Day 599, including Week 8 Sunday stuff...

• Bears head coach Matt Nagy is still COVID-positive and quarantined, so he won't be coaching tonight.  And again, a reminder:  That's a breakthrough case -- all NFL coaches are required to be fully-vaccinated.   
• The Barfs are one game from the title -- and a new White racist era of the National Pastime perhaps being pushed for after the labor strife.  More on that should it consummate.  At least me and another reader of the blog do believe, however, the winner of tonight's game wins the Series.  
• First CFP ratings Tuesday:  Kiss Iowa goodbye, blown out at Wisconsin.  Another Harbaugh failure at Michigan vs. Michigan State, so State is now the second team in the Big Ten East...  Cincinnati needed more than it should've to beat Tulane...  We'll see about all this...
• Can anyone name me ONE meaningful game in 6+ years at Michigan that Harbaugh has won?  Seriously??  I'll wait...   
• Wow, is this getting ugly...  I don't know if I recall an early Sunday where no fewer than three games went to the half 3-3...

Fine Blotter, Week 7 and otherwise...

• Dallas Cowboys:  CeeDee Lamb, we need to have a talk...

You know, there's been some belief that the Cowboys might actually be Plan B behind the Tom Bradys -- but Lamb might be about to blow that up.

Through six weeks and six games, Lamb is now a FIVE-TIME LOSER in the fine department already:

1. Week 1, uniform violation, socks:  $5,150
2. Week 3, uniform violation, untucked jersey:  $5,150
3. Week 4, uniform violation, untucked jersey, second offense:  $15,450
4. Week 4, crackback block, $10,815
5. Week 6, taunting:  $10,300

(Some of this has already been covered, but I wanted to bring this to attention since this entire record is becoming a matter of record.)

He's already been told the next untucked jersey he does is going to cost him over $46,000.

Lamb is in his second year in the league, and fellow wide receiver Amari Cooper is now having some real questions on whether this piece of shit wants to get paid at all!!

You might also wanna make it clear to him:  He gets too much more, stop talking suspensions and start talking that your team's gonna stop getting calls and not be in the mix.  You could even make a case that the Packers are getting Refball again because at least two of the options which spent the early season above the Packers in the playoff thoughts are running afoul of things.

He was also fined $15,000 for a blindside block Week 1 last year - -making it six NFL fines in just 22 NFL games.

I wonder when the forced inspections are going to start coming and the word comes out that Lamb will not be allowed on the field -- de facto suspended -- when he refuses to continue to comply.

Now, the weekly (Week 7) numbers:

• Kansas City Chiefs:  L'Jarius Sneed, $5,214 for Roughing the Passer
• Seattle Seahawks:  Gerald Everett, $10,300 for Unsportsmanlike Conduct
• Seattle Seahawks:  DK Metcalf, $6,949 for Unnecessary Roughness
• New Orleans Saints:  Marshon Lattimore, $10,815 for Unnecessary Roughness
• Chicago Bears:  Bilal Nichols, $10.815 for an ejection punch.
• Philadelphia Eagles:  Jason Kelce, $10,300 for Unsportsmanlike Conduct

And three more $10,300 fines for taunting:

• Tennessee Titans:  Kevin Byard
• Arizona Cardinals:  Byron Murphy
• Cleveland Browns:  Jarvis Landry

Day 598

• It appears as if the Washington Spirit may not survive the NWSL controversies.  Larry Best is gone as the head of sporting operations, and the controlling owner of the team, Steve Baldwin, wants out -- and a female co-owner is who the players want to see buy the interest.
• That said, ESPN had a video up where Julie Foudy is asked whether the answer is more women in coaching.  It's not only that, ESPN, but fewer men:  I don't think a lot of people get how badly male-controlled ANYTHING in this country is for women, because of what "being a man" is -- and we don't nearly punish men enough, because they are all but expected to do this...
• And now word from Sports Illustrated that a part-owner of the Dodgers, Tood Boehly, wanted a stake in the Spirit.  I don't think that's going to fly, see above.   
• And it didn't.  He rescinded the offer, I believe on the insistence of the players.
• Latest CFP meetings are now to see if the new plan is going to be eight teams or twelve.  This basically hearkens, according to SI, back to a 1994 committee discussion on an on-field FBS National Championship:  Plan A is what they went with, a one-game title match.  This is going between Plans C and D.
• Once believed to be almost-certain -- it now appears that CFP expansion is all but gone.  Some will claim it's a push-back from the Power 5 -- I think it's more the realities of NIL and that there won't BE college football, as presently constructed, by the 2024 launch date.  The competing plans are as follows:

1. The Go5 won't vote for a "Best 8" concept.
2. The Power 5 won't vote for a "six conference champions, two at-larges" field.
3. The compromise bid -- which, if anything is to be taken seriously here, sounds like it will go, is a "6+6" 12-team field, but player safety and season length become an issue.  Though it does leave more teams with meaningful games into November.  Right now, today, you have, probably at best, five or six meaningful playoff games on Halloween weekend 2021.

Day 597, Part Two...

• Kevin Cheveldayoff has been cleared of sufficient wrongdoing by Gary Bettman in the Chicago Blackhawks sexual-assault case.
• The owner of the Blackhawks wants the central figure in the case, then-video coach Brad Aldritch's name removed from Lord Stanley's Cup.  He would not be the first person to be technically removed:  The NHL ordered X'd out Basil Pocklington, the father of the owner of the Oilers in 1983 -- who had nothing to do with the team...  Others apparently have been as well.
• It appears as if there will be a competing men's professional golf tour, with Greg Norman at the helm -- and he's stepping down from his self-named company so he can put his full efforts into this.  Hopes to start play some point next year.
• Both SI and ESPN have had several prominent stories this week, condemning The Chop.
• But don't look now, The Racist Fuck is showing up tomorrow night -- The Former Guy -- Jabba The Drumpf -- The Big Orange Idiot is attending Game 4.
• Mikey Williams, the 11th ranked college prospect for this year's high-school senior class, has become the first high-schooler to sign a deal with an international shoe company -- Puma.
• Why?  Five million followers on social media.  HOW?  and WHY????    
• The female players of the NWSL appear satisfied at the league's efforts after the abuse allegations which nearly felled the league.
• Disturbing report from last night's game:  DeAndre Hopkins was injured with a hamstring injury for the Cardinals.  His coach wanted him out of the game, Hopkins checked himself in.  He aggravated the injury, but then returned again.

TV Ratings stuff for this week...

• World Series is, predictably, blowing chunks:

1. 10.81 million for Game 1 -- only last year's was worse.
2. 10.28 million for Game 2 -- only last year's was worse.

Nice job, Manfred...

• Very interested to see how a shit Week 6 drew in the NFL ratings-wise...  (Sports Media Watch)

1. CBS National:  Worst-watched National Week 7 window since 2001.  Bucs-Bears in 90%, 9.3 rating, 17.75M viewers.  Worst late window of ANY WEEK (which did not include double doubleheaders) since Week 4 2017 in ratings and Week 6 2018 in viewers.  -25% ratings, -22% viewers.
2. CBS Regional:  8.4 rating, 15.15M viewers, up about 3-4% in both metrics.  Chiefs-Titans in about 3/4 of the nation.
3. FOX Single:  8.2 rating, 15.74M viewers, down 6% ratings, 1% viewers.  Washington-Green Bay or Eagles-Raiders led that slate.
4. MNF:  12.87M, including the latest ManningCast.  1.6 million for that, down about 13% from Weeks 1 and 2.
5. SNF:  9.0 rating, 16.11M viewers -- lowest so far this year for NBC.  On the other hand, it was almost 15% up from last year in both metrics.
6. Thursday Night:  7.3 rating, almost 13M viewers, up about 25-30% over last year.

OOF. NFL, you getting THIS OBVIOUS???

Admittedly, this is from a "NFL is rigged" YouTuber, Pat Troothner.  But ignore him and get to his message.

This field goal in London in the game two weeks ago between Jacksonville and Miami...

Start this video (again, NFL highlights cannot be embedded into a site, you have to click through) at 3:57...

That ball kinks twice.  It starts somewhat straight -- headed for the right upright or just inside, but, with negligible to no wind, it veers right and then looks, as Pat points out, headed for the "Just For Men" sign on the right hashmark or so.

That is, until somehow, the ball kinks a second time, and sneaks in past the right upright.  There's even another conspiracy-theory video which believes you can see red lights to indicate when the field goal is being tampered with.  (I couldn't find them -- if someone has seen that video and can, please point them out.)

Many people who watch kicks will see the ball kink once -- but never twice.

Brian Tuohy, for a good three years now, believes magnets have been tampering with the field goals lately.  Remember the look on the face of Justin Tucker when he missed a key field goal in a loss??

The field goal which sent the NFC title game, New Orleans vs. the Rams, after the first intentional fucked-up PI no-call?

---

Guys, the NFL is manipulating the games to get these fantastic finishes and all this bullshit.

They're doing it not only to grease the ratings, but the fact that most of the teams are utter shit and unwatchable.

Been meaning to do this, might as well put it here:

The NFL has made much hay of a record, through seven weeks, of 24 games decided in the last minute or overtime.  (The old record was 23 in 2015 -- and they had four in their week eight, so this year needs three on Sunday and Monday to tie.)

You can also add another ten games, including last night, where there was either an onside kick to get a possible winning possession or a failed Last Chance in the last minute or overtime.  (This is separate from games which have both, like the Packers-Cincinnati debacle.)

