Week 12 2016 Score Report

Full week last week, the last two byes this week.

• 42.0625 PPG in a defense-heavy week this week.  Average for the 12 weeks:  45.033 PPG
• Home teams were 9-7 this week, making 100 wins for the home teams this year -- 100-71-1.
• Over and spread were both 8-8 this week.  Only three straight-up upsets, though.
• For the year:  Over:  Six games over .500 (slight Vegas edge).  Against the Spread:  .500 exactly.  Straight Up:  105-61-1.
• Team with more penalties was actually 6-4 this week.  63-85 for the year.
• Four Cliffhangers, Five Last Chance Misses, 4 Non-Competitive Games.
• 37 Cliffhangers and only 42 Non-Competitive Games out of the 177 played.

Current Playoff Booking:

• Road to the NFC title appears to go through Dallas (10-1).  2 1/2 games up with five to play on Seattle (7-3-1, #2)
• Detroit and Atlanta both are 7-4 and would have to play and host Wild Card Weekend.  Detroit is now #3 by virtue of conference game record (5-2 vs. 5-3)
• Giants are the #5 at 8-3 (second best record in the conference, but #5 because the best is in their division), Washington #6 at 6-4-1, over both Minnesota and Tampa at 6-5.
• Washington at Detroit, Giants at Atlanta

AFC:

• The tiebreaker at #1 has flipped.  New England now has it over Oakland (both 9-2) because of conference record.  (7-1 vs. 6-1)
• Baltimore, Pittsburgh, and Houston are all 6-5 and leading their division.
• First breaker to take care of is Baltimore and Pittsburgh:  (BAL 21 - PIT 14 Week 9, second game in Week 16)
• So now take care of Baltimore and Houston:  Baltimore #3 on conference record.  (6-2)  Houston #4 (4-4).
• Kansas City #5 at 8-3.  (Making both #5s ahead of SIX divisional leaders, five divisions and the tie for one of them.)
• Miami and Denver at 7-4:  Miami #6 and Denver OUT by conference games.  (5-3 vs. 4-3)
• Kansas City at Houston.  Miami at Baltimore.

And then there's this dirty-hit artist from Notre Dame...

This joker probably has either played his last game at Notre Dame or is probably being promoted to starter for next season.

Jerry Tillery's last game as a sophomore (Notre Dame went 4-8, there may be a coaching change) was punctuated by two ejection-level fouls.

This first one was for kicking the head of USC's Aca'Cedric Ware after Ware was targetted (with ejection!) by another Notre Dame player.

And then this about 1:45 later!

It's moments like this I begin to question why the police don't get involved sometimes.  He DEFINITELY tried to main the second player.  He was only flagged for the second foul, but NOT ejected.

I'm getting genuinely worried about this Penn State shit now!

They made the Big 10 title game yesterday with Ohio State's win over Michigan and their win over Michigan State.

Jim Harbaugh is FURIOUS at the officiating, and ESPN's Mike Greenberg had SEVERAL Tweets yesterday questioning the officiating.

That was a rigged game, ladies and gentlemen.  No way around it.  I haven't gotten into the meat and potatoes of it, but we are now three wins from the last bastige of decency leaving the sports playing field forever.

It is clear that The Powers That Be want Penn State involved in the CFP this year, and, with Alabama being perceived unbeatable, it gets real interesting.  I could easily see the angle here, and it's looking bad.

Last odds on VegasInsider.com had Penn State at 50-1 at sportsbook.ag.  As of November 1, Penn State was 300-1 at the Westgate.

If I had enough money to be meaningful right now...

If you don't think the NFL is rigged, explain the 2016 Detroit Lions to me...

This isn't normal, people.  It isn't.

The Detroit Lions are, as of Thursday's win over the Vikings, probably going to win the NFC North.

They have done so with each and every one of their 11 games being within or at 7 points (the old-school "within one score) as of that win.  Never happened before in the NFL.

Also:  Thursday's Double Cliffhanger (tying FG within 2 minutes, winning FG at the gun after a pick) was their SEVENTH Cliffhanger of the year.

Yeah, that happens in random chance...

And, this too:  When Pittsburgh beat Indianapolis in a non-competitive game Thursday night, it marked only the second game since the late Sunday games of the week before last (22 games in all!) that was non-competitive, with no margin 8 points or within at the 4th quarter.

Keep believing, Football Nation America.

Fine Friday Week 11: You're Supposed To Eat The Bird, Not Give It

• Cincinnati Bengals:  Vontaze Burfict now a TWO TIME LOSER this season, on top of the three-game suspension...
• And Seattle Seahawks:  Doug Baldwin:  $12,154 for flipping the bird.  Burfict into the stands, Baldwin at his offensive coordinator.
• With that, and largely due to Burfict, Cincinnati has a larger check to throw the league:  $50,000 for their accumulated fines.
• Washington Redskins:  Su'a Cravens:  $9,115 for a facemask.
• New York Giants:  Olivier Vernon:  $18,231 for roughing the passer.
• Houston Texans:  Johnathan Joseph:  $24,309 for unnecessary roughness.
• Minnesota Vikings:  Tom Johnson:  $18,231 for unnecessary roughness.
• Buffalo Bills:  Jerry Hughes:  $9,115 for an attempted headbutt.
• San Francisco 49ers:  Rod Streater:  $9,115 for a low block.
• And we finally have it (Actually, we had it last week, but didn't see it until this week.)  Every team in the NFL has now been fined:
• New Orleans Saints:  Over the last two weeks, Kenny Vaccaro is now a TWO TIME LOSER:  $9,115 for roughing the kicker this, $9,115 for unnecessary roughness last week.
• New Orleans Saints:  Also, Vonn Bell:  $9,115 for unnecessary roughness.

