Ah, yes, SI with the NFL Predictions Post...

They actually do A HUNDRED in this Daily Cover.

Let's dissect the reality from the fiction.

1) The Bills might make the Super Bowl.  The Packers won't.  If Tom Brady isn't taken out at the knees or whatever, it's his to lose -- why else would he come back without that level of a guarantee to be shipped off to be paid $400 million or whatever it is to be Fox' lead announcer?  The Packers are a DISTANT third, if not fourth (Bucs, Rams, Cowboys) in the NFC -- and that's with an Aaron Rodgers who's in full Favre Sabotage Mode.  The Bills might, but they'll lose if they do, regardless of opponent.

2) Hopefully, the DeShaun Watson situation will eventually put the entire sport of football on trial, at all levels.  This guy has probably left a trail of broken and literally bloody women all over the damn place.  He will almost certainly be banned at least the first half-dozen games -- I would not be surprised if at least a season, with revisiting. And he's nowhere near the only one.

3) I think the reason SI thinks the NFL will "learn" from player commentators is to set the table for Tom Brady.

5) They have the Ravens "12 or more" wins.  Only if the one relevant player on the team returns and stays healthy.  (Which they believe he will have an MVP-caliber season in 19).)

12)  They have the Rams clinching the NFC West a month to go in the season.  If that's the case, the NFC Championship is, at most, a three-team race with the Cowboys struggling to keep up.  The North is needing some time to resurge, the East and South outside Tampa and Dallas are abject jokes.  If you want another way to put that #12 -- there's going to be a lot of shit football being played this season, because the number of even GOOD teams in this NFL right now might stand at about two or three.

14) This may take the sails out of the entire NFL, quite literally.  The NFL IS flat-footed and unprepared for the midterms, a midterms which may not only take the country to the Right, but to the White -- something the NFL can hardly afford, since it has been forced by player demographics to get in bed with BLM and the like.  I've always felt that, if Trump and his get back in power, the NBA is out of business and the NFL might not be far behind.  And that discounts the possibility someone actually succeeds in a "Black Sunday" scenario, targeting Black players.  The cherry on top:  Even the USFL, with fanless games except for the hometown Birmingham team, has shown people don't want inferior football at any time.

16) If the Eagles win the NFC East, 9-8 wins the division.

18) SI believes the Gruden lawsuit will sting the NFL, but the Flores lawsuit might do more later.  The thing is, I think eventually the two will be tied, and the junction point might well be found in the Snyder e-mails.

27) They're thinking Taylor Swift will headline the SB Halftime Show (which now needs a new sponsor) with Stevie Nicks being a surprise on the stage.  Makes sense, when you think of it, if Swift would actually agree to be part of the demographic whipsaw which might well be in play by that point in time.  (See 14) .)

30) < 35 TD for Tom Brady in a run-heavy Bucs team?  No wonder you don't think the Bucs will win the NFC, and then you have to ask why Brady came back in the first place?

53) And you actually believe he's coming back in 2023 (and possibly NOT in Tampa!), with $400 million in his pocket to go to the booth when he retires...

65) I agree, and I think a lot of people are fully condemning any athlete who makes their health, mental OR physical, or any value more than the fans' entertainment.  And I see a number of Black athletes getting the full Simone Biles treatment when they do walk.

72) I don't think it's the tax havens the NFL owners need to worry about -- SI is claiming they won't get the votes to expel Dan Snyder due to it boomeranging back on them.  I think it's actually an offshoot of what I said in 2).  The entire sport of football needs to be put on trial, and no one -- especially these owners -- wants that to happen, lest we learn "the awful truth".  And the fact that I do believe it's in those Daniel Snyder e-mails somewhere cannot be underestimated.  Between that and the Flores lawsuit especially, the NFL has some testy times ahead even if the White Right does not come up and demand their literal pound of flesh, starting after the midterms.

95)  I do agree the NFL Pro Bowl will be scrapped and the Skills Competition which has come up before it will, in fact, take it's place.

He freaking did it AGAIN!!!

 

Unbelievable. Nick Castellanos strikes again to interrupt a heartfelt moment by the announcer #mlb pic.twitter.com/9e3VQOewwy

— Bill Waychunas (@waychunas) May 30, 2022

The "Bwahahahahahaha" tag is NOT for the Memorial Day Tribute.

Day 808

• Apparently, the false alarm was not on YouTube:  A false report of a shooting near the Barclays Center sent the boxing crowd into a panic last night.  By my word, this appears to be the THIRD major false shooting (or shooting simply to cause panic) this weekend.
• Mass shooting:  Memorial Day event with 1500 in attendance in Taft, OK.  One killed, seven more injured. 
• By one statistic, this is actually the seventh successful mass shooting in the last four and a half days.
  
• It now appears, six hours from match time, that Maxwell Jacob Friedman is done with AEW.  The match video has been privated, and that's the last word on the subject we have.  Unless this is an elaborate work (and, believe you and me, if there's one guy who could do it...), and even then, hoo boy.
• It's either that elaborate work or something's going on -- the match is now still being advertised, but there's no assurance (and probably won't be til it happens) that it takes place at all.
  
• Nottingham Forest won 170,000,000 pounds today with a 1-0 win over Huddersfield to win The Richest Match In Soccer:  the one-match final of the Championship-to-Premier League playoffs.
• Marcus Ericsson of Sweden has won the 2022 Indianapolis 500 -- 4th year in Indy Car after being in Formula 1.  Second career IndyCar win. 
• ESPN's lead NBA announcer Mike Breen ("BANG!") may be out the rest of the playoffs (definitely tonight's ECF Game 7), COVID positive.
• We now have our FIFTH ultra-champ of Season 38 on Jeopardy!   Ryan Long, rideshare driver from Philly, has somehow won 11 games and only $209,300.
• That's basically only $19,000 a game, almost unheard of-low for ultrachamps.
• I'll give you an idea of how absurd this is:  Andy Saunders' metrics are literally match-to-match on this guy.  Take the current number of wins, add one, rinse and repeat.

Day 807

• Someone apparently fired seven shots near the El Cortez casino in downtown Las Vegas Friday night/Saturday morning.  Someone wanted to cause a MAJOR incident.
  
• The Kapler protest, where he will not be on the field for the National Anthem, will be until further notice.
• Tommy Pham of the Reds has been banned three games for a fantasy football dispute which led to slapping Joc Pederson of the Giants last night.
• And we find out, probably, why Carlos Martinez was an All-Star:  Now in the minors, Martinez is banned 80 games for testing positive for a chemical which increases the body's ability to make HGH.
• The Champions League Final in Paris has finally started, as the match had to be delayed due to thousands of fans being unable to enter the stadium.
• Apparently, tear gas was employed for unrest outside the stadium before the match.
• And a controversial razor-thin VAR decision in stoppage time of the first half sent the match to halftime scoreless between Real Madrid and Liverpool.  I'm getting vibes of a fixed match here!!   
• Thankfully, Real Madrid won 1-0 -- but on a goal more reversible than the one the VAR reversed!
• UEFA has now stated that the pre-match trouble was Liverpool fans with fake tickets.  If that's the case, I think we have our answer on the fixed match, but it was the other way!
  
• Devin Ham is the next coach of the LA Lakers.
• The Todd Boehly Group now owns Chelsea Football Club -- the licensures have been approved, etc.
• The Oklahoma Sooners women's softball team qualified for the Women's College World Series today with a sweep of UCF.  They are, by some metrics, the most dominant team in team sports at major-college or above levels.
• They are 54-2.  That is the same record that the 1992 UCLA Bruins had in the sport -- a record winning percentage of .964.
• One loss was April 16 to Texas.  They DID NOT win the Big XII championship, losing the second game of that tournament to Oklahoma State.
• Texas and Oklahoma State will be two of the other teams in the Women's College World Series.
• Uh oh...  There has been some discussion of creative/monetary differences between All Elite Wrestling and top male heel Maxwell Jacob Friedman/MJF.  It appears they have come to a head at the annual Fan Festival in Las Vegas before tomorrow's third annual Double or Nothing pay per view, where he's scheduled to face brute Wardlow.  
• This is either an elaborate work (and if there's anyone in AEW which can pull this off, it's him!) or the end of him with the company.  MJF no-showed the Fan Fest, forcing refunds -- and now, Sean Ross Sapp has reported he's booked a flight out of Las Vegas.
• Now word Samoa Joe is not there.  Later word, especially in light of the above, is that this one was simply a communication issue (probably a missed communication on when he was supposed to be there), and those things do happen.
  
• Sting, also, was not there, but that was announced several days ago and may be due to an injury he suffered a week or so ago and "was not cleared to travel".
• Gavin Newsom, governor of California:  Positive for COVID -- two days after meeting with the prime minister of New Zealand, ten before the last of the mail-in votes are allowed for his primary election for another term as the state's governor.

 

Day 806

• We almost had a copycat shooting last night in Charleston, WV.  Someone took an AR-15 and started shooting into a graduation party.  Someone else shot and killed the guy with the AR-15.
• Yeah, I could see the anti-Chuck antics last night impacting the Finals...  Maybe not, though...  (Chuck was firing some fairly strong invectives himself, as people found out on social media!)   
  
