Goodbye and TO HELL WITH 2020

(No, I'm staying.  2020 is leaving!!!  boot in ass)

Oh how do I start this?

I think there's a very powerful statement Keith Olbermann made.  When this first started and it was clear the response was going to be INTENTIONALLY flawed, Olbermann told the world that the most powerful being on this planet was no longer the human race.  It was the coronavirus.

Don't believe me?

We don't even have to talk about the year basically being split between "before March 11" and "after March 11"...

This is tonight -- Times Square...  Usually, over 2,000,000 people flood the area for stage performances and the world-famous ball drop.

The performances are still there. 

The ball will still drop.

The two million people?  Not there.

Want more proof?  The Las Vegas Strip.

New Year's Eve is always the most expensive night of the year to get a room in the place.  That's because, on a normal New Year's Eve, 300,000 jam the Strip end to end.

The roads are still closed to cars.

Only a smattering of pedestrian traffic.  NO on-street crowds allowed.

The most powerful being on this planet is a virus.

---

But, yes, the world can basically be separated, sports and otherwise, to the time before people became aware of the coronavirus and the time after.

Don't believe me?  Here's ESPN, just before what was to be the tipoff of the game which upsot the whole apple cart in Oklahoma City, when health officials notified the officials, the teams, and the league that the coronavirus was here in the NBA -- and, within an hour or so (and seven minutes after the news broke of Rudy Gobert's positive), the NBA was off until about July...

The look on Mark Cuban's face that night during his game said it all.  We were fucked.

No sports at all in this country til about May.  Everything, as I've been telling you for over nine months, still up in the air on almost a daily basis.

---

And then there's the other big story of the year.

Everybody we fucking lost.

This is by no means an exhaustive list of any kind, just a subset (of names I recognize, and I cannot do the overwhelming nature of all this justice) of the Wikipedia articles on who we lost in 2020...

The list is staggering, and it includes:

• January 1:  Former NBA Commissioner David Stern
• January 1:  The only man to throw a perfect game in the World Series:  Don Larsen
• January 2:  Former NFL coach Sam Wyche
• January 9:  Golf course architect Pete Dye
• January 15:  "Soul Man" Rocky Johnson
• January 16:  British editor and academian Christopher Tolkien, son of J.R.R.
• January 23:  Jim Lehrer
• January 26:  Kobe and Gianna Bryant, along with several others
• January 30:  John Andretti
• February 5:  Kirk Douglas
• February 20:  Tennis player Jeanne Evert, sister of Chris
• March 8:  Max von Sydow
• March 17:  Roger Mayweather
• March 17:  Lyle Waggoner
• March 21:  Richard S Kline, of "Kline and Friends" game show productions
• March 29:  Joe Diffie
• April 1:  Adam Schlesinger
• April 2:  Patricia Bosworth
• April 4:  Tom Dempsey
• April 6:  Al Kaline
  
• April 12:  Danny Goldman
• April 12:  Joe Pedicino
• April 15:  Brian Dennedy
• May 5:  Sweet Pea Atkinson of Was (Not Was)
• May 6:  Brian Howe of Bad Company
• May 8:  Roy Horn of Seigfried and Roy
• May 9:  Little Richard
• May 12:  Carolyn Reidy, CEO of Simon and Schuster
• May 22:  Jerry Sloan
• June 2:  Wes Unseld
• June 10:  Mr. Wrestling II
• June 20:  Jim Kiick
• June 29:  Carl Reiner
• July 1:  Hugh Downs
• July 5:  Nick Cordero
• August 28:  Chadwick Boseman
• August 31:  Tom Seaver
• September 6:  Lou Brock
  
• September 18:  Ruth Bader Ginsburg
• September 21:  Jackie Stallone
• September 23:  Gale Sayers
• September 29:  Mac Davis
• September 29:  Helen Reddy
• October 6:  Eddie Van Halen
• October 7:  Tom Kennedy
• October 7:  Bob Gibson
  
• October 8:  Whitey Ford
• October 11:  Joe Morgan
  
• October 28:  Tracy Smothers
• October 31:  Sean Connery
• November 7:  Norm Crosby
• November 8:  Alex Trebek
• November 9:  Tommy Heinsohn
• December 7:  Chuck Yeager
• December 12:  Charley Pride
• December 21:  Kevin Greene
• December 25:  KC Jones
• December 26:  Brodie Lee/Jon Huber
• December 26:  Phil Niekro
• December 30:  Dawn Wells

And, as New York goes over just as I finish this, why did I put a few of them in bold?

The last one on this list (as of NYC going over, from Worldmeters):

• The now 354,215 Americans and 1,825,780 worldwide lost to this damn virus this year.

Time to kick 2020 out of here.  Good bye and FUCK YOU to it!!!

Day 294

• The Browns have two more positives to worry about for this week's game...
• But the Dolphins have probably lost their quarterback, Ryan Fitzpatrick, to the virus at least for the week.
• The FA has banned Edinson Cavani of Manchester United three games for a racial slur on his Instagram.
• Last night's AEW Dynamite honored the life and career of Jon Huber, AKA Brodie Lee, FKA Luke Harper.  His stable was involved in every match (and their wrestlers got the falls in every match), and even his son was able to do a comeuppance angle on the biggest heel in the company.
• Michael Richardson of the 1985 Bears -- murder charge in Arizona.  (Yahoo Sports)
• Huge brawl to end one of the bowl games this New Year's Eve.  Doesn't that ALWAYS seem to happen?    

Day 292 and 293...

• Well, well...  The English Premier League is still saying the season will go on, but now two matches in three days have been called off due to COVID-19 flare-ups, and England has, a couple of weeks now, announced a new strain, 70% more contagious, is in the country...  Fulham and Manchester City both have outbreaks.
  
• Psst... It's in the USA too.  Case of the new strain confirmed in Colorado.    
• Wigan Update:  The other teams have matches in hand, but two wins and two draws in their last five at least have Wigan at 19 points, the line to go down to League Two or remain safe.  The other two drops, Hull City and Charlton, are third and sixth respectively.
  
• The sale offer to a Spanish consortium was rejected beginning of this month.  It does look like the EFL's position is to end the club.
• Interesting...  Not only has the opening of the NBA season seen ratings nearly double, but the YouTube account of the league has had it's most-watched week of it's 15 year history.  (ESPN Crawl)
• Clemson offensive coordinator Tony Elliott will not be at the CFP semifinal tomorrow due to COVID-19 protocols.
• The Colts will hide all reference to other games in which they need help to make the playoffs on Sunday.
• The Bills will host fans Wild Card Weekend.
• The women's basketball team at Duke has cancelled it's season due to COVID.
  

2020 Kayfabe Week 16 Standings and Week 17 Relevance

AFC:

1. Kansas City 14-1 (Clinched AFC West, AFC #1 seed, AFC First Round Bye)
2. Buffalo 12-3 (Clinched AFC East -- AFC #2 seed is with a win or a Pittsburgh loss, since they beat Pittsburgh to break the 2-3 tie)
3. Pittsburgh 12-3 (Clinched AFC North -- needs a win and a Buffalo loss to get #2)
4. Tennessee 10-5 (Divisional record over Indianapolis, has clinched absolutely nothing, though -- a loss and wins by the other 10-5s eliminates them from both division and wild card, in otherwise.  NONE of the 10-5s have clinched anything, division or wild card.)
5. Miami 10-5 (Conference record over the other 10-5s.  Needs to win or have Indianapolis, Baltimore, or Cleveland lose to get in the playoffs)
6. Baltimore 10-5 (Head to heads with both Cleveland and Indianapolis, needs a win or a loss by Indy or Cleveland to get in)
7. Cleveland 10-5 (Head to head with Indianapolis, needs a win or an Indianapolis loss to get in)

OUTSIDE IN:  Indianapolis 10-5 (Needs a win and one of the other four 10-5s to lose.  If it's Tennessee, they win the AFC South.  If it's any of others, it's a wild card.  But they can be eliminated at 11-5 if all of the 10-5s win.)

ELIMINATED:  Jets, Patriots, Bengals, Jaguars, Texans, Raiders, Chargers, Broncos

WILD CARD:  CLE@BUF, BAL@PIT, MIA@TEN

WEEK 17:

• MIA@BUF Relevant for both  (#2 seed for Buffalo, Wild Card for Miami)
  
• BAL@CIN Relevant for Baltimore (wild card)
• PIT@CLE Relevant for both (#2 seed for Pittsburgh, Wild Card for Cleveland)
• NYJ@NE Not relevant
• LV@DEN Not relevant
• JAX@IND Relevant for Indianapolis (AFC South/Wild Card)
• LAC@KC Not relevant
• TEN@HOU Relevant for Tennessee (AFC South/Wild Card)

So only five relevant games on the AFC slate, and only two relevant to both teams. 

NFC:

1. Green Bay 12-3 (Clinched NFC North  Gets the #1 and the bye if they win or Seattle loses)
2. New Orleans 11-4 (Clinched NFC South, conference tiebreaker over Seattle.  Must win, have Green Bay lose, AND Seattle must also WIN to get the #1 seed.  They need a three-way tiebreaker they win with the conference tiebreaker over the other two.  If Seattle does not win, then Green Bay wins on the HTH.)
3. Seattle 11-4 (Clinched NFC West.  #1 seed if they win and Green Bay loses, due to conference record.)
4. Washington 6-9 (Wins NFC East with a win -- their game has been flexed to Sunday night)
5. Tampa Bay 10-5 (Clinched a wild-card spot)
6. LA Rams 9-6  (A loss to Arizona and a Chicago win eliminates them in a three-part tiebreaker.  You break divisional ties first, so Arizona on divisional record (season series split) goes over the Rams.  But then Chicago wins that tiebreaker with Arizona on common games, and then Arizona eliminates the Rams on the divisional record again.  So the Rams need a win or a loss by either of the 8-7s to get in.)
7. Chicago 8-7 (by the above-mentioned common games tiebreak with Arizona  Win and in.)

OUTSIDE IN:  Arizona 8-7  (Needs to win and have either the Rams or Chicago lose.  Divisional tiebreaker if the Rams lose, straight-up if Chicago does.)

Dallas 6-9 (Win and Washington loses, and they win the NFC Least)

NY Giants (Win to eliminate Dallas, then Washington loses to win the division on divisional tiebreaker -- with only two wins outside the division.)

The Giants can win the NFC East 6-10.  Washington cannot.  They lose, and the Dallas -Giants winner earlier wins the division.