Another Year, Another Reason The NCAA Needs To Give Up

Another BCS Championship participation nullified, as the NCAA has finally nullified Notre Dame's two big seasons, where (almost on cue with the announcer who was suspended after saying Notre Dame needed thugs or the like to get back relevant), the team went 21-5, including 12-0 until the narrative went out from under them and Alabama ate them alive in the title game Which No Longer Exists.

And now, word coming that Missouri may be about to join them.  Academic Fraud.

Yet, nothing on Penn State and less on Baylor.  Yeah...

Another week, another NFL PED suspension...

In fact, two of them:

• The Dallas Cowboys are really racking up a big check to send to the NFL:  Rolando McClain gets strike three and a year.
• Chicago Bears get their second in two weeks:  Jerrell Freeman, 4 games for PEDs.

If you're on the "Rigged for Seattle" train, this might be your best avenue.

EDIT TO ADD 11/24 12:10 PM PST:

•  Pittsburgh Steelers:  Karlos Williams:  10 games for his second failure of the season.

Williams becomes the THIRD NFL player to get at least two drug suspensions in this season.

(Illinois HS) Right Idea, But, Unfortunately, No...

Story been getting a bit of play this week from the Illinois high-school playoffs.

Plainfield North, a judge ruled today, WILL be playing in the next round, having won their game 18-17 over Fenwick High.

The problem was the last timed play of regulation, Fenwick with 4th down and four seconds left on it's own 15, up 10-7.  Fenwick's quarterback decides not to even chance a return (or dinking around with a safety), taking the ball and heaving it as far as he can, no regard for any receivers in the time zone.

OK, intentional grounding.

The problem (not unlike a college game this year) is that Plainfield was awarded an untimed down -- incorrectly.  (Fenwick was on offense, so the game ends on that play.)  Plainfield kicked a field goal on the untimed down, and went for two as they traded touchdowns in the abbreviated-field overtime, winning 18-17.

Everybody but the officials on the field said this was wrong, but no recourse.

Regretfully, this is the correct ruling by the judge, and you can thank the legalized-match-fixing ruling (Mayer v. Belichick, New England Patriots, and National Football League), even if the judge didn't cite it.

Even in the worst possible case here -- a fixed match with an intentional bad call -- there's no recourse because of Mayer.

Now, there might be ONE possible interpretation of the rules (the "making a game into a farce" rule) that might allow for what happened here, but no one believes that to be the case.

Still, Plainfield wins, I guess.

Week 11 2016 Score Update

All but Cleveland and Tennessee have had their byes now.

• Low-scoring week:  41.93 points per game and the over was 3-11.
• For the ten weeks, 45.33 PPG, and the over is now only 83-77.
• Home teams were 8-5, 91-64-1 for the year.
• Favorites had a very good week -- 9-4 against the spread, 11-2 straight up.
• For the year:  .500 against the spread (72-72-7), 92-58-1 straight up.
• Team with more penalties was 4-7 this week, 57-81 for the year.
• One Cliffhanger and three Last Chance Misses, making 33 Cliffhangers and 50 Last Chance Misses for the year.
• The big number of the week:  Non-competitive games.  ONE.  Seattle only won by 11, but Philly couldn't get it 8 or within in the fourth quarter, and that was the only game for that applied.   9 games ended within one score.
• For the year:  92/161 within one score, 123/161 competitive in fourth quarter.
• When Brian Tuohy first noted these statistics 2-3 years ago, it was 48% finishing within one score and 68% competitive.
•  Now, it's 57.1% finishing within one score and 76.4% competitive.

With only the two having played 11:

• I don't see this holding up for obvious reasons, but if the playoffs began today, the AFC home field advantage goes to OAKLAND at 8-2 -- New England is second on common games.
• Houston, at 6-4, is #3.  Baltimore is #4 at 5-5.
• Kansas City and Denver are the wildcards at 7-3.  Kansas City is #5 on division games.
• So KC @ Baltimore, Denver @ Houston

NFC:

• Dallas #1 at 9-1, Seattle #2 at 7-2-1.
• Detroit #3 at 6-4, they lead the NFC North because they beat Minnesota.  Atlanta is 6-4 and #4 because of inferior conference win percentage to Detroit.
• Wildcards:  Giants at 7-3, Redskins, 6-3-1.
• Giants at Detroit, Washington at Atlanta.

Meaning, now, in both conferences, all the wildcards have better records than the teams which will host them.

It's Friday!! NFL Fine Friday at that...