• No Kaepernick deal is imminent with the Raiders, David Carr is still the expected starter.  Duh, but you know how teams need backups, right?  We're progressing here.    
• The Yankees' and Rays' Twitter accounts fore-went game coverage of their game against each other last night for gun education efforts, coordinated between the two social media teams.  A relevant $50,000 donation was also made last night by the Rays.
• Major League Baseball makes a show of trying to get the teams to provide female media, etc. with better facilities.  Some of us know the truth, however...  
• Speaking of making shows of the truth:  The Department of Justice will not charge FBI agents who "botched" the Larry Nassar investigation.  All Hail The United States Sexual Assault Committee!!!  USA!  USA!!  USA!!!  
• Gabe Kapler also is sick of all the mass shootings as well.
  

Day 805

• Well, that lasted a day and a half.  When my feelings about the NHL Presidents' Trophy got me that many "enemies", I knew I was fucked and it didn't matter.  Girl, bye.
• We've got another arrest in the world of poker.  And this one has sports-betting (and, IMODO, sports-rigging) implications.  A 15+-year run of sports handicapping fraud has landed an arrest of Cory Zeidman, who won a WSOP World Championship in 2012 in one of the side events.  The hustle was the apparent selling of "inside information" to betting investors, resulting in fraud exceeding $25,000,000 in the time frame.  
• Psst.  Here's the thing they won't tell you in the news articles:  That whole "inside information to guarantee betting victory" thing?  That's across the ENTIRE DAMNED INDUSTRY!  Remember, one of the common things they use to try to lasso in new business is the "guaranteed 50-star to hit and win" situation:  "You bet this game and win, or the rest of my season is FREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!"  There's only one way that works, especially when we're talking frauds and scams like this one over the course of over 15 years:  That the games are rigged and they DO have the inside scoop on who wins.  But no one can tell you that, for obvious reasons!  I'd almost like to see them try that as a defense in a potential trial.  Just sayin'.
  
• Speaking of frauds:  Michelle Wie West is probably finally doing defrauding women's golf.  Stepping away after the US Women's Open.
• Former Formula 1 head Bernie Ecclestone, arrested in Brazil for carrying an illegal gun.
• Someone asked the Raiders brass that if they actually had respect for Colin Kaepernick, why aren't they signing him?  They took the next step yesterday -- he actually held a semi-private workout recently, but the details were kept quiet so everybody didn't crap their pants over it.
• Jeff Bagwell has called the Moneyball concept a farce.  Especially in light of illegalities preferred teams are allowed to use to win championships, Jeff, I'd say you're right -- but not for the reason you think!    
• Zlatan Ibrahimovic will be out eight months due to knee surgery.  By his account, full ACL REPLACEMENT.  He actually played an entire Serie A season (to a championship!) without a left ACL!
• Ray Liotta has passed away today.
• As has Alan White, the drummer of Yes. 
• AND Andy Fletcher, the keyboardist of Depeche Mode.
• Come on, Warriors fans, BETTER THAN THIS!!!  Get the "Chuck You Suck" T-shirt up there, yes -- but let's not throw shit and force TNT to hastily schedule a commercial.  CUT IT OUT and just have fun with him!

And you wanna know WHY Kerr is that angry?

BECAUSE HE LOST HIS FATHER TO THIS TERRORISM.

(Thanks to my anonymous friend, and Wikipedia...)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malcolm_H._Kerr Death On 18 January 1984, Kerr was shot and killed by two gunmen. He was shot twice in the back of his head, by gunmen using suppressed handguns, in the hallway outside his office. His death was claimed by the Islamic Jihad Organization. Years later, information regarding Kerr's assassins and their motives still remain uncertain. News of his sudden death appeared in the media worldwide. Personal life Kerr had four children: Susan, John, Steve, and Andrew. Steve Kerr is a former NBA player, broadcaster, and general manager, as well as the current head coach of the Golden State Warriors. (edited

And the madness probably will never be stopped...

As I write this, I pass the 24^th anniversary of the night I was arrested in New York City for being believed that I was going to gravely harm (at barest minimum) Deborah Gibson.

And yet, as the moment of the arrest anniversary passes, my thoughts turn to West Texas and yet another mass shooting: 21 more successes for the American Right, the American Militia, and the terrorist organization which is the National Rifle Association.

A White Hispanic in a 60% Trump 75% White Hispanic town in Western Texas bought two guns on his 18^th birthday and mowed down an elementary school today. Current body count (since that is all these animals on the Right respond to) is eighteen students and three teachers.

And my first thought, when I woke from a nap this afternoon to hear of the shooting for the first time was the concept of the NRA National Anthem: Queen's “Another One Bites The Dust”.

I'm hearing the anger of the likes of Steve Kerr and the like, and yet the only thing that's going to get through to them is the war they obviously seek.

We are not a nation mature enough to handle guns.

We have way too many people openly willing to shoot if they could get their fetish for their guns to override their cowardice because they are MAGA.

This was an American-born person – he was a citizen. And, yet, I will be very interested to see what this piece of shit's motivations were.

Now I'm hearing the usual suspects: FOX believing kids aren't reporting known threats for fear of being “the school snitch”...

There's two problems with that, you Republican whores:

First, speaking as “the school snitch” when I was in high school – at some point, you do simply have to do it, knowing you aren't popular enough to begin with.

And second, you're all but implying our schools (and the demeanor of our children) is little to nothing better than the types you deal with around Riker's Island!

Let THAT (at least the latter) process!

ZeroHedge and the like with the “crisis actors”/fraud approach. I'm even hearing at least a form of this from one of the commenters I do agree with!

Look, if they wanted to disarm the country as a function of “taking us out”, it'd be like the (Qanon belief of a) lack of a real COVID pandemic in that regard – it would've already started. To think this is going on in that realm is completely illogical.

I truly believe that these shootings are openly desired results, openly wanted occurrences, and basically are used as further bludgeons against those “we don't like”. (That “if you were holy enough, your child would not be going to that kind of school”/”would not have been in the line of fire”/etc.)

So it's not going to be stopped, because no one on about 40% of the country wants it to stop, because what they want is the right to kill who they want, when they want, but only when they have the balls to do so.

Which kinda dovetails back to today, and I want to pull up a comment Deborah said and establish it's complete falsity – something I have had to learn over the last 24 years.

The comment:

“FREEDOM is loving who you are and loving life, not because of or despite any external influences negative or positive. I hope you are feelin’ your vibe today and reminding yourself that you are worthy of all love all-ways !!!”

Categorically and completely false – and completely ignorant of the reality many people have to live in this cesspool of a society.

Much of this comes from the fact you have to be acceptable as a precondition of having that “external influence” removed. You have to be acceptable FIRST.

And if you don't want to believe that, ask that of the transgender community, under continued attack by that good little false-comedian thug Dave Chappelle...

… or the NRA, who just claimed at least 21 more victories today (and who knows how many more, since some of the victims are so fucked up, they can't do facial recognition on the remaining victims!)...

… or reproductive-age women, who are about to be told they are no more than baby and sammich-making machines, etc.

… or those in any line of society which society wants them removed from (which is the sole basis of those who get the law enforced against them and those who do not – am I right, Bill Cosby?)...

I could go on if you want...

No, Deborah Ann: You don't get those rights you speak of without others allowing you to have those rights.

No, I am not loved always. That's also conditional, it seems, in our society. The only two entities who would even to purport to love me right now are God (which doesn't apply here – His plan does not guarantee, in the LEAST, one's ability to do all of these things you speak of), and the obligation of my family (which doesn't apply here either, because I can't assure their safety going forward, for the same presumed depravity I did the time for!).

I am not loved for who I am, the living situation I am in, my assumed depravities, my willingness to raise Hell and take names, my willingness to “say the quiet part out loud”, and I could continue this list...

But I am also not loved for what it is I am believed I am going to do, more so the more I care about the other person involved.

I am not loved always. Sorry, there are realities which mean the “external influences” have far more power than one's personal beliefs on the situation – especially when the former can easily (and with the force of law) wipe out the latter. Seriously.

There's positivity, and there's just complete falsehood when you have to be realized by force it never applied to you in the first goddamned place. Not now, not in 1998, not in 1989 – and that's with all of the ramifications THAT had.

And that dovetails back to Texas. We are an ignorant, savage nation who believes more in Isaiah 47:3 (more directly, the non-canonical Bible book of Nahum 1:2 – the concept of the LORD being a jealous and vengeful God) than John 3:16 (God's love for the world) and Romans 3:23, that all have fallen short in the sight of God.

So we have a nationful of men (and women who wish they were men like that gun-toting terrorist Congresscritter Boebert) who put their stock literally into their guns and basically state that their entire identity and freedom come from that source.

There's more than a bit of me that hopes I don't see the 25^th anniversary. I've already warned my family. If I make it to football season, it will be more evidence of that side's cowardice and stupidity.

Day 802: And people wonder why I advocate violence when it's necessary...

• At least 18 children and 3 teachers were mowed down today in a Texas grade school by a Hispanic student in their high school.  The latter was a citizen (before we start THAT inconvenience), about to graduate the same town's high school, and was killed in the exchange.
• Hey, but at least we've got Chappelle no one wants to shut up, eh?
• The NBA needs to cancel Game 4 and move the schedule back.
• This was Warriors coach Steve Kerr in a pre-game media availability:
  

Rob Manfred proves ONCE AGAIN that he wants Major League Baseball a violent White Man's Game.

Tim Anderson of the Chicago White Sox, for using Jackie Robinson's name in a racist way as a slur to another player, was suspended the grand sum total of ONE GAME -- and he's appealing (once he's off the COVID List!)...