So 34 of the 108 games have either had a tying or leading score or a feasible good last chance missed (basically, what I do as a Last Chance Miss, but I'm limiting to these to one minute, rather than two -- as I do for Cliffhangers and Last Chance Misses normally) 1:00 or less in regulation or in overtime.

Here's the breakdown by team ("Win" or "Loss" means a Cliffhanger (even if there's an LCM within the time as well) with 1 minute or less left.  "LCM Win" or "LCM Loss" means a Last Chance Miss win or loss which is not a Cliffhanger, with 1 minute or less left):

GB   Win 2 LCM Win 1                  3-0

PIT   Win 1 LCM Win 2          3-0

LV   Win 2                                        2-0

TB   Win 1 LCM Win 1    2-0

WSH Win 2                                      2-0

ATL LCM Win 1 Win 2 Loss 1          3-1

BAL Win 2 Loss 1                              2-1

CIN Win 2 Loss 1                    2-1

DAL Win 2 Loss 1            2-1

LAC Win 1 LCM Win 1 Loss 1                2-1

TEN Win 1 LCM Win 1 Loss 1         2-1

ARI  LCM Win 1 LCM Loss 1         1-1

CLE LCM Win 1 LCM Loss 1          1-1

JAX Win 1 Loss 1                             1-1

NYJ Win 1 LCM Loss 1                    1-1

SF    LCM Win 1 Loss 1                    1-1

MIN Win 2 Loss 1 LCM Loss 2       2-3

NE   Win 1 Loss 1 LCM Loss 1       1-2

NYG Win 1 Loss 2                            1-2

CAR Loss 1                              0-1

DEN LCM Loss 1                    0-1

HOU Loss 1                              0-1

IND Loss 1                               0-1

KC Loss 1                             0-1

NO   Loss 1                             0-1

BUF LCM Loss 2                    0-2

SEA Loss 2                                  0-2

DET LCM Loss 1 Loss 2                  0-3

MIA Loss 3                           0-3

So here are some reactions:

• Three teams have had neither a game decided with a score in the last minute nor a Last Chance situation (either way) in the last minute:  

1. Philadelphia:  Of their seven games, five have been non-competitive (no point in the fourth quarter has their margin been within eight points) and the other two were within eight at the end, but the winning team had the ball for the entire within 2:00 period.
2. Chicago:  Three non-competitive, one within-eight margin where winning team had the ball the whole relevant time, the other three were within eight at some point in the fourth but not at the end.
3. Los Angeles Rams:  Four non-competitive, one within eight at the end, two within eight at some point in the fourth quarter but not at the end.

• Five teams have won all such games this season -- three lead their divisions.  The other two have all of their wins as this kind of win.
• Ten teams have lost all such games this season, but only four have lost more than one.  Of those four, only one leads their division, and only because their only two losses have been Last Chance Miss <1:00 losses.  The other three are in last place, and have 18 losses between them.

Day 597

• They still aren't going to the Super Bowl, in my opinion, but I think it is now clear that the Packers are somewhere in the NFL's plans to storyline who does.  It took a slew of practice-squad recruits to replace five starters (two injuries, two COVID positives, and a close contact) to have the Dolphins from 49 years ago pop the champagne last night in a win which had to come out of the NFL's playbook.  Though it did not add to the record or record chase for last-minute score finishes, it was an end-zone pick with 15 seconds left (by a practice-squad recruit formerly with the practice squad of the Arizona Cardinals, no less!) to snare the win.  This, after, to set it up, a failure at the other 1 yard line to seal it!
• My only question now, with the Kroenke Incident at the owners' meetings, is:  Are the Pack now #3 or #4 or #5 in the NFC in the Politicals?  
• And speaking of why I do the Politicals:  Would someone like to explain to me, on the final interception, why a 7-0 team has a 7-time Pro Bowler this clueless as to where the ball is or whatever?  (And with that you could've called pass interference or holding EITHER WAY on this call....)

I've seen less called pass interference and/or defense holding, but the two refs looking directly at this play said otherwise. https://t.co/QTRP6EdqvA

— Brian Tuohy (@TheFixIsInTuohy) October 29, 2021

• And, while we're talking rigged/scripted:  How does the NFL reverse the touchdown on the other end on the first down run by Adam Jones which would've sealed it?  How can you find conclusive evidence of that, in the first place?
• Former Chicago Blackhawk Kyle Beach has revealed himself as the "John Doe" in the abuse and coverup by the Blackhawks...
• ... which has now forced the firing-resignation of (until last night) now-Carolina head coach Joel Quenneville.
• The NAACP has told prospective professional athletes they may not want to sign for teams in Texas (this is across the board, regardless of league) for laws regarding voting rights, abortion rights, and against mask mandates.  
• Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...  ARE WE FORGETTING ONE HERE, NAACP??????????????????????????????????????????????  Or are you also getting behind Chappelle??  (I am considering my options on a Thermonuke Post on that subject -- however, there is at least one major concern I have -- a faux-pas I cannot commit if I do so.)   
• To give an idea of the absurdities of the NFL, it was revealed at the owner's meetings that, in the last two years, Commissioner Roger Goodell made $121,000,000.

Day 596

• Starting with a slight editorial to Packer Nation before tonight:

Stop it.  Seriously.  You are, AT BEST, Choice Number FOUR in the NFC -- and I'd put Arizona in the same boat.  You.  Are.  Not.  Going.  To.  Super.  Bowl.  LVI.   

Now back to our regularly scheduled daily roundup.

• ESPN is trying to get any expanded CFP to hold the first round of games or so at bowl sites.  ... recognizing the death of the bowl system as we once knew it. Bout time.   
• Ring of Honor is basically shutting down it's present operations.  If the wrestling group survives, it will be a true indie -- whatever talent is not nailed down the nights they do television, they will take.
• NFL owners meetings this week, and already two spates of fireworks:
• Tanya Snyder, acting owner of the Washington Football Team, gave remarks many saw as "tone-deaf" regarding her team's travails...
• And Stan Kroenke was actually asked to leave the meeting after he basically made intimations he would not pay the legal fees to defend the move from St. Louis for the Rams.  That's something that could change the narrative regarding both LA teams...  Just saying...    

Day 595

• It appears we have an outbreak in Green Bay.  Allen Lazard probably will not play Arizona now.
• Rob Manfred has officially endorsed The Chop in Cobb County.  In a pre-World Series press conference rant, he said "End of the Story" in support of The Chop.  So he's a racist fuck on top of all else.
• Roger Goodell will not publicly release the Washington Football Team report.  Oh gee, boy...  Why not?   
• He also said yesterday that they are still gathering information on the DeShaun Watson affair.  THAT I can believe.  I begin to wonder if this jerk assaulted (metaphorically) half the women in Houston, TX!   
• Cal McNair, the Houston Texans chairman and CEO, was caught making anti-Asian remarks at a team function in May.  And the best goes on in the NFL Good Ol' Boys Club...  (See two points above.)   
• Charlie Morton of Cobb County threw 16 pitches on a broken leg in the World Series, then apologized it wasn't more.  Oh good gracious -- YOU BROKE YOUR FUCKING LEG!!    

Day 594, including an answer to my question about how bad Week 7 really was...

• Quinton de Kock was thrown off South Africa's T20 World Cup match against the West Indies for refusing the pre-match taking of the knee against racism.  
• Patrick Chung, now retired from the NFL as of last March, charged with assault and battery of a family member, domestic violence against the mother of one of his children.
• Two members of the Chicago Blackhawks, including Johnathan Toews, are in the COVID protocol, joining a concerning trend, indicating either a close contract-trace or an outbreak on the Blackhawks.  Unknown at this time how many, if any, are positive for the virus -- and the NHL does not require that for the protocol.
• Speaking of the Blackhawks:  The NHL has fined the Blackhawks $2,000,000 for inadequate protection and investigation of 2010 sexual assault claims against one of their coaches.  Half that money will also be set aside for local sexual assault charities.
• And the last two remaining links to the team to the 2010 season are gone:  Team President Stan Bowman and Senior Director of Hockey Administration Al MacIssac "resigned".  (They were fired, they just were just given a polite way to have it done.)
• About three weeks ago, WCCO confirmed what many of us suspected with respect to the cancellation of the Proctor, MN football season -- two players raped a third through sodomy in the locker room.

When I did Sunday in review, I said Week 7 of the 2021 season may have been the worst Sunday in the history of the league.

I now have backup, as YouTuber Official JaguarGator9 posted this (again, plenty of NFL footage, so embedding it here probably would have you clicking through in the first place) to answer the question as to if Sunday was the worst NFL Sunday ever.

Short answer:  If it wasn't, it's on the very very VERY short list.

But some points:

• The last time a Sunday afternoon went with only game within a possession was Week 7 -- 2009.
• The last time a full Sunday had only one game within a possession -- Week 7  -- 1993.
• And the 1993 Sunday had only 8 games.
• And those two, W7 2021 and W7 1993, are the only two times since 1976.  You'd have to go back to the final week of 1975 to get anything comparable.

I'm going to say a realization I had, looking into especially these last two weeks:

The NFL is using the manipulation of these last-minute finishes to paper over a completely shit league.

Keep in mind:  Six teams in the AFC have two losses.  Five teams in the NFC have one or fewer, and another is 4-2.  Meaning 12 NFL teams are 4-2 or better.

Just watch the video if you can.  He does a good job with the research.