• Tennessee Titans:  Perrish Cox, $9,115 for an end-zone hit on Aaron Rodgers...  Probably as a blocker or something. (Twitter)
• Tennessee Titans:  Tajae Sharpe:  $12,154 for a touchdown celebration.
• Atlanta Falcons:  Keanu Neal:  $24,309 for a cheap shot on Jordan Matthews. (NFL.com)
• Green Bay Packers:  LeTroy Guion, $9,115 for the cheap shot on Marcus Mariota which led to the ejection.
• Green Bay Packers:  Mike Daniels, $9,115 for taunting.  According to 247sports.com, both penalties led to Titan touchdowns.  Also represents the sixth game out of nine in which at least one Packer has been fined.
• That's five fines and almost $70,000 from the Packer-Titan game -- over $51,600 of that on Tennessee.  Once again proving, you walk up to the Packers and punch 'em in the mouth, they go yelping like little bitches.
• Jacksonville Jaguars:  Dante Fowler, Jr.  $9,115 for a late hit.
• Cleveland Browns:  Emmanuel Ogbah:  $18,231 for roughing the passer.
• Pittsburgh Steelers:  Russ Cockrell, $9,115 for a late hit.
• Chicago Bears:  Ted Larsen, same fine, same offense.

That's all I have so far as of about 5 PM PST.

The Bears Don't Believe Him, And He's Out Four As Well

• Chicago Bears:  Alshon Jeffrey, 4 games for PEDs.

And he's looking for new employers once he's done.

MSN reports that the Bears are not buying the excuse he's giving.

 He says it was for inflammation -- his coach says he's heard it all before.

And with him a free agent after the season, he can find himself another team.

One fine we knew was coming:

• Tennessee Titans:  Taylor Lewan:  $30,387 for his shoving an official and getting tossed.

EDIT TO ADD Friday:  But a Packer cheap-shot is what started it.

NFL Week 10 Score Report

As the NFL celebrates what might be it's re-emergence as our National Obsession as well as Religion, the numbers...

• Week 10:  45.14 PPG (Last year:  41.64.  Two years ago:  45.38)
• For the season:  45.65 PPG  (Last year:  46.45  Two years ago:  46.68)
• Home teams:  7-7 this week (Last year Week 10:  3-11!!)
• For the season, Home teams:  83-59-1 this season (.5839)  (Last year:  .566  Two years ago:  .6215)
• Over for the Week:  Also 7-7.  (Last year:  3-8 or 3-9 with a couple pushes.)
• For the year, the over:  Surprisingly with Year of the Defense:  80-66. Very slight advantage to the Over players.  (Last year:  Few games (1-4) either side of .500)
• Brutal week for the favorites:  4-9 against the spread, 5-8 straight up.  (Last year Week 10, only two favorites covered.)  The Monday nighter was one of those "mixed" games (some had a push at NYG -1, some had it a pick, some had CIN -1), so it was dropped.
• For the year:  Finally below .500 against the spread at 63-68-7.  (Better than the 58-78-10 of last year, though.)  Straight-up:  81-56-1.  (.591)
• 176 penalties in Week 10 (186 in the same number of games Week 10 last year.)
• Team with more penalties was 7-4 this week (3 games had tie numbers in penalties.)  
• Team with more penalties, for the year, is still well below .500:  53-74 (.421)
• FIVE Cliffhangers this week, including all 3 4 PM Eastern-ish starts.  And the Sunday nighter was a Last Chance Miss at the 1 and the Monday nighter, Cincinnati couldn't stop the Giants for the last three minutes, or that one could've been Cliffhanger #6.)  (Last year: 3)
• For probably the first time in history, two historic events in Cliffhanger-dom.  I know it's the first one involving a defensive two-point return, and I don't think I've covered any with a pick-six like that, though there was a famous playoff game a number of years back that ended with an overtime pick-six.
• Only 3 Last Chance Misses this week -- one overlapped on an onside kick after the defensive two.
• 3 other games finished within one score, for TEN total.  Only three games (Green Bay laying an egg (intentionally??) in Tennessee, Cleveland going bust in the Thursday nighter, and Tampa blowout-upsetting Chicago) were non-competitive.  (Last year:  8 settled within one score and 4 non-competitive.)
• There have been only 15 non-competitive games the last four weeks.  Tennessee has had two, Tampa and Cleveland three apiece.  Only Cleveland has had the same result.
• For the year:  32 Cliffhangers (21.77%)  (Last year:  36 for 24.66%)
• Within One Score:  83/147 (56.46%)
• Within One Score, Some Point in the 4th:  110/147 (74.82% -- almost three quarters of all the games have been within one score at some point in the fourth quarter.)
• To that end, from Brian Tuohy's page and the NFL's Greg Aiello, from the PR Department:

There have been 44 #NFL games in which a trailing team in 4th Q came back to win, tied for most such games ever in first 10 weeks. #fun

— Greg Aiello (@gregaiello) November 15, 2016

I can't believe I'm going to write this one...

I've written a lot of things on this blog that I never thought I would have even dreamed about when I started it.

This is up there on the list, though.

I remember when I first fell in love with soccer, when the United States, a plucky but BADLY undermanned side, faced Brazil in the home World Cup in 1994 and basically came three feet from the unthinkable (two close shots for the USA, the goal wasn't that far in for Brazil in the 1-0 win).

Now, in 2016, I believe the United States Men's National Soccer Team, or members thereof, took a dive to destroy their chances to qualify for the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Last night was the second match of ten in what is called "The Hex" -- the six-team final grouping, in which each team plays the other five, home and home, for a total of ten matches.

The USA had already lost a tightly-contested home match with Mexico to start The Hex.

This match was a road match, in Costa Rica.  They were down 1-0 in the second half, when all Hell broke loose, not unakin to the Brazil-Germany fiasco is 2014...

I don't have a video to show, yet.  But I will say this:  In a sport where it is impossible to effectively have a breakaway, the defense was so shoddy for the USA that they gave up a one-man and a two-man breakaway for two separate goals within about five minutes.

