2023 Predictions: Collapse, Part 2B, Societal/Political

Starting with Karl Denninger and dovetailing:

• Karl says the virus response is deteriorating and will continue to.  He's right, and this is one of the causes of the general collapse I believe occurs in the next 12 months.  As I said in the first line of posts, we've lost to COVID, and the indication that we've given up against the virus should be evident by where we were 12 months ago and the fact that 35-40% of this country wants the freedom to infect.
• I also believe that any feasible "disease control" through vaccines will be declared unconstitutional.  May not happen in 2023, but an anti-vaxxer really has all the ammunition they need.  The courts are going to have to explain to the Jenny McCarthys of the world how the CDC can be declared unconstitutional with respect to COVID requirements and not have the same problems imposing requirements on children to have their shots before they are allowed in school, which is effectively the same problem.
• Karl believes Medicare/Medicaid will blow up the budget, and the discussion has to start on that this year.  He also believes that most "medical advice" will be exposed, and that the likes of "Beyond Meat" are going to quickly be relics of the past.  The problem is, in the eyes of a conservative/Libertarian, there are too many people, and too many irresponsible people.  And I would think they would be overjoyed, but for one very prescient issue:  They want control of the process or a reasonable belief that the situation will impact, to the greater, those who "deserve it", the "useless eaters".  To me, that's not a 2023 situation unless the budget completely detonates in 2023, at which point all bets are off.
• The consequences of COVID mandates will finally cause severe dislocations throughout industry, per Karl.  If he's right (and Southwest appears to indicate it is beginning), the collapse comes all the faster.  I think he's right.  The fact is, at it's center, you either have to believe, in Karl's position, COVID doesn't exist or it has to run, death rate and total be damned.
• But, and this is mine:  The simpler statement is:  The gravy train this country has been on since World War II is over.  The "bill" is coming due.  The only question is, what do you believe the bill is against?  Woke, if you're a right-wing pig??  The fact we didn't force the issue on the right-wing pigs, if you are on the left, vis-a-vis COVID, et. al.??  The abilities this country has had to serve and deliver services is ending.  It is almost impossible for me to go to a grocery store in my exurb and not come back with the store being "out" of one or more things I was sent to get.  The restaurants I get sent to are cutting back at every conceivable angle.  I believe it starts second or third week of 2023, after the holidays wear off and some companies who needed big numbers DID NOT get them.
• Cost shifting in online shopping will crack.  This one he's definitely right on.  It's probably already happening.  Give you just an anecdotal.  I needed to order (after two failures of third-party attempts) a "real" PS4 controller (PS5 will come down to accumulating a bankroll in my new place to cover it so the generous Christmas presents from my brother's family are kept for emergencies -- else I could get one now if available).  The page advertised free overnight shipping, but defaulted to Prime, which I have -- which, instead of the 2 days it usually promises, now had it for TWO WEEKS!!!  I abruptly cancelled it and made sure it didn't take the default, and got my controller overnight, as advertised.
  
• The stock market is not done going down.  Well, that depends.  Any reality basically zeroes every major company in this country.  The entire existence of a non-zero stock market in this day and age indicates this dis-reality.
• Inflation is not over either.  And, IMODO, it won't be until someone orders "Open Fire".  If you honestly believe there's too much money in the system, it's because there would be too many people in the system and you MUST eliminate the latter to eliminate the former, or you get a situation I DO think will happen, and will state later.
• Rates are not doing going up, per Karl.  At some point, they will go up to the point where it all snaps.  See above, and the fact that they can no longer feasibly control inflation -- but only hope to slow it -- cannot be underestimated.
• Karl says businesses will have to fire all non-functional employees -- it won't be just business, but that will take a new administration.  So, unless someone has two bullets planned early in 2023, it won't happen in 2023.  There is a most fundamental point that comes of all of this -- people with nothing left to lose, lose it.
• Karl says that Get Woke, Go Broke will be the new American motto.  He also believes the same for "Green Energy".  If that's the case, this country will have the best interest in putting many of us to sleep -- six feet under.
• Karl believes Ukraine support will vanish and that Ukraine can't win.  He also believes that if Putin is ill, it will go for all of Europe and Asia.  He's right!!  I have believed, pretty much since the February invasion of Ukraine, that the future of this world is Russia/China -- Russia will get the entirety of Europe, China's invasion of Taiwan will get them most of Asia.  God only knows what happens to Japan.  The Western Hemisphere becomes vassal states.
• In fact, I believe this conflict goes nuclear -- in 2023.  Now, do I believe this goes EotW nuclear?  Not necessarily.  But I do believe some sort of at least battlefield nuke will fly and take out a good part of the Ukraine as a pretense for Putin (or a potential successor) to take Europe without firing too many more shots -- because the alternative IS EotW.  At that point, NATO dissolves and the USA sues for peace, or it's "Nearer My God To Thee".
• All or nothing for Ron DeSantis.  I agree, because there's one thing he fails on that got Donald Trump the Presidency.  The right wants a strongman, but someone they know as a strongman and who will actually pull the trigger.  If DeSantis were even half-serious, he'd have shuttered all Disney properties in the state, with dynamite and backhoes as and where necessary.  If he wants to win the game, or any such Republican heading to 2024, someone has got to get public and make it clear that they will put to sleep those the right has wanted six feet under for a long time.
• To that end, even if Kevin McCarthy is made Speaker, he is not long for the position.  Queen Q, even though Marjackoff Trailer-Trash Greene says she supports McCarthy, is probably first on the list because, on some level, someone has to up and say "Now."
• Karl believes at least one member of Congress will commit undeniably (to both parties) criminal acts next year.  The only question to me is:  Just one?  The fact is, this George Santos thing, which, with the Kari Lake trial in Arizona, Karl dovetails this off of, makes me wonder if this is even a "George Santos", or someone else -- or SOMETHING ELSE...
• Karl believes there will finally be a forced policy change in illegal immigration.  I believe that will only happen if a White right militia finally gets stones, goes to the border, opens fire, and has the support of a Governor like Abbott in Texas.
• And I do believe at least an ATTEMPT at that will finally take place next year.
• Housing is nowhere near done going down, Karl thinks.  I think only a reduction in population -- and a meaningful one -- does that.  Especially with the White Flight movement, there is going to be pressure on rural housing prices and those in smaller cities which have not gone Blue.  And then there's the fact that landlords are not going to want to reduce rents too much, especially as homes become safe havens, etc., as "things happen".
• And he believes car prices will collapse, especially used.  I don't know about that, only for the fact that I do believe that elective travel may become a thing of the past, due to inflation, etc.  Again, 2023?  Can't say.

And here's a few more of my own:

• At least one state will make transgenderism black-letter illegal in 2023.
• Before the next scheduled Presidential election, at least one will go for all four letters of it.
• Crime will finally completely take an American city in 2023, probably spring...
• ... which will, either there or elsewhere, finally motivate a White right group to start shooting the crime elements.  (And, if it's in Florida, they will have the full support of DeSantis, which may politically aid him -- see above.)
• At least one assassination attempt will be made on Biden and/or Harris.
• Some major event will be felled by political/economic violence.

December 31, 2022 News and Notes

• And the new calendar year will be without former Pope Benedict XVI, died at 95.
• The men's (White) team won the 2022 Kouhaku Uta Gassen on NHK to ring in the new year in Japan.  This edition, the 73rd, saw the men take their 40th victory in the traditional "Red and White Song Battle".
• The SEC is already kicking ass in the New Year's Six.  Tennessee mauled #7 Clemson 31-14 last night in the Orange Bowl, and Alabama has run #9 Kansas State clear out of Louisiana in the Sugar -- they just pulled Bryce Young up 45-13 midway through the fourth quarter.
• The NFL and the NFLPA do not conclude that Tua had concussion symptoms during the game, only being placed when he showed symptoms the next day.  Which means, cocksuckers, he didn't have a "second" or "third" concussion -- THIS WAS ALL THE SAME ONE FROM WEEK FOUR!

Deadspin's annual Idiot of the Year Top 10:

1. Herschel Walker
2. Brett Favre
3. Kyrie Irving
4. Vince McMahon
5. Antonio Brown
6. DeShaun Watson supporters and his team
7. Kanye West
8. Daniel Snyder
9. Aaron Rodgers
10. John Stockton

• 55 points have been scored in the second half of TCU-Michigan with 10 minutes to go in the game.  TCU leads 51-38.
• TCU wins 51-45, Georgia wins 42-41.  ESPN is happy.
• Anita Pointer, one of the Pointer Sisters, was one of the last to go in 2022, announced just after midnight Eastern into 2023.

2022 NFL Week 16 Fine Blotter Part Two

• Green Bay Packers:  Allan Lazard:  $10,609 for taunting.
• New England Patriots:  Mac Jones' low block fine, previously reported, was $13,367.

How NOT to bet Week 17... (And a look at possible Week 18 relevants)

Redditor FrozenFire777 has figured out the NFL's nightmare scenario for the NFC.  The redditor has not only figured out a way the games can go this weekend which will clinch all seven playoff spots, but their seeds as well!!!

1) Philadelphia -- win and they are the #1.

2) Minnesota -- win over the Packers and the 49ers lose to the Raiders and they are the #2

3) San Francisco -- and the 49ers would be the #3 in the same scenario

4) Tampa Bay -- Beat Carolina, win the NFC Suck, and become the #4.

5) Dallas -- Philadelphia wins and Dallas is the #5.

6) New York Giants -- Beat Indianapolis and clinch the #6, the last step by virtue of HTH tiebreaker over

7) Washington -- Beat Cleveland, and Detroit loses to Chicago and Seattle loses to the Jets, and that's the #7.

Read all of that:  That's a completely exclusive situation.

So, if:

• PHI beats NO
• MIN beats GB
• LV beats SF
• TB beats CAR
• NYG beat IND
• WAS beats CLE
• CHI beats DET
• NYJ beat SEA

You have, locked in:

1. PHI
2. MIN
3. SF
4. TB
5. DAL
6. NYG
7. WAS

And nothing to play for in the NFC at all.

