Super Bowl Last Man Standing: Early Betting Notes, etc.

• It appears Los Angeles is getting the bulk of the opening money.  What started out as LA -3 1/2 - -4 and a total of 50 has actually gone to -4 1/2 at Caesar's.  
• The early money also believes the game will go under the total, as the total has already dropped, according to Vegas Insider, to 48 1/2 on most books and 49 at the Wynn.
• The city of Cincinnati has already cancelled school for the Monday after the Super Bowl.

Day 652

• I know that there will probably be certain people who will dunk on me for doing this -- including at least one reader of this blog -- for what happened, with this person a great deal involved.  But I do feel it my duty:  A woman who I enjoyed the occasional crossing of swords with, former Debbie manager and always her mother, Diane Gibson, passed away last Sunday, the 23rd.  Deborah can say it better than I can.  Diane was 76.  A couple of years ago, Deborah asked her fans to keep a then-recent Diane health scare quiet during her Mixtape Tour with NKOTB, Tiffany, and others -- so it was clear Diane was not in good health the last several years.  Diane's obituary notes she passed of natural causes, however -- which, given our COVID-ravaged society, is far better than some ways to go.  
• In an article I'm shocked ESPN let see print, much less made it it's top-page article on it's website this afternoon:  Former major-leaguer Doug Glanville with an opinion piece on the players who lost jobs to steroid freaks like Barry Bonds, and why Bonds should never be in the Hall of Fame "for having a better pharmacist".
• Mason Greenwood of Manchester United was arrested and is in jail over rape and assault charges of a 20 year old who posted her injuries to her Instagram.  Police want more time to question him.  Both the team and his Nike sponsorship have suspended him, pending the legal action.
• And let the groaning from Michigan continue -- it appears Jim Harbaugh has a legitimate interest in being the next head coach of the Minnesota Vikings.  Didn't he say -- yes, I know it means nothing -- he wanted to stay at Michigan after the CFP loss??   
• The University of Nebraska has slightly changed it's mascot.  It's used the "OK" symbol which has been co-opted by White Right groups into a "WP" symbol.
• February 14th will be a public mass memorial for John Madden at the old Oakland Coliseum.  Tickets will go on sale soon, and all proceeds to benefit the John Madden Foundation.
• Over 100 truckers at the US-Canadian border in Alberta are protesting Canadian vaccine mandates by blockading that border-crossing completely to all traffic.  Sounds like some of you "freedom"-loving COVIDiots wanna go.  Be careful what you fucking wish for, jackasses.   
• It's official in that everyone jumped the gun:  Tom Brady himself announced today no decision has been made on retirement, that he's still going through the process of the decision.
• Spurred by all the abuse problems within the NWSL, the players and owners of the NWSL have ratified the first-ever women's professional soccer collective bargaining agreement.

An Unknown Idea: The Famous Jets Coach Was Wrong

You can thank "Unknown" for this, though any actual NFL on-field highlights here are going to have to be linked, because of the NFL's non-permission for direct embedding of their content, that you would have to click through to YouTube.  Not my rules, theirs.

But Unknown, in the course of a couple of comments he's made (and thinking that I care how many "followers" or "clicks" or whatever I have -- I don't make anything from this) basically pulled out the old Herm Edwards standby:

Herm, bless ya, but you'd have to explain a number of these situations.

1) Whenever I hear anyone talk about "You Play To Win The Game", my first go-to is this play from the NFC playoffs, divisional round, 2013-14.  Marques Colston of the Saints, down eight to the Seahawks with ten seconds to go, throws an illegal forward lateral by at least five yards to run out the clock with the penalty when he could've stepped out of bounds and given the Saints a chance for the TD and 2 to tie it.

And CBS found out afterward the call to actually lateral the ball across the field, as non-sensical as that was before the lateral went forward, came from the Saints sideline!  If that does not CONFIRM the game was fixed and scripted and that Colston was acting under NFL orders to lose the game, I don't know what to tell you.  There.  Is.  No.  Other.  Explanation.  Watch the play for yourself.

2) It's Super Bowl XLIX.  After a penalty, there are 26 seconds to go in the game.  The Seahawks, down four, have the ball at the New England 1-yard line with Marshawn Lynch on the field.  If "You Play To Win The Game", HOW IN GOD'S NAME do you do THIS?

Even if you have a mass pileup at the 1 and they somehow stop him on the first play, you have at least enough time to down the ball and take two more shots.  WHY, if you are playing to win the game, are you not playing to your absolute strength in that call and Beast Moding your way to another title?

(Which is why I will never disagree with this fan, staged or not...)

3) I know Pat McAfee is a character.  But someone has to explain to me...

Again, under the premise of "You Play To Win The Game", what the Hell is this?

No, serious question.  That makes so little sense, what the Hell is that?

4) I could probably add the Tony Romo playoff fumble if you're a believer in the Jessica Simpson situation.  (That's more, if "You Play To Win The Game", you take care of your business so that you have your mind on the game during the game and that doesn't happen!)

5) A more general one:  Have we ever gotten an accurate and acceptable explanation as to why Malcolm Butler was benched for Super Bowl LII?

(There's some belief about Todd Gurley in the last Rams Super Bowl, but Gurley was apparently nursing a knee injury.  This came out of the blue just before the game.)

I'll do more, but that's a start.  There are some things that you look at (and I know I've mentioned a significant number of them in the blog -- like the recently-completed Iron Bowl, to give a college example).  The point being:  In a cooperative situation, which is what American sports are at the pro and college-pro levels, you do not play to win the game.

You are employed by the league first and your team second.

Super Bowl Last Man Standing: Oof...

This is what happens when plans change.

This is what happens when you run out of palatable options and you end up with a toss scenario.

And it's not 100% out of the question to see Cincinnati actually win the Super Bowl this year.  (Sorry, Drew Carey!!)

But you lose the Tampa angle, which takes out New England.

Kansas City Chief (or at least a future one with a contract to the team) melts down for the second time in eight weeks and gets arrested again -- see ya, Pat, Andy, etc.!

Tennessee was probably never really an option.

Any thought of Las Vegas went poof pretty early when Jon Gruden was exposed as an idiot, much less all the other stuff, including the same future Chief mentioned above the FIRST time he got canned this season!

Buffalo, I don't think was ever really considered for the same reason Arizona is never really considered.  (This may change next year, with the SB in Arizona.)

Major injuries at key positions take out the likes of Baltimore.  A rapist/sex offender at the same key positions takes out the likes of Houston.

And the AFC is left with the Last Man Standing: 65-1 at Draft Kings to start the year:  Cincinnati.

NFC?  Not much better.

Discipline issues take out Dallas.

COVIDiot issues take out Green Bay.

Just plain idiot issues take out Tampa Bay.

And you're left with LA, even though Stan Kroenke has demanded the league pay his legal bills.

So I can't 100% not consider the unthinkable in September and Cincinnati wins the Super Bowl.

But damn if I'm going to have one ounce of an idea until we find out if anyone associated with the two franchises gets arrested or the like over the two weeks.

Stay tuned.  This one's gonna be interesting if nothing else.

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

LA is a 3.5 point favorite as installed.  I would think that number will get to 2.5, especially given the league's penchant over the playoffs.

Irrespective of whether I think LA or Cincinnati will win the game, if that number stays 3.5, I would openly suggest, given the league's wants, taking Cincinnati and the points.

This is about the point people think that the games are legit, but two problems in this specific case...

1)  That second Damon Arnette arrest has to loom large in this.  (I didn't believe it might be, because of the fact he wouldn't be with the team until the 2022 league year started, plus the absolute ghetto nature of the halftime and the presentation of LVI.)  

The Kansas City Chiefs are one of the WORST TEAMS, as it relates to the caliber of men they get in their franchise. (Think Dallas, yet WORSE!)  If there were plans to push Mahomes in the Super Bowl, it really does sound like Saturday chucked those plans in the wastebasket like a wad of paper.

If the Kansas City Chiefs had any kind of conscience at all, from at least their coach on down, that's Mahomes probably going for his third title in a row two weeks from now.

Now, for at least the THIRD TIME (Hill situation scuttling one season, the Britt Reid arrest Super Bowl Week scuttling another), the Chiefs are left wanting and it's their own goddamn fault!

Dump Andy Reid, for starters.  Get a conscience running the football operations and clean house of all the conduct and discipline issues with the franchise.  You have the guy the NFL wants to push as The Next Man.  How many more seasons does he have before that's no longer the case?

2) Five consecutive games now  -- the entire divisional round and the AFC title game -- all with tying or winning field goals at the regulation gun.

I ask people this (especially people like "Unknown"):  What are the chances that any five consecutive NFL games would end not only with that outcome, but with that precise outcome, that all five games end with tying/winning field goals at the regulation gun?

I'll wait -- this oughta be fun!

As of hitting "Publish", the NFC game is 7-7 with 6 minutes to go in the first half.

UPDATE TO ADD:  ALL SIX GAMES of the Divisional and Championship Rounds are official Cliffhangers:  1:55 to go in the 4th, 17-all, and the Rams just kicked a field goal with 1:47 left for 20-17.

And that's the final.  LA vs. Cincy.