4-0 was generous, as Costa Rica called off the dogs.

The only question now is WHY the USMNT threw the match:

• Between their play and their looking like whiny little bitches, it's clear Klinsmann has lost the team and will be fired.  Did the USMNT throw this match (and all hope of goal-differential tiebreaker in The Hex) away to get him fired now?
• Did someone take money to throw the match?
• Or (for what would be the second time in 72 hours) is there the possibility that some members of the team do not want to represent the country if Donald Trump is President?

For Football, it's always the wrong people who get the light at the end of the tunnel...

Three indications things are really going to suck the rest of this calendar year.

(and a fourth that makes me begin to wonder)

College Playoff:

As previously explained, the decks are really beginning to clear for Penn State to have a real shot at being rigged a national championship.

I'm not going to go so far -- YET! -- as to state Pedophile State is going to get the nod.  But, scale of 1-10, it's definitely getting into 6-7 range.

Last week was a week of carnage in the college football situation, in which the only real thing established is that there appears to be no team (much less two!) worthy of facing Alabama for the championship.

The problem is in the Big Ten after Iowa's win over Michigan.  Now, if Ohio State beats Michigan and Penn State wins out (and Penn State has two opponents it should beat handily!), Penn State (by beating Ohio State earlier) would be in the Big Ten Championship Game vs. either Wisconsin or Nebraska.

Win that, and there's a compelling case to put them into the Playoff.  Otherwise, you'd have to keep Ohio State out at 11-1.

NFL, The First Team To Racially Crack?

(DISCLAIMER:  I do not know the racial makeup of the Green Bay defense outside of Clay Matthews, who apparently did not play, as he was injured.  If my hypothesis is wrong, well...  Ignore this, but there is something that bugged me yesterday and I can't shake it.)

Regardless of why it's happening, one thing is apparent:  It's all over in Green Bay.  Aaron Rodgers can either look forward to spending a number of years in Drew Brees-level irrelevance, or he's going to have to find another team.

Now, that's not something I couldn't have said for several weeks, but something which happened yesterday piqued my radar.

It'd be one thing to get 35 points dropped on you in the first half if we're talking a team like Seattle, New England, or Dallas at this point.

Green Bay lost 47-25 to Tennessee yesterday, and gave up 35 first-half points.  It is only the seventh time in Packer history they have given up 35 first-half points (last two were in 2004!).  (Pro Football Reference)

So why am I mentioning this as a possible case of a locker room cracking due to race?

Here's that 35-point first half for Tennessee:

• 75 yard TD run.
• 7 play 85 yard drive
• 9 play 71 yard drive
• 4 play 75 yard drive
• Punt
• Short TD drive after a turnover

By my math, that's well north of 300 yards, by a defense which was ranked seventh in the league in yards allowed, IN THE FIRST HALF.  To Tennessee....

Sooooo...  With the disclaimer firmly in hand, my question:  Should the disclaimer apply, did a bunch of the defensive players for the Packers take a dive yesterday, because of what state was officially the one to put Trump over the top?

(Yes, it was Wisconsin.  Pennsylvania sealed the deal, but Wisconsin put it over 270.)

NFL:  The Legion Rises

We, at the least, know now that Brian Tuohy is almost-certainly correct that New England is probably not going to win another Super Bowl this year, if last night's rigged loss to Seattle was any indication.

Kam Chancellor hooked the blazes out of  Rob Gronkowski on fourth and goal from the 1.

The catch that set up the Patriots at the 2 was also interfered/illegal contacted with.

This is textbook NFL for raising the chances for Seattle, but, once again, I'd do that at about a 6-7 level of confidence due to Dallas at this point.  I am concerned we are looking at a "bleaching" of the NFL (which is one of the reasons I am surprised at last night's result!!), but it is now clear that if there is no racial motivation to determine who wins, it does look like the Legion is shoving it's way to the front.

Again.

NFL:  Maybe it WAS the Election

Early reports from USA Today note the best ratings of the year for the NFL.

FOX drew the biggest ratings of the year for any game in the overnights, a 17.8 for Dallas-Pittsburgh.  The 34 share indicates a third of all television sets which were on at that time were watching that game.

And the overnights for Seattle-New England went huge too:  14.3, which was double-digit percent UP from last year.

I think I am going to be fucking sick.... (College Football only)

Pedophile State may be playing for the national championship this year.

Let that process.

Pedophile State now only needs Ohio State to beat Michigan and to run the table to face what right now is Wisconsin in the Big Ten title game.

Win that?  They're playing for the national title.

Explanation:

Alabama won at #1.
Clemson lost at #2.
Michigan just lost to Iowa at #3.
Washington lost to USC at #4.
Ohio State won at #5.
Louisville won at #6.
Wisconsin won at #7
A&M and Auburn lost at 8 and 9
Pedo State won at #10.

So what does the field look like?

Probably Alabama-Ohio State-Clemson-Louisville or Wisconsin.

And that's this week.

Consider what happens if Pedo State gets three more wins...  They would probably have to beat Wisconsin in the Big Ten title game, and that should be enough to get them in the final top 4.

NFL: Shut the Fuck Up About Concussions

One of those things you absolutely believe, but, when you read it, it's just the hubris of it all that makes no sense whatsoever.

The NFL officially wants it's teams to stop talking about concussions.

