How does anyone, especially with respect to the NBA, believe the games are legit, especially after this bullshit that got foisted on everybody tonight?
Saw about the last seven minutes of regulation and did not bother further...
So much clutch, grab, and hold and wrestle -- I thought I was watching WWE!
And then two major incidents that ensured the result...
#1:
Cleveland up 2, under 40 seconds to go in the game.
Kevin Durant goes into the lane, LeBron James gets hit, falls down, offensive foul (after a LOT of deliberation!!!) on Durant -- probably aiding in sealing the game for the Cavs, massive underdogs in this series.
But wait... AFTER FURTHER REVIEW...
Now, let's be honest: You could've called this game rigged either way once you get the idea of this call. It's a massive block on James -- he isn't REMOTELY set.
But why this is a rig for the Warriors is that the call was only reversed on review!
Review, in that case, can ONLY be used for checking the player's position with respect to the Restricted Zone (where an offensive player cannot be called for charging) -- which LeBron was outside by an EON!!
Call reversed, two throws ties the game.
#2: Cleveland has the ball, shot clock turned off, after rebounding a missed second free throw that would've given them the lead.
JR Smith then does... THIS!!!
Deliberately runs out of the area with no intention to shoot and ensures an overtime in which Golden State scores the first nine points and runs away with it -- and a scuffle and a Cleveland ejection right at the end...
Dare I mention the moving screen that appeared to take a Cleveland player 8-10 feet out of defensive position so the Warrior could drain a shot?
Adam Silver, you need to call some people on the carpet -- your refs, AND JR Smith!!!
A fourth USOC sanctioning body is embroiled in #MeToo.
Jimmy A. Williams is accused of sexually harassing, up to and including forced fellatio, at least five women (including at least one Williams began to groom at age 11 -- more pedophilia...).
Williams was basically THE legendary coach of equestrian, grooming a number of medalists and champions in the sport.
The difference here: This is all before 1993 -- Williams passed away in that year.
But that now constitutes FOUR large-scale probable sex rings (almost certainly all including pedophilia) in the US Olympic movement.
How many more, President Fencing Gold Medalist from 1976?
The Finals are the same Finals now, four years running.
They are viewed, by many, to be one of the worst mismatches in history, pitting an all-but one-man team against what is viewed the greatest lineup in NBA history.
And now, less than 24 hours before they tip Game 1, the NBA has a problem which might cost them one of their team's top executives!!
There has been great controversy surrounding the Philadelphia 76ers and "The Process", something which has probably led to upwards of 2/3 to 3/4 of the teams tanking their seasons in hopes of gaining traction through other means.
(And, I'll be honest: I think even the Warriors and Cavaliers tanked some of their season too. Could easily see them having gotten bored and figured they needed to spice things up a little bit...)
But Bryan Colangelo, Director of Basketball Operations for the 76ers, is now under official team (and probably league!) investigation after sports blog The Ringer may have just blown the lid off of how he does business.
A way that, if true, probably isn't as surprising as anyone might want to think.
It's one thing to have what are called "sock puppet" accounts to talk shit at other people if you're one of these slimy-ass trolls and you want to try to get over on somebody on the Net.
It's quite something else if you're the Director of Basketball Operations of an NBA team, and you're doing this surreptitiously to throw key members of your team under the bus!
An anonymous party alerted The Ringer in February that Colangelo might be operating up to five Twitter accounts.
According to The Ringer, the last 3-4 months has been spent attempting to discern if Colangelo, through these accounts [now quoting from the blog post]:
Criticize NBA players, including Joel Embiid, Jahlil Okafor, and Nerlens Noel
Publicly debate the decisions of his own coaching staff,
as well as critique former Sixers general manager Sam Hinkie and
Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri
Telegraph the 2017 trade in which the Sixers acquired the no. 1 overall pick that would become Markelle Fultz
Disclose nonpublic medical information about Okafor and
gossip about Embiid and Fultz to members of the national and
Philadelphia media
[close quote]
This has tampering ramifications, including that of the #1 draft pick and probably multiple players and at least one other team's president -- as well as violations of HIPAA regarding at least one player and probably more...