WILD CARD:  CHI@NO, LAR@SEA, TB@WSH

WEEK 17:

• MIN@DET Nothing
• DAL@NYG  Win or go home, then find out Sunday night if you're going on.
  
• GB@CHI  Seeding for GB
• ATL@TB  Seeding for TB (They lose and the Rams win, the Rams get the #5 by HTH.)
• ARI@LAR Win and in, lose and out unless Chicago loses for the Rams
• NO@CAR Seeding for NO, dependent on the other two HFA 4 Eastern games
• SEA@SF Seeding for SEA, dependent on Green Bay's 4 Eastern game
• WSH@PHI Win or go home for Washington

Seven relevant games, but only two for both teams.

Meaning, yes, there are 12 relevant games on Sunday, but only FOUR are relevant to both teams.

2020 NFL Week 16 Score Report

Oh boy, was that a dud to end Monday Night Football for the year...

• After a Friday, Saturday, and early Sunday which made it look like the average was going to be another 50+ PPG week, the rest of the week stalled out, and the average was 47.625 points per game.
  
• For a season average of 49.392 PPG.
  
• With 11,854 points, the NFL is now only 108 points away from the all-time scoring record of 11,962 points for the year...
• And only 229 points from the all-time average per-game record of 47.2 - set when the NFL only had 10 teams!
• Home teams were 9-7 this week, meaning home teams are only one game over .500 (120-119-1) with just one week left.
• The Over was 7-8-1 for the week, 116-118-6 for the year.
  
• Favorites were 9-6 against the number and 11-4 straight up (Pittsburgh-Indy kicked a pick, the fourth of the year) in a Christmas present from Vegas.
• For the season, 105-128-1 against the number, 158-77-1 straight up.
• Team with more penalties was 4-9 this week, 93-110-1 for the year.
  
• Total penalties for the week were 191, almost 12 a game.  Season total:  2,742 (11.425 per game)
  
• 4 Cliffhangers, 44 for the year
• 8 games finished within one score, 129 for the year
• 6 games were non-competitive, 73 for the year
• 7 Last Chance Misses for 78 for the year
  

Day 291

• As should've happened last week (but the loss probably exacerbated it), the Washington Football Team fired Dwayne Haskins today.
• Keyontae Johnson is back at Florida, working as a coach 10 days after collapsing on the court with COVID-related heart issues.
  

Week 16 Kayfabe For The Moment and Power Rankings For The Moment

AFC:

Kansas City has clinched the #1 seed this week.  Nothing more to do.  And I'd have to think they are a significant favorite to sweep through the Super Bowl, even with the hiccup today with Atlanta.

Tomorrow night will say a lot about the 2 and 3, as Buffalo can retake the 2 with a win.  Pittsburgh clinched the AFC North today.

The only division not clinched is the AFC South.  A Tennessee win either week clinches the division.  Indy needs a win and two Tennessee losses.

The wildcards are now 4 for 3 spots.  Cleveland, Miami, Baltimore, and the second team out of the AFC South.  Baltimore now has tiebreaker over Cleveland at 10-5 with a head-to-head sweep.

None of the 5 teams for the 4 spots have clinched a thing, though.  All the teams are 10-5, pending tonight if Green Bay beats Tennessee.

Elimination scenarios basically are that the one team loses and all the other teams win.  At this point, it's Miami (conference record), Baltimore (head to head over both Indy and Cleveland), Cleveland (head to head over Indy, in that order.

NFC:

Green Bay just kicked off on the Sunday nighter.  They have head-to-head over New Orleans and conference record over Seattle no matter what happens tonight, so a win next week gets the #1 regardless.  Nothing can change that -- even with a win tonight, a loss to Chicago and a Seattle win changes the order.

Seattle clinched the NFC West, New Orleans the NFC South.

7-9 is the best which can win the NFC Least now, and the Eagles are eliminated. Washington loses to Philly, Dallas loses to the Giants, and 6-10 wins that division.  Washington wins the division unless they lose and Dallas wins, Washington has the HTH sweep.

Three playoff spots will go to Week 17.  The NFC Least, and three for two in the NFC wildcards.  Rams 9-6, Cards and Bears 8-7.  Win by the Cards and Bears and loss by the Rams eliminates them.  

Power Rankings:

AFC, it's Kansas City and everybody else.  Less and less likely that anything short of rigging the Super Bowl or a Mahomes injury will have KC not winning it, and at least two touchdowns clear.

NFC:

1) Tampa

Again, GB with the #1 seed is Tampa by proxy.  You saw again this week how good they CAN BE.

2) Seattle

3) New Orleans

4) Green Bay

Day 290

• Add Phil Niekro to the In Memoriam in 2020 list.
• Jacksonville has "won" the #1 draft pick, after four wide receivers going COVID contact-testing in Cleveland gave the Jets a second straight win.
• 510 points this week through the early games.  51 average, 11,602 for the season with six games to go in the week and 22 in the year.  The NFL is now just 360 points away from the record.  Probably won't get it this week, but be very early in Week 17.
• Two major offensive pieces were injured and out of the LA Clippers home opener today.  As partially a result, the Dallas Mavericks broke an NBA record today with a FIFTY POINT halftime margin.  77-27.  They won 124-73.
• And then the four late games on Sunday went 19-16. 20-13, 20-9, and 37-17 to knock the average down.
• With Green Bay-Tennessee and New England-Buffalo left, the NFL is now at 11,753 points for the year -- 209 away from the record.  It now definitely is next week.
• The best they can do next week for maximum drama for the flex game is Washington vs. Philadelphia, since Washington has the best chance to win the NFC Least.
  

Day 289

• At least four members of the Houston Rockets must quarantine until Wednesday, putting a significant dent in the team at the start of the season.
• The only reason this won't result in their first three games of the year being cancelled or postponed is that the league is taking no action so far against James Harden.
  
• Utah running back Ty Jordan has died due to an accidental gunshot wound.
• We've got a COVID positive on the Browns, and Jedrick Willis is also on the COVID Reserve List -- he is NOT the COVID positive from today, though.  Flight is delayed, game with the Jets could be.
• As of the 47-7 rout of Tampa Bay (I'm telling you now -- it's Tom Brady if he makes it that far!  Green Bay with the #1 seed is a TRAP!!!), the NFL season is now at 11,231 points.  They've already had 139 in those two games.  That means the NFL is now only 731 points, with a week and 14 games to go, to break the record for most points in a season.
• Several of the wide receivers for the Browns are now deemed high-risk contacts, according to a media source.
• Brodie Lee of AEW, the former Luke Harper, has died.  41 years old, lung condition, non-COVID.  Was receiving treatment at Mayo Clinic.  Highlight of his AEW time was being named The Exalted One, the leader of the Dark Order.
  

Day 288: Bah Humbug

• Dan Snyder is claiming at least one minority owner of The Football Team is trying to extort him.
• The NHL has apparently, according to some reports, gotten clearance for Canadian teams to play in their home markets -- probably implying a separate Canadian division this year.
• No word yet on when -- OR IF!!! -- Major League Baseball starts up for 2021.

2021 Predictions, Back of Napkin Version

After what has to be the worst year of everyone's lives except a Confederate MAGAt's, here's a look into 2021...

• I am really getting vibes of a rapid-fire veto of the stimulus/Insurrection Act/Martial Law by Trump, perhaps as early as January 2nd.  If that happens, a lot below changes.  I might address some of that later if the first part of the three comes to pass...
• NHL:  I believe they are in existential trouble.  They are the least foundationed of the four major sports leagues, and there is the standing problem of the Canadian border limits due to COVID.  As more and more people refuse the vaccine, I think there's a very real chance that at least one NHL franchise fails, and a number more may be coming behind it -- but that might be after this season, should it complete.
• NBA:  All depends on whether Trump leaves office.  As much as they want to downplay the BLM stuff to start the season, the fact is that the league is inextricably tied to it's African-American players.
• NFL:  Kansas City wins the Super Bowl easily, if it occurs.
• Under that, I will predict the "JT The Brick Plan" for Super Bowl LV happens.  JT made public a plan for a full-stadium crowd Super Bowl for this year -- all vaccinated, all first-responders.  It apparently has grabbed some support in the sports media.
• MLB:  The last season of Major League Baseball as you know it.  And this was probably without COVID, but this just redoubles it all.  I think what eventually survives the work stoppage at the end of next year will either be a dramatically-reduced league or Manfred being fired by the owners about to be severed.  If you think that Minor League Baseball mess this year wasn't an indication...
• NASCAR:  Bubba Wallace will be run out of the sport, at gunpoint if some Confederate Hick gets his way.  I see the number of races cut further.
• As I said above:  I believe at least one Big Four franchise fails.  The NHL is the first candidate, though a Sacramento Kings failure or someone to that effect would not shock me.
• Olympics:  My first inclination is that the Olympic Movement fails entirely in 2021 with the full cancellation of the Tokyo Games.  My second is:  If they take place, the world will not allow the United States into the Games without proper vaccination.
• College Sports:  I believe you will see, in 2021, the college sports universe shrink to an exceedingly small number of schools.  Part of it because of simply athletic-department finances, part of it due to that I'm not sure college, as we've known it before March of 2020, survives all of this at all!
• High School and College:  I believe a large movement to cancel sports from schools who cannot feasibly support them will take flight in 2021.  You've seen it on small scales at the college level this year -- I think it explodes in 2021.
• Sportsman of the Year 2021:  Patrick Mahomes, this time for on the field.
  

Well, since it's Week 16 and I'm bored, just how irrelevant is even Week 16?