Gee, I wonder why:  Could it be their middle-class white fanbase wants to see some Negroes (and I apologize to any African-Americans reading this post and offended at the tone -- the point is that I truly believe White America football fans want to see Black players die for their entertainment) concussed and dying in the New America?

This isn't going to hold together much longer.  Though the policy basically states not to speculate on return, we know these fucking quacks can't be trusted in the team doctor's offices...

Fine Friday, Week 9

Some less important stuff -- God, I need a catharsis...

• Kansas City Chiefs:  Travis Kelce:  Probably got off lightly via the schedule with $24,309 for his unsportsmanlike conduct ejection which included throwing his towel at one of the refs.  Could've been fined upwards of $50,000 between the two fouls which got him tossed.
• Dallas Cowboys:  Randy Gregory:  About to be thrown out of the league for one year due to ANOTHER failed drug test.  He would not be eligible, at minimum, until about the beginning of the 2018 league year.  It's his third suspension for drugs this year.
• Los Angeles Rams:  Chase Reynolds:  $24,309 for a late hit.

From his Twitter, it was for this:

The @NFL fines me $25,000 for this hit. #RichardSherman get fined 9k The system is unfair They a judge,jury,execution @NFLPA @DeSmithNFLPA pic.twitter.com/2ucoxPZPib

— Chase Reynolds (@ChaseReynolds34) November 12, 2016

• Jets-Dolphins had several players opening the checkbook:  Though the hit that took out Ryan Fitzpatrick was flagged for a low hit (roughing the passer), Miami's Jordan Phillips was not fined for the hit.
• Miami Dolphins:  Andre Branch was:  $18,231 for a horse-collar tackle.
• New York Jets:  Buster Skrine and Sheldon Richardson: $9,115 each for unnecessary roughness on Miami RB Jay Ajayi.
• New York's Calvin Pryor was flagged for taunting in the game, no fine.
• San Diego Chargers:  D.J. Fluker:  $9,115 for unnecessary roughness.

That's all I can find at the moment.

Beginning of the End, Part 2: Civil War Brewing in the NFL?

I should make a statement right now.

Due to the sensitive nature of a number of the subjects regarding our new Feerless Leed-uh "God Emperor" (which is a term many of his supporters actually are using to relay what they hope Mr. Trump will become), there may be occasion that I may edit posts given concerns by readers.

If you have a concern about anything I've posted in these regards, I ask you to contact me:  Comment section, etc.

--

We have two stories brewing which indicate Civil War -- LITERAL Civil War -- in the NFL.

(Disclaimer, owing to the above:  We are damn well headed for an actual Civil War in this country.  This post is simply endemic to the NFL situation.)

First, from Bleacher Report:  There has been, as I have said, speculation that our new President is causing a deepening divide in locker rooms, due to race.

Speculate no longer.

An anonymous poll has indicated that there is a clean divide -- Blacks against, Whites for -- on the Presidency.

And then a second one on top of it:  Whites openly stating this is for the good of the country, Blacks saying it's for the good of Whites.

This is one of the reasons I am beginning to feel the end of the era of the showcasing of African-American athletes, and we are seeing evidence of this in the attempts to cripple Cam Newton, as one example.

There is also some belief the Richard Sherman cheapshot on the Buffalo kicker may have been racially motivated -- a charge Sherman denies.

The second story is from a talk Roger Goodell gave to a New York Times event.  (through Deadspin)

Has Roger Goodell actually snapped out of his money-induced slumber?

Goodell is apparently the son of a Republican Congressman, and is as shocked as many of the rest of us at the result.

“Listen,” Goodell replied, “it makes my job harder at home, too. I have twin daughters and a wife and so I have to explain that to them. So yes, on that front.” 

The interview is at the link, but, there:

"you can listen to Goodell on athletes taking a public political stance (“that’s their right”), the ratings drop (“you always have cycles”), and ex-players refusing to let their kids play football for fear of concussions (“You’d have a hard time coming up with a lot of names who would say that”)."

I think we are now at the point where we are past the question of if something explodes in one or more locker rooms.

The only question, now, is which one(s), which one goes first, when, and how many....

Early Week 9 Fine Blotter

• Seattle Seahawks:  Richard Sherman, in his quest to bring the Legion of Boom to Houston in February (and it's either them or Dallas to face Belicheat's Patsies, at this point!), took out the other team's kicker with a blatant cheap shot.  For this, he was fined $9,115.
• In evidence that the win for the Hawks was rigged:  The entire ensuing series was erred by the league and admitted as such:  Sherman nailed the kicker after he was flagged for offside -- should've been 15 more.  At that point, the kicker had to leave the field because of the injury rules (And if you don't think that people have figured out this is a good way to take out a kicker before a key field goal now...), the play was burned off with a spike that could've been intentional grounding, then a delay of game call the refs screwed up, then the kicker (returning after the hit) misses the eventual field goal.
• Dallas Cowboys:  David Irving and
• Cleveland Browns:  Cam Erving, $9,115 each for their ejection altercation.
• Which led to an interesting discussion.  Three ejections in the early games last week has made the total for the season ten.  Recent record is 13 from two years ago -- normal years get about 4-6.   Be surprised if the year total doesn't get to about 20-25.
• New Orleans Saints:  Kenny Vaccaro, about to be suspended four games for Adderall.   (Per NFL.com)

The Beginning of the End

I know it's taken me quite a while to even begin to process how wrong I was about Tuesday night.

