Was remiss to do this post before the year turned, but it gave me a couple extra days to consider the possibilities.
There was an NFL which openly embraced rigged calls as part of it's playoff storyline, then rewrote the game to effectively outlaw defense to the point many defenders have resorted to cheap shots openly and said "Damn the fines..."
There was MAGA League Baseball, which screwed the Dodgers again -- but, on more disturbing fronts than that, saw it's Black population of players drop to historically low levels, while the actual corporation of MLB is openly endorsing racist and bigoted parties.
There was college football, which has been solidifying itself as a regional sport for a very few relevant teams, taking the Superteam model and ratcheting it up to massive proportions.
But my winner for Super Fraud of the Year 2018 probably could've won any number of years previous, but the winner is the necessity of American sport to be married to Trump-ian Alpha Male Americanism and toxic masculinity.
A sports world where #BelieveAllWomen has become a catchphrase is no secret -- girls and women are left laid to waste in the name of conquering male athletes, with everyone covering up for them to ensure they're on the field Friday night/Saturday/Sunday...
But this year, I'd like to "highlight" three major manifestations of it which have left black marks all over the American sports landscape.
The Kareem Hunt video
The only reason that the Kansas City Chiefs may not win Super Bowl LIII(e) is the video which was made evident November 30 of Kareem Hunt being the shit out of and kicking a woman -- showing Hunt had lied to all three of police, NFL, and Kansas City Chief investigators.
Hunt was quickly fired, but, right about at that moment, the "POINTS!!" mantra which the NFL had spread over the league with new anti-defense rules, etc. nearly completely evaporated! Once again, a major offensive superstar had been shown to be nothing short of a Trumpian bastion of toxic masculinity.
The entire existence of the Big Ten Conference
Sandusky and associated coverup at Penn State
Bullying at Rutgers going back years
joined this year by
Several sexual harassment complaints surrounding the Ohio State sports program (both NCAA and intramural)
The murder and coverup of same of a "lesser" football player at the University of Maryland
A rape allegation for a star receiver at the University of Wisconsin
and let's not forget...
The entire existence of a United States Olympic Team in the face of what may amount to a state-sponsored female-dehumanization campaign for athlete selection and to increase performance
Larry Nassar at Michigan State -- and that's just part of it!
The fact is that I now count at least FIVE US Olympic organizing bodies which will either cease to exist (USA Gymnastics) or be severely changed (swimming, diving, equestrian, taekwondo) due to sexual assault, rape, sexual harassment, and choosing of athletes/grooming athletes on the basis of accepting these dehumanizing tactics -- many of whom underage!
One has to wonder if the reinstatement of the Russian Olympic Committee at the end of the Pyeongchang Games was done with the reality that, had the suspension correctly remained in place, the IOC would have no option but to expel the United States as well, for a systematic campaign of assault, abuse, rape, dehumanization, and harassment/choice of female athletes throughout the Olympic spectrum which appears to indicate that a female athlete who aspires gold must first win gold in her male coach's bed.
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