So let's go through the schedules for 16 (and I guess 17 as well) and see how bad the kayfabe has fouled up the relevance of the games:

Week 16:

• Christmas late afternoon on FOX:  MIN@NO.  Minnesota must win to keep small hope alive of the #7, eliminated with a loss.  New Orleans must win, or they cannot get the #1 in any capacity.  (It doesn't clinch it for Green Bay -- you still have Seattle to discuss.)  RELEVANT
• Saturday morning, NFL Network/Local Only:  TB@DET  Tampa's in with a win.  RELEVANT
  
• Saturday afternoon, Amazon Prime Video/Local Only:  SF@ARI  Arizona needs a win to keep up for the #7.  RELEVANT
• Saturday night, NFL Network/Local Only:  MIA@LV  Vegas must win or they're gone, Miami must win to help their WC position.  RELEVANT
• Sunday early FOX:  ATL@KC  KC wins the bye with a win.  RELEVANT
• Sunday early CBS:  CLE@NYJ  CLE may still need more help (either from Pittsburgh or Miami/Baltimore/Indy) to get in.  RELEVANT
• Sunday early CBS, probably GotW:  IND@PIT  Might be the most relevant game of the week anywhere.  RELEVANT
• Sunday early CBS:  CHI@JAX  IRRELEVANT, except for the chase of the #1 Draft Pick, which is now Jacksonville's.
• Sunday early FOX:  NYG@BAL  RELEVANT  Anything in the NFC Least is now relevant, Baltimore is still hardcore in the wild-card race.
• Sunday early FOX:  CIN@HOU  IRRELEVANT
• Sunday late CBS:  DEN@LAC  IRRELEVANT
• Sunday late FOX:  CAR@WAS  RELEVANT, NFC Least.
• Sunday late FOX:  PHI@DAL RELEVANT, NFC Least
• Sunday late FOX:  LAR@SEA  DECIDES THE NFC WEST
• Sunday night NBC:  TEN@GB  ALL SORTS OF RELEVANCE HERE
• Monday night ESPN/ABC, Finale:  BUF@NE  RELEVANT FOR BUFFALO POSITIONING IF NOTHING ELSE

So basically, even with so many teams eliminated, 13 of the 16 games have some relevance.

Quick back-of-notebook playoff scenarios:

AFC:

• KC magic number for the #1 is one.
• Also in:  Buffalo and Pittsburgh.
• Out:  Houston, Jacksonville, Denver, LA Chargers, Cincinnati, New England, New York Jets
• Two on the outside looking in:  Vegas and Baltimore
• Vegas needs two wins, two Baltimore losses, and Miami to lose in Week 17 (Vegas has to beat Miami on Saturday).  They may also need other results, based on Strength of Victory between themselves, Miami, and Baltimore.  Any Vegas loss, Baltimore win, or Miami win and they are out.
  
• Cleveland wins a playoff berth with a win and a loss by any of the other 10-4/9-5s
• Indianapolis is one rung below Cleveland in this discussion.  They clinch a playoff berth with a win and a loss by Baltimore or Miami.
• Tennessee is in the playoffs if they beat the Packers OR the Dolphins or Ravens lose.

NFC:

• Arizona is in with a win and a Bears loss.
• Green Bay wins the #1 if they win and the Seahawks lose.  (Funny scenario, a win and a loss or tie by both Seattle and New Orleans does it, BUT both can't tie!  So it's basically a win and a loss by New Orleans and a tie by Seattle.)  They have HTH over the Saints and conference over the Seahawks.
• LA Rams in the playoffs with a win, a Bears loss, or an Arizona win. 
• Tampa is in the playoffs with a win or a Bears loss.
• Washington wins the NFC Least with a win and a Giants loss.

So with all that in mind, how's Week 17 looking right now?  (Times may be flipped here due to relevancy.)

Early:

• GB@CHI  Only relevant if Chicago wins this week and Arizona, the Rams, and Tampa don't all win as well -- OR if Seattle wins or Green Bay loses.
• MIA@BUF  Definitely relevant playoff positioning.  Miami may still be playing for a berth.
• BAL@CIN  Wild-card relevance for Baltimore.
• PIT@CLE  Yep
  
• MIN@DET  Nope.
• JAX@IND  Positioning for Indy.
• LAC@KC  Only if KC loses this week and help comes to keep the #1 in some doubt.
• NYJ@NE  Nope.
• DAL@NYG  Only if Washington doesn't clinch the NFC Least.
• WAS@PHI  Same principle.
• ATL@TB Only if Tampa loses and Chicago wins, possible positioning.
• NO@CAR  Positioning for NO
• TEN@HOU Positioning for TEN
  

Late:

• LV@DEN  Only if LV wins this week and Baltimore loses.
• ARI@LAR  Positioning
• SEA@SF  Positioning
  

Day 286

• The Heat are already out of the James Harden Sweepstakes because of his stunt.
• The NBA is investigating.  Prepare for a suspension, moron -- and I hope it's a long one.   
• One of the Rockets (Ben McLemore) has tested positive for the virus, and two more have been sent home for contact tracing -- and more may follow. 
  
• Interesting moment in Boise yesterday.  As the University of Nevada was about to go into victory formation to win the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl, the team doused their head coach with french fries AND Gatorade.
• One problem:  The game was still in progress and the french fries spilled on the field about the 40 yard line on their sideline.  Unsportsmanlike Conduct, Nevada.  Yeah, yeah, probably lame-o, when you take everything into account, including the usage of the french fries in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl.  That said, there was a problem to that...    
• Tigres of Mexico continued the CONCACAF Champions' League shutout of the MLS, beating LAFC with two late goals, 2-1, in the finals of this year's tournament.
• Rajon Rondo may be in serious trouble -- video has surfaced which apparently has him shoving a woman during a dispute.
• Josh Gordon's ban continues -- he has failed some prospect of his reinstatement terms with the NFL.  Why are we even fucking bothering with this guy?  The guy has been banned from the league FOUR TIMES for drugs (2019, 2018, 2015, 2014).  Throw him out and be done with it!    
• Dwayne Haskins has been stripped of his captaincy by the Washington Football Team and fined $40,000.  Now the question comes up as to whether he is either suspended or COVID-suspended for at least Week 16.
• Did some math:  6-10 can win the NFC Least.  Washington loses twice.  Philly then loses to the Cowboys.  The Cowboys lose to the Giants.  The Giants lose to Baltimore.  The Giants win the three-way tiebreak on division record.
  
• Japan has limited all new crowd gatherings and attendances to 5,000 through the winter holidays.  This means, for example, no more tickets can be sold to the two-night Tokyo Dome Wrestle Kingdom New Japan Pro Wrestling supercards. 
• And the first casualty of the 2020-2021 NBA season:  Rockets-Thunder is off, the Rockets do not have enough healthy non-tracing players to play tonight.
  

Day 285

• Add Kevin Greene to the In Memoriam list.
• Could be a late Christmas for millions of Americans:  Both Houses of Congress have passed a $900B stimulus package with $600 direct payments, not unakin to the previous set which was double that.
• Appears Dwayne Haskins may be in some serious trouble -- was caught on social media cavorting maskless at a strip club after Sunday's game...
• Malik Beasley of the Timberwolves will be going to jail after this season for a felony charge of criminal threats.  Pled guilty yesterday.  If I'm Adam Silver, he can serve it now -- with at least one stolen gun and narcotics seen at the scene, he's not playing this year.  Word is he would still get a double-digit suspension.
• The Lions are the latest team to close their facilities after at least one positive COVID test.
• The American Athletic Conference is considering being the catch-all for the screwjobs.  They want Boise State.
• The good news is Keyontae Johnson is out of the hospital.
• The bad news is that he has the COVID-linked myocarditis.  He tested positive for COVID over the summer, according to Deadspin.
• James Harden is also in some serious trouble -- same reason as Haskins!  And a potential trade for him has been postponed and may be shelved because of it.
  

2020 NFL Week 15: Kayfabe and then the Power Rankings

Largely a repeat from last night, but...

AFC:

1. Kansas City 13-1
   
2. Buffalo 11-3, win over
3. Pittsburgh 11-3 (AND HOW THE FUCK DO YOU LOSE TO THE BUNGLES???)
   
4. Tennessee 10-4, division record tiebreaker over Indianapolis
5. Cleveland 10-4 with the win over Indianapolis
   
6. Indianapolis 10-4 (3-2 in the AFC South vs. TEN 4-1 after a season split, lost to CLE)
7. Miami 9-5, over Baltimore because Baltimore has one more AFC loss with the same number of wins)

It's in fact shorter to list the teams still in it.  There are only two others.  Baltimore at 9-5, Vegas about to be eliminated at 7-7.

So you might, week and a half or so to go, be literally eight teams for seven spots in the AFC.

Wild Cards:  MIA@BUF  IND@PIT  CLE@TEN

 NFC:

1. Green Bay 11-3 and the win over
2. New Orleans 10-4, who has the conference tiebreaker over
3. Seattle 10-4 (NO 8-2 vs. the NFC, SEA 7-3)
   
4. Washington 6-8 -- and now no team in the NFC Least can do better than 8-8.
5. LA Rams 9-5 (AGAIN, HOW THE FUCK DO YOU LOSE TO THE DAMN JETS?????) -- with a win over
6. Tampa Bay 9-5
7. Arizona 8-6

ELIMINATED:  Atlanta already was, add Carolina and San Francisco.

Wild Cards:  ARI@NO, TB@SEA, LAR@WAS

---

And now the Power Rankings, my view on the rigging of the NFL:

AFC is getting down to a complete one-trick pony.

1) Kansas City

And is there a meaningful #2 right now?  You have four options at #2 and none of them are THAT appealing -- Buffalo for Any Given Sunday?  Tennessee and Henry running all over the field.  Gotta think Cleveland is rapidly becoming the favorite to win the AFC North, but from there...  Indianapolis???

I think the one real bugaboo on KC is the Black quarterback in an NFL reality in which White America is turning it's back on Black sports.  But this is rapidly becoming the Patrick Mahomes show, to almost the complete exclusion of everything else!

I can't come up with a realistic second option in the AFC.  This whole season might rest on the health of Patrick Mahomes...

NFC:

1) New Orleans

Gonna move them back to the current top, even with the loss, because they at least gave KC enough of a game (unlike Tampa) to approximate a Super Bowl preview.  So that and a make-up for the last two seasons -- Super Bowl XXXII style, is why I am moving NO back to the top, but Drew Brees has got to show something in the next 2-4 weeks.

2) Seattle

More because of WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU DO, RAMS???  The problem with Seattle is that, after the QB and the 12th Man, whatcha got?  And I'm not sure, unlike Packer Nation, whether there's enough in the 12th Man to push the ratings meter.

3) Tampa Bay

Keep an eye on these guys, though -- and dear God, Antonio Brown is back in the end zone.

4) Green Bay

The NFL (and the Packers themselves) have to make a believer out of me in the rig-work that the NFL is going to pull the trigger on the Packers for the Super Bowl.  Until then...

Thing is, they have the White QB, they have the conservative home-base, they have a national fan reach which can pump the number for the Super Bowl, which the NFL will badly need.

