseball fans probably know, the city of Los Angeles said goodbye to the only voice of the Dodgers they basically knew, Vin Scully.

They had his bobblehead on Tuesday, a ceremony and a special letter from Vin on Friday, a commemorative coin on Saturday, and a special program for his last home game on Sunday (which, almost fittingly, ended on a division-winning walk-off home run!).

And they're all on eBay.

Several bobbleheads the Dodgers have given away to honor Vin the last several seasons pockmark eBay.  Someone got SIXTEEN of them and is selling them for $55+ each!  Someone, and I'm not sure which one, got over 100 of one of the bobbleheads and is pocketing $144 for each of those!!!

The coin, someone reported, was being sold for $50 or so a pop, and someone snagged 160 of them somehow, or more!!!

There's an auction for the letter up on eBay that's over $40 as I type.

They're even selling the program they gave out to the 50,000+ at the Stadium -- somewhere in the area of $5-10 or so for that!!!

Did I tell you I hate people?

Is there any wonder this is why???

I mean, it's clear that there are a bunch of shitheads who knew what was coming this last weekend and decided to cash in on our good friend Vin.

Seriously.

GO.

FUCK.

YOURSELVES.

Week 3 Score Report 2016 -- and some SERIOUS ratings numbers...

Last week of 16 games per week until about Thanksgiving.  15 games this week.

• Week 3 Score Average:  46.94  (Last year:  48.31, two years ago:  46.5)
• 48 game per game total score average:  45.688 (Last year:  47.104, two years ago:  44.6)
• Home teams started the week 4-5, but the entire late schedule went to the home teams, as did Sunday night.  Home teams were 10-6 on the week, 27-21 for the year.  (Last year:  8-8, 26-22.  Two years ago:  9-7, 30-18)
• The over was 9-7, making 26-21 for the year.  (Last year was 10-5 for 25-20 to 25-23.  Two years ago was 8-8 with anywhere between 18 and 22 overs for 26 unders)
• One game went middle against the spread (Baltimore was anywhere from a 1 to 2.5 point favorite over Jacksonville and won by 2.)
• Big week for the underdogs straight up, as favorites only went 7-8 against the number and 8-7 straight-up.  For the year, that's 20-23 against the number and 25-18 straight up.
• 226 penalties this week (almost matching last year's 229).  Big story of the year appears to be the team with more penalties is losing:  5-8 on the week, 17-26 on the year.
• Something tells me Goodell was not happy with the ratings, and gave up this week, at least for this week:  Though there were four Cliffhangers (11 for the year (23%)), there were SEVEN non-competitive games this week.  Happened three times last year and was either met or exceeded three times the year before.  The big stat from that:  There'd only been five such games in Weeks 1 and 2 COMBINED.
• Three Last Chance Misses, counting one of the Cliffhangers.  14 of those, with 2 overlaps.  Meaning that 23 of the first 48 games were either a Cliffhanger or that the team behind had a feasible last chance for one and missed.
• Only seven games this week ended within one score.  29 out of the 48 for the year (60.4%)
• The games within one score at some point in the fourth quarter (nine this week):  36 out of 48 (75%).
• Last year:  No Cliffhangers Week 3, 6 Cliffhangers total.  Two years ago:  2 to total 8.
• Ending within one score last year: Six for the week, 23 total (47.9%).  Two years ago:  Only 18 total.
• Within one score at some point in the 4th last year:  32/48.  Two years ago?  29.
• Interesting Point to Ponder #1:  Through three weeks, there have been as many games decided by one score this year than there were games within one score at any point in the fourth quarter two years ago.
• Interesting Point to Ponder #2:  For the third week in a row, the Monday night game in the regular time slot was non-competitive.
• Interesting Point to Ponder #3:  There has been neither a Cliffhanger nor a Last Chance Miss on the Sunday nighter this year so far.
• Interesting Point to Ponder #4:  There have been 12 games in which the game was decided through three quarters.  Only TWO have come from the main 1 PM Eastern/10 AM Pacific start times.
• Interesting Point to Ponder #5:  Raising speculation that the election may be becoming the main focus of ratings this year, the Los Angeles Times reports through Sports Media Watch that Monday Night Football had it's lowest overnight rating EVER.  Not just ESPN-era.  The 5.7 overnight rating for Falcons-Saints was the lowest ever recorded in the history of the series.
• There's a reason for that:  Overnights for nine networks airing the debate?  FORTY-SIX POINT TWO.  Meaning almost half the television sets in the country which were on at all were watching those two motherfuckers barf all over the stage.
• The final rating was 4.9 -- and that is the lowest-rated Monday Night game ever.  To give comparison, the last two years of Monday night had 40% higher ratings.
• SMW reports the CBS regional half of the doubleheader was down 13% from last year, but the national half was rather consistent with last year.  FOX is the only network seeming to buck this trend, and did again for it's single window on Sunday.

What the fuck are you DOING, ESPN???

So, at the behest of my anonymous friend, I pop on to ESPN.com for a moment.

Sunday night game...
Les Miles fired...
THEN Jose Fernandez' death (which NEVER became the top story on the website all day, and certainly wouldn't now -- let me finish and you'll see why...)
THEN Vin Scully's last home game, punctuated with a division-winning walk-off home run!
Football...
Football...
Football...

And that's the headlines on the front page as of 6:42 PM PDT.

And then, just as I'm typing this..  (Literally just as I'm typing this, I had checked seconds before and got that list!) NOW...  An hour and 15 minutes or so after most other sites confirmed it...

You finally have the time to tell us Arnold Palmer passed away today.

There are people whom, under no circumstances, want me to use your service as a source when the news merits it.

THIS IS WHY, FOUR-LETTERED NETWORK...

Week 2 Fine Blotter racking up in a hurry

Either last year was an anomaly, or the NFL is striking back, especially on celebrations.

At least two TWO TIME LOSERS...

• New York Giants:  Reports indicate Odell Beckham Jr. has been fined $36,462 for a crack-back block.  Now, because this is his sixth fine in a little over two seasons (and second in two weeks -- and he's facing an old rival this week (so much so the referees pulled them both aside before the game)), apparently the next one will get him suspended for his record -- and, if the past is any indication, that suspension could be 2-3 games.
• Denver Broncos:  Also fined in back-to-back weeks, Darian Stewart, $9,115 for Roughing the Passer.  Should've been multiplied by four.

Other fines for Week 2...

• Buffalo Bills:  Stephon Gilmore, $9,115 for a face mask.
• New York Jets:  Two $9,115 fines for taunting:  Eric Decker and Sheldon Richardson.
• Carolina Panthers:  One can almost expect, the way the league is going this year, that we may be headed toward the college rules on celebrations.  Two $12,154 fines for celebrations:  Devin Funchess and Kelvin Benjamin.
• Minnesota Vikings:  Stefon Diggs, $12,154 for unsportsmanlike conduct.
• Chicago Bears:  Akiem Hicks, $18,231 for Roughing the Passer
• Pittsburgh Steelers:  Javon Hardgrave, $18,231 for a Horse Collar Tackle
• Green Bay Packers:  Mike Daniels, $18,231 for Roughing the Passer
• Oakland Raiders:  Marquette King, $18,231 for a Horse Collar Tackle.  King is the Raiders' PUNTER.

Once Again, The Burgeoning Race War In This Country Invades College Football

Another example of the rising racial tensions in this country hit Eastern Michigan University earlier this week when white supremacist graffiti was found in a dorm this week.

A protest was planned -- peacefully -- for the end of last night's game between Eastern Michigan and Wyoming.  The students marched on the field, joined by at least one Wyoming player.

The protest went completely as negotiated with the University and planned -- unlike one earlier this week when some dipshit decided to attempt to run over as many protestors as she could with her SUV!

The great thing, according to the Deadspin report, was that CBS Sports Network, covering the game, chose, also, to cover the protest as a news story -- not only when it happened, but with everything which led up to it.

As I've said with several other posts on the subject, it's on and it's no longer avoidable:  Something's going down here.  And something's going down here real damned soon, if it's not already beginning in progress.

We talk about the illegal hits, but even the legal ones do damage...

Two from Deadspin here.  The first is another Deadspin Targeting Ejection of the Week from Friday night.

And then, an example from this morning that even a legal hit probably does brain damage.

