Magic: The CONTINUING Hypocrisy

Ahh, a scene I remember far too damn well... Professional Magic: The Gathering...

No, I was never a professional player.  My one crowning "achievement" on the tables was a Top-8 at the Northern California State Championships when Sneak Attack was still legal in Standard and overrunning you with powerful green creatures was the main metagame...

But I also remember another thing about it:  Wizards of the Coast, long now a division of Hasbro, has been overly protective of compromising players (cheaters, abusive players, etc./so forth), going back to the very inception of said Pro Tour.  I remember the Internet discussions surrounding the Hovi/Mills debacle in one of the first official professional tournaments.

I remember trying to become a judge, and told my judging style to get players to stop cheating would actually kill competitive Magic in Milwaukee, WI.  I was actually told this by the head judge of a Pro Tour Qualifier I worked under -- and, no, I didn't trust the other players and was going to take it by the book.  That meant if a kid brought an illegal card to a Constructed tournament, he can learn his lesson by being DQ'd from said tournament.  And if the Head Judge has a problem with that, refund his entry fee for that tournament.

So that makes today's news rather disconcerting, and rather alarming.

If not the best Magic player this decade, he's in the top three or so, but Owen Turtenwald has been disqualified and removed from professional Magic's first $1,000,000 tournament by Wizards of the Coast.

It's why that you should start asking questions any millisecond now, up to and including the highest realms of whatever it's called these days -- I think it used to be the Department of Competitive Play or whatever it was.

Turtenwald, in 2011, did the unthinkable.  He won seven consecutive Grand Prix tournaments (kind of a semi-hybrid between a Pro Tour Qualifier (which it was, in essence) and an actual Pro Tour event) and was the Player of the Year.  He duplicated the award five years later.  He was a two-time US National Champion.

It is believed that Turtenwald, who makes hundreds of thousands a year, between sponsorships, Twitch streaming, and professional tournaments, was the biggest sexual harasser on the circuit, and had been for MANY MANY YEARS.

According to the Kotaku article on Wednesday's disqualification:

The only shred of evidence that fans had to go on for a reason behind Turtenwald’s removal from the event was a tweet from a Magic player named Mary Louke. “Very pleased with this news,” it read. “If you don’t know why… then you don’t know the best secret kept in Magic.”

Louke is one of three people who told Kotaku that Turtenwald has exhibited a pattern of predatory behavior toward female Magic players that spans several years. Screenshots shared with Kotaku showed that, Turtenwald continued pursuing these women sexually and romantically even after they stopped responding or turned him down.

Basically, it's the standard story -- I help you advance in the game, you give me sex.

Here's the problem, and why people need to be asking questions of just about everybody feasible:

1. There was a late-2017 article at the Niche Gamer website called "Magic: The Manic Hypocrisy", and sexual harassment of female players was a common theme in the article.  The article has since been removed.
2. That tournament I referenced above?  Let me continue the anecdote for you to give you more of an idea as to why I think there's more here:  Two Chicago-area professional players forfeited their places in a Pro Tour event to be played that same weekend (One stating directly:  "I want no part of 'Pro Tour: Cursed Scroll'." -- a single card which effectively defined the metagame of that Pro Tournament format at that time.).  Those two players were later found to be manipulating the ratings system used as one form of advancement in the sport and both were suspended for a period of time.  (So do I think that Head Judge was eventually dirty?  Yep.)
3. This was the highest-profile Magic player out there, one of it's biggest streamers, etc.
4. It was such an open secret in the high-level (especially female) community that he was like this.  (Effectively, sexual harassment from his mere presence in many events.

So why do I think questions need to be asked all the way up?

• How many top-level WotC employees/judges protected this guy because he was either the best player in the game or close for a decade?

and

• Do we now have rape to add to the charges here?

And, for at least the third time, an NFL developmental league is about to go under...

... because no one wants developmental football because we already have a developmental system which largely plays Saturdays!!

The first anyone probably heard of the Alliance of American Football, the AAF, was just before the Super Bowl, when CBS ran an ad for the opening weekend of the AAF's first season the next weekend.

It will probably be the AAF's last season too.

Today, principal owner of the league Tom Dundon says the league is finished after one year unless the NFLPA helps out and sends some...  you know...  recognizable or even GOOD players to the AAF for year two??  (Deadspin)

Since we now know that this league was a developmental league even a level below NFL Europa or the WLAF...  It's done.

THAT MIGHT EXPLAIN IT! A _THIRD_ Colin McGregor legal incident ends his MMA career. (Probably.)