2020 NFL Week 15 Score Report

• This week was breakneck for the weekly scoring record.  In the 14 games Thursday, Saturday, and the main part of Sunday, the NFL racked up 760 points, an average of almost 54 a game.  The NFL only needed 99 points from the two remaining prime-time games to get to the record of 859.
• They got 26 from the Giants and Cleveland Sunday night and 44 on MNF as the Steelers lay a third consecutive egg with the Bengals.  (Oh, is UrinatingTree going to have "fun" with this...)
• So that means they fall 29 points short, an average of 51.875 per game.
• The season average, off of 11,092 points in 224 games, is 49.518.
• The NFL now stands just 870 points from the record for a 256-game season of 11,962, set two years ago.  With a record week, they could get it next week.  More likely, it'll be Week 17.  But with only needing an average of 27.2 a game to get it...
• And the all-time per-game average of 47.2 (when the NFL only had ten teams in 1948!!) is now just 991 points away.  That would require an average of just under 31 a game.
• They're going to bust the record books, and it's not, unlike two years ago, going to be CLOSE.
• Home teams, 8-8 for the week, 111-112-1 for the year.  Getting dangerously close to an under-.500 record for home teams, when the usual winning percentage is almost 60%.
• Over was 10-6 for this week (no surprise), 109-110-5 for the season.
• Favorites were 7-9 against the number and 11-5 straight up.  (Season:  96-122-3 against the number, 147-74-1 straight up)
• Team with more penalties was 6-8 for 90-101-1 for the year.
• Two Cliffhangers this week.  Forty for the year.
  
• Ten games finished within one score.  121 is the total with two weeks to go.
  
• Three non-competitive games for 67 for the year.
• Five Last Chance Misses for 71 for the year.
• Second time in three weeks we got a four-bagger.  This one in Las Vegas.  (And the intervening week, we had a Triple Cliffhanger.)  Las Vegas was driving in a tie game, but got picked inside the Charger 25 with 1:51 to go.  Then the Chargers drove, missing a field goal with 53 seconds left -- overtime.  The Raiders get the ball first, and eat up over 60% of the ten minutes to get a field goal as the drive stalls out inside the 5.  Then the Raiers (no D) get chomped to bits for the winning TD, and they're basically done as far as playoffs go.  Double Cliffhanger, Double Last Chance Miss.
• Interesting stat #1:  If you need to know WHY the scoring exploded again this week...  There were only 156 accepted penalties.  9 3/4 a game through the entire schedule.
• Interesting stat #2:  The New York Jets were -17 against the Rams, and became only the fifth NFL team, according to Yahoo Sports, to win as an underdog of 17 or more.
• According to the betting website "Action", it is the biggest against-the-spread upset the NFL has seen in at least 25 years.
  
• Interesting stat #3:  According to ProFootballReference and the Action website, this is only the second time in NFL history since at least 1985 in which two two-touchdown underdogs won -- the first was Week 6 2017 (Giants over Broncos, Dolphins over Falcons, both -14).
  

 

Day 284

• Virginia Tech football beat writer Andy Bitter came up with a great idea for 9-2 Army:  Keep practicing, in case an outbreak threatens to cancel a bowl game -- including CFP.
  

And the Piece of the Ultimate Shit is going to try it, isn't he???

As if there isn't enough chaos in the damn world, this from Olbermann late Friday night...

With the election now officially in protest with seven states having sent dual slates of electors (to no one's surprise, we would hope, all seven states went Biden in November), Trump and three high-level advisors met in the Oval Office Friday night and officially proposed the only other manner than an Electoral College reversal to keep him in power past another month:  Martial Law over the election.

These fucking idiots don't get that, if they succeed, we are done as a nation and certainly done as anything which can vote for anything anymore.

Why:

1) If the scope of the election fraud is as wide as you claim, how can the House of Representatives seat on January 5th, one day before the certificates are opened and both Houses of Congress about to go into closed session once the objections and dual slates are noted??

If the election of the President is fraudulent, that invalidates everything on the ballot, including almost 100 Representatives in the seven states in question -- and then how many more from the rest?

You've got some of these stupid red-hat fucks who think Trump won CALIFORNIA!!!

2) If the scope of the election fraud is as wide as you claim, how can you hold any further elections for anything in these seven states (and probably most of the other 43 as well!)?

It'd take years to properly purge the voter rolls if these Republicans are right.

It'd take similar years to remove from society all those responsible.

And would you want us who voted for Biden legitimately around either?

The sports world provided one interesting quirk to this end today:  In all of the bowl selections, 9-2 Army was excluded.  Now, word is the Army athletic director is trying to find an opponent for one more game.

But could there be more to this????

Strap in.  The next 30 days are going to get bumpy.

Day 283, including the kayfabe NFL stuff...

• Cincinnati, Coastal Carolina, San Jose State:  Welcome to the realm of the fucked.
• And I could've told you FIVE WEEKS AGO who was in the Playoff, and I was right:  Clemson, Alabama, Ohio State, Notre Dame.
• Mar
• Kee
• Val
• You
• The NFL was on pace for another record scoring week til the Giants had to fuck it up.  Now, the Monday nighter needs 67 to tie the record set earlier in the season.
• The season record, with 33 games to go, now stands just 878 points away.

The current kayfabe standings:

AFC:

1. Kansas City 13-1 (New Orleans did give enough that it might sound like a KC-NO Super Bowl might be back on the docket -- certainly more than Tampa gave them)
   
2. Pittsburgh 11-2, if they win tomorrow night, otherwise Buffalo 11-3 with the win over Pittsburgh
3. Reverse #2
4. Tennessee 10-4, division record tiebreaker over Indianapolis
5. Cleveland 10-4 with the win over Indianapolis
   
6. Indianapolis 10-4 (3-2 in the AFC South vs. TEN 4-1 after a season split, lost to CLE)
7. Miami 9-5, over Baltimore because Baltimore has one more AFC loss with the same number of wins)

ELIMINATED:  Add New England and Denver to the list.

It's in fact shorter to list the teams still in it.  There are only two others.  Baltimore at 9-5, Vegas about to be eliminated at 7-7.

So you might, week and a half or so to go, be literally eight teams for seven spots in the AFC.

Wild Cards:  Miami at PIT*  Indianapolis at BUF*  Cleveland at Tennessee

 NFC:

1. Green Bay 11-3 and the win over
2. New Orleans 10-4, who has the conference tiebreaker over
3. Seattle 10-4 (NO 8-2 vs. the NFC, SEA 7-3)
   
4. Washington 6-8 -- and now no team in the NFC Least can do better than 8-8.
5. LA Rams 9-5 (HOW THE FUCK DO YOU LOSE TO THE DAMN JETS?????) -- with a win over
6. Tampa Bay 9-5
7. Arizona 8-6

ELIMINATED:  Atlanta already was, add Carolina and San Francisco.

Wild Cards:  Arizona at NO, Tampa at SEA, Rams at Washington

• Seattle and Buffalo both clinched berths today, Buffalo is the AFC East champion.
  

Spidey Sense Is Tingling...

Clemson 24 - Notre Dame 3 in the 3rd.

Notre Dame throwing the game to get out of the CFP, given the coach's comments?

Day 282

• The NHL and it's Players Association have agreed in principle to a 56-game regular season this year.  Prepare for more July, etc. hockey!    
• Looks like about a January 1 start for training camp, so mid- to late-January start for games?  Early word is the NHL is shooting for the former -- about January 13th.
  
• The plan still has to be approved by five Canadian provinces which host the NHL, for stronger restrictions.
  
• A peppering of rescheduled college football games this week, in addition to the remaining conference title games today.  One of them ensures that the Minnesota-Wisconsin rivalry will continue unabated.  It very nearly became over a century worth of games, not interrupted by World War, but due to the virus instead!
• Ohio State University has hundreds more sexual assault claims against a school doctor who is now claimed to have raped over 120 people and fondled over 2,000.
• According to WDRB's Eric Crawford, 90% of the Louisville men's basketball program either has the virus or had it.
• And according to a media call in Houston, their coach says the entire program got it at one point or another, and who knows when they'll play again. 
• It is unknown as to whether this means the Rose Bowl itself will be played this year, but the national semifinal of the CFP which was to be The Rose Bowl has been moved to the Jerry Palace in Arlington, TX, after the last pleas for at least families of players to be allowed to attend in California.
  

Day 281

• Sounds like we may have one possible boycott already.  The head coach of Notre Dame either wants families to be allowed to attend the College Football Playoff, or he'll get his team to boycott.  And this is with Notre Dame almost impossible NOT to make the Playoff, regardless of what happens Saturday against Clemson.
  
• Drew Brees is coming back...  Because who's going to market a Super Bowl contender around his replacement?   
• Conference USA, the MAC, and the Pac-12 have championship games tonight.
• The Sun Belt won't have one at all.  Coastal Carolina and Louisiana will be co-champions.  COVID positive in the Coastal Carolina program.  
• Coastal Carolina joins the list of Alliance/Coalition/BCS/CFP screwjobs -- undefeated teams with no chance at a title because they play a different division of football.
  

Day 280

• The head of the American Athletic Conference, Michael Aresco, has finally thrown in the towel.  After years of promoting his conference as the "P6" (the sixth Power Conference), getting screwed and seeing undefeated teams from his conference screwed out of the CFP (including what almost certainly will be Cincinnati this year), he has officially called for the end of the CFP and the return of the BCS.

First, how did it take so long?  It is clear that EVERY CHAMPIONSHIP MECHANISM FOR THREE DECADES has been meant to deny the small schools (and even lesser schools from greater conferences) even the opportunity for a National Championship.

Second, unless Cincinnati loses to Tulsa on Saturday in the AAC Championship Game, they will be the ninth undefeated team denied even a CHANCE at the title because they are not in a power conference (1998 Tulane, 1999 Marshall, 2004 Utah (the first team actually allowed a place at the table at all in a lesser "slough-off" bowl of the top tier of bowls), 2006 Boise State, 2008 Utah, 2009 Boise State, 2010 TCU, 2017 Central Florida).

And that's the ones that finished the job with a bowl win.  You can add 2018 Central Florida and 2016 Western Michigan and 2009 TCU (who was sloughed off to face Boise to denigrate both!!) to that list -- both lost their bowl game.

(The Mountain West six times (TCU, Boise, and Utah twice each), the American Athletic the last two times (and, if Cincy wins, make it three), Conference USA once, the Mid-American twice.)