Before We Hit Week 2, Here's the Rest of Week 1's Fine Blotter

(Source:  Spotrac)

• Minnesota Vikings:  Eversen Griffen:  $18,231, Roughing the Passer
• San Diego Chargers:  Jahleel Addae:  $24,309, Helmet Hit
• Seattle Seahawks:  Michael Bennett:  $9,115, Celebration
• Green Bay Packers:  Randall Cobb:  $9,115, Face Mask
• New York Giants:  Odell Beckham Jr. and Victor Cruz:  $12,154 each for a Celebration foul.
• Cincinnati Bengals:  Michael Johnson:  $9,115, Roughing the Passer
• New York Jets:  Eric Decker:  $9,115 for Unsportsmanlike Conduct
• Atlanta Falcons:  Robert Alford:  $9,115 for Fighting
• New England Patriots:  Julian Edelman:  $24,309, Defenseless Player Hit
• Arizona Cardinals:  Chandler Jones:  $12,154, Celebration
• Tampa Bay Buccaneers:  Gerald McCoy:  $12,154, Celebration
• New England Patriots:  Cameron Fleming:  $18,231, Leg Whip foul
• Buffalo Bills:  Jerry Hughes:  $18,231, Roughing the Passer
• Detroit Lions:  DeAndre Levy:  $9,115, Taunting

So, counting all that up with the others I posted last week:  (Antonio Brown's two, Denver's two helmet-shot fines, Trai Turner (note:  SEVEN of these fines (including one of Brown's and Turner's) were for excessive celebrations!!),  and DeAndre Hopkins')...

16 teams had fines in Week 1.

The total, at least as of this report, for Week 1, was $294,730.

And I don't know if I got this one:

• Another free agent suspended.  Manny Lawson, cut by the Bills on September 2nd (which would've been their FOURTH player suspended), suspended two games last Friday for a domestic situation -- which probably resulted in him getting cut.  Some of the Spotrac information on contracts is now a premium part of the service, but the forfeiture appears to be somewhere in the line of about $300,000 or so, probably a third of that going to the league for Suspension Number Four.

Something to keep an eye on, especially if the NFL is going with the Old Reliable Cheatriots...

(General Source:  Breitbart.com article.)

NFL Ratings for the first two weeks are down.

QUITE A BIT.

MNF Week 2 was the lowest ratings for a Week 2 MNF game since ESPN took the package from ABC...

#fumble 🏈 -- @ESPN’s #MNF ratings lowest-ever for Week 2 -- 4th straight year of decline pic.twitter.com/c3GZSO6rjn

— Rich Greenfield (@RichBTIG) September 20, 2016

(Rich Greenfield is a media analyst with hands in Goldman Sachs and the like.)

The Breitbart article believes, however, much of the problem lies at the feet of Colin Kaepernick and the other protestors of the National Anthem.  They believe (let's be blunt, WHITE) America has turned off the games in droves as a number of the players actually insist that people of their color and heritage (and, when taken to Megan Rapinoe in soccer, their sexuality) have these little things called RIGHTS!

There's another possibility, the New York Post posits:  This shitfest of an election has so enraptured the country that the cable NEWS NETWORKS are now topping the ratings and television, basically across the board, is suffering at or near double-digit-percent losses (just as the NFL has for the first two weeks! -- the Post article saying the NFL in all of Week 2 was down 12% YoY, with Fox News being the #1 network in all of television!).

I will give a third option to that.  Breitbart is correct to note the departures of Peyton Manning through retirement and Tom Brady through suspension.  He is also correct to note the lame-duck situations in both San Diego and Oakland, among other weak NFL markets.

The facts are this:  There are not that many names the NFL cares to market anymore.

I'll leave an exercise to the reader here:  Sit down with yourself when you have time and make a mental list (or write it down, if you so choose) of the players the NFL would market toward a Super Bowl (or have marketed toward a Super Bowl) who are still in the league and going to play meaningfully this year (so remove Romo and Peterson from the equation).

I don't think you're going to come up with a very long list.  It's one of the reasons I now believe my prediction made before the season is dead.  Adrian Peterson is out for the year, and the Patriots just ran the Texans off the field to be 3-0 during Brady's suspension.

Here's my list:

Eli Manning (and he was more of a sidebar than anything)
Aaron Rodgers (whose run at being pushed to Super Bowls is probably over!)
Cam Newton (and the jury is still out as to whether Newton will be ever pushed to WIN one)
Drew Brees (who is long past his prime and his days are done as far as the push)
Marshawn Lynch and the Legion of Boom (the former is retired -- the latter is still a point very worthy of discussion, but you need to score more than 15 points in two weeks, even if you only give up 19)
Colin Kaepernick (pushed for one appearance, now done)
Tom Brady and the Cheatriots (probably #1 now)
Ben Roethlesberger (see Rodgers, probably more likely he gets one more than Rodgers, but can't see that day)
JJ Watt (the Texans are probably now where the Vikings were for a number of years -- and will the league ever put the push behind ONE defensive player?)

and that's about my list.  Take a look at the last 15 Super Bowls:

50:  Peyton Manning (Retirement)
XLIX:  Tom Brady/Prevention of LoB winning another
XLVIII:  Legion of Boom/Lynch
XLVII:  Ray Lewis (Retirement)
XLVI:  Eli Manning/Prevention of New England winning another
XLV:  Aaron Rodgers/Prevention of Pittsburgh winning another
XLIV:  Katrina/BountyGate Saints
XLIII:  Roethlesberger/Marketing Money Steelers >> Cardinals
XLII:  Eli Manning/Revelations of Spygate
XLI:  Peyton Manning
XL:  Jerome Bettis (Retirement)
XXXVI-XXXIX:  Tom Brady/Patriots/Patriotism, with the one year of make-up to Gruden and the Raiders.

If you want one look at why NFL ratings might be slipping, the NFL believes (and was right until this year!) that the fans would watch anyway.

Would they watch THESE GUYS, though?

Especially with one city effectively under Martial Law, we have to go HERE again???

On a beautiful weekend for baseball (except how does Playstation Vue NOT have the local CW channels, the one in LA being the one to cover the Dodgers as Vin Scully is about to retire after two-thirds of a century??!?!?!?), we have to do this...

Don't we, soon-to-be-ex-Mariner Steve Clevenger??

This isn't the first recent underpinning of racism in the former National Pastime (Madison Bumgartner's hit list and what might be motivating that, though that's rumored; the Orioles' Adam Jones refusing to protest in the style of Colin Kaepernick because he feels baseball is now a "White Man's Sport"...), but it sounds like Clevenger wants out of Seattle.

How do we know this?

It's time for #Mariners to react to Steve Clevenger's racist tweets and deliver their own message: Release him now. https://t.co/NomVKqdsKR

— Bob Nightengale (@BNightengale) September 23, 2016

Nightengale works MLB for USA Today and is an MLB Network insider, and reports on these words Clevenger has for some of the racial protestors running around these days in his latest USA Today column.

Mike Coppinger of USA Today and Jon Humbert of KOMO-TV in Seattle found these reactions by Clevenger in his private Twitter account...

#Mariners say they are "looking into" controversial tweets coming pitcher Steve Clevenger's account screencapped by @cablebox666: pic.twitter.com/RcWNdqflGV

— Jon Humbert (@jonhumbert) September 22, 2016

It's on.  The only question is how much longer do we go until it's every city and major-sized town in America at once.

For those who can't get the photo and screenshot situation right, the media of Humbert's tweet has two different Tweets the asshole made, screencaptured by an anonymous Seattle Twitter account (the handle is above -- it's now being attached to the BLM movement, probably in protest of Clevenger's comments):

"Black people beating whites when a thug got shot holding a gun by a black officer haha shit cracks me up!  Keep kneeling for the Anthem!"

and

"BLM is pathetic once again!  Obama you are pathetic once again!  Everyone involved should be locked behind bars like animals!"

The more I see, the more I ask people when the shooting is going to start...

EDIT TO ADD 10:30 AM PDT 9/23/16:  Clevenger has been suspended the remainder of the season by the Mariners.

It IS only the beginning of Week Three...

... but it really does look like Associate Commissioner Kraft is crafting #5 already.

New England now PROHIBITIVE favorites -- but this is only Week Three.

But dominant wins over two of the better teams in the NFL without Brady, and Brady only needing to sit one more game, indicates either a deliberate injury to Brady, or look out below...