It seems to indicate that, had these accounts not been "socking" for Colangelo, they claim Ben Simmons never comes to Philadelphia.
At least four 76ers players have been damaged by this apparent "sock puppet" scheme, if proven true.
The article notes the Tweet history:
Outing the possibility that Jahlil Okafor would not pass a required physical for a February, 2017 trade that would've sent Okafor to New Orleans. The trade fell through, but it is rumored it was simply due to not getting "pick protections" straightened around. By December, another sock puppet claims no one wanted to take Okafor at all because of the problems -- he was eventually traded to Brooklyn last December, and passed a physical to complete the trade.
Nerlens Noel was traded to Dallas for a 1st-round pick at the trade deadline of last season. One of the sock puppets did everything to try to ensure the end of his career, it appears.
One of the sock puppets claimed Joel Embiid hid a knee injury that derailed a 76ers season.
And then there's the story of Markelle Fultz and whatever caused him to lose the ability to shoot a basketball.
Read this thing, and start asking some real questions about Jerry Colangelo and the NBA...
The NHL isn't the only group fending off their Finals, at the least, having a guided hand...
Hell, I was even picking up a post stating that the Western Conference Finals were rigged for Golden State from a weekend post in conservative financial blog Zero Hedge!!
There's only one thing that makes me more than a bit unsurprised about the NBA Finals being Golden State-Cleveland for the fourth year in a row: There's an annoying poster in rec.sport.football.college who has more money than he knows what to do with, so he gambles it illegally on sites like 5dimes.
But almost every time he shoots his mouth off on the newsgroup on a lock pick and a lot of money on it... He loses!!
I do believe the excessive ejection total for Golden State for the year (not to mention that LeBron James has had more and more "LeBron vs. Jordan" hype this year than would seem otherwise appropriate) probably means the eventual final guiding hand is toward Cleveland.
I don't believe the NBA wants Golden State and their attitude to represent the league as champions, and the more LBJ vs. MJ, the more it becomes clear that LeBron may be about to get Title #4 as he heads into free agency...
And, hey, big guy on RSFC: At the Westgate, the Cavs opened +650!
— NBC Sports Capitals (@NBCSCapitals) May 29, 2018
And listen to the way the game was described in the Washington Post article...
"With a Stanley Cup finals record four lead changes, Monday’s Game 1 at
T-Mobile Arena featured more plot twists than “Ocean’s Eleven.” The
final turning point in the Vegas Golden Knights’ 6-4 win over the
Washington Capitals came on a goal early in the third period that
probably shouldn’t have counted."
Ryan Reaves pole-axed Washington's John Carlson with a blatant net-front cross-check you can see in the GIF -- and then slotted home the 4-4.
I see I'm already making friends on hockey forums, but this is getting blatant. Again, I hope my friend is right, but it only takes one call like that to get the attention of a lot of people such as myself...
And so, now, we are less than 24 hours from the ultimate Vegas production...
In Year One, the Las Vegas Golden Knights have Game One of the Stanley Cup Finals on Memorial Day, home ice advantage for the series, and are the favorites to win it.
No one, and I mean NO ONE, could have imagined it 9 months ago. I recall being in Las Vegas for my annual August trip and seeing an over-under for their season point total under 45!!
And then I started having this feeling in the pit of my stomach when they went 7-2-1 or something ridiculous to start the season.
Oh no....
And then followed it as they were actually flirting with the President's Trophy for most of the season!
Dear God, they aren't...
Kinda went by the wayside in the last month of the season, but now back on for the playoffs...
4-0 over the Kings
4-1 over the Sharks
4-1 over the Jets.
And now, according to VegasInsider.com at the time of typing this...
Vegas is -150 to win Game 1, -140 to win the series.
And all I can think of is Stephen Paddock and #VegasStrong -- and what a Year One Stanley Cup would do for Vegas, and also for all the crazed sports fans who aren't below threatening athletes on Twitter and such...