Day 651

• Vince McMahon got out of the way of the NFL and got his Royal Rumble in Saturday night.
• And it's Part Timer Mania again:  Brock Lesnar (after losing the Raw title to Bobby Lashley) and Ronda Rousey are your Royal Rumble winners.  yay...  joy /s *twirls middle finger*   
• Why are you expecting ANYONE to watch Raw and Smackdown, Vince?  Fucking idiot.
• Predictions for the games today:  LA vs. Kansas City -- BLM Super Bowl.
• And the first one wrong anyway.  Third recent time that conduct issues have probably scuttled a big Kansas City run.
• Interesting game today in the CONCACAF World Cup Qualifiers.  The United States is in Hamilton to face FIRST PLACE UNDEFEATED Canada.  Canada already has a win and a draw over Mexico and a draw with the United States in the eight-team group -- from which three directly qualify to Qatar for a November-December World Cup and a fourth goes to an interconfederational playoff.  They've drawn that opponent.  It's Oceania, probably New Zealand.
• And Canada wins 2-0!!!  Canada is all but certain, with four rounds to go, to WIN the CONCACAF Qualifer Finals group.
• And we lost Howard Hesseman today to complications of colon cancer surgery.  He was 81.
• In one of the most incredible things, especially when we find out what the odds were of Cincinnati winning the NFC title were at the start of the season:  CBS, the AFC network, had Drew Carey use The Price is Right's "Punch a Bunch" board to "select" the "predictions" of the conference champions at the start of the season.  NFC:  New Orleans Saints.  loser horns   
• He actually found the hole with the Bengals for the AFC!!!! clangs and whoops  
• Even as of December 23rd, Cincinnati was still +800.
• Finally found something I think was Draft Kings:  +6500 at the start of the season -- 65-1!!!
• Action Rush, one of the few websites I found who had it, didn't even have Cincinnati in the top TEN of the 16 AFC teams bet for the conference championship.

Not so fast, world! You all want to be "FIRST!", but you screw all of us in the pursuit!!!

So I wake up today to word from one of my readers:  That the reader will be glad to not hear about the Antichrist, including from my blog!

At this point, even trying to shake myself awake, it takes about 5 minutes to realize what my reader and friend is saying:  Tom Brady had been reported to have announced his retirement through an associated Twitter account.  (Not the circumstances, just that he had retired.)

And the next thought I have is:  "Hmmm...  That's strange.  I'd think that, if there were any chance of THIS, he'd be going out like Peyton, Ray-Ray, and Jerome Bettis did -- with a retirement Lombardi."

We got to talking, and my friend made a very good point in counter:  There was a very good chance this was Gisele putting her high heel in Tom's forehead and stating that he was to end his career now while there was at least a chance he had a brain left to unscramble and that the illegal drugs he was taking weren't compromising his manhood.  (Well, half that:  The Gisele part. The part about the drugs is mine!)

And that discussion would've taken place this week, so Goodell couldn't manipulate things in his favor for one more Brady run.

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

That's all fine and good, except for one problem, and it started coming out in Sports Illustrated slightly after I woke up.

That was news to Bruce Arians, the coach of the Buccaneers.

(Late reports from SI also say his father also has not heard of the decision.)

And, eventually, there was reason for that:  The tweet had been retracted and his agent had to go all over the place, stating you'll hear it from Tom first.

The situation, as best I can glean it, is that someone, for whatever reason, posted a tweet which basically went the level of "Thanks for all the memories", etc. -- and everyone who had the interest of being "FIRST!" made the report that Brady had announced.

As of present writing, Deadspin is reporting that the decision has been made, and it is to retire (which would explain why ESPN is still in post-mortem mode on Brady's career, and hasn't appeared to retract the "reports" from earlier in the day).  The only thing is the timing -- which I can see, because Brady retiring before the Super Bowl will overshadow the entire event.

(Edit to add:  To give you an idea of how ridiculous Tom Brady has been to an entire generation of the NFL, SI has no less than SIX STORIES on the front page about him as of 7:30 PM Pacific January 29, 2022.)

That said...

sigh

Just like the Amy news on Jeopardy! earlier this week (though, admittedly, this on a much larger scale!), seems to be the Internet's great obsession with being...

"FIRST!!!!!!!"

First to comment.

First to come up with the news.

Etc. and so forth and so on.

No one thought to ask the relevant people the relevant backup questions.

And now you have all the scurrying around and post-mortems and all that stuff.

And I can get the joke that he deserves two or three such rounds of this, but still...

Stay tuned, and we'll see who's right on this one.

Day 650

• In the SECOND move today which will come across as shocking -- the first will get it's own discussion at some point -- Nick Kyrgios is a Grand Slam tennis champion, winning the Australian Open men's doubles championship with fellow countryman (Greek by birth, Australian by current living) Thanasi Kokkinakis.
• Damon Arnette has been fired from his second NFL team -- he was supposed to, once the NFL league year started in March, try to relaunch his career in Kansas City after being fired from the Raiders.  He won't be:  Arrested in Las Vegas AGAIN on two counts of assault with a deadly weapon, an unpermitted gun, (I assume Federal charges of/a large quantity of) marijuana possession, and possession of another controlled substance.
• At least one of the fans in Philadelphia who drew the ire of Carmello Anthony during a game with the Lakers this week has been banned from all future games going forward.  Anyone else noticing we're seeing more of this?   
• In a move which would probably surprise no one and cause most Michigan fans to groan -- there is now talk of the Vikings getting permission to talk to Jim Harbaugh to become the new head coach.
• Indonesia will host a World Esports Championships this year -- in the idea to eventually attempt to get the genre on the Olympic programme.  However, the country's anti-doping situation is non-compliant, so WADA is protesting the decision.  And if you think that's a complete misnomer -- hoo boy, have you got some education coming on e-sports.   

The Winter Olympic Virus: Day -6

• In what may be a vision of the future of the Games:  A guest list of the dignitaries for the Opening Ceremony next Friday is reported to be filled with authoritarian leaders.  I reiterate:  I do firmly believe the funereal theme of the Tokyo Opening Ceremony was at least a harbinger of the death knell of the Games as even a supposed beacon of the free world.   
• IOC President Thomas Bach is hailing a new (Chinese) winter sport audience for these Games.
• In a move I and many athletes are certain is a joke, Inside the Games is reporting that pillow fighting (serious pillow fighting) is being proposed as one of the modern pentathlon replacements.
• Drone racing is another possibility.
• Modern pentathlon is being thrown off the Olympic programme after Paris, after the horse-abuse controversies in Tokyo.
• 54 Olympic competitors, officials, and coaches have tested positive for COVID, 19 yesterday.
• Canada has reported five.
• We are about 72 hours from the opening events of the Games.  Wednesday morning, our time, will be the beginning of the mixed doubles curling events -- like the last games, the amount of curling in the Games requires, much like the hockey of both genders, an extended tournament past the Opening Ceremony.

The Winter Olympic Virus: Day -7

• Norway may be well on it's way to having it's cross-country team gutted due to COVID.  Two-time Olympic gold medalist Simon Hegstad Kruger is out for at least part of the Games due to the virus.
• An interesting twist in the Peng Shuai story -- the IOC is attempting to broker a meeting between Shuai and IOC president Thomas Bach.  Bach has said that, if possible, the meeting will take place inside one of the Olympic bubbles.
• South Korea will partially diplomaticly boycott the Opening Ceremony -- instead of the President of South Korea, the sports minister will take his place at the event one week from today.
• More countries are being asked to diplomaticly boycott the Games.  I think it should be far more than that, and not just for China's human-rights abuses.   
• The International Paralympic Committee President, Andrew Parsons, will not attend the Games.  He has COVID right now.  The Winter Paralympics start March 4th.
• Four-time Olmypic equestrian gold medalist Judger Beerbaum is suing a German broadcaster for revealing that Beerbaum is under criminal investigation in Germany for illegal training techniques and abuse of the horses.
• At least three, and possibly four, Paris 2024 events are being moved to other parts of the country:

1. Volleyball
2. Badminton
3. Swimming are confirmed moved
4. Shooting is the next possible move to a venue three hours south of the main Olympic area.

• Pita Tautafalua will not be competing at these Games, as he's been taking time to deal with the rebuilding of Tonga after the tsunami from an underwater volcano explosion last week.
• In the first sensical statement a Russian sporting official has probably said in years:  The head of the Russian Ski Federation has opined that the Beijing Winter Olympics should have been postponed.  Oh my God...  Blind squirrel, stopped clock...   

Day 649

• And, as all too often happens, the defeat of the ultrachamp has resulted in another champion's defeat, as Rhone Talsma was one and done as champion on Jeopardy!   
• Verbal altercation in Philadelphia with the Lakers' Carmello Anthony over about four or five possessions finally had Anthony approach the fans, but the fans were ejected before anything else happened.
• Riding has been dropped from the Olympic Modern Pentathlon as a result of the abuse situation at the Tokyo Games.  Three or four replacements are being sought, and one of them will be trialed at the World Cup in Russia in March.
• Following the crowd crush which killed at least eight in an African Cup of Nations match, two quarterfinals and a semifinal have been moved to venues believed more robust to prevent a repeat of said event.
• In a continued move to apparently make Super Bowl LVI a BLM event, three of the officiating crew are African-American.  Deadspin points out, however, that, as of today, there is only ONE African-American head coach in the League.

The Winter Olympic Virus, Day -8

• Ominous signs that the goodwill between nations will NOT be respected in Beijing.
• Already fiery signs from the Chinese hosts that the USA is interfering in the Games by their and other diplomatic boycotts.  They should stand fortunate that the USA wrongly left it at a DIPLOMATIC boycott.   
• German snowboarding officials are claiming the Chinese are going to tamper with COVID test results, probably for the advantage of the home nation on the medal stand.  The Chinese deny this claim.
• Several Norwegian cross-country skiers are positive for COVID and may not be able to make the competition.  That is one of the main avenues where Norway has become the Winter Olympic power in the last couple of decades.   

Day 648

• Amy Schneider has been defeated and her run ends at forty.
• Rhone Talsma, a Chicago librarian, defeated Schneider on last night's Jeopardy! program.
• Schneider's bane was another Final Jeopardy miss -- The only nation in the world ending in H -- also one of the 10 most populous:  What is Bangladesh?  Schneider had no answer.
• And, yes, both the Internet news and the game-show community spared no fucking time to spoil the result once it aired in the Eastern and Central zones to the greater extent.  Fuck us for living on the West Coast, eh?
• Chris Mack has been fired at Louisville for not winning enough.  How about you clean up or abolish the program first, before you start thinking of "You gotta win games."?  
• A number of athletes have been nailed due to a collapse in the price of Bitcoin.  Couldn't happen to a nicer counterfeit "currency".   
• On November 8th, a Bitcoin was worth over $66,000.  It currently trades at $36,555.61.
• To the joy of UrinatingTree:  Captain Fatfuck is done.   Roethlesberger retired today.
• The NHL has sufficiently cleared Evander Kane to resume his career -- he will do so in Edmonton.