For those inclined, the NFL Score Report For Week 2, and Why the NFL and ESPN Need To Talk

First, the numbers, and then a couple of interesting sidebars:

• Week 2 per game:  45.25.  Last year was 47.75, two years ago 43.65.
• Home teams were 10-6 for the week, 17-15 for the year.  Last year, 8-8 and 18-14.
• Thank you to one of my readers and followers, the guy behind "The Greatest Tragedy In Sports", NFLRanking, who pointed out this after Sunday's game in Minnesota:

@darkstar7646 71% of the money went on GB https://t.co/GyHNfdm3eQ

— NFLranking (@NFLranking) September 19, 2016

• Come on.  The public, even as in love with the Packers as they are, couldn't see this one coming?  First off, the Vikes asked the NFL to make the Packers the opener for the new stadium.  Second, if you watched NBC promote this game, they had the Packers and Aaron Rodgers as "DYNAMIC" and God-Fearing Child Beater and the Vikings as "DOMINANT".  Now, Adrian's torn meniscus could change things -- a LOT!.  (I have the Vikings winning the Super Bowl behind him this year.)  But anyone who didn't take the point and a half the Vikings were getting and RUNNING TO THE BANK WITH IT was a fool.
• David Purdum, ESPN, on another big winning day for Las Vegas this weekend with the NFL:

Story out of Vegas on Sun: “We’re looking at a winning day no matter what. But it’ll be a huge day if Vikings get there" Vikings got there.

— David Payne Purdum (@DavidPurdum) September 19, 2016

• Even though favorites were 7-7 against the spread (two pick em's) and 9-5 straight up (13-15 ATS and 17-11 SU for the year, last year was 15-16-1 ATS for the two weeks), and the Over was 8-7 (the Monday night game was 43 total with numbers in Vegas from 42.5 to 43.5) for the week and 17-14 for the year (15-17-2 or so for the two weeks last year and 7-8-1 or so for 2015 Week 2 on the Over), the story was this...
• Several five- and six-figure losing money line bets were placed on losers like the Packers and Raiders -- and kickoff totals, according to Purdum at ESPN, on the Sunday-nighter were 6-1 Green Bay at Caesar's Palace and 4-1 Green Bay at the Westgate Superbook.
• *facepalm*  Will they never learn...  I could've told you WEEKS AGO the Vikes were winning that game!
• In a week that will make the NFL happy to put this out there:  The team with more penalties (with two games which had the same amount) was 4-10 for the week!  12-18 for the year.  (Last year, 5-7 and 11-16)
• Deadspin pointed this out, and I went to Pro Football Reference to back this up.  Detroit and Tennessee had one for the ages last week.  Twenty-nine accepted penalties, 17 on Detroit.  The 29 penalties is the most in any NFL game since the Giants and Washington had 32 in an overtime game on September 21, 2003 (and another game had over 30 within a week of that, also in overtime).  The 29 penalties is the most in any NFL regulation game since New Orleans and St. Louis totaled 31 on November 26, 2000.
• Only two Cliffhangers this week, and one of them was that 29-penalty game.  The other was Giants-New Orleans.  Seven total this year.  (Last year:  Four in Week 2, six for the two weeks.)
• Biggest story of the week was two-fold:  All of the 1 PM Eastern games plus the Thursday nighter were competitive, and only one failed to stay within one score at the end.  It looked like another week with only 2 non-competitive games, and then the Bears had to suck.  27 of the first 32 games have been within one score at some point in the fourth quarter.  (84.4%, four more than last year, which had 23 in the first two weeks and only 4 non-competitive games).
• The second part is my new metric:  SEVEN of the games finished with a Last Chance Miss.  But the only late game to do so was the LA Coliseum relaunch, with a total of 12 points and Seattle fumbling on the LA 27 in the last minute.  That makes 11 such games, with only one which was both a Cliffhanger and a Last Chance Miss.
• Eleven of the sixteen games finished within one score.  Same number as Week 1.  (68.8% for the 22/32 for the year.  Last year:  17/32. (53.1%))

And here lies the issue for ESPN:

Did someone piss off the NFL at ESPN before the season started?

If we remove the three Monday Night Football games from the equation, we have only three non-competitive contests out of the other 29, and only seven of the other 29 games did not finish within or at an 8-point margin.

Monday Night Football, so far, has had three of the worst games of the year, and only one of them was competitive, and even that one was a fourth-quarter steamroll by Pittsburgh over Washington.

So who at ESPN pissed the NFL off?

So, Madison Bumgartner, is there something you need to tell us?

Most Dodgers and Giants fans well know that last night's...  kerfluffle...  was not the first time Madison Bumgartner and Yasiel Puig had gone at it.

Someone, however, has done a little history lesson and found that Madison Bumgartner has had issues with quite a number of players -- and most of them are either African-American or otherwise dark-skinned.

So, MadBum...  Is there something you want to tell us?  And is this why you're playing in San Francisco, one of the lighter-skinned cities in the entire country, due to the amount of money required to effectively-legally live there?

It is so over for the San Francisco Giants this season.

The Giants never should've had the All-Star Break.

They were 57-33 when it started.

They immediately lost 11 of 13 since, and have never looked back.

23-38 since the break, and they probably won't even Wild Card their way into the play-in game now.

And that has led to one of the most terrible tweets in history, probably because everybody is getting drunk in San Francisco Giants-Land right now...

Forgot to source that:  Big League Stew on Yahoo! Sports.

Does ANYBODY still believe these games are legit and worth swearing your fealty to?

You're being played like fiddles, America!

First, every game in the early games on Sunday was within one score (8 points or less) at some point in the fourth quarter.

Second, only Carolina's comparative blowout of San Francisco didn't finish that way!

Third, if you still want to believe the games are legitimate, not scripted, and not made-for-TV movies, effectively, I submit to you this Deadspin situation, and either this is one Hell of a GIF-editing job on somebody's part, or...

Another Weekend of American Football Assholery

(And this doesn't even count Happy Valley today!)

Last night (Sept. 16, 2016), Rice University and Baylor University played an ESPN game.

It did not go well.

In the first half of the game, the game had to be stopped, with the crowd from Rice being cautioned as to the use of laser pointers from the stands into the eyes of Baylor players.

Playing off of Baylor's massive record of using football and athletics to cover for rape and sexual assault, the marching band of Rice decided to form a large Roman numeral "IX", pointed right at Baylor's bench and cheering section.

As in TITLE "IX"...

This, apparently, pissed off one Baylor fan enough that someone got confronted after the performance!!

No word on if there were any other incidents post-game, but the weekend is off to a "tremendous" *snark!* start...

Here's Fine Friday for Week 1

And this is what the NFL will admit to or what I can find:

• Los Angeles Rams:  TWO TIME LOSER Monday night for Aaron Donald.  $21,269 for his ejection -- both for unsportsmanlike conduct and unnecessary roughness.  I'm sure that's less important to Jeff Fisher than someone bringing a woman to the dorm though -- otherwise, Donald would be looking for a new team.  (As should a number of the Rams.)
• Pittsburgh Steelers:  Antonio Brown's total for his TWO TIME LOSER is $15,189.

Those are the only two sets of fines announced today the NFL would admit to.

• Houston Texans:  DeAndre Hopkins, $6,119 for uniform violation:  Cleats in honor of Kanye West.

Will I find any more this week?

Oh, and anyone shocked at this NFL Rig-Job???

First Thursday night game to be live-streamed through Twitter...  (Yes, video through Twitter!!)

Three-point game to start the 4th quarter, total is already over 50!

Keep believing, idiots.  Goodell loves you.

Early Week 1 Fine Blotter

• Already the first two-time loser of the season!  Pittsburgh Steelers:  Antonio Brown, fined twice for Week 1.  One was for unsportsmanlike conduct for his touchdown celebration and the other was a uniform violation for illegal cleats.  $21,269 appears to be the total.  (ESPN)
• Denver Broncos:  You know this was coming!  Darian Stewart gets $18,231 and Brandon Marshall $24,309 for their headshots on Cam Newton.  Be surprised if there aren't more announced tomorrow.  (NFL.com)
• Carolina Panthers:  Trai Turner:  $9,115, excessive celebration.  (Spotrac)
• Six players wore 9/11 styled cleats on Sunday, and all expected to be fined.  One player, Tennessee's Avery Williamson, was getting support prepared for him from not only his coach, but New York and New Jersey police unions!  Word is, through SB Nation, none will be fined.
• SB Nation also reports that, as a compromise for previous fines, players WILL now be allowed some leeway on one given week of this season for charitable causes.  The report says it will be Week 13.
• At least one player has been reported docked over $26,000 for a defenseless player situation.

More on this on "Fine Friday".

And, on the suspension blotter:

• Not sure if I reported this, but another Free Agent suspended:  Prince Shembo banned 2 games for animal cruelty charges.
• New York Giants:  Nikita Whitlock banned 10 games for PEDs.  His forfeiture?  About $320,000.
• The Buffalo Bills became the second team to have to pay a Club Remittance Policy penalty to the league for having three players suspended.  The policy, however, is hard to find publicly.
• The Panthers and Giants become the 18th and 19th teams in the NFL to have at least one player suspended for the drug policy.
• 41 players have now been suspended for one or more offenses.