Bit of a shocking scene of news late last night coming from Ireland when Colin McGregor, seemingly out of nowhere, did this on his Twitter...

Hey guys quick announcement, I’ve decided to retire from the sport formally known as “Mixed Martial Art” today.
I wish all my old colleagues well going forward in competition.
I now join my former partners on this venture, already in retirement.
Proper Pina Coladas on me fellas!

— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) March 26, 2019

To say it came out of nowhere would be putting it kindly, so the question would have to be asked as to why this all happened...

Took less than 18 hours...

ESPN Report:  McGregor Under Sexual Assault Inquiry

Happened in Ireland last December, so is the claim.  Investigation is continuing.

Karen Kessler believes the two stories are not related.  And, being one of McGregor's legal representatives, she's full of shit.

He had been thinking of a UFC return in July.

NFL 100 (Lashes): Break of Tradition, I guess it makes sense...

In the never-ending scheme not to leave The National Religion dormant for four micro-seconds...

The NFL today has announced the opening game of the 100th NFL season.

And, in a break from tradition (and not due to a scheduling conflict), it will NOT be the Super Bowl "champions".  New England will get the Sunday night NBC game.

Now, before I start going off and thinking the whole Robert Kraft fiasco might've had anything to do with it...  It's Bears-Packers from Chicago.

Only the greatest rivalry in the NFL (they started last year from Lambeau because the Packers just held their 100th season -- they predated the NFL itself by one year).

This might explain Oregon, and a couple other things...

Nike's pissed and taking a lawyer to court to shut him up...

This morning, at about 8:15 AM, Michael Avenatti posted this to his Twitter...

Tmrw at 11 am ET, we will be holding a press conference to disclose a major high school/college basketball scandal perpetrated by @Nike that we have uncovered. This criminal conduct reaches the highest levels of Nike and involves some of the biggest names in college basketball.

— Michael Avenatti (@MichaelAvenatti) March 25, 2019

This has not been a good day for Avenatti.  He was arrested by Federal officials in California for wire fraud and bank fraud (separately).

And today's announcement has been answered with Nike filing criminal charges against Avenatti in New York for at least a $20 million extortion scheme against them, involving three days of threats by Avenatti that if they didn't pay him, what you see reported in the tweet would be loosed.

Needless to say, the imminent nature of the announcement within 24 hours forced law enforcement's hand in the actions against Avenatti.

My guess? Frankly...

I think he's got something.  But he's gone about it wrong, and will pay.

Famed lawyer Mark Geragos is an unindicted co-conspirator in the Nike situation, deemed by prosecutors in New York as an "old-fashioned shakedown", according to CNN.

As I've said on a number of subjects lately -- stay tuned.

But, Mr. Avenatti, being on the President's "Enemies List" never works out for you.

Just ask "Lion of the Left"/probable pedophile Bernie Ward, formerly of KGO Radio.

You expected otherwise out MAGAT NASCAR fans?

Sounds like we've got a racist incident in the Monster Cup Series...

Daniel Suarez, the first Mexican driver of much import in NASCAR's top series, had this happen to him after the race yesterday in Martinsville...

(The interview fronting it is with David Blaney, but this is a fan incident, not another driver.)

Here's a clip I recorded. If you listen closely it sounds like somebody yells "Mexican" right before it hits.
That's messed up.https://t.co/aGTJcJQSkm

— Bryan Clay (@bryanclay88) March 24, 2019

As the Tweet implies, it appears this is a MAGA fucker who can't handle a "furriner" or "immigrant" in his white-bread "God, Gays, and Guns" sport...

And yet, is anyone surprised?

Anybody???

THIS IS NECKCAR'S FANBASE, YOU FUCKING DOLTS!!!

(Thanks to Jalopnik from Gizmodo Media for spotting this one.)

Super Fraud LIII(E): The Cheats Win Again Took a month and a half -- now I have the reason.

About 10 minutes ago on his Instagram, Rob Gronkowski retired from the NFL.

Should know this is coming, but start getting suspicious about the Raiders...

Antonio Brown and now Vontaze Burfict...

And Jon Gruden -- how the fuck is Burfict going to coexist with someone like you?

(Of course, there was Warren Sapp...)

It appears either the Bengals finally had enough or the league finally pressured them to do it...

Word today that Vontaze Burfict, the dirtiest player in NFL history, has been cut by the Bengals as part of a full flush.

The Bengals are basically cleaning out deadwood in their roster of veterans who really never cut it.  And, after three consecutive offseasons in which Burfict was suspended, the Bengals finally cut him.