2021 Week 7 Political Rankings

O.  M.  F.  G.

Well, let's get to the carnage...

AFC Politicals:

I'm not sure, right now, there is an order in the AFC.  The entire situation was thrown on it's head when Tennessee absolutely obliterated Baltimore.

I guess if I had to give an order right now, it would be:

1) Las Vegas

Services rendered, new stadium, someone's gotta lose to Brady.

2) Los Angeles Chargers

Remove only the first part of above.

3) Tennessee

Would make for an interesting matchup -- could King Henry keep Brady off the field enough?

4) Baltimore

If I downgrade Green Bay for Week 1, I gotta do the same here -- and the thing is, Tennessee looks primed to ace out the AFC South.

NOT SOLD ON:  Buffalo (too small of market, and I'll keep saying that), Cincinnati (who do you market?), Cleveland (will the real Browns please stand up?)

AFC DUD OF THE WEEK NOMINEES:

Kansas City:  You got close this week.  You really did.  The only reason you probably didn't win with the quit job you did against Tennessee was someone not only quit more comprehensively, but they're 1-5.  You're at least 3-4 and if you right the ship (Step One:  Take care of your head coach by firing him!), you're still in the playoff picture.  If you don't, you might well end Patrick Mahomes' career a scant less-than-year after it was being clear he was The Next Man in this league!

Baltimore:  You go on both lists this week.  Probably one of the biggest games this early in the year, and you get abjectly ROLLED.  Not a good look if you want the Ravens in SoFi for Valentine's Weekend.

WINNERS:  (Yes, plural)

NEW YORK JETS, MIAMI DOLPHINS, HOUSTON TEXANS

What do they all have in common?  With Jacksonville (who had the bye this week after their London game), all four have one win apiece.  And there's little hope to expect more anytime soon except meeting between the J-E-T-S SUCK SUCK SUCK and the Dolphins.

Miami:  What a waste of a performance from your quarterback.

Jets:  Would you like to even bother taking the field next time?  Belichick put 54 on your sorry asses.

Texans:  It might actually be better, at this point, if you DON'T take the field next time!

NFC:

1) Tampa Bay

You know the drill.  Brady upright?  Check.  Bucs win and lead the division?  Check.  #1.

2) Dallas

Same drill as before as well.

3) LA Rams

This should start looking familiar, until we get to #4...

4) New Orleans

That defense is going to take them places.  And I am officially surrogating Green Bay again -- but for these guys for now, since they actually would be the current 3-6 matchup.

CALL ME BACK IN ABOUT 72 HOURS:  Green Bay and Arizona.  This probably is, if not the best Thursday Night Football matchup ever, it's close -- though COVID considerations are beginning to blow this up hardcore.  I do expect Arizona to win the game to go 8-0 because of the COVID absences, but I need to see how this goes.  If Green Bay DOES win this game, I do have to rank them.

Arizona, on the other hand, five of their seven wins:  Vikings (3-3), Browns (4-3), Jaguars (1-5), 49ers (2-4), Texans (1-6).  They do have the one win over the Rams this season, and they also beat Tennessee.  This could be their stiffest test, though.  Beat Green Bay convincingly, and you probably shoot to #3 over the Rams.  (You don't have Tom Brady nor the ratings draw to go further than that.)

Thing is, they get through this one, and the rest of their schedule all the way to Week 16 in January is almost like the list I just gave you.  On form, they could be 14-0 heading to Dallas.

NFC DUD OF THE WEEK NOMINEES:

Detroit:  No one will ever say this team doesn't try.  The problem is, they can't get off the schnide.

Chicago:  Oof, The Bears Still Suck!  That said, that is to be expected...

WINNER:

THE CAROLINA PANTHERS

... 25-3 to the freaking Giants is NOT!  Where did THAT come from?  REALLY beginning to wonder howinhell you beat New Orleans a week after they ran over the Pack!!!

2021 Week 7 Kayfabe Report

God, was that ugly.

That may have been one of the worst weeks in NFL history.

And it's blown up a lot of even the kayfabe situation.

Let's get to it quickly:

AFC:

East:  Buffalo (4-2), a game and a half over New England.

North:  Cincinnati, who, by beating Baltimore this week in their first meeting, has the 5-2 HTH.

South:  Tennessee (5-2) two over Indianapolis

West:  Las Vegas (5-2), half game over the Chargers

Seeding:

Three way tie, Cincinnati, Tennessee, Las Vegas.  No HTH sweep applicable.  Conference:  CIN 3-0, TEN and LV 4-1.  CIN #1.

TEN and LV tiebreaker for #2:  Have not and will not play.  Conference both 4-1.  No common opponents, so break out the Strength of Victory:  TEN:  .394  LV:  .412.  LV #2, TEN #3, BUF #4.

Wildcards:  Baltimore is 5-2 for #5.  LA Chargers are 4-2 for #6.  Cleveland is 4-3 for #7.  Simple enough.

First out:  Pittsburgh at 3-3.  Last place in the division.

Order:  CIN, LV, TEN, BUF, BAL, LAC, CLE 

Six teams in the American Football Chaos with two losses through seven weeks.

NFC:

East:  Dallas (5-1), three clear of the other three teams.

North:  Green Bay (6-1), 2 1/2 clear of the Vikings

South:  Tampa Bay (6-1), a game and a half ahead of the Saints

West:  Arizona (7-0), 1 game ahead of the Rams.

Five teams in the NFC with one or fewer losses.

ARI #1

The Bays have a tiebreak at #2:  Do not play this year.  Both 4-1 in the conference.  One common game between them, insufficient, so break out the Strength of Victory:  GB:  .375  TB:  .425  TB #2  GB #3

DAL #4

Wildcards:  LA Rams 6-1 for #5, NO 4-2 for #6

Minnesota and Atlanta have to break a tie at 3-3 for the final spot.  It goes to conference record:  MIN 3-1, ATL 1-3.  MIN #7

Order:  ARI, TB, GB, DAL, LAR, NO, MIN

2021 NFL Week 7 Score Report

Oof.  That was ugly.

• Six losing teams could not get more than ten points this week.
• This leads the average for the week to the lowest average to just 42.77 -- the lowest since 41.714 Week 12 of 2019.
• Season average:  47.29.  (Last year:  Week:  50.57  Season:  50.75)  At least the season average is still almost a field goal up from two years ago.
• Home teams were 9-4 this week.  That still leaves the home teams two games below .500 for the season at 51-53.  (Last year:  6-8 for 53-51-1.)
• Over was 5-8 for 47-59-1.  (Last year:  6-6-2 for 53-49-3)
• Favorites 7-6 against the number, 9-4 straight up.  Season:  50-57 ATS, 67-40 SU.  (Last year:  ATS:  4-9 for 49-57-1  SU:  9-4 for 68-34-1.)
• Low number of penalties this week.  144 in 13 games (just over 11 a game).  Season for the 107 games, 1,320 (12.3).  (Last year:  159 in 14 games (11.4) for 1,196 in 105 (11.4))
• Team with more penalties was 5-7 this week for 45-50 for the year.  (Last year:  4-9 for 41-51.)
• There were only three games this week which ended within one score.  48 for the year only.  (Last year:  7 for 53)
• Of the three, two were Cliffhangers.  27 for the year.
• Only one to add to the NFL's record this week for the last minute and overtime.  (Seattle's Cliffhanger loss ended IC, sack, sack, 4th and 28 from their own 7 (IC) -- probably better to take the intentional safety and try the free kick onside!)  That's 24 for the year, New Orleans' win tonight only the third to have the winning score between 1 and 2 minutes to go.
• Record Watch:  2015 had 27 in the last minute and overtime, so next week will need three to hold the line.
• On the other hand:  Eight of the 13 games ended non-competitive -- never within eight points in the fourth quarter.  That's now 41 of those in seven weeks.  (Last year:  5 for 34)
• And 15 of the last 27 in two weeks.  
• It's also the third week this season (Wk 1) with at least 7 games which never had a score within eight points at any point in the final 15 minutes.
• Last time we had eight non-competitive games in a week: Week 15, 2019 -- that was a full 16-game week.  
• Last week with more than eight:  Week 13, 2014 -- with nine.  (Seven and eight are uncommon, but have happened the last seven years on occasion.)
• No Last Chance Misses this week.  (Last year 3 for 33 total -- this year holds at 24.)

Couple of side notes:

• New England's 54-13 win over the Jets was the largest number of one-team points in a game since Buffalo dropped 56 on Miami last year's final week.  The 41 point margin of victory was the first 40 point margin since New England blanked the Chargers 45-0 in Week 13 last year.
• Arizona's 20 point cover over Houston is only the fourth time a team has ever covered a 20 point or more spread.
• The four straight-up upsets were all by double-digits, three of them by over three touchdowns.