Third, especially with the realities the pandemic is exposing, I would think it more likely you will end up in a formal "second division", if you exist at all, if you aren't of the Power Five + Notre Dame.  In fact, I'm not keen on the Rutgers' and the Vanderbilts surviving this as football programs.  It may not happen next year, but I do believe the final abolishment down to about 20-30 national-wide teams for college football (and a formal alignment with the NFL as a minor league) is coming if the sport survives at all.

In short, it's far too late.  You might as well not even exist.  In fact, should Cincinnati win, you should let the Committee vote them in, and then refuse the bid.

Keep in mind:   In the six years of the BCS, only 11 schools have been in the tournament.  Only 6 have won games in the tournament (Alabama, Clemson, Ohio State, Georgia, LSU, and Oregon).  Either Clemson or Alabama has been in the last five CFP National Championship Games. 

• Possible COVID violation in Houston -- not dissimilar to the charity event which got the Raiders in trouble in Las Vegas earlier this year. 
• Lorenzo Taliaferro, three years with the Ravens -- passed away at 28 years old. 
• Emmanuel Macron, the President of France -- tested positive for the coronavirus. 
• The Council for the Arbitration of Sport has banned Russia, to an extent, from the Tokyo and Lusanne Olympics.  They will be the "Russia Neutral Athletes", and, at the least, the burden of proof will go to WADA this time to keep them out, rather than the assumption of guilt which was used in the last Olympics. 
  

Does anyone else still not want to believe these football games are rigged??

Had a chance to watch UrinatingTree's "Week in SportsBall", and just got struck by two of the most obvious rig-jobs I've seen -- neither involves the officials, though, so that's why I just glossed over them.

First, the Monday Night Shitfest.

No, seriously...

I'm speaking literally here.  Lamar Jackson has to go take a dump in the middle of the third quarter -- with the cameras near the locker room to see him make that sprint we've ALL had to make from time to time...

It takes until the TWO-MINUTE WARNING OF THE FOURTH QUARTER for him to come back?

Look, I've seen homeless people use the bathroom as a place of residence for shorter than that!

If that isn't "Doing It For The Narrative", I don't know what is!!  Lamar Jackson is the second-biggest thing in the NFL right now, but so far behind Pat Mahomes, I don't know if he ever sniffs the Super Bowl...

But that was just too scripted.

Of course, you could be Marco Wilson, and I had anything to say about it, he'd not only be formerly of the Florida Gators, he'd be under investigation for expulsion from the University of Florida this week!

#6 Florida playing LSU in a trap game before they play Alabama in the SEC Championship Game this week.

If Florida gets past LSU and then upsets Alabama, they're in the College Football Playoff, and who knows from there?

One problem...

Wilson, on a key third-down stop in the final two minutes, then removes the shoe of the player he downed and CHUCKS IT TWENTY YARDS...

Unsportsmanlike Conduct, drive continues, LSU WINS on a 51-yard field goal at the gun.

I don't care who you are.  I don't care how good you are.

You ever do that on a team I coach at any level, you're off the team before we even get to the locker room.

And then there's the University of Florida Orange Book, the Student Code of Ethics and Conduct:

First off, the scope of the Code, as it relates to off-campus events on Page 4:

"The University may apply the Student Conduct Code and Student Honor Code to Students whose conduct may have an adverse impact on the health, safety, or welfare of people, property, the University Community, or the pursuit of its objectives, regardless of where such conduct occurs, even if off campus."

Check.

And now here's the Smoking Gun as to why Wilson should be in front of the Dean of Students any day now...

Disruptive Conduct, Page 15 and 16:

"Conduct that is materially or substantially disruptive to the normal operations of the University, or that incites others to do so, in any of the following activities: teaching, research, administrative functions, disciplinary proceedings, other University Activities whether on or off campus, and other authorized activities that take place on campus. In evaluating whether conduct is materially or substantially disruptive, the University may consider the totality of factors, including but not limited to whether there was an intent to prevent the activity or event from continuing to completion and whether the conduct was a sustained and continuous disruption. Disruptive conduct does not include any conduct protected by the First Amendment. Examples of Disruptive Conduct include but are not limited to:

1.Disruption of University Officials in the performance of their work.

2.Disruption of a University Activity or event.[...]"

Marco Wilson should be suspended from the University of Florida for his actions.  He is actionable for this flagrant unsportsmanlike conduct under the Orange Book of the University of Florida.

Now, we all know this will never happen.  I agree with this.

But, then, it does leave you asking one material question:  

What, short of a suspicious act, possesses you to do THAT in that situation?

Same question I asked about the guy from Ole Miss who literally dog-pissed his team out of a bowl bid and a loss in the Egg Bowl...

If football is THAT IMPORTANT, then should he not be actionable, both as a function of Student Conduct policies, but a real question of the man's character, integrity, and whether he was actually part of fixing a game??

Just asking for a friend...

Day 279

• In a landmark move will see under the radar (if at all -- and surprising given the political leanings of MLB), Major League Baseball, today, officially recognizes the Negro Leagues as major leagues, on equal footing with the current leagues and the former White-only leagues of their day.
• The PLL and MLL, the two professional lacrosse leagues, have formally agreed to merge, for what it's worth.
• Omar Vizquel is now under a domestic violence investigation.
• Virginia Tech has opted out of the bowl season -- it will be the first time in 27 years Tech has not gone to a bowl game.
• The NHL is still trying to figure out what it's going to do -- and now Gary Bettman IS actually thinking of playing at least part of the 2021 season in a bubble.  Probably now, instead of January 1, looking at a February 1 start.  My year-end predictions may not be so kind to the NHL's future as a going concern.     
• The NFL admitted they fucked up on the Dez Bryant COVID positive release just before kickoff.  In the future, if a team has a player who has a positive test after the 90 minute lockout for inactive players, they can designate another player to play.
  

Day 278

• USC basketball has called off three games due to the virus.
• Vanderbilt football is done -- their game with Georgia has been called off.
  

Three Weeks To Go: The Kayfabe and the Power Rankings

Gonna combine the two, try to keep it quick:

AFC Kayfabe:

1. Kansas City 12-1 Clinched AFC West
2. Pittsburgh 11-2  Clinched playoff berth
3. Buffalo 10-3
4. Tennessee 9-4 See first tiebreaker below
5. Cleveland 9-4 See second tiebreaker below 
6. Indianapolis 9-4 See both the first two tiebreakers
7. Miami 8-5 See third tiebreaker below
   

Tennessee-Indianapolis (AFC South):  Split season series, TEN 4-1 vs. AFC South, IND 2-2. 

Cleveland-Indianapolis (WC #1 and #2):  Cleveland beat Indianapolis Week 5.

Miami-Baltimore (WC #3 -- last playoff spot):  Don't and won't play.  MIA 5-4 vs. AFC, BAL 5-5.

ELIMINATED:  Jets, Bengals, Texans, Jaguars, Chargers

NEXT TO GO:  Denver

FIRST OUT:  Baltimore on losing the above tiebreaker.

Wildcard round:

MIA at PIT, IND at BUF, CLE at TEN

NFC Kayfabe:

1. Green Bay 10-3 See first tiebreaker below  Clinched NFC North
   
2. New Orleans 10-3 See first tiebreaker below  Clinched playoff berth
3. LA Rams 9-4 See second tiebreaker below 
4. Washington 6-7
5. Seattle 9-4  See second tiebreaker below
6. Tampa Bay 8-5
7. Arizona 7-6
   

Green Bay-New Orleans (#1 seed):  Packers beat the Saints Week 3 

LA Rams-Seattle (NFC West):  Rams beat Seattle in first meeting.  Play again week after this one.

ELIMINATED:  Just Atlanta.

NEXT TO GO:  Carolina, has the same record as Atlanta, but probably head to head considerations have not eliminated them yet.

FIRST OUT:  Minnesota at 6-7 and a first win over the Bears -- they play again this week.

Wildcard round:

ARI at NO, TB at LAR, SEA at WSH

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

Now for the Power Rankings, how I see the rig-job unfolding:

The AFC will be little to no surprise:

1) Kansas City (12-1, best record in the NFL, AFC West Champions)

Anyone who doesn't, at this point, believe the next 3-5 years of the NFL don't go through Patrick Mahomes on some level has not been paying attention the last 18 months.  Pittsburgh is fully getting out of the way and Roethlesberger may have a knee issue too.

BUT:  There is one, and only one thing which could stop it other than a huge Mahomes injury:  If the NFL bows and understands that they cannot accept a Super Bowl which would be the lowest-watched since either 1992 or 1995.  (I'm basing that off a 20% drop of the 100ish million who saw this year's game.)  

It is clear that White America is sick of Black Athletes.  It's that damn simple.  And for the NFL to throw behind a Black quarterback in the post-Kaepernick era could be quite damaging to a league which has lost at least a third of it's audience -- and, though right-wing claptrap Breitbart is talking about NBC having to do "make-goods" for Sunday Night Football sponsors, it is clear those make-goods are taking place.

2) Pittsburgh (11-2)

On a thread, and basically because there is no other choice in the AFC right now.  It really does appear that if Mahomes is upright by the end of the AFC title game, they're going to the Super Bowl -- AND Roethlesberger has some knee issues cropping up.

3) Buffalo (10-3)

BUT:  I just can't see, even on a Mahomes injury or that the NFL just CAN"T... putting Buffalo in the Super Bowl.

The NFC, on the other hand, will probably cause a jaw or two to drop:

1) Tampa Bay (8-5)

Hear me out!

Draw this scenario together:  They have Detroit and Atlanta twice.  That's almost a sure 11-5.

Tampa wins it's wild card game and is the lowest seed to do so -- they go to Green Bay and stomp them again (GB's three losses -- overtime to IND, unexpected to MIN, and stompie-stomp to the Bucs).  They then go to New Orleans and win through screwjob to make the Super Bowl.

BUT:  This all-but-depends on the White Right forcing the NFL's hand -- AND probably that Brady will retire after this season.

2) Green Bay (10-3, NFC North champions)

They have to beat somebody other than New Orleans.  They have Tennessee and two very winnable games left.  The odds are quite good that the Packers could be the #1 seed.

BUT:  This all-but-depends on the White Right forcing the NFL's hand and Brady NOT doing so as well.  However, the league may need Packer Nation in the Super Bowl to take 80 million and make it 90 or so and make it somewhat respectable.

3) Seattle (9-4)

12th Man.

BUT:  First off, they probably have to beat the Rams and win the NFC West.  Then probably beat the Packers or somebody again in the playoffs.  They're 9-4 and a bit shaky at that.