So When Does The Name Get Changed, Goodell?

Because I'm about to show you something which would never happen in today's NFL.

Still, in 1960, some prejudice due to color still existed in the National Football League, but one coach, off of a 1-10-1 1958 when he took the job, said not to look at black or white, but the color of his team.

This man was then told of an interracial relationship with one his of rookie players -- at which point he held a team meeting and was going to fire any player who showed prejudice in a manner such as outing this, much less worse.

He not only notified all the places in his team's city that if they did not serve ALL of his players, they would serve none.  He did the same for hotels throughout the league.

This extended to his coaching staff as well, as it became apparent there was still a problem with gay slurs.  The co-founder of Outsports.com, Jim Buzinski, said that this coach treated his players like dogs, but not gay nor straight dogs.

Why?  Because of his religion, discrimination he had experienced as an Italian-American, and the fact his son was gay.

This extended to his brief, less-famous stint with another team, which had two gay players on it.  He made the same demands and expectations.

Why do I make this point?  Because there's no way The Lombardi Way -- yes, THAT Vince Lombardi!!! -- would fly in today's NFL.

(Much of the information on this post was taken from Lombardi's Wikipedia page, with numerous sources found there.)

The ACC Follows Suit

Probably on orders from the NCAA, but...

The Atlantic Coast Conference has followed the NCAA's lead and has removed all of it's neutral-site conference championship events from the state of North Carolina for HB2.

Next step, if they dare, is to de-certify all North Carolina colleges from the NCAA until HB2 is revoked.

Another Scary Security Breach on the ABC Family of Networks Last Night

And this one might be even MORE nefarious than Lochte...

The final game of Week 1 was a debacle between the LA Rams and the 49ers.

4th quarter of the game, idiot runs on the field, and Kevin Harlan has a field day on Westwood One:


The NFL does have it on it's YouTube, so the video I have could be taken down.  The NFL does not allow embedding of it's YouTube videos as into places like my blog.

Anyway, Deadspin called the kid (he apparently had the phone number on his shirt!).  16 years old, now banned from the stadium for one year.  That he really did nothing but run around for a half a minute and that he's underage is why he's only getting that...

Wait, did I say he ran around the field a HALF A MINUTE?

This is where the concern comes in.

Does anyone not think that the proposed police boycott over Colin Kaepernick is opening the door a sliver to some hyper-drunk over-Americanized punk ass bitch taking Kaepernick out to send a message to the rest of the league to know their roles and shut their mouths?

Can't say I'm surprised.  If this protesting goes on another week or two, I fully expect Goodell to start fines and the like, with the possibility that Kaepernick could be in physical danger here.

(Hat-tip to my anonymous friend, who had a very interesting take on all of this.)

The Aftermath, Day +23: Russia has officially retaliated on WADA.

Russia has hacked the computers of the World Anti-Doping Association.

Let that process a second.

It was revealed today that Russian hackers (specifically, a group calling themselves the "Fancy Bears") hacked the computers of WADA to attempt to embarrass the United States by posting private information, including what drugs American athletes need on a therapeutic basis which WADA knows about and, with proper documentation, allow.

(This is common practice for athletes, for the record.)

Simone Biles, the dominant gymnast in the world for the United States, was cleared for two different medications by doctors and through WADA.

The Williams sisters were also exempted for several medications over the course of periods of the last several years.

All of the medications revealed in the Russian hack for both Biles and the Williams' have been cleared by WADA and the sanctioning body of the sport involved for the Olympics.

Obviously, the hack is designed to embarrass the USA and discredit WADA.

The International Olympic Committee said it "strongly condemns such methods which clearly aim at tarnishing the reputation of clean athletes."

"The IOC can confirm however that the athletes mentioned did not violate any anti-doping rules during the Olympic Games Rio 2016," the Olympic body said.

USA women's basketball gold medalist Delle Donne may have had the best reaction, though:

"I'd like to thank the hackers for making the world aware that I legally take a prescription for a condition I've been diagnosed with, which WADA granted me an exception for," Delle Donne said in a Twitter post Tuesday. "Thanks guys!"

(Source, ESPN, through the Associated Press)

Update: FIVE YEAR BAN for ref attack.

The Southern California Football Association, the sanctioning body for community-college athletics in Southern California, has banned Bernard Schirmer of Mt. San Antonio College for FIVE YEARS for his ref attack Saturday night.

Five years, according to the SCFA, is the minimum sanction for such an offense.

Given that and the other incidents involving Mt. San Antonio, in which the team picked up seven unsportsmanlike and personal foul penalties, I would have to wonder if any further sanctions are going to go against the team.

The school has ruled the incident unintentional, meaning it is almost certain an appeal showdown is probably upcoming.

Not that I expect an answer, but I have tweeted the SCFA to ask not only if there will be sanctions against the Mount San Antonio team for their collective misconduct, but also a direct question as to why the game was allowed to continue at all after the incident, which took place six minutes to go in the third quarter.

I'll let you know if I get a serious answer.

(HS Football) What the Fuck Was in the Water in SoCal Last Weekend?

And here's the THIRD major football incident in Southern California this weekend?

(Source:  Riverside Press-Enterprise)

Notre Dame High School of Riverside, CA and Santa Fe Springs (CA) St. Paul High School attempted to play a football game last Friday night, September 9, 2016.

They failed.

In the third quarter, with the visitors from Santa Fe Springs up 17-0, a massive brawl emptied both benches, causing so many ejections that not only was the game terminated, not only was the game declared a double-forfeit, but the California Interscholastic Federation has ordered both teams to serve their suspensions, suspending THE ENTIRE TEAM OF BOTH TEAMS for one game.

Meaning that both teams now have two forfeit losses on their record.

I'm still not 100% sure this is enough.  I'm not 100% sure both schools should not have their football terminated for the year, if not the expulsion of the students who actually caused this.  Both are religious private schools, and one would have to think that, even with the words of being through hard times, that both schools damn well better have serious further student sanctions against any individuals that precipitated this sorry affair.

But what the fuck has been in the water this weekend?  Ref attack in the junior colleges, ref shoved in the major colleges, double-forfeit major brawl in the high schools.

WHAT

THE

FUCK???

Boy, That Was Underwhelming In Comparison: Week One Score Report, 2016

Well, if you needed any evidence that the day yesterday was about being "NFL DAY!" -- 15 years since the NFL was made into the largest social construct in our nation -- the two snorefests tonight (the two biggest blowouts of the week by a massive margin!) should've brought that home to bear.

After a 9/11 in which 12 of the 13 games played were competitive, only one of the games tonight was even nominally competitive:  Yes, Pittsburgh was only up eight with about six minutes to go in the fourth quarter before they steamrolled Washington into the ground!!!

But both games were significant blowouts, including a Los Angeles performance which may have Roger Goodell praying he can transplant anybody (the Chargers, Raiders...  Hell, the Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders couldn't have done any worse!!!) into the Los Angeles stadium and moving the Rams somewhere north of Pluto!

For the record, at least SIX players were involved in the Colin Kaepernick protest at tonight's second MNF game in San Francisco.  Kaepernick, according to Deadspin, was joined in kneeling by teammate Eric Reid.  Giving raised fists during the Anthem (which we are not sure is Black Power as well as Black Lives Matter) were 49ers Eli Herald and Antoine Bethea, as well as Kenny Britt and Robert Quinn of the Rams.

Anyhow, let's get to it to get it done with:

• Average Week 1 total score was 44.875.  45.25 last year.  44.75 two years ago.  So pretty standard there.
• Home teams were 7-9 this week.  10-6 Week 1 last year.
• The over was 9-7 on the totals this week.  Last year's Week 1 was 8-7-1 or 8-8.
• Two games kicked off with a Pick 'Em line, so only 14 games to discuss in this regard:  Favorites were 6-8 or 5-8-1 ATS, depending on if you got -3.5 or -4 on Green Bay at Jacksonville.  Last year, favorites were 9-6-1 ATS.
• Favorites were 8-6 straight up this week.
• Team with more penalties was 8-8 this week.  Last year:  6-9-1 (both teams had same number in one game).
• Only the five Cliffhangers from yesterday.  Cincinnati, Oakland, Kansas City (OT), Seattle and Detroit.  Two last year.
• Four games were Last Chance Misses.  New Orleans was involved in both an LCM and a Cliffhanger with Oakland, while Arizona, Jacksonville, and Carolina also missed Last Chances.
• Including the last three Last Chance Misses, six other games were decided within one score, for a total of eleven.  Seven non-Cliffhangers and nine total decided within one score last year.
• Only two non-competitive games this week (San Francisco-Los Angeles and Philadelphia-Cleveland), the fewest for a full 16-game schedule I could find at least in the last three years.