Day 593, Part Two: The Daily Post *Exhale* -- and the NFL Week 6 Fine Blotter

I'm sure that will eventually get a response -- and if it's as incomprehensibly idiotically formed as the first one, I'll probably have things to say about that!  So, on to the daily festivities, because we are not rid of COVID and may never be:

• In the continuing quest to make Brady the Icon of American Sport (yes, even over Foolish and Wretched One-Dimensional Ballhog), the drugged-up TB12 master became the first NFL QB to throw six hundred career touchdown passes.
• And the receiver who caught it had no idea (head coach Bruce Arians had to tell him).  He threw the ball into the stands -- and will be fined for that.  Everyone with the Bucs and Brady was trying to get the ball back, for obvious reasons.
• The fan who caught it finally gave it -- and, in return, he got:

1. Two signed Brady jerseys
2. A Buccaneer helmet
3. A third jersey, this one signed by the receiver who caught it, Mike Evans.
4. The cleats Evans wore in the game.
5. $1,000 in Buccaneer team store merchandise.
6. And season tickets to the Buccaneers through the end of NEXT SEASON.
7. And Tom Brady had one more surprise for the fan on an appearance with Eli and Peyton Monday Night:  One Bitcoin.  Unless you know, you might not think it that much.  One Bitcoin (and this is why we have fuckers completely gumming out the video-card market, etc.) is worth, as of 6:13 PM PDT 10/25/21, $62,943.

• A vaccine protest against the city of New York and in support of anti-vaxx pig Kyrie Irving marred Sunday's Brooklyn Nets home opener and put the Barclays Center on brief lockdown.  You want your freedom, Freedom To Infect types?  You're probably going to have to kill us for it!  Go to Hell! 
• Speaking of the downfall of the Chiefs:  More beatings in the backfield for Patrick Mahomes, put into the concussion protocol because of a hit to the head his offensive line could not protect.
• Not only will all athletes at next year's Winter Olympic Games in Beijing be subject to daily COVID testing, but they will be kept in a "closed loop", no contact with the outside, for their duration in the Games.
• And a COVID positive:  Packers defensive coordinator Joe Barry is positive -- will miss Thursday's 7-0 vs. 6-1 showdown with Arizona.
• And now Davante Adams has been placed on the COVID List as well for the Pack.  Positive test, meaning he needs two negatives in a 24-hour period to play Thursday night.  The game opened ARI -3.5 -- went to -4.5, and this move alone has made Arizona a 6-point favorite on Thursday night.  It is also assumed, by Adams' actions, that he is vaccinated as well.
• Another:  New report:  Chicago Bears head coach Pat Nagy announced he tested positive this morning for COVID.  All coach positives in the NFL are breakthrough by rule -- all coaches in the National Football League must be fully vaccinated.    
• Another Peyton and Eli broadcast tonight, we'll see what that does for the ratings later this week...
• Matt Hasselback was put into Seattle's Ring of Honor tonight -- said only for one reason:  Do you still want the ball, because you're gonna score???  (He will NEVER live that down in anyone's book!)   
• Another person who won't live anything down -- Peyton and Eli both got some ribbing in on Marshawn Lynch for the play-call which rigged Super Bowl XLIX for the Tom Bradys.
• Peyton??  Is this a football or a Big Mac?  "Special sauce" to break in the footballs to your liking after the rules were changed so each team could break in their own balls?
• Late word tonight:  NFL replay official Carl Madsen, 24 years as an NFL official, the last 12 of those as a replay official whose last game was Sunday's marquee Kansas City-Tennessee tilt, died on the way home from the game.  He was 71, cause of death not known at this time.

NFL Week 6 Fine Blotter, to try to keep as much of the good stuff as far up front as possible:

• Dallas Cowboys:  CeeDee Lamb waved goodbye to the Patriots after scoring the overtime game-winner against them.  He did, literally -- and got correctly fined $10,300 for taunting.
• Pittsburgh Steelers:  TJ Watt was, in fact, quite fortunate not to be ejected for punching another player in Week 6.  In trying to punch the ball out, he was punching the running back instead -- 15 yard penalty -- and a $10,815 fine for unnecessary roughness.
• Chicago Bears:  Mario Edwards, Jr.:  $9,522 for appearing to taunt Aaron Rodgers while Rodgers was grabbing his facemask.
• Speaking of Rodgers...  NFL, are we missing somebody here?  Or is the newest stockholder of the Chicago Bears immune?  He can afford the 10 grand...  

Day 593 Part One: I don't usually do this, but sometimes I get a gem which requires my full and complete attention...

I'm going to put my post about the Dodgers here.  If you have not read this yet, please do so so you have the context for what I'm going to post about here a second.  Unfortunately, not only my daily posts, but at least, as of this one, about three good candidates for Featured Post (of which only one can at a time) have come up in 36 hours are going to roll this from the front page.

I don't normally do this.  He'll probably think I'm giving him attention.  But I THINK I got one of the Golden Road (The Price is Right fans) or Botball guys over here -- he doesn't have the guts to give his even screen-name, because he would expose himself as an idiot.  (And not in the way you may believe I am saying.)

I've got two Golden Road candidates:  I got muted for a week from their Discord (I've been banned from their forums for the better part of Drew Carey's reign on the show after the "Perfect Bid" fiasco!!!) for "inconsequential rants such as sports", according to the person who did it.  It's either the admin (I doubt it.  He at least appears cogent.)  or the guy I responded to who seems to defend Houston's cheating, or at least makes assertion it is now impossible to even participate in a professional sport without cheating at it.

 

It's either that or it's Botball.  Hell, it could be a guy who actually is in both.  He makes references to both.  I'm vascillating as to which this could be.

And I'm not going to even say that in a manner of his message.   Check out the unedited (I swear to you -- I took one look at this and approved the comment as a function of how much of an idiot this guy is.  This is simply a cut and paste!) comment I got from "Unknown" -- I produce this as another example that Drew Carey was right on one thing...  Some online fans (whether of The Price is Right or, if it's Botball, then apply it to more general sports fans) are nothing short of NAKED TELEPHONE POLE SCREAMERS:

"you know, i've spent time every so often checking over here since you got banned for being an absolute asshole just to see if, now free of the shackles of being allowed within the realms of other people, you would tone up the tinfoil to Q levels of delusion. Seeing the complete meltdown I knew was coming the moment the Dodgers lost, I'm not disappointed. The Dodgers lost, fair and square. A combination or injuries, momentum, and sometimes human error in the realm of umpiring is what caused it. Not a royal screwjob the likes of which we haven't seen in sport virtually ever. You realize a collusion of this magnitude you claim to be occurring in front of our very eyes would've been found out almost instantly? The amount of people needed to make all your claims real is too much to be logically hidden. You say "Life isn't fair," yet completely refuse to acknowledge that sometimes shit happens. The Braves played out of their minds when it mattered, the Astros got momentum back in time. Bad umpiring calls in Game 5 aside the Red Sox weren't winning. Simple. Dodgers and Braves could've gone either way. That's the magic of baseball is we don't know what happens next. But here you are, saying the same thing over and over about how "Manfred hates liberals, Manfred hates LA, etc." Manfred sure has his faults don't get me wrong, but to suggest he despises one of the main teams behind the ratings this postseason which have raised many hopes throughout of a resurgence of baseball is absolute shit. If he WAS rigging every game because whatever actual logical reason you still have yet to give, why wouldn't it have been a rematch between either LA and Houston or LA and Boston, both of which are major markets with highly popular players throughout. Even then Atlanta has one of the hottest stars who albeit hurt, is still a future MVP. I feel more and more you don't actually care about the sports themselves, that you're stuck in this idea everything's a fantasy and that nothing is truly what we see with our eyes because of the hands behind the scenes. We're not in the Matrix, we're not being deceived, you just hold the belief we are. You say all these words yet say so little. Your message seemingly after every blog post is "Everything is rigged, fuck you if you don't believe me," tossed with a few croutons and some chopped bacon to make a nice Chickenshit Salad. Just stop. You're 52, just go take your mind off sports and go take a vacation. I hear Dear Evan Hansen is still going on at Broadway in NYC. You act all innocent about victim blaming Andy Reid for his son's overdose and how the NFL is getting revenge on him because he's such a shitty person, but we're too busy slobbering on him to care, yet fail to realize why we kicked you. Fuck you. Actually fuck you. You think the death of his son doesn't eat at him every single day? He doesn't wish he could go back and try to save him? I wish you would say that to his face. I would relish in reading the headline about you getting your ass beat. You're actually pathetic, and to say it's his fault for his son's problems and how he doesn't hold anyone accountable and how Kansas City is being screwed over because of it is actually one of the most despicable things I've ever heard. Yes Britt fucked up, but he owned up to it and apologized. What he did was truly terrible but at least he is doing his best at making amends. There's a reason we renamed your favorite emote to "asshole" and it's because you are one. You complain about getting banned from some game show website, Botball, all these places, because you're "being silenced" or your truths aren't willing to be heard. Here's a truth: look in the mirror and you'll see the real reason. Go watch your damn Broadway play and get arrested again. I'm sick of you and your shit."

Let me throw things out of order so I can address them effectively:

That I state I'm being banned is simply a statement of fact.  It's as true as the sun rising in the East and water being wet.  I'm not being silenced -- you just don't wanna hear my shit.

(And why I'm not sure if it's Botball or Golden Road:  He makes reference of me being banned from a game-show forum.  I'm not sure I ever mentioned that here or on Botball...  Not really shook up about it, it just makes me curious.  And, as far as "tinfoil" becoming "asshole" -- you haven't started to get close on that regard, boy.  "Asshole" wouldn't cover it, and definitely not in your mind!)

Since you make reference to it, let me be very clear:  It took a full-scale NYPD All Points Bulletin to get me "shut up" for about a year, between the jail time itself and a few weeks/months afterward.  If I need to be "shut up" as badly as you think I do, it's going to take one thing and one alone:  A bullet to my skull.  And they should've done it that night too, under the assumptive hypothesis of what I was about to do.