4) New Orleans (10-3)

New Orleans now has the same situation Tampa Bay had -- a dry-run Super Bowl test against the Chiefs this week.

BUT:  It's clearer by the week that the Taysom Hill Experiment was White Right motivated.  But can the NFL actually put that through to the Super Bowl if Drew Brees has, effectively, no ribcages left?

2020 NFL Week 14 Scoring Report

• Well, they're advertising the Monday nighter as the "Game of the Year"...
• Singlehandedly responsible for a 2 1/2 point rise in the average this week.  Saved this week from being the first week below the 46.727 record for a 16-game season or the 47.2 for any season.
• 47.4375 for the week -- was in the high 44's before the Monday nighter.
• Season average is now 49.337 -- 10,262 points in 208 games.
• 48 games left in the season, and only 1,700 points from the 11,962 record.  Only 35.417 needed per game to get that!
• The 47.2 record average for per-game in any season is 12,083 points, and that's only 1,821 away.  Not even a 38 average needed for that.
• Home teams were 7-9 for the week, 103-104-1 for the year.  Yep, that's one game below .500 for the entire season, only three weeks left!  As I said, what, last week?  "You see what FANS do for their teams???"
  
• Over was 5-11 for the week and is now 5 games under .500 for the year at 99-104-5.
• Good week for the favorites, rarity in the current NFL:  10-6 against the spread, 12-4 against the number.
• Season:  89-113-3 against the number, 136-69-1 straight up.
• Including one of the worst "beats" for dog bettors in a long time:  Baltimore was a 3-point favorite in the Monday nighter with Cleveland.  Baltimore's kicker, as the THIRD Cliffhanger of the game (BAL TD+2 to lead by 7 1:51, CLE TD to tie 1:04) kicked a 53 yard FG to take a 45-42 lead.  Had the game written down as a push....
• ... that is, until Cleveland's efforts to lateral their way into a miracle win ended up out the side of the end zone for a SAFETY -- making Baltimore COVER the -3!!!!
• Team with more penalties was 7-4 (with FIVE even).  84-93-1 for the year.
• 180 penalties (11.25 per game) this week.  Season:  2,397 (11.52 per game)
• Two Cliffhangers this week (the triple Monday night, and the Chargers escaping the Falcons).  38 for the year.
• Seven of the 16 games finished within one score.  111 for the year.
  
• Also seven of the 16 games were non-competitive.  64 of those for the year.
• Five Last Chance Misses for 66 for the year.
  

Day 277

• Penalties have come down for the Duron incident in Texas:

1. Duron banned from all further interscholastic competition.  Technically for the rest of the school year, but because he's a senior, he's done.
2. Duron was only suspended from school for three days...
3. ... but he has also been banned from all extracurricular activities for the rest of his school career.
4. The football coach has been placed on probation for one year...
5. ... and the school's athletic program for two. 

Not enough.  Duron should be EXPELLED.

I'd start the bidding at disqualification from all playoffs until a full investigation can clear the school of promoting a culture of this.  Minimum rest of the school year.  (That's for a ticky-tack three-day suspension.  When John Jay's incident happened, the two students involved were expelled for 15 weeks!)

I wouldn't even oppose a full decertification of the school out of the UIL.  

• Cuckoo clocks in Cleveland tonight.  42-all and at least one Cliffhanger already.
• Make that two.  TD+2 for Baltimore for 42-35 at 1:51.  TD for Cleveland at 1:04 for 42-42.  And now Baltimore driving to win it in the time left.
• Ballgame from 55 for 45-42 final.
• Whoops -- make that a safety on the final play madness for 47-42 -- and that COVERS Baltimore -3!!!  Ouch!!!    
• Uh oh...  Oh no...  Keyontae Jackson of the Florida Gators has been placed in a medically-induced coma.
  

 

The current kayfabe, heading to Cleveland-Baltimore

Big game in the AFC tomorrow night, especially now with word out of Pittsburgh that UrinatingTree's "Captain Fatfuck" may have knee issues...

AFC:

1. Kansas City 12-1  Clinched AFC West today
   
2. Pittsburgh 11-2  Even with the loss, clinched an AFC playoff berth
   
3. Buffalo 10-3
4. Tennessee 9-4 (season split with Indy, 4-1 vs. IND 2-2 in the AFC South)
5. Cleveland 9-3 (Indianapolis would overtake Cleveland on Strength of Victory if Baltimore wins tomorrow night)
6. Indianapolis 9-4
7. Miami 8-5
8. Baltimore 7-5 (Baltimore would overtake Miami for the last playoff spot if they defeat Cleveland)

ELIMINATED:  Jets, Bengals, Texans, Jaguars, Chargers

NEXT TO GO:  Denver

That's right, three weeks to go, and it's basically 10-for-7.  Gonna make for a very uninteresting Week 17 in the AFC at this rate.

NFC:

1. Green Bay 10-3 (Week 3 win over the Saints)   Clinched NFC North today
2. New Orleans 10-3
3. LA Rams 9-4 (Beat Seattle 5 weeks ago, play them again in 2 weeks with the division on the line)
4. Washington 6-7 (And yep, here comes the NFL rig-job to make sure that 6-10 or 5-11 didn't win that sad-ass division)
5. Seattle 9-4
6. Tampa Bay 8-5
7. Arizona 7-6
   

Day 276

• The Cleveland...  Baseball Team?  will no longer be the Indians.
• Lowest scoring week of the NFL season -- more details tomorrow.
• Two division titles clinched today.
• Las Vegas gives up 44 to Indianapolis, then fires the defensive coordinator.  Something tells me the Las Vegas Experiment is about to go the way of the LA Experiment...   
• Auburn has fired Gus Malzahn as it's football coach.
• As has Illinois with Lovie Smith.
• LiAngelo Ball didn't make it to the regular season with the Detroit Pistons.
•  
  

Day 275

• And the latest fatal superspreader event revealed appears to be the 2020 CMA Awards on November 11th!!  Charley Pride, as it was announced yesterday, died of complications of COVID, and the timing matches up with either attending an in-person awards ceremony in Nashville or traveling to and from.  Oh, this could end BADLY...  
  

Day 274

• Scary moment today in the Florida-Florida State college basketball game today.  Coming out of the first television timeout, Keyontae Jackson of the Gators collapsed on the floor, not unakin to Hank Gathers.  Originally declared "critical but stable", the game was resumed and Florida State won.
• Sarah Fuller's story in Vanderbilt continues.  She became the first woman to score in a Power 5 game, kicking a first-quarter extra point.  A later 39 yard field goal was kicked by the regular kicker.
• Add Charley Pride to the 2020 In Memoriam list.  Complications of the coronavirus.
  
• Announced this week:  Pretty much the end of college football on CBS, as ESPN is getting the SEC in a 10-year deal when the current CBS deal runs out. (2024)
• Arizona completed a dismal season by being run out of the stadium 70-7 by Arizona State.  Their coach was fired today.
• Something to do this weekend:  For the 97th birthday of Bob Barker, Pluto.tv is dropping about half of the 1982-83 season in a 100-hour drop of new episodes, and then will repeat those.  Channel 163 on the free binge-streaming website Pluto.tv on their new classic TPiR channel -- 163.
• One of the highlights?  The debut of Plinko.
  

Day 273

• Your move, twits!  Supreme Court says Biden won, unanimous ruling.
• Pitt and Boston College are opting out of the bowl process.
• Utah State, on the other hand, has cancelled and forfeited their final game -- they're looking for a new coach, and comments have been made about the interim one appearing to have religious bias against him.
• Six games, including Ohio State-Michigan, have been cancelled in the Top 25 for tomorrow.
• The NBA started it's preseason tonight.
  

 

Day 272

• You can count that entire political post as "Day 271".
• LSU has self-imposed a one-year bowl ban.  Never mind they're 3-5 with two games left.
• The four finalists for Time's Person of the Year, to be announced tonight on NBC, 10 PM Eastern:

1. Orange Fatfuck
2. The President Elect
3. Dr. Fauci and the First Responders (who I think have to be the favorite, especially taken together)
4. The BLM Movement 

• Time also announced Entertainer of the Year (K-Pop sensation BTS) and Athlete of the Year (LeBron James).
• The Chicago Bears have become the latest team to shutter their facilities -- now up to four positive tests in the franchise.
• Actually, that's a slight mis-speak above, because Time Magazine has named both Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as the 2020 Person of the Year.
• Coach K has called off the rest of Duke's non-conference basketball schedule -- a day or two after he has called for the cessation of the college basketball season.
  

The MAGAts Are Going To Blow Up The Country

They did it.

They have destroyed the United States of America.

Eighteen Trump-certifying states are attempting to overturn enough states to ensure their man remains President.  Started with Texas yesterday, 17 more added today.

The premise is that at least four Biden states violated their own state election laws, and that the rest of the states are compromised because of it.

The courts have long held that even the election for President is done under state laws and the 12th Amendment for the Electoral College.  Texas is seeking to overturn this directly at the 6-3 Supreme Court (even though Alito told the emergency injunction to pound sand yesterday!).

And, in so doing, they have ensured Civil War.

Reason?  I don't think anyone has to wonder that this is a last resort to elect Donald Trump by force -- and, at that point, should it succeed, every aggrieved demographic granted rights enforced against the majority by the Constitution will be taken out back and shot.

Period, end.

Here's the stupid part of this.  Let's presume, just for the record, this succeeds...

Their eventual end goal is to effectively declare the Electoral College failed and have the House vote, state-by-state, one vote to a state, for President -- an election Trump would win on the basis of the rural/urban divide in this country.

(A move which better be immediately followed, if these fucking Republican pigfuckers know what's good for them, with armed overthrows of the state governments of all the urban states!)

There are AT LEAST two STRUCTURAL problems with this:

The first is the concept that the 12th Amendment, which provides for that House vote, only triggers when the EC meets and cannot come to a majority.

If it's clear that the EC has completely FAILED, however, you have no President and no recourse under the 12th -- which would mean we hit the 20th Amendment.  At that point, all bets are off.  Congress names the President, but would first have to directly decide how.

And before it can even do that, the real fun part is the second structural problem:  What Congress does this?

If the Presidential election is that compromised, then so is the Congressional -- that's the ENTIRE House AND 1/3 of the Senate.  You would have NO House of Representatives to name a President -- 12th or 20th Amendment!! -- and the Senate would end up in Democratic hands with the remaining votes.