Not to mention (as the Yankees pointed out) the shove at the altercation at third base, and other rabblerousing things he's done recently.

But, once again, let's not let it escape us that it appears White racism is alive and well in Rob Manfred's Major League Baseball.

And They're Thinking I'm Taking It Personally...

First off, it's the UrinatingTree subreddit -- I know that means if I get in there with something a lot of people won't like, I'm going to get roughed up a bit and then have to give it back.

The only problem I had with the hockey channel tonight is a continued pet peeve I have had, now, for a long time.  (And the fact they believe I'm wrong when I know I'm right and the stats prove it...)

Can we please get rid of the participation trophy which is the President's Trophy?

Florida, who had the best record in the NHL regular season this year, just got it's ass swept by Tampa Bay, who now appears on track for back-to-back-to-back.

They become the ninth consecutive, and 13th out of the last 14, President's Trophy winners not to win the Stanley Cup.

They are the ninth consecutive not to even reach the Finals, and the eighth in nine not to reach the conference Finals.

Does the NFL have such an award?

The NBA?

Major League Baseball?

There's one prize, one champion, one award that COUNTS.  It's Lord Stanley's Cup, and the regular season, especially with the 16-team playoffs, is BASICALLY USELESS.

And you wonder why some of us want to get rid of professional video-gaming...

The largest independent video-game tournaments in the world, it was announced to Kotaku today, have finally banned Korean Street Fighter professional Seon-Woo "Infiltration" Lee.  Six-time EVO World Champion, including at least once AFTER the first major thing I'm going to list.

Why?

• 2017 domestic-violence conviction in Korea that the Fighting Game Community only found out about in 2018.  All of his then-sponsors dropped him.
• He then returned in 2019, and won an EVO World Championship in Samurai Showdown.
• He then was dropped by his then-sponsor, Korean company AfreecaTV, for putting on a sham tournament to benefit his friends in 2019!

This guy needs to be in prison -- now TWICE.  He got only a fine for the domestic violence -- which tells you a lot about how Korea views women!

But then to come back, stick it up the ass of sensible video-gaming, and hold a rigged sham tournament SPONSORED BY YOUR HIGH-LEVEL SPONSOR...

WHAT THE UNHOLY MOTHER FUCK?

And why did it take nearly THREE YEARS to basically blanket-ban this guy?

And he's already under a life-ban threat from the domestic violence after basically accepting a two year suspension from the Capcom Pro Tour.  So that sham tournament incident should end all of that.

He competed in last season's Grand Final on the Capcom Pro Tour and won a $5,000 exhibition match -- no formal professional championship was held since the COVID-19 pandemic hit.  Even this season is a hybrid of on and offline events.

Day 801

• As should be expected per the rank, Yokozuna Terunofuji won the May sumo tournament outright, but a 12-3 outright victory (and only six ten-win wrestlers at all -- and two kadoban Ozeki and the third being 8-7) will definitely raise eyebrows.
• Manchester City has won the English Premier League on the final matchday.
• The rest of the World Cup of soccer comes into focus in the next couple weeks with the Ukraine-Scotland-Wales pod of the UEFA qualifiers (which the United States will watch with interest -- that's the fourth team in their group!), the Asian group playoff, and the interconfederational playoffs.
• ESPN tonight:  Yankees-White Sox.  Have fun.
• The Dallas Mavericks do not have the memo yet.  Another bench decorum violation, another $100,000 fine.  In the $tern Era, this would be "Series Over" in a figurative sense -- and, if they aren't careful, it will be in this one too.  Game 3 tonight.
• And how, in the reality of the last five or so years, do you make the GOLDEN STATE WARRIORS (with the likes of Draymond Green!) the CUDDLY ones, as far as the league is concerned?   

 

Day 800

• Tiger Woods' body gives out -- he's out of the PGA after a 79 today.
• Apparently, listed cause is pain in his feet.
• Jack Nicklaus is being sued for breach of contract and lack of fiduciary duty -- by his own named companies, who paid Nicklaus $145,000,000 in 2017 and got nothing of agreed work back for it.
• Yes, some of the rumored joining of the Saudi-backed tour is part of it.
• DeShaun Watson's lawyer told Sports Illustrated the NFL will probably issue a discipline decision on the quarterback before training camp.
• Sage Steele was covering the PGA Championship for ESPN and, after her shift was over, was watching from the gallery when she was hit with a stray shot from Jon Rahm.  She is recovering from being hit in the face, and will be out for a little while.
• Tim Anderson and Josh Donaldson got into two separate bust-ups today in New York, the second of which claimed to be perpetrated by Donaldson invoking Jackie Robinson in a racist manner toward Anderson.  Baseball is NOT going to receive that well.  
• Final day of the May sumo tournament, and a lot to decide!

At the top end:

• Yokozuna Terunofuji and Maegashira #4 Takanosho are both 11-3, and will play off if both win today.
• Maegashira #12 Sadanoumi and Komusubi Daiesho are 10-4.
• Sadanoumi faces Takanosho today about halfway through the list of matches.  If Sadanoumi wins, then Terunofuji wins unless he loses to kadoban Ozeki Mitakeumi.
  
• If Sadanoumi wins and Terunofuji loses, that's at least a three-way playoff, and Komusubi Daiesho is also 10-4 and can get in on the situation with a win over 7-7 Maegashira #8 Shimanoumi.
• We already have two kadoban Ozeki, and the third, Takakeisho, has to beat fourth-time kadoban Ozeki Shodai not to join them.

Rankings:

• There are at least two feasible candidates for Sekiwake:  Daiesho and Takanosho.  The two Sekiwake meet, Wakatakakage and Abi.  Wakatakakage has his winning record, and can demote Abi with a victory today.
• Sekiwake and Komusubi could be an awkward discussion, as both Komusubi have winning records and should not be demoted -- and, at that level, there is a tradition of only two at the level.
  

Day 799

• The ATP and WTA have revoked all points for this year's Wimbledon.  May be up to the All-England to cancel the tournament to send a message.  If the UK can threaten to shut down Chelsea Football Club at the end of the month...  (Nothing new, it's basically the deadline for a sale which gets Abramovich nothing.)    
• The French Open begins next week.
  
• Stephanie McMahon has stepped down to be with her family from all WWE activities.  Some believe it's from the Naomi/Sasha Banks stuff on Monday -- the rest of us think HHH is not well and he and Stephanie both know it.    
• The SEC has reprimanded both Nick Saban and Jimbo Fisher for their to-do...  And possibly revoked all media access for the time being for all the football coaches in the conference, to settle this all down.
• End-of-season pitch invasions are happening all across England -- and Patrick Vieira, now managing Crystal Palace, is in some hot water over physicality with at least one pitch invader in a recent match.
• Snow in western North America has not only called off an MLB game in Denver for today, but also the Game 2 watch party in Alberta for Flames/Oilers.  Instead, Calgary will open the Saddledome at reduced capacity for fans to watch Game 3, to be held in Edmonton.
  
• Epicenter, the runner-up in the Kentucky Derby (and, in my honest opinion, should be graduated to champion), is the current 6-5 favorite in the Preakness.
  

Day 798

• Three days left in the May sumo tournament.

1. Maegashira #4 Takanosho is 10-2.  (has already faced and gold-starred Terunofuji)
   
2. Maegashira #12 Sadanoumi is 9-3.
3. Maegashira #6 Ura is 9-3.
4. Yokozuna Terunofuji is 9-3.  Lost to Takanosho, hasn't and probably won't face Sadanoumi nor Ura.

The debacle at the name ranks continues:

• Ozeki:  Takakeisho is 6-6, Shodai and Mitakeumi at 5-7 and one loss from kadoban.
• Sekiwake:  Both Abi and Wakatakakage are 6-6.  Wakatakakage probably needs to win out and go 12-3 next tournament to make Ozeki.
• Komusubi:  Daiesho already has his kachi-koshi (winning record), meaning if either Abi or Wakatakakage go make-koshi (losing record), he replaces them -- he's 8-4.  Hoshoryu is 7-5 and may be about to join.

Others:

• Dave Stockton, in an indication the PGA might be done with Phil, says Mickelson was not missed at the dinner this week before the tournament.  Mickelson was the defending champion.
• Tiger Woods went +4, much to the chagrin of anyone trying to make money off the PGA Championship -- and I'm not talking just the gamblers, who put more money on Tiger than anyone else.
• It appears that the athletic director of Texas A&M believes Nick Saban's comments slamming A&M's use of NIL violate SEC by-laws.
• Jackson State head coach Deion Sanders has weighed in against Saban's comments.
  

Day 797

• Charles Barkley does not like San Francisco.  Before Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals, Barkley picked Dallas to beat Golden State in 7 games, then punctuated it with a "Let's go Mavs" chant to a large group of Warriors fans near the Inside the NBA position outside the new Chase Center.
• Golden State wins Game 1 by 25.
• So Barkley gets a lot of "Chuck, you suck!" chants in the postgame show, to which he responds with "Hey, you're right, and y'all suck too!"  As he's talking about overreacting to Game 1 and the 25-point blowout.
  