I will fully cop to that "my truths are not willing to be heard" because (and I think this also answers your "if a conspiracy like this were that grandiose, everyone would see it" falsehood!) I think most sports fans are RANK IDIOTS, and you HAVE TO BE to continue to be so (or, on an increasing nature, fans of ANYTHING) these days.  I think the thing which disgusts me about the right-wing anti-"Woke" movement is, more, what we are supposed to not wake up and realize, on well too many fronts (rape and sexual assault as relevance-currencies, TERFs like that asshole Chappelle, etc. etc. etc.) to address here.  But, since you've dabbled in this blog, you've probably seen numerous entries on various manifestations of this.

That said, as long as I still breathe, I can still speak.  You may wish to see both rectified in the near future if you are that sick of my shit.

OK:  Now back to the Dodger comments before I get to the main event:

The main reason I made such a point to make what I termed to several readers of the blog as a "Thermonuke Post" about this subject was that this was a far more sophisticated construction than simply manipulating the umpiring.  If there is one thing which the COVID-laced (and MLB and the like will try to put the asterisk on it, you watch!) 2020 World Championship showed, it was that "Oh shit!" look Manfred had -- and it appears another manifestation of that "Oh shit!" was that he realized that, unlike a good four or so Dodger playoff runs, he was no longer simply going to be able to eliminate the Dodgers with the simple umpiring.

He was going to have to do it in a much more comprehensive manner (including teams taking deliberate dives throughout the season, teams actually dropping the facade of competition and openly cheering on opponents of the Dodgers, and even a deliberate take-out of a major offensive cog on the team in Game 162 -- I produced the video, so you can try to tell me Jace Peterson didn't Intent To Injure Max Muncy!) this year and he finally got it.

And I'm no longer sure (I started thinking of this during when I wrote that post) if the worst part of this isn't the fact that pushing matters to the extent they have has not resulted in a Hall of Famer sustaining a career-ending injury, as well as possible career-shortening injuries to several other players on the team!

And don't get me wrong!  Under most circumstances, there'd already be cause to do a more normal screwjob -- you address something like that later, and, oh boy, am I going to have something to say about that when I get to that!!!  The Trevor Bauer situation (which fucked the pitching good and proper, even with the Scherzer acquisition) would've been enough!

But there's another dimension to that which you miss:  It's not just that they don't want "superteams" west of about Houston or St. Louis - and that I think Rob Manfred would openly gladly take Baseball back to the regional and White sport it was before the Second World War.  

If you haven't cared to notice, the owners are in illegal collusion to dump and hold down player salaries.  When a team like the Dodgers is more than willing to spend and pay the luxury tax to put a championship team on the field, that's offensive to the likes of FUCK ROB MANFRED.  

Doubly so when he's clearly going to orchestrate a LONG work stoppage to try to tip the scales further in favor of the owners.  He HATES Baseball.  He hates it's traditions (at least WWII and afterward), and probably would be a Commissioner more of the nature of Kennesaw Mountin Landis if he could get away with it.

This wasn't a simple act on the field -- this was a very organized and sophisticated plan.  And the necessity for that (in the eyes of FUCK ROB MANFRED) was demonstrated in how much it took for that plan to succeed.

So let me see if there's any other of the verbal flatulence of his post before I get to the main event...

As far as the "bad umpiring calls doing nothing", you probably also believed the Kings had a chance in Game 7 of the 2002 Western Conference Finals.  Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha....

You would be right about the ratings (and, yes, the Dodgers have been one of the main ratings draws in both levels of series in these playoffs, and I would not be surprised at all if the nation largely tunes out of the World Series!) if you didn't understand what I said above:  

Rob.  Manfred.  HATES.  Baseball.

He does not care of the growth of the game.  He cares nothing more than the lining of the pockets of him and his, and the TV deals for the 30 franchises will do that more than nicely!  And one of the OTHER reasons he's going to scream for a hard cap again is that player-salary money is probably coming from those TV deals!

You would probably be right about LA winning the NLCS if he gave a damn about the ratings or felt he could adequately control the World Series to "redeem" the cheating fucks.  He doesn't, and he didn't believe he could control it either.

So how many leggy babes does "Dear Evan Hansen" have in their show?  (to tie two side comments together...)

OK, main event time.  Andy and Britt Reid:

Andy Reid is a fucking monster.  He is soulless and he has sold his entire being to the NFL and the American Religion of Football.

To answer your question:  No.  I do not believe for ONE ABJECT SECOND that Andy Reid gives one tinker's damn about the suicide of his first son.  In fact, I would find it more likely that he saw said son as weak and unfit and basically "put him on waivers", to coin from a sports term.

This son of a bitch is unfit to be a leader of men, in any real capacity.  There have, several times, been the inklings of something very special in Kansas City.

Then Tyreek Hill happened -- that cost one run.

And then Britt Reid happened -- attempted DUI vehicular murder on the week of the Super Bowl.  That might've cost the rest, even when the NFL was literally going to make his team The Team and his quarterback The Next Man in this league!

If Britt's father Andy were any degree of a real FATHER, much less a real leader of ANYTHING, he wouldn't have stood for any of this -- even within the context of football!

No, I don't think he sweats the death of his first son at all!  I don't think he'd try to save him at all!!!  There is no room for that level of "weakness" in his world of the NFL!  If there were, THAT SON MIGHT STILL BE ALIVE!

And that four-year old girl Britt almost killed (now five?) might be fully capable and probably not having to struggle for her life for the rest of her days because some jackass decided to drive drunk!

Give me the offer to say it to his face. One of us does not survive it, because I'd like a few swings at that fucker myself!  I'd kill the son of a bitch (and, for reference, I never said that about Ms. Gibson) if I were to get my hands around his neck.  Who he is and what he represents is so evil and has done so much damage in this "Sports Over Everything" culture, I don't think you realize what he's done to people around me.

So, if you can process full sentences and actual English, son, read that and respond to that, if you have the balls to do so.

Because as bad and as mentally-deficient as you believe I might be, boy...  In your frame of reference, I'm miles worse.

Day 592, Part Two: NFL, we need to have a serious talk...

That may have been the least competitive day in NFL history.

In fact, I'm almost certain it was.

The NFL was wasting little time, at the start of the day, touting the 23 games through 6 weeks decided in the last minute of regulation and overtime.

They got one today, a field goal at the gun for Atlanta to best Miami.

Then the carnage started:

• Kansas City, Carolina, and Baltimore were all favored in their games, and at least Baltimore and Kansas City are (or were at one time) major players in the playoff discussion.  All lost by at least three touchdowns.
• The Jets, seriously, quit against the Patriots, getting 54 points dropped on them for the highest total against this season.
• Four teams couldn't even manage six points this week, and a fifth only could come up with 10.
• Only ONE GAME today (and the Thursday nighter) finished within eight points, the aforementioned Cliffhanger.
• Arizona was a 20-point favorite in beating Houston today.  By beating them 31-5, they became only the fourth team in history to cover a 20-point spread.  The NFL record was Pittsburgh over the expansion Buccaneers, favored by 27 and winning 41-10 in December, 1976.  Second was Week 3 2019, Dallas -22.5 over Miami 31-6.  Tied for third with today's was Week 3 2013 Seattle -20 over Jacksonville (41-17).

This had to be one of the worst schedules in NFL history:

• Of the eleven games today, precisely ONE featured two teams over .500 -- and Tennessee ran all over Baltimore today.
• Three of the late-afternoon games were double-digit spreads (two covered).  The early slate of games Week 17 last year had the same.
• By the end of the debacle, an Indianapolis win in the bomb cyclone hitting California -- PLEASE FLOOD THE INSANITY OUT OF THIS STATE... -- the scoring average for the week stands at only about 44 1/2 points a game.  You'd have to go back to Week 12 of 2019 to get a lower one.
• Average margin of victory today?  17.18 points.
• I'm going to need to look into some research.  Week 7 of 2019 had only three games be within one score.  Four happens on an intermittent basis.  But I have research charts going back to 2014 -- never has the NFL, at least since then, and I'd wager far further than this, had only two games end within one score within a week.

Why?  I can think of two reasons:

• The NFL has been SERIOUSLY greasing the skids for "fantastic finishes" this year.  
• The other reason?

Many of the teams, and some of the franchises, are utter fucking GARBAGE.

Let me lay out some general evidence, and then the "serious talk" about some of these can begin:

• As of the end of the game tonight, there have now been 106 NFL games this year.  Of those 106, only 47 have now finished within one score.  When I started charting this, it was on a statistic Brian Tuohy found that about 48% of all games ended within one score.  Several years, it's gone well over 50%.  We are now down, as of tonight, to just 44.34% of all games, and those are the games which finish within eight points.
• Of that number, OVER HALF, 24, have finished with the winning score within one minute of regulation or some point of overtime.
• Of that 47, only eleven have finished without either a lead-changing score in the last two minutes or overtime (26) or an opportunity to tie/win the game which fails (10), or both (11)!
• 26 games have been played in the last two weeks.  15 have never gotten within a score in the 4th quarter.  Only 8 have finished within one score.