This is probably a pretense to throw the whole shot out, baby and bathwater, and have Trump and his progeny rule forever.

I'm not long for this world if they're right.

2020 NFL Week 13: The Kayfabe

 AFC:

1. Pittsburgh 11-1, see first tiebreaker below.
2. Kansas City 11-1, see first tiebreaker below.  Clinched playoff spot this week.
3. Buffalo 9-3
4. Tennessee 8-4, see second tiebreaker below. 
5. Cleveland 9-3
6. Miami 8-4, see third tiebreaker below.
7. Indianapolis 8-4, see second AND third tiebreakers below.
   

Pittsburgh-Kansas City:  Pittsburgh 8-0 vs. AFC, KC 9-1. 

Indianapolis-Tennessee:  The two teams have split their meetings in the last three weeks.  Tennessee 3-1 against the AFC South, Indianapolis 2-2.

Miami-Indianapolis:  Miami 5-3 vs. AFC, Indianapolis 4-4.

Indianapolis at KC, Miami at Buffalo, Cleveland at Tennessee.

NFC:

1. New Orleans 10-2.  Clinched playoff spot this week.
2. Green Bay 9-3
3. LA Rams 8-4, see first tiebreaker below
4. New York Giants 5-7, see second tiebreaker below 
5. Seattle 8-4, see first tiebreaker below.
6. Tampa Bay 7-5
7. Minnesota 6-6, see second tiebreaker below
   

LA Rams-Seattle:  Rams won the first meeting between the two, play again Week 16 

Giants-Football Team:  Giants have season sweep over Washington.

Minnesota-Arizona:  Common games, as explained in previous post this week.  Each team will have four this year, Minnesota is 2-1 with Detroit, Seattle, and Dallas, Arizona is 2-2.

Minnesota at Green Bay.  Tampa Bay at LA Rams, Seattle at NY Giants

2020 NFL Week 13 Scoring Report

• The last two byes were this week.  Barring any postponements, it's 16 games a week starting next week.
• 48.8 points per game this week -- more than the last couple, still down from earlier.
• Season average is now 49.495 -- 9503 points scored in 192 games.
• 64 games left in the season, and 2,460 points needed to break the record for most points in a season.  Average of about 38.5 or so.
• Home teams had a bad week:  5-10, and now it's only 96-95-1.  The NFL will probably be able to use this narrative that, once fans are allowed back in in any numbers...  "See what your cheering does for your teams?"
• Over was 5-8-1 for 94-93-5 for the year.
• Favorites were 6-9 against the spread this week, and 9-6 straight up.  Season:  79-107-3 against the number, 124-64-1 straight up.
• Team with more penalties was 9-5 this week, 77-89-1 for the year.
• 174 penalties for the week, 11.6 per game.  Season total for the 192 games:  2,215, 11.6 per game as well.
• 3 Cliffhangers this week for 36 for the season.
• 9 of the 15 games this week finished within a score for 104 for the year.
• 4 non-competitive games this week, including the scheduled Monday nighter and the Tuesday nighter.  57 for the year.
• 6 Last Chance Miss games this week for 62 for the year.
  

Day 270

• The Champions' League match between Paris Saint-Germain and Turkish side Istanbul Basakehir was stopped today after an assistant coach was sent off for Istanbul by the fourth official.  It is alleged, and with sufficient evidence that the teams walked off the pitch and the game was halted until tomorrow, that the fourth official used a racial slur in sending off the coach.  Good.  It is just as indefensible for an official to use that kind of language as it is for players or fans.    
• The Michigan-Ohio State game was cancelled today because of COVID positives in the Michigan program.
• Under Big Ten rules for this season, unless Ohio State can find another opponent in the conference this weekend, they will be unable to play for the conference championship (and quite possibly for the national title), because of insufficient games.
• Word out of Salt Lake City that the city has lost it's professional women's soccer team.  The team, and it's MLS counterpart, were owned by Dell Loy Hansen, who has been under investigation for racist comments.
• Dez Bryant is out of tonight's Tuesday Night Special -- he's tested positive for the virus.
• 
  

Example #2 of how it's getting way too chippy out there...

Not as severe as the first one in Texas, but this better get the league's attention:

This happens in the second quarter -- pardon the potato and you'll probably, if it stays up, have to go to YouTube anyway:

That's two ejections:  Miami's Xavien Howard and Cincinnati's Tyler Boyd were tossed -- and that came from New York.  That was a "non-football act ejection" initiated from the league offices in New York.

Boyd got a penalty during the play, and offsetting after it.  The penalty during the play took them out of meaningful field goal range.

But you knew there was going to be more...

Miami's Jakeem Grant gets illegally annihilated by Cincinnati's Michael Thomas.  Thomas is flagged but not ejected for the foul, and another fracas starts, and it appears the Miami coach wants to get in on it.

2020 NFL Week 13 Power Rankings, Part One

Yeah, a little bored and the like, and decided to go ahead and do at least a dry run of the Power Rankings this week.

Little has changed for my prospective Super Bowl matchup:  New Orleans has solidified it's #1 seed in the NFC after Seattle somehow lost...  TO THE FREAKING NEW YORK GIANTS!!!?!?!?!?!?!?!?

To a division which has only won six games outside itself?  And none of them to teams over .500 until today???

Well, we also have some news:

Four teams out, and two teams in!

Congratulations to the New Orleans Saints and Kansas City Chiefs.  Both have qualified for the playoffs today.

Conglaturations (and that is intentional) to the Jets (Raiders, how the fuck did it take a Cliffhanger to beat an 0-11 team???) Bengals, Chargers (Really, 46-0 to the Patriots???  That is only the tenth-largest shutout in the history of the league, and the biggest since 2012!!!), and Jaguars for being the first four teams out of the playoffs.

So at least a quick look here at both the current kayfabe and Power Rankings -- knowing that there are still three games left in the week:

AFC Kayfabe:

1. Pittsburgh 11-0 plays Monday  Kansas City takes the #1 if the Steelers lose (KC 9-1 in the AFC, Pittsburgh would be 8-1)
   
2. Kansas City 11-1, clinched playoff spot.
3. Buffalo 8-3 plays Monday
4. Tennessee 8-4, split with the Colts, 3-1 in the division vs. 2-2 for the Colts
5. Cleveland 9-3
6. Miami 8-4, 5-3 in the AFC
7. Indianapolis 8-4, 4-4 in the AFC

First out is Las Vegas at 7-5, then Baltimore at 6-5, the Ravens playing Tuesday.

NFC Kayfabe:

1. New Orleans 10-2, clinched playoff spot.
2. Green Bay 9-3
3. LA Rams 8-4 and a win over Seattle (play again Week 16)
4. NY Giants 5-7 (and they've WON four in a row to get there!!!! -- now the first three are Washington, Philly, and Cincinnati...)
5. Seattle at 8-4
6. Tampa at 7-5
7. Minnesota at 6-6, see below.
   

Right now, Minnesota and Arizona are 6-6, the Niners play tonight in Arizona against Buffalo at 5-6.

Arizona has the current tiebreaker anyway with San Francisco (they won the first meeting Week 1, they play again Week 16).  Both teams (Arizona and Minnesota) are 4-4 in the conference.    

But common games:  Detroit (MIN W and a second coming, ARI L), Seattle (MIN W, ARI split), Dallas (ARI W, MIN L).  So there will be four games common eventually.  Minnesota is 2-1 and a fourth coming.  Arizona is 2-2.

Now for the Power Rankings, how I see the NFL rigging things.  I'll keep this one quick and do a fuller one after Monday's and Tuesday's games:

AFC:

1. Kansas City.  All roads go through Kansas City unless Mahomes takes a massive injury.
2. Pittsburgh.  The league doesn't want them, but what other choice might be available at this rate in a month if KC goes down?
3. Cleveland:  Yeah, I'm going to go Cleveland for right now here, not that it really matters, end of the day.  That might even change Tuesday, for all I know.
4. Buffalo
5. (More like 4A) Miami.  Same thing I've said a couple weeks now, but don't look now...  Another win and we may have to put the Patriots somewhere on this list.
6. Tennessee
7. Indianapolis

NFC:

1. New Orleans.  Super Bowl XXXII Redux.  They'll do the job like the Raiders did.
2. LA Rams.  More because I'm not sold on anyone else in the conference.
3. Seattle.  Bad, BAD loss today.  That's one which will cost the 12th Man.
4. Tampa Bay, but their margin for error is rapidly approaching zero.
5. Green Bay.  Could move up on the basis of few other choices, but I don't see them beating the Rams, Bucs, or Saints in January. 

I am not yet prepared, because LOL NFC Least, to think of putting the 5-7 Giants on the list.  But four in a row can't be ignored.  They have Arizona, Cleveland, and Baltimore next.  Call me after those three games.

Days 268 and 269

• In a "GO COVID!" moment -- Rudy Giuliani now has it.  Look, I know a lot of people, from Debbie Gibson fans to conservatives, would openly cheer if I got it and died from it.  So I don't want to hear caterwauling about statements like this.    
• Interesting Week 13 in the NFL.  Again, score report delayed because of game on Tuesday.  And two games Monday.
  
• It appears as if we have hit a new normal for scoring -- instead of 51, 52, 53...  It's 47 and 48.  That said, we're still going toward records at frightening speed.
• Home teams, however, were only 4-8 today.
• We had a four-bagger in Minnesota today.  Minnesota and Jacksonville had a double-Cliffhanger and a double-Last Chance Miss.   Jacksonville tied the game at 24 with 1:08 to go in regulation (Cliffhanger #1).  Then Minnesota missed a 54 yard field-goal with 16 seconds left (LCM #1).  The danger of that was, one long run at least gave Jacksonville a 62 yard attempt at the gun.  Missed.  (LCM #2)  Minnesota then won with a field goal in overtime.  (CH #2)
• The Over, even with an average right now around 48.5, is 4-7-1 this week.
• The Gonzaga men's basketball program has now cancelled four contests due to COVID problems -- their next game would be December 19 vs. #3 Iowa...  Wait...  Number Three IOWA??????    
• Oh God, as if this Logan Paul boxing shit couldn't get worse.  Here comes Mayweather for an exhibition fight.  Fuck me running!!!   
• EDIT 9:40 PM PST:  But my anonymous friend comes up with a great idea:  Logan Paul is a dick, Mayweather is what he is...  Maybe they'll both hit the lottery punch and kill each other!  Didn't think of that angle.
  
