And here it is, the final 2019 NFL Season Score Report

• First, we had one coach fired off-the-field today.  Kitchens is fired in Cleveland.  How it lasted this long, I have no idea.

Now, to the year-end score report:

•  47.1875 points per game for the week.

Season ending average:   45.638.

2018:  46.727 (279 more points last year than this one)

2017:  43.4375

2016:  44.933

2015:  45.625

2014:  45.1875

2013:  46.707

•  Home teams were 7-9 this week.

Season final record:  129-120-1.  (.518)

2018:  .602

2017:  .566

2016:  .585

2015:  .545

2014:  .589

•  Almost had something very interesting happen for the season, as the Over went 12-3-1 in the final week...

For 124-125-7 for the year, one game short of .500.

If you had bet $100 on every Over for the games this year, you'd have ended up -$1,227.

2018:  -2700

2017:  -3100

2016:  - 400

2015:  -2700

• Favorites went 8-8 for the final week against the number...

115-132-9 for the year.  Same $100 caveat for favorites ends up -$2,745.

2018:  -3300

2017:  + 700

2016:  - 300

2015:  -2500

• Favorites went 11-5 straight up

For 166-88-1 for the year.

2018:  165-88-2
2017:  181-74
2016:  161-83-1

• Team with more penalties was 5-8 for the week

For 111-121-1 for the season.

2018:  100-119-2
2017:  99-137
2016:  92-126
2015:  111-127

• 184 penalties this week (11.5 per game)

Season total:  3,442 (13.445 per game)

• Cliffhangers:  3 this week

But only 37 for the season!  Had one week with five, no other weeks higher than three, and a three-week stretch which only had a total of two!

2018:  56

2017:  49

2016:  50

2015:  57

2014:  40

2013:  56

• Eight games finished within one score.

132 total for the season, (51.56%)

2018:  134  (52.5%)

• Percentage of competitive games this season with 2 non-competitive games this week:

67.58%

2018:  67.58  (Same exact number of games as this year)

2017:  66.02

2016:  71.1

2015:  67.57

2014:  62.89

2013:  68

• And 5 Last Chance Misses

For 78 for the year.

2018:  63
2017:  48
2016:  73

The NFL has just set their narrative. It's Baltimore vs. San Francisco.

Sorry, Green Bay.  The NFL is going another direction.  And you'll find that out in three weeks when you get another ass-whipping in San Francisco to seal it.

And what they had to do to get there.

First off, on first or second down on the set of downs BEFORE the ball got to the half-yard line, Russell Wilson throws the ball into double coverage in the end zone and nearly gets picked off.

That set gets to fourth down, and the pass is complete, short of the line -- perfect for Seattle, as the clock will probably run out on any return shot for San Francisco if they score.

IF they score...

Because after a spike, Seattle inexplicably takes a delay of game on second down, and then throws a ball eerily akin to that Clemson interception the night before!!

Now, you're a HALF-YARD from the division. HOW IN FUCK DO YOU TAKE A DELAY OF GAME in that position -- without breaking the huddle -- and no one appears to care, including Coach Carroll on the sideline!!!

And you just acquired Marshawn Lynch!!!!

EDIT TO ADD:  And now I'm hearing "They didn't want to take the 10 second runoff"...

THERE WERE TWENTY-TWO SECONDS LEFT.  I'd rather they take the ten seconds and basically say "WHEN we score with Marshawn, you aren't getting the ball back!!"

Then, on third down, holding/pass interference all over the place on the intended receiver.

EDIT TO ADD:  And that got through the replay review that the league could've initiated on it with the new rule!

And then on fourth down, the replay call was right, but the replay also clearly shows a clean helmet shot on the hit that left the Seahawk short of the line!!!

AND NO ONE BATS AN EYELASH!!!

So not only does Seattle take a blatant dive, but Refball on top of it.

Well, I now have my Super Bowl prediction at the start of the playoffs:

Baltimore 28
San Francisco 24

Most of it is in the books...

• Tennessee won the #6 seed in the AFC after beating Houston.
• I had it wrong on the seeding and the bye in the AFC -- Kansas City actually won it with a win and a Patriots loss...  Gee, you THINK????
• Green Bay is probably going to be the #2 in the NFC.  FG to win it at the gun over Detroit sealed it, even though New Orleans ran out Carolina.
• But San Francisco is dominating the Sunday Nighter in Seattle so far with scores on three of their first-half drives for 13-0 in the second.
• Philadelphia finally finished the job for the NFC East and the #4 with a win over the Giants.

So here's where we are:

AFC:

1.  Baltimore
2.  Kansas City
3.  New England
4.  Houston
5.  Buffalo
6.  Tennessee

Tennessee at New England
Buffalo at Houston

NFC:

1.  San Francisco/Green Bay
2.  Green Bay/New Orleans (first option if the score holds tonight, second if Seattle comes back)
3.  New Orleans/Seattle
4.  Philadelphia
5.  Seattle/San Francisco loser
6.  Minnesota

Minnesota at New Orleans or Seattle
Seattle/SF loser at Philadelphia

You're going to have a hard time convincing me that game wasn't fixed for Clemson at the end...

Watch this interception to seal Clemson's date with LSU in the CFP Championship, and tell me how this game wasn't a predetermination...



Took a dive, son.  Why?  Because ESPN needed Clemson in the title game so they could properly anoint Burrow and LSU?

And another angle:  A number of questionable calls have been alleged and which conference had the officials for this semifinal?

The one and the same SEC which LSU is a member of!

This scoop and score for Ohio State, reversed under review, was the worst:

#RIGGED pic.twitter.com/FuOCC65vMt

— Ghost of Billy King (@whyfipree) December 29, 2019

There was a key targeting ejection which was NOT.  Targeting ALL DAY on this one:


All the same, though: Who do the referees work for again?  ESPN and the conferences.

Hey, ESPN, College Football, and NCAA!!! How's that Playoff working for you?

Hard facts as Oklahoma is getting absolutely DRILLED -- AGAIN...

• Joe Burrow has just written his ticket to Cincinnati.  Today, he became the fifth quarterback in FBS history to throw for seven touchdown passes in a half -- the FBS record.   (Page 8)
• Oklahoma is now 0-4 in the College Football Playoff.

1. 2015-16 Orange Bowl:  37-17 to Clemson
2. 2017-18 Rose Bowl was the one close game at 54-48 to Georgia in double-OT
3. 2018-19 Orange Bowl:  45-34 to Alabama
4. 2019-20 Peach Bowl:  63-28 to LSU

• Average margin of defeat:  18 points.
• Only 11 different schools have been in the CFP.  
• Alabama six times, Clemson five.
• The SEC plus Clemson is 13-6 in the CFP.  
• Only one of those six losses was not against someone else in that group -- and that was a semifinal in the first year of the CFP.
• The rest of the country?  3-10.

College football is no longer a national sport.

It's really a semi-glorified version of NASCAR (regional sport, national reach), propped up by the traditions and religions of Football Nation America.

It would be better to abolish the CFP and go back to at least the BCS, if not a backroom deal situation, because it's clear that this is a southeastern-US sport with a false national reach because of the traditions that magnetized recruiting has now basically destroyed.

I SERIOUSLY doubt Oklahoma was the fourth best team this year -- but what are you going to do unless you go SEC/SEC/SEC/Clemson or SEC/SEC/SEC/SEC??

Better to take the best schools of the SEC, add Clemson and enough cannon fodder name schools from the rest of the country and create one national top superconference and get rid of the CFP (and all remaining pretense of national reach of this false sport) once and for all.

We have one on Saturday this week! 2019 Week 16 NFL Fine Blotter

Probably not much of one -- penalties were way down again last week.

But there are a few:

• Carolina Panthers:  Vernon Butler did get exactly the two fines he thought he would for his ejection and his post-departure antics.  $10,527 for the punch that got him tossed -- and another $14,037 for the Finger du Middle he gave the fans on the way out.
• New Orleans Saints:  CJ Gardner-Johnson, $28,075 for a helmet shot.  TWO TIME LOSER.
• New York Jets:  Arthur Maulet:  $21,056 for a horse-collar tackle.
• Minnesota Vikings:  Garrett Bradbury:  $28,075 for a blindside block.
• With that fine, the Vikings become the ninth team to reach the first $50,000 team fine threshold.
• Of the nine teams, two are currently in the playoffs (GB and Minnesota), and two more are out looking in with a shot in Week 17 (Dallas and Pittsburgh).
• Possibly more to come.

Said a couple days ago about Robert Kraft trying to score some points for the NFL...

This could be the end of Robert Kraft -- and it goes back to that Florida massage-parlor prostitution case in Florida from this year.

Yahoo! Sports, quoting from the Sun-Sentinel near Palm Beach, FL and a report from Marc Freeman, reports that, in fact, as I stated on this blog ten months ago, the charges Kraft needs to face are, in fact, third-degree felonies.

Now, for at least the Lamar Jackson angle, I am thinking the NFL is still angling to Baltimore.  I have had convincing arguments, though, that this is all a "Patriots Overcome All" angle the NFL is trying to purport -- but a report like this that it now appears that the state of Florida IS going to seek the proper felony charges against Robert Kraft is not a good look, especially if the league does carry out said angle.

Stay tuned.

There was a brief Week 2019 Week 15 Fine Blotter (and another suspension too), so here it is:

Spotrac with the heads-up -- sounds like three Roughing the Passers for $21,056 each:

• Jacksonville Jaguars:  Calais Campbell (TWO-TIME LOSER)
• Denver Broncos:  Shelby Harris
• and Atlanta Falcons:  Adrian Clayborn

And a drug suspension to report:

• Atlanta Falcons:  Jordan Miller:  4 games for PEDs

And that one forces the Falcons to cut a check.

Miller loses $146,117 -- an offseason Personal Conduct suspension cost Ra'Shede Hageman $84,706 -- so the Falcons are fined 15% of that total:   $34,623.

Hmmm... Robert Kraft trying to score some points with the NFL to get them to push the Patriots??

The New England Patriots flew the Navy football team to the Liberty Bowl on their private plane.

Let that all process.