I think this could motivate a crazed ultra in this country to do something to motivate their favorite sports league to give their team a championship -- we've seen far too many of them already in the last 17 years with tragedy followed by championship, especially rigged championship.
But what do you think some crazed idiot would do with even the belief of understanding that doing something egregious could get his team a championship?
As I've been talking to people about it, my anonymous friend has come up with a viable counter-theory: Given the failures of the Phoenix Coyotes, two teams in Atlanta, and numerous other non-hockey-town efforts by the NHL to expand the game continent-wide, my friend believes Gary Bettman is doing this to force relevance to one of these emerging markets to force relevance on Las Vegas.
All I can say is: I damn well hope my friend is right. I don't know if I'm comfortable at all with a sports world in which tragedy can trigger victory on such a blatant scale.
I do hope my friend is right, but I shudder to think of the alternative...
Three very interesting developments in the NFL National Anthem controversy...
The NFL admitted no formal vote was taken on the subject. This basically meant that the rule was imposed, even upon the owners.
Since the NFLPA was not put into the process, someone probably has to wonder if/when this might be challenged under the CBA.
And then this ditty from our "President"...
"You have to stand proudly for the national anthem," Trump told "Fox & Friends," "or you shouldn't be playing, you shouldn't be there, maybe you shouldn't be in the country."
Ladies and gentlemen, this is what you swear fealty to...
The #NFLBoycott was, as far as the NFL is concerned, the main reason ratings are down.
(Even if it's not accurate...)
Because, by a unanimous vote of the owners (those choosing to vote -- Jed York of the 49ers abstained, at minimum) today, the NFL has just made the practice of kneeling or any other protest on the field during the National Anthem illegal.
Players (and other team officials) now have but two options:
If they remain on the field, the should "stand and show respect" which was in the rules has now, as the White Right has demanded, been replaced by MUST "stand and show respect" during the National Anthem.
But it is their option to leave the field, should they so elect.
The penalty will be a team fine. However, it is not known how much the fine would be, and the owner might pay it anyway. (The New York Jets have already announced they'll gladly just pay the fine -- players on the Jets will be allowed to kneel on the field if they so choose.)
As a number of media outlets have reported already, this raises a number of red flags:
On occasion, a "game time decision" injury will need last-minute evaluation and treatment during the National Anthem and other pre-game events. This will now force players and teams to probably have to explain why any player has left the field.
Will players who leave the field, especially visiting players, be subject to harassment (or worse!!!) for doing so?
The NFL never consulted with the NFLPA on this process.
I'm going to tell you something, and it may shock a lot of you.
THESE RIGHT-WING MOTHERFUCKERS WILL NOT BE SATISFIED UNTIL MOST OF THE BLACK ATHLETES ARE SHOT, DRAWN, AND QUARTERED.
There, I said it. Come at me.
I recall one of the last Twitter messages I believe I responded to before the White Right had my account softlocked last October.
It was a White Right idiot claiming that a significant fraction (I believe it was over half.) of the players in the league were felons.
Nothing is going to satisfy these pieces of shit until their bloodlust is literally satisfied -- and many Blacks are taken to the 50 yard-line at halftime and...
And I guess, given present reports, that could mean either Vince McMahon OR Dana White...
There's been much discussion, in both professional wrestling and MMA circles, as to the new television deals that UFC and the WWE would get.
They're huge, apparently.
Reports indicate:
UFC to ESPN: 5 years, $1.5 billion.
WWE Raw will stay on USA, but NBC Universal (USA's parent) loses Smackdown to FOX, 5 years, $1.025 billion.
There is no word yet on the fate of Raw, but it sounds like that'd be at least another billion.
That number for just Smackdown is more than double, effectively, what NBCU paid for Smackdown in 2014 (all US TV deals totalled $160 million a year.
April of 2014, Smackdown drew an average 1.9 rating and 2.72 million viewers, according to SC Scoops.
April of 2018, Smackdown drew 2.47 million, 2.95 million (Smackdown after Wrestlemania 34), 2.8 million, 2.55 million.