Mark Emmert Does Something Right: The NCAA Takes A Stand

I still don't think the NCAA has any right to administer college sports as long as Pedophile State is around.

That said, I have to play fair.

The NCAA, today, removed all championship events for the 2016-17 school year out of the state of North Carolina for the transphobic HB2 law.

This includes a pair of "pods" for the men's basketball tournament in March of 2017.

The seven championship events are:

• Division I Women's soccer Final Four and Grand Final
• The Grand Final for both men's and women's Division III soccer.
• Two pods of March Madness out of Greensboro
• A regional of Division I women's golf
• the Division III tennis championships
• the Division I women's lacrosse Final Four and Grand Final
• and the Division II baseball national tournament.

I hope you transphobic fuckers are happy, as you're racking up a nice track record of heading your state toward apartheid levels in sports!

Fuck you.

Interesting point:  It seems that, every year or close, Duke and/or North Carolina are playing in a March Madness "pod" or regional in North Carolina.  So I decided to look...

With the advent of moving the Final Four and Grand Final to large stadiums, the last time a Final Four was put in North Carolina was Charlotte in 1994.

If HB2 is not repealed within one year, the NCAA will pull another pair of pods from North Carolina, as Charlotte is scheduled to host in March of 2018.

Between Raleigh, Winston-Salem, Charlotte, and Greensboro, the state of North Carolina has been a host of some round of the NCAA Men's Basketball tournament five of the last seven years and thirteen of the last seventeen.  (Wikipedia)  (Not hosted in 2002, 2003, 2010, and 2013.)

Aftermath, Day +22: Ryan Lochte, in trouble of a different sort...

No, he's not the problem here, but it is probably time for ABC to get him off the new season of Dancing With The Stars.

Not a show without such harassment/stalking incidents (Shawn Johnson had a rather public one a number of seasons back), but, until tonight, it never was directly on the show.

At least two people charged the stage after Lochte competed in his first dance on the show, and several others had to be physically removed from the premises for shouting protests at Lochte's post-Olympic conduct.

Now, I'm the first to admit that having Lochte on the show this season was a BAD FUCKING IDEA on so many levels!

I'm also the first to admit that, if this is any indication, Lochte cannot be on the show any longer, for his own personal safety.  He's definitely energized the Trump-kins out there, and one only has to wonder when someone might try to get something 3D, plastic, and sharp through the security at CBS Television City.  (Yes, Dancing With The Stars does tape at CBS Television City.)

EDIT TO ADD:  It's clear this is an anti-Lochte protest -- and not one ABC or the security at CBS TC shouldn't have seen coming!!!  Yeah, it's not hard to see the intention when the two guys you arrest for jumping on stage were wearing anti-Lochte T-shirts!

YOU MUST RESPEKT MURKA, NFL edition: Brandon Marshall loses endorsements...

(Deadspin)

Ah, here we go.  Should've seen this coming...

It's taken two business days and a weekend since the Thursday night opener, and Brandon Marshall ahs already had two endorsement deals terminated because he had the unmitigated gall to kneel at the National Anthem in solidarity and protest with Colin Kaepernick.

The gesture will continue, even though CenturyLink and Air Academy Federal Credit Union have severed ties with the Denver Bronco.

At least one over-intoxicated and misled Broncos fan burned a Marshall jersey outside the stadium, I see.

Wonder how the NFL will address Marshall, as well as several other players who raised fists at the end of the Anthem on Sunday.

Definitions and Their Application: The NFL Sets The Bloodfeast, and The Narrative...

I think it's time, today, to talk a little about some definitions I'm going to be using this NFL season.

For at least the last two full seasons, at the indirect “encouragement” of Brian Tuohy (more, he gave the statistic for 2013 and I was intrigued to follow it), I have done “Score Reports” on the NFL on a weekly basis.

I have placed games into four given categories.

They are:

BLOWOUT/NONCOMPETITIVE: A game that, at no point of the fourth quarter, is within 8 points of margin for either team. The game is a blowout, and, given the choice, is usually turned to another game – hence, these are the games that Herr Goodell does not want.

WITHIN ONE SCORE 4TH: A game that, at some point in the fourth quarter comes within 8 points of margin (one score, a tie does count), but does not end with that condition. For example: Team B gets within 24-21 with 4 minutes to go, but a late pick-six gives Team A a 31-21 win.

ONE SCORE NO CLIFFHANGER: The game's final margin is within eight points, but the Cliffhanger Rule (my understanding of Brian's interpretation) does not apply.

CLIFFHANGER: The Cliffhanger Rule (to my understanding) is as follows:

A Cliffhanger is any football game in which the game-tying or -winning score (any score, and a regular-season tied game after the overtime is a Cliffhanger) comes at or after the 2-minute mark of the 4^th quarter. This DOES NOT necessarily mean the two-minute warning has been invoked. If the winning score comes at 1:56 and the warning comes after the extra point or field goal, it is a Cliffhanger.

A game can have multiple Cliffhangers. I think I've seen a game with as many as four or five, especially with the overtime rules regarding the first team scoring a field goal!

You CAN, in rare instances, have a Cliffhanger that actually becomes “Within One Score 4th” – it would just require a second score in the final 2 minutes for the winning team. It actually happened once last year.

But there's a problem with that methodology, and I've realized it. You can have the fans on the edge of their seat and not have it qualify under the Cliffhanger Rule. Take Sunday night's New England-Arizona game, for example. The fans were on the edge of their seats before the snap was muffled and the kick sent wide with about 30 seconds to go. It's not a Cliffhanger – New England's winning field goal came with about 4 minutes to go, but it's something the NFL wants.

So I'm going to TRY to add another layer to it this year: The Last Chance Miss.

LAST CHANCE MISS: A Last Chance Miss is a game in which the team behind has a chance at a Cliffhanger in the Cliffhanger period, the final 2:00. However, the team must, at least, get some degree of close enough to invoke a Cliffhanger chance (the Last Chance) to miss. For example, Atlanta's loss to Tampa Bay would NOT be a Last Chance Miss: Atlanta's final attempt to tie the game didn't get past their 30 yard line, so no real Chance was Missed.

You can have a Cliffhanger AND a Last Chance Miss. In fact, we have had one of those games in Week 1: Oakland's win over New Orleans. TD + 2 for Oakland at :47. New Orleans gets the ball back (a ridiculous 15-yard penalty on Oakland for the conversion celebration actually put the ball behind the new touchback line for New Orleans on the kickoff return), and the final play was a 61 yard field goal which went wide.

I've went over the last two years.

The fewest number of non-competitive games in any week the last two seasons has been two. (Week 9 last year, 13 game schedule) We have had weeks with as many as NINE. I believe the lowest number for the last two years of a full 16-game schedule has been four.

We're breaking that last number, at the very least, this week.

In what has to be one of the greatest declarations that the NFL wants the on-field action to be the narrative, the NFL turned the dirty-hit-fest from Thursday night around and told the teams to knock it off.

Instead, the NFL did something else.

On what my anonymous friend believes the NFL would call “NFL Day!”, 15 years of the NFL being the dominant social narrative in this nation, the NFL had 13 games, plus the Thursday-nighter, so far this week, as your regular programming has been interrupted for football...

ONE, Philadelphia's 29-10 win over the hapless Browns, was non-competitive.

ONE.

We still have the Monday night doubleheader, but this means that the NFL will at least have to go back to 2013 to find a week with fewer blowouts in a full schedule. I sense they may be looking quite a ways.

The NFL has had FIVE Cliffhangers so far, and four Last Chance Misses. (Week 13 last year, I believe Thanksgiving Week, had SEVEN Cliffhangers. So did Week 4. Weeks 5 and 8 had six. Week 8 of 2014 also had six, the only week that season with five or more.)

Of the 14 games contested, 11 have ended within one score. Eight have ended either in Cliffhangers or attempted Cliffhangers.

Keep this in mind, America, as you swear your fealties to this garbage: DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE THIS IS NOT ROGER GOODELL YELLING TO YOU...

There Is No Law, 9/11 Edition, Part Two/Abandon All Hope Part Five: They Didn't Die For What Was Said They Died For

As I type this, most of the nation begins the 15th anniversary of the day we lost this nation.

On that day, a Tuesday, a shadow portion of our government, under the guidance of the Project For a New American Century (PNAC), attempted a coup on our nation.

By their incompetence, they failed.  My belief is that the fourth plane, destined for Congress, was too late, such that the passengers, knowing they were dead, downed the plane, as the story indicates.