Now, NFL, we need to have a talk about some teams:

• They didn't play this week (on their bye), but no list of teams in this regard can be complete without the debacle which is the Jacksonville Jaguars.  The team has won two games of their last 22, hasn't had a winning season since 2017 (the only time the Shad Khan ownership has had a winning season -- their last before was in 2007)...
• Of course, you could be the Jets at this point!  No winning seasons since 2015.  They've won three of their last 22 (and the only reason they went 7-9 two years ago was finishing the year on a 6-1 tear -- otherwise they haven't even won more than FIVE games in a season since 2015!)  Last playoff appearance?  2010.
• How bout dem Giants?  Yeah, they won today.  They still suck rocks.  Last winning season was in 2016 (haven't won more than six games a season since), last playoff appearance before that was in 2011.
• Detroit...  Last winless team in the league at 0-7.  Last winning season was in 2017.  Last playoff appearance was in 2016.  Last playoff win?  NINETEEN NINETY ONE!  It has been THIRTY YEARS since the Detroit Lions have won a playoff game!
• And, more specifically to this year, the Houston Texans.  So why was the league so fast to put Adrian Peterson and Ray Rice on the Commissioner's List or whatever it was (I could find the right name if I had the want to look right now), and yet the Texans have been left to twist on the DeShaun Watson thing, and have, as predicted, become one of the worst teams in a BAD NFL?  (I think there's a very prescient reason -- Texas is COWBOY COUNTRY!!  Rargh!!)  (More like Moooooooooooooooo...)  

I'm not going to include Houston in this list, but DEAR FOR THE LOVE OF GOD -- do we have a standard of what constitutes a "professional" franchise at this point in the United States?  I mean, I know the league likes to rig shit, but you can't tell me something is badly wrong when, even in a rigged NFL, there hasn't been a winning season in the city of New York since 2016, and no hope of getting one this year?

And the entirety of Florida football in the pro ranks is such a complete and abject joke that I have to think the Jacksonville TV stations are back to apologizing they even have to carry a shit team that the roster of the Khans' other American project could probably defeat in American football!!!

I really get the sense, looking at this week's schedule, that you finally showed what would happen if the games weren't as manipulated as you want them to be.  You've got some shit football out there -- not only unentertaining because the zebras help the league determine the outcome, but you've got a lot of players and more than a few franchises robbing money from this economy on a blind basis.

• The Holy Hell with the entire NFC East (this year, outside of Dallas).  Dallas had their bye this week at 5-1 -- the rest of the division has six wins between them.  The last time more than two teams won 8 games in that division was 2017.

Day 592

• NFL wasting NO TIME today on the close game/overtime propaganda.  Count is 23 games with the winning score in the last minute or overtime.  (And, with my count of Cliffhangers, two more within the second-to-last minute of the game.)
• Sportsbooks are making the Assholes the favorites over the Barfs.  To no one's surprise who's paying attention.   
• Six early games entering the "Witching Hour", only one within one score.

Bizarre six-game early set:

• One competitive game, the 24th to have the winning score within a minute of regulation or OT -- ATL Cliffhangered MIA with a field goal at the gun.
• Average margin of victory:  THREE TOUCHDOWNS.
• The Chiefs, Panthers and Ravens were all favored today.  All lost by a margin more than three touchdowns.

Other stuff:

• Cincinnati CFP Screwjob Report:  Alabama now #3 in the nation, even with the loss.  Almost certain to eventually get to #2 before the Atlanta game with Georgia in December.

I Never Played The Game Either...

... but, like Howard Cosell, I do not believe I am a stupid man.

(And, also like Howard Cosell, many people believe I am!!!)

But, after doing a Wall of Text post regarding the 2021 Dodgers being bludgeoned into submission by The Powers That Be and quite a number of teams in Major League Baseball, the thought occurred to me to revisit Howard Cosell's wisdom (as Brian Tuohy put it, and I'm getting the quote from his page on the subject) of six major sports postulates Cosell put into his book I Never Played The Game in 1985 as postulates of what Cosell referred to as "Sports Syndrome".

1)  "The game is sacrosanct -- a physical and almost religious ritual of beauty and art."

I will have no dispute of the possibility of this being true in 1985.  As Cosell later points out, it is the growing tentacles of influence of places like the major networks and media partners driving him and his words of wisdom from the sport (and eventually from sports entirely!).

In 2021, especially post-9/11, this has completely changed.

My First Axiom of Sports Syndrome:

1) In sports, the construct is sacrosanct -- sports are a pseudo-religious ritual of hype, dedication, and fan devotion.  However, fans have no right that any physical effort made on the field is legitimate or honored.

From the Steroid Era of Major League Baseball to Mayer and beyond, sports have become a situation in which The Powers That Be, on the field (officials) and off the field (not only commissioners, but political, economic and social realities and biases, etc.), determine who wins and loses.

And when you start having constructs like the NFL actually PLAY INTO this garbage, it becomes clear the game is not even relevant anymore, except as a means to an end, rather than an end.

And what is it supposed to do?  Especially in the age of the 24-hour sports network, you are supposed to live and die with your team (or, at the very least, the one TPTB in the league or media WANTS YOU to live and die with, at the very least) -- which see the 12th Man-motivated Seattle near-dynasty a number of years back in the NFL 

And then there's the level of cheating in a number of sports (including, now, two championship-altering deliberate injuries in the four major sports) getting so high that nothing in sports can be taken at face value anymore.  This is one of the reasons, for example, one cannot just "Shut up and Enjoy the Show."

An American sporting event is no different, on a legal or fundamental level, than Debbie Gibson's national "Funny Girl" tour in 1996 -- you have no right to anything but a seat and to see what transpires.  The two constructs, especially with the rigging of sports, are completely equivalent.

So the game no longer matters -- it's the construct behind it which now stands sacrosanct.

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

2) "Only those who have played the game can understand and communicate it's beauty."

I get exactly where Cosell is going in this regard (Hell, he had Frank Gifford and Don Meredith in that dysfunctional booth!), and, to a greater extent, it is not untrue today.

The problem comes down to when you start seeing Rules Experts and Overseeing League Entities in the booth or in the studio to complement these people, leading to my Second Postulate of Sports Syndrome:

2) Only those who have the power the League gives them can understand the League and communicate it's actions, both on and off the field.

NFL's interference with their media partners knows few bounds.  But that's just one example of this.

Every once in a while, you will see a metaphorical "tap on the shoulder" that someone affiliated with the NFL gives to an announcer to make a point the league needs made.

It is no secret that it used to be common practice for a disclaimer to be put up that the announcers have the pre-approval of the League to broadcast the competition.

There's a reason for that -- see my First Postulate.

It doesn't matter if it's Troy Aikman, Joe Buck, or whoever.  It no longer is necessary to play to know -- but you have to have The Official Blessing to give the pictures and accounts.

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

3) "All athletes are heroes, to the point some are cast as surrogate parents in the American home."

I'm verklempt about this.  I've made no public secret that Ms. Gibson and her message were the only reasons I didn't turn into the monster many felt I was going to be in my teens and twenties.  So I get why Cosell would want to condemn me, on at least that front.

The problem is, what we have done today, is worse...

3) Athletes are now constructs of the social and political environments around them -- to be vilified or honored, given one's political, economic, or spiritual beliefs.

You may need go no further than the whole Colin Kaepernick/#NFLBoycott fiasco of about the last five years.

This can extend to the retching toward Simone Biles at the last Olympics and the like.  Athletes are no longer heroes, except to those for whom their conduct or belief systems mesh.

If that is not the case, you get the exact opposite effect.  Again, Cosell is not wrong in what he said, nor in the concept he is attempting to communicate.

But, make no secret:  A growing number of people would like to be rid of "certain athletes" -- more, certain races or genders or other type demographics of athletes...  To these, those athletes are, by no measure, heroes.

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

4) "Winning isn't everything...  it's the only thing!"

(which Cosell notes correctly Lombardi never said)

It is a very nice thought that athletes can and should give their best effort to winning every competition they play in.

However, anyone who believes every athlete does so anymore is rank fooling themselves.  In fact, for one reason or another (some variety in the number and identity of relevant teams, outright match-fixing or point-shaving, a league narrative to ensure a result, etc. and so forth), this is no longer the case...

4) Since an athlete in a league sport is an employee of the league first and the team second, and since it is legal for a sports league to rig it's own events (Mayer), "the only thing" is the construct the league is wishing to create, to which even the athletes and coaches must bend.

If this were not the case, and winning would be the only thing, we'd probably have at least a half-dozen high-profile cases a year in even American sports (not even taking into account the rampant match-fixing, etc. in international soccer!) where an involved player should be ordered, under the accusation of the crime of Sports Bribery, to answer for whatever "clueless act" he committed.

One of the dirtiest little secrets very few people will tell you is that the leagues are a cooperative of all of the franchises -- they all are, in theory, supposed to work TOGETHER while maintaining the fantasy they sell (as then MLB COO Robert Dupuy told a conference in 2012) that they compete.

This, often, does extend to the product on the field -- and, can even, in flagrant cases, lead to manipulations on a grand scale like the one you saw completed on Saturday night in Cobb County.

An athlete's first duty is to his league, not to his team.  The collusion in Major League Baseball and the blackballing in the National Football League (not just Kaepernick...  For better or worse, where is Vontaze Burfict?) should give evidence well to that fact.

I'll even add a postulate to that, with respect to winning and the old canard of "May the best team win..." -- just going to port this over from the other post:

4A)  You do not win championships on the field.  You win them off the field -- and not by instruments endemic to the sport or sport in general.  Except in rarest of cases, large-scale victory is determined, and often pre-determined well in advance, by those in power in sports.  (Be they the league itself, it's media partners, it's sponsors, political/propaganda realities, etc.)