Day 647

• Peter Robbins succumbed to his mental illness and committed suicide in the last couple of days at age 65.  You've all heard him -- he was the voice of Charlie Brown in all those Peanuts cartoons.
• Unfortunately, Robbins was thrown in prison some point last decade when his mental illness showed out and he was jailed for making criminal threats.  Showing that there's not really that much "help" out there in the mental-health system except "Get this motherfucker away from me because we don't want him/her around..."
• Speaking of mental illness...  Antonio Brown is preparing to grievance or even sue the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.  One report has him claiming that his ankle was too injured...  So why the jumping jacks during that insane exit in New Jersey, idiot?   
• And here we go with the Annual "We Can't Have The Homeless Near OUR Super Bowl!!!" Movement:  Officials in Inglewood have removed and relocated homeless people and an encampment near SoFi Stadium.
• It appears that, to silence Kotaku and the rising discontent it has with Activision-Blizzard, the "Pat and Ian Podcast" is reporting that Activision-Blizzard is attempting to buy the Kotaku blog.

The Winter Olympic Virus: Day -9

• Breezy Johnson, one of the USA's best medal hopes on the slopes.  Or she was.  She's out because of a knee injury after a World Cup crash.
• Russian skater Mikhail Kolyada is out of Beijing:  COVID.
• Bobsledder Nikita Tregubov also appears to be COVID-eliminated from the Russian Olympic contingent.
• As also appears to be USA bobsledder Josh Williamson, also COVID-positive.  Guys, WE SHOULD NOT BE THERE.  AT ALL.  THESE GAMES CAN'T BE FEASIBLY HELD!
• Szilveszter Csollany, an Olympic gold medalist in gymnastics for Hungary has passed due to the virus at 51.
• A German Olympic supervisor has tested positive for COVID.
• The US contingent for the Games will apparently number 222.  That is nineteen fewer than four years ago.
• According to predictions and betting sites, Norway is being favored to repeat at the top of the medal table for the Winter Games.  Gracenote projects 45 medals for the Norwegians, 32 for the Illegal Russian Team, with six countries between 18 and 25.  USA?  22, same as Canada.
• Gracenote admits that 11 for the hosts might be a bit low, with Japan and Korea possibly being taken from if the number goes higher.

The Hall of Fame does the right thing on Bonds and Clemens. Now it needs to force MLB to do the rest.

Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens have had the door permanently slammed.

Today, they were denied their tenth and final opportunity at the writers' ballot, and there's no real chance, it is believed, through the Veterans' Committee.

Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa become the second and third members of the 500 Home Run Club to be denied because of steroids.  Mark McGwire was the first.

Gary Sheffield has two years left, Manny Ramirez has four, A-Rod just went on the ballot and was about 40% public ballots.  They all will also be denied for steroids.

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

SO WHY IN THE FUCKING HELL ARE WE PUTTING DAVID ORTIZ IN THE HALL?

Yep, they elected Ortiz and him alone:  77%.

And I fucking wanna know why.  It's clear that word has been coming out that Rob Manfred has been trying to stump for Ortiz, claiming his name on the initial positive test list of 104 was possibly a false test, and it never should've been publicized anyway.

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

ESPN is fucking caterwauling on the concept that the Hall should tell the story of the game.   (To wit my baseball-historian friend immediately thinks of Pete Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson -- exonerated from the Black Sox Scandal after many years.  As well as Hal Chase, also banned for throwing games in other respects.)

Barry Bonds, Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, Bud Selig (who should be thrown out of the Hall), and Donald Fehr should all be in Federal prison for their roles in taking (and in the last two cases, TRAFFICKING) steroids through the National Pastime at least from the resumption of play after the 1994 strike to the intervention of Congress.

And the BBWAA and the Hall are not blameless:  I said ten years ago that none of these roidies should be on the ballot.  (And my baseball-historian friend points out that Fred McGriff probably gets in from a clean era, but because of the fact we've skewed the numbers because of rampant drug-fueled match-fixing, he's never going in.)

The fact is that Bonds and Clemens should be on the Disqualified List, as should all others involved in steroids.  The reason we don't do it is simple:  There was AT LEAST a ten-year period in which the power of Major League Baseball trafficked these drugs not only to the athletes directly, but to the fans as a concept that "Steroids Saved Baseball".

And that is up to and including the then-Commissioner of Baseball, probably the head drug-pusher through the home run derbies of the late 90's and early 2000's.

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

And now, for the first time, the Baseball Writers Association of America has inducted a KNOWN steroid-user.  David Ortiz, one of the 104 names in the initial list, just went in -- and on the same ballot that slams the door to two steroid users far more "deserving" than him for the final time.

There are four people who need to be thrown out of the Hall for either participation in or sufficient suspicion in such:

1. Bud Selig, Commissioner, who should be in Federal prison for drug trafficking rather than in the Hall
2. Mr. "Thirty Pounds of Meat A Day" Jeff Bagwell, that statement alone all but confirming he was on the gas.
3. Ivan Rodriguez -- long believed to be using steroids and rumored (not confirmed like Ortiz) to be on the original list of 104.
4. Mike Piazza, for whom it appears steroids are one of the worst kept secrets of his career.

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

But, even so:

YOU MAKE A PRODUCTION NUMBER, BBWAA VOTERS, OF KEEPING OUT THE STEROID CHEATS.

You now have THREE members of the 500 Home Run Club denied induction -- the first three in the history of the game -- because they used.

You have three more who will be similarly denied for the same reason.

At what point do you demand that Major League Baseball, because of the overwhelming evidence against the home run records of Barry Bonds, strike the records from the books for his obvious use of steroids and that there would be no way he would be at 600 home runs (Fainaru-Wada, if I recall, said his non-steroid ceiling was just into the 500 HR Club), much less 756 or 73 in a season?

At what point do you demand that Major League Baseball put together a group of players, owners, and fans (no Congress!) to demand something real and actionable be done against the steroid cheats?

Because now you have two problems:

1. You have a KNOWN roidie in the Hall.  This isn't speculation like Bagwell or Piazza or maybe I-Rod.  This one's known.
2. And you do it the same year you deny Bonds and Clemens.

You've now opened the door two bad ways:

1. You now may have to throw out a number of voters, starting next year.  Because you have a certain percentage of voters who will take one look at the remaining people and do the same thing to them they did to McGriff -- and ballots may be starting to get blanked as a result.
2. You all but basically have affirmed that being affable to the media is more important than even the integrity of the game.

ORTIZ USED STEROIDS.  PERIOD.

And then you're going to deny Bonds and Clemens.

HYPOCRISY.  You've now got five to throw out!!!!

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

Bonds got to 66% in his final year.  Clemens, to 65.2%.

The temper tantrum by right-wing fuck Curt Schilling dropped him to 58%.  (But we note:  Only for the temper tantrum, at least for about 10-12% of the voters.  Not for the bigotry, etc. -- though it would be correct to state Curt Schilling will not see the Hall, but through the Veterans' Committee, because of his political beliefs...)

A-Roid got 34.3% in his first year.

Scott Rolen appears to be the next inductee, if he can get another 12% from his 63.2% he got in his fifth year.

Sosa fell to 18.5%.

I'd say Rolen has a decent chance, and history indicates that Todd Helton and Billy Wagner have good shots at about 50%.

But you take a look at those names and compare them to the names who are out and who will be out -- and then understand you have a KNOWN steroid user (no longer supposed, like Piazza, Bagwell, etc.) in the Hall.

I could easily see this group McGriffed.  There are going to be some ANGRY voters next year.  You watch.

Day 646

• Former Jeopardy! champion Tom Nichols has gone on record, asking the show to reinstate the 5-win limit -- stating that, after two or three wins, many contestants cannot overcome the advantage a champion has on the buzzer.  Tom, is this that we have had three 10+-win champs this year, or just WHO is the champion?  I smell a rat.   
• And a small degree of research appears to bear it out.  Non-Trump Republican/Libertarian, a specialist in conservative international affairs, and a professor at the US Naval War College.  Yep, hard right.
• Once again, since this is coming out and it's clear that no one has spoken up that Schneider has lost, it does make one wonder if she hasn't...  And, give or take for any February events or a holiday taping-break, that would be about Ken's 75 or in the ballpark if she's still champion for what's being taped now.
• Yes, I do believe, after seeing a number of long runaways by Schneider in the last few shows, we are now officially at "Holy Shit" in this run, that people are seeing that Schneider is still champion and basically already losing before they hit the stage.   
• Mitakeumi's promotion to Ozeki was approved, and his ceremony will be on Wednesday for promotion to sumo's second-highest rank.
• New allegations exposing that the nature of a sports factory high-school is exactly what people should think it is:  Built on rape and sexual assault of all lessers.  Mater Dei now dealing with another lawsuit, alleging assistant football coach Patrick Callahan raped, repeatedly and countless times, one of the female statisticians at the school from 1984-1988, the worst being a "Hell Week" in 1987.  He was transferred to another high school in the diocese and eventually coached 16 years of football at Cerritos College.  The lawsuit was allowed under a three-year grandfather clause passed by the California Legislature to go after such attacks with the Roman Catholic Church.
• Sean Payton has resigned as the coach of the New Orleans Saints.
• Ron Tolbert, the referee of San Francisco-Green Bay over the weekend, will be the Super Bowl referee.  He has not refereed beyond the divisional round.
• Tennis Australia has reversed the stands on the Peng Shuai T-shirts.
• Novak Djokovic is now reported that he will sue Tennis Australia for having him thrown out of the country.
• Elton John, fully vaccinated, has COVID.
• Aaron Rodgers has hinted his decision on at least the Packers will come within about a couple weeks after the Super Bowl.  He has no interest in a full rebuild of the team (and any such rebuild probably moves on without him anyway), and he will see the team granting the franchise tag to Davante Adams as a signal of a rebuild, and that deadline is about March 8th and can start February 22nd.
• And make that a clean FORTY for Amy Schneider, and a big Final Jeopardy get bumps her total to $1,382,800 with $63,000 today.  Average win:  $34,570.