2.69 million average.
And that justifies more than doubling the TV deal... WHY?
I can really only see two angles on this:
First, it pays to be a friend of the Piece of the Ultimate Shit.
Second, if stagnant ratings over five years allows that degree of an explosion in the TV contract, that means networks are having trouble finding and retaining relevant product.
That could have it's own ramifications. Stay tuned.
Interesting that I had to go all the way to the NHL page on ESPN to find it, but the next page in the legalization of sports gambling seems to cut right to the core of one of my "bad news" concerns.
New Jersey State Senate President Steve Sweeney has urged the states to reject demands from the leagues for an "integrity fee" off the top of all bets on that league.
Sweeney said the following in a letter to all 50 states:
"Essentially, the leagues are asking to be paid to allow games to be
played fairly,'' Sweeney wrote. "Ironically, they are calling this
extortion attempt an `integrity fee,' even while fully aware that
providing participants a stake in the volume of betting would amount to
what could more accurately be called an 'anti-integrity fee.'"
You are so correct, it's frightening, State Senator Sweeney. And that's your problem.
In saying this, you recognize the leagues' powers to rig games (and probably their legality -- I'm trying to recall if the Mayer in question of the Spygate lawsuit legalizing league game-rigging was a New York lawyer or a New Jersey one).
But you hit the nail square on the head here. They're basically asking to be paid to make the games fair, knowing they are making massive bank on the fact they are not!
Want a possible slice of proof?
I do, if I can find a way to properly get my thoughts together on the subject, talk in depth about the Las Vegas Golden Knights and their Western Conference title and all-but-certain Stanley Cup.
Tonight is Game 7 in the East. What I was checking on the ESPN NHL page was the standings.
Four NHL teams had more points in the regular season than Las Vegas' 109.
Tampa Bay was one of them.
End of 1 period in Game 7 in Tampa? Washington leads 1-0.
Washington was NOT one of the four teams.
If Washington wins, Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals is Memorial Day... in Las Vegas.
The NFL is in it's Owner's Meetings this week, and my good friend has come up with another report of a disturbing possible proposal for next season.
It is no secret that the National Anthem protests of the last two seasons are an acrimonious subject at these meetings.
One proposal, Sports Illustrated reports, wants to force all players to stand for the Anthem, under pain of a 15 yard-penalty and probably a fine...
Two protestors, Eric Reid and the man who started all this (Colin Kaepernick) are currently suing the NFL for collusion for being blackballed out of the NFL because of these protests.
The proposal also states that the home team of the game would determine whether both teams would be forced to come out of the locker room for the Anthem.
If they do this...
Hell, why not go all the way? Ushers throw out any and everybody from the game who doesn't swear fealty to the United Oompa-Loompas of America...
Nick Saban, coach of Alabama, finally had enough this week at Central Florida's claims of the national championship:
He said this, according to USA Today:
"“If you honor and respect the system that we have, (despite) some of the
imperfections that you understand that the system has, then you
wouldn’t do something out of respect for the system that we have,”"
Ding-dong. And you don't realize the entire point of the likes of the AD and former coach of UCF with what they've claimed, do you??
They DO NOT honor and respect the system -- NOR SHOULD THEY!
In fact, what Saban fails to do is the only real claim he would have left if he actually wanted to make a point that is central to the exercise: He would then have to, publicly, come out and state that UCF and the other (what I call) FBS-II schools play a lesser form of football and have no right to any place at the table whatsoever.
So, Nick... Care to make that claim??
Or are you going to ignore that, like you would the times that your school (even if you weren't the coach) almost got death-penaltied?
To state that a $500 million acceptance of a settlement is an idea of how bad this USA Gymnastics/Dr. Nassar incident actually is is an understatement.
Sacred cows are going to have to go. It's that simple. There are entire institutions, central to the American experience, that are so tied up in sexual assault and #MeToo and all this stuff that they are going to have to be taken down.
More and more, it appears that the US Olympic Committee, part and parcel, is one of them.