Now the question is:  Who is stupid enough to pick him up?

As in football, the conferences protect their brands...

• No real penalties for last night's fight.
• The free-throw disparity in the ACC title game at the 4-minute first-half time out in 11-2 (with 2 coming for Florida State to make it 11-4) in favor of Duke.  27-all.
• And then there's the debacle that eliminated Florida from the SEC title tournament...

6.2 seconds left, Florida gets the ball down three after a missed free throw gives them a chance, and this (starting at about 2:32 or so of the video) is what results...

Someone PLEASE tell me, other than trying to augment Auburn's place and probably either eliminate Florida at 19-14 or relegate them to Tuesday or Wednesday night in Dayton, how that's not three shots to tie???

And it appears the next major Personal Conduct suspension will go to another KC Chief...

Tyreek Hill is under NFL investigation.

It appears we may have a child abuse situation on our hands, as at least two police visits of battery upon a juvenile which appear to be child abuse have been made to Hill's house in the last nine days.  One from Thursday has his fiance as an involved party (presumably the mother of the juvenile involved), and March 5 had another report from the Hill residence, this one did appear to have Tyreek involved.

This would not be his first -- he was arrested for domestic assault while at Oklahoma State.

EDIT TO ADD 12:15 AM PDT 3/16/2019:  One of the investigated events alleges Hill broke his 3 year-old son's arm.  (Deadspin)

The Big East says The Show Must Go On at all cost...

Five players should be suspended for incidents during a completely out of control Big East semifinal tilt between Marquette and Seton Hall.

In a game which featured nearly sixty fouls, the highlight was a scrum melee with about 12 minutes to go in the game.

The clip is on ESPN's page on the game, but #13 of Seton Hall is pushed to the ground by #4 of Marquette, he doesn't like it and squares up.  The two #2s square up with each other, and #23 of Seton Hall gets a cheap shot in.

I'm not even sure all five players got ejected -- at least three did.

The officials, who had no control of the game whatsoever because the game required the officials to start threatening termination (to complete the game that The Show Must Go On required 88 free throws - the D1 record is 108, no word on the regulation record)...

But the referees did not, on the floor, rule that entire melee a fight.

Really?

Or is that going to damage the NCAA tournament branding of the Big East as at least two players (and possibly the head coach) would have to sit the first round, and three Seton Hall players would have to sit the conference final against Villanova.

Suspension Blotter: Hunt to miss eight more...

• Cleveland Browns:  Kareem Hunt:  8 games for the domestic violence incident which got him fired from the Chiefs.

No, ESPN, it's COMPLETELY explicable why the Giants got rid of Odell Beckham Jr.

I'm reading a headline today in ESPN stating that the trade of Odell Beckham Jr. from the Giants to the Browns is completely inexplicable and represents, at best, a "The Process" situation where the New York Giants are going to be a 4-12 joke the next 3-5 seasons.

Anyone who does not get the nature of this trade has no understanding of one simple fact:

For a very serious, yet undisclosed, reason, the National Football League has a serious problem with Odell Beckham Jr.

It's clear he's a headcase and an on-field problem.  It's also clear he's got elite skills.

There are rumors as to what the problem is -- but it's been clear for years that the message to the Giants is one of three things:

Either get him under control, release him, or never be relevant.

And that's why I think they got rid of him -- and, if I'm right, it makes perfect sense.

And Cleveland is a team OBJ will never have to worry about playing a relevant NFL game at.

So, it takes someone not willing to be paid-off or listen to the paid-off narrative, but I think this makes perfect sense:  The New York Giants got rid of an NFL problem.

And a couple updates...

• It appears the NBA found Westbrook's outburst last night mostly justified!

Though some in social media were calling for Westbrook to be suspended the rest of the season and a couple games of the playoffs, he was only fined $25,000 for his outburst.

And the fan has been permanently banned from any further attendance at Utah Jazz games.

• It appears at least one suspect and/or motive in the homophobic slur in the NHL last night has been refuted.

There was a report that the homophobic slur at last night's Toronto's game in which it was believed Morgan Rielly of the Maple Leafs used a homophobic slur against one of the officials.

Senior EVP of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell cleared Rielly of at least the slur against the referee, and it appears uttering the slur at all!

Statement from Senior EVP of Hockey Operations Colin Campbell on investigation of @TBLightning - @MapleLeafs game last night at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto. pic.twitter.com/R3j7n1oJt9

— NHL Public Relations (@PR_NHL) March 12, 2019

Well, Colin, it's clear SOMEBODY did.  Could well have been a fan near the Sportsnet microphones.