From Andy Saunders:

• $32,000 Coryat is tied for 53rd all time with three Holzhauer wins.
• $63,000 win is 33rd all-time, remembering that any totals before the money was doubled are considered doubled for inclusion on the list.  (There are two, headed by Jerome Vared's $34,000 pre-doubling win, ahead of this total.)
• Current streak projection:  49 1/2.  Taking it at 49, that would be somewhere in the $1.7 million area -- though that only accounts for the possibility given past contestants and gameplay as a forming theory.  There has been very little competition of any kind of Schneider the last week and a half.
• $136,801 separates Schneider from Matt Amodio's #3 regular season winnings total on the show, and #10 all-time all-shows.  So, current average would make that Monday of next week, win #44.
• Curtis Warren is #9, and would be passed on the Tuesday, win #45.
• After that is about another $220,000 to David Legler and another group of three for #s 6, 7, and 8.
• For the record, and since we do not know whether there will be a potential syndicated-show run like the ABC Olympic counterprogramming of the College Championship tournament:  If there is no further interruption of any kind in regular play for the relevant period of time, Amy Schneider, if she keeps winning, would break Ken Jennings' 74-win record seven weeks from tonight, March 15th.

Day 645

John Stockton:  SHUT THE FUCK UP

• He's not only had his Gonzaga tickets revoked for refusing to wear a mask inside the arena...
• ... he actually has had the gall to state over 100 professional athletes have died to the COVID vaccine.

facepalm

• PK Subban has asked for a full investigation and work on racism in hockey after his brother, an ECHL player, was the target of a racial taunt by another player -- who was thrown off of/fired from the team for it.
• Bobby Hurley was fined $20,000 by the Pac-12 for a confrontation with one of the officials after a three-point loss at Stanford for his Arizona State team.  He and a player who both confronted the official have been banned one game for the situation.  (Why there weren't multiple technicals for it, I have no idea.)  A third player was reprimanded.  Think that suspension for the coach should've been at least two, at least one for failure to control his players.  
• Free throw attempts were 41-9 in favor of Stanford.  Yeah, I'd say either you got problems with your team or that game was obviously rigged.   
• AFC title game early, NFC title game late on Sunday.
• Dick Vitale is done for the college basketball season.  Surgery to remove more polyps from his vocal cords.  Dammit, for him -- why especially THERE???   
• SOME progress in today's talks for Major League Baseball...
• ... as the door will officially slam shut on Bonds and Clemens tomorrow.  If anybody, it sounds like Ortiz gets in.  ... and OH LET THAT CAN OF WORMS OPEN.   
• A crowd crush in Cameroon at the African Cup of Nations has killed at least six, and probably far more.
• And Final Jeopardy bites her in the ass again.  Amy Schneider won match #39 cleanly by basically routing the two opponents in Double Jeopardy -- but a miss on the Field Museum of Chicago cost her $25,000 (each way, so $50,000 total) -- so she does pass Amodio for #2 streak of all time, but still is having a bit of trouble converting as an ultra/megachamp would.

Are you kidding me???

The NFL is just going bonkers right now.

After a Buffalo TD with 1:54 left to lead by 3 (where no KC defender was within ten yards of the receiver), Tyreek Hill not only gets the 64-yard TD, but gets away with the blatant deuce (taunting!!) on the runup -- so no 15 on the kickoff as Buffalo needs a TD now with about a minute left and all three time outs.

Most of the chat stream of the YouTuber I'm watching clearly has an idea this game is scripted/rigged, by the way.

After an OPI called a DPI at the 19 (caught anyway), no effort on a guy going past two Kansas City defenders, and that's probably the game-winner and...

Two plays later, a 49 yard field goal at the gun for KC -- the fourth field goal at the gun this weekend -- and this game is overtime.

Really, NFL!!

That's at least a 4-bag Cliffhanger (three already, and that assumes only one score in overtime -- remember that the current "each team has a possession on an initial field goal or less" started as a playoff rule).  This could be as many as a SIX BAGGER.

KC has won the toss and obviously takes the ball.

Pretty blatant miss on a hold there on the second first down benefitting KC and getting to the Buffalo 38.

Five plays, touchdown, game over, KC advances.

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

And we have a BLM Super Bowl, almost assuredly.

With Black Rap America lined up to pollute the Los Angeles air for the halftime (and them ramming that illiterate fuck Snoop Dogg down our fucking throats already), it's clear that this is a BLM Super Bowl -- Kansas City vs. Probably Los Angeles for the ghetto crowd.

I was ready to go "Get Your House In Order", but that blatant lay down by the Buffalo defense for the tying field goal and winning touchdown (they probably got the memo when Kelce got away with throwing the deuce up and no flag) indicates that the halftime isn't going to be the only Black thing about the Super Bowl...

.. and it probably means that shithead Reid gets another fucking Lombardi.

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

Rams-49ers:

It has already been announced that no first-person ticket sales will be allowed to anyone except those with credit card addresses indicating they live in the greater LA area..

Oh, and the post was made around kickoff of the LA-Tampa Bay game.

The Winter Olympic Virus: Day -12

• I guess I should start making these, shouldn't I, until I either am asked by readers to boycott these Games or the like...
• Much of the information, especially in a quiet/silenced pre-Olympic media period, is coming from the amalgation site from the UK, Inside the Games.
• Today is the day the three Olympic bubble villages are starting to accept athletes.
• Over 70 confirmed positive COVID tests have been confirmed in Olympic personnel in China in the 18 days just completed.  Just wait til the USA team shows up.  
• In stark contrast to Tokyo, a recent full rehearsal of the Opening Ceremony has indicated more than 4,000 participants in the Beijing Winter Ceremony.
• I do wonder if the funereal feel of the Tokyo Opening Ceremonies may end up not the death of the Olympic movement, but of the Olympic movement in the Western, democratic style of things...   

And there go the Tom Bradys...

And it appears there was a significant message from earlier in the game as to who was going to win it!

Two taunting calls were made against the Bucs during the game, one of which were probably based not on taunting, but on "disrespect of an official" fouls.

4:54 1st quarter:  The first one was Ndamokung Suh, who claims he was kicked while his legs got tangled up by Matthew Stafford of the Rams.

Suh clearly taunted him on this play, and lied when he said he thought he was kicked during the play.

10:39 2nd quarter:  The second one, however...  

Von Miller gets a helmet up under the chin of Tom Brady, bloodying his mouth, and drawing 15 when Brady goes after the ref.

I've seen far less than that called RTP this year, so Brady probably had a point -- and that the call was not made...  Let's just say there was a message to send.

And then a third play ESPN decided to pull out of the woodwork:

12:38 4th quarter:  Eric Weddle hit with 15 for a hit to the head of Tampa's Mike Evans -- but only after the play was over.

Yeah.  Right.

If anyone can find a better video to get when the ball dropped, that's nice, but there's no way that foul didn't start live-ball.

That is, unless you want rid of Tom Brady and the Bucs, say for employing a stupid fuck named Antonio Brown.

And here comes the Tom Bradys, right on time!!

Halfway through the third quarter, 27-3 Rams.

A minute to go in the third, 27-6.

Since:  4 lost fumbles and 3 Tampa TDs.  Now, are they going for the Rams at the gun, or the Tom Bradys in overtime???

..................

The Rams at the gun.

29 yard field goal after a 44 yard pass as the clock was winding out.

Spiked with 4 seconds.

AND GOOD.

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

I've got a theory on all this, and, until about 20 minutes ago, I was only going to wait until the last game to pop it.

Now we see if the Bills beat the Chiefs.

If they do, then I have a full-scale theory that the NFL took the season-long script and tossed it for one very big reason...

In pro wrestling terms:  YOU DO NOT PISS OFF THE BOOKER.

Think:  This season:  What do the Raiders, Cowboys, Packers, and Buccaneers have in common in that regard?

(The Chiefs do too, to a lesser extent.)

Could we seriously be looking at Cincinnati, Buffalo, San Francisco, and LA?

And even if KC does qualify, consider that Patrick Mahomes is the only Black starting QB in the final eight...

We're either looking "Get Your House In Order" or a BLM Super Bowl...

Day 644

• Mitakeumi has won quite a bit today.  He finally gets a key victory over Yokozuna Terunofuji to win the January sumo tournament outright at 13-2.  He's a Sekiwake (third highest rank), and has now totaled 33 wins in his last 3 tournaments as a Sekiwake -- meaning he has checked all the boxes for promotion to the second-highest rank, Ozeki.
• And, in "reports" which may have just exposed the remaining NFL business for this year -- Tom Brady is officially mulling his future.
• But the Rams are up 17-3 in the second quarter.  Hmmmmmmmmmm....  I mean, if they're going as ghetto as they appear to be with the halftime farce, could it be the LA Experiment???   
• See above as to what happened.
• Broadway show could be in some trouble, as it's lead actor has been fired for sexual harassment of the lead actress.  Harry Potter and the Cursed Child lead James Snyder has been canned for sexually harassing on-stage wife Diane Davis.  Snyder was suspended from the show during the pandemic -- it reopened, revamped, a month ago, and Davis took a leave of absence during the investigation.
• Australian Open officials confiscated "Where's Peng Shuai?" t-shirts, calling out women's tennis for the status of the Chinese women's player.
• Bob Costas may not be welcome on the NBC Beijing programming:  He has said that the Olympics deserve all the scorn and the like for returning to Beijing.  ... and yet, that's no longer the biggest reason we have no business going!  The Opening Ceremonies, yes, are only a week from Friday!!  

Is there anyone left who is going to believe me -- championships ARE NOT won on the field!

Aaron Rodgers, shut the fuck up and GO AWAY.

San Francisco 13

Green Bay 10

Both #1's -- ONE AND DONE.

And both could've easily been seen coming.

I could've EASILY told ANYONE WHO WOULD LISTEN (and even many who wouldn't) that any refball Green Bay might've gotten this year was a complete motherfucking setup.

Here you go.