The previous post with my prediction is remaining up, for one very concrete reason:  I had always understood that, if the election were, in fact, cast and counted fairly, I did believe there were enough self-haters and hateful fart-muffins that would install that Oompa-Loompa into office to do it.

I did believe Trump would win a fairly-cast and -counted election.

Now that he has, I know this is truly The Beginning of the End.

I will keep it to two things endemic to this blog.

The first is the Beginning of the End FOR this blog.  I will continue it as long as is possible.

The fact is, though, I'm dead.  I will not live to see the end of 2017.  The alt-Right will not, and cannot, allow that to happen for at least four or five different reasons.

I have watched some very beautiful and positive and light-hearted women turn absolutely VENOMOUS in the last 36 hours online.  I can only imagine what the men on the alt-Right have in store for them -- and for me! -- as this goes down.

The only question we are talking is time.  How much of that might be outside circumstance cannot be underestimated.

And, speaking of said outside circumstance:  One of the first people, on or near Election Day, that our new Fearless Leed-uh said voted for him and endorsed him was Bill Belicheat.

He also mentioned Tom Brady, but the media could not confirm, and some debunked, that Brady had endorsed or voted for Trump.

What that will almost-certainly mean is a manifestation of the second Beginning of the End Tuesday brings us:  A Beginning of the End of the powerful Black athlete being even given lip-service as to being showcased.

My anonymous friend and I have been talking, and are convinced he has lost the Black players in his locker room, except for the self-loathers who are willing to side with the David Duke-types Trump has in his supporter base because "I got mine, so fuck you!!"

This is also, parenthetically, probably the Beginning of the End of the NFL as you know it.  No, not saying the NFL is folding by any means, not saying any of the teams are in danger (though several SHOULD be as failing businesses, but that's another discussion)...

As the support of Belicheat shows, I believe this league is about to blow up on racial lines.  And one of the main reasons I have for it is a survey I found, I believe this was back when I was doing research work on the Ray Rice and Adrian Peterson debacles.  If I can recall or find where that was, I will happily either link it here or mention it later.

The survey said that most demographics' opinions of the sport of football (and their willingness to watch the games) had deteriorated over the last year or two -- with one exception.  White, middle-class America.

Didn't take me long to come up with a theory.  White, middle-class is the captain of the high-school/college team, with the perks like having the cheerleaders/dance-team as his personal harem to rampage through at his will.

The people in front of him?  The grunts like the wide receivers and running backs and linemen?  The Blacks who might as well die for football in the eyes of White, middle-class America.

Well, time to reap the whirlwind, America.  It's on.  We're just waiting for the next shots to be fired.

And now for the important one... Prepare for #RiggedElection

Posting this late Monday night before I get some badly-needed sleep -- tomorrow will be a long one...

Hillary is winning, people.  There are already Newsweek magazines out crowning her as Madame President.  Seen as early as Saturday, no complementary one made for Trump -- just the cover to throw us off.

A purported final result in the conspiracy circles has the election 343-195 for the bitch, with only a two-point lead in the popular vote which is all California (where she's up by 24 -- which would be 2.5 million votes!) and then some.

That's one reason I am not quite buying this "WorldNow" conspiracy, although 340-198 (within about 10 votes) is where I see this ending, because they cannot allow Trump to be that close.  (This would basically be Clinton winning all the remaining battlegrounds, on the back of the second FBI bend-over.)

The other is the popular vote purported, if it were true, gives both the Libertarians and the Greens Federal matching funds.  Gary Johnson, the Libertarian fool, might still do so, but best polls have him around the 5% minimum.  (The purported WorldNow conspiracy has him getting 8% and Jill Stein getting 5% for the Greens.)

One thing I and my friends are awaiting with bated breath is if this goes pear-shaped.  Can't say.  Don't know.

If you do believe, however, that Trump was installed as a Clinton shill, you'll be proven right on Tuesday night or Wednesday morning (I predict the call will come for Clinton at 8 Pacific, when the Pacific firewall gives Clinton 80 votes and puts her over the top (NV, CA, WA, OR).) if Trump concedes now.

Don't know which would spike violence further:  Trump concedes or he doesn't...

Stay safe and prepare for a bumpy ride, no matter which side you are on.  Clinton, Trump, or (like my official endorsement) GIANT METEOR!!

Week 9 2016 Score Report

Just gonna be a quickie with the week worth here:

• For the week:  50.08 PPG, largest of the year
• For the year:  45.61 PPG, not quite high-water mark for that (Week 6)
• Home teams 7-6 for the week, 76-52-1 for the year (.593)
• Over was 8-5, including the last 5 games.  For the year:  73-59.  Betting the over in the Year of the Defense is actually winning you now in Vegas about 3/4 of a unit a week, given a consistent unit bet on every over game.
• 7-4-2 against the spread this week, 10-3 straight up for favorites.  That makes 59-59-7 -- a straight .500, so you are now down just the juice (about 2/3 of a unit a week) for the year against the number and 76-48-1 straight up.
• The big story this week:  Team with more penalties was 3-9.  Not surprising, given the league's penchant of trying to get the players chained under control.  48-70 for the year (.406).
• 203 penalties for the week, about one more a game than last week.
• 1 overtime Cliffhanger for the week was the only one.  27/133 for the year.  (20.3%)
• 5 Last Chance Misses.  Two onside kicks, a drive stalling out at the 30 at 2:00, and two passes into the end zone missing.  
• 3 other games finished within one score, making 9 of the 13 games within one score at the end this week.  73/133 for the year (54.9%)
• Only 2 non-competitive games, making only 34 of those for the year.  99/133 within one score in the 4th quarter.  (74.43%)