And we KNOW how the NFL likes to do this crap, so now you have a sober way of using wagering to sober up Sunday!

And here's the sickest part:  Of the required winners, only Minnesota (yes, Green Bay is somehow a 3-point favorite!!!), Chicago and Las Vegas are underdogs.

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

On the other side of the coin, let's take a look at the current schedule for Week 18 and see how many games could be relevant:

Starting with the two least-likely divisions:  The Sucks.

NFC Suck:  TB@ATL, CAR@NO.  Carolina must win, or neither of these games are relevant.  If they do, both become relevant for the sole spot.

AFC Suck:  HOU@IND won't be anyway, but for the #1 pick for Houston.  TEN@JAX will be relevant, and very easily could end up the Sunday Nighter.

AFC East:  Unless Buffalo loses this week, NE@BUF will be relevant for the #1 seed for Buffalo.  NYJ@MIA probably is relevant, but probably needs a Miami win over New England to be relevant for the Jets.

AFC North:  BAL@CIN will probably be another game on the Shortlist for Sunday night.  CLE@PIT probably needs a Steeler win and significant help.

AFC West:  Probably the only relevance between LAC@DEN and KC@LV is going to be seeding for LAC and KC.

NFC East:  Both games will be relevant, with all four teams in the playoff chase:  NYG@PHI and DAL@WAS

NFC North:  A Philly loss and Minnesota win will probably be required to make CHI@MIN relevant.  On the other hand, Green Bay must win to help make DET@GB relevant.  A Detroit win as well might make that a "win or go home", which might pip BAL/CIN, and then the question is TEN/JAX...

NFC West:  LAR@SEA needs Seattle to win this week and get big help.  ARI@SF needs a Philly loss or a Minnesota loss to be seeding-relevant.

2022 NFL Week 16 Ratings Report

From Sports Media Watch:

• Thursday night (Amazon, Jaguars-Jets):  4.0 rating, 8.26 million viewers.  Oh gee, you thought you'd draw with THAT matchup?   
• Saturday Single (CBS, Bengals, Patriots):  7.4 rating, 15.3 million viewers.
• Saturday Regional (FOX, Chiefs and Vikings games featured):  7.5 rating, 15.86 million.
• Saturday National (FOX, Cowboys-Eagles):  12.0 rating, 27.83 million viewers.  See what a good matchup does for ya?   
• Saturday Night (NFL Network, Steelers-Raiders):  4.25 rating, but fans in the Vegas and Pittsburgh areas drove them to 10.94 million viewers.
• Christmas (FOX, Packers-Dolphins):  10.7 rating, 25.92 million viewers.  Too bad Christmas is on a fixed date:  The Packers draw well on December 25th!
• Nickmas (CBS/Nickelodeon, Rams-Broncos):  22.57 million viewers (a little less than a million for the Yeti/chroma-filled shenanigans on Nick...)  But I want the snarky kid back to explain penalties, not Gronk in a stupid elf costume!!!   
• Sunday Night (NBC, Tom Bradys/Cardinals):  Not even Tom could save Christmas night:  7.7 rating, 17.15 million viewers.
• Monday Night (ESPN/ABC, Chargers-Colts):  10.94 million viewers.

2022 NFL Week 16 After Further Review

Going a different route this week:  The "Controversial and Horrible Calls of the Week" video by BudLeeWiser.  The NFL rulebook can be found here.

Falcons-Ravens Intentional Grounding (0:00):  This one's good, Rule 8 Sec. 2 requires a pass to reach the line of scrimmage, regardless of where thrown.  Tackle box is irrelevant.

The horrible call is that the Falcons coach should've gotten 15 or even tossed for his tirade afterward, which extended into the halftime walk-off.

Later, same game, a holding call on the block which would've scored Corradelle Patterson a touchdown (1:34):  Actually, in the design of "holding on every play", before the blocked player goes down, you see a tug on the shoulder.  That's holding, grabbing a player without the ball in a position to gain an advantage (or, as the NFL rulebook puts it:  "materially restricting or altering the path or angle of pursuit").  This one's good -- but if the defensive player does not go down later (the holding comes earlier), it probably does not get called.  (12-3-c)  

But enforcement of offensive holding is often a tool which can dictate where a game is being rigged toward.

Rams-Broncos RTP on #5, 4th quarter (2:47):  That's not "small".  That's a CLEAR RTP on Gregory, and part of the $50,000 fine he has to eat this week.  Gregory shouldn't be playing this week (I think the suspension rescindings were wrong), and, if I were the NFL, tack on the UC and this RTP, and let the Players' Association appeal a two-gamer for Gregory.

Another 4th quarter RTP, Christmas Day, Packers-Dolphins (3:12):  If you need a definition of "unnecessary roughness", this is it.  The hit here isn't egregious, but it's a clear shove that was, by no means, necessary.  Rule 12, Section 2, Article 11 makes it clear that the defensive player is responsible and recognizes the "defenseless player" nature of the forward pass -- and not just by the receiver.  ANY PHYSICAL CONTACT unnecessary after the second foot touches the ground is RTP.  Rodgers is shuffling such that at least "three feet" have touched the ground.  All good here too.

Earlier in the same game (3:48):  Yeah, this one is wrong.  The rule is against "control or twist or turn in any direction". (12-2-15) The Packer runner is using the facemask to control the other player, not as a simple stiffarm.  That flag should've stood.  But then you had a helmet foul on Miami just afterward, as the Packer player lowered his helmet, but not to initiate contact.

Again, Packers-Dolphins, 3rd quarter with GB with the ball down 20-13 (4:20):  You get a real idea that the NFL had an agenda here, don't ya?  If you want to see "the ball moved" and hence an incomplete pass, here you go.  He loses control of the ball clearly in the replay.

And AGAIN, Packers-Dolphins, now tied 20-20 (4:46):  As Jake asked on one of his Top Ten (I think it might've been this play too...), why would you no-call this if you want the Packers to win?  It's not just result, but how you get there.  Clear DPI two-handed push-off for the pick.

Bigger thing:  That's Rodgers' 11th pick this year.  He's had 15 total the last four years.

Bills-Bears, Buffalo punting up 21-10 in the 3rd (5:25):  I can see where this goes south -- especially with the wind in Chicago.  The official blew the play dead when he thought the ball would advance no further, but then a gust of wind caused the ball to start moving again in a relevant direction.

The original audio shows that the ball was blown dead at the 11 when the official thought the ball stopped.

Chiefs-Seahawks, a false start on Seattle #63 (6:29):  I think I know what they called.  Simulating the snap on the center when he snaps his head down and back up again, for the purpose of attempting to draw exactly what happened.  The rulebook reads:  "Any quick abrupt movement by a single offensive player [...] which simulates the start of a snap is a false start."  (7-4-2)

Saints-Browns, holding call #78 Cleveland, tied at 10, 3rd quarter (7:15):  Unless you can gain control like that with one arm...

Same game, next series after a New Orleans score, 3rd and 13, defensive holding #29 on the Saints (7:37):  It's not much, but it IS holding.  He grasps him and actually briefly "encircles" him, which is the term the rulebook uses on D holding in that context (8-4-6).

Cardinals-Buccanners, Tampa 4th quarter punt down 9-6 (8:15):  They "missed" an "interference with the opportunity to catch" foul on Tampa there (10-1-1).  Item 2 makes it even clearer, the receiver has the right of way.  Oh gee, you think the league isn't protecting Tom Brady here?

Lions-Panthers, DPI on Carolina #21 first quarter, tied 7-7 (8:53):  There's no DPI.  Look at the second replay.

Chiefs-Seahawks (9:39), Seahawks down 17-0:  On the other hand, there's THIS blatant no-call to help the Chiefs.

Vikings-Giants (10:05), and watch carefully on the hit.  This isn't something you could probably pick up on in real time, but that's a flag.  The first contact IS helmet.

Back to Lions-Panthers (10:21):  This one is ALL GOOD.  Forward progress stopped, whistle blows, and then you take and 360 him into the ground?  No thank you!

The later discussion, however, is relevant:  It really does sound as if the penalty came as a result of the fracas, not the hit itself of it's own merit.

Bengals-Patriots, 22-0 Cincy, early second half (11:51):  Complete MUGGING no-call.

Chargers-Colts on this last one.  (12:16)  That's actually the same thing they called in the Chiefs-Seahawks game.  It's a simulation of the snap false start.  You snap the head up that quickly, it appears, to the defense, as if you snapped the ball -- and hence, that is effectively a snap infraction, in the vein of trying to draw the defense offside.  "Any quick abrupt movement..."

December 30, 2022 News and Notes

• The Associated Press names Aaron Judge the 2022 Athlete of the Year.
• The NFL will have a rule guaranteeing each team has the ball for overtime in the playoffs, regardless of what the first team does.  Now, unless you know your defense is spent, you WANT to go second.   
• SI 2023 Predictions:  NHL Champs:  Boston.  MLB:  Padres over Astros in seven.  College Basketball:  Houston men, South Carolina women.   NBA:  Probably from the West, but three different predictions were made for just the Western Conference.  NFL:  One says Buffalo, another says Dallas.  (I think the one who said Dallas has the matchup right (Dallas-Buffalo), at least as of today.)  CFP:  Georgia (Duh.).
• John Stockton is letting his anti-vaxx mouth shoot off again -- claiming literally thousands of athletes have died due to COVID vaccines in recent interviews.
• Greta's tweet about Small Dick Energy is now the #5 most-liked Tweet in history.
• And she strikes again!

this is what happens when you don’t recycle your pizza boxes

— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) December 30, 2022

• The coach of Maryland got doused with Duke's Mayonnaise after winning the Duke's Mayo Bowl over NC State today.   Given the explosion in egg (and, as a result, mayonnaise) prices, though... 
• The radio voice of NC State has been suspended/fired for an illegal aliens comment during the game.
• And the second step of the Saudi BloodWashing of Soccer begins:  Cristiano Ronaldo has signed with Saudi club Al Nassr.  Through the summer of 2025, so two seasons plus half of this one (if they have the same calendar for their league), $75,000,000 a season!
• The state of New Jersey has halted all betting for the Citrus Bowl because there is a situation in violation of New Jersey betting laws.  It has been ascertained that the question is about Drew Brees and his recent signing to Purdue, who plays LSU in the game.  All bets since the known date that Brees was named as an interim coach are immediately void, and this is because Brees has a business relationship with one of the sportsbooks.  The sportsbook has fired Brees from the relationship, effective with the coaching hire.
• David Blough will start for the Cardinals at quarterback against the Falcons on Sunday.  The big deal from this:  Blough is the 64th starting quarterback this season, a record for any non-strike NFL year.
• Almost making you wonder what tomorrow is going to bring and who we are going to lose on the way out this year:  Barbara Walters passes away today.  She was 93.