Shut the University down (because we all know the athletic programs won't get touched -- that $500M will either be tuition or education cuts...)
--
If you want to see how bad things are getting...
The child molester pitcher who was exposed at Oregon State just before the College World Series?
Sports Illustrated is trying to rehab the fucker now, and Deadspincaught them at it.
That, and the Detroit Lions hiring Matt Patricia as head coach after his problems left Diana Moskovitz with one comment: "It Sure Seems Like Nobody Running Any Sports Team Knows How To Run A Basic Background Check".
To which I say: DUH...
I would express serious doubts that you could create a championship team in either major sport in this country (football or basketball) with a strict no-criminals policy.
The reason nobody running any sports team knows how to run a basic background check is that check would screen out enough of the top-flight athletes that what you would have left over would not be of sufficient quality.
And I do believe this is intentional, especially as it relates to sexual assault, rape, sodomy, and the use of those and similar in hazing rituals: It is meant to remove humanity and create a machine-like atmosphere which will spur them on to greatness.
Basic background checks would remove so many of these athletes from the fore that you would not be able to make a proper team or league with what's left. (This is why everyone's laughing at Vince McMahon's "no criminals" edict for the new XFL/No Blacks League.)
When is someone going to have the bravery to question the entire legitimacy of the sports machine in this country vis-a-vis what is allowed to be done by these athletes to their "lessers" and make it stick where it counts???
(Doing two posts on today's Supreme Court ruling.)
Today was a long-awaited day in the annals of American sport. There was much debate, and there will be much debate.
The Supreme Court, however, ruled 7-2 today that the Federal law prohibiting sports gambling in the other 49 states (than Nevada) was unconstitutional. They have made it a state question (barring a Congressional act that can pass Constitutional states-rights muster), and the states can now legalize and regulate sports betting as they legally see fit.
According to the Washington Post, New Jersey, who brought the lawsuit, is planning to have Monmouth Park be the first non-Nevada sportsbook -- and to have them open in two weeks. (New Jersey passed a referendum to legalize sports gambling seven years ago.) Many are seeing it as a way to supplement horse racing, some are seeing it as a way to augment Indian casinos...
The article also states seven other Eastern states could legalize within 90 days, before the football season starts.
Contrary to what many believe I might think, this is a good decision. A VERY good decision, though not without it's possible potholes (which I will explain in my next post).
The first reason it's a good decision: The entire concept of protecting the integrity of professional and amateur sports in this country is, both in legal theory and in practice, a farce.
I could come out and basically say "Mayer", as in Mayer v. Belichick, New England Patriots, and National Football League, and end that discussion right now. That abomination of a decision legalized rigging of American sporting events, as long as the league or sanctioning body was the party doing so.
Any thought of "protecting" the "integrity" of American sports in the face of that decision should've been ended, and instantaneously. It is understood, especially by this reader of Dan Moldea's Interference, why some would believe that going back to more localized books would create problems.
However, it's time to understand the reality: Pressure to ensure the integrity of sport must come from without, not from within. That's one reason this is a good decision.
Second: The leagues, though final arbiters of where fixes occur, will often take into account Vegas lines and handles and use Vegas as a partner in fixing games. This decision, eventually, removes or stunts that partnership.
How many times have we watched sporting events and seen blatant attempts to cover the spread (or not cover the spread, over, under, whatever...)? This is going to make that much harder.
Third: I know a lot of people are going to disagree with me on this. I think this might actually force teams like the Miami Marlins and all to become competitive.
I know I'm probably stepping in it on this one. I get that.
One of the main models a lot of people eventually see going over this is the concept that, eventually, you will be able to go to your sporting event, punch up your site of choice on your smartphone, and bet the event -- including in-play, almost certainly.
How's that going to work with blatantly non-competitive teams? I'm the first to understand (largely because people who know more than me on the subject tell me this, and they're right!) about how every team makes money and the like.