So you still got work to do.

• A list of the coaches and other administrators involved in the Celebrity Pay For College Access scandal which broke today has been obtained by Deadspin.

This is apparently an eight-year investigation into a middleman who was paid at least $25 million to get the rich and famous' kids into proper schools they would nowhere close be qualified to go.

The list includes:

1. Former Georgetown tennis head coach Gordon Ernst.  Hercules Capital CEO Manuel Henriquez is one of the purported people who had enlisted aid from Mr. Ernst.  Elisabeth Kimmel, a media mogul from Las Vegas, was another.  Ernst left last year to go to Rhode Island, but has been placed on leave after the situation went public.
2. Donna Heinel was the associate AD of USC fired today.  William McGlashan, an executive at private equity firm TPG, was one who had a son aided -- a false punter.  (McGlashan was placed on leave today.)   Gamel Abdelaziz was another -- he is a casino owner in both Las Vegas and Macau.  Fashion designer Mossimo Giannulli was also involved -- his wife and another Hollywood actress have been charged as well!  (Lori Loughlin of the Full House reboot (who had SIX daughters apparently in the pipeline of this scandal!) and Felicity Huffman, best known for her role on Desperate Housewives (already released on $250,000 bail).  Hollywood producer Devin Sloane is yet another -- he was to be Executive Producer of "The Beautiful and the Damned".  Marci Palatella, a CEO of a distiller in the Bay Area (where much of the non-Hollywood crowd in this was involved) is yet another.  Heinel is so involved in this, she's all the way up to being charged with conspiracy of racketeering -- RICO ACT???
3. Jonan Vavic was fired as the water polo coach of USC as well.  Augustus Huneeus -- one of the famed Napa Valley wine creators -- was one of the parents who tried to falsely represent their child as an athlete to get in USC.  John B. Wilson was another -- Wilson is another capital person of a growing number of Wall Street executives.
4. Laura Janke, former assistant soccer coach of USC until 2014 aided Kimmel.
5. Ali Khosroshahin of USC was alleged to have been bribed by Bruce Isackson, the head of a real estate development firm, to get one of his kids in UCLA when Khosroshahin was women's soccer coach there -- until he was fired in 2013.  
6. The current men's coach at UCLA, Jorge Salcedo, did the rest, and part of the compensation was $250,000 worth of Facebook stock!
7. John Vandomoer, the now-former sailing coach of Stanford, was fired today when it was revealed that he was bribed by John B. Wilson -- and has pled guilty to racketeering conspiracy.

And that's just a short and partial list.

We're going to have to confront some things here, as a culture, if anything purporting the present societal structures we have now is going to be allowed to continue:

• We are either going to have to codify or destroy the concept of the person who's just "that much better" in pedigree getting favors of this ilk.  It's clear why this happens -- it's not only an ego thing, but one has to wonder if the jobs of many of these top-level people would actually be in jeopardy if their son or daughter was found not to be of the proper stock to continue the lineage as it were.  Almost as if it were the blood of a famous racehorse, to be honest!
• We are going to have to get to the bottom of just what it takes to be famous or what it takes to be successful in this country.  If it is, as most intelligent people should begin to fear, more a function of who you are and who you are not, rather than what you do, then we are in major trouble as a society -- not only because of the immediate ramifications, but also because we are not teaching our children properly.
• We are going to have to confront the very real possibility that every sacred cow goes down.  That means no more Hollywood -- that means no more NCAA or even college sports -- that means every sacred cow that this country and many of it's citizens take for remote granted.

Stay tuned, as I said...

Not anything anyone should be shocked about, but this "Stars Cheating The Admission Process" thing has legs to it...

At first glance, this story really doesn't surprise anybody -- major players, including at least two Hollywood actresses, arrested today on admissions fraud at many colleges, including USC, UCLA, and the Ivy League.

The first problem -- and why you're seeing it more in the sports arena right now -- is because of the fact that one of the avenues that middlemen paid to get unfit kids of rich people and/or celebrities into colleges which will make all parties look good is the use of scholarships for lesser sports for people who never played them.

One major example is legendary USC water polo coach Jovan Vavic, credited with bringing quality water polo athletes to US institutions.  The problem is, he also brought one of the charged (but unnamed in the Deadspin article on the subject) rich people an unfit daughter to USC by false representation -- one of the many tricks the middlemen used was actually Photoshopping the kid's head onto a picture of an athlete's body!

Vavic and the USC associate athletic director overseeing him were both fired today.