One of the greatest owns in history...

... and another testament as to why there should be the abolition of wide swaths of the male sports demimonde.

Former professional kickboxer Andrew Tate is now hopefully going to rot like the piece of shit he is in a Romanian prison (if someone doesn't do the right thing and plug him once in the head and save us all the bother!).  He is being detained due to allegations of human trafficking and the like in Romania, surrounding a studio the now-influencer has.

Romanian authorities have, now twice, identified six women who have been sexually assaulted and exploited by Tate, reports have.

And we have Greta Thunberg to thank for this.

How?  Because Andrew Tate has a small dick and a big car collection.

It appears that Tate wanted to effectively sexually assault Thunberg on Twitter.  He is a known and openly admitted misogynist, and had this to say to the environmental activist about what he thought of her and her work.

Hello @GretaThunberg

I have 33 cars.

My Bugatti has a w16 8.0L quad turbo.

My TWO Ferrari 812 competizione have 6.5L v12s.

This is just the start.

Please provide your email address so I can send a complete list of my car collection and their respective enormous emissions. pic.twitter.com/ehhOBDQyYU

— Andrew Tate (@Cobratate) December 27, 2022

A bigger "FUCK YOU!" can't really be found on the Net.

Except Thunberg had a response for him:

yes, please do enlighten me. email me at smalldickenergy@getalife.com https://t.co/V8geeVvEvg

— Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) December 28, 2022

That tweet now ranks, as of typing this, #8 all-time in Likes on the platform -- a fact to which I'm surprised, given Small-Dick Energy Elon Musk and all that shit.  (EDIT TO ADD:  My anonymous friend has noted it has now overtaken one of Small-Dick Musk's Tweets to make #7!)

Well, Mr. Tate couldn't let that go, and decided to respond to it.  I won't dignify further, but the arrest for the human trafficking came when the piece of shit Tate decided that it was OK, knowing he probably was about to be arrested if the authorities ever found his location to be in Romania, to include two pizza boxes in his video (the store of which now has gone Trending on Twitter as well!), which allowed them to pinpoint his whereabouts.

This isn't just "too many blows to the head".  This is the kind of person who, by and large (NOT exclusive, but by and large), has been the top of the athletics food chain in the sports demimonde, especially among men, for decades now.

And it's not going to stop until the entire sports situation is put on trial.  ALL OF IT.  Every sacred cow.

So let's see how bad the NBA botched this one...

Another mega-incident in the NBA Wednesday night...

The NBA suspended ELEVEN players for it.

Moritz Wagner was hit by Killian Hayes in the back of the head.  Hayes was banned three games, Wagner two.  Another player was banned a game for his involvement in the fight.

The entire Orlando Magic bench (eight players) at the time was suspended a game for leaving the bench, and the only reason the Pistons didn't get the same was the incident was in their bench.

They'll stagger the nine Magic suspensions so they can play.

They shouldn't.

Forfeitures.

NOW!!

I don't care how much fucking money it costs to put on a professional sporting contest or what the actual penalties would be if an NBA game were forfeited, but at least one forfeiture for the Magic, and possibly more (and a good long look at the same for Detroit) has to happen here.

You could suspend every player on both rosters -- it won't change a thing.

Dammit... Every year, we seem to get one right at the end...

Not that it wasn't expected, but the world mourns the loss of Edson Arantes do Nascimento in Brazil, age 82.

The world knows him better as Pele.

Predictions 2023, Part 3A: Collapse, and my misses from last year...

I did make some sports predictions too:

• No soccer World Cup.  Miss.  Partially due to the rise of Saudi blood money in sports, and partially due to throwing in the towel on COVID.
• Any Olympics held would be dominated by China, and most of the rest of the world would walk out due to COVID.  Another clean miss, partially due to throwing in the towel on COVID.  That said, those Games had problems they're still trying to sort out.
• Super Bowl would not take place as scheduled.  I do think, again, that we've given up on COVID.  If you followed along when I made these predictions, the entire NFL was in a mess and a bind I didn't think they'd get out of.
• NHL shutters again in early January and does not make it out of that stoppage as known.  Nope.  Sensing a common theme here?  Remember:  The NHL actually pulled it's players from the Olympics and used this Christmas holiday last year as a COVID stoppage.
• The NBA won't make it long past the All-Star Break.  The cities have done better than I expected, and, hence, the only real uprisings were the Golden State Warriors fans telling Charles Barkley how much he sucked.
• No MLB season.  Again, remember where we were vis-a-vis COVID 12 months ago:  The NHL suspended play again, the NFL was all over the map...
• Political violence in a match halts a season.  Probably more not due to cowardice on the Right than anything.  It's not like the table wasn't set for it.
• 2022 NFL is determined by where we are vis-a-vis COVID.  I'd say that might be the one hit:  Because they threw in the towel on it.
• College sports finally get decimated.  Not YET, but I think the NIL situation might make that a hit 2-4 years down the road.
• ESPN will cease to exist.  Nope, meaning I only hit one.  Scott van Pelt had it right when COVID started -- he had real doubts, and said on-air, of the future of ESPN as it was known.

2023 Prediction: Collapse, Part 2A: Political/Societal Predictions from 2021...

I read The Market Ticker, with right-wing Libertarian Karl Denninger, to get an idea of just how bad a lot of people actually need people like me shot.

One of the things he did was to give predictions based on what he thought was going to happen this year past.  He came up with 16, and I responded to them myself.

Here's our "scores":

• Inflation, etc.:  Clean score for both of us.  With a lot of the side effects I inferred.
• 2022 Election:  As clean of a miss for both of us as the first one was otherwise.  ProTip to the anti-abortion Republicans:  Wait til you have sufficient power to make it stick, because basically showing your cards post-Hobbs cost you the majorities we both thought you'd get in November.  It got so bad that Bang-Bang Barbie came within a thousand or so votes of losing her House seat.
• I added that Manchin/Sinema and the plan that CPAC was talking about would activate.  That one also missed, which I am surprised -- except given the fact that the rank-and-file Republican is a rank idiot.
• In exchange, Denninger talked about the Federal Reserve being forced to cut liquidity, a hit.
• Abortion/Hobbs:  Denninger thought they'd stop short, I thought they'd go further.  I do still believe an eventual goal is the application of enforced legitimate purpose being the extent and arbiter of rights (if any) for the populace.  Miss.  If you really get an idea of intelligence, you realize the Republicans lost the country in 1868, when the rights of all at least got some codification, regardless of if the person is believed to be of use.
• He spoke of the equity markets being vulnerable.  Duh.
• He also spoke of business getting it in both supply and productivity.  Another duh.
• Supply Chain:  I guess mine's a miss, at least to an extent one still exists.  Denninger said no short-term help coming and called that one a wash.
• All-Stop in at least one city after Super Bowl (mine only):  I think this one is the one people are going to have to watch in 2023, because I think it's going to be far more than just one city.  I'm tempted to call it a hit, except that, at least to the extent that the governments of said cities still exist, they "got it back".  I don't think several cities will be so lucky next year.  Your Mileage May Vary on that prediction score.  It was one of the reasons it looked, until people opened their traps, that the predictions we made on the Republican majorities looked (no pun intended) conservative.  And that's BEFORE we talk about at least two or three major power-grid sabotages late in the year.
• "Blue Hives" in trouble:  His hit, on the basis that we've hit Detroit in many cities.  Mine missed, because I thought it would go further.  But it's another case of Republican cowardice.  The only way you're getting it back in the cities is some form of Martial Law and SSS.  And if the government won't do it, then you gotta go in and do it yourself.  The problem with that is you gotta get your hands dirty.
• Biden finished/three 2022 Presidents:  Nope for both of us.  Much of this, in my opinion, came down to the same problem -- we both expected the Red Tsunami and it never came to pass (see above).  As frightening as their fascism is, think of what these right-wing assholes would do if they had an IQ above their shoe size.
• Education system thin ice, will collapse eventually:  I'll call that at least a large partial hit, because I think that, wrongly IMODO, there has been significant damage to the entire credibility of education, even to the point that one purportion is that electing people with intelligence (rather than CTE-laced dullards like Herschel Walker, who should be locked up for everyone else's protection) is "intellectual elitism".  That they WANT YOU TO BE THAT STUPID.  Karl goes otherwise, because it's not evident to the rank and file -- the problem with that is the stupidity of said rank and file.  So we diverge on this one.  And THIS is also before you get to the point of moral impositions on children.  Hey, you want children not to be sexualized?  Ban cheerleading, to start.
• Geopolitical trouble (his):  If only!  The problem being that I get the sense that you ain't seen nothing yet.
• The Ghislane trial not the end of the story (his):   Should be a hit, wasn't.  The fact is that this degree of rape/sexual assault/sexual harassment is all but an employment condition/statement of sole purpose from many men to women in this country, and has been for many, Many, MANY years.  If we ever DO unravel that string, it's ALL over.
• Business uncertainty lifts Q3/4 (his):  Nope.  In fact, it IS getting worse.  I think the real bloodbath begins in...  a month?  Two weeks??
• Housing bubble done (his):  He claims a hit.  Part of me is wondering if that is an "in progress", because a full hit on the bubble basically accelerates the cascade, just like the last one did when the "mortgage-as-ATM" ATM ended.
• Medical complex credibility and cost creating problems.  Depending on how you believe about the COVID vaccines, and Denninger believes he has proof.  If he's right, there is no medical complex left.
• Trump is done, and so are those around him.  (his, I went the other way) He claims half, I might go as far as a quarter for him (and three-quarters for me), because his concept that Trump did much harm in the midterms is correct and it's clear that DeSantis is the one who, at least as a politico, they'd LIKE to rally around -- but they don't want a politician.  They want a strongman who will utter two words:  Open fire.  If DeSantis can do that, he's their man in 2024.