(Yardbarker)

Is anyone ever going to get E-sports in general and League of Legends specifically under control anytime soon? (No.)

It has long been the position of this blog that e-sports is a quasi-illegal fad that, if ever exposed to the light of day of the law, would not stand muster at all.

First is the post-2019 season departure of Rick Fox and Echo Fox from the North American league -- largely due to racist conduct by at least one other member of the ownership group which Fox and the remainder of the ownership group decided they would rather be thrown out of the NALCS rather than address it!

On May 15, 2019, a preliminary investigation into Echo Fox and a statement of racism on the part of their ownership was concluded, and a 60-day clock began for Rick Fox and the other members of the ownership to address the issue.

They did not, and, by July 15, gave them an additional 30 days to divest.

After being given a period of time to attempt to sell the team, the team was expelled from the NALCS and folded by Riot Games on August 15, 2019 -- as probably a testament to the complete acceptance of aberrant conduct by North American gaming officials, plus the reality that there may not be that much of an in for a third-rate league which amounts to nothing on the world stage, end of the day.

The franchise was sold to former International winners Evil Geniuses.

But now, as the calendar turns to Christmas, we apparently have another major problem, this time in Korea.  (Source of timeline:  ESPN's e-sports reporting.)

Griffin was the #1 team in Korea last year until the Summer playoffs for automatic promotion, when longtime Korean stalwarts SK Telecom T1 defeated them.

Griffin then won their Worlds group with a 5-1 record before being eliminated by Invictus Gaming.

But that's nothing compared to what's gone on behind the scenes regarding the Korean split champions.

By Christmas, the franchise has been under investigation by the Korean E-Sports Association (KeSPA) and Riot Games.

The subject:  Contracts.

Here's a Cliff's Notes, so we don't deny the hard work of Jacob Wolf and Ashley Kang here:

• September 26:  Less than a week before the World Championships begin, Griffin fires their coach, cvMax.  cvMax then claims a lack of results -- but they won both splits in the regular season, the spring playoffs, and only lost to SK Telecom T1 in the Korean finals in the summer split, and were a clear high-level favorite to do well in the tournament!  He had been contracted for two more years with Griffin.
• October 14-16:  cvMax charges a probable improper transfer/loan of a Griffin player to a Chinese side.  That player, under Korean law, was a minor.  His claims are roundly denied by all still involved with Griffin, as the World Championships are in progress.
• Several months into the loan, the Chinese team wanted the player permanently.
• The director of the team charged the player with tampering and threatened to end his professional career -- at which point, the player signed a 5-year contract with the Chinese team.
• The next day, Riot launches a tampering investigation, and the parent company of Griffin launches an investigation against the team director.
• Four days after this, and as a testament to the importance of e-sports in Korea, the Korean parliament receives a bill to strengthen contracts for e-sports players across Korea.
• October 29:  First findings of KeSPA and Riot.  Not sufficient for tampering, but two other problems under Riot rules:  Apparently, loaning players out was a common practice for Griffin, and this was done more than the rules allowed.  Also, the contract between the player and Griffin and the one between him and the Chinese team exceeded the maximum length of three years.
• November 4:  cvMax finds a Korean team to coach in 2020 at the top level.
• November 12:  The director of Griffin involved in this situation quits.
• November 20:  cvMax and the director of Griffin are thrown out of League of Legends permanently (at least indefinitely) by Riot and KeSPA.  The franchise is fined about $90,000 and told any further problems would end their involvement in League of Legends.
• November 21:  The Griffin contract with the player is released publicly, and there are a number of irregularities.  
• The team could cut the player for any health hospital reason -- and, if they did so, that player could not play again anywhere for one year after the cut.
• The player must retain contact with the team, or be fined all of his salary plus about $42,000.
• Four days later, the new heads of Griffin offer players to leave, and three players take them up on it.
• Two days after that, Riot decides to withhold the coach's suspension and allow a third-party to look into abuse allegations against cvMax.
• November 28, the next day:  The player involved in the tampering situation does sign with the Chinese team, but now for only one year.
• December 4:  As the Korean government looks into contracts such as the player's, two of the three players who opted to leave Griffin now join cvMax on his new team.
• December 16:  cvMax is named in a police investigation involving both physical and verbal abuse by a former Griffin player.

Gee...  This sounds awfully familiar...

The picture clears, and so does the political situation. Week 16 2019 NFL Political Rankings and Week 17 Relevance.

The AFC Playoff Picture is unchanged from the last post, but I will port it over.

AFC:

1) Baltimore LOCKED

2) New England LOCKED

3) Kansas City -- WON AFC WEST -- clinches #3 with a win over the Chargers next week or a Houston loss

4) Houston -- WON AFC SOUTH -- gets #3 with a win over Tennessee and a Kansas City loss

5) Buffalo LOCKED

6) Tennessee -- in playoffs with a win over Houston or a Pittsburgh loss and either an Indy loss or an Oakland loss.

OUT BUT A CHANCE:

Pittsburgh -- in playoffs with a win over Baltimore and a Tennessee loss

And I stand corrected, which adds a couple more games to the list.

Oakland is still in, but needed four results to break their way this week and they got them!

Now they need four more next week.  They win, Baltimore wins, Houston wins, Indianapolis wins.  At that point, Oakland WOULD win Strength of Victory for the #6 at 8-8.

So if I have the math right, there are only 3(-5) relevant games next week in the AFC:

KC vs. Chargers for wild-card seeding
Pittsburgh vs. Baltimore for a shot at getting in for Pittsburgh
Tennessee vs. Houston for both.
(Indy vs. Jacksonville, but only indirectly and only if Baltimore and Houston win)
(Oakland vs. Denver if but only if Pittsburgh, Tennessee, and Indy win early games)

The NFC picture, however, is interesting.

It currently stands as follows:

1) San Francisco (12-3), IN PLAYOFFS (HTH over Green Bay)

#1 if they beat Seattle Sunday night.  #5 if they lose.

2) Green Bay (12-3), WON NFC NORTH (tonight)

First-round bye if they beat Detroit or Carolina beats New Orleans.  If they beat Detroit and Seattle wins at home over San Francisco, Green Bay is the #1 seed.  Can do no worse than #3.

3) New Orleans (12-3), WON NFC SOUTH

A win over Carolina and losses by San Francisco and Green Bay would get New Orleans the #1.

A win over Carolina and a loss by either Green Bay or San Francisco would get New Orleans the #2.

Any other scenario:  #3.

4) Philadelphia (8-7)

Win and in.  Lose and out unless Dallas also loses.  NFC East Champion LOCKED to the #4.

5) Seattle (11-4), IN PLAYOFFS

Beat San Francisco, win division.  #5 seed clinched with one game lead over Minnesota plus HTH win.

#1 seed if they win and BOTH Green Bay and New Orleans lose.

#2 seed if they win and Green Bay loses (and New Orleans wins).

#3 seed if they win otherwise.

6) Minnesota (10-5) LOCKED

OUT, STILL A CHANCE)

Dallas (7-8), must win and Philly must lose.

So, relevant for Week 17:

SF @ SEA, obviously.
Both NFC East games for the #4.
GB @ DET (for a first-round bye and maybe more)
NO @ CAR (depending on other concurrent results)

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

So now to the Political Rankings:

AFC:

1) Baltimore

I think Larry Johnson is right.  Pushing the Next Great Black Hope as a means to try to at least get some of the #NFLBoycott crowd back.

2) New England

Key no-call in that final drive against Buffalo puts them here.  Still, how long can they keep Spygate III under wraps?

3) Kansas City

Don't look now, they've won five in a row since Mahomes' return.  Only real question is whether the league might revert to the original narrative.

4) Houston

5) Buffalo

6) Pittsburgh

7) Oakland

Would not be shocked to see all the chips align for the Raiders to get a playoff game.

NFC:

Oof.  Really vacillating here.

Pretty much San Francisco and Green Bay for NFL 100, or New Orleans for the makeup call.

As of right now:

1) Green Bay

And I really don't like it, but the "NFL 100" angle has to be taken into account.  The San Francisco loss is huge, and the amount of Refball to get the Pack to 12-3 this year CANNOT be ignored.

2) New Orleans

I still don't like the angle because of the lawsuits, but...

3) San Francisco

"NFL 100"

4) Philadelphia

Could a 9-7 Philly sneak past all these guys to the Super Bowl?

5) Seattle

Too many suspensions.

6) Dallas

Ratings.

7) Minnesota

2019 Week 16 NFL Score Report

One quick note:

• As of last I checked, and will have to check Spotrac to catch up, there is no Week 15 Fine Blotter.  As in:  The NFL announced ZERO fines for last week.  Now, penalties were way down...

Anyway, onto this week:

• Very low-scoring late games and Sunday and Monday nighters brought the average for the week down to 45.56 and the season average to 45.33.
• Home teams were 8-8 for 122-111-1 for the year.  
• Over was 6-10 for 112-122-6.
• Favorites were 8-7-1 against the number for 107-124-9.
• Favorites were 10-6 straight up for 155-83-1.
• Team with more penalties was 5-10 for 106-113-1 for the year.
• Only 174 penalties this week (10.875 per game).  The year has now had 3,258 penalties (13.575 per game)
• Three Cliffhangers for 34 for the year.
• Eight games finished within one score for 128 for the year.
• Four non-competitive contests for 81 total for the year.
• Five Last Chance Misses for 73 total for the year.

Ratings from Sports Media Watch, remembering that the three games on Saturday were all NFL Network/Local Exclusives:

• Sunday National:  16.8, 88% was the Cowboys-Eagles showdown.  Best in four years for Week 16.  Up 2% over last year.
• Sunday Single:  8.2, down 19%.
• No other figures available.

So Sunday is done very quickly, and here's where we stand:

Here are the seeds right now, locks denoted:

AFC:

1) Baltimore LOCKED

2) New England LOCKED

3) Kansas City -- WON AFC WEST -- clinches #3 with a win over the Chargers next week or a Houston loss

4) Houston -- WON NFC SOUTH -- gets #3 with a win over Tennessee and a Kansas City loss

5) Buffalo LOCKED

6) Tennessee -- in playoffs with a win over Houston or a Pittsburgh loss

OUT BUT A CHANCE:

Pittsburgh -- in playoffs with a win over Baltimore and a Tennessee loss

And I stand corrected, which adds a couple more games to the list.