You wanna know who Aaron Rodgers is?

He's Tony Romo.

He's Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- and NO, unlike NASCAR fans, I don't agree with his induction into the NASCAR Hall of Fame.

He's his old girlfriend Danica Patrick.

The guy's too fucking obsessed with being a celebrity and not caring about what he says or does might mean.

How many more jobs do you have to do, Mr. Rodgers, until you realize either that you need to get out of the game, because you don't care about winning anymore...

... or that you don't win championships on the field.  When your dumb ass lies his ass off about his COVID status, that has ramifications.

Ramifications like TODAY.

Green Bay is NEVER winning another NFL championship.  Not the current way the NFL works.

Not the current way championships are won.

Day 643: The NFL Throws In The Towel On COVID

• In an increasing indication this country is now willing to shed population at an alarming rate, the NFL has decided it will no longer COVID-test unvaccinated players.  So then why would anyone get vaccinated, and why would they not let the entire league get the virus -- that is, until someone dies of it...   
• Not as surprised as some that Tennessee was one and done.  Not really that much there for the Titans outside of Henry.  This is so much an interstate-highway for Kansas City in the AFC, it's not funny.  So did they fuck it up bad enough again this year too?
• Predictions for the other two games?  San Francisco vs. Tampa Bay.

Day 642

• Meat Loaf passed away yesterday.
• And you can add his name to the right-wing COVID anti-vaxx brigade.  As my anonymous friend said when relaying that to me, "Play stupid games, win stupid prizes."
• Another passing on Thursday:  Bob Goalby, the winner of the 1968 Masters Tournament.  His win was infamous -- he won the tournament after Roberto de Vicenzo signed an incorrect scorecard.  Since his score that he signed for was one shot worse than what he shot, the score stood.  He lost to Goalby by that one stroke.
• Louie Anderson has died at 68 today, just after being diagnosed with cancer.
• Adele has postponed her Vegas residency, one day before it was supposed to start.  She states half her crew has been hit with COVID.  Oh, who would never have guessed in Vegas?   
• Willie Gay of the Chiefs was arrested this week for low-level misdemeanor damage to property.  He will play in Sunday's playoff game.  I get the feeling, and it may not be this week, we'll find out if the NFL believes he's guilty within the next month.   
• Sergio Mitre will serve 40-60 years in Mexican prison for the rape and murder of a 22-month old baby in 2020.  The former major-league starter raped and murdered the child of a former girlfriend.  FRY HIS FUCKING ASS.  On PPV!   
• Amy Schneider has now tied Matt Amodio's 38 wins on Jeopardy!, and another successful Final (and it appears those misses in previous Finals has NOT dissuaded her FJ betting patterns) scores her another $54,000 to pass the $1.3 million mark.  Monday, she attempts to move into solo second place on the wins chart -- but she has the entire back half of Ken's run to go to get to Jennings' 74 wins.

Day 641

• Win #37 for Amy Schneider, one away from Matt Amodio's total on Jeopardy!  
• A personal-best $46,400 after Double, and then finally converts a big Final for $25,000 -- that's $71,400 (just short of Ken's best number, and she could've beaten it and gone past $80K) for $1,253,200.
• She passes John Carpenter in one fell shot to get to #11 on the all-time all-shows list.
• The next is fellow season ultrachamp Amodio, who won $1,519,601 -- so Amy is $266,401 away from the top ten.

From Andy Saunders:

• Her Coryat Score (raw question values) was $37,400 -- top ten all-time in the metric.
• The $71,400 is 25th all-time -- 20 of them by James Holzhauer (who has congratulated Schneider on being one of the three eligible regular-season millionaires on the show).
• Projected streak is now just past 46...

However, I have a little thought on that last part...

A friend of mine and I who both watch the show, especially when we get long championship runs like this, came to a theory a couple days ago.

With Schneider being out transgender, does one not think that there wouldn't be a Washington Examiner, Breitbart, or some other right-wing rag not only spoiling the loss, but celebrating it???  ....

UNLESS IT HASN"T OCCURRED YET...

Some people are going to think this is weauxfing, but I do think the fact that no right-wing pissants have been dancing on the grave of this championship run indicates there's a good chance that run has not ended yet -- even to current tapings, probably about eight weeks in advance!!

Stay tuned!

----------

Other news:

• The MLBPA will make a counteroffer Monday -- I expect that to go about as well as a fart in church.
• Dak Prescott HAS been fined for his comments, according to reports.
• Tampa Bay Rays ownership is "deflated" after MLB and Manfred officially nixed having some "home" Rays games in Montreal over the summer.

If there has ever been a larger endorsement of pro-rape, pro-MRA, pro-male GamerGate culture, I'm all ears as to find it...

It was bad enough on Monday when word got out on Kotaku that embattled Activision-Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick was withholding information on the extent of the pro-MRA bullshit in his company (by withholding how many people have been fired from the company since the state of California has sued the gaming giant for sexual harassment and other related matters).

It got a hundred times worse on Tuesday:  Bobby Kotick basically all but sitting on a pile of money, flipping off all of the rest of us, saying...  "I win."

On Tuesday, Microsoft announced, as a continuing portion of it's initiatives to transform gaming in it's favor over the next number of years, they are buying Activision-Blizzard for upwards of $70,000,000,000, pending regulatory approval.

That this company even exists, rather than having it's corporate headquarters leveled to the ground, is an insult to anything regard "if we had laws in this country".

There is, right now, an entire SECTION of Kotaku articles regarding malfeasance on the part of Activision-Blizzard.  Much of it is in relation to this situation with the state of California.

The fact is, and this goes back to stuff through the Overwatch League and other Activision-Blizzard exploits:  Gamer Culture is one of the most pro-rape, pro-MRA, anti-woman, bigoted things there is out there.

And now, this company, under lawsuit from the state of California for a massive culture of anti-woman situations, is being sold to Microsoft for SEVENTY...  BILLION... DOLLARS.

If that is not the biggest endorsement of the "Grab em all in the pussy" culture of gaming in this country, I don't know what to tell you.

Given her recent comments on G4, I wonder what "Frostkinn" (if I have her game name correct) would think of this -- after her comments regarding how offensive many men are, up to and including jack-off taunts, in the gamer community.

It's clear Microsoft's eventual goal is to be the Highlander -- the one to rule it all.

The problem is, they're acquiring a bigoted, sexist, grooming of minors company which accepts, encourages, and reinforces every negative stereotype of the (especially American) male gamer out there.

I think one of my few hopes is in response to Japanese theory that this could drive a fatal dagger into Sony.  Hello...  Boycott the XBoxes, everyone???

But the fact is simple:  This piece of shit and his piece of shit company have just cashed in (and may well have cashed out) to an unspeakable sum, probably with the direct intention of catering to the Call of Duty/Overwatch/bigot/sexist market.

Day 640

• Bruce Arians conked a player of his upside the head before he committed a conduct penalty during the game last weekend -- and has been fined 50 grand for it.  Given the potential for abuse, file this away as a possible motivator if, but only if, Tampa gets jobbed.  Doubt it, but...   
• Lionel Messi has been left off Argentina's latest qualifier list -- recovering from COVID, hasn't played in nearly a month.
• Possible spot-fixing scenario under investigation by the FA after an Arsenal player got a yellow card in an unnamed match in which a lot of money was wagered (and the spot flagged by betting authorities as a result) that he would.  A 2018 FA Cup incident to this effect drew a lesser-team player a six-year ban, according to Sports Illustrated.  
• Tom Brady admits that he's a pain in the ass to NFL referees.  Oh, son, YOU HAVE NO IDEA!!!   
• Another Final Jeopardy miss for Schneider...
• But another runaway beforehand, so that's 36 wins now for Amy Schneider (two short of Matt Amodio's total), and $1,181,800.
• However, an average which once stood at $40,000 is now down to $32,828 after a string of $30-40K Final Jeopardy loss swings.

Forward-looking, on that average:

• Schneider now stands 12th on the all-time all-shows list.
• John Carpenter is #11, $68,200 away.  That'd be Monday, on current average -- the day she would pass Amodio for number of wins and become second on that table.
• #10 is Amodio -- but, to give you an idea of how the last week and a half has gutted Schneider's average, Schneider now stands, though only two wins short of Amodio, a full $337,801 away now -- meaning it'd be another two weeks (win #46).
• And that's about where archivist Andy Saunders has Schneider's current projection of a streak going.
• #1 on the women's list (Ashlee Register) is just over $600,000 away yet.  So that's the better part of another month of regular shows.  No word yet on what the syndicated show is doing for the balance of February - the college championship has been expanded and moved to ABC (with Mayim Bialik hosting it) as an Olympic counterprogramming event.
• Of the top 11 game-show winners, only Carpenter, Register, and Twenty-One's David Legler have never, to knowledge, appeared on Jeopardy!.  Those three, Amodio, and Schneider are the only five of the top 12 to appear on only one show.

Day 639

• Olympians have been advised by the World Anti-Drug Association not to eat certain types of meat, fearing contamination which might show on drug tests.
• They've also been advised by a lot of other people not to bring their cellphones to the Games, fearing the CCP might "infect" them for spy purposes.  We really should not be there!!   
• Bad news for Amy Schneider:  Another costly Final Jeopardy miss.
• Good news for Amy Schneider:  It was well within another complete romp runaway -- but only $15,000 or so today for her 35th Jeopardy! win.
• The Boston Bruins tonight retired #22 tonight for Willie O'Ree -- the first Black NHL player.
• Dak Prescott has (been forced to have) apologized for supporting the trash-throwing fans.  His $25,000 fine is probably incoming late this week.   

And now the eight teams in the divisional round...

Tampa vs. KC again, eh?

And it'll have the same result as 55 did.

I mean, the problem here for the AFC is that I don't see any of the four teams beating Tampa, LA, or Green Bay.  And San Francisco comes down to whether they decide to show up that day.

But the fact is that you are now down, if they aren't going to send Mahomes to yet another Super Bowl, to Buffalo, Tennessee, and Cincinnati.

I'd take the Chiefs over an all-star team of all three of those teams.