I added a few side shots:

• Full grid-down chimp-out. Can't take that point, but the attacks on the power grid are noted.
• The Purge Begins.  Nope, but I do think the collapse of the Red Tsunami may have had more to do with losing that point than anything.
• Certain parties can count their life expectancies in months or weeks.  You know what?  With the advancement of a movement to eliminate transgenderism and transgenders, I'll take that point on them alone.
• Next long-term President is a Trump and/or a Purge type.  Undetermined.
• I did say my death would be conditional on the concept of my message getting through -- they're still cowards.

2022 NFL Week 16 Score Report

• 41.5 points per game this week -- probably more than expected with the weather over most of the country and most of the league operating on a short week.
• Season average is now 43.92 points per game.
• Home teams were 8-8 this week, 127-104-2 for the year.
• Over was 6-10 for 107-131-2.
• Favorites were 8-8 against the spread this week, 10-6 straight up.
• Season:  104-126-7 ATS, 152-81-2 straight up.
• Team with more penalties was 5-11 this week, 88-122-2 for the year.
• Only 148 accepted penalties this week (9.1 per game).  Season, for 240 games, 2,825 (11.7).
• Three Cliffhangers for the week, 58 for the year.
• Nine games finished within one score, 141 for the year, almost 60%.
• Six non-competitive games, for 58 for the season.
• Five Last Chance Misses for 87 for the year.

A couple of interesting notes:

• The Vikings Cliffhanger win was their 11th one-score win of the year, an NFL record.
• It was also their sixth Cliffhanger win.
• Because of the bomb cyclone, etc. seven of the 16 games kicked with Vegas (Caesar's Sportsbook is the one I use now) totals 38 or under.  Only two of the seven went over.
• Seven games finished with a total score under 35, and an eighth finished at 35.

2022 NFL Week 16 Fine Blotter, Part One

• No suspensions for any of the four players in the Supplemental Discipline discussion.
• Mac Jones will be fined in the normal course (reports have it $11,139)...
• ... as will Derwin James.
• And the two who were suspended won their appeals to play in Week 17:
• Los Angeles Rams:  Oday Aboushi is now fined $12,000.
• Denver Broncos:  Randy Gregory, however, gets a full FIFTY THOUSAND, and that probably includes the other two incidents as well!

2023 Week 16 AFC Kayfabe and Political Rankings

Kayfabe:

AFC East:  Buffalo 12-3 and division champs.  Miami 8-7  Patriots and Jets 7-8.

AFC North:  Cincinnati 11-4, Baltimore 10-5, both in the playoffs  Pittsburgh 7-8

AFC South:  Jacksonville and Tennessee 7-8

AFC West:  Kansas City 12-3 and division champs.  The win tonight makes the Chargers 9-6 and they are in the playoffs.

Tiebreakers:

Buffalo-KC:  Buffalo won Week 7.

AFC South:  Jacksonville beat Tennessee two weeks ago.

1. BUF 12-3 (AFC EAST CHAMPIONS, HTH tiebreaker over Kansas City)
2. KC 12-3 (AFC WEST CHAMPIONS, loses HTH tiebreaker to Buffalo)
3. CIN 11-4 (AFC North leaders, IN PLAYOFFS)
4. JAX 7-8 (AFC Suck leaders, HTH tiebreaker over TEN)
5. BAL (10-5, IN PLAYOFFS)
6. LAC (9-6, IN PLAYOFFS)
7. MIA (8-7)

So only two spots left:  The AFC Suck and the last wild card.

And violators of The Cardinal Rule:  Denver, Indianapolis, Houston, and Cleveland (YES on those last two!).

Political:

The same top three as the kayfabe.

DUD OF THE WEEK:

All winners this week, SIX OF THEM:

Additional NFC winner in the first two winners:

RANDY GREGORY of Denver and ODAY ABOUSHI of the LA Rams for re-enacting "I'ma gonna punch you in the face!" and almost endangering an NFL media opportunity, for which both have been suspended for next week.

And given two previous penalties on Gregory, perhaps Gregory should sit both remaining games.

DERWIN JAMES of the Chargers, who better have earned a New Year's vacation for spearing an Indianapolis Colt tonight.

(And that's two plays after a face mask.)

THE COLTS AND THE BRONCOS for two of the WORST national-game QUIT JOBS in NFL history!

And THE NFL NETWORK for omitting the video tribute to Franco Harris from it's coverage, especially because that game was scheduled and put on the network for the 50th anniversary of the Immaculate Reception.

2023 Prediction: Collapse, Part One, COVID Edition

I usually do a year-end post with predictions of the next year, and this is going to be one of them.

Factually, however, there does appear only to be one prediction I can make, with good conscience:

2023 will be a transformational year in this society.  Whatever damage 2020 did to the society, 2023 finishes off.  I do not believe the country will survive 2023 in much the same way it will start it next Sunday.

There's several different ways this, IMODO, will manifest itself.  This post will look at the COVID situation.

Let's put some things on the table right now:

1) We have to lost to COVID.  The freedom-loving purebloods have successfully won.  Hence, they will get their kill-off that they desired this virus to do for them in 2020.

There is no real point in continuing to vaccinate.  I'm really sorry to have to tell people this.  The fact of the matter is, however, that we have one of four scenarios:

• COVID is real and the vaccines have failed of their own merit.
• COVID is real and the vaccines have failed because of the deliberate non-cooperation of about 35% of this country (which is the position I am taking) -- leading to atypical mutation of the virus because we will never reach herd immunity.
• COVID may be real, but the vaccines are doing "the work" (this is the position of the "Died Suddenly" crowd)
• or, as a subset of this, COVID doesn't exist at all.  (In which case, may God be with you all and we are truly done!)

Whatever the reason, we will not get control of this thing if COVID exists -- and, if it doesn't, then the concept of a grand scheme to eliminate mass swaths of the population will truly finish us off, one way or the other.

Any hope of actually defeating COVID needs to be put to rest, and this means millions of Americans -- yes, MILLIONS -- will die to this.

Just as the right-wing "purebloods" wanted from Day One.  (More on that later...)

2) Because I would now put the estimate of COVID deaths at somewhere in the range of 7-10 million.

This is a combination of continuing surveys (including one the CDC reported ten days ago to say this is the case extends to children) that 90% or over 90% of the American population have now had one or more bouts with COVID-19, as well as more and more people coming up with dislocative statistics from the Bureau of Labor Statistics to basically play "hide the sausage" with several million former seekers of jobs.

(For the record:  The only reason I do not believe I have had it at least twice is a contact of mine who believes she may catch basically anything out there, who believes would've caught it if I did...  If I did, my first round of it would've been very early:  January of 2020.)

It is now clear, as I said three years ago when I started to see this news in China (before I was banned twice from commenting on a fascist-conservative economic blog) that no one wants to confront the true toll from this -- realizing that if the word got out, you'd have unrest on a massive level to begin with.

Here's a thought to the "Died Suddenly" crowd:  If you remember (or were paying attention) back before the virus hit the States, there were many stories of people collapsing and dying suddenly in China.  This is what actually started scaring people to bits, leading to the immediate flash erection of hospital areas throughout the Wuhan area.

To basically pretzel-logic themselves, some of the "Died Suddenly" crowd believe a second virus, with a 60% kill rate (!!), was in China at the time but stayed there...

Worse, however, is the following thought:

3) The "freedom-loving purebloods" openly desired a way to eliminate the "useless eaters" of this country -- and COVID gives them an out without firing a shot!

COVID is a Republican's dream.  To a Libertarian, many times so!

It didn't take long, when the "co-morbidity" reports came out, to understand that this thing was literally a lottery ticket for Conservative thinking:

Fat?  See ya.

Diabetes?  Bye.

HIV/AIDS?  Do I dare need to go there?

Birth defects??  Finally a way to dispose of that "problem"...

4) The right-wingers are half-right on one and only one fact:  This is COVID, or this is the vaccines.

There is no material third option.

None.

Either COVID has killed (through either direct, or, as I suspect, indirect/"long COVID" effects) far more people than I think anyone is willing to admit, or we do have a situation where the vaccines are the problem -- but that leads to three immediate and immutable outcomes:

• The concept of vaccination, especially forced vaccination (which see measles, diptheria, whooping cough, etc. to get a kid to be allowed in school) would be an immediate nullity.  Because the same argument can be given that they try to taunt us with on COVID:  Why would someone who caught these diseases be a problem to other students who are vaccinated?   
• The entire economy collapses, first to go would be the entire health-care industry -- as Libertarian "Died Suddenly" advocate Karl Denninger puts it, in that situation:  "In fact it could very easily render a hospital a literal place where you only go to die because if you're sick and go in there, with the concentration of all-jabbed staff, the odds are overwhelming they're going to give you something and if you can't handle that you're dead."
• Either through direct or indirect means, the Deagel prediction of a 70% USA kill-off occurs.

For those who do not know of the last part:  The Deagel Group is a foreign-interred US-based intelligence group, one of many shadow secretive groups whose task is to "go there" and talk about that "which should not be talked about in polite company".

In 2016, they dropped a bombshell:  That the population of the United States of America would drop to 54 million by 2025.

Over the course of the last six years, that number of doubled to about 100 million.