Oakland is still in, but needed four results to break their way this week and they got them!

Now they need four more next week.  They win, Baltimore wins, Houston wins, Indianapolis wins.  At that point, Oakland WOULD win Strength of Victory for the #6 at 8-8.

So if I have the math right, there are only 3 relevant games next week in the AFC:

KC vs. Chargers for wild-card seeding
Pittsburgh vs. Baltimore for a shot at getting in for Pittsburgh
Tennessee vs. Houston for both.
(Indy vs. Jacksonville, but only indirectly and only if Baltimore and Houston win)
(Oakland vs. Denver if but only if Pittsburgh, Tennessee, and Indy win early games)

NFC:

1) San Francisco -- IN PLAYOFFS -- needs to beat Seattle to win the #1 seed

2) Green Bay -- IN PLAYOFFS -- needs to beat Minnesota tomorrow night and Detroit a week from now to get at least the #2.  If they do so and Seattle beats San Francisco, Green Bay is the #1 seed.  They can still get the first-round bye (but only the #2), even if they lose -- but they must beat Detroit and Carolina must beat New Orleans.  In that case, the winner of SF and Seattle is the #1 -- the loser is the #6 if Minnesota beats Chicago next week!!!

A lot still matters tomorrow night, though.  New Orleans takes a major leap up the table if Minnesota wins tomorrow night.

3) New Orleans -- WON NFC SOUTH -- can get the #1 seed if they beat Carolina, Green Bay loses once and Seattle beats San Francisco.  Can get the #2 if Green Bay wins out OR San Francisco beats Seattle.  Is demoted to the #3 if they either lose to Carolina or Green Bay wins out and San Francisco beats Seattle.

4) Philadelphia -- Win and in, out if they lose and Dallas wins.

5) Seattle -- IN PLAYOFFS -- beat San Francisco and win the NFC West.  Lose, they're a wildcard.  If they win, they get the #1 seed if Minnesota beats Green Bay and New Orleans loses to Carolina.  (There's a potential five-way tie at 12-4 between SEA, SF, GB, MIN, and NO.  GB beats MIN in that scenario, Seattle beats San Francisco by the sweep.  Seattle wins the three-way.)

They get the #2 if Green Bay loses to Minnesota, New Orleans beats Carolina, and they beat San Francisco.

If GB beats Minnesota in that scenario, Seattle is the #3.

If they lose, they're the #5 unless Green Bay beats Detroit, Carolina beats New Orleans, and Minnesota beats Chicago.

So they can be any seed but #4 at this point.

6) Minnesota -- IN PLAYOFFS -- needs to win out and have Green Bay lose out to win the NFC North.  Can get the #2 and a first round bye if all that happens and Carolina beats New Orleans.

#3 if New Orleans beats Carolina in the above.

#6 unless all of the above happens for the SF/SEA loser to go to #6, at which point Minnesota would be the #5.

OUT BUT A CHANCE)

Dallas:  Needs a win and a Philly loss.

So, next week (Monday night largely irrelevant at least with respect to the relevancy of Week 17):

SF at SEA:  Obviously, winner wins the division and there's all sorts of implications.  That's why that game was the Flex.
GB at DET:  Possible division or bye (or Home Field Advantage if GB beats Minnesota Monday night).
CHI at MIN:  Possible division (pending the other division game), bye (pending that and a couple other results), or seeding
NO at CAR:  Home Field Advantage if they can be the last 13-3 standing, bye scenario.  Game is relevant when played, but other results during the game may render it irrelevant (GB if they win tomorrow night).
PHI at NYG, WSH at DAL:  NFC East

So nine of the 16 games will be relevant next week.

And now to update: Wouldn't you know it!!!

Philly beats Dallas, so both those games are relevant.  Philadelphia wins the NFC East if it wins or both teams lose.  Dallas needs a win.

If Green Bay beats Minnesota, then the Minnesota Week 17 game has no relevance.  Minnesota would be the #6.

So let's see how bad Goodell has fucked Week 17 so far...

We've got six games left as of the end of the 1 PM Eastern games, and now it's time to get a look at what MIGHT be relevant next week:

They have officially flexed San Fran at Seattle to the NBC game -- as, regardless of Seattle's result today, the winner wins the NFC West.

If Seattle beats Arizona today, the winner is the #1 seed in the NFC, the loser #5.

NYJ @ Buffalo:  NOTHING.  Buffalo locks the #5 with the Jets beating Pittsburgh.

Cleveland @ Cincinnati:  NOTHING.  Cincy clinched the #1 Draft Pick today, so there's isn't even THAT.

Washington @ Dallas:  ONLY IF DALLAS LOSES TODAY.  Otherwise, Dallas clinches the NFC Least and the #4.

Green Bay @ Detroit:  YES, EXTENT TO BE DETERMINED.  Seeding importance (1-3 or 2-3, depending on SEA-ARI result today), and if GB loses tomorrow, MIN can still win the NFC North.

LA Chargers @ Kansas City:  SEEDING ONLY, AND WILD-CARD OPPONENT SEEDING AT THAT.  Baltimore clinched home-field throughout the AFC, New England clinched the #2.

Chicago @ Minnesota:  TO BE DETERMINED.  If Seattle beats Arizona, the Vikings must beat Green Bay to make this game even remotely relevant.  Otherwise, the Vikings clinch the #6.

Miami @ New England:  NOTHING.  Baltimore has clinched home field, New England has clinched the #2.

Philadelphia @ Giants:  ONLY IF DALLAS LOSES TODAY. 

Atlanta @ Tampa Bay:  NOTHING.

New Orleans @ Carolina:  SEEDING/FIRST ROUND BYE IMPLICATIONS.

Indy @ Jacksonville:  NOTHING.

Tennessee @ Houston:  YES.  Same Wild-Card Seeding for Houston as is for Kansas City.  However, Tennessee and Pittsburgh are tied at 8-7.

Pittsburgh @ Baltimore: YES.

Oakland @ Denver:  NOTHING.  Oakland is now eliminated through Strength of Victory tiebreaker with the aforementioned Tennessee and Pittsburgh.

Arizona @ LA Rams:  NOTHING.

So that means, as of the 4:25 Eastern kickoffs, there are only SIX definitely relevant games on the Week 17 schedule, and that is even if you account for the AFC 3-4 situation for one of them.  And only if Philly wins does that number reach eight, and Monday Night for nine.

Suspension Blotter: ANOTHER SEAHAWK...

If the Seahawks get to the Super Bowl now, I think Jerry Jones has the right to start asking some real questions...

The third actual-credited and sixth Seahawk suspension of the season:

• Seattle Seahawks:  Al Wood:  4 games, PEDs.

$231,526 lost there.

So now the suspension fine for the Seahawks is $172,782.

A former NFLer may just have raised the curtain on why Baltimore is getting the big push this season...

I'd been wondering what was going on with Baltimore and Lamar Jackson, and then former NFL player Larry Johnson posted this (hat-tip to Brian Tuohy for retweeting it):

The media race baited NFL boycotters back into watching the NFL due to the storyline success of Lamar Jackson Lmao.....

....My annuity about to look like I was drafted again.

— Larry Johnson (@2LarryJohnson7) December 18, 2019

BINGO!!!

Suspension Blotter: Another season over.

• Denver Broncos:  Kareem Jackson:  The last 2 games of this season for a September arrest.  Costs him $352,942 according to Spotrac.

Only the first suspension of the year for the Broncos.

And NOW I can do the Political Rankings for Week 15...

Good...  Grief!

San Fran loses with Refball at home.  Green Bay gets some apparent Refball (though I do think the punt returner was declared defenseless -- so the 15 was right, the call was wrong).

And where do we stand NOW...

AFC is fairly cut and dry.

1.  Baltimore (#1 seed, WON AFC NORTH, 12-2, Magic Number to clinch #1 seed is one)

One of the rare cases where the apparent shoot and the apparent work in a conference are the same team.  Spygate III has probably done in the Patriots.  The Chiefs are not ready for prime time, and God only knows what comes out of the AFC South.

2.  New England (#2 seed, IN PLAYOFFS, 11-3, beat Buffalo on Saturday to win the AFC East and secure a first-round bye)

... almost by default.  I would not, at all, be shocked if they are knocked off in the Divisional round, however.

3.  Kansas City (#3 seed, WON AFC WEST, 10-4)

I think it began with another bad round of suspensions and the like.  Maybe holding Mahomes off a year or two.

4.  Houston (#4 seed, 9-5)

5.  Buffalo (#5 seed, IN PLAYOFFS, 10-4)

Could go a long way up the ladder if they can beat New England this weekend.

6.  Pittsburgh (#6 seed, 8-6)

But now tied with Tennessee.

NFC, by contrast, got messy as HELL!

Four teams 11-3 and a fifth is 10-4!

1.  San Francisco (#5 seed since Seattle won the first matchup, 11-3, IN PLAYOFFS)

Seattle and San Fran play Week 17.

The problem with picking a #1 in the NFC is that all of the other choices have a significant poison pill...

2.  Green Bay (#2 seed, IN PLAYOFFS, 11-3)

Two wins gets them a first-round bye at minimum.  Problem is two-fold:  Too small a town, and they aren't THAT good.  Name one real blowout they've had all year!

3.  New Orleans (#3 seed, WON NFC SOUTH, 11-3)

A lot of people have believed the Super Bowl XXXVII Make Up Call Game would be implied here, at least in the NFC.  But New Orleans sued the fuck out of the league, and I can't see the league taking kindly to that, chips down.

4.  Minnesota (#6 seed, 10-4)

Magic number for the playoffs is one.

5.  Seattle (#1 seed, IN PLAYOFFS, 11-3)

The problem here is simple:  How many more suspensions until they're in the doghouse, Jerry Jones style?

6.  Dallas (#4 seed, 7-7)

And speaking of Jerry Jones...