I do not believe in switched planes, radar changes, etc. and so forth.  And even if the Twin Towers were blown up with explosives on top of the crash, the damage that did was still far less than what PNAC and their ilk desired.

They failed.

So they went ahead with a propaganda motif, which bled over into sports (The Tuck Rule, The Seven-Second Field Goal, the relationship the league has had with Tom Brady and Bob Kraft the 13 years before some people finally demanded something be done about it, etc.), and began to chip away to the point they wanted to go to.

They still aren't there, but they are very, very close.

Why?  Look at the sports fields the last 2-3 weeks, and what's about to go down on the NFL end on Sunday, and you'll see a good example.

One of the greatest indicators of a fascist state is that the state demands absolute loyalty and absolute subserviance to their symbolism and propaganda at all times.

Nowhere in sports is this more indicative than Yankee Stadium, where, for the seventh-inning stretch, the ushers actually chain the aisles closed for the version of "God Bless America", forcing the crowd to hear it, even if they need to go the bathroom or such.  This was apparently due to complaints by other fans, and instituted right after 9/11 for both the stretch and the National Anthem.

The symbolism of the empowerment of New York in the last fifteen years trumps (no pun intended) all common sense.

We're probably going to see the same thing in the NFL very soon now with the National Anthem.

Colin Kaepernick has started the alt-right/Tea Party/bigoted-homophobic NFL and sports situation to basically require loyalty tests to our nation and our way of life -- more, our symbols and our propaganda!!! -- to be able to play the games and succeed.

Kaepernick, as well known, knelt at the sideline during each of the four pre-season games to protest America's treatment of African-American citizens, especially treatment by the police.

As I said in a previous post on the matter, he's done in this league.  Anyone who's known the NFL's relationship with the government and the military (which your local police are, more and more, becoming part and parcel to!) knows he's done, if not conveniently disappeared.

But the discussion surrounding the action  has gone beyond Kaepernick, and beyond the NFL.

• US Women's National Team member Megan Rapinoe famously knelt in support of Kaepernick in a September 4, 2016 women's professional match to add the discussion of the mistreatment of LGBT's (Rapinoe came out as lesbian in 2012 and works with many anti-homophobia and -transphobia charities.) to the equation.
• Three days later, her Seattle team went to play Washington in another match.  To prevent Rapinoe from continuing her protests, the Washington ownership played the anthem with the teams in the locker room instead!!
• A number of other NFL players have joined Kaepernick, including a couple of teammates in the final pre-season game and Brandon Marshall did so in Thursday night's opener, in opposition to Herr Goodell, who has come out in support of the Anthem and how it represents the troops.
• A suburb of Seattle, Washington cancelled their annual pre-season public Seahawks party, fearing for what the 'Hawks would do on Sunday in support of Kaepernick.
• The Seahawks have decided to link arms in a show of unity.

To say this September 11th is going to be the most divisive of the 15 we've had since the coup attempt is beyond any degree of dispute.

Given what September 11th means to the NFL (the ascension of the league from simply National Obsession to that of National Religion, where one must swear fealty to the brain injuries, the domestic abuse (by both players and fans!) and to literally stop one's life on a dime when anyone wants to talk football -- real or fantasy!!!), one can only wonder how King Roger I will react when the rhetoric of the weekend is actually taken from the opening games to the very real political disputes which actually *GASP!!!* threaten to bring real life into the discussion!!!!

We'll be watching!!!

There Is No Law, 9/11 Edition, Part One: If You Think Your Vote Counts In The Upcoming Election...

(And if you think the Russians are in on this, Putin needs do NOTHING, as I'll explain to you here...)

(DISCLAIMER:  This is an endorsement of NEITHER CANDIDATE.  They're both shit.)

I've been ruminating on this post for 8-12 weeks.

I decided to post it now as a function of where this country is heading (and something I will be posting next vis-a-vis the protests started by Colin Capernick and what is probably going to happen very soon in our country, no matter who wins the farce I'm talking about here).

This is not going to be a sports post, but it may end up the ultimate manifestation of what we've allowed in our sports culture bleeding back into our political, economic, and social culture.

It has to do with the 2016 Presidential election, and the understanding that the next President of the United States has already been determined as Hillary Clinton, and Donald Trump will neither be permitted nor be allowed to become same, in 2016 or beyond.

The first part of this claim goes back to numerous riggings of the Democratic primary with Bernie Sanders. It almost seemed to Sanders supporters that the very thought of Queen Clinton actually having the audacity to be primaried by any degree of a credible opponent was an insult bordering on insult to the state!

There were chicaneries with the state conventions, the police had to be called to Nevada's to silence the Bernie protestors. Lawsuits all over the country indicated that the Democratic party was operating to ensure the election of Hillary Rodham Clinton as our next Queen President.

It was clear the Bernie Sanders had the popularity (far more popularity than either of these two jack-offs!) and the platform to move this country forward.

It is also clear this country, and especially it's power elite, has no desire to move forward.

And nothing gives that last statement more credibility than the (supposed) Republican candidate for President: Donald Trump.

A long-time friend of the Clintons, especially Bill, many right-wing outlets felt during the primary that Donald Trump would hand-deliver the White House to the Clintons.

This may well have been true at one time. However, his bombastic nature and what he has said (and who it has drawn in support) has changed that. Donald Trump has incited violence among his followers, and should be arrested for same – and he may very well be once he loses the election! Hence, Donald Trump has officially gone too far to turn back now. He either is President or better plan an exit strategy before he is arrested or an act happens to him that even mentioning it on this blog in that context probably gets Secret Service attention.

Donald Trump is the perfect representative of the rank-and-file Tea Partier in this country: A bigoted, misogynistic, anti-poor, racist claptrap who has been begging this country for a long time to send the army to the nearest homeless encampment/gay bar/abortion clinic/inner city/border checkpoint and demand they open fire.

This is why the Tea Party is only parenthetically still part of the Republican Party, because the Tea Party is sick and tired of the Republicans just talking about it. They want people to DO IT.

Enter Donald Trump. A homophobic attention whore from his days on The (Celebrity) Apprentice who has spoken several times of wanting to enter the race for President, only to commit coitus interruptus on the nation (and it's right wing, especially) by pulling out at the last second.

It was largely believed that Donald Trump, as I said before, was there just to hand-deliver to the Clintons.

There's another problem behind this, and that is that Donald Trump is a master manipulator. In such, he can create a situation that can take the strongest person and, should it suit Trump, bury and denigrate that person so much that it sucks all the positive out of that person involving themselves with him. I've seen it in his entertainment exploits (Omarosa, the season Arsenio Hall won, etc.).

What this election, therefore, is: A battle between a mainstream Beltway Republican (Clinton) vs. a Tea Partier (Trump, more representative of the party's bigoted rank-and-file).

The Beltway, though, understands Trump:

• Would openly start a regional war with Mexico to force them to pay for a border wall to keep illegals out. (A war many Tea Partiers have wanted for decades!)
• Openly supports the leadership style of Vladimir Putin, and would probably attempt to work in partnership with him. (A prospect which scares both sides of the aisle!!)
• Would almost certainly start an internal revolt by simply opening his mouth (with just about anybody)
• (And most importantly...) The gravy train would stop.

It is for these reasons, and numerous more, that Hillary Clinton will win the election.

She will NOT win it fairly. It was famously said by Jimmy Carter (who became an international elections inspector after his term as President of the United States) that he could not certify, under the conditions requested by the UN and other such parties, American elections.

But here's the scariest thing: I firmly believe there are enough angry white MRA rich men who are willing to shoot their way into power who believe Donald Trump represents the last legal chance they have to seize power in this country.

I believe Donald Trump would win the Electoral College in a fairly cast and counted vote. It is clear he will not be permitted to do so.

AND WHEN IS THE FUCKING REFEREE ABUSE GOING TO STOP?

So we've had two incidents today involving California college players.

Already mentioned the one from the USC-Utah State game.

But Deadspin has come up with a big one from my general neck of the woods.

Mount San Antonio (Junior) College faced Ventura in a game tonight.

Ostensibly, Ventura won 34-29.

The big news of the game was two-fold.

The game featured TWENTY-NINE penalties for 290 yards, 19 of them for 205 for Mt. San Antonio.

Mt San Antonio committed SEVEN personal fouls or unsportsmanlike conduct penalties.

One of which has gotten a player ARRESTED -- for PUNCHING THE REFEREE.

Mt. SAC lineman Bernard Schirmer has been arrested after allegedly punching/KO'ing a ref during tonight's football game vs. Ventura College.