However, there is one very real scary part to this:  2025 is now only about 24 months away!!!

And 100ish million would be about all that is left if the wishes and prayers of the purebloods are answered and the rest of us are killed off...

And that's just one factor of how far down I believe we are about to go in the next 12 months!

The Day of Good King Wenceslas

• Or at least when he went out...
• We have another possible coordinated power grid attack.  14,000 in Washington were taken off the grid Christmas morning -- three power stations attacked.
• Now a fourth attack reported.
• And massive looting going on in Buffalo after the bomb cyclone went through.
• "Trump Christmas Message Turns Into Tirade"...  In short, the Fat Orange Pig opened his trap.
• And Greg Abbott sent, as his Christmas present to Kamala Harris, a busful of refugees from the border -- in the bomb cyclone hitting most of the country.
• Six shot, two killed in New Orleans:  All six victims were between the ages of 17 and 19.
• It, unfortunately, is beginning to appear as if Pele may be the "I'm taking the year with me" candidate.  Health is worsening, family is gathering in Sao Paulo.
• And that quit-job in LA yesterday was the final straw:  Denver fired their coach today.
• And a post-game fight:

For which the following occurred:

• Los Angeles Rams:  Oday Aboushi
• Denver Broncos:  and Randy Gregory, both banned for the Week 17 game as a result.

The fact that it probably happened in front of the national media situation and may have endangered it was a factor.

• And it looks like the final throwing in of the towel for Miami has occurred.  Tua is back in the concussion protocol.  A protocol he never should've left!!!   
• And that might be it for Gregory in Denver.  Playing only his second game since Week 4, he could be fined twice further by the NFL:  Unsportsmanlike Conduct for throwing his helmet after a Ram touchdown, and a late hit on the Rams quarterback.
• The now-former coach yanked him from the game both times.  You know what?  One game???  I think suspending Gregory both remaining games is well in line here.  And if the league won't, the Broncos need to go ahead and suspend him, go through the NFLPA to determine if he gets the money for Week 18, and cut his ass in the offseason. 
• And a good chance there's another one from the Monday nighter who should get the same:  Derwin James will be suspended for this spearing hit -- and it came two plays after he got flagged for a face mask.  James was tossed.
• There was also discussion in Supplementary Discipline of New England quarterback Mac Jones and charges of dirty play against Cincinnati.

2022 NFL Week 16 NFC Kayfabe and Political Rankings

Monday night:  Chargers vs. Indy, so the NFC is done.

Kayfabe/Actual:

NFC East:  Philadelphia is 13-2.  Dallas is 11-4.  The Giants are 8-6-1.  The Commanders, 7-7-1.

NFC North:  Minnesota is division champions at 12-3.

NFC South:  Tampa Bay is 7-8, Carolina and New Orleans are 6-9.  Atlanta has forgotten the cardinal rule.

NFC West:  San Francisco is 11-4.

1. PHI (13-2, NFC East leaders, IN PLAYOFFS.  Magic number for the 1 seed is 1.  A win or losses by Dallas, San Francisco, and Minnesota gets it done.  They lose the division tiebreaker if they lose out and Dallas wins out.  They lose the conference record tiebreaker is they lose out and SF wins out.  They lose outright if they lose out and MIN wins out, but win any tiebreaker with MIN alone.)
2. MIN (12-3, NFC NORTH CHAMPIONS)
3. SF (11-4, NFC WEST CHAMPIONS)
4. TB (7-8, NFC Suck Leaders)
5. DAL (11-4, IN PLAYOFFS)
6. NYG (8-6-1)
7. WAS (7-7-1)

Detroit, Green Bay, and Seattle are 7-8, and I'm just getting an impression as to where this might go.

Political:

1) Dallas

They just bring more to the table in a political sense than Philly, but I think it's clear that's the matchup the NFL wants to replay on January 29th.

2) Philadelphia

3) Minnesota

Eleven one-score wins, six Cliffhangers.

4) San Francisco

Do not underestimate this backup plan!

Wild Card #7 Seed)  Green Bay

Green Bay vs. Minnesota on January 14th, 15th, or 16th.

DUD OF THE WEEK:

A bucket of Nickelodeon slime and the win goes to:

THE ARIZONA CARDINALS, who did a quit job in the middle game today.  What the FUCK was that?

2022 NFL Week 15 After Further Review... Part Three???

Just a review of YouTube's resident NFL Scrooge McDuck, Jake the Asshole, in what should be a very interesting "Top 10"...

#10:  Giants-Commanders, and "Taylor Handkerchief" (may have to steal that one) gets robbed on the Last Chance Miss on 4th down in the end zone when his receiver gets abjectly MUGGED.

Both arms around the receiver's shoulders well before the ball.  But you think the NFL wants to help Dan Snyder??

#9:  Raiders-Patriots, and it sounds like this one is the Keelan Cole touchdown.  (The other one is probably coming later, and, given Jake's usual emphasis on players being part of the rig-job, if that's not #1 this week, I don't know what is...)

Yep, it's the touchdown, with even a better angle to show that Keelan Cole was out of bounds.

#8:  Eagles-Bears, return of the doink.  17-13 Philly, 8:25 to go in the game, 38 yard doinked attempt.

There is wind in this one, but not nearly enough to yoink the kick that far in that direction!  Now Jake might want to be careful with a number of the games this week.  Wind was wreaking havoc yesterday.

#7:  Cowboys-Jaguars.  27-17 Dallas, 3 minutes or so to go in the third.

I want, also, to point out to Mr. Asshole that six different Cowboys were fined for Salvation Army Kettle celebrations after touchdowns in Dallas the two preceding games.  This might've been a tweak to get them back in line.

No Dallas receiver within 10 yards, and, even when hit, it doesn't look like it ended up a complete duck.

Not sure on the contention of the receiver sticking an arm out to stop it 10 yards before, though.

#6:  Lions-Jets, 4th and inches for the Lions, 17-13 Jets at the two-minute warning.

So Jared Goff throws a simple out pattern, about a four-yard pass, to Brock Wright -- who goes in untouched and unchallenged when there isn't a defender within 20-25 yards -- on FOURTH AND INCHES and the Jets win the game with a stop?  And you release him that free?

Oh, then Jake throws on the "intentional fall down like an ass" angle, but the first part of this is enough!

#5:  Packers-Rams, 3-0 Packers, late first quarter.

Intentional interception is charged by Jake on Aaron Rodgers.

And given Rodgers' pre-2022 track record on how few picks he throws, an all-day-to-throw five-yard-overthrown interception has Jake going...  HMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM...

#4:  49ers-Seahawks, 14-3 49ers, just into the second half.

And George Kittle is released into open space with two flailing arm tackles failing and that pretty much seals the deal at 21-3.

#3:  Lions-Jets, Jets punting from deep in their end zone.  Six minutes to go, first quarter, no score until this Kalif Raymond 47-yard touchdown punt return for the Lions.

First guy completely whiffs five yards beforehand.

Six other guys just fall down, and no one is even remotely close to even make a plausible attempt to prevent the touchdown.

And the last unblocked guy gives up well beforehand.

#2:  Vikings-Colts, the tying 64-yard touchdown to Dalvin Cook.

Just watch one Indianapolis guy go to all fours and another perform the Minneapolis Miracle Takeout, not even looking at Cook as he goes by...

Blatantly obviously rigged, scripted, and fake...  And when you look at the context of the entire event...

So, did Jake name Jakobi Meyers #1 for the week?

YOU DAMN RIGHT HE DID!

Bah Humbug!!

• Not really as much so as past years, though.  :)
• Yes, this is the Daily for Christmas.
• I guess there is one Scrooge moment out there:  Neil DeGrasse Tyson tried to scientifically debunk Santa Claus last night on Twitter.  Dummy, those of us who know, know.  Those of us who it is still of benefit to, clam it!!!  (And my anonymous friend noted well that it's not just the "Santa present" which is usually the most valuable present given to kids and usually something they really wanted but it was represented to them the family could not afford it...  That there are those kids who want Grandma not to die of cancer or the parents to stop fighting and stay together and it's getting desperate enough "only Santa" can save it...)  
• Yes, he rightly got dunked on.  Even the US Military and NORAD get in on it!!!  Clam it, Neil!   
• Anyone else getting a vibe of Minnesota vs. Green Bay for wildcard weekend?  Asking for friends.
• And how quickly all the stuff can turn, now that the Tua Time bandwagon has run, at least for this season:  Wow Tua, Tua TurnTheBallOva, etc.
• The Governor of New York has said the bomb cyclone which has hit much of the nation is the worst winter storm Buffalo has ever seen.  YEOWCH!!  That's SAYING SOMETHING!   
• At least the kids got a lot of slime...  The Rams dropped 51 on the Broncos today in the NickMas middle game to win 51-14.  Moreover, they did not punt.  There have been at least ten games in NFL history, however, where the team who didn't punt had more than 51 points.

Fuck you, NFL Network! HONOR HIM!!!

In a long-overdue moment, and even the owner of the team saying it should never have happened "like this" that he died the previous Tuesday, Franco Harris had his number 32 retired by the Steelers at halftime of tonight's Cliffhanger win (of course!!!) over the Raiders, one day after the 50th anniversary of the Immaculate Reception.

However, in it's infinite wisdom, NFL Network cut the video tribute to Harris out, in favor of commercials and halftime highlights.

Let my title give my opinion on that faux pas, and here, hopefully complete and unedited, is the ceremony from the team's YouTube account...

No, they won't allow embedding...

GODDAMN IT, NFL!!!  I can't even embed Terry Bradshaw's "Two Nights Before Christmas" tribute to Franco????