But here's the rub...  I think the major lead has been buried again.

This is another of the cases where superstars and big money are getting nailed for practices no one should be materially surprised they are doing -- it's either been known information or believed hush-hush.

Are we looking at another flake off here -- toward one of two possible ends?

Either:

1) The complete dismantling of every sacred cow we have in this country.

or

2) The codification of that those "better than you" can do to you whatever they want to, without penalty or retribution.

As I've said for a number of these, stay tuned.

Get some control over your athletes before something explodes...

• NBA:  Russell Westbrook is in a lot of trouble.

The NBA is going to have to take a long look at several incidents, including one tonight, between the Oklahoma City star and fans in Salt Lake City, UT.

From the ESPN article on this, Westbrook's exchange with a courtside fan went as follows:

""I promise you," Westbrook says in the exchange. "You think I'm playing. I swear to God. I swear to God. I'll f--- you up; you and your wife. I'll f--- you up."

Someone off-camera then appears to attempt to verbally intervene.

"No, f--- that! F--- that!" Westbrook shouts, pausing before resuming his initial exchange.

"I promise you, everything I love," Westbrook says. "Everything I love n----, I promise you."

I get that fans go over the line (would I not know?), but that's going to be something the league is going to look at.

Especially since this wasn't the first time.

Last April, when Utah eliminated Oklahoma City, fans accosted Westbrook then too.  There was no direct reference to what was exactly said, but Westbrook said that the league needed to look into this kind of stuff.

They're going to have to now.

Also Monday night:

• NHL:  An anti-gay slur was picked up on the on-ice microphones during Toronto vs. Tampa Bay.  Someone's getting suspended if they can find out who.

Social media makes it appear that it was a Toronto player, and it was clear to the Canadian broadcast on Sportsnet -- but the league is investigating who said it.

Stay tuned.  I think the leagues are going to have some major suspensions to hand out.

Hey, any sanctioning or governmental body out there... We going to truly investigate UFC, Conor McGregor, or MMA in general before or after someone gets killed outside the ring?

Conor McGregor, arrested in Miami today -- strong-armed robbery.

More, he took a fan, slapped a cell phone out of his hand, and smashed it.

--

When is somebody -- ANYBODY -- going to start taking a real look at this shit and seeing it's no coincidence whatsoever?

I'm not even necessarily talking CTE here.  I'm talking the drugs.

I'm talking Conor McGregor completely out of control...

The NSAC is going to make their money-whoring out to Mayweather pale in comparison WHEN, NOT IF, they sanction this out-of-control Irishman to ever fight in their state again.

So we going to start the needed investigations before or after someone is killed by a major MMA star -- I'm talking a Jones/McGregor/Lesnar/whatever... -- and I'm also talking OUTSIDE the ring.

The bigger name in the Robert Kraft story? Two indications that it's Donald Trump himself!

Pretty much about the moment that Robert Kraft was announced as under warrant for soliciting prostitution in the state of Florida, ESPN's Adam Schefter stated that there was even a bigger name in the works with respect to this crime.

It was, later, purported that Schefter pulled the report.

And two reports from the Gizmodo Media sites may indicate why.

There's a very real indication that Donald Trump was involved in whatever was going on, from possibly soliciting and maybe trafficking the prostitutes.

Why?

Because not only has it now been reported that Donald Trump had the founding owner (she since sold) of the Orchids of Asia Day Spa at his Super Bowl party (here's a referring article from the Miami Herald), but that this same woman had an ongoing business arrangement with President Trump, selling rich Chinese clients access to Mr. Trump as President!  (Splinter)

Well, well...

I've believed the authorities in Florida found something far more and FAR WORSE than a simple prostitution ring or even a human trafficking angle when they started down this road.

It now appears (but cannot yet be confirmed) that, if I'm right, it involves no less than the President of the United States of America himself.

Strap in...

There is a reason many see horse racing as barbaric...

Santa Anita has had to close down because of it's 21 equine death in the winter meet.

The winter weather, in addition to possibly other factors, has rendered all surfaces lethally unsafe for the horses to even train on, much less race.

Let that process...

The IOC can step in on the United States any goddamn time now, please!!!

SafeSport, to absolutely NOBODY'S FUCKING SURPRISE, has found a culture of grooming and abuse in the sport of figure skating.

Can we please save time and list the Olympic women's sports in which that culture does NOT exist?

Hell, I think I can give you the list right now:








There it is.  NONE OF THEM.

IOC, declare the United States Olympic Team a state-sponsored sexual assault-harassment ring and do it quickly!