— Aram Tolegian (@aramtolegian) September 11, 2016

From the boxscore, I can basically try to construct the play:

About 6 minutes to go, third quarter, 28-23 Ventura.

For some non-particular reason, Schirmer knocks out the referee.  The ref is trying to restrain two OTHER Mt. San Antonio players.

WHY WAS THE GAME NOT IMMEDIATELY FORFEITED TO VENTURA?

Are we so "The Show Must Go On, AT ALL COST!" that you can't just call the game off when it's clear the ref just got cold-cocked???

Updates, Football and Otherwise...

• Jaylen Ivey was suspended for two games for his outburst.  Ivey kicked a downed player and appeared to challenge the crowd in a televised incident in a Missouri high-school football game.
• The Rio Paralympics actually launched without a hitch, and a major movement to sell tickets to the event after the main Olympics ended has apparently met huge success!! (Inside the Games)
• The Medal Count Nobody Cares About Race:  The Paralympics medal table, through three full days competition, is led by China, and by a significant margin (26 gold, 69 total -- they won 231 in London to top the table by a massive margin).  Second is Great Britain in golds (15 gold, 35 total) and Ukraine in total (10 gold, 37 total), the two flip-flopping for third.  The United States Paralympic team is is fourth in both totals, with eight gold and 26 total medals.  The hosts, Brazil, are next with 5 gold and 19 total.
• 42 countries have won Paralympic gold medals so far, 64 total nations have won medals.
• One of the reasons for so many more medals is the Paralympics, being for handi-capable athletes (I'm NOT calling them "disabled", for God's sake!!!), has to have different variations of the same event for differently handi-capable athletes (be they in wheelchairs, be they amputees, etc. and so forth and so on).
• Interesting nations on the table:  Cape Verde has one bronze medal.  Yes, I had to look this up:  Cape Verde is a small set of islands west of the African mainland.  This is their first medal in the Olympic movement.  
• Kuwait's Paralympic Committee has NOT been suspended.  They, like their Olympic counterpart, have a gold medal in these Games.
• The country of Georgia also has their first Paralympic medal, and it is a gold medal.
• You can catch Paralympic action on the streaming-video site DailyMotion.
• The head of the IOC continues to show why he doesn't care to be the head of the IOC.  Thomas Bach has decided to skip the Paralympics and go to Zagreb instead to celebrate three years as head of the IOC.  (Inside the Games)
• The charges against the Olympic Council of Ireland's President, Thomas Hickey, for illegal sale of tickets, have apparently been filed and accepted.  Hickey is now under house arrest in Brazil after being released from one of Brazil's more hardcore jails. (Inside the Games)
• The coach of the South Korean swimming team was forced to resign over the "Peeping Tom" scandal involving at least one, if not two, Olympic swimmers.

Two final additions to the NFL suspension list, leaving the final number of suspended players for at least Game 1 at 41, with all but six being for drugs.

• Carolina Panthers:  Chris Scott, 4 games.  PED's.  Forfeiture is $185,882.
• Buffalo Bills:  Seantrel Henderson, 4 games.  Forfeiture is $144,169.

Another Saturday afternoon on the gridirons...

It's about 2:15 PM Pacific, and we've already got trouble:

• A USC lineman is ejected for physical abuse of the official against Utah State, ONE MINUTE INTO THE GAME.
• This gem from Jim Ross, showing that the referees don't even know what the Hell they are doing, probably having rigged or at least set up one of the biggest upsets of the week:

Uh Oh.....not good....unacceptable...get used to it fans..officiating will only get worse in the future https://t.co/RaOSj6FtkO

— Jim Ross (@JRsBBQ) September 10, 2016

Click the Twitter link in JR's report.

• Florida State did play Charleston Southern, and won 52-8.
• ESPN aired an attempt at the Art Briles Rehabilitation Tour.  They also aired people laughing at it and discarding it completely. (Deadspin)

There was no "audio issue".  They wanted to tell you what they really thought of a lot of what has been allowed to go on down at Baylor.

Abandon All Hope, Part Four: NFC Predictions.

(Written during the week, some tinkering after Thursday night's opener.)

NFC EAST

Divisionals: NFC North, AFC North

No gifts here for a division that is, to be polite, a mess.

WASHINGTON (9-7 Pythagorean +0.78)

They better make hay early, because it gets real tough there in the middle. If they aren't 5-1 through 6 or thereabouts, any hope of a good season goes out the door quickly in the middle 6-7 games. 8-8, and they might need 4-2 just to get there.

PHILADELPHIA EAGLES (7-9 Pythagorean +0.24)

May have made the biggest move in determining possible Super Bowl implications, but in the trade they made to MOVE a quarterback rather than get one. 5-11 in a rebuilding year.

DALLAS COWBOYS (4-12 Pythagorean -1.20)

The Cowboys are the ultimate case of that they should be getting pushed because of a huge-name quarterback. Sadly, the team is in such disarray right now and Romo is injured (and possibly DONE!) on top of it! 5-11.

NEW YORK GIANTS (6-10 Pythagorean -1.51)

Another one of those divisions that effectively goes to you by default. And not much more need be said about a team that always seems to be about one week from getting the coach fired. 8-8.

There's always got to be one division in the Goodell NFL that's “First to Eight Wins It”. Here you go.

NFC NORTH

Divisionals: NFC East, AFC South

For two teams that might put up some gaudy record numbers, about as good as you can get.

GREEN BAY PACKERS (10-6 Pythagorean +0.77)

I'm really of two minds. First, I think the NFL has begun a permanent de-push on the Packers for a more corporate-friendly situation in the next phase of post-9/11 NFL. Not only that, but two PED suspensions and nearly a third can't wear well with the league.

That said, they do have Aaron Rodgers, and, frankly, a very favorable schedule. That could lead a couple of very interesting directions. They get Seattle in the regular season, and I'd be surprised if they don't meet again in the playoffs. Exactly where depends on whether Sam Bradford can complement God-Fearing Child Beater into status as the NFL's Poster Child.

They are favored in every game they play, but they open Minnesota's new stadium in Week 2. Schedule says 13-14 wins. I'll mark it back to 11-5 because...

MINNESOTA VIKINGS (11-5 Pythagorean +1.23)

… I think the league really really wants to push God-Fearing Child Beater. The Pythagorean and a division title last year began it, and I think they're getting another one this year.

In a league that's pro-violence against women and children and anti-gay, Adrian Peterson is poised to be The Man in the NFL.

I would not have done this at all if they didn't at least get a serviceable name to replace Teddy Bridgewater. Sam Bradford is a name, but he doesn't have to be The Name, because of who's behind him. I'm going to pick 13-3, but if I'm wrong about the league pushing Peterson, 8-8 could be more likely. This is going to be one of the most obvious rig jobs if the Vikings are pushed to Super Bowl LI.

DETROIT LIONS (7-9 Pythagorean +0.05)

And now the two teams who probably are more likely than most to have to post apologies to their fans for having to broadcast their games.

If there's one guy the dirty hits and fucked rigged rulings on the field have more directly driven out of the league than Calvin Johnson's retirement, I'd like to find it. 5-11.

CHICAGO BEARS (6-10 Pythagorean -0.41)

Less said about these guys, the better. 4-12

NFC SOUTH

Divisionals: AFC West, NFC West

Hoo boy.

CAROLINA PANTHERS (15-1 Pythagorean +2.85)

I had written something different before last night. It is now clear that Cam Newton will have to sit, as at least three or four clear headbutt/charging incidents have concussed Newton. Carolina is NOT on the list, and I think goes 8-8 as a result.

NEW ORLEANS SAINTS (7-9 Pythagorean +0.45)

Perfect example of a name QB and no one else. That used to help. It doesn't anymore. Count on a couple possible bizarre wins at home, but anything better than 7-9 will require somehow finding a D in “New Orleans Saints” to make it worth pushing Drew Brees.

TAMPA BAY BUCCANEERS (6-10 Pythagorean -0.15)

Jameis Winston, nuff said. Not quite his time yet. He's going to have to wait a couple more years for his turn. When it comes, though, rape apologists are gonna love the NFL. 7-9, and that's Winston only. Schedule is more 3-13, 4-12 level.

ATLANTA FALCONS (8-8 Pythagorean +0.17)

Probably in a bit of a holding pattern/mini-push for the new Space Station. 10-6 and the division by default.

NFC WEST

Divisionals: NFC South, AFC East

Let's start with the easy one:

SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS (5-11 Pythagorean +1.15)

If there were a team I could predict, season beginning, to go 0-16, here you go. A franchise that, because of discipline problems among the players and complete incompetence in the front office, should be investigated by the league.

Saddest thing is they are going to be the only team in the Bay Area in 12 months. A lot of people are going to drop football in the Bay Area as a result.