Especially if the league gets their 1% (each of the leagues wants 1% of their league's betting, as an "integrity fee", which might push the realistic "even money" bet from 10-11 to 9-10), isn't it finally going to be in the leagues' best interests to force teams who clearly are skimming off the merchandising, etc. money to get as many warm bodies in and not have the following be the model, as Commissioner Blinded By The Light seems to want out of Major League Baseball these days?
Well, I have done one post on the good behind the 7-2 ruling today, but there's another side to all of this.
I've had quite some time to figure out some of the problems behind this as well. Here are a few:
First, if the leagues can enforce and get the casinos and states to allow a 1% "integrity fee" on all sports bets (which will include Nevada eventually, by the by), could that situation become a coercion/extortion situation in which leagues would more-openly screw teams from cities and states that refused?
As I said over the course of the NFL Playoffs this year, the league got a lot of mileage out of the controversial officiating and the rules interpretations (both late in the regular season and in the playoffs).
It is known that the leagues want a 1% "integrity fee" on all wagers on their league. There is an increasing acceptance, on a storyline level, that the referees fix the games the way the league wants them to go.
So would it not make sense, on every conceivable level, that teams from states which do not affix the integrity fee (in hopes of getting business from states which do -- a 10-11 juice is a better bet than a 9-10 one) will get screwed by the leagues which would receive the money, in the favor of teams from states which do?
If you don't believe me: Nevada sportsbooks took in $4.8 BILLION in legal bets in 2017.
(That was a record, as was the amount fans lost -- such that the profit for the books, according to Nevada Gaming Control, was almost $250,000,000.)
This is no trivial amount. We're probably talking hundreds of millions of dollars if sports gambling becomes widely legal across the land.
Second, although it may remove or stunt the partnership between leagues and Vegas on a specific part, it also brings back a lot of the other salient dangers of localized books regarding point-shaving and the like.
I am reminded immediately of the controversies surrounding Rapeis Winston. One of a massive number of them in his senior year (as reported in this blog) was rumors from the likes of Incarcerated Bob that Winston point-shaved games on behalf of a high-school friend who was making money with an illegal bookie
Once you localize the process, you are also going to force any investigative bodies trying to prevent actual point-shaving to localize their efforts quite a bit.
It does raise the side question as to whether some localities will, in fact, start authorizing betting on high-school sporting events. I could see it - certainly not nationwide.
Third, it raises a very real problem regarding books local to teams. Imagine the whole scene, Milwaukee to Chicago, on Bears-Packers, Cubs-Brewers, and what not.
And then imagine what happens in places with good teams that their fans can ride -- yes, the books will try to set the lines for even wins and losses. But imagine how much a book in the Bay Area might've lost on the Warriors the last 4 or so years...
I'll probably have a lot more to say about this later, but there's some good tidbits to start with now.
First, a note about next month. Same rules apply as Sochi. Unless an LGBT-violent act occurs, I have to boycott the World Cup. FIFA and the World Cup are usually very low-hanging fruit around here, but it's Russia -- and I think anyone who watches this this year (which is why my position that I am fucking glad the United States disgraced and got rigged their way out of this garbage still stands) had better understand what they are getting in to.
And, on a related note... It starts with one Deadspin article about one Israeli soccer team in their professional league.
There is now a team in the top professional league of Israel called Beitar Trump Jerusalem.
And it's named exactly for who you think it is -- thank owner Eli Tabib and executive manager Eli Ohana.
Well, it's even LESS of a surprise with today's SECOND Deadspin article about the situation.
And it starts with an Arabic banner in their home stadium: "BEITAR FOREVER PURE".
Racist as fuck, just like Trump. No Arabs on the team, and if it's right-wing ultras have their way, never will have them.