• The 2020 Sports Illustrated SportsPEOPLE of the Year have been announced:  Five activist athletes share the honor, under the color of "The Activist Athlete".  LeBron James, Breanna Stewart, Patrick Mahomes, Naomi Osaka, and Laurent Duvernay-Tardif.
• James won for his continuing efforts against poverty of children of color, as well as his motivation to get young people to the polls to vote against Donald Trump.
• Stewart won for her continuing activism for the Black Lives Matter movement during the WNBA season.
• Mahomes won for his parlaying being The New Face of the NFL to many different activist movements.
• Osaka won for parlaying being the new phenom of women's tennis into activism for the BLM movement.
• Duvernay-Tardif won for trading his Super Bowl ring for a first-responder kit when the coronavirus crisis started.  He went on the front lines as a first responder.
• Time Magazine will reveal it's Person of the Year on Thursday.  Front runners appear to be The First Responders, Joe Biden, and Dr. Anthony Fauci.
• Am I reading this right??!??!?   Break Dancing is now an official Olympic sport, starting in Paris in 2024.  WOT???    
• Add Dick Allen to the list of the "Fuck 2020 For Those We Have Lost".  Close to getting in the Hall of Fame through the "Golden Years Committee" -- 15 years in MLB with five different teams.  Another victim of cancer. 
• And Chuck Yaeger -- the first pilot to break the sound barrier.  His wife announced his passing tonight at the age of 97.
• And the Steelers finally lost today - to the FOOTBALL TEAM...  I think it does change the kayfabe now that KC can be the #1 seed, but all this does is solidifies the current situation.     

 

Day 267

• That took only about 12 weeks:  Vontaze Burfict has been arrested on an assault charge in Nevada.  When they open this guy's brain when it's all said and done, he's either going to be exposed as one of the biggest thugs in NFL history, or it will be an indictment on football.    
• There is now word that at least four different strains of the coronavirus are circulating in the Ravens' organization.  End the damn season -- now.    
• And now the #1 team in college basketball, Gonzaga, has had it's game with #2 Baylor cancelled because of the virus.  Two members of Gonzaga's traveling party have the virus.
  

Day 266

• Great...  Now we find out Jake Paul's eventual boxing goal is a mega-money match with Conor McGregor.  Methinks, all things considered, Jake Paul wants his next of kin notified...   
• Update:  Wigan Athletic is now last in League One, only eight points in fourteen matches, five clear toward relegation about 2/3 of the way through the first half of the season.  The EFL is still evaluating the sale of the club, and now there has to be some discussion that, in fact, Wigan Athletic will be forced to "wind up", or dissolve.
• Not unlike Bury Football Club, thrown out of English football and basically dissolved.
• A commission of college sports leaders has recommended removing FBS football from the NCAA's purview completely.
• California will return to Stay At Home orders as early as this weekend.
• And an update from last night's article:  Edinburgh High School has been disqualified from the Division 6 Texas playoffs.  The school did it themselves, but...
• There are now 13 college football games cancelled for this week already due to COVID-19.
• That story I've been sitting on and mentioned a couple times here may be about to surface on the blog before the end of the year.  No definites, but...
  

Day 265: One of the worst referee attacks in high school sports...

Texas high school playoffs.

Division 6A, the largest schools.  Final week of the regular season.

Edinburgh is hosting Pharr-San Juan-Alamo.

The player you are about to see is Emmanuel Duron.  He was the punter, the kicker, and a defensive lineman for Edinburgh.  He was also a star wrestler.  Last year, he was the defensive player of the year in his district -- an 8-team assignment not unakin to conferences in most schools...

I use the past tense for the following reason:  Duron was ejected from tonight's game, and responded THUSLY (#88, so he's probably a defensive end):

Duron was arrested and will be charged with a violation of Texas Penal Code 22.01, a misdemeanor which can get him 180 days in jail and a $2,000 fine.

The problem is that the game continued, Edinburgh WON, and is going to the playoffs as a result.

You can contact Dr. Susan Elza, the Director of Athletics for the Texas University Interscholastic League at athletics@uiltexas.org

The head of football operations is Brian Polk, and he can be reached at bpolk@uiltexas.org

Any suspension for the player (beyond the first half of the first playoff game) will be up to the UIL, Texas' sanctioning body.  The previously-reported on this blog John Jay incident cost one player the rest of his senior year in all sports and another the rest of his sophomore year and half his junior year.

I already have sent my comments to the pair.  I will let you know what happens.

Day 264

• Word out of Miami Gloria Estefan battled the coronavirus last month.  Tested positive November 8 with loss of taste and smell, has tested negative twice since.
• Pro wrestling lost one of it's mavericks (and one of it's probable sexual predators too!) Pat Patterson today.
• The thrice-delayed game was finally played...  Pittsburgh slogged through Baltimore 19-14.
• NBA announces 48 positives in their first round of testing to prepare for the 2020-21 season.
• Denver has fined all four quarterbacks involved in the mask fiasco.  I'm sorry, but after what it's done to your team and the supposed "good name" of the NFL...  One or more of them have to go.    
• No changes in the CFP this week.  And there won't be.  Alabama, Clemson, Notre Dame, and Ohio State and you WILL LIKE IT!  We are headed for a single national Champions' League.
  
• Add the Las Vegas Bowl to the list of COVID casualties.
  

2020 NFL Power Rankings, Week 12 Edition: I think we have their Plan A now...

That was a mess.

That was a disgrace, a debacle, and should end, for all time, the public perception that the NFL games are fair and that the league is on the level with fair competition.

I'm not only talking that stupidity with the Broncos (a forfeit actually would been the BETTER scenario -- as of today, the quarterbacks involved have been fined!), but this whole shooting match with Pittsburgh and Baltimore and their game is just a mess (and that definitely should've been a forfeit for Baltimore's positives because of the strength and conditioning coach -- we don't know Pittsburgh's positives).

But one thing is now for certain, even if you disagree with my hypothesis which follows from it:  The NFL is using the COVID-19 policies as a function to rig the season.  You would officially have to be out of your mind to consider any other scenario.

And, as such, with the teams affected, I think it is clear we have the NFL's current Plan A.  That said, let me make clear:  PLANS CAN CHANGE.  Anyone who's seen the NFL and it's rigging the last 5-10 years knows plans can change, sometimes on a dime.

But, with five weeks to go in the regular season, I think the direction now appears clear with the NFL's COVID-related actions against Pittsburgh and to benefit New Orleans:  Kansas City to face (and sizably defeat) the Saints in the Super Bowl, should we get that far.

What happened in Denver this week was a disgrace to the sport of professional football.  They are fortunate, frankly, the Saints showed some mercy.

What happened with this Baltimore-Pittsburgh game has irreparably fucked the Steelers' season, and there's only one real reason or purpose for that -- get rid of the Steelers to promote Mahomes as the new face of the league.

And New Orleans?  That's Super Bowl XXXII Redux.  The league knowing they've fucked the Saints twice...

So, that in mind:

AFC Power Rankings:

1. Kansas City Chiefs (10-1)

I really don't even see many alternatives here.  A catastrophic Mahomes injury, at this point, could blow up the entire NFL season, in both conferences.  It was clear last season that Mahomes is now THE NEW MAN.  It would NOT be out of the question, barring such injury, a new Face of the League or the like, if, 10 years from now, we're looking at 5 titles for KC.

BIGGEST PROBLEM:  The NFL Boycott, or has the NFL finally conceded it's going to have to settle for 80 million watching the Super Bowl rather than 100-110?

2.  Pittsburgh (11-0)

And they have every right to bitch.  But the fact is that the NFL is using COVID-19 and the relevant policies to fuck them and everyone else for the result they so desire.

BIGGEST PROBLEM:  Patrick Mahomes.  Captain Fatfuck...  Patrick Mahomes.  Ben Rapistburger...  Yeah.

And I accept any criticism to "It's All About The Quarterback".  What happened in Denver this week should put that all to bed otherwise once and for all. 

3. Tennessee (8-3)

4.  Indianapolis (7-4)

Definitely beginning to see some press behind Tennessee especially here.  Not enough to justify putting them over Pittsburgh, and I think this has to be an outside backup plan if something happens.  But that tells you the gulf between 1 and 2 and even #3...

5.  Buffalo (8-3)

5A.  Miami (7-4)

Same thing I said last week, but that'll only get you so far.

NFC Power Rankings:

1. New Orleans (9-2)

I retract what I said last week, for now.  Given that New Orleans was handed a clean Free Win Card this week really gives you an indication that the Payback Super Bowl Berth IS in play.

And, just a thought:  You think that decision not to play Rapeis Winston was not racially/#NFLBoycott related?

BIGGEST PROBLEM:  Two, really.  You don't sue the NFL, especially over stuff you'll lose immediately.  And is Drew Brees going to have a set of ribs to play in January to get them there?

2.  Seattle (8-3)

Especially given this type of a season, a tribute given to the fans, especially the cult-like rabids in Seattle, would not be out of line here.

BIGGEST PROBLEM:  Washington State has not been the kindest to the conservative/freedom types the NFL loves to glorify.

3. LA Rams (7-4)

Really, because the options start running real thin here.

I do believe, end of the day, we are down to the last four teams for the Super Bowl:  Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Seattle, and the Saints.

BIGGEST PROBLEM:  The state of life in Los Angeles and especially Inglewood.  Especially if there is some desire to reboot normalcy circa next September with a vaccine, I think the LA Experiment (and it's Las Vegas counterpart) may be damn near kaput -- LA politically, and Vegas may not survive this at all in present form.  And I'm NOT talking the Raiders franchise!

4.  Tampa Bay (7-5)

Only because of what they tried to construct.

BIGGEST PROBLEM:  The first three quarters of that game with Kansas City appear to indicate the NFL is finally ready to move on unless it somehow thinks Tom Brady will come back next year.  He's definitely taken some body blows to Father Time.

5.  Green Bay (8-3)

No.

No.

No, and just no.

Jobber To The Stars again, and I really don't think people get this.  This team is one Aaron Rodgers injury away from 3-8.  And the league doesn't give a shit.

Packer Fan does not get that the league would put Tom Brady in Super Bowl LIV before it puts Aaron Rodgers in.

BIGGEST PROBLEM:  The league doesn't feel, even with what Packer Nation provides the NFL, that a small-town expansive fan-base is marketable or "money" enough in the 21st century.