And they could not let, with all the beef in the NFC, a 6-10 team make the playoffs, or even 7-9 now.

2019 Week 15 NFL Score Report

• 48.4375 points per game in another relatively high-scoring week -- almost the opposite of the end of the season last year!
• Season average creeping up to 45.53 now.  (46.92 last year)
• Home teams lost out this week, 7-9.  Season total:  115-103-1
• Over was 10-6 for 106-112-6.
• Against the number:  Favorites were 9-6-1 this week for 99-116-8 for the season.
• Straight up:  Favorites were 10-6 for 145-77-1.
• Team with more penalties was 7-7, for 101-103-1.
• Only 182 penalties this week (11.375 per game).  Season total:  3084 (13.77)
• Three Cliffhangers this week for 31 for the season.
• Only six of the 16 games finished within one score -- and fully half the games this week were noncompetitive!
• Within one score for the season:  116.  Non-competitive:  77.
• 4 Last Chance Misses for 68.
• And two games in which there were useless scoop-and-scores at the gun.  BOTH impacted Vegas betting.
• Atlanta's scoop and score put the game over 50 at 51.
• And Philadelphia was a 6.5 point favorite over Washington and needed that scoop and score to cover it.

Ratings by Sports Media Watch:

• NFL National:  15.0, worst rated Week 15 in 15 years.  Down 9% YoY.  Cowboys-Rams had most of that window. 
• NFL Regional:  10.1, best rated Week 15 in 4 years, up 22% YoY.  Bears-Packers in just over half the markets...
• ... and the Bears still suck.  :)
• NFL Single:  10.8, and that's the worst Week 15 single in 12 years, down 13% YoY.

Suspension Blotter: JUST FUCKING END HIS CAREER ALREADY!

• Seattle Seahawks:  Josh Gordon, AGAIN.

Sixth suspension since 2013, five (including this one) for substance abuse.

This represents the fourth time Gordon has been thrown out of the league.

The Seahawks are fined $94,858 for two suspensions that qualify under the league rules.

Counting players last playing for the Seahawks and cut before their suspension, this would be their FIFTH this year.

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm... Could THIS be a reason Green Bay is getting strong consideration?

Refball in Atlanta-San Francisco

Are we looking at Seattle-Green Bay for the NFC Championship AGAIN?

If this rigging yesterday in San Francisco is any indication, the answer appears to be YES!


You tell me how that call is made in the first place, and then stands after replay, given what we've already seen with the Catch Rule.

Still New Orleans before I can do the Politicals for this week, but now only 4 spots left in the playoffs with 2 weeks to go.

AFC current seeds:

1.  Baltimore -- WON AFC NORTH, magic number for the #1 seed is one.
2.  New England -- IN PLAYOFFS, play Buffalo and can clinch the East next week.
3.  Kansas City -- WON AFC WEST, needs New England to lose for a shot at the first round bye.
4.  Houston -- Magic Number for the AFC South is one.
5.  Buffalo -- IN PLAYOFFS, needs to beat New England and probably have them lose again in Week 17 for the East.
6.  Pittsburgh, with one fewer conference loss than Tennessee

Still a shot:

7.  Tennessee -- needs Pittsburgh to lose at least once.
8.  Indianapolis -- needs a win over New Orleans and a lot of help
9-10.  Cleveland and Oakland -- need both Pittsburgh and Tennessee to lose twice, they win twice, and Indy doesn't jump them by winning three times.

ELIMINATED:

Jets
Dolphins
Bengals
Broncos
Chargers
Jaguars

NFC Current Seeds:

San Francisco's loss shakes things up QUITE A BIT.  You now have three teams (SF, GB, Seattle) all 11-3, New Orleans can join them by beating Indy Monday night.

Oh, and Minnesota is 10-4.

So we'll do both scenarios.

Seattle has the tiebreaker over San Francisco, which must be applied FIRST.

1.  Seattle -- IN PLAYOFFS  Common games tiebreaker over Green Bay
2.  Green Bay -- IN PLAYOFFS Conference record over
3.  New Orleans -- WON NFC SOUTH
4.  Dallas -- Plays Philly next week, clinches NFC Least with a win.
5.  San Francisco -- IN PLAYOFFS -- Plays Seattle Week 17, would be more than surprised if that's not the Flex Game.
6.  Minnesota -- magic number for the playoffs over the Rams is one.

If New Orleans loses to Indy, the only change is that the tiebreaker for Green Bay and New Orleans does not then currently apply.

Still a shot:

7.  Rams -- need to win out and Minnesota to lose out.

Eliminated:

Redskins
Giants
Bears
Lions
Bucs
Panthers
Cardinals

2019 NFL Week 14 Fine Blotter

• Baltimore Ravens:  Marcus Peters:  $14,037 for a celebration in the stands.  TWO-TIME LOSER.
• Los Angeles Chargers:  Mike Williams:  $14,037 -- another illegal celebration -- dunking over the goalposts.
• San Francisco 49ers:  Ahkello Witherspoon:  $28,075, eliminative helmet hit.
• Almost certainly more to come.

NBA Suspension Blotter: Round Three for Waiters

• The Miami Heat have now made it a total of sixteen games of suspensions, banning Waiters for five more games for unprofessional conduct.

Can they fire him?

What options do they have?

Suspension Blotter: Looks like at least one season is over.

• Kansas City Chiefs:  Breeland Speaks is done for the year -- 4 game suspension for substance abuse.  Loses $326,310, according to Spotrac.

First one of the league year for the Chiefs.

• Washington Redskins:  Simeon Thomas:  Also done for the year -- 4 game suspension for substance abuse.  Costs him $116.470.

That one will cost the Redskins.  Reuben Foster lost $151,340 for personal conduct, so Washington is fined $40,171.

2019 Week 14 NFL Score Report

Refball, refball, all over the place...

• And the highest-scoring week of the year, at 50.81 points per game for the week...
• ... leading the season average to 45.31.
• Home teams went 9-7 for 108-94-1 for the season.
• The Over was 8-8 for 96-106-6.
• 8-7-1 favorites against the number for 90-110-7.
• 12-4 favorites straight up for 135-71-1.
• Team with more penalties was 8-7 for the week -- 94-96-1 for the year.
• 187 penalties, not even 12 a game this week.  2,902 for the year (13.95 penalties per game).
• 3 Cliffhangers, 28 for the year.
• 10 games of the 16 finished within one score, 110 for the year now.
• 5 non-competitive games, 69 of those for the year.
• 6 Last Chance Misses for 64 for the year.

Ratings from Sports Media Watch:

• National (Chiefs-Patriots in 83% of markets):  16.1 rating, up 13%.
• Regional (Mostly Ravens-Bills):  7.6, down 16%.
• Nothing else has been made available.

And Refball in the Monday nighter to prevent further embarrassment...

It's bad enough Dallas and Philly are 6-7 now.

But, until the NFL referees stepped in to consummate 20 unanswered for the Eagles to win 23-17 in overtime (Double Cliffhanger, by the by), 6-10 could've won the NFC East.

But the NFL wasn't going to let that happen:

• This was the touchdown to tie the game and send it into overtime, or at least a second before the snap.  The ESPN everybody ignored this.  Yes, the clock on the screen is unofficial, but no one took a second to actually do the prove-out on this???

Should have been delay of game!#NYGvsPHI pic.twitter.com/biMyDa0yPr

— DEPLORABLE JOHN 3:16 (@johnjcarp61) December 10, 2019

• Holding downfield on #84 of Philadelphia, who wrapped and took his defender to the ground for the run which got Philly first and goal at the 8.
• And this little gem I found from NFL.com.  Full-size it if you have to, but this was NFL.com's homepage as the overtime was starting. 

Wait. What??

This was on https://t.co/oau09zZPqK just before the overtime started. pic.twitter.com/61iCrrpX8r

— Michael Falkner (@darkstar7646) December 10, 2019

We might have our answer on the anti-Patriots Refball yesterday!

From ESPN's Adam Schefter:

An official for the Bengals, who were playing at Cleveland Sunday, saw a member of the video crew wearing a Patriots’ shirt and alerted the league, which confiscated the video, according to the source. NFL has video; Patriots say video is a press-box feature of the advance scout.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) December 9, 2019

Methinks we may have our answer for yesterday. Cleveland-Cincy was an early game. New England-Kansas City a late game.

Further tampering of drug data leads to sports blackballing for Russia

The World Anti-Doping Association has disqualified from all competitions under it's purview the country of Russia for the next four years, due to continued state-sponsored tampering of drug data.

This means no Olympics for the national federation or flag in either Tokyo or Lusanne, they can't host the 2032 Summer Games, and other events such as the (soccer) World Cup are in question.

One has to start asking when the ban will just become permanent.

2019 NFL Week 14 Political Rankings

With the Giants and Philadelphia playing Monday night, I figure I can do this tonight since I have the time.

Weird week.  Houston gets annihilated, the Patriots (and possibly the Saints) get Refballed, and Seattle gets rolled!

If anything, it might have solidified the #1's in both conferences...

NFC

The biggest problem is that Seattle and San Francisco cannot play in the NFC Championship unless New Orleans (as things stand now) and Dallas/Philadelphia are both eliminated on Wild Card Weekend.

Otherwise, Seattle and San Francisco would play in the lower wild-card Divisional round game.

But tonight's rather interesting matters do reset the board a bit...

1.  San Francisco

I know it might become more apparent later.  However, at THIS POINT, I can't, for the life of me, figure out why San Fran would be the choice.  But Seattle's loss does raise the specter of it.

2.  Seattle

Mainly because I don't think Green Bay has a push and New Orleans got a bit of a kick in the dick this week.

3.  New Orleans
4.  Green Bay
5.  Minnesota
6.  Dallas, only due to ratings.  I do think they are openly throwing games to get Garrett fired.

AFC

1.  Baltimore

That much is clear now.