December 24, 2022 News and Notes

• The monstrous storms over the nation have already impacted one Saturday NFL game.  Rolling blackouts in Tennessee have gotten the NFL to move the kickoff of Tennessee's game with Houston back one hour.
• Only two games in the afternoon block today, but they are whoppers:  Washington at San Francisco, and Philly-Dallas.
• And the Franco Harris Tribute Game tonight:  Raiders-Steelers.  Yes, I do expect "the appropriate result", which would eliminate the Raiders.
• Cliffhanger win for the Steelers, as completely expected.
• The North Carolina quarterback who led his team to a 9-4 record, Drake Maye, is now the center of attention in a rumor (denied by Maye and his coach) that at least two schools have offered Maye FIVE MILLION DOLLARS EACH in NIL money to transfer.
• There has, apparently, now also been a complication with the Mets physical on Correa, but they're "working through" it.
• It would stand to reason, when you think of it -- and, at 4-10 for both teams, something needs to draw to this game.  Tomorrow's second Christmas game, Rams/Broncos, will be another of those Nickelodeon games.

2022 NFL Week 14 and 15 Fine Blotter

• Indianapolis Colts:  Stephon Gilmore:  $15,914 for an illegal high hit.
• Houston Texans:  Jalen Pitre:  $21,218 for a helmet-to-helmet hit.
• Minnesota Vikings:  Chandon Sullivan:  $9,444 for removing his helmet in frustration.
• Pittsburgh Steelers:  Diontae Johnson:  $10,609 for taunting.

Those all from the NFL.com Roundup post -- usually Saturday, but today because the main brunt of games this Christmas weekend are Saturday, tomorrow.

That was from Week 15.  Here's Week 14, from Spotrac:

• Denver Broncos:  Jerry Jeudy probably should've been suspended.  $36,281 for unsportsmanlike conduct twice.  Not only did he contact an official, he removed his helmet.  That's TWO ejections, and he wasn't even FLAGGED, much less ejected.  NFL should've sat Jeudy, and tried for a two-gamer on that one -- and some on the refereeing crew as well.
• Denver Broncos:  Dre'Mont Jones:  $10,609 for tripping.
• Baltimore Ravens:  Marcus Peters and
• Pittsburgh Steelers:  Chuks Okorafor, $10,609 for an altercation with each other.
• New York Jets:  Garrett Wilson, $10,609 for taunting.
• Cleveland Browns:  Tony Fields, only $5,041 for roughing the kicker.
• Kansas City Chiefs:  Frank Clark, $10.609 for roughing the passer.

Some Spotrac Week 13 catchup:

• Atlanta Falcons:  Richie Grant:  $10,440 for a horse-collar tackle.
• Denver Broncos:  Alex Singleton:  $6,194 for a defenseless-player hit.
• Miami Falcons:  Bradley Chubb:  $10,609 for taunting.
• New York Giants:  Jon Feliciano:  $10,609 for taunting.
• Tennessee Titans:  Bud Dupree:  $21,218 for roughing the passer.
• Seattle Seahawks:  DK Metcalf:  $10,609 for a taunting celebration.
• Minnesota Vikings:  Alexander Mattison:  $6,503 for a combination fake-injury/obscene celebration.

And a significant amount of Week 12 catchup as well:

Dallas Cowboys had four fined for a coordinated touchdown celebration in the Salvation Army Kettle -- and this WASN'T the Prescott/Elliot one for which they were fined (that was Week 13):  

• Dalton Schultz got $13,261
• Jake Ferguson got $4,895
• Peyton Hendershot got $3,944
• and Sean McKeon got $4,944

That makes SIX Cowboys fined for incidents surrounding that Dallas Salvation Army Kettle.

(Might explain the loss to Jacksonville -- just saying!!!)

But that pales in comparison to this from the Pittsburgh Steelers.  All of these fines are listed as for obscene gestures.  THIRTEEN defensive players for the Steelers were fined for taking the ball and using it as a "clay pigeon" which the defensive players shot:

• TJ Watt
• Myles Jack
• Marcus Allen
• Minkah Fitzpatrick
• Cameron Sutton
• Levi Wallace
• and Terrell Edmonds all got $13,621 each.
• Tre Norwood, $4,715
• James Pierre, $4,989
• Damontae Kazee, $6,597
• Arthur Maulet, $8,528
• Alex Highsmith, $6,495
• Malik Reed, $8,333

No word on if the team was fined (should've been!!!, and perhaps a suspension for the D Coordinator as well!!!), but that was a total of $135,004.

NO FLAGS WERE THROWN.  Any representation of a gun is supposed to be 15, refs!!!

More Week 12:

• Denver Broncos:  Delarrin Turner-Yell:  $4,379 for a face mask.
• Green Bay Packers:  Adrian Amos:  $11,139 for a low block.

I think we now have our answer as to how the Jets went from 5-2 to 7-8...

Well, well, well...

As Brian Tuohy would quote:  "There are no coincidences."   

One of the oddest stories of later in this season is the complete collapse of the New York Jets.

After a 23 point win over the Dolphins and 17 over the Packers, the Jets were 5-2.

They've lost six of eight and are basically out of the playoffs, losing tiebreakers to most of the teams around them (Jacksonville and the Patriots)...

What we found out today, I think, answers the question...

Jets wide receivers coach Miles Austin has been thrown out of the NFL, banned for life, reinstatement in at least one year -- gambling.

The NFL had been investigating him for some time, ESPN sources noted, and there is at least the violation that it appears some degree of sports gambling was taking place on team property (which is one violation).

Even gambling on sports at all is a second, but the report indicates the NFL or college football was not involved.

In a twist:  Players could at least gamble on non-NFL sports.  Team personnel like coaches cannot.

Rape wins again in Major League Baseball.

I guess it shouldn't be a surprise when name quarterbacks include the likes of Jameis Winston and DeShaun Watson...

But an arbitrator just reinstated Trevor Bauer, meaning the Dodgers, keep or release, are on the hook for his third year of salary.

I have gone on, as the day is long on this blog, talking about how many rapes and the like have been excused, if not applauded, due to the fact that the perp is important because they need him on the field for their town or city or whatever to look good on Friday Night and all that shit...

But some of this is now just bordering on absurd.  And if no one is actually going to do anything to prevent these monsters from taking the field, you leave a lot of the rest of us with only the two options of believing we should've been the same monsters or actually getting up off our asses and taking the pitcher Dodger fans now call TuBerculosis and doing the job ourselves.

This isn't the first time that a rapist/sexual assault monster has been coddled to this extent, but it does seem that it's getting more egregious -- and that, by the way, MAGAts, is what some of us are Woke about...

It almost appears (much in the same way that an old Password clue of "Secretary" was necessary to get "Lap") that rape and sexual assault (as well as pedophilia and other things, but that's not endemic to this post) are actual job qualifications, if not REQUIREMENTS to be successful in America.

Isn't that right, Piece of the Ultimate Shit King Orange???

And that's before we get to the part where Trevor Bauer needs illegal adhesives to even be able to effectively pitch...

But he's IMPORTANT...

That degree of "importance" is why people get attacked.  Like Dave Chappelle, who got rightly jumped in May -- too bad he's too fucking important and the guy who did the right thing and held him truly answerable is serving 270 days in an LA jail as a result!

Congratulations, arbitrator:  You just signed off on this monster piece of shit...

December 22, 2022 News and Notes

• One of the largest straight-up college basketball upsets in history as a 31.5-point underdog Eastern Illinois defeated Iowa on Wednesday night.
• Most sportsbooks, according to ESPN Chalk, did not release a money line for an Eastern Illinois win.
• The rosters for the reimagined Pro Bowl Games were released Wednesday night.  Very few of the losing teams' players got in -- the nine non-playoff teams, as of today, in the NFC, for example, had only eight Pro Bowlers between them.
• Tua Tagovailoa was the largest fan vote-getter, but was NOT selected as one of the AFC quarterbacks.
• The Bears nor the Jaguars got a player in at all.
• Pele's cancer situation is deteriorating -- he will spend at least Christmas in a Brazilian hospital.  There are impacts of COVID therein as well.
• Former Broncos running back Ronnie Hillman passed away of liver cancer and pneumonia...  at THIRTY-ONE.  I agree.  Not fair.   
• The Google move is confirmed for NFL Sunday Ticket.  NFL Sunday Ticket will probably become the main selling point of the overpriced YouTube TV service.
• The president of Barcelona (soccer club) has called upon UEFA to smash the EPL by getting behind the Super League concept.  Not to mention it kills all of the other remaining domestic soccer leagues, but no one wants THAT inconvenient truth!   

2022 NFL Week 15 Ratings Report

Sports Media Watch with the numbers again...

• Thursday (Amazon, 49ers-Seahawks):  5.0 rating, 10.3 million viewers.
• Saturday on NFL Network/local:

1. Vikings-Colts:  3.6 rating, 7.06 million
2. Ravens-Browns:  4.4, 8.97 million
3. Dolphins-Bills:  5.4, 11.06 million

• Sunday Single (FOX:  Cowboys-Jaguars):  9.1 rating, 18.66 million viewers, even coming straight out of the World Cup Final.
• Sunday National (CBS:  Tom Bradys-Bengals):  11.2 rating, 21.45 million viewers.
• Sunday Regional (CBS:  Chiefs-Texans):  7.9 rating, 14.83 million
• Sunday Night (NBC:  Commanders-Giants):  8.4 rating, 15.38 million.
• Monday Night's numbers were not up for Packers-Rams as of writing.
• It appears that Google will win the NFL Sunday Ticket bidding -- part of YouTube TV going forward????  Apple, the long-running favorite, bowed out last week.

This mad offseason in baseball may finally have had the steam pipe explode on it!!

It's been bad enough to begin with.

It's clear that the MLB owners knew that we were accusing them of collusion to hold salaries back the last couple of years, COVID notwithstanding.

This offseason, quite the opposite.  Hundreds of millions being spewed forth.

But the whole thing might finally have come completely set off with what has happened the last 72 hours.

Former Asterisk Carlos Correa was the latest to cash in on the bonanza for top-level players, as it was announced over last weekend that he signed a decade-plus-long contract with the San Francisco Giants for $350 million.

But then, Tuesday morning, word coming that the Tuesday introduction of Correa to the San Francisco media was postponed, and the purported cause was a medical issue coming up in Correa's Giants physical.