• Later, he said how much he hates the San Francisco area.
• Of course, the Mavs may be in the NBA doghouse for the moment.  Twice, during the Phoenix series, the Mavericks were fined for bench decorum violations:  $25,000 after a Game 2 loss, double that after a Game 7 win.
• The Pac-12 and ACC have abolished division play in football after the NCAA no longer will require it for conference championship play.
• Bryson DeChambeau's injuries have not healed -- he won't play in the PGA Championship starting tomorrow.
• Nick Saban openly charges that Texas A&M, who had the #1 recruiting class to Bama's #2, bought every player on the team with NIL deals as part of the recruiting.  And the reality of college sports indicates this is a problem to you...  WHY?  I can understand if a smaller FBS-I school wants a problem with that, but you?  COME ON!      
• Jake Sanford was fired from the Yankees organization today.  The former third-round pick was stealing equipment to resell it.  WOT???    
• And scamming fans by selling them autographed materials he never sent!
• For the first time in 57 years, a high-school track runner has run an unpaced four-minute mile, when Gary Martin of Pennsylvania ran the mile in 3:57.98, the 3rd fastest outdoor mile ever and the 14th recorded high-school sub-four minute mile.
• Martin intends to go to Virginia, and is probably targeting LA 2028.   
• Most such attempts use "rabbits" to help with the pace of the event in all but the highest of competitive events, runners not intended to even finish, but to set a pace so that the event can have a marketable result.
• This can backfire.  If the field, for whatever reason, refuses the pace, the "rabbit", if they can complete the race, can win -- and it's not unheard of that to happen!     

 

Day 796

• Gee, SI, we wanna whore things out any worse this year?  One of your 2022 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition cover models...  Kim Kardashian.  Why not just do the photo ass-first on all fours then, if you wanna whore it up like that?    
• The first plus-sized Asian model is anothe, Yumi Nu.
  
• The UK government wants to make sure the Chelsea sale gives the former Russian owner nothing -- if it isn't approved by the end of this month, the club loses it's license to operate!
• 3,138 Monday night in Oakland for the Twins.
• 42,650 in LA for the Dodgers vs. D-Backs.
• A consultant for the Milwaukee public school system has called for effective martial law in the city this summer.  A Memorial Day-Labor Day curfew 7 PM-6AM on weekdays and 9PM-6AM on weekends, etc.  He believes this is what it would take to stop the situation of crime in the city.
• Two-thirds of the way through the May sumo tournament in Japan...

1. Maegashira #15 Ichiyamamoto is 8-2.
2. Maegashira #4 Takanosho is 8-2.
3. Yokozuna Terunofuji is 7-3.
4. Maegashira #2 Kiribayama is 7-3.
5. Maegashira #6 Ura is 7-3.
6. Maegashira #12 Sadanoumi is 7-3.
7. Maegashira #11 Aoiyama is 7-3.

• The continuing travails of Ozeki Shodai continue.  In the second-highest rank Ozeki, you can only be demoted out in a three-tournament process, similar to the process you get to the rank.
• Since Shodai became an Ozeki after winning the September 2020 tournament:  An injury automatically made him kadoban (the first step out), then 11-4 to remove that, 7-8 to go back kadoban, 9-6 to leave it, 8-7, 8-7, 9-6, 6-9 to go kadoban for the third time, 9-6 to save out (and needed two wins in the last two weeks to not go back to the next rank provisionally, the second step), and he is about to go kadoban for the FOURTH time, he's 3-7 and he should not have won one of the three matches he did win.
• The tournament is going so spectacularly sideways at the Ozeki level, all three at the second-highest rank could go kadoban -- Kitakeumi and Takakeisho are both 5-5.
• Last tournament's champion at Sekiwake, Wakatakakage, is also 5-5 -- and needs to rack up as many wins as he can, because he needs a rough average of 11-4 over three tournaments to make Ozeki.
• And the other Sekiwake, formerly-suspended Abi, is also 5-5!  And, unlike Ozeki, there is no protection.  You go 7-8, you are subject to demotion!
• As for the other major suspension in sumo over the last year, Asanoyama is serving the sixth and final tournament of his suspension for a major COVID and character violation.

1. He was suspended at 7-5, three matches to go as an Ozeki.  So the three absences made him kadoban.
2. The first suspended tournament put him provisionally back in Sekiwake.
3. The second dropped him all the way to Maegashira #10.
4. The third dropped him to Juryo #4.
5. The fourth dropped him to Makushita (the highest of the boy ranks) #2
6. The fifth dropped him to Makushita #42.
7. And he's going to drop all the way into the Sandanme meatgrinder in the mid-20s.  He's looking AT LEAST A YEAR to even get back to Maegashira.  He should've been expelled from sumo, and that be the end of it!   

• For distribution of oxycontine to Tyler Skaggs (probably more for the use of cocaine as well), Matt Harvey has been banned 60 games by MLB.  Because if the Commissioner had a set of balls, the fact Skaggs died from it would mean Best Interests of Baseball and Harvey is DONE.    
• South Carolina has joined the anti-trans bigotry with respect to girls' sports.
• In another case that I hate to say hope is fatal:  Eric Clapton finally caught COVID.
  

Day 795

• A NUMBER of copycat threats have been made today in Buffalo suburbs -- White Nationalists (or trolls masquerading as same) going off to kill Blacks.  None have, as yet, come to fruition.  Whassa matta?  No balls, Republican Fucks???    
• Jack Nicklaus was offered $100,000,000 to be part of the Saudi-backed breakaway golf tour.  With his political leanings, I'm surprised he didn't take that money!    
• It looks as if the potential of a leak of how many Twitter accounts are actually bots (and how a supermajority of day-to-day use is basically bot-to-bot) has Elon Musk pulling back his offer for Twitter and threatening to downsize it or provoke major lawsuits.
• The White Supremacist Terrorist KKK Murderer of 10 in Buffalo apparently had made similar threats back in March, and the same security guard who ended up one of the 10 killed by him confronted the RepubliKKKan KKKucKKK then.
• Creative walkout of the WWE Women's Tag Champions Naomi and Sasha Banks from Raw tonight.  Apparently, Naomi was supposed to win a #1 contenders' six-way match, and Sasha went to Vince McMahon, wanting it changed because that was going to lead to breaking up the women's tag champs (and perhaps deactivating the belts entirely -- belts Sasha fought hard to establish?).  Sasha walked out when Vince balked, Naomi went with her.
• Rajon Rondo of the Cavaliers is now being investigated for threatening a woman at gunpoint after the woman asked Rondo to help separate laundry last week.
• And in another case that the anti-vaxx fucks will try to put that the vaccines are killing people:  Tonight's game between Houston and Boston was stopped when it looked like Jake Odorozzi blew out his knee on a pitch, and a subsequent attempt to cover first base.
• Nester Cortes of the Yankees is off Twitter due to racist language on his account.  From a decade ago.  Which reports are not indicating were anything more than quoting lyrics as a 17 year old (no direction of target) -- but no one's going to cancel the rap industry now, ARE WE?????????????    

 

Day 794

• And after the Reds reel off a number of wins, they fall victim to one of the rarest things in sports:  A no-hitter by their team, which will never be in the record books because they LOST THE GAME.  MLB rules state you have to have won the game and not give up any base hits to be credited with a no-hitter.  The Reds no-hit the Pirates today, but three eighth-inning walks and a fielders' choice plated the only run in a 1-0 loss.
• The Reds only got 4 hits.
• Two hours, 34 minutes -- because 253 pitches were still thrown in the game.
• It is only the sixth time in MLB history that a team has lost a "no-hitter".  The last was in 2008.
• Defending NBA Champion Milwaukee is out, and Dallas eliminated Phoenix.
  

Day 793

• Three shot in Milwaukee after Game 6 against Boston last night in Milwaukee a block from the arena.  Fans sent running.
• Phil Mickelson has withdrawn and will not defend his PGA Championship.
• Five of the eight NHL first-round matchups will go to Game 7 this weekend.  Two others finished in six.  Only Stanley Cup favorites Colorado got a sweep.
• Two of the conference semifinals in the NBA will go 7, the other two finished in six.  Only two 5's and a sweep in the first round.
• Buffalo, New York.  Man walks into a supermarket in military fatigues and body armor, kills ten.
• White supremacist by his own admission, online manifesto, live-streamed the whole shot.
  

Day 792

• The final total of the 2022 Second Life Fantasy Faire has been announced:  $103,119.
• 25,779,893 Second Life Lindens have been donated to the American Cancer Society at the event -- a new record.
  
• The parents of a 35 year-old Indian man are prepared to sue him and his wife for everything they've spent on him (the equivalent, it is reported, of about $650,000) for not providing them a grandchild, and living in separate states in India because of what work they could find!  Intense mental cruelty and harassment is the charge.  In India, the parents' lawyer says, children are to provide their parents with "basic financial care".  They have a court date May 17.  I'm not making this up.   
• Of course, it is not currently known whether it will matter, the gender of the child.  Some Indian mothers are beaten for not providing sons.
• 292,000 Mercedes cars are going to have to be off the road for a possible brake defect.
• The Reds have won four of their last five.  The Dodgers have lost three of their last four.  Yes, I know it doesn't matter THAT MUCH.  Hell, this is to demonstrate that!    
• For the first time, the NBA will award MVP trophies in the Conference Finals.
  
• The MVP of the Eastern Conference Finals will now receive...  The Larry Bird Trophy.
• The Western Conference winner...  The Magic Johnson Trophy.  There's something appropo about all that, when you think of it...    
• Sportico has released it's salary and endorsement totals for athletes for the last year.  When you count endorsements, LeBron James had the richest 2021, at $126.9 million.
• Three soccer players:  Messi, Ronaldo, and Neymar, broke $100 million apiece.
• In pure salary/purse/winnings, boxer Canelo Alvarez was #1 with $84 million.
• For the women:  Naomi Osaka topped the list at $53.2 million to make #20 on the list -- as the only woman in the top 50.
• Only one other woman on the top 100 list at all:  Serena Williams at #52.
  