2.  Kansas City, by a sliver over the Patriots.
3.  New England
4.  Houston
5.  Buffalo
6.  Pittsburgh

And a quick look at the actual seeding:

AFC:

1.  Baltimore (11-2)  IN PLAYOFFS
2.  New England (10-3, has lost to each of the other division leaders)
3.  Kansas City (9-4) WINS AFC WEST
4.  Houston (8-5, head to head in first meeting with Tennessee, they play again early this week)
5.  Buffalo (9-4)
6.  Pittsburgh (8-5, conference record over Tennessee (PIT 6-3, TEN 6-4)

NFC:

1.  San Francisco (11-2, but has clinched NOTHING yet)
2.  Green Bay (10-3, conference record over New Orleans (7-2 vs. 8-3 -- the three remaining games for GB are all in the NFC North)
3.  New Orleans (10-3) WINS AFC SOUTH
4.  Dallas (6-7, won first meeting with Philly even if Philly wins tomorrow night)
5.  Seattle (10-3)
6.  Minnesota (9-4)

And don't look now:  The Rams are 8-5.

Week 14 Refball, AGAINST THE PATRIOTS???!?

Does kinda look like the Patriots are being depushed.

Watch this one, and remember that Kansas City beats the Patriots by seven points...

Thanks, Brian, for finding the video and reposting it on your Twitter -- this is a touchdown, not called, and the Pats got only a field goal on this drive.

No one cares because for once the call went against the Patriots in New England, but it's just more of the same from the NFL's "best of the best." https://t.co/0VbsgYPmye

— Brian Tuohy (@TheFixIsInTuohy) December 9, 2019

And here's another seven wiped off the board, as Travis Kelce was whistled down on a clear Patriot scoop-and-score.

The refs blew this Travis Kelce play dead and cost the Patriots a potential return for a TD #KCvsNE pic.twitter.com/DTx2yTsPQW

— Bad Sports Refs (@BadSportsRefs) December 8, 2019

There are also multiple accusations of Refball in the other big game of the day, where San Francisco solidified it's position as the new #1, both in seed and in Political, with a 49-46 win over the Saints.

Without further present comment...

It’s just so weird how all these bizarre things happen when teams are playing the Patriots https://t.co/1570wK01Ek

— Sam Stein (@samstein) December 8, 2019

2019 NFL Week 13 Fine Blotter

Starting with a payoff for Vegas:

• Detroit Lions:  Team fined $75,000
• Head coach Matt Patricia $25,000
• General Manager Bob Quinn $10,000 for not paying Las Vegas sufficient tribute by not notifying them that quarterback Matt Stafford would be out for the November 10 game vs. the Bears.

Now the regular list:

• Carolina Panthers:  DeAndrew White and
• Washington Redskins:  Ryan Anderson, both $28,075 for helmet shots which eliminated their opponent from the game.
• Detroit Lions:  Tavon Wilson:  $21,056 for roughing the passer -- uncalled. 
• Houston Texans:  Barkaveious Mingo:  $10,527 for unnecessary roughness.
• Houston Texans:  Buddy Howell:  $28,075 for a blindside block.
• More to come.

Please tell me more people saw tonight's rig-job coming...

First Utah Drive:  Two questionable playcalls, including a 4th and inches which does not execute a quarterback sneak.

Second Utah Drive:  BLATANT targeting offense, called on the field, reversed in the booth.

Third Utah Drive:  4th and inches, Utah false start.

At that point, I turned the game off.

Later on, the player committing the targeting offense gets a key interception.

Final:  Oregon 37, Utah 15.  UTAH OUT.

And why is it so blatant??

BECAUSE ESPN TOLD YOU ON WEDNESDAY IT WAS GOING TO HAPPEN!!!

"Let's be honest, the country does not want to see Utah in the College Football Playoff."@finebaum sparing no feelings this morning 😬 pic.twitter.com/rz1tEzBtek

— Get Up (@GetUpESPN) December 4, 2019

Mission accomplished! And they'll probably get Oklahoma when they beat Rapelor or Georgia if they beat LSU.

College Football Fine Blotter: They Won't Keep Them Off The Field Tonight!!

• The SEC fined Auburn $250,000 for the storming of the field after Auburn won the Iron Bowl.
• Va Tech was pissed at Virginia fans after the game and wanted an ACC sanction, but there's no word at this time as to whether the ACC fined Virginia for their storming of the field.

2019 Week 13 NFL Political Rankings Post

If you don't believe the NFL is rigged, I think you have your Super Bowl, barring "Any Given Sunday" effects.

After Week 13 with the Seahawks over the Vikings and the Ravens over the 49ers, I think you have a clear on-the-field best team in each conference.

The question people like me are going to ask (especially with the Awful Announcing tweet that the ad-time for Super Bowl LIV is sold out and Brian Tuohy's accompanying suspicions that something has been told to be up as a result) is if the NFL is going to sell everybody a Ravens-Seahawks Super Bowl...

As of right now, you have to put them top of each conference on the Politicals, with a very real caveat on both sides, and the NFC one will shock you:

AFC:

1.  Baltimore

New England's loss widens the gap now, and basically places the only real chance of rigging another Super Bowl for the Patriots, in this skeptic's view, on a Tom Brady retirement announcement before the Pats are eliminated from the playoffs.

2.  New England

The only reason you can't put Houston over them on the Politicals is the fact of "What would the league be trying to sell?" with the Texans.

3. Houston

You could bandy back and forth between Houston and Kansas City in this spot, but getting Houston over on Sunday night gets Houston to #3.

4.  Kansas City

The division now theirs, will the league get back on the Mahomes train, or ride Lamar Jackson the rest of the season and save Mahomes for next year?

5. Pittsburgh

Because...  BUFFALO?  REALLY???

6.  Buffalo

By default.

Current playoff seeds:

1.  Baltimore (10-2)  head to head over
2.  New England (10-2)
3.  Houston (8-4) head to head over
4.  Kansas City (8-4)
5.  Buffalo (9-3)
6.  Pittsburgh (7-5, 6-3 in the conference)

Tennessee is out on conference record (5-4 in the conference).

If the Texans beat the Titans, pretty much only the AFC East would be in play, and the second wild-card.

Buffalo is three clear on a wild card.

Baltimore is three clear in the North.

Kansas City is two and a full sweep clear in the West.

So we have, almost certainly, FOUR of the six playoff teams determined already, four weeks to go.

ELIMINATED ALREADY:  Miami and Cincinnati

NFC:

1.  Seattle

It's all coming together for the Cult.  Not only that "Fans who will do anything for football." motif, but they have the best team in the conference, and it probably isn't close.

2.  San Francisco

Yeah, they're the wild-card.  But if the NFL wants to sell the best game for the NFC title game, it's right here.

3.  New Orleans

I still don't think the league wants to put New Orleans over for the Super Bowl because of the lawsuits, but they are the first team to clinch in and win the division, and they did it on THANKSGIVING, which is, more, an indictment on the rest of the division.

4.  Dallas

My NFC caveat, even though they are 6-6 and have beaten Jack and Shit this year.  (NYG twice (2 wins), WSH (3), PHI (5), MIA (3) and DET (3)).

Why?

RATINGS!

They're still getting among the best numbers in the league when the ratings are taken into account, and all it would take is about a hot couple of months to sell them over.

5.  Green Bay

Just...  No.

And for all the reasons I've been saying.  They could finish 13-3 this year.  And they'd be, at best, the FOURTH best team in this conference.  Let that process.

One example, on a shoot basis?  The NFL record for fewest punt return yards in a season, according to ESPN, is 27.  Through 12 games, the Pack are MINUS EIGHT.

6.  Minnesota

But don't look now.  The Rams might try to get in through the back door.

Current Playoff Seeds:

1.  New Orleans (10-2), head to head over
2.  Seattle (10-2), who now leads the West with the HTH over the Niners
3.  Green Bay (9-3)
4.  Dallas (6-6)
5.  San Francisco (10-2)
6.  Minnesota (8-4)

LA Rams the only team at 7-5, Chicago the only other 6-6!

Probably, again, four teams locked in (the three 10-2s and the 9-3) to get in the playoffs.

ELIMINATED ALREADY:  Believe it or not, there are already FOUR NFC teams eliminated:  Detroit, the Giants, the Falcons, and the Cardinals.  The Redskins are hanging on by a thread.

2019 Week 13 NFL Score Report

• 45.375 points per game for the first 16-game schedule of the back end of the season.
• Season average up a tick to 44.85.
• Home teams got it to 8-8 this week to maintain the advantage they've built up over the last 3-4 weeks at 99-87-1.  (.532)
• The Over was 7-7-2 for 88-98-6 for the year.
• Favorites were 7-9 against the number for 82-103-6 for the year.
• 9-7 only straight up for the favorites for 123-67-1.
• Team with more penalties was 7-8 for 85-89-1 for the year.  Only 4-8 after the Thursday games, though.
• 203 penalties (12.7 per game) for 2,715 for the 192 games (14.14 per game) played so far this season.
• 2 Cliffhangers (Baltimore and Denver) for 25 for the year.
• 9 games finished within one score for 100 for the year.
• 5 non-competitive games for 64 for the year.
• 5 Last Chance Missed for 59 for the year.

Ratings from Sports Media Watch:

• Bears-Lions:  12.3 rating, almost 27 million viewers, third-best game of the year, about the same as last Thanksgiving.
• Cowboys-Bills:  13.5 rating, 32.5 million viewers, the most viewers to watch a regular-season NFL game in basically exactly three years.  Up 8% rating and 7% viewers from last Thanksgiving.  Most-viewed TV program in the United States since the Super Bowl.  (Even beat the Oscars by three million.)
• Saints-Falcons, on the other hand:  9.9 rating, 20.7 million viewers, one of the lowest of the decade for Thanksgiving.  Ratings down 2% and viewers down 5% from last year's third game.
• Sunday Night:  12.3 rating, 21.4 million viewers, best Week 13 in at least five years.  Ratings up 17%, viewers up 20%.
• NFL Single, largely the Ravens-49ers showdown:  Big.  13.2, up 39%!
• NFL Regional, largely Browns-Steelers:  Ate the loss big-time.  7.5, down 24%!
• NFL National, largely Raiders-Chiefs:  13.8, down 13%.

Uh-oh for the NFL on this gambling case...