Tennessee, you've got a little engine that could, and they did answer when it looked like their one Q-Rating player, Mr. Henry, went down.

Now they get Henry back, and you're thinking they have a chance.

The problem is:  As much as this whole Reid family situation stinks (and has held back this team on multiple occasions in the last five years), the fact is this league would like, end of the day, to go with Patrick Mahomes as The Next Man.

Buffalo is probably the best full team in the AFC, but we know that and 75 cents might get you a cigarette in some jurisdictions.

And someone had to win the AFC North.

I do think, though, that the AFC team loses the Super Bowl, and that will redouble, and hard, if Kansas City is not that team -- and redouble again in any event if the opposition is Tampa...

AFC Divisional Politicals

1) Kansas City

Significant gap

2) Tennessee

Significant gap

3 and 3A)  Buffalo and Cincinnati

NFC side:

I think the real question is:  Did they get rid of most of the obstacles of making LVI a Tom Brady High Mass?

I've been criticized by readers of the blog as that Tom Brady is rent-free in my head.

This motherfucker has been the NFL for the last 20 years.

He's a cheater.

He's on performance-enhancing drugs of his own program.

And he's a perfect representative of the Rigged National Religion Era of the National Football League.

If there were one guy who could pop positive for COVID and get the Super Bowl postponed singlehandedly, it's TB12.

Why?  Because this cheating druggie motherfucker has been basically the entire existence of the National Football League since he came in after an injury to Flutie Drew Bledsoe ("Unknown" is a jackass, but right is right...) in 2001.

He'd be the Michael Jordan of the NFL (in every negative connotation), but he's gone past that about 50 miles down the road.

Getting rid of Dallas is another example of why they need a housecleaning there, probably Jerreh on down -- Dallas draws numbers, so why would the NFL undiscipline and Refball Dallas out?

Green Bay?  They're jobbing somewhere -- and I'm beginning to wonder if we're looking at this weekend.  San Francisco is a matchup problem for them, and between that, Aaron Rodgers being an unvaxxed idiot, and the problems with rural Green Bay representing a very urban NFL, I very easily could see San Francisco winning on Saturday, and would probably place that bet if I had the money to lose and was in Nevada at some point soon.

The only real case you have for Green Bay in any capacity is that Rodgers leaves (probably retires) at the end of the season, and this one is Services Rendered.  But why do that after all of Rodgers' COVID bullshit?

San Francisco...  Remember, they were the job-boys for Mahomes two years ago.  They aren't that far removed.  The problem is:  That same two years ago, Tom Brady switched conferences.  I can see them winning one game -- I cannot see them winning two.

LA Rams...  SHUT UP, KROENKE!  That is all.  The only difference between Kroenke and the Davis Family is that the Rams don't continually disgrace themselves in the crime and drug suspension blotters.

NFC Politicals

1) Tampa Bay

Significant gap

2) San Francisco

3) Green Bay

4) LA Rams

2021-22 Wild Card Political Fallout For The Fallen

Well, there it is.

Super Wild Card Weekend in the books...

And we have lost six of the 14 playoff teams.  So, this year, let's write a political post-mortem on each.

Pittsburgh and Philadelphia

These two have a lot of things in common:

• They were the #7 seeds
• They are from Pennsylvania
• Neither had a damned right to be in the playoffs
• Even fans of their own team said they sucked this year
• This is a clean money-grab by the NFL to even have 7 a conference in the playoffs.
• Just...  no.
• Next!!!!!!!

Las Vegas and Dallas

These two also have at least one thing in common.

There's going to have to be a major cleanup in both of these franchises -- probably top to bottom.

Dallas:

At least in Dallas' case, they probably have gone from "The league needs to get rid of Jerry Jones.." (Which I have said in the past) to "They're still way too far in the doghouse for the NFL to have the Cowboys represent them as champions."

That's not necessarily the best thing, but it does represent a significant improvement over the last several years.

And yet, it ends with fairly blatant indiscipline and probable Refball.

The fact is, Dallas needs a housecleaning, Jones on down.  Prescott isn't going to be the answer.  Zeke isn't going to be the answer.  McCarthy sure as fuck isn't going to be the answer.

And until Jerry Jones basically excises the indiscipline (on and ESPECIALLY OFF the field!!), none of this is going to change.

I can go all the way back to the "Dez Caught It!" motif, and it's the same goddamn story every year:

• Best ratings in the game on TV
• Most loyal fans with merch
• Name QB who's just on the cusp of cashing in and REALLY hitting it big
• Usually about one and done in the playoffs due to some sort of complete indiscipline, on and off the field.
• And an owner who just...  doesn't...  fucking...  get it.

The thing is, Dallas is the boy's street gang team.  And that blends into the fandom and the merch you see all over the country.

Kinda reminds me of another franchise...

Las Vegas:

In this case, the NFL MUST STEP IN and MUST STEP IN NOW.

This isn't just a function of trying to prop up a new team in a new town and a flashy new stadium.

There are serious, existential problems with the Raider organization that have already polluted the legacy of a once-proud Super Bowl-winning coach.

There are serious existential problems with the Raider organization which have all but killed one person and who knows how many more DUIs before anybody gets the clue.

This is Las Vegas, and they'll put up with a lot over there.

The fact is, though, the NFL needs to step in, with the Gruden incident (and someone might wanna ask ESPN, with whom he was employed at the time, on the way through), at least two DUI's, one fatal.  It's clear that there are serious problems getting the players to conduct themselves with any degree of decency, especially in a city where decency is in rather short supply!

The NFL needs a real look at the franchise, and whether it is finally time to relegate the Davis family to the dustbin of NFL history.  There are some major problems with this team, and have been for some time -- and they must be addressed.

Arizona:

This one is far shorter:  How did anyone even think that even a 7-0 Arizona team is going to flourish when there really aren't enough fans to support it?

What happened tonight is ZERO SURPRISE.  None.

New England:

This is the shocker of the weekend.

But there is one thing to keep in mind:  The only reason I thought what I did and Edelman laid that $100,000 is because we both thought this was a package deal.

In the reality of the NFL, this team did far better than it "should have", but, at the end of the day -- to what end???

Day 638

• As with the Tokyo Games, no spectators will be allowed at the Beijing Winter Games.  They just had their first Omicron case, so I can't think there's a great chance the Games (scheduled in three weeks) take place at all!!   
• Union Pacific, in the light of the mass train robberies taking place, has threatened to leave Los Angeles.  Said seriously:  Go.  Short of getting a White Right militia to start shooting looters with the force of law, you've lost most of the retail integrity in this country.  There's also no reason for a lot of these people not to be looting at this point anyway.   
• Mike Mayock is out as the GM of the Raiders...  I think a league investigation is needed to clean the culture there, though.  Might be time to get the Davis' out of the NFL once and for all, before the whole Las Vegas thing is a waste.   
• Apparently, the objects thrown at the end of the Cowboys game from the fans were meant for the officials...
• ... and Dak Prescott has zero problem with that.
• In a move which might all but provoke a soccer war between FIFA/CONCACAF/etc. and the Mexican fans -- fans caught doing the homophobic chant which has permeated basically every Mexican soccer match in the region will be banned from attending any matches for five years.  My only problem with this:  I could very easily see the fans dare a five-year full-scale closed-door ban to continue to call the other teams...  that.   

Day 637

• Allegations of abuse have finally felled Hawaii head football coach Todd Graham.
• Courts in Australia have given the green light to deport Novak Djokovic, one day before the start of the Australian Open.  I will, hence, be more than surprised if the tournament is allowed to complete.  
• Probable Refball to get rid of the Raiders (to what would be no one's surprise -- except the league probably screaming "FUCK YOU, SPANOS!" louder than UrinatingTree is why they didn't do it last week!), where a touchdown was allowed to be scored after an inadvertent whistle -- which is supposed to stop play.  Raider Nation, wanna get your house in order sometime soon?   
• Joe B Hall, the Hall of Fame coach who succeeded Rupp in Kentucky, passed yesterday at 93.
• Awesome Games Done Quick was a massive success this year.  The online-only event for the Prevent Cancer Foundation smashed all records.  At the post-show speech, they noted the trending line for the total went nuclear on Monday and never looked back, with the final total as of going off the air of $3,416,780 -- breaking the old record by a clean quarter of a million dollars.  For the first time, they actually got the first million on Wednesday night!
• Julian Edelman can't have been happy with the loss of the Patriots last night -- he lost a cool $100,000 that he had bet on that the Super Bowl would be Brady vs. Belichick.
• Another year of the Cowboys in the league doghouse, another year the Boys are one and done.  Clean up your fucking team if you want a Super Bowl, Jerreh!!  
• And the officiating directly involved...  A last-second spike denied because the umpire had to set the ball, allowing the clock to run out.   Believe me yet, Cowboys Nation?   
• And, true to form, Cowboys Nation saw their team off by throwing objects at them as they left the field in disgrace...  HOW BOUT THEM COWBOY FANS???   
• So Bucs 31 - #7 Philly a garbage-time 15.  Now, Chiefs 35 - #7 Captain Fatfuck a defensive 7.  Yeah, this is a money grab.  Because you can't tell me either of these #7s deserved squat SHIT in this season!

Day 636

• Well, Brady vs. Belichick isn't happening.  47-17 Buffalo, in a performance that a couple of experts actually has them being the ones to make the SB.

Quick Politicals of the 5 AFC teams left:

1. Kansas City -- hate to say it, appears the semi-clear choice, as we default back to Mahomes.  They will lose to whoever they face, though.  (In fact, I don't really see ANY of these five AFC teams winning.)
2. Tennessee -- King Henry, really a throwback and something not usual in the present NFL, a non-quarterback offensive player who can actually get the team pushed.  That said...
3. Buffalo -- Probably the best team in the AFC.  Too bad that's all they've got going for them.
4. Cincinnati
5. Pittsburgh

• Amy Schneider had a tough week -- only 1 out of the 5 Final Jeopardys correct, but she's still champion with 33 wins (now third on the all-time list, just passing Holzhauer) and $1,111,800 -- the second-most for any woman on an American game show in history.
• Tomorrow and Monday, speaking of game shows, BUZZR will honor the memory of Betty White with the last two days of the celebration they had planned for her 100th birthday on Monday.  Password variants all day tomorrow, a potpourri of appearances on Monday.
• At least one New England touchdown was met by the player getting a dildo thrown at him by the Bills Mafia in the end zone.