Shut it down for the night. We have a winner of the Interwebz.

The Los Angeles Chargers.

Who turned their 2022 schedule release into an anime opening!

Should we REALLY make our schedule release video an anime?

yes yes yesyes
yesyes yes yes yes
yes yes yes yes yes
yes yesyes yes yes
yes yesye yes yes
yes yes yesyes pic.twitter.com/A0TvmYJUOQ

— Los Angeles Chargers (@chargers) May 13, 2022

And that's before you see the message itself!

(AND how they deal with DeShaun Watson in Cleveland, with a common anime trope!)

Day 791

• Christian Yelich has become the sixth player in MLB history to hit for the cycle three times.
• Nikola Jokic is NBA MVP again -- back-to-back.
• It appears we have a COVID outbreak in the young WNBA season.  And it appears that the players having to travel on commercial jets rather than private airplanes may be the reason.  I've been telling people since this fucking began that we are looking at a First World, sociality-based virus.    
• And we have one with the Cleveland Guardians -- their game with the White Sox was postponed yesterday.
  
• The Dodgers are significant favorites to win the World Series at Sports Illustrated's sportsbook:  4-1.  Blue Jays and Yankees are 15-2, with the Mets, Astros, Brewers, and Giants to follow.
• Naomi Judd's daughter Ashley has confirmed:  Naomi killed herself.  Sigh.  Another one.   
• I have received at least a perfunctory response from the Executive Director of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission regarding an e-mail I sent after learning of Sonny Leon's suspensions.  And before ANYONE asks:  No, I am not delusional enough to think that it's counterpart to the Maryland commission sparked the decision for Rich Strike not to run the Preakness.  There was, as I said in the update, concern of the five-week schedule of the Triple Crown by Rich Strike's ownership.   
• My anonymous friend has also added that Mississippi has also sued former NFL player Marcus Dupree, in what is apparently becoming a wildly expanding net of fraud on the part of the celebrity "sports" contingent.
• Denver Broncos 2020 first-round pick WR Jerry Jeudy was arrested this morning in Colorado.  Too soon to know for what. 
• On a no-bond hold.  A 2nd degree misdemeanor because Colorado does not, of it's own merit, have a law against domestic violence.  They can use domestic violence to aggravate charges, as they have here -- but the charge is officially "criminal tampering".  Basically, an action against property to annoy, alarm, harass, or injure another person.
  
• The 2031 Rugby World Cup will be held in the United States -- the women's event two years later will also be held here.
  

 

This Rich Strike story IS too good to be true. It never should've happened.

Much has been made of the storied trip down Churchill Downs of 80-1 mega-longshot Rich Strike and jockey Sonny Leon.

I think it is now clear that Kentucky racing authorities need a look at that run (and, probably more likely, whether Leon was, in fact, legal to ride anyway).

Leon was under investigation in Ohio for reckless racing in an April 27th race at Thistledown Racecourse.  The suspension actually involves a shoving situation between Leon and another jockey in an allowance race.

If this were the only situation, it'd be one thing.  Rules in Ohio, according to Tim Sullivan of the Louisville Courier Journal, would allow Leon to race in "designated races" such as the Kentucky Derby if the suspension in Ohio was not for longer than ten days.  Leon was originally suspended eight, halved to four once he did not appeal.

This is Leon's FIFTH suspension since September 15th, a newspaper investigation has revealed to Yahoo!  Three for reckless racing, one for false and altered documents, and a fifth for abuse of the horse with a whip.  

Since September 15, a span, leading to the Derby, of just under eight months, Sonny Leon has been (counting these four he's serving this week) suspended for 32 days. 

According to Jeff Perrin, Leon's agent, he IS eligible to race at the Preakness should Rich Strike elect to do so.

I think some people (myself included) are going to have to see if there's any way we can make sure this does not happen.

According to the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission's licensing form:

• Leon would've been forced to reveal the other four suspensions as being "ruled off, ejected, or excluded from association racing grounds".
• As well as probably several fines he's received.

He will also have to reveal all five suspensions to the Maryland Racing Commission, per their licensing form. 

I think there are a couple of very prescient questions:

• Where is Mr. Leon currently licensed?
• And are we at the point that jockey suspensions are so common that five suspensions in less than an eight-month period (including one for falsification of documentation and another for whip abuse of the horse) does not even get a review toward revocation of his license, no matter what state he is licensed or is racing???

It almost-certainly will not happen, but Rich Strike needs to be disqualified.  Sonny Leon should never have been allowed at Churchill Downs - not for the one suspension, but for the aggregating record he's building up. 

Yeah, I actually have e-mailed the Executive Director of the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and the Maryland Racing Commission with a link to the Yahoo! article -- let's see if I can do a little better with them than I did the former heads of the Arena Football League and the Nevada State Athletic Commission.   

UPDATE 1:20 PM PDT 5/12/22:  For whatever reason (and, yes, it was discussed that the Triple Crown itself was too injurious to the horse), I guess the Maryland part of this was probably unnecessary:  Rich Strike has opted to run the Belmont instead of the Preakness.

Day 790

• The reported Tom Brady BROADCASTING deal is 10 years, $375 million.  No uncertain terms -- with that kind of money, if Goodell wanted to cede any power as to who wins and loses to a broadcaster, that's the kind of money which could make a broadcaster Kingmaker in retirement.  Highly doubtful he would, but keep in mind that's double what Buck and Aikman were making apiece at Fox.    
• Georgia police stopped and searched the Delaware state women's lacrosse team's bus.  Lawsuits are probably coming.  It appears there was some belief someone on the team (or the driver) was transporting illegal drugs.  If you don't think you're going to see more of THIS over the near future...    
• Grambling State hired a new women's volleyball coach, Chelsey Lucas, who promptly fired the entire team -- cutting every scholarship.  It appears Lucas has had a negative history with the Grambling team, going back to when she coached Arkansas-Pine Bluff.  She went so far as to say "I bet y'all will think twice of who you call a bitch."  (... which apparently was part of a team chant the entire university uses)  Legal counsel has been retained for an investigation.  Will be interested to see how this goes.  This might be Lucas telling Grambling State to cut the entire program part and parcel.    
• Bob Lanier, an 8-time NBA All-Star, passed away Tuesday night at age 73.
• Adreian Payne, former NBA player who was killed Monday morning, was killed as part of trying to intervene in a domestic dispute.  Lawrence Dority, 29, has had a history of at least domestic conflict with his girlfriend Tatiana Mesa -- so Mesa got Payne and his girlfriend (redacted from the police report) to try to intervene.  Dority claims Florida's Stand Your Ground, authorities say otherwise and have charged him Murder 1.  Dority faces the death penalty upon conviction.  Murder 1 does not require premeditation in Florida.  It only requires another major felony to be committed when the murder occurs.  And if someone charged with Murder 1 is found guilty, there are only two options, Life Without Parole or Death.
  

Day 789

• Mike Tyson will not be charged for the airplane incident.  As well, if the reports are accurate, he shouldn't be.  You throw a water bottle at the guy, he should be allowed to swing on your ass.    
• Head-rentier Tom Brady is headed to FOX after his career is over.  Indicating, also, that this is a "ring on the way out" year for Tampa.  And Green Bay drafted accordingly.    
• FIFA and EA Sports are done with their partnership.  Good, maybe the next FIFA game will actually...  NOT SUCK?    
• ESPN sometimes has room for the lighter side.  Fantasy football leagues across the country usually have positive prizes for the people who win them -- and negative prizes for the people who finish last in them.  This one is rather interesting:  The Kansas City, MO league had, as it's "forfeit" (penalty prize for losing) that the losing player had to play a round of golf -- the local US Open first-round qualifier, no matter how bad he sucked at it!
• John Eckert did so yesterday, and I don't think I'm plagiarizing ESPN when use the same words and say it went exactly as you would expect.  He shot 112, 40 over par -- and the two medalists in that round shot even par.
• If I'm the USGA, I don't bother with the letter revoking both pro and amateur status.  (You have to be either a pro or an amateur with under a 1.4 handicap -- and registering as a pro revokes all amateur status.)  As long as he wasn't disrupting the round, take it in stride, smile about it, and have a light moment, like the rest of us.  Even the person telling ESPN about the rule concedes Eckert probably isn't in a position to care.    
• 19 of the world's top 100 players have wanted to play in the initial Saudi-backed Greg Norman breakaway tour event.  The PGA Tour (correctly) has denied all applications for waivers to play in such.  That would be tagged under "Duh".     
• Reid Detmers of the Angels with a far more conventional no-hitter than the one the Mets threw.  108 pitch complete game in a 12-0 win over the Rays, 1 6th inning walk, 1 7th inning error.
  

Day 788, Part Two

• A record year, with a couple more days of shopping left, but, as of about 10 PM Pacific Time on the "19th" day of the Relay for Life-Second Life Fantasy Faire, the Faire announced it had, for the first time, reached $100,000 in donations for cancer research.
• In the 14 years of the Fantasy Faire, Second Life participants have raised almost $630,000.
  