Potentially disturbing "sources" story on the Josh Shaw gambling ban:

Stems from a November 10, 2019 three-team second-half parlay.

The Cardinal game was one of the games involved.

They were playing Tampa Bay, and the Buccaneers were a one-point favorite for the second half.  Lost the second half by one point...

... and Shaw's parlay lost.  Now, it could've lost the other two as well for that case, but that's NOT a good look.

Stay tuned.

(ESPN)

Several interesting Week 13 factoids:

Through the early games:

• Baltimore-Seattle does look like the "shoot" Super Bowl -- the legit best team in each conference.  What the rigging will give is another question!
• Home teams only 4-7 so far.
• Average is about 43 1/3 PPG so far.
• Jacksonville's 16 accepted penalties are the most for one team in a game this year since Cleveland's 18 in Week 1, and we know what happened in THAT Fine Blotter.
• Cleveland committed only 5 accepted penalties in the rematch in Pittsburgh.
• If they get no fines this week, it would only be the second game this season they have not been fined.
• Mason Rudolph was not allowed on the field of play.  He MAY HAVE BEEN on the sidelines.
• The New York Jets have become the first team in history to lose to two winless teams at least 0-7.
• Second time in four weeks that two double-digit underdogs won outright.  Five such games already this year, according to Pro Football Reference.  Now 197 such games since 1978, the first year PFR has on that statistic.
• Also from PFR:  Two NFL records were tied today.  The Kansas City Chiefs had no penalties today vs. the Oakland Raiders.  (That's not that unusual, as it happened twice last year.)
• What is unusual is the second record tied in that game -- the 12 penalties the Raiders got in the game is the most penalties by a team opposed by a team which had none (The Jets had 12 against Indianapolis' none October 30, 1994.)  The Chiefs won the key game 40-9.

How can supposedly professional or intelligent men be THIS STUPID?

• The Cowboys on Thursday
• The Egg Bowl fiasco.
• Needing the win for bowl eligibility, TCU's Ross Blacklock spears the West Virginia quarterback on a key play to seal his team's seventh loss.
• Cincinnati's Myjai Sanders needlessly extends Memphis' drive and seals his team's loss to ensure a rematch for the American Athletic Conference title.

Here is the best view the TV broadcast offered of the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Myjai Sanders, after what would have been a third-down stop by UC. Memphis would have had 4th&10 from their own 38 yard line with 4:52 remaining. Tigers were up 27-24 at the time. #Bearcats pic.twitter.com/ghasLu87Zz

— Justin Williams (@Williams_Justin) November 30, 2019

• And now Alabama is eliminated from the College Football Playoff with it's second loss -- losing the Iron Bowl to Auburn on a 12-men on the field substitution foul down 48-45 with a minute to go in the fourth quarter.

And these are supposed to be intelligent or professional men...

Or is it something else...

2019 NFL Week 12 Fine Blotter

• Cleveland Browns (and team):  Mack Wilson:  $28,075 for defenseless player.  That is THREE TIME LOSER for him.
• Jacksonville Jaguars:  Calais Campbell:  $10,257 for unnecessary roughness.
• Jacksonville Jaguars:  Yannick Ngakoue:  TWO-TIME LOSER on the week.  $10.527 for unnecessary roughness -- both hits on Taylor Lewan of the Titans.  Another $14,037 for the Finger du Middle.
• Miami Dolphins:  Steve Parker:  $28,075 for defenseless player.
• Carolina Panthers:  Tre Boston:  $56,156 for defenseless player -- repeat offender.  Boston was fined for the same offense in Week 8.
• And that triggers the $50,000 fine for the first level of excessive fines against the Panthers.  The Panthers are the seventh NFL team to reach this level at about $147,000 in fines for the season.
• New Orleans Saints:  Cam Jordan:  Another TWO-TIME LOSER this week.  $10,527 for unnecessary roughness, another $28,075 for defenseless player on a different play.
• Green Bay Packers:  Davante Adams:  $10,527 for taunting.
• Denver Broncos:  Dalton Risner:  $10,527 for unnecessary roughness.

EDIT TO ADD TUESDAY from Spotrac's research:

• New Orleans Saints:  Eli Apple:  $14,037 for fighting.
• Making the Saints the eighth team to reach the first $50,000 threshold.
• Pittsburgh Steelers (and team):  Trey Edmunds:  $28,075 for a blindside block.
• Pittsburgh Steelers (and team):  Olasunkanmi Adeniyi:  $56,156 for repeat offender helmet rule.
• This is fucking getting serious now, Pittsburgh.  That's three-quarters of a million in two weeks.

If you still want to believe any of these games are legit, here's another voice saying otherwise...

This is a mandatory read for anybody who wants to understand the evolution -and vulnerability- of the NFL.

Once sat across from Dick Butkus on a NY-LA flight as he read it. He grunted for hours. Finally he asked me “you read this? It’s about everybody I know and it’s all true!” https://t.co/HP1pOsL4ZJ

— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) November 30, 2019

And this is THREE THOUSAND...

On October 7, 2010 (NINE YEARS I've done this blog???), I started Super Fraud.

• 2500 was August 30, 2018.  Meaning the last 500 took 456 days.
• 2000 was February 8, 2017
• Etc.  I covered this before.

Wow.  Just...  wow.

NFL Suspension Blotter: And another interesting development...

• Arizona Cardinals:  The league has thrown Josh Shaw out of the NFL for betting on games within the league.  The ban is all of this season and all of next, at minimum.

Yeah, yeah, an investigation indicated no compromised games.

The suspension will cost the Cardinals some money.  It triggers a max $150,000 fine because of the Patrick Peterson suspension additionally.

That means, for one purpose or another, every team in the league has now been fined in some capacity.

Someone needs to go to Ole Miss' Dean of Students on Monday...

This is not only a 15 yard penalty that cost Ole Miss their rivalry game with Mississippi State because the PAT was missed to lose 21-20.

This is a violation of the Ole Miss University Creed and needs to be punished by not only taking his scholarship and tossing him off the team, but maybe even out of Ole Miss University entirely!



Throw that kid out of the school. And, while you're at it, investigate him for throwing the game, because you just can't be THAT stupid.

Dallas is throwing this second game of the Tryptophan Tripleheader to get Jason Garrett fired NOW.

After Jerry Jones' comments on the coaching last week against New England, it's now apparent the Cowboys want a new coach for the playoff push at 6-6...

Field goal kicker has missed two, and this was the approximation of effort Dak Prescott put in a fourth-down pass near the goal line down 23-6:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA WHAT A THROW #BUFvsDAL pic.twitter.com/WmOCOlaJY7

— Jordan Fixsen (@jfixswim) November 28, 2019

This game is being THROWN.

Could it be because ESPN has reported that, regardless of anything else this season, Jason Garrett will finish the year???

And could it be any coincidence that's the lead side story right now on ESPN's website?

The Vic Mignogna case is over. The sanctions announced today.

Courtesy of Reddit's

Funimation wins:

• $50,000 in attorney fees.
• $7,504 in additional cost
• $5,000 in sanctions (Funimation sought over $175,000 here.)

Defendants Monica Rial and James Toye win:

• $50,000 each in attorney fees
• $15,927 in additional cost
• $5,000 in sanctions (between attorney fees and sanctions, Rial and Toye were looking for a half a million dollars)

Jamie Marchi wins:

• $48,137 in attorney fees
• $1,874 in costs
• $5,000 in sanctions (unlike the other defendants, Marchi pretty much got what she wanted)

That's a hefty penalty, but it could've been far worse:  $238,442.

He has appealed.  If he loses, the penalty goes up:

• If he appeals and loses, it's $50,000 more to Funimation and Marchi, $55,000 jointly to Rial and Toye, and $37,500 for Marchi
• If a third party appeals and it loses, they all get half that, more or less.
• There is additional sanction if it makes the Texas Supreme Court with no change, and if it makes oral arguments there.

Week 12 NFL 2019 Political Rankings: It's coming together now...

The List of Super Bowl contenders is pretty much down to five right now:

Baltimore and New England in the AFC; Seattle, San Francisco, and New Orleans in the NFC.

That's pretty much it.  The Rams and Packers got fucking exposed by two of the five teams on this list.  A third needed serious Refball for it's win...  (Again.)

So here's where I think it all stands right now:

AFC:

1.  Baltimore
2.  New England

Though if the league is promising that this is Brady's last season, then it's all over but the screaming.

Major play coming in on Lamar Jackson, especially with several dominating wins over increasingly relevant teams.

Buffalo is about the only other AFC team with fewer than four losses.

Playoff seeding:

1. New England
2. Baltimore
3. Houston, with a win over
4. Kansas City
5. Buffalo
6. Pittsburgh, Indianapolis, Tennessee, and Oakland are all 6-5.

Break the Indy/Tennessee tie first.  Indy beat Tennessee Week 2, plays them again this week.

So Pittsburgh, Indy, Oakland

Indy has lost to both teams.  Pittsburgh and Oakland do not play, but Indy is eliminated at this step.

So then, it's conference record.  Pittsburgh wins, 5-3 to 4-3.

So Pittsburgh is the 6.

NFC:

1. Seattle

Mainly because I have no shoot or work angle on how the fuck San Fran is 10-1.  And they're probably LEGIT that good, but we all know what happens in the National Religion NFL!

2. San Francisco
3. New Orleans
4. Minnesota
5. Green Bay
6. Dallas

And here are the seedings right now:

1. San Francisco
2. New Orleans
3. Green Bay
4. Dallas (6-5)
5. Seattle (9-2)
6. Minnesota (8-3)

Three very interesting things Brian Tuohy has found just today!

First, the NFL tells Dallas to fuck off, from David Moore of the Dallas Morning News:

Oops. https://t.co/VdBJ9nDqdF

— Brian Tuohy (@TheFixIsInTuohy) November 26, 2019

Awful Announcing announces the Super Bowl adspace for this year is almost sold out:

Probably means the league promised FOX (who promised their potential advertisers) "something special" for this year's Super Bowl. https://t.co/ePcVoIHX3x

— Brian Tuohy (@TheFixIsInTuohy) November 25, 2019

Now wait a minute, the only promise I could think would be given would be Brady retiring.

