Day 416

• And in karmic fashion, Essential Quality finished fourth to 12-1 shot Medina Spirit.
• And "Mattress Mack" ate a $2,400,000 gambling loss as a result.
• Gambling handle on the race was down about 4% from the last regular-scheduled Derby 2 years ago.  
• Face it, people...  Sports, as you knew them, are probably never getting back to 100%.  Better retrain your expectations accordingly.   
• Want some more examples?  Due to French COVID restrictions, the European Rugby League championships have been moved to Twickenham Stadium in London -- and they're hoping, in about three weeks, for about 10,000 fans for each of two days.
• The West Australian derby match for Aussie Rules tonight was played without fans due to an outbreak in Australia.  There is talk there are now variants of the virus which may have mutated upwards of four times.

MAJOR anti-Glaser protest incident in Manchester today:

• Stadium invasion and hotel protest in Manchester this morning -- continuing protests attempting to oust the Glazers as Manchester United's owners and institute "50+1" to English soccer, where no real action could be taken such as a Super League without the consent of 50%+1 of an organization of supporters.  Old Trafford was breached, but the game with Liverpool is probably still going to happen, especially because, if it doesn't, Manchester City wins the English Premier League today.
• And now a possible second stadium breach within 90 minutes of the scheduled kickoff.
• Reports of major infrastructural damage to at least the ability to broadcast today's Manchester United-Liverpool match.  70 minutes to kickoff and no word as to if the match takes place at all.
• Referee is being prevented from leaving his car.
• And now word the kickoff will be delayed either into the evening or that the game will be off for tonight.
• Police are blockading the stadium to try to get the teams in.
• And the protesters have won today:  GAME CALLED.

From yesterday:

• The University of Houston's Grant Stuard is this year's Mr. Irrelevant.  The GM actually believes there's a chance he can make the team on special teams.

Some "Mr. Irrelevant" stuff, because I'm bored:

• Last year's, Tae Crowder, actually made the Giants and played in seven games.
• 2019's, Caleb Wilson, may finally just have found a landing spot in Philadelphia after being waived by both the Cardinals (who drafted him) and the Football Team.  But he has work to do.  He is listed currently as the fourth tight-end on the roster.
• 2018:  Trey Quinn made The Football Team for a couple games, but has struggled with injury and is now a reserve contract on the Raiders organization, his third team.
• 2017:  Chad Kelly is out of the league, and part of it was a trespassing charge in 2018.  He's been released three times and played only one down in the NFL.  A large part of why Kelly was made Mr. Irrelevant was his misconduct record in college.
• 2016:  Kalan Reed, out of the league with a broken neck.  Had stints with the Titans and Seahawks, did make the main roster a couple times.
• 2015:  Gerald Christian, never played in two stints with the Cardinals, who drafted him.  Got three games and one catch with Buffalo.  Tried to relaunch his career in the AAF.
• 2014:  Lonnie Ballantine, out of the league after two stints on IR with the Texans.  Did play a couple games in the 2014 season before his first such stint.
• 2013:  Justice Cunningham, one game and one catch with Indianapolis.  Practice squad fodder otherwise -- was on Indy's once and the Rams' three times.
• 2012:  Chandler Harnish, practice squad QB with the Colts for two years and one year with the Vikings.  Out of the league.

So, as one might expect, the last pick of the NFL Draft doesn't usually do very well.  In fact, one can say that Crowder's first year probably eclipses the careers of the last eight before him combined!!

• The most successful Mr. Irrelevant:  It's not close, and you probably recognize the name from February.  2009's Ryan Succop, now the starting kicker for the Tampa Bay Tom Bradys Buccaneers.  Only the second player to go from Mr. Irrelevant to play in a Super Bowl (1994's Marty Moore, special-teamer with the Patriots for XXXI), and the second to be on the roster to win a Super Bowl title (1999's Jim Finn, injured with the Giants for their Super Bowl win in XLII), and the first to be a starter on a Super Bowl champion.
• He is the third, however, to win a league title from the Mr. Irrelevant position.  1980's Tyrone McGriff Sr. played three years for the Steelers, made the All-Rookie Team, and then jumped to the USFL in 1983 with Michigan, winning a title and becoming an All-Star in the fledgling league.

Those facts courtesy of Wikipedia.

• And if anyone wants to continue to ask me why the Cowboys, even though they are the team most people would probably like to see pushed to a Super Bpwl, haven't been:  The Cowboys, this weekend, drafted no fewer than THREE potential criminal or character cases:

1. Micah Parsons, the #12 draft pick in the first round, accused of hazing while at...  *sigh*  PEDOPHILE STATE...  A civil suit was filed, Parsons not a defendant -- however, that incident led to Parsons transferring to California-Berkeley.
2. Second round:  Kelvin Joseph, basically terminated from LSU for violating team rules before the 2019 Fiesta Bowl.  At which point he transferred to Kentucky, to try to save making the NFL.
3. But neither hold a candle to fourth-round pick Josh Ball.  2018:  Ex-girlfriend filed a police report delineating 11 separate violent incidents of domestic violence with Ball.  No charges were ever filed, because "Tallahassee is a football town, ma'am."  Yep, Ball attended Florida State!  He was suspended from Florida State and drummed out after the police report, spent a year in JuCo and finished at Marshall before being drafted.

Jerry Jones, ladies and gentlemen!!  As big a fucking thug as the players he drafts.