Day 635

• In a move which may force the cancellation of the Australian Open due to protests (they've already broken out the pepper spray against protesters this week!!), Novak Djokovic's visa has been revoked again.
• There was a brief meeting between representatives of the MLB owners and players -- zero progress.
• Amari Cooper of the Cowboys was fined for violations of COVID protocols at a Mavericks game.  What part of "how can you be so fucking stupid??" do you not get?
• Awesome Games Done Quick, with about two days left, is about $1.4 million as of midnight Friday morning Pacific time.
• Amy Schneider, after a bit of a rough week, is now second all-time on the women's all-shows list and has tied James Holzhauer for the third-longest streak on Jeopardy! with her 32nd win on Thursday.  She passes the $1.1 million mark.

Day 634

• Spoke too soon on the Giants -- Judge got fired on Tuesday.
• And the Texans fired their coach today.  Gee, you don't think having a sexual predator as your star quarterback didn't have anything to do with THAT ONE?   
• The Supreme Court has just blown up the vaccine mandates -- and, with that, given the Constitutional Right To Infect.  We're fucked.   

Final 2021-22 NFL Score Report

Well, here are some of the final numbers:

• Actually got to an exact 46 points a game at the end of the year.  272 games, 12,512 points.
• Even with an extra week, however, the league fell a full 180 points short of last year's total -- meaning that, by the end of the year, the league was a week and four games behind last year's pace.  Last year's PPG:  49.578.
• Home teams did slightly better this year than last.  This year:  138-130-1.  (.5148)  Last year:  127-128-1 (.4980)
• Not surprisingly, with scoring over a field goal a game lower than last year, the Over went 125-144-3 this year.  Average week was about 7.5-8.5.  Last year:  126-124-6.
• If you bet $100 on every NFL game going over the number this year, you'd have lost about $3,036.  If you had done the same last year, Vegas would've nailed you on the juice and you'd have lost $945.  (Remember, you need to go about 55-45 to break even at the 10-11 odds.)
• Favorites took a beating against the number this year:  127-140-3.  Last year, they were 112-137-1.
• Same $100 a game on favorites at -110:  You'd have lost about $2,450.
• Straight up:  167-101-1 for favorites this year, 172-79-1 last year.
• Teams with more penalties were seven games below .500 this year (111-118).  They were 101-116 last year.
• 3,192 penalties were called this season -- even with flags falling precipitously in the final four weeks or so, that's still 11.73 a game.  :Last year:  2882 in 256 games:  11.26 per game.
• A total of 57 games ended this year with a tying or lead-changing score in the final two minutes of the game, a Cliffhanger.  Last year had only 46.
• 18 of them had two such scores in the final two minutes and overtime.
• 5 had three.
• And two:  The ridiculousness in the final game of the year, and Las Vegas-Miami in Week 3, had a tying score at the last two minutes of regulation, and three field goals in overtime.  Las Vegas won both games.
• One of the big stats of the year is that only 127 of the 272 games this year finished within one score.  46.7%.  Last year:  136/256, 53.1%
• The other big stat:  A full 100 games, about 37%, never had any score within the fourth quarter within one score.  Last year:  82, 32%.
• And Last Chance Misses:  59 this year, about 22%, had a feasible chance at a score to change the outcome of the game at the end fail.  

2021-22 Week 18 Week Score Report plus Week 17 Ratings Report

Will do a separate one for year score comparisons, etc.

First, the Week 18 score stuff only -- with nothing to compare it to...

• Only the second week above 50 points per game all season:  Week was averaging 51.0625 points per game.
• Home teams were 8-8 on the week.
• No real surprise, really.  The Over was 11-5.
• 6-10 for favorites against the number -- 9-7 straight up, including losses by favorites in the last two late games to finish and the Sunday Night extravaganza.
• Team with more penalties was 8-5 this week.
• Only 133 penalties were accepted this week.
• The LA Chargers had 10 on their way to elimination.  That 10, by the way, is more than the Packers, Lions, Buccaneers, Panthers, and any one of SIXTEEN other teams which got four or less (including the Raiders) combined.
• Packers-Lions game only had 2, Buccaneers-Panthers only had 3.  Green Bay had no accepted penalties.
• Four Cliffhangers, including a double in Baltimore to send Pittsburgh, a double in LA to send San Francisco, and a four-bagger in that Sunday Night stupidity.
• Eight games finished within eight points.
• Three non-competitive games -- meaning there were five games which were within one score at some point in the fourth quarter, but not at the end.
• Two Last Chance Misses

And now the Week 17 ratings report from Sports Media Watch:

• Sunday FOX National:  Mostly Dallas-Arizona, and the Boys delivered again:  13.8 rating, almost 26.8 million viewers -- strongest Week 17 in seven years.  Up 13% ratings, 16% viewers.
• Sunday FOX Regional:  Ravens-Rams held the line to lead the slate:  8 rating, 14.8 million viewers (up 1% ratings, 6% viewers)
• Sunday CBS Single:  Kansas City-Cincinnati led a huge single for CBS, the best single in any week for CBS in five years:  10 rating, 18 3/4 million viewers.
• CBS, for the year, is averaging 18.1 million viewers, the best NFL viewership it has had for a season in six years.
• Sunday Night:  Vikings-Packers drew well:  9.9 rating, 18 1/2 million viewers, up 7% and 12% respectively.
• To give you an idea of Packer Nation, check these numbers that SMW found:  Milwaukee:  a FORTY-NINE POINT SIX rating (meaning that essentially half of all the television sets in the market watched the game) and a 72 share (meaning that over seven out of ten TV sets in the market which were on watched the game -- almost three out of four).
• Monday Night:  13.26 for Captain Fatfuck's Pittsburgh farewell over the Browns.
• The Mannings have drawn well for ESPN, leading the network to the best Monday Night Football ratings in eight years.

Day 631

• Vegas bettors actually DID go with the idea that the Chargers and Raiders would tie.  Had that winning field goal at the overtime gun been missed, sportsbooks would've been on the book for millions.
• One New Jersey bettor lost $100,000 on a four-way parlay bet on the made field goal:  Raiders +4.5, Chargers +4.5, Yes on overtime, game ends in a tie.
• One Chicago bettor thought it best that the Raiders and Chargers do a mass kneel-down fest.  He bet the Jaguars to win and the Raider-Charger game tying for $5 in -- and came that made field goal from winning over $3,500!!
• One New Jersey bettor was happy he hedged his bet:  He bet $1,000 on the Jaguars winning and the regulation score of Raiders-Chargers ending in a tie -- and he made out for six figures!
• Novak Djokovic now has his Australian visa -- reinstated by an Australian federal judge.
• ... in the wake of a street altercation of a demonstration of anti-vaccine "fans" in the streets had to be dealt with with pepper spray.  I think you seriously have to consider cancelling or postponing the Grand Slam tournament.  You do the right thing, the tournament will probably be violently disrupted.  You do the wrong thing, and, chances are, he might still be carrying -- he got COVID about a month ago.
• We lost Bob Saget last night.  No sign of foul play.
• Dwayne Hickman also passed yesterday -- producer and actor best known for the role of Dobie Gillis.  Complications of Parkinson's.
• Official cause of Betty White's death has been revealed.  A stroke six days before -- AND FOR YOU FUCKING ANTI-VAXX ASSHOLES:  That's three days BEFORE she got the booster shot.
• Sunday began the annual Awesome Games Done Quick week-long marathon for the Prevent Cancer Foundation.  Already on the first day of the event, over $150,000 was raised.  For the fourth such week-long event in a row, the event is completely online due to COVID.
• And as of just past 9 PM Pacific tonight, over $450,000.
• The CFP is nowhere close to expansion agreement.  One has to wonder if the CFP, or college football as you know it, survives three more years.   
• Georgia is your national champion, a two-touchdown victor over Alabama.  And all of rec.sport.football.college curses -- a huge-money asshole bettor on the USENET forum pocketed about $36,000 on a $50,000 bet against his Crimson Tide.
• Add another one to Amy Schneider's total.  She missed Final Jeopardy tonight (only her sixth miss in 29 shows), so only cashed for $15,800 (her lowest total of her 29 wins), but a 29-day total of $1,035,400.  She does pass two names and is now the 19th highest winner in American game-show history, according to Wikipedia, as well as now, the fourth-highest woman.

Black Monday in the NFL:

• The Broncos, Vikings, Bears, and Dolphins have all fired their coaches.
• The Vikings, Bears and Giants have lost their GMs.  I'd think a lot of these losing teams should start here -- a lot of these teams, even if you take it in kayfabe, just simply don't have the guns to compete on the field.   
• The Giants is a retirement, and it appears they will keep their coach.

2021-22 NFL Political Rankings entering the playoffs

Score post tomorrow.  It's the year end anyway, so it'll be in a bit more detail.

Anyway, here's my look at where I think the booking is going for the NFL playoffs, as of the beginning of these playoffs.  COVID could decide the champion more than any other rigging factor at any time, however...

NFC 7) Philadelphia

and AFC 7) Pittsburgh

Yeah, they're both in last in their conferences, both in kayfabe and in Political -- largely because I don't think anyone in their right damn mind could actually believe either of them got to the playoffs whatsoever.

And now, for the mishmash:

AFC 5) Buffalo

AFC 6) Cincinnati

NFC 5) San Francisco

NFC 6) Arizona

And now for the teams I see winning this week.

NFC 4) LA Rams

Shut up Kroenke!  You'd be in a far better Political position if your owner didn't go to the Al Davis School of NFL Tact.

AFC 4) Las Vegas

Can't rule out seeing them beat Cincinnati, and then who knows with Kansas City at that point!