But perhaps the biggest of the three is this: Vontaze Burfict claiming the NFL rigs it's games. The last semi-active player who made anywhere near THAT claim was Warren Sapp, right at the end of his career...

Love seeing a player claim the league fixes its own games. And I know the NFL's protectors will say, "Well, but it's Vontaze Burfict." Doesn't matter. He's an NFL player and knows the game better than most. https://t.co/tjWnUPR5WD via @CBSSports

— Brian Tuohy (@TheFixIsInTuohy) November 25, 2019

2019 Week 12 NFL Score Report

This finishes up all the byes. 176 total games, 11 apiece.

• Only 41.71 points per game for the week.
• Season average now down to 44.80.
• The recent trend continues.  Home teams were 10-4 for the week for 91-79-1 for the year.
• Over went only 5-9 for 81-91-4.
• Favorites were 6-7-1 against the number, but 12-2 straight up.
• Season:  75-94-6 ATS, 114-60-1 SU.
• Interesting stat of the week:  The team with more penalties was actually 8-3 for the week!  Season:  78-81-1.
• 196 penalties for the week, making 2,512 for the year.
• Only 2 Cliffhangers this week:  Washington's double-cliffhanger on two field goals to beat Detroit, and New Orleans beating Carolina at the gun.  23 for the year.
• Half the games this week (7) finished within one score.  91 for the year.
• The other half were non-competitive, including both the Sunday and Monday nighters.  59 of those.
• 2 Last Chance Misses for 51 total.

Ratings from Sports Media Watch:

• NFL National (100% Patriots-Cowboys):  19.5, the highest rated NFL national window in TWELVE YEARS.  Highest rated 2019 television program of ANY KIND since the Oscars.
• NFL Regional:  10.4, up 16%, best Week 11 in eight years.
• Sunday Night:  11.8, up 2%

And this is why anyone not named Baltimore or New England in the AFC can just give up now.

They called this tripping.

This is a HORRENDOUS call.

What may be worse is they kicked it to Mike Pereira in the booth who AGREED with it.pic.twitter.com/ReeuIUttCA

— Sam Monson (@PFF_Sam) November 25, 2019

NFL Fine/Suspension Blotter Week 11 2019 (Part Six): The Normal Programming

• Los Angeles Chargers:  Michael Davis, two game suspension for substances of abuse.

First suspension for the Chargers this year.

And here we go with the announcements from the Browns-Steelers fiasco.

• Pittsburgh Steelers:  Mason Rudolph played for free last week.  Fined $50,000 for his role in the incident, an aggravated fine.
• Pittsburgh Steelers:  Which triggers a $50,000 team fine under the fine portion of the Club Remittance Policy
• A number of other players have also been fined due to the incident, and will be listed once announced.
• Wait, did I say "a number"?  TRY THIRTY-THREE!!!!

Let's start with the $3,507 fines.  These are all for entering a fracas, non-involvement version:

• Pittsburgh first:  Tyson Alallu
• Mark Barron
• Tony Brooks-James
• Bud Dupree (TWO TIME LOSER)
• Terrell Edmunds
• Trey Edmunds
• Matt Feiler
• Minkah Fitzpatrick (TWO-TIME LOSER)
• Mike Hilton
• Johnny Holton
• Tevin Jones
• Kameron Kelly
• Ramon Foster
• Jaylen Samuels
• Robert Spillane
• Cameron Sutton
• James Washington
• TJ Watt
• Vince Williams

That's another $63,126 against the Steelers number.

Now Cleveland, with the reminder EVERY ONE OF THESE $3,507 fines has to be matched by the team.

• Justin Burris
• TJ Carrie
• Jarvis Landry (TWO-TIME LOSER)
• Devaroe Lawrence (THREE-TIME LOSER)
• Sheldrick Redwine
• Chris Smith
• Chad Thomas
• Denzel Ward
• Greedy Williams
• Mack Wilson (TWO-TIME LOSER)

So that's another additional (and, again, just all for the fight -- basically anyone, especially those who left the bench, who even got near the fight got the fine) $35,070 for that, and ANOTHER $35,070 the Browns must match!

And there was still more from that game!

• Pittsburgh Steelers:  Olasunkanmi Adeniyi:  $28,075 for the helmet rule. 
• And that fine WILL put them over the top.  Another $25,000, plus another $27,754 dollar-for-dollar.
• Cleveland Browns (and team):  Greedy Williams $28,075 for helmet to helmet
• Cleveland Browns (and team):  Damarius Randall:  $28,075 for helmet to helmet
• Cleveland Browns (and team):  Chad Thomas:  $21,056 for roughing the passer
• Thomas and Williams are both TWO TIME-LOSERS IN THE SAME WEEK

I think that's finally all of it.

So let's add it all up.

Let's start with Pittsburgh:

• $250,000 Commissioner imposed
• Rudolph fined $50,000
• Pouncey fined $35,096
• Adeniyi fined $28,075
• NINETEEN $3,507 fines for $66,633
• With all that, the Steelers number took on $194,708 JUST THIS WEEK.  As a result, their fine number for the season shoots to $252,347
• So, under the accumulated fines:  $50,000 for Level 1
• $25,000 for Level 2
• And matching fines of $30,231

The Steelers team was fined $355,231

The players were fined $179,804.

Grand total for Pittsburgh:  $535,035

Cleveland:

• $250,000 Commissioner imposed
• Garrett fined $45,623
• Randall fined $28,075
• Williams fined $28.075 for the helmet hit
• Thomas fined $21,056 for roughing the passer
• TEN $3,507 fines for $35,070
• So, with Garrett augmented to $50,000 with his suspension, the team had to match ALL FINES, plus that $50,000.  
• And $48,247 for Ogunjobi.  That's $245,993 in fines off the fine policy alone.
• PLUS, with Ogunjubo's suspension upheld, $398,019 for the suspension clause of the situation.

Get ready for this whopper:  For incidents in this game:  The Cleveland Browns team was fined, from various parts of the Club Remittance Policy, $893,612.

Players fines:  $157,899

That's a million bucks, guys.  $1,051,511 for just the Browns.

And a total fine for the incidents of ONE MILLION FIVE HUNDRED EIGHTY SIX THOUSAND FIVE HUNDRED FORTY SIX DOLLARS.

$1,586,546

I want Goodell to see that number and see it well.  YOUR POLICY DOESN'T FUCKING WORK!

The Browns' fine number JUST THIS WEEK was almost sufficient for dollar-for-dollar if it were an entire season!  $210,523.  The final threshold if $221,116.

The Browns now have been fined $1,563,051 (counting the $500K for the suspensions and the $250K team fine).

And then other games' fines as well, as they come in.

• Detroit Lions:  Will Harris:  $28,075 for defenseless player
• More to come probably...

Whee! Another Thursday, Another NFL Scripted Production

Indy out of time outs, down 3, Houston has the ball and can close to run the clock out.

2nd down, though, the replay shows DeShaun Watson fumbles and an Indianapolis player appears to get it, secure possession, and be touched down.

No review, and the clock runs without the play clock running to ensure Houston wins and Indy never gets the ball back.

So that should do it for the AFC South.

The last replay should do the trick.

And, according to Football Zebras, it actually DOES sound like the television networks are partnering with the league to determine who wins and loses...  (Hat-tip to Brian Tuohy for finding the Tweet...)

The replay official has access to 6 key angles without relying on what is broadcast. The TV director (Fox's A crew) likely communicated to replay booth that there wasn't anything substantive available https://t.co/AeukccUGOC

— Fᴏᴏᴛʙᴀʟʟ Zᴇʙʀᴀs 🌿 (@footballzebras) November 22, 2019

Week 11 Suspension Blotter Part Five: Garrett's Life Ban Stands, Pouncey Reduced, as I thought it would be.

• Cleveland Browns:  Myles Garrett has had his life ban upheld by the appeals process.  He cannot be part of the NFL again without the approval of Commissioner Roger Goodell, and not until next year.
• Cleveland Browns:  Garrett's $45,623 fine stands as well for fighting and unsportsmanlike conduct.  The Browns are fined a minimum of $50,000 anyway for having to match all fines and a $50,000 penalty falling under the Club Remittance Policy for the on-field suspension.
• Pittsburgh Steelers:  Maurkice Pouncey has been reduced to a 2-game suspension.
• Pittsburgh Steelers:  And, to no one's surprise, the $35,096 fine for fighting stands.

Pretty much exactly how I saw it going down.

So the toteboard for Thursday, finally finishing now on the suspensions and associated fines for the suspended parties only is:

• Steelers Team Commissioner Fine:  $250,000
• Steelers Pouncey Fine:  $35,096

Steelers Total:  $285,096

• Browns Team Commissioner Fine:  $250,000
• Browns Four-Suspension Fine (to augment to $500,000 maximum):  $398,019
• Browns Garrett Fine:  $45,623
• Browns Team Penalty Under Excessive-Fine Clause of the Club Remittance Policy (capped at $50,000 per player per incident):  $98,247 ($48,247 for lost salary to Ogunjobi, $50,000 for Garrett)

Browns Total:  $791,889

So the total so far:  $1,076,975

And the Browns must match any fines they receive further

And the Steelers WILL breach the Level 1 Fine penalty for an additional $50,000 once Rudolph and other people entering the fight area is added in.

We're probably looking about $1.3 million for this single incident.

And one more thing before people think that I'm crazy to say the league is probably going to have to investigate the Browns...  As of right now:

• With Garrett's fine, the Browns now stand at direct player fines of $341,872
• The Commissioner fined the team another $250,000
• The Club Remittance Policy on Suspensions is another $500,000 (and that's the maximum)
• And the Club Remittance Policy on Fines, against a now fine number of 396,249, has now seen the Browns fined $250,132

That's ONE MILLION THREE HUNDRED FORTY-TWO THOUSAND AND FOUR DOLLARS the Browns and their players have been fined for misconduct.

$1.5 million is probably a good over-under after the rest of this is applied on Friday or Saturday.

Week 11 Suspension Blotter, Part Four: The Browns fine for Club Remittance Section One will be $500,000

The Larry Ogunjobi suspension has been upheld.