When I found out what happened, I questioned how it could happen...  But my anonymous baseball-fan friend once again comes through:  The Giants got cold feet, and for 10 years and $310,000,000, the Mets snagged Correa Tuesday night.

Anyone still bitching about the Dodgers, except Dodger fans who think the Dodger strategy is not to win by so much in the regular season, the team goes flat in October and renders it useless?  (Andrew Friedman, you're fired if they don't win it all this year, for as little as you've meaningfully done this offseason.)

The Mets are trying to buy multiple titles.

How blunt is this?

The current estimated payroll of the Mets, plus penalties, appears to exceed $450 million.

I think the only question is how many teams at the bottom of the payroll structure, combined, are going to be the total payroll of the Mets?

And are we going to see these bottom teams spend Dollar One to field a competitive team, or are we doomed to about 4,000 a game in Oakland again this year???

EDIT TO ADD 9:25 PM PDT:  The Giants are sticking with the "physical" story.  Using HIPAA limitations, they can't go into specifics, but a team statement said "there was a difference in opinion" regarding the results of Correa's Giants physical.

2022 Super Fraud of the Year, And It's NOT CLOSE... Fuck you, you infant...

Usually, I do at least this declaration on New Year's Eve or such, but this one's so obvious -- and so recently finished -- that I do believe I can do this, even with the bald-faced NFL rigging and throwing and manipulating and all that stuff.

But, unfortunately, that pales in comparison to a Super Fraud which wrapped money, oil, obscene power, corruption, and murder into a package -- which, when eventually finally opened, was manipulated into such an event that this picture, with FIFA President Gianni Infantino handing the World Cup to Leo Messi of champion Argentina...

But the key figure of the three in the picture is the grinning son-of-a-bitch behind them.  

Shiekh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the head of state (Emir) of Qatar, could only smile at the barbarism he and his country were able to package a World Cup, seen by those choosing to ignore all the human rights garbage inflicted on basically everyone around them as one of the greatest ever...

• The murder of hundreds, if not thousands, of migrant workers, in the name of constructing the stadiums for this farce.
• In fact, I recall years ago that, when the bid was won, the proposed entire city where the third-place match was to take place didn't even exist.
• At least three major journalists killed during the event, ostensibly by various non-nefarious causes, but, at the minimum, at least one was COVID-related (even if his wife denies it!), and it was clear that anyone in the World Cup area was subject to Qatar's monstrous policies...
• Chief among them the complete denial of any even pro-LGBTQ statement to support the fans or oppose FIFA for even thinking (much less executing) this cup in Qatar.  It is clear that FIFA's anti-racism and anti-LGBTQ talk is just talk (else Mexico never would've been in the Cup to begin with, among others).
• And how many LGBTQ's were murdered in Qatar we don't know about during the Cup?
• Which could not have ever happened without THIS, as reported by Nick Harris of SportingIntelligence...

Well that was a crazy 12-year ride. A World Cup cycle that started in 2010 with Qatar being awarded a 2022 (summer) tournament it could never have delivered (and didn't), by the most corrupt electorate in global sport. pic.twitter.com/8aMYNyGts9

— Nick Harris (@sportingintel) December 18, 2022

Of the 22 men who formed the committee to vote the Middle East this World Cup:

• Ten have been banned from the sport for corruption.
• Eight have been either sanctioned or charged criminally for same.
• Five of the eight were indicted by the United States Federal Government
• And two were accused, but never prosecuted.
• And of the 22 men, only six were not one or more of those facts.

And the worst part of this may be what to come:

Given the plaudits the games were themselves (won't be covered in specifics) and the key movement of Cristiano Ronaldo, who is now almost certain to move from Manchester United to Saudi Arabia for an abject obscene sum, one has to wonder a very prescient question:

Are we about to see the coffers open up even further than the LIV Tour in golf and other sports where it is possible, and we make the Middle East (either financially, physically, or both!!!) the center of sports, to the places where it can be done?

And that infant (his name is so appropriate) at the head of FIFA all but would've allowed LGBTQ executions at halftime of the Final if he could've gotten away with it.  That fucker is governed by one thing:  Money.  And anyone with the possibility of same (starting with the LIV Tour and Ronaldo) will join him into the arms of MbS, Emir Al Thani, etc.

Blood money is on the massive uptick.  With Augusta National Golf Club apparently willing to allow LIV golfers in The 2023 Masters, you could end up with The Masters being an LIV Tour event, due to PGA Tour boycotts.

So fuck you FIFA President Infant and your anti-LGBTQ friends in FIFA.  I can finally watch some soccer again now that Christmas has hit.

December 21, 2022 News and Notes

• Literally two days short of the 50th anniversary of The Immaculate Reception, Franco Harris has died at age 72.  No, because of the limitations of camera angles, etc., I don't think we will ever truly know if he actually caught that ball before it hit the ground, etc.
• Carlos Correa, after an issue with his physical with the Giants, has now dropped that $350 million contract and signed one for just about as much...  with the Mets!!!
• It's now OFFICIALLY his team. The Yankees have named Aaron Judge the captain of the team -- the first Yankee to hold that distinction since Derek Jeter's 2014 retirement.

December 20, 2022 News and Notes

• The Masters will allow LIV golfers in it's 2023 edition, according to ESPN.
• And I have to ask...  I just have to ask...
• WHO OR WHAT FOISTED THIS FASHION CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY ON HER CHRISTMAS TOUR, just completed??
• (And if you can't see the humor behind that, I do not -- in any way, shape or form -- know what to tell you...)
• Yes (in the event Instagram gets cranky), that is Debbie Gibson, dressing herself, and her backup dancers and singers, in full-length ugly-Christmas-sweater pajamas...
• shakes head morosely  Back to the regularly scheduled programming...
• There has, with an Army player actually purported to go high in the NFL Draft, been some discussion as to whether football players for the service academies should be allowed to make the attempt.  The only thing I have to say about it is:  If their eight-year service commitment (yes, it's that long!) is that ironclad, then the Army, Navy, and Air Force need out of college-pro sports today.   
• Jalen Hurts has a sprained shoulder and will sit out this week's Eagles-Cowboys showdown.  The former may be more significant than the latter -- the magic number to win the division is 1.   
• Oh, and we have to add the Rams to the list now:  After that non-competitive loss Monday night to the Packers, the defending Super Bowl champions, with three weeks to go in one of the most even seasons in history, forgot the First Rule:  "DON'T GET ELIMINATED!!!"
• This makes the Rams 4-10.  The worst record for any team after winning the Super Bowl was the 6-10 Broncos the year after Elway retired.
• The Rams are the eighth team to have a losing record the year after they won the Super Bowl.
• The Raiders, after throwing and losing the rigged Super Bowl to the Buccaneers, went 4-12 the next year.  So, if the Rams lose out, they will have the worst record of any team ever to even appear in the Super Bowl the previous year -- and they have to win out to prevent themselves from being the worst record of any team ever to win the Super Bowl the previous year.
• A day after ESPN put the entire top brass of the Phoenix Suns on blast for enabling Robert Sarver's culture, they report today that mortgage lender Mat Ishbia is paying FOUR BILLION for the team.  Talk about "mint to make money" in professional sports.  What have the fucking Phoenix Suns done, including the damage their corporate culture has done to the National Basketball Association, to be worth four billion dollars????  
• ESPECIALLY because, only three years ago, the Brooklyn Nets were sold for a then-record $2.35 billion, the same report notes.  HOW IN THE FUCKING HELL is that Phoenix team worth even half the Brooklyn amount?  The market stinks, the team has accomplished really nothing, and that's before you get to Sarver.  Something STINKS about this, and BAD!!!   
• Sarver bought the team in 2004 for a then-record...  $401 million.
• There does appear to be at least one possible vote against him:  Ishbia has had a long feud with the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers.
• There was also report that Ishbia was a possible candidate for ownership of the Washington Commanders.
• Diana Kipyokei has been stripped of last year's Boston Marathon title and will be banned through the LA Olympics:  Not only a positive drug test but lying to officials about it.  Edna Kiplagat is the new champion, and, at 41 at the time, she is the oldest in history to win the women's Boston Marathon.

2022 NFL Week 15 Score Report

Thought there might be more to that Monday nighter...

• 45.25 points per game this week -- average for the year up to 44.09.
• Home teams 9-7 this week, 119-96-2 for the year.
• Over went 8-8 (including a bad beat when the Pack knelt out at the 1 at a total of 36 with the betting total of 40) this week, 101-121-2 for the year.
• Against the number, Vegas wins again:  6-9-1 for 96-118-7 for the year.
• Straight up, 12-4 for the week, 142-75-2 for the year.
• Team with more penalties this week was 6-9, 83-111-2 for the year.
• 186 penalties for the week (11.625 per game), 2677 for the 224 games so far (just short of 12 per game).
• There were 3 non-competitive games this week, including the Monday nighter (way to completely expose the last Super Bowl as a complete rigged fraud, Rams!!!), 53 for the year.

The story of the week was the rest of the NFL booking:

• 11 of the 16 games finished within one score, meaning 132 out of the 224 games so far this season have been eight points or less margin.  Basically three out of every five games.
• 6 Last Chance Misses, 82 for the season.
• But the big one:  SEVEN CLIFFHANGERS, including three doubles.  55 Cliffhangers for the year.

Remember, bulk of the schedule on Christmas Eve Saturday next week!

December 19, 2022 News and Notes

• An ESPN investigation indicates the NBA is going to have to blow up the Phoenix Suns -- Robert Sarver may have created the culture, but most of the executives with the team carried it out too.
• More proof of rigging:  Neither Jeff Saturday, Jakobi Meyers, nor any official has been fired for what took place Saturday or Sunday.  Get a clue, people!   

2022 NFL Week 15 Political Rankings

If there is anyone left who believes the NFL is not scripted/rigged/manipulated after this weekend, I don't know what to tell you.