Some quickie thoughts on the standings:

• FIFTEEN teams are within one game of .500
• If the season ended now:  AFC:  New England 1, Oakland 2 (KC has the breaker and a half game back and Oakland still has their bye), Houston 3 at 5-3, Pittsburgh 4 at 4-4
• Wildcards are KC at 6-2 (see caveat above) and Denver at 6-3.
• A 5-3 and 4-4 are leading their divisions, wildcards are 6-2 and 6-3.
• As of right now:  KC at Houston, Denver at Pittsburgh
• NFC:  Dallas 1, Seattle 2 (and that's pretty much all you need to know -- that sounds like that will be the matchup they will do in January at this point.
• Atlanta 3 at 6-3 and Minnesota has the 4 at 5-3, one half game ahead of Detroit, who now has the tiebreak.
• Wildcards:  Giants at 5-3, Washington at 4-3-1, percentage ahead of Detroit at 5-4.
• As of right now:  Giants at Atlanta, Washington at Minnesota.
• Notable teams out:  Buffalo was seen on a run, Cincinnati was seen on a run, Green Bay was many's favorite for the Super Bowl.  (NOT HERE!!!)

Ratings (From Sports Media Watch):

• The Packers are DONE as a national draw.  Look for Aaron Rodgers to spend the next few years as Drew Brees (a name, nothing more).  Colts win over Packers was the lowest-rated national window in SEVEN YEARS.
• CBS regional action was also down 17%.
• Sunday night had the best ratings overnight in six weeks.  Too bad it was still 20% down from last year.
• Best window of the week, including Sunday night, was FOX"s single game at a 12.4 (SNF 11.7) - but even THAT was down 9% year-over-year.

NFL Fine Blotter: Third time's a charm?

Usually don't get a direct announcement from the league on Sunday, but we got one today:

• Washington Redskins:  Josh Norman, now a THREE-TIME LOSER (and it seems more than that!):  $25,000 for singling out one of the officials in a post-game rant after last week's tie in London.

Norman roasted the field judge after being flagged by him for five penalties in the game.  Four of them were for illegal use of the hands.  (The report notes that Norman only had seven such penalties in his entire career!)

The Redskins now become the fifth NFL team, through eight weeks, to have $100,000 in found fines.  Norman himself applies for over $80,000 of that amount.

And, lookee here:  A fight in the first drive of the Cowboys game gets two players tossed.  They'll be about $30K or so lighter each when the league sees that one.

And This Is Why Football Cannot Be Made Safer...

Tommy Armstrong Jr., tonight at Ohio State.

The Nebraska quarterback is felled at least fairly cleanly (could be some head to knee maybe) as he's going on the sideline, but the fall is directly on his head, bouncing off the turf at least three times.

Taken to the hospital -- another bullet dodged, he returned OK to the sideline later, to cheers from fans of both teams.

It's Fine Friday, so more love letters from the league to the performers...

• Green Bay Packers:  Datone Jones is a TWO-TIME LOSER:  $36,464 for roughing the passer.
• Cincinnati Bengals:  TWO-TIME LOSER, in the same game, for Shawn Williams:  $33,124 for a facemask and a spearing foul.  I thought spearing was an automatic TOSS!
• Cincinnati Bengals:  Dre Kirkpatrick:  $18,231 for a horse-collar tackle.

Those three from NFL.com and their weekly fine report, so time to go digging...

• According to Spotrac, the Trent Williams suspension will cost him more than $2.5 million!
• AND it voids an $11 million guarantee for next season.  Only question now is it still appears that the four remaining years might be $20M in dead cap space, otherwise, he's done in Washington.

All right, back to Twitter to see what we find:

• A THIRD Cincinnati Bengal fine this week:  Marquis Flowers:  $9,115 for unnecessary roughness.  That's half the number ($60,470) needed to get the $50,000 team fine, and Burfict already has another $50,000 toward that number. 
• The referee hug which drew a 15-yard penalty on Earl Thomas of the Seahawks will not be fined.
• Another Arizona Cardinal fine for trying to take out Cam Newton:  Rodney Gunter gets $18,231 in the continuing effort to cripple the league's Great Black Hope.
• Carolina Panthers:  Leonard Johnson, $9,115 for probable retaliation against the Arizona quarterback.
• Jacksonville Jaguars:  Jalen Ramsey, $9,115 for unnecessary roughness, should be more.  TWO-TIME LOSER in consecutive weeks -- was tossed against the Raiders for a fight. ($30,387, per the league list)
• Jacksonville Jaguars:  Dante Fowler, $9,115, same offense.
• You knew the league was going to get the Raiders good for that 23-penalty situation:  Karl Joseph, $24,309 for roughness.
• Oakland Raiders:  Donald Penn:  $18,231 for roughness.
• Oakland Raiders:  Michael Crabtree:  $9,115 for taunting.
• Detroit Lions:  Tavon Wilson:  $24,309 for roughness.
• Buffalo Bills:  Nickell Rickey-Coleman:  $18,231 for roughness.

A number of the last several were from WBAY in Green Bay.

That's $254,000+ I got this week so far.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Our Next Rigged Superdynasty

Fuck The Cubs.

Fuck Their Fans.