Day 788

• In what's going to be a moment unto itself, Dick Vitale will receive the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance and Courage at this year's ESPYs.  It's deserved 100 times over, but why am I getting an ominous vibe?    
• Another fan incident in the NBA Playoffs:  The Dallas Mavericks have had to toss out (and presumably ban) a fan for getting into it with Chris Paul's family.  Paul had to actually confront that fan during yesterday's Game 4.
  
• Adreian Payne, a former college basketball standout, died in a shooting this morning in Orlando.  He was fired from the NBA after a report of a sexual assault his freshman year at Michigan State -- he had played four largely-disposable years in the league after being a first-round draft pick of the Hawks.
• The NFL is going to try a Week 2 Monday Night Football doubleheader, with a twist.  Both games will be going on with some overlap.  Tennessee at Buffalo starts 7:15 PM Eastern, Minnesota at Philadelphia at 8:30.
• The NFL's next venture into making a 12-month news cycle, the schedule release, is this Thursday.
• If you want to know why even blog-readers believe Tom Brady lives rent-free in my head (and the influence he has over the NFL), his return forced a fairly complete remake of the Tampa Bay schedule for the 2022 season.  Howard Katz, the NFL's head of broadcasting, said he was actually concerned about the NFC package when Brady retired -- an indication that the conference was not viewed as that strong.  He's right.  The East is largely a joke, the North might be rebounding as Green Bay fades due to the Rodgers sabotage (but has a LONG way to go), and the South outside Tampa is a complete zero.   
• Another known game already is that Brady and the Bucs are going to Munich for an international game in November against Seattle.
• Brady was the #1 player in merchandising last year.
• Warriors coach Steve Kerr has tested positive for the coronavirus pre-Game 4.
• And another for the "OH GEE, WHAT A FREAKING SHOCK!" Department:  A lawsuit was filed alleging a group of athletes and others squandered the state of Mississippi for $20,000,000 in TANF (Food Stamps) funds.  Among the defendants:  Brett Favre and the entire DiBiase wrestling family:  Ted and Ted's sons Ted Jr. and Brett.  Former state Human Services Dept. head John Davis has been criminally charged in the scheme, in which Ted (Sr.) got $1,700,000 for church outreach as a preacher.  SO THAT'S HOW HE BECAME THE MILLION-DOLLAR MAN!  No wonder McMahon would've used the character on himself -- at least (allegedly at this point) as much a shyster!    
• ESPN has already given up on the Cincinnati Reds and is telling Reds fans to look forward to Bengals training camp.
• And Carlos Alcaraz defeated Alexandr Zverev to finish winning the Spanish Open, his fourth win of the season and rockets his ranking all the way to #6 in the world!  This in addition to winning last year's ATP U-21 championship year-end event.
  

Day 787

• Anyone who thinks they want to mess with former Bayley superfan Izzy Silyagi had better reconsider their position and FAST!  On top of her professional wrestling training, she also trains in MMA -- and, yesterday, in a NAGA tournament in Orlando, she actually won in a division for more experienced and heavier teen female fighters than her experience or weight would indicate.  Silyagi won in the gi-wearing 140-150 pound intermediate class -- I think, the last time she said, she MIGHT be 120!  And intermediate would indicate 1-2 years of grappling experience...
• For the victory, Silyagi received a specially engraved samurai sword!
• Today is the eighteenth and final day of the 2022 Relay For Life-Second Life Fantasy Faire.  The official total as of the end of Friday was over $76,000.  A major live auction is coming today.
• Entering said auction (more correctly, the final day itself), the Faire has raised $86,202.
  
• Speaking of Friday, the Jeopardy! championship of Mattea Roach finally came to an end, 23 wins, $560,983 -- but, in the final analysis, a championship not dissimilar to Jonathan Fisher's earlier in the season.  Fisher, the man who defeated Matt Amodio, went on a run no one could discern the reason how he became an ultrachamp.  Same principle here.  This now means 4 ultrachamps for the 2021-22 season...
• ... and Ken Jennings announces Mayim Bialik is returning for a few weeks.
• Speculation, however, is that, with Jennings being the only Jeopardy! Chaser not to return to ABC's The Chase this season (three new chasers, including the runner-up from NBC's Million Second Quiz and Jeopardy! fan favorite Buzzy Cohen, join Holzhauer and Rutter), he's going to eventually be announced as the full-time Jeopardy! host.
• ... with Michael Davies now agreeing to Executive Produce Jeopardy! going forward.
• Two thoughts:  First, The Chase apparently did "The Beast" Mark Labbett dirty -- he was not happy not to be brought forward into this season of the ABC show.  And I really hate to say it:  Does Buzzy Cohen really have the personality and the antagonism a Chaser has to intrinsically have?    
• If you want to see how bad things are in Oakland:  Even at 4-24, over 21,000 tickets were sold for Saturday's scheduled game in Cincinnati (which turned out to be Game 2).  A similar game in Oakland might draw 10-12K. 
• Bizarre day in the first day of the May sumo tournament.  Yokozuna Terunofuji and Ozeki Shodai and Takakeisho all lost.  Terunofuji was defeated by Komusubi Daiesho (hence, not a kinboshi for the latter -- "gold stars" can only be awarded to Maegashira who defeat a Yokozuna).  Shodai and Takakeisho both lost to Maegashira 2nd ranks Kotonowaka and Kiribayama.
• The third Ozeki, Mitakeumi, defeated Maegashira 1st rank Takayasu.
• For the first time in a while, none of the Ozeki face demotion (an Ozeki can only be demoted over a three-tournament process.  One losing record makes them kadoban, a second while kadoban demotes them and they have to go 10-5 or better not to have to start the climb to Ozeki all over again (which usually, similarly, takes three tournaments at an average of 11-4 or better).
• There is some discussion as to what happens if March champion Wakatakakage (who won his first match) wins this tournament as well.  Wakatakakage is a Sekiwake, the rank below Ozeki.
  

Live one in the NBA playoffs...

Adam Silver, what say you about this?

Someone wanted the Bucks to win tonight.

Day 786

• Carlos Alcaraz of Spain has created a sensation in his homeland.  At the Madrid Open tennis tournament, Alcaraz, on consecutive days, has defeated both Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic.
• It would be his third championship in five weeks -- winning another Spanish ATP 1000 tournament and the Miami Open.  He also won the Rio Open back in February.
• The Cincinnati Reds have won their fourth game of the season -- in 27 attempts.  Too bad it was a AA game against the Pirates, I guess it counts...
• A SCOTUSBlog editorial hypothesizes the worst case for human rights in this country:  That Justice Gorsuch has joined the Alito opinion, meaning that the hard right has the five votes needed to wipe out a century or more of civil rights advances enforced on the hardcore bigot conservatives with respect to women, gays, transgenders, abortion, and marriages.  Alito, Thomas, and Gorsuch are currently fully concurring -- Barrett (who is believed all but certain) and Kavanaugh are waiting on Roberts' partial dissent. 
• The Pew Research Center with some abortion insights:  The bulk of support appears to come from hardcore Protestants (not Catholics, whose 56-42 opposition is within margin of error of the 61-38).  Support for banning abortion increases with less education and the older you get, but nothing like the 55-43 Protestant and 77-20 White Protestant support.  If you want to know where you future lies in ChristoFascist AmeriKKKa, here it is.  White Protestant Uneducated Older Males in a council over their property.    
• Some horses are appropriately named.    Rich Strike, winner of only a Churchill Downs claiming race as a two-year old and the longest shot in the field at an 80-1 shot, hit the lottery for immortality and won the 148th Kentucky Derby today.  Rich Strike was only entered into the Derby as an alternate and got in the race only yesterday morning when Ethereal Road was scratched from the 20-horse field.  In fact, Rich Strike was the SECOND ALTERNATE, drawn from a pool of alternates to enter the field on scratches.  If horse racing weren't so barbaric, this would be one Hell of a story!    
• The longest-odds horse to win the Derby in over a century -- the record is 1913's Donerail, who went off 91-1.
  
• Not a complete surprise that a longshot ran the table:  Bob Baffert is banned from this and next year's Derby as a result of drugging horses.
• Sonny Leon wins $186,000 for the ride.  The owners, etc. win about $1.6 million. 
• Favorite Epicenter came second.  Fourth-choice Zandon came third.
• Trying to find, for the record, the betting table:  

Rich Strike $163.60 to win, 74.20 to place, 29.40 to show.

Epicenter 7.40 to place, 5.20 to show

Zandon 5.60 to show

• Evidence that the Baffert ban took all the preferred horses out and left a very even field -- and a very robust chance that, regardless of the outcome, a correct wager could pay well.    
• Top five horse $1 wager paid off $741,000+.
• Every exotic wager paid four, five or six figures.  Even the exacta paid $4100.
• I'll give you an idea boxing is rigged.  Light-heavyweight champion Dmitry Bivol ate Canelo for lunch tonight in Las Vegas.  Most experts had the much-higher regarded challenger winning, what, two rounds?
• Good news:  The judges did give the Russian the fight, and a unanimous decision.
• How they got it to 7 rounds to 5 on each card...  That's another question.  115-113X3.
  