So let's take a look at the current situation, as I see the NFL's current "booking".

I, honestly, believe we can distill the NFL, as far as serious either Super Bowl contenders, or, at the very least, teams who are going to figure in the mix to get there, down to seven teams:  Three in the AFC, four in the NFC.

AFC:

1) Buffalo

2) Kansas City

3) Cincinnati

NFC:

1) Philadelphia

2) Minnesota

3) Dallas

4) San Francisco

That, to me, is the present extent of where this season is going.

Every team on that list, sans Cincinnati, is already in the playoffs.

Cincinnati-San Francisco would be a great "backup plan" Super Bowl, and their inclusions on the list are because Cincy has a six-game winning streak and San Francisco has won seven in a row.

I think the only real question some might have is why, even with Dallas' loss, do I now have Minnesota #2 in the NFC?

It's not by much, but it's two realities of the NFL's booking:

First, since San Francisco and Minnesota are doing so well, it's almost impossible for the league to get Philly-Dallas to the NFC title game.  (If both San Francisco and Minnesota win on wild-card weekend, then Dallas (provided it beats whatever comes out of that NFC Suck swamp) must face Philly on divisional weekend, because Dallas is the lowest remaining seed.

The other reason is to take a look at Minnesota.

ESPN has said (in perpetrating kayfabe) that the fact that Minnesota has only a point-differential of +2 makes them pretenders.

But look how the league is booking this year:  Nine of the 15 games this week have been Cliffhangers, Last Chance Misses, or both.

The 11-3 Vikings have won TEN GAMES by one possession this season so far.  

Five of them have been Minnesota Cliffhangers.  Nine have involved one or more Last Chance Misses.

I have said all year that the Vikings bring nothing to the table -- and they, otherwise, really don't.  But if the NFL wants to script every Fantastic Finish (reg tm) they can provide (and remember last year's playoffs if you don't believe me on that regard!!!), the Vikings can fit the bill quite nicely!

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

Something I don't normally do is to take a look at the low-Wild Card end here.

AFC:  

The Chargers and Miami are in at 8-6.  The Jets and Patriots are out at 7-7.  There's a lot to say here, as all four teams are completely fatally flawed (no Charger fans, Miami's Tua fetish of the NFL has cooled, the Jets are simply the Jets, and the Patriots have nothing to offer).

I get the gut feeling that one of the 6-8 teams (the Jaguars, Browns, Steelers, and Raiders) will get in at 9-8.  I would want it to be the Jaguars, but I get the gut impression it's going to be DeRapist Rapist and the Browns.

NFC:

Washington is the 7 seed at 7-6-1, Seattle and Detroit are 7-7.

That's a very difficult decision, IMODO, between Seattle (12th man cult) and Detroit (worst to first, play for your coach, etc.).  Seattle has that tiebreaker due to a 48-45 win in Week 4, for the record.

I don't see Washington being a factor at all, with Dan Snyder and the headaches he's about to cause.

Could the NFL sneak Green Bay in the back door if they beat LA tonight and go 6-8?

2022 NFL Week 15 Kayfabe Rankings

With Monday Night being the "It Was A Good Idea At The Time" Bowl, between 5-8 Green Bay and 4-9 LA Rams, we can do the kayfabe rankings.

The NFL had it hands all over the damn pot this week.  Two situations in Vegas, two more in the Sunday nighter, and only the largest (rigged/scripted) comeback in league history the day before!!

AFC:

AFC East:  Buffalo 11-3 and IN THE PLAYOFFS.  All three other teams lost, so Miami is 8-6 and the Jets and Patriots are 7-7.

AFC North:  Cincinnati 10-4, Baltimore 9-5

AFC South:  Tennessee 7-7 (four losses in a row), and don't look now, JACKSONVILLE is 6-8!!

AFC West:  Kansas City has WON THE DIVISION and is 11-3, the Chargers are 8-6.

Tiebreakers:

Buffalo beat Kansas City for the #1 seed HTH.

Miami and the Chargers for the 6-7:  Chargers won last week for the #6 HTH, Miami #7.

1. BUF (11-3, AFC East leaders, IN THE PLAYOFFS, wins HTH tiebreaker over Kansas City)
2. KC (11-3, AFC West CHAMPIONS, loses HTH tiebreaker with Buffalo.)
3. CIN (10-4, AFC North leaders)
4. TEN (7-7, AFC South leaders)
5. BAL (9-5)
6. LAC (8-6, wins HTH tiebreaker over Miami)
7. MIA (8-6), loses HTH tiebreaker with the Chargers)

And Denver adds it's name to the list of the teams violating The One Rule:  "DON'T GET ELIMINATED!!!"

NFC:

NFC East:  Philadelphia (13-1) and Dallas (10-4) are both IN THE PLAYOFFS.  Giants are 8-5-1, Commanders 7-6-1.

NFC North:  Minnesota is NFC NORTH CHAMPIONS at 11-3, Detroit has clawed to 7-7!

NFC South:  Tampa Bay 6-8, the other three teams are 5-9.

NFC West:  San Francisco is NFC WEST CHAMPIONS at 10-4, Seattle is 7-7.

1. PHI (13-1, NFC East Leaders, Magic # Division:  1.  IN PLAYOFFS)
2. MIN (11-3, NFC North CHAMPIONS)
3. SF (10-4, NFC West CHAMPIONS)
4. TB (6-8, NFC Suck "Leaders")
5. DAL (10-4)
6. NYG (8-5-1)
7. WAS (7-6-1)

Meaning Detroit is 1/2 game out of the playoff tiebreakers.

2022 NFL Week 15 After Further Review Part Two

And the Sunday nighter has one to ensure the Giants win and Fuck Dan Snyder...

Look at this and tell me if that was a legal formation...

AND IT GETS WORSE!!!!

Terry McLaurin was seen pointing at the side official to make sure he was up at the line. McLaurin just told us in the locker room that he heard the official tell him he was good.

And then he was flagged for illegal formation. McLaurin still very frustrated.

— Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala) December 19, 2022

And then, keep watching on the fourth down:  Flagrant hook-around DPI in the end zone -- NO CALL, Giants win!

AND THIS ONE GETS WORSE TOO...

When the team owner causes as many headaches as Washington's does, your team doesn't get the calls. https://t.co/wpmZVv7vkR

— Brian Tuohy (@TheFixIsInTuohy) December 19, 2022

2022 NFL Week 15 After Further Review, Part One: Two candidates for Rigged Game of the Year so far this week!

We have our third deliberately thrown NFL game in the last 14 days.

And the second candidate for Rigged Game of the 2022-23 Regular Season in less than 24 hours!!!

Jakobi Meyers of the New England Patriots needs to be investigated for the lateral he threw directly to a Las Vegas Raider, who then scored the winning touchdown with no time left in the game.

Watch this.  Seriously.

And tell me that if the NFL were on the up and up, why someone in the league security would not literally be interrogating Meyers for a bribery situation.

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

And none of that happens without this Refball gem on the touchdown just before for the Raiders.

Keelan Cole is OUT OF BOUNDS with the toe of the second foot on this catch.

One replay is literally "Chalk Flew Up" on it.

Watch for yourself.  How you can be entertained by these games as legitimate sporting contests, I have no comprehension whatsoever.

December 18, 2022 News and Notes

• Semi-karma for the guy who wanted to cash in on Aaron Judge's 62nd home run ball.  Turned down a $3,000,000 offer to opt to put the ball up for auction.  Got HALF THAT! 

People ask me for evidence the games are rigged:

Here's the 64-yard touchdown pass to tie the game for Minnesota.

If you want to mute Jake the Asshole, go ahead so you can watch for yourself without any interference.

You tell me how professional athletes could have that happen, except by design?

YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME, NFL!!!!!

And here's the worst part of it:

Someone on one of the sites who pirates stuff like Redzone and some of the wrestling PPVs which I go to from time to time all but called it.

It was 33-0 Indianapolis at the half, and the Vikings could accomplish LESS THAN NOTHING.

Someone, RheniumCarbon on the site I go to, said basically:

"33-0, Vikings score 5 TDs in the second half."

WELL...

• MIN TD 8:22 left in the third for 33-7.
• IND then gets a FG for 36-7.
• MIN TD at 1:13 of the third for 36-14.
• IND 3 and out.
• MIN TD at 12:53 of the fourth for 36-21!
• One first down, then another 3 plays and out for IND.
• MIN is then picked off at the IND 2.  Down 15, 8:09 to go.
• IND 3 and out.
• MIN TD at 5:30 for 36-28!
• IND fumble at 3:28 gives MIN the ball at midfield after an unsportsmanlike on MIN.
• One first down, then lost on downs -- 7 plays in 33 seconds.  2:55 to go.
• Four and out, to the MIN 36 in 24 seconds.
• SIXTY-FOUR YARD TD PASS TO COOK, PLUS THE TWO, and we are tied 2:31 to go.

TWENTY-NINE UNANSWERED POINTS in THIRTEEN MINUTES AND FORTY-TWO SECONDS.

Nothing after that, and we go OT.

Each team gets an 8-play drive, and then six plays and 60 yards to win it with 3 seconds left for the Vikes.

Largest comeback in the history of the league.  Old record was the Music City Miracle, Titans over Bills, in the playoffs.  Teams with a 30 point or more lead in an NFL game since 1930 are 1,549-2!!!

Tenth one-score win for the 11-3 Vikings.  Only win outside that margin was the 23-7 win over the Packers in Week 1.

Five of those wins were with a score in the last two minutes or overtime.

Nine of the ten other wins were Last Chance Misses by one or both teams.

And some degenerate gambler needs to be shot out of a cannon:

Leading 33-0 at halftime, the Colts were -20,000 to beat the Vikings @PointsBetUSA.

The sportsbook took a $1,800 money-line bet on the Colts at that price (-20,000), per @strike3_yearout.

The bet would've paid a net $9.

— David Payne Purdum (@DavidPurdum) December 17, 2022

And you want to believe this is legitimate...

Really...