The best team never wins -- except or one or more of the following conditions:

• The best team is, in fact, politically connected to be rigged the champions (which see at least a couple of the Tom Brady years)...
• The gap between the best team and everyone else is so large, very little can be done to stop it (see college football, many recent years, though not all -- the rigging is often, there, more a function of keeping teams out than putting teams in)...
• One or more outside forces exist to render the season "irrelevant" or put an "asterisk" next to it for no fault of the team involved (which see 2020 MLB)...

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

5)  "Sport is Camelot.  It is not a place for truth -- only for escape, for refuge from life."

Another one Cosell is absolutely right in his own context about.

The sad thing is, though, it has been molded into something far worse:

5) Sport is a dark version of Camelot.  Not only is it not a place for truth (where what you see on the field may have it's reality denied by the "King"), but the "King" can use real life ramifications to puncture that escape and refuge, by whatever means and for whatever ends He so desires.

Be they propaganda (one example, Tom Brady), entities which make the sport "uncomfortable" (Andy and Britt Reid), or other real life considerations (BLM), those in power in sports can remove that escape and refuge at any time it seems fit.

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

6) "The fan is sacred, even as sports are.  He pays the freight, so he is an entitled being.  The media people tell him this every day.  Therefore, once within the arena, his emotions whetted by the Sports Syndrome, the fan adopts what John Stewart Mill found to be the classic confusion in the American thought process, the confusion between Liberty and License -- a natural and probable consequence of this is fan violence."

This one has definitely changed.  The only part of this which has any validity left is the Liberty/License confusion.

6) The Sports Fan is nothing but a wallet with feet.  As such. the fan is entitled to nothing.  He or she is not entitled to a legal, lawful, nor fair contest -- or really much of anything else.  To be a fan, you must delude yourself into believing the games are legitimate and that your team has a material chance -- and, without positive reinforcement from Sports, you are to discard that distinction between Liberty and License, for which two natural consequences arise:  Both fan violence and fan interference!

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

I will never write a book on all this.  I'm not as skilled as Brian Tuohy, much less Cosell!

I do know this.  The very correct fears Cosell has had about sports in 1985 have been made far worse in the 35 years since!

Ladies and gentlemen, your World Series Champion, Rob Manfred!

FUCK ROB MANFRED

The Barfs and the Assholes.

If there is a World Series out there designed to turn off and anger more people than that, I'm open to suggestions as to what it is.

Tonight, the Los Angeles Dodgers were fucked in the ass without lube again, as the Barfs of Cobb County advance to face the Assholes of Houston, bringing to success probably THE most orchestrated season destruction in the history of American professional sports.

Because, let's make no secret about this off the rip:  Everyone knew the Dodgers were the best team, not just on paper, but on the field as well.

So, when San Diego completely fizzles out, what happens?

Under normal circumstances, I would probably state that the Trevor Bauer situation would be sufficient -- except for one thing.

Last year taught Major League Baseball one very important thing:  You leave these Dodgers to their own devices, and they will turn this league and it's World Series into their own personal playground.

Want proof?  Even as the M*A*S*H Unit they turned out to be, the team won 106 regular-season games this year.  They easily could've won north of 110, perhaps even 120, with even a normal spate of injuries.

But injuries happen...  Anyone who watches sports gets that.

What usually does NOT happen, though, is an incident like this.

Game 162, Milwaukee Brewers.  If the Giants lose and Dodgers win, it's a one-game playoff.  And the Brewers are the #3 seed in the National League.

So if the Brewers somehow were scared of the LA Dodgers, why not get Jace Peterson to do THIS:

Max Muncy leaves game with an apparent arm injury.

Positive vibes only for Max. #Dodgers

pic.twitter.com/vwL2o7Dc4c

— Dodgers Nation (@DodgersNation) October 3, 2021

Yeah, I'll say it.  Welcome to Kelly Olynyk, and you might as well be given a World Series share and ring, regardless of who wins.  That was an intent to injure situation on his part, as he alters his arm to make contact and injure Muncy.

Why?  Take a look at these playoffs for a team which, even with all their injures, averaged 5.2 runs a game:

• Wild Card Game:  Three runs.  (The third being the walkoff in the ninth to win it.)
• Their two losses in the DS to the Giants:  Both shutouts.
• They did score 9 and 7 runs in two of their wins, but the clinching win:  Just two.
• Six and 11 runs in the two wins over the Barfs.  The four losses?  2, 4, 2 and 2.

48 runs in 12 games.  And 33 of them in four of their six wins.  Meaning that, in 8 playoff games, they scored only 15 runs.  In five of their six losses and in two of their six wins, three runs or less each.

And, as was evidenced all season, injuries took their toll.

But that wasn't enough.  You had the rest of the National League West openly cheering on, supporting, and probably taking a dive for the San Francisco Giants.

Between the injuries, the Trevor Bauer situation, and a push unprecedented in baseball history (at least going back to the Mazin' Mets) of a team believed to do NOTHING in the season beforehand, the pitching staff finally broke late season -- losing Kershaw before the playoffs started, losing Scherzer to a tired arm, and losing Joe Kelly during the playoffs as well.

That's another two things people have to start asking about this manifestation of the fix:  How many careers have been shortened or ended by this manipulation of the 2021 MLB season?  That, in the name of "FUCK THE DODGERS!" and, knowing that the Dodgers were, on paper (and being proven on the field), the best team in baseball and by quite a difference, you decided, as a league, to push things so hard that there is real word that Kershaw will never make it back this time -- and who knows about many of the others?  (Justin Turner?  Bellinger??  Muncy????)

And that's just one dimension of it.

The second is the abject hatred of Major League Baseball for the liberal West Coast.  MLB has made no secret (on and off the field) that, if it's not the most right-wing sports league in the land, it's second to NECKCAR in that regard.  So not only do you basically beat the Dodgers into utter submission, you now have a Southern-fried World Series of the cheatingest franchise in Major League Baseball (someone needs to keep reminding people that there have now been allegations of cheating in BOTH SERIES of the Assholes) vs. the most racist franchise in Major League Baseball (who someone needs to keep reminding people moved their stadium because their audience was too Black!!!).

And, keep in mind, since the sign stealing started with these fuckers in Houston:  That's five American Championship Series and three American League titles for the Assholes.

Rob Manfred has made his contempt for the West Coast and California baseball obvious.  Not only in "FUCK THE DODGERS!", but in a blatant PR move to try to get Indisputable Best Player in the Game Mike Trout to one of his Super Six (the only six franchises who matter to him:  The Barfs, Assholes, Scrubs, KKKardinals, Yanks, and Red Sawx) -- probably with New and Upcoming Best Player in the Game Shohei Ohtani right behind him!

His contempt knows few bounds.  Hell, many of us remember the night that the Dodgers won the title last year, and the interview FOX conducted with Manfred, and you could see it on his face:  That "OH SHIT!" moment where he openly realized just how good this team is -- and they kept adding over the course of the next season.

So you couldn't do this one with simply the umpires (though, in a more league-general sense, it's clear the umpires are, even more flagrantly than usual, fucking the strike zone bad).  It had to be a far deeper and far more comprehensive argument.

Which leads into the third dimension of this fuckery this season:  The end of the current Collective Bargaining Agreement and an all-but-certain walkout or strike.

The owners have been in legal violation of this CBA the better part of a decade by colluding to keep salaries down.

No one, especially not media partners like ESPN and their almost-weekly Sunday Night Game of the Week, Yankees-Red Sox, seems to have a problem with the Yanks and Red Sox spending -- though the Red Sox went cheap after winning their rigged and corrupt 2018 title...

And, as people who've talked to me about this point out, every time there's been one of these, there's been calls for a salary cap.  (And usually without a salary floor, which is why the players have never agreed to one.)

You can bet that about three-quarters of the owners are going to be solidly behind Manfred that, to Save Baseball (/s), there will be no agreement this time without a hard salary cap.

Why?  We Must Break Up The Dodgers In The Name of "Competitive Balance".  The LA owners will pay the good players handsomely to come in, and, if Mookie Betts (and I'm almost sure of others, but he's the most definitive case I can find of the current Dodgers) is any indication, people want to come, play for, and win with this team.

And that does not sit well it Der Kommissar Manfred (thank you to my anonymous baseball-historian friend for the 80's music reference, and a lot of backing material), nor the owners who have gutted several recent free-agent classes to set up this work stoppage.

(Never mind that this will almost all-but-certainly rack up players on the Super Six who will be given sweetheart "side deals" for promotion and endorsement of sponsors in the given cities...)

And then there's a fourth dimension to all this.

It's a changing of American ethos.  Whereas a lot of people, back in the day, would use graduation speeches and other motivational tools to (falsely, we would find out) equate hard work and success, you are actually now, in the last several years, seeing speakers come out and publicly tell people:

"Life is not fair."

I could probably do a litany on the ramifications of that in a far more general sense, but I will keep this to sports.

Moreover, I am actually almost-certainly (and maybe tonight, if my fatigue does not do me in after this wall of text) going to do a new set of sports axioms, in the vein of Howard Cosell's axioms about sports in I Never Played The Game.

But this is probably going to be one of them:

The best team never wins -- except or one or more of the following conditions:

• The best team is, in fact, politically connected to be rigged the champions (which see at least a couple of the Tom Brady years)...
• The gap between the best team and everyone else is so large, very little can be done to stop it (see college football, many recent years, though not all -- the rigging is often, there, more a function of keeping teams out than putting teams in)...
• One or more outside forces exist to render the season "irrelevant" or put an "asterisk" next to it for no fault of the team involved (which see 2020 MLB)...