NFC 3) Green Bay

Sliver over LA Rams, especially because there is the non-zero possibility that Rodgers may not be just leaving, but retiring, end of the year.  Would that be enough to push over Brady, though???  Doubt it, especially if New England wins the AFC.

AFC 3) Tennessee

Getting Henry back would be a big plus, both in kayfabe and in having someone with a Q-Rating for the league to push.

NFC 2) Dallas

Thing is, with Dallas, they finally have some degree of not being in the league's doghouse, but can that finally translate to going over when it counts, especially if they have to play Tampa in the second round?

AFC 2) Kansas City

Kansas City is probably a package deal with either Dallas or Green Bay -- and I don't think they beat either.  Would not be surprised, either, if they go out at the divisional round.

Current Super Fraud Super Bowl Prediction and #1's in each conference:  Tampa Bay vs. New England

Brady vs Belichick

Final 2021-22 NFL Kayfabe Regular Season

Good night...

Well, it looked for all the world the NFL was actually going to play INTO the tie, but with nothing like a kneelfest on it's hands.  Manufactured their way into overtime, then trading field goals, and then the Raiders, after bad calls both ways, get the field goal at the gun to win and in, fuck you Spanos, and the Steelers go in with them.

So, the final kayfabe regular season standings:

AFC:

Eliminated:  Chargers, Broncos, Jaguars, Texans, Dolphins, Jets, Ravens, Browns, Colts

AFC East Champion:  Buffalo Bills

AFC North Champion:  Cincinnati Bengals

AFC South Champion:  Tennessee Titans

AFC West Champion:  Kansas City Chiefs

Wildcards:  New England Patriots, Las Vegas Raiders, Pittsburgh Steelers

1. Tennessee (12-5 and the 27-3 win over the Chiefs gets them the bye.)
2. Kansas City (12-5, loses HTH with Tennessee to have to play the Steelers next week)
3. Buffalo Bills (11-6)
4. Cincinnati Bengals (10-7)
5. Las Vegas Raiders (10-7, common games tiebreaker over NE:  LAC 1-1, MIA 1-0, CLE 1-0, DAL 1-0 = 4-1)
6. New England Patriots (10-7, loses common games tiebreaker to LV:  LAC 1-0, MIA 0-2, CLE 1-0, DAL 0-1 = 2-3)
7. Pittsburgh Steelers (9-7-1)

Saturday, 1:30 Pacific:  Raiders at Bengals

Saturday after that game:  Patriots at Bills

Sunday third game:  Steelers at Chiefs

NFC:

Eliminated:  Washington, Giants, Bears, Lions, Vikings, Panthers, Falcons, Saints, Seahawks

NFC East Champion:  Dallas Cowboys

NFC North Champion:  Green Bay Packers

NFC South Champion:  Tampa Bay Buccaneers

NFC West Champion:  Los Angeles Rams

Wildcards:  Philadelphia Eagles, San Francisco 49ers, Arizona Cardinals

1. Green Bay (13-4, wins conference tiebreaker over Tampa Bay 9-3 vs. 8-4))
2. Tampa Bay (13-4, loses conference tiebreaker to Green Bay)
3. Dallas (12-5, wins conference tiebreaker over LA Rams, 10-2 vs. 8-4)
4. LA Rams (12-5, loses conference tiebreaker to Dallas)
5. Arizona (11-6)
6. San Francisco (10-7)
7. Philadelphia (9-8, eliminating the Saints from the playoffs with a 40-29 win over them)

Sunday 10 AM Pacific:  Philadelphia at Tampa Bay

Sunday after that game:  San Francisco at Dallas

Monday night:  Arizona at LA Rams

And, on the other end of the ledger, the standings of TANK BOWL!!!

Cue "Roundball Rock" and requisite explosions...    

1. Jacksonville 3-14
2. Detroit 3-13-1
3. Houston 4-13 and the weakest schedule of the three 4-13s
4. New York Jets 4-13
5. New York Giants 4-13

Day 629

• Taking into account students and staff, the Los Angeles Unified School District has reported, as they are trying to resume in-person classes on Tuesday by testing everybody, a positive rate of 13.5% for COVID of all the tests they've had...  Good...  GOD....   
• The LA County rate on tests being positive is one out of every five -- 20%!
• Three weeks ago, the LAUSD positive rate was one-tenth what it is now.  As anyone with a modicum of sense could've TOLD YOU...   
• The San Jose Sharks have finally fired Evander Kane.  Put him on waivers with the intention to terminate his contract.

American Game Show History Continues on Jeopardy! this season...

Amy Schneider has done it.

She has become the first out transgender millionaire in American game show history.

Tonight, in her 28th win on Jeopardy!, Schneider became only the fourth person in the history of the show to win $1,000,000 in regular-season play.

In the 28th win, Schneider has gotten to $1,019,600 -- an average win of $36,414.

She is now the sixth-highest winning woman in American game show history, and one more win will all but assuredly place her fourth, only behind Ashlee Register and a million-dollar winner from prime-time The Price is Right episodes as a civilian and Celebrity Wheel of Fortune millionaire Melissa Joan Hart, on that list.

1. Ashlee Register (Grand Champion of the first season of Duel) -- 7th place overall with $1,795,000
2. Cynthia Azevedo (The Price is Right Million Dollar Spectacular) -- 16th place overall with $1,089,017
3. Melissa Joan Hart (celebrity versions of Jeopardy!, Wheel of Fortune, Family Feud, and Nick Arcade) -- 17th overall with $1,076,100
4. Autumn Earhard (The Price is Right Million Dollar Spectacular) -- 19th place overall with $1,030,340.
5. Michelle Lowenstein (Wheel of Fortune) -- 20th place overall with $1,026,080
6. Amy Schneider (Jeopardy!) -- $1,019,600

If Schneider wins Monday, she will essentially crack Wikipedia's Top 20 all-time all-show winners.  (The list has been recently updated to 20, after Matt Amodio's reign of terror, and Hart is included, even though a celebrity player.)

Statistics are courtesy of The Jeopardy Fan website and it's curator, Andy Saunders.

• One thing host Ken Jennings has noted is how good Schneider is at Final Jeopardy.  She's 23-5.  Only a couple of other contestants, and not even Ken, can boast that kind of a record as an ultrachamp.
• James Holzhauer is one.  27-1.  (He finished 32-1, including his last 27 regular-season scores.)  Matt Amodio was 21-7 in his first 28.  Ken Jennings was only 18-10!  (He was 16-6 in his next 22, and 16-9 in his final 25 of his regular run.)
• Her 895 correct answers over her reign are only surpassed by the other three Jeopardy! millionaires.
• This means she's answering an average of 31 correct answers during the main game in the match.
• She's found 49 Daily Doubles -- about 1 3/4 of the 3 a match.  (Jennings got 160 in his 75-game run, Amodio 86 in his 39 games, Holzhauer 76 in his 33 games.)
• Her average Coryat Score (basically take the clues in the main game at face value -- do not account for DD wagers.  This is used by the Jeopardy! fan and contestant communities as a true measure of the skill of a contestant during the match.) is $25,871.

Here is a list of all of the ultrachamps -- the 12 players who have won 10 or more matches -- ranked by average Coryat:

1. James Holzhauer $30,576
2. Ken Jennings $27,928
3. Matt Amodio $27,913
4. Amy Schneider $25,871
5. Matt Jackson $24,514
6. Jason Zuffranieri $24,410
7. Arthur Chu $21,117
8. Jonathan Fisher $20,167
9. Julia Collins $19,400
10. David Madden $19,300
11. Austin Rogers $18,185
12. Seth Wilson $19,077

• There has been some controversy on Jennings' demeanor during last night's match -- one of the most competitive in show history!  The three players combined for over $50,000 of the possible $54,000 Coryat score -- a feat only accomplished about 1 1/2 times a year since 2004.  The problem:  Jennings not only made note of the fact that Schneider had not locked out the match by getting double +$1 of the second-placed contestant going into Final Jeopardy, he even did the math -- BEFORE they went to break!  That's ALMOST actionable, Ken!!  That's something you should know from your experience to be very careful of -- because that's treading on the line of hoping Schneider makes a real run at your 74-win mark, of which she's only a little past the third pole on.  
• Saunders points out that the newsworthy robbery of Schneider over New Year's would not affect this gameplay -- these matches were taped about eight weeks ago.

So, as I like to do, the road ahead, and this assumes she would not only keep winning, but hold her current average of $36,414 -- though that number has come down a bit this week or so.  It was about at $40,000 a week or so ago:

• A win Monday would vault her into 19th overall on the all-time list, and pass two of the five women in front of her.
• Wins Monday and Tuesday would pass three more on the list (#16 overall), including two more women (making Schneider #2 on the women's list) and Bernie Cullen.  It would also make Schneider only the fourth person in show history to win 30 matches.
• Wins through Wednesday (#31) would pass two more on the list (#14 overall).
• Wins through Thursday (#32) would tie Schneider with James Holzhauer for the third-longest streak in show history.  She would also pass two more names on the all-time all-show list (#12 overall).
• She runs next week (#33), and she passes Holzhauer for the streak place.  She would crack $1,200,000 with that win.
• Wins through a week from Tuesday (#35) would pass John Carpenter's $1,250,000 for #11.
• The current predictive algorithm Andy Saunders uses to project a player's streak stands at just about 36 and winnings of just past $1,300,000.
• She is two weeks away from Matt Amodio's streak total, and 11 more wins to pass it (38).  She is about $5,000 or so short on average to Amodio's average during his run at the end of last season and the beginning of this one.
• $1,500,000:  Win #41 (January 26th)
• Passing Amodio on the list into the Top Ten:  Win #42 (January 27th)
• #9:  Win #43 (January 28th)
• All-time all-shows women's record (Register):  Win #49 or Win #50.  Waffling on an estimate on this, due to February sweeps.
• On her average, it would take 65 shows to pass Holzhauer's regular-season total, and two more to pass Jennings'. No date estimate on those, since that would fly through February, and who knows what sweeps stuff the show has planned.  Think mid-March, if she's still champion by then.