Day 785

• Every out-of-market MLB game this weekend is free on MLB.com -- Mother's Day.
• Here is the attendance figure for each of the last six home games of the Oakland A's -- all of which they lost:

1. Wednesday:  4,838
2. Tuesday:  2,815
3. Monday:  2,488
4. Sunday:  14,945
5. Saturday: 6,707
6. Friday:  12,910

• That 46,663.  52,203 saw the Dodgers -- two nights ago against the Giants.  We aren't talking about if they fail payroll or other vital expenses, but when.   
• The exodus from the Raiders is continuing.  Team President Dan Ventrelle is out, and it does not sound as if the parting was nice.  It will be the third team president the Raiders have had in just over a year.  Sounds to me like something was found out about him Mark Davis does not want us to know about.
• Hostile work environment concerns, ignored, got fired for it.  No surprise at all, given the team employed Gruden until it had no choice but to do otherwise.  Lawsuit forthcoming.  
• Speaking of, Fred Savage is gone from the "Wonder Years" reboot.  Inappropriateness, etc. and so forth.  Wonder if, given the content (the reboot is a Black group from the 1960's), race had anything to do with it.
  
• SIX Eastern games were rained out today and tonight from the MLB schedule.   Games postponed in Cleveland, 3-23 Cincinnati, Chicago, Baltimore, Philadelphia, and New York.  Most games postponed in any game in four years.
  
• Todd Boehly, a co-owner of the Dodgers, has backed the successful bid to take Chelsea Football Club.  Looking at somewhere in the $5,000,000,000 range.
• It appears Dan Bellino HAS, in fact, been forced to admit he baited the ejection of Madison Bumgartner.  Suspend him.    
• Earl Thomas has had an arrest warrant put out for him today. 
• It's not the one we feared -- still a sacrifice to the altar of football.  After several months of speculation, the father of Georgia high-school quarterback Robbie Roper revealed his son died of a rare condition, a complication after Robbie had shoulder surgery.  One of the main reasons the father finally spoke up was everyone thinking it could be mental health/CTE related.
  

Day 784 -- Cinco De Drunko for any non-Mexicans...

• Discipline is in for the latest NBA debacle:  Dillon Brooks gets a one-game suspension for putting Gary Payton II on the shelf for a month...  Which he'll gladly take, as will the Suns or any other future Warriors opponents, as their chances of winning the title just went up.    
• And Draymond Green is 25 grand lighter for his Les Fingers du Middle exhibition against the fans in Memphis.
  
• Memphis won 116-111 and the series is tied heading to California.
• Andre Iguadola is also out for the Warriors for the rest of the series.  This is how you beat the Warriors -- through the injury reports.  Has been the case the last four seasons.
  
• Jerry Jones got in a minor accident yesterday.  Minor injury, precautionary trip to hospital -- in short, the news coverage is probably scarier than what happened.
• Cynthia Cooper-Dyke, abusive conduct against players allegations at at least three colleges at which she has coached.  At least one player, lesbian sexual harassment...  Another said her words were like speaking to "prisoners in jail"...  That makes sense.  After all, dehumanizing athletes is a common ploy of coaches to get them down to primal animal instinct on the courts and fields.  (Regardless of race...)    
• The biographer for Phil Mickelson has noted that, by his discussions, it appears that, at one point, Mickelson blew $40,000,000 in gambling losses.
• Sergio Garcia appears ready to bolt for the alternate Tour -- his latest frustration, a lost-ball ruling at the Wells Fargo during a 3-under 67.  He's 4 back heading to Round 2.
  
• Tom Brady is at least jokingly admitting the Tuck Rule was a fumble (or at least may have been).
• Marco Baldelli, manager of the Twins, COVID-positive. 
• The Cincinnati Reds are now 3-22 after being swept by the Brewers this week.
• It appears the Chappelle attack was either staged, or it was a "enemy of my enemy" -- TYT reports tonight...  the attacker was MAGA...
• We could have a "viral attack" situation on it too...  Complex is reporting the attacker is a wannabe rapper who actually made a rap about Chappelle!  Hoo boy...   

The right-wing conspiracy view on the Roe reversal leak...

I read my enemies, so that when I know what they are trying to do to us, I know what I'm talking about.

So I do read Karl Denninger's The Market Ticker occasionally to get an idea of how Libertarians and like-minded Republicans want to see us killed.

He's one of the reasons I'm now convinced that, had we lived in his America, I not only am taken out at age 12, but with the full blessing of family and community -- and let's just say some "long pork" is cooked and consumed afterward.

He had his article last night regarding the Roe v. Wade reversal leak.  But that's not specifically what I want to talk about.

I want to talk about this forum post from a user "Bzelbob" from the Bigots Republic of Florida.

He lists several theories on why he believes some left-winger (another commenter purports Biden himself did it -- I'd like to know how he got his hands on it, this appears to be an internal document of the Court.  My theory that Justice Breyer did it, for whatever reason, would hold far more merit!) may have leaked this decision now.

So I'll go over the list and give my theories:

• Putin has won the Ukraine, and all the whining going with it.

Not sure I can buy that, because Putin, as a master strategist, has to realize he holds all the current cards.  Trump is almost certainly the next meaningful President, or another Russian asset.  He can use the nuclear threat to hold off the world until he is in a far better political position than he is now with Biden in office.

And here's the kicker:  Putin can take as much of Europe as he wants.  He can basically, should they choose, work with Xi to take the entire Eastern Hemisphere without much meaningful challenge ("I have nukes and I will use them...  Nyah nyah nyah."), and send the Western Hemisphere back to 15th century relevance.

Putin's version of the world is probably a duo-polar between Russia and China, with the Americas basically run by one or more Russian asset plants.

• Housing collapse due to White Flight from the blue cities.

Certainly, more than a few White Republicans are leaving the cities, and that is the clarion call of the American Right.  Eventually, for them to retake this country, they will need to either militarily subjugate or obliterate urban America.

The problem is:  Regardless of HOW they get there, the housing collapse spoken of must happen -- even by Denninger's thought process.  You would think, at some point, a personal-responsibility Libertarian such as Karl Denninger would be calling for the proactive death (as in, 2A shoot us first) of the Leftward at least 30% of this country (he has said that the country must reverse the leverage-economics expansion of the last 40 years -- that's the population increase thereto), and probably double that.

He speaks of shunning and starving the irresponsible -- not realizing that, past a certain point, "If I'm going to be killed, you're going with me!"  So there's going to be a Deagel Group-level (or close) kill-off in this country in the next not-that-many years (Deagel believes 70%, and 2 1/2 years left to get there).

• Stock Market Crash due to the Fed finally being forced to raise rates to the point the economy cannot be sustained.

We are probably far closer than we wish to admit to that proactive call -- because, if any degree of mathematical Dennigerian reality is imposed on this country, every benefit program dies instantaneously (you're probably looking 15-20% COLA into next year at this rate) and everyone reliant on them, shortly afterward (and then see the quote above for what happens next).

The call to end deficit spending is being made that the Federal Reserve is now forced to raise rates beyond that which anything can be sustainable.  At that point, a crash of the stock market, and far more, is similarly inevitable.

Not only that, but if I were ever to meet Denninger, I'd want a T-shirt made first that I could wear:  "Math lies.  I'm living proof."

• A full tally of the "Died Suddenly" becomes too large to ignore. 

That's another one I do believe will happen, and soon.  I've said, at least once, here that I believe we are deliberately underreporting COVID deaths in this country by at least a factor of five.

Yes, five million -- and data Denninger has presented on his own website is part of the reason why.  That "roll number" of the 16+ non-institutional population (which the BLS promptly cleaned up and "scrubbed" first of this year) is one reason.  I have also made note of the comparative at-birth life expectancy for the USA in a UN model without COVID vs. a CDC number with it.  (It's at least 2% lower.)  Several studies which indicate COVID is far more prevalent in our society than admitted are also used.

There are two reasons you won't see that situation happen unless and until forced:  The first is the same I said about China 2 1/2 years ago on Zerohedge before I was banned from there for being a liberal and willing to bash skulls:  The reality of the death toll, before we get to how, would cause a freak-out.

And then, ESPECIALLY in America with the recalcitrant Right, the moment that number is revealed, it would be thrown square in the laps of the vaccine, when it should be clear to anyone that the Right has wanted a significant kill-off, and this virus is giving them the opportunity of a lifetime, and the pussies don't even need to fire a shot.

• The long-predicted collapse of the health-care system...

If there's one thing Karl has demanded of the societally responsible in this country, it is to get out of the health care system, be healthy, or be offed because the system itself is not sustainable.

He may well be right (and, if he is, it's too late for me), on both sides:

One is the obvious fraud and entitlement programs and all that.  The other is the moment the gravy train stops for the medical profession, how many people in it just WALK, never having believed in the Hippocratic Oath and wanting to be a doctor simply to get paid?

• The supply chain completely breaks down...

How this has not happened in North America the last 2 1/2 years, I have no clue.

• I took this one out of order, and there's been at least another commenter who's made the theory as well:  Biden is about to step down and hand the Presidency to Kamala Harris. 

Doing so before the midterms (now and not a year or so ago) is a surrender, at this point.  And some believe it is a surrender the DNC is about to order.

You have several problems if you do that, of which I'll highlight three:  The first is that Harris is factually even less popular than Biden.  That means you have to have a savior from the Left ready to go in 2024, if you get that far.  (I'll get to the italicized in a second.)

The second is, doing it now means you concede a bloodbath in the midterm elections, which may functionally finish Harris' Presidency before it even starts AND reinstall Trump as late as January 3, 2023.  (The Speaker of the House does NOT have to be a member of that body.)  Any intelligent person sees what the situation is going to be from there.

The third, because of the first, is that it now only takes one bullet, past 1/3/23, to reinstall the likes of Trump, instead of two.