That's it.  You don't win championships on the field.  You win them off the field, and I'm not talking about team personnel, players, gameplans, or any of that sort of archaic dis-reality.

What you saw over the last six months was one of the most organized and comprehensive fuck-jobs in the history of American sports.  Knowing that MLB has fucked the Dodgers a decade running now, and seeing the superteam the owners have built over there, Rob Manfred basically played the BIOB Card on them -- that, in the "Best Interests of Baseball", we can't let that happen -- and Manfred invoked the Kazuto Okayasu Defense:

"Stop him at all cost."

Now comes the Southern-Fried MAGA World Series.  (Over-under on the first "Fuck Joe Biden" chant, probably about 2nd inning Game 1.)  The Cheating Assholes vs. The Chopping Barfs and their Lights-Out Chop (which was evidenced at least twice tonight, and should be made illegal for multiple reasons -- not just the racism, but disruption to the pitching change and consultation, especially in the era of the clock on a "mound visit" these days!).

Enjoy it, you racist cuck Manfred.  It'll be the last MLB games you have as Commissioner.

Day 591

• According to DraftKings Sportsbook, the current Super Bowl betting favorite is...  The Buffalo Bills.  Insert your rimshots right about......  here.   
• Jim Ross has confirmed a long-standing medical condition in his leg is, in fact, skin cancer.  He will explore which course of treatment is best.  It is his third round against skin cancer.
• CFP Screwjob Report:  Cincinnati survives an early bid.  Oklahoma survives a much more serious bid.  Michigan is good today.
• Always good to see Pedo State EAT SHIT.  10-10 tie with 1-5 Illinois at home.  The two natural possessions from the 25 yield pairs of field goals for 16-16.
• The new rule is, 3rd and onward, it's 2 point conversion shootouts -- of which the first five failed and the sixth, both succeeded.  Illinois finally breaks the tie by converting on the 7th round of the shootout after stopping Pedo State -- Illinois wins 20-18.
• I can feel "Team 409's" tears from here.  Yum.   
• Floyd Mayweather's daughter Yaya faces 20 years in prison for a stabbing.  Why would NONE OF THAT surprise me?   

Couple of catch-up points: NFL Week 4-5 Fine Blotter Part Two and NFL Week 6 Ratings

Spotrac does not have a technical Week 5 fine list.  Perhaps a number of these new fines on the list are Week 5, not sure, but Spotrac has these:

• New York Giants:  KaDarius Toney, $12,875 and
• Dallas Cowboys:  Damontae Kazee, $6,264 for their fight.
• Chicago Bears:  Mario Edwards, $9,522, unnecessary roughness
• Indianapolis Colts:  Jack Doyle, $10,815 for unsportsmanlike conduct, shoving a Baltimore player's head into the ground.

And the weekly taunting fines:

• LA Chargers:  Jaylen Guyton and
• Cleveland Browns:  Greedy Williams, both $9,508
• Kansas City Chiefs:  Rashad Fenton:  $4,934

And, from Sports Media Watch, the Week 6 ratings:

• CBS National:  (Cowboys-Patriots in 80% of the markets)  You wanna see why the games get so blatantly rigged??  12.1 rating, 23.2 million viewers, the most watched October NFL game in six years.
• 4:30-4:45 Pacific, which was right around when the rig-job was consummating into overtime and the Prescott TD pass, the game was being watched by nearly thirty million people.
• It's only +2% ratings, +4% viewers, however -- since Rodgers vs. Brady I was the full national game in this spot last year.
• CBS London:  4 rating, 7 million viewers.  Best-watched and rated London game in five years.  First London game on network TV in three years, and it was +11% ratings, +21% viewers over that number.
• CBS Regional:  Basically a national split between KC-Washington and Baltimore-Chargers, 6.9 rating, 12.4 million viewers -- rises over last year similar to the National.
• SMW believes that the fact that Packers-Bears led the FOX Single lineup was a large part of why those two matchups (which had over 90% of the country between them) did not do better.  
• However, due to a supposed processing error, they still don't have the numbers posted as of 6:30 AM PDT Friday.
• SNF:  Up about 30% in both measures over last year, but the lowest SNF numbers of the season for Captain Fatfuck vs. the Wilson-less Seahawks.  (9.0 rating, 16 1/4 million viewers)
• MNF:  12.53 million (+11%) for Bills-Titans.

Day 590

• Ruh-roh...  Congress wants in on the Washington Football Team investigation.  This usually is about the point where we find out just HOW BAD a sports league has fucked up...   
• At least one US Representative says exactly what a lot of us are probably thinking:  The Jon Gruden e-mails are the tip of the iceberg.  The NFL Good Ol' Boys Club is going to need a Congressional intervention, and probably some form of termination.   
• It appears as if Buffalo is going to force Jack Eichel to either have a disk fusion surgery or retire from the NHL.  The CBA allows the team to force how an injury gets treated.  Eichel wants a disk replacement -- either way, he probably does not play this season nor in Beijing, and that probably means a grievance.
• There's one middle finger from Manfred -- the Houston Astros are American League champions for the third time in five years, with cheating accusations from the opposition (in some form) in both playoff series.  If, and we do believe once, the Barfs join them this weekend, I'm going off.   
• And the other is probably incoming:  The Dodgers are coming apart at the injury seams at this point.  They may now be down to two material starting pitchers -- Scherzer's arm may be gone as far as energy goes.

Very interesting news from Jeopardy!:

• For what has to be the first time in the history of the program (and archivist Andy Saunders confirms it!), we have back-to-back Ultrachampions!
• And this one is probably the most unlikely in history, given statistical metrics.
• Jonathan Fisher from Coral Gables, FL, who defeated third-highest winner Matt Amodio two weeks ago, has run 10 wins together himself to become only the 11th player in history to do so in the now 19th season in which it was possible.
• However, he is only averaging $23,010 for the 10 wins.  Only three of the previous ten Ultrachampions averaged less money.
• He has only about 1.5 Daily Doubles a match, is 6-4 in Final Jeopardy, and just doesn't seem to have numbers indicating any real thought he would get to 10 wins.

Day 589

• Well, the Dodgers live to fight another day -- too bad it'll be in Cobb County.  When this consummates, I have some words for Major League Baseball and it's Commissioner...
• Alec Baldwin fired a prop gun at his movie set on Thursday, and has killed the cinematographer and injured the director.  Let's see them cover THIS ONE up...    

Day 588, Part Two

• Ben Simmons has been suspended by the 76ers for tonight's season opener due to a practice incident on Monday -- it is apparent he has lost the rest of the team.
• At least one Power 5 coach now believes March Madness should be abolished and replaced with a tournament just for the major conferences.  ... which would end the NCAA in about five minutes.   March Madness is all that keeps the enabling anachronism together.   
• Gonzaga head coach Mark Few has pled guilty to misdemeanor DUI in Montana and must pay a $1,000 fine -- he has also been suspended by the school for at least their season opener...  ... and the conference (since I won't hope the NCAA does the right thing) should make it far longer than that.  Especially because he lied to a police officer about drinking before blowing .11 or .12.   
• Kenbrell Thompkins is going to prison for identity theft to commit COVID unemployment insurance fraud -- cup of coffee with at least three NFL teams...  *sigh*   
• Nick Rolovich is suing Washington State for being fired for refusing the COVID vaccine.  Shut up, fucker...    
• DeMaurice Smith, head of the NFLPA, in continuing to demand the release of the Washington Football Team e-mails, calls the NFL a "feudal oligarch system".  Add one or two more words and you might be right -- slavery and White come to mind...   
• Tom Brady has a sense of humor, congratulating continuing Bears "owner/shareholder" Aaron Rodgers.
• The University of Rhode Island is investigating an unnamed student for a racist Instagram screed against Dolphins player Emmanuel Ogbah.
• According to sources, a roboump tryout in the minor leagues for balls and strikes has been a "disaster", to use Yardbarker's terminology.
• Some thought the Miami Dolphins might make the mistake and trade for DeShaun Watson.  If so, that's gotta tell you something about the NFL prospects for Tua Taglialova.    

Day 588, Part One: Hmmm, Manfred beginning to grease the skids for Houston to piss us all off?

• Well, what do we have here??

Game 4, 2 games to 1 Boston at home.  2-2 in the ninth.  2 out, 2 on for the Astros.  1-2 to Jason Castro...

This is what MLB.com said about his at-bat:

Inside corner, strike three.  Eovaldi thought so too.  (And, oh by the way, look at Ball 1 as well....)

Two pitches later, single plates one.

By the time the inning is over, the Assholes plate SEVEN and win 9-2.  (And at least four or five pitches in the inning which led to walks or hits should've been strikes, but the ump decided to squeeze Eovaldi so the Assholes could win, retake home field, etc.)

None of that happens if that pitch on the corner is not called the strike three it was.

None of that happens if the second pitch is called the strike it was.

Now the series is on serve at 2-2 and will go back to Houston.

Greeeeat...

• A lot of assholes, and TBS, were making a lot of wind about how the Dodger fans were leaving, down 5-2 with six outs to go.
• My baseball-historian friend had a statistic:  In the long and glorious history of the Dodgers, 81 previous times in playoff history, the Dodgers were down three or more runs with six or fewer outs to go.
• In those 81 games, the Dodgers were winless.  0-81.  Yesterday was the first time in the long history of the Dodgers they got the win three or more runs down six or fewer outs to go.