Free Agent Jalen Collins' NFL career better be over: He has suffered his FOURTH drug suspension, 10 more games after being suspended 14 games of last season and thrown off the Atlanta Falcons. He was suspended 10 games to start last year for PEDs. He then was thrown off the Falcons upon the end of the suspension, banned four more games for a non-PED violation (a third PED violation would be a two-year ban), and has now been banned again outside the PED scale. So two strikes PEDs, two other strikes elsewhere in the drug program -- my guess, although it's not been announced, is probably evasion of the testing protocols. (April 9)
Free Agent Mark Sanchez -- yes, he of the Buttfumble... Claims supplement contamination, but suspended 4 games for a PED violation. (April 13)
Minnesota Vikings: 2/3 of the way to a Club Remittance fine already. First, Kentrell Brothers, 4 games, PEDs. (April 20)
Minnesota Vikings: 10 days later, Caleb Jones, 4 games, PEDs. A third Viking suspension will cost the team a portion of at least the third player's salary. (April 30)
Carolina Panthers: Kent Taylor, 4 games, PEDs. (Are you seeing a pattern here?) (April 20)
New Orleans Saints: Mark Ingram, 4 games... PEDs. (May 8)
So, by my count, between the two reports I've been doing this offseason, that's three teams one suspension from a Club Remittance fine (Panthers, Saints and Vikings -- the Giants would be on the hook except Ayers has not resigned with them or anyone else).
There have been 13 announced NFL drug suspensions since the beginning of the league year. One was for a DUI (Josh Huff), and two were undisclosed (the free agents other than Sanchez).
Ten of the thirteen suspensions are for PEDs.
HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM....
And some updates on players banned at least one season or indefinitely due to repeated drug and other violations effective since the beginning of the 2016 league year:
Trey Watts: Banned in November 2015 indefinitely for the drug policy. Out of the NFL.
Aldon Smith: Banned in November 2015 for at least the entire 2016 season for a hit and run, has been arrested at least five times since, at least the last three for domestic violence. He is finished in the NFL after the Raiders finally released him in March of 2018 after arrest #5 and a failed reinstatement attempt in 2016.
Frank Alexander: Banned in November 2015 after one reinstatement for another drug problem for at least one year. Apparently not a problem for the CFL, he now plays for the British Columbia Lions, signing in March of 2017 (which would be after the year term of the Nov. 2015 suspension).
Martavis Bryant: Banned one year in March 2016, reinstated conditionally at it's completion. Returned to and played for the Steelers, who just traded him to the Raiders for a third-round pick in the just-completed Draft.
Silas Redd: Banned indefinitely in April of 2016, reinstated in December. Waived by the Redskins upon reinstatement, he now plays rugby in Australia.
Sammie Lee Hill: Banned indefinitely in November of 2016, reinstated today, but has not played in the league since 2015.
Rolando McClain: Banned indefinitely in December of 2016 for, at the last suspension, the "purple drank", has officially retired from the league TWICE already (before going to the Cowboys). He will probably be retired the third time forcibly and permanently -- there is no word currently on reinstatement.
Randy Gregory: Banned for at least one year in January, 2017 for his drug history. Will attempt reinstatement in May.
Justin Gilbert: Technically has about a month and a half to serve on his one-year suspension before he can consider reinstatement.
Darren Waller: Same as Gilbert (both suspensions were in late June of 2017). Probably the only reason he's still on the Ravens is a combination of his first year ending in IR and the last two years being suspended for part or all of it.
That's ten players suspended either a year or indefinitely in that time period.
Two still have time to serve, one will attempt reinstatement this month.
Of the other seven, only three were ever reinstated, only one has played in the NFL since.
According to a lawsuit, you can now add taekwondo to gymnastics and swimming as sports beset by the United States Sexual Assault Olympic Committee...
But the Deadspin report states this goes even further -- and possibly into TRAFFICKING the athletes, and pedophilia!
Jean and Steven Lopez were referred to as "the first family of Taekwondo". Jean is Steven's coach. Steven has two Olympic gold medals (Under 60 kg in 2000, Under 80 kg in 2004), an Olympic bronze medal (Under 80 kg is 2008), and five Taekwondo World Championships in the 2000's.
Jean has been thrown out of Taekwondo by the sanctioning bodies for LIFE due to the results of an investigation into at least sexual harassment of numerous female Taekwondo athletes over a span of decades.
Steven has been placed under a suspension, pending such banishment for life.