LOS ANGELES RAMS (7-9 Pythagorean +0.54)

Two years from now, expect a BIG rig-push for this team. They might even get a rig or two this year to help out because the league has wanted teams in Los Angeles for so damn long, it's not funny! This year (and probably next) in the Coliseum are about setting the table. 8-8, and that's with help.

ARIZONA CARDINALS (13-3 Pythagorean +1.12)

Definite overachievers last year. Hence, dial it one back to 12-4.

SEATTLE SEAHAWKS

I had heard a lot of scuttle on Seattle in the off-season, and could not figure out why!! Then I saw the propensity of dirty hits in the college games of the first weekend, and got it full-square. The real question (and one of the reasons any of five NFC teams could win the Super Bowl this year) is just who's going to get the push.

If it's about blasting people's heads off and smack-talking them so they jack you up in the post-game handshakes (“I'm gonna punch you in the face.”), it will be Seattle again, all the way. (And it's starting out that way – will it still be that way in December and January??) If not, things could go very differently. Another one of those teams, depending on who is pushed, could go 13-3/14-2 or 8-8. It will be a defensive-heavy presentation if Seattle is to return to it's third Super Bowl in Druggie Carroll's run. Prediction is 13-3.

Seattle will edge Minnesota for home field.

Atlanta 3, Giants 4, Green Bay 5, Arizona 6.

Green Bay beats the Giants. Atlanta beats Arizona.

And now it comes down to who gets the push.

Green Bay-Seattle comes down to what they want. I'm going to pick the Pack here, because I'm going to pick Minnesota to upend Atlanta.

Much like the last Green Bay Super Bowl victory, the NFL gets to push a marquee first-grade NFL rivalry...

… but this time, God-Fearing Child Beater and the MINNESOTA VIKINGS go to Houston.

Abandon All Hope: Part Three: AFC Predictions

(I wrote these predictions during the week.  There was some tinkering after the game and the controversies Thursday night.)

If you are one of those who have sworn off football and do not care for in-game analysis, ignore all the preview posts.

I guess it's time for me to put my “It's all rigged!” spin on the 2016-17 NFL season and who I think is going to be rigged/scripted for the Super Bowl.

I cannot guarantee that we will get to 256-256, but will do my best to get as close as I can.

AFC EAST:

Divisional matchups: AFC North, NFC West

No real gifts either way here. You have to deal with Seattle and Arizona, Pittsburgh and Cincinnati, and the outside chance you may drop one or two to LA because they want to push the Rams a little bit.

Anyway, here we go:

NEW ENGLAND: (12-4 Pythagorean +0.55)

One immediate caveat: If Tom Brady is physically able to complete the season and declares he will retire at the end of it, New England becomes the favorite to win it all.

That said: I would not be shocked at all, if that does not happen, if New England doesn't make it to the Super Bowl at all. The suspension is at Arizona and home to Miami, Houston, and Buffalo. 1-3 is not out of the question here.

It's easy to see them pushing Brady upon his return, but I have trouble seeing more than 10-6 here.

NEW YORK JETS: (10-6 Pythagorean +0.06)

That shows the 10-6 was no fluke.

Tough first part of the year, and that's when they may need to make hay while Tom Brady sits. The expert predictor at ESPN says 2-4 through 6 (CIN, @BUF, @KC, SEA, @PIT, @ARI).

Depending on whether the league is going to re-push The Boom to the Super Bowl, 0-6 might be more likely. I think a lot depends on Week 1, as it may be only larger for a team like Carolina than it is for the Jets. If New England is going to be beaten out, however, the Jets have to find a way to Halloween. Prediction: They don't. 8-8.

MIAMI DOLPHINS (6-10 Pythagorean +0.10)

If New England goes 1-3 for the suspension, the win is probably here.

That should tell you it's going to be another long season in Miami. Miami is basically snakebit by the mantra that ESPN and the other fools ram down your throat about “It's all about the QB!” and they don't have a name QB for the franchise they threw at Tannehill.

I've got trouble finding better than 5-11 here.

BUFFALO BILLS (8-8 Pythagorean -0.51)

Probably poised for the bump that the Brady suspension gives, except they're going to need more than that with the Darius suspension and two big draft-pick injuries. 7-9, and they need help to get there.

So New England wins the division, basically by default.

AFC NORTH:

Divisionals: AFC East, NFC East

Big favor with the washout NFC East here for the North, and the AFC East is going to be a mid-level morass with Brady suspended.

CINCINNATI BENGALS (12-4 Pythagorean +0.42)

Somebody's got to represent the AFC in the Super Bowl, and there aren't really that many candidates not named New England. This is one of them, but is there enough sizzle to go with the steak that the NFL will put Cincinnati in the Big Game? Prediction: 12-4.

PITTSBURGH STEELERS (10-6 Pythagorean -0.57)

Took the expected backward step after a 2014 Pythagorean of +1.41. LeVeon Bell suspension and surviving @WSH, CIN, @PHI might well determine the season here. Much like New England, the suspension of a big player will be the question mark. 10-6

BALTIMORE RAVENS (5-11 Pythagorean -1.13)

Not quite the number that might portend a big move up, but still the impetus to get it done. This will definitely be a team that will get a lot of wins early, but by playing almost nobody. 10-6 as a result.

CLEVELAND BROWNS (3-13 Pythagorean -1.16)

Not much further down to go here, and one really does have to wonder if NFL football is ever going to work in Cleveland. And, given present circumstances, they may be one of a number of similar cities that are trapped to be statistic-fodder for the pushed teams. In a rigged game, the Ohio State Buckeyes would beat them.

4-12 will be asking something here.

Would not be shocked to see the #1 seed and three playoff teams from this division.

AFC SOUTH

Divisionals: NFC North, AFC West

Kind of middle of the road. You have some definite loser-games in both divisions, but some teams that pretty much will roll over too.

INDIANAPOLIS COLTS (8-8 Pythagorean +1.89)

Pythagorean indicates another big drop, and, with a team with only a name quarterback and effectively no one else, I'll go 7-9.

HOUSTON TEXANS (9-7 Pythagorean +0.25)

Could be a sleeper team here. JJ Watt is already the MVP, but still really needs to get to the next level of glitz (that pantheon of about 4-6 players who the league is going to push like gangbusters). He gets there, and the question of the Super Bowl Host City Jinx might come down to whether they simply need someone to do the job to the NFC (someone like a Cincinnati), Tom Brady either retires or is THAT back in the good graces (New England), or maybe it IS time to push someone new in the AFC. 11-5 and the division.

TENNESSEE TITANS (3-13 Pythagorean -1.88)

See Indianapolis, in reverse. Tennessee has won five games the last two years combined. The bad news: They are a heavy run team in a league based on scoring and quarterbacks. The good news: They play Jacksonville twice, Chicago and Detroit, San Diego, and Cincinnati. 5-11.

JACKSONVILLE JAGUARS (5-11 Pythagorean -1.36)

Ditto. Still not nearly enough to think about contention. 6-10.

AFC WEST

Divisionals: AFC South, NFC South

DENVER BRONCOS (12-4 Pythagorean +2.30)

If Game One is any indication, they're going to take people's heads off in Denver this year. That's 12-4 material in the Roger Goodell NFL.

OAKLAND RAIDERS (7-9 Pythagorean effectively even)

Is this the year that the NFL finally recognizes the grudge with Al Davis needs to be in the grave too? Especially if the team is being marketed for Las Vegas (and signs all over Vegas and a trademark filing indicate so), this might be the year they push the Raiders a bit, not only in the standings but several hundred miles to the east. 9-7.

KANSAS CITY CHIEFS (11-5 Pythagorean -0.09)

A team that Arrowhead will hand a couple wins too, but no reason for the league to hand them any will leave them somewhere in the area of 7-9. You'd think the record and a backed-up 11-5 would indicate more, but the league has work to do elsewhere in the AFC.

SAN DIEGO CHARGERS (4-12 Pythagorean -1.97)

5-11, and that's to push them to LA. It's one thing to have the only name in the division at quarterback now. It's another to make him even relevant in a lame-duck city with a lame-duck fanbase who might, at the end of the day, be more interested in tearing down their stadium than their opponents.

So I think the NFL will do this:

Baltimore at New England to replay the Loudest Manure Chant game, except that chant was in Baltimore. Give me the Patriots here.

Pittsburgh at Denver. Denver wins.

New England at Houston comes down to how pissed off the league still is at Tom Brady. I'll say Houston wins it and upsets Cincinnati.

My predicted AFC Champions are JJ Watt and the HOUSTON TEXANS.