As this, with the Garrett suspension, will be the Browns' fourth, the Browns will, in fact, be fined the maximum penalty under the Club Remittance Policy for multiple suspensions, $500,000.

There is a small bit of correction I need to do in my chart.

It was listed that Ogunjobi was additionally fined for his actions.  It has been revealed that fine has been wiped out -- and it was only a standard $10,527 fine.  This means the Browns are still responsible for (and, due to the second section of the Club Remittance Policy, must pay) Ogunjobi's lost salary for one game since it does not exceed $50,000.  (It's $48,247, according to Spotrac.)

I also need a second correction for some of the other parts of this incident.

Gregg Williams is now the D Coordinator for the New York Jets.  Still, he was interim head coach when the fines started piling up for the Browns late last season, so he still could be investigated.

November 20, 2019 Updates

At least as of the early afternoon:

• Jim Cornette was fired today by the NWA.  They gave him the decency to resign, but the fact is he was fired.
• Myles Garrett's hearing was apparently today, and his appeal is based on a 2013 precedent regarding a league suspension of Antonio Smith for a similar incident with Richie Incognito.

That might be a bit better argument, except for one major problem you've already seen in the incident:

The NFL is The League of the Quarterback.  All else is expendable.

Else, why is Mason Rudolph not banned at least two games himself?

• And something I have neglected, in the chaos that has been the last week or so, to report on...

Colin Kaepernick DID, in fact, hold a workout for some NFL organizations last weekend.

It was NOT the NFL-set up event that was scheduled, and the reasons appear to vary, depending on your take on the affair.

One report has that the NFL wanted Kaepernick to sign away his rights to sue a second time for collusion, should this fail.

Kaepernick did the right thing and not only did not fall for the trap, but held his own workout anyway for some teams who could find their way to the event.

And reports indicate that the Kaepernick defenders are right:  He can play, the arm is ready, and the collusion is real.  Stay tuned.

Another tough one for a fandom close to me...

Before I begin:

I will mention what was said -- not as an endorsement, even though I've been a fan of this guy 30-35 years.  I apologize for any offense to any African-American or LGBT reader of this blog post.  However, I do believe this is a major story in the world of professional wrestling which has doomed the 2019-20 prospects for a very promising project by Billy Corgan, David Lagana, and the National Wrestling Alliance.

--

And the sickest part is, you had to know it was coming, given the man involved -- and given how little he really gives a fuck.  (About much of ANYTHING!)

This is NOT the first controversy Jim Cornette has been in THIS YEAR.  Cornette was actually condemned, and the NWA called on the carpet for hiring him, after he called Total Nonstop Action wrestler Jordynne Grace a "butterface".

(For those who do not know, that's a woman with a great body...  but her face...)

This apparently also is on the heels of a Cornette rant calling AEW wrestler Sonny Kiss (an openly-gay man with a wildly effeminine character) a man who "apparently got off his day job at the drag-show at the fucking Tropicana".  He went on to call Kiss an "exotico" in Mexican terms -- probably correct!  Cornette was condemned by Kiss' partner.

And now, this week...  He's probably completely shit the bed on one of professional wrestling's newest projects.

In what now is his third fireable offense this year, in the seventh show of Lagana and Corgan's pilot project "NWA Power", Cornette (for at least the third or fourth time in his career!) has referred to a wrestler (in this case, Trevor Murdoch, not related to "Texas Redneck" Dick Murdoch) as so tough that he could strap a bucket of fried chicken to his back and successfully navigate through Ethiopia.

Let that process if you don't understand how that is massively racist on at least two levels.

The NWA has issued a retraction, took down the initial cut of the episode, and wiped out the offending comments.

Now, we go even worse, on at least three further grounds...

These tapings for "NWA Power", a National Wrestling Alliance national throwback show to the annals of studio wrestling of the 1970's and 1980's "Georgia Championship Wrestling" and Jim Crockett's "World Championship Wrestling" (so much so, the series premieres on YouTube each week at the same time Crockett's show was on on Saturdays, 6:05 PM Eastern (on Tuesdays)) took place on September 30 and October 1 of this year.

This means these comments were in the ether for almost two months, and no one from the National Wrestling Alliance batted an eyelash or did proper due diligence on these comments until someone was able to call out the comments tonight.

Second problem:  This project is actually not a full television deal.  First and foremost, the show is a definite "work in progress" feel, certainly to a fault.  Second, Lagana and Corgan are using this YouTube series (and an upcoming pay-per-view and a second set of tapings following in mid-December) to attempt to sell this show to a television network and to potential sponsors.

Good luck doing that with the Louisville Lip on the mic, especially after this!!

And a third problem has surfaced, up the line in the NWA.

David Lagana has been revealed as retweeting and supporting a comment from known White Supremacist Gad Saad (Facebook link to picture of the comment).

A question I had for fans of NWA Power seems to indicate that African-American wrestlers are not well supported in the present National Wrestling Alliance -- seeming to number but two, and two wrestlers slated to lose two tag team matches, one in the first week and one in the sixth.

Could this also be a throwback to where "people like you don't deserve to be World Champion", as HHH once said in a feud with Booker T?  It took Southern rasslin' until 1992 to crown professional wrestling's first Black World Champion, Ron Simmons.

(Of course, it took Vince until 2019 with Kofi Kingston!  (The Rock is only half-Black.))

Stay tuned, but I think any real hope for "NWA Power" or anything else of an expansion of the Corgan/Lagana NWA project probably just completely shit the bed.

Tomorrow is going to be a very important day for the Cleveland Browns...

• If Ogunjubo's suspension is reduced to a fine, the team fine for the Browns will be reduced from a current $750,000 (ish) to $500,000 (ish).  This is because of the first clause of the Club Remittance Policy capping a team with three suspensions to $250,000 in fines rather than $500,000 for four if Ogunjubo's suspension stands.
• Garrett's only real course for action does appear to be that he and his are claiming the CBA cannot allow the Commissioner or any party within the NFL to ban for life any player on the basis of an on the field act.  Even Burfict was technically only suspended to the end of the season, and I need to double-check to see if he's even in need of a Commissioner reinstatement!
• The hearings were held Monday and Tuesday.  An announcement should come early Wednesday, so the Browns know if they have Ogunjubo this week.
• The team and head coach Kitchens have said they stand behind Myles Garrett.  (How much more of this before people figure out that a culture was created in Cleveland where hurting people was tantamount to winning -- especially because this Browns team SUCKS??)

Predictions:

• Garrett's ban will stand and will force the NFLPA to determine whether it wants to die on this hill on the "life ban for on-field acts" situation.
• Ogunjubo, I can't make a call on.  The act, in and of itself, is a dirty shot -- but it's not suspendable on direct face.  HOWEVER, not only does the team record of fines for the year indicate a pattern of dirty and injurious play, it is a blatant cheap shot as a function of a fight of someone who probably should have reasonably been thought to have a concussion from Garrett's actions.  At best, I'm 60-40 it goes to an additional fine.
• Pouncey?  Said it then, believe it now.  He will be suspended, but it will reduce from 3 games down to 2.  I don't think they want to afford Pouncey on the field for the rematch (and one of the reasons they should've suspended Mason Rudolph -- they have all but guaranteed an incident December 1!), but there is significant mitigation in the actions of Pouncey, as disgusting as they otherwise would be.

And remember, we still have not even dealt with from this game:

• A roughing the passer call
• The other ejection
• Possibly (I have not seen the hit) Juju Schuster-Smith's injury
• Mason Rudolph himself
• And about ten players who will probably be fined for their actions.
• Remember that the Browns must match all fines their players get (which could easily head for another $75000-$100000 with the above)
• And that the Steelers, as of the announcement of the Pouncey suspension, will probably breach Level 1 with the Rudolph fine (which almost-certainly will be AT LEAST the $35,096 for fighting) to add another $50,000 to that number.
• As such, by the time we're done, even if Ogunjubo is reinstated for this week, we're probably talking $575-$600K for the Browns and probably $350K or so for the Steelers.
• All this with a rematch now just a week and a half away.

2019 Week 11 NFL Political Rankings

Things racking up a bit in RL.  May not have much time tonight, so I cut the comparatives off from last year of the score post.  Will get back to that if I get around to it...  Damn fuckers around here...

AFC

1. New England
2. Baltimore

From there, who cares?

Especially given a BLATANT PI no-call that actually survived the review process even though the Houston receiver was GODDAMN MUGGED, I think it's pretty clear at this point that it's New England or Baltimore in the AFC, and it really doesn't otherwise matter.

The Chiefs are 7-4 into their bye week, but have the Patriots two weeks after that.  Would not be 100% surprised to see the Raiders actually win the division on the way out just to fuck with everybody!

As for the AFC South, double who fucking cares??

NFC

As someone said yesterday to me in the comments section of this blog, I think we pretty much have five of the six teams who will represent the NFC.  The question is, who's the sixth and in what order will the other five go?

1. Seattle
2. Green Bay
3. San Francisco
4. Minnesota
5. New Orleans
6. Dallas

2019 NFL Week Eleven Score Report

• 43.26 PPG this week.
• Season average down to 45.07 PPG.
• Home teams 7-6 this week for 81-75-1 for the year.
• Over was 6-7-1 for 76-82-4.
• Against the number:  9-4-1 for 69-87-5
• Straight up:  12-2 for 102-58-1.
• Team with more penalties was 5-8 for 70-78-1 for the season.
• 190 penalties for the 14 game week (13.72 per game)
• 2316 penalties for the year (14.30 per game)
• 1 Cliffhanger, San Francisco's win - and a fumble recovery score at the gun made it outside one score on top of it.  21 for the year
• Only 5 of the 14 games finished within 8 points.  84 for the year.
• 6, including most of the 1 Eastern starts, were non-competitive.  Season total is 52.
• 3 Last Chance Misses for 49 total.

Ratings from Sports Media Watch:

• NFL National:  16.2 (basically all Pats-Eagles) up 29%
• NFL Regional:  8.0, down 12%.
• NFL Single:  10.4, up 12%