The lawsuit refers to a number of underage athletes being ferried around by the US Taekwondo Federation and the USOC to Jean and Steven, where underage grooming and sex were involved. The period alleged goes for at least two decades, and encompasses the entire Olympic career of Steven. (The lawsuit goes from 1996-97 all the way to the present.)
Here's the most damning part, from the Deadspin article:
"If these athletes wanted to stay on Team USA and fulfill their
childhood dreams to compete as Olympians for the United States, they had
no choice but to submit to the Lopez brothers’ sexual demands.
If they refused to do so, they were benched, suspended, or kicked off Team USA by the Lopez brothers, the USOC, and USA TKD."
I've said it, and I've said it without snark -- especially as it relates to the female gymnasts. How many of the "next Mary Lous" never got the chance because they were blackballed for saying no???
How many girls were thrown out of these sports (and others) for refusing to drop and spread?
There are currently four defendants, identified in the Deadspin article. I'll just give Cliffs' Notes on each and their allegations:
One began to be groomed at 13 when she moved to the USOC training center, witnessed another minor athlete being raped then, and was raped herself by another man (also permanently banned from Taekwondo) at 15. Either this incident or another was filmed. At 17, another encounter got her pregnant, for which she was forced to get an abortion. Digitally raped at 16, sexually assaulted all the way until she was raped at 24 by one of the Lopez', and the other threw her off the team when she refused further and ran, naked, down the street to escape.
A second was sexually assaulted at the Pan-Am Championships in 2002. She was sexually assaulted by Jean at the World Championships in 2003. She was raped in a taxi afterward. In 2006, she was allegedly told by the CEO of Taekwondo USA not to report anything Jean did to her.
A third was raped at a 2006 meet in Germany. It was made clear afterward that any advancement she would have in taekwondo was contingent on sex with at least one of the Lopez'. She was raped to pregnancy in 2011, forced to get an abortion, and reported the incidents to USA Taekwondo in 2015.
A fourth was actually warned by her local coaches as to the grooming-for-sex habits of the Lopez' before she moved to have them as her coaches. Her parents tried to protect her, but the Lopez' abused her until she relented and allowed them to have their way with her -- including forcing her to fight men without requisite protective equipment. By 17, she had relented, and was in a sexual relationship (one of at least three underage teens at the time) with Steven. Raped through a drugged drink in 2008, another attempt alleged in 2013 against her and another party....
Basically, they're going to attempt to prove that the United States Olympic Committee traffics children for sex, as a function of the selection process of who gets to represent the country in the Games.
How much more, Mr. Fencer from 1976? (A Reddit meme, in that the IOC President had to have his event and medal mentioned after every appearance...) How much more before the USA is GONE from the Olympic movement??
We are now well past the point that, as much as the drug situation in Russia is state-sponsored, one now has to take a look at the American Olympic movement as a sum total, and recognize a very probable state-sponsored sexual-assault scheme, using the hopes and dreams of Olympic glory...
We send our girls and women, some as young as about 8, basically to sexually charge the crowds and be basically the harems for the male elect, whether they be donors, recruits, the players themselves, rich people...
And the latest example of this has just hit the media like a truck. A report from the New York Times, reported in both ESPN and Deadspin today, indicate that members of the 2013 Washington Redskins cheerleading squad were ordered to pose topless in front of players, team officials, and various expensive bigwigs.
The members of the squad, apparently in Costa Rica for the annual calendar photo shoot, were ordered to pose topless and in only body paint. This is, basically, what the Sports Illustrated issue has become over the years, but the story gets far worse on at least two levels.
Spectators invited by the team watched, and, later in the evening, a number of them were ordered to serve as escorts (no sex is claimed by the women) for a number of big-money parties.
Look... Can we finally just get off the idea that this is a legitimate, non-sexual event ancillary to sporting events? And I'm not even saying that to make it "right"...
The fact is that, from Pop Warner to professional, we ask our women to sexually gratify us on the sideline -- or, at least at the very minimum, "This is what you would have if you were a real man."