Fuck The Media.

There, I said it.

Less than 18 hours after the media and this "Sports Over Life" super-culture finally awarded the Cubs their precious drought-ender (which has now absolutely ensured Theo Epstein will go into the Hall of Fame the first chance he gets, deserving or otherwise!!), it has gone exactly as forecast:

• NOW these fuckers forgive Steve Bartman.  
• Cub-fan going around with the "WE WON!" motif.
• In what is probably going to become the next phase of "Sports Over Life", Progressive Field was at least 2-1 Cubs, if not 3-1 or more.
• At least one pair of tickets went for $50,000 in the secondary market last night.  Another went for almost $40,000!  It is almost guaranteed that these were Cubs fans.

Let that last one process, especially.  A year's fucking salary for Game 7?  Or is it THAT IMPORTANT that you had to be there to cheer your Cubs to the ultimate victory?  And if you don't think that's not going to come across as a message to the fans to literally mortgage your life to try to get that ONE...  CRITICAL...  WIN...

And in what almost certainly is the largest pieces of evidence that this is probably going to rival the rigged run of the Jordon Bulls (yes, I spell that intentionally, in homage to an old MJ and NBA hater site), I provide these statements:

• Jeff Pearlman, saying no less than that America NEEDED the Cubs to win.  (CNN)

Gee, that sounds familiar.  Patriots after 9/11?  Red Sox after their drought finally ended???

If the entire country needed this, it almost certainly confirms my worst fears that Commissioner Blinded By The Light is going to rebuild baseball as The National Pastime around one team:  Da Cubs.

Well, that confirms it, as well as this from Sports Media Watch:

• Games 5 and 6 both had ratings not seen since the Steroid Era in baseball for those games of a World Series.  
• Game 5:  13.1 rating, 23.6M viewers.  (Highest Game 5 since 1997)
• Game 6:  13.3 rating, 24M viewers (Again, highest Game 6 since 1997.)
• And Game 7?  Overnights are expecting FORTY MILLION to have watched.  21.8 rating.  The overnights in the best markets were over 25 rating -- the highest rating for ANY SPORTING EVENT minus the NFL and the Olympics since 9/11.
• Highest watched baseball game in 25 years -- the last to beat this number?  It was mentioned at least twice on the broadcast and the color man was one of the pitchers:  1991 Game 7, Twins-Braves.
• Highest-watched sporting event since that game too, sans NFL and Olympics.
• No basketball game EVER has reached 40 million.  The two that came closest are no surprise:  Jordon's last offensive foul game (35.9M), and Magic vs. Bird for the NCAA title (35.1M).
• Game 7 of the NBA Finals for 2016:  31 million
• Not even the Miracle on Ice was seen by as many people on television (34.2 million)
• It is noted that almost all of the previous events got higher ratings, because the number of potential viewers was smaller.

Recent Fine and Suspension Blotter

Some suspensions this week:

• Washington Redskins:  Trent Williams:  4 games, for substance abuse -- his second such suspension.  Banned 4 games in 2011 for marijuana.
• Detroit Lions:  Armonty Bryant:  3 games, for substance abuse -- HIS second suspension.  Cut by the Browns after serving 4 games for PEDs.  Detroit said they knew of the possible second suspension when they signed him.

An early Week 8 fine...

• Arizona Cardinals:  Calais Campbell:  $18,231 for taking out Cam Newton at the knees.

Week 8 Score Report for 2016

• Week 8 Score Average:  44.15  (2015:  46.57  2014:  49.33)
• 8 Week Score Average:  45.233  (2015:  46.597  2014:  46.653)
• Home teams were 8-4 last week (the tie was in London).  (2015:  8-5  2014:  9-5)
• For the season:  .599 (2015:  .595  2014:  .627)
• Over was 9-4 for the week.  (2015:  7-7  2014:  7-8)
• For the year, the over is 65-54.  (2015:  2-6 games over .500  2014:  Couple of games either side of .500)
• Good week for the public, at least until Monday night.  8-4 against the number, 10-2 straight up.  (ATS 2015:  6-6-2. 
• For the season:  52-55-5 ATS, 66-45-1 straight up.  (ATS 2015:  50-59-10)
• 192 penalties this week, including 7 teams with more than 10.  (Led by the record-breaking performance by the Raiders.)
• Team with more penalties was 7-5. 45-61 for the year.
• Four Cliffhangers, three overtime games and the Atlanta victory.  4 Last Chance Misses, 2 overlapping.
• Odd occurrence:  5 of the 14 games were non-competitive, but there were no games last week that were competitive that didn't end within one score.
• For the year:  26/120 cliffhangers (21 2/3 %)  65/120 ending within one score (54 1/6%), 88/120 within one score at some point in the fourth (83.33%).
• Last year:  6 Cliffhangers for the week, 29 for the year.  7 games within one score at the end for the week, 62 for the year.  80 games within one score at some point in the fourth.

Couple of side points:

• First time we have had back-to-back weeks with ties since November 16 and 23, 1997, the only other time since the league adopted regular-season overtime that had happened.  1973, the year before regular-season overtime started, had three consecutive weeks with ties and another week outside the streak with two.
• Three weeks in 2015 had three overtime games, the last three times it had happened before last week.

Well, we know FOX got one thing they wanted... *cough*

Gee, no one saw that Game 6 coming, did they?

Not 60,000 Tweets about "Game 7" by the middle of the sixth inning!!!