The only case for doing so now (or in similar timeframe) vs. before is the understanding that not only will you lose the Senate in the midterms, but that the mathematical impossibility of replacing the Vice President in a palatable manner (50-50 no tiebreaker vote means no replacement VP is installed) will no longer, then, apply.

I've never believed Biden would serve out his term -- I felt in 2020 he'd be long gone by now.  I never believed it was the intention to have Biden serve any feasible length of time!

• The commenter basically left a spot for "anything else which might come up of that level", and this is where I get to the italicized of if the Dems make it to 2024 at all:  How about a non-QAnon case for the revocation of the 2020 Presidential Election?

Joe Biden won 306 Electoral Votes in 2020, and every one of them was cast for him.

About 40% of the votes in the Pennsylvania election were cast by mail, a practice which the state courts of Pennsylvania have ruled in violation of the state Constitution twice now, including a ruling in early 2022. 

As a result, and since the Federal courts have long ruled the states are the arbiters of each individual elector slate's election, the 20 Electoral Votes in Pennsylvania are now functionally void.

There has been a long-standing argument in Georgia (involving the ACLU and people calling the Republican movement in the state "Jim Crow 2.0") that upwards of 200,000 voters on the Georgia rolls (yes, largely Black people) never should've been allowed on the rolls, including at least 20% of the entire voter roll of the Georgia city of Sparta.

Biden shockingly took Georgia by a miniscule 12,000 votes.

A friendly decision or two could void those 16 Electoral Votes, leaving Biden at the minimum 270.

Now, I can't go further than that without a far deeper dive of research, but I don't think I need to tell you, with the number of Republican states trying to restrict mail voting, etc., that the Republicans probably believe they would have a case to find more.

So what stops the following from occurring on January 3, 2023?

• The House names a new Speaker.  For the purposes of convention, let's say it's Donald Trump.
• Someone (let's just spitball it's Marjorie Taylor Greene) puts forth a binding resolution revoking the January 6, 2021 Congressional consent of the Biden Presidency and ordering the immediate Oath of Office of the newly-elected Speaker as the 47th President of the United States (or the 48th, if Harris IS put in office first).  This, on the basis of the intervening information that the Electoral Votes of Pennsylvania are void (even this, I will no longer dispute), Georgia probably is (this, I will dispute), and at least one other Electoral Vote to ensure the 12th Amendment majority is no longer upheld.
  
• At that point, the Congress adjourns sine die (without date, meaning they ARE DONE) until the transition is made, cutting off all further appropriations, etc. -- and daring Biden to sue into the same six-conservative Roberts Court which just revoked Roe and will take every civil-rights protection of the last 75 years with it!
• It also authorizes the new President (let's say Trump) to use whatever means the Commander in Chief requires.  Meaning martial law and probably a high-level military showdown.
  
• The Congress does not return until the new President is respected.

Let's say that is working in the backchannels of the Republican Party.  You think some liberal would not want to front-run that before it got any steam?

SI's found something on the Browns and Hue Jackson:

People forget that the NFL is 32 franchises working together for an entertainment product.  It appears we have evidence that the Browns intentionally went 1-31 in 2016 and 2017.

The SI article, today's Daily Cover, details a January, 2020 hearing in Manhattan, an arbitration hearing the NFL held with Hue Jackson of the Cleveland Browns because he believed the team was setting him up to fail and destroying his professional reputation over the last two seasons by intentionally losing games. 

I, on this blog, have called for no less than the dissolution of the team.  Jackson won 3 games in his final 2 1/2 seasons in Cleveland.  He has never head-coached again.

The Browns claim to have a signed document from Jackson agreeing to terms upon his firing, etc.  Of course, none of that is valid if it is clear that the document is signed in bad faith -- one of the reasons Joe Stafford is arguing in this league-arbitration hearing.

Stafford is trying to pull an evidentiary situation, attaching 38 pages of further documents to the transcript of the hearing, rather than burying them in the record.

The league is resisting, the arbitrator appears leaning to that situation, but this is the crux of a LONG hearing on the question.

Why?

What did they find when Sports Illustrated looked at those 38 pages, and about 1,000 more surrounding this case, filed when Jackson opted to negate the arbitration and seek an open-court lawsuit, under pain of bad faith?

It is clear that there is much evidence that the Browns were either going on a long rebuild process or a full-out tank job and taking a dive.  That much is clear.  The record would seem to indicate same.  The 11 games the Browns won in 2020 are the same number Jackson won in 3 1/2 seasons in Cleveland.

And a contract which many agents found unusual does seem to have language indicating peculiar bonuses which appear to incentivize losing.

The league attempted, as part of the Flores lawsuit investigation, to effectively depose Jackson, and he began the process to agree in March -- but his lawyers thought the better of it and laid out reasonable conditions, especially given the rancor between Jackson and the league.  They were met with silence.  No meeting ever occurred, at which point Goodell exonerated the Browns.

No one cooperated with Sports Illustrated on this story.

So what DID they find?

The Browns officially, as a team, had what was called "The Four Year Plan".  It was a document, created upon Jackson's hiring in January of 2016, laying out goals for the franchise (and SI only saw small parts of it), and the contract offered Jackson up to $750,000 a year, at the discretion of ownership, for following "The Four Year Plan".

Jackson was not shown the document for another month, and the bonus package pertaining to it for another three after that.

At least a view of The Four Year Plan, vis-a-vis bonuses, is a fair piece down the article.  I'll link to it again here.  Not only should SI get credit for finding it, but you need to see this for yourselves:

Year One (among others, the charts have been reproduced in the article, read them there):

1. Beat five teams in total record.
2. Have 11 draft picks, five in the first three rounds.
3. Youngest half of teams.
4. Bottom 25% of salaries for the squad, carrying over 15% of the salary cap.

And a number of other things which appear endemic to the first year of such a plan.

The problem being:  You know how you get good players in the NFL.  YOU PAY THEM...

Year Two:

1. Beat 12 teams in total record.
2. 10 picks, four in the first three rounds.
3. Still in the youngest half of teams.
4. Carry over 12.5% of salary cap, and you must have a higher winning percentage than your salary for the squad.  (Meaning, for example, this clause only triggers if, hypothetically, an 8-8 Browns team is in the lower half of salaries.)

Year Three:

1. Must go at least 10-6 and meet various other conditions.
2. 10 picks, four in the first three rounds.
3. The team must now get even YOUNGER, going from youngest 16 teams to being one of the youngest 12.
4. Must rank higher in team win % than salary rank percentage for the squad for the aggregate of the first three years of the Plan.
5. Must have higher than expected value from the first two drafts.

Year Four:  Parts 1 and 2.

You can see why Jackson spoke up, people:  Anyone with a working knowledge of the NFL knows the ownership's expectations were completely out of sync with any sense of reality.  SI notes especially the salary considerations and accumulation of draft capital (four extra picks in the first year, three in the other two) are completely out of sync with any expectation of winning.

If this wasn't "tank to lose", it was certainly "purge ALL veteran talent from the team and start over".

(Which should've happened after 0-16, not two years previous!)

It is not known whether the NFL ever saw The Four-Year Plan, and only a cursory extension of what is allowed contract-wise MAY have allowed the bonus structure to go forward.

Most everyone who saw the table knows this is "pay to tank", but it may actually pass muster, in it's own merit, that it did not directly call for losing of games.  The call to lose games comes in the kind of team owner Jimmy Haslam wanted -- a young, draft-ladened, unproven bunch of men who were going to take serious growing pains.  And 10-6 by Year Three was an abject impossibility in this reality!

It is believed that Jackson knew, pretty much immediately, he was taking the fall for effectively killing the on-field Browns.

The SI article then goes on to explain what was SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN:  The NFL's version of Moneyball.

Moneyball only works when you have diamonds in the rough looking to prove themselves and, somehow, not getting the chance.  It should take about five seconds to realize why this does not work in the NCAA and ESPN-ladened exposure of top-level college football and the "men" therein.  Anyone who's good enough, in that sense, is going to want to get paid.  And this system disincentivizes that, in the strongest possible terms -- as a union between Legal, Analytical, and Coaching arms.

One veteran league executive, after SI lists what happened in the 1-31 years, was quoted by SI as saying it was the worst roster in the history of the league and an obvious attempt to tank.

Around a dozen former Browns, similarly believing The Four-Year Plan blew up their NFL careers, also are considering legal action.

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

You really need to read this article and take a look at what's being presented here.  It will definitely take some time.

We now have an answer as to why the Browns went 1-31 those two full seasons under Hue Jackson -- the Browns were attempting to Oakland A's their way into prominece.  That's only feasible in a sport where the second level of play is largely silent to the national mindset.

In short, anyone who has knowledge knows this can't work here.

If this is the extent of the charges Jackson brings, he has the worst of both worlds.  Not only can he not prove a direct link between losing and a bonus, but -- on the other side of the ledger -- it is so obvious to anyone with even a modicum of knowledge on how the NFL, salaries, and rosters actually WORK that this was destined to fail, and spectacularly.

There are only a very few men who can win at the professional level.  I'm not talking quarterbacks or anything else here.  I'm saying that there are far fewer men, at ANY position, who can win in the NFL than even the number of teams in the league.  It's one of the reasons that the loss of even one key starter can submarine an entire season.

When you disavow any meaningful veteran talent and gut salaries, you are left not being able to get any real players.  That's the reality in the NFL.  Take that trade last weekend as one example:  Philly gets the big star WR from Tennessee who the Titans won't pay after he goes FA end of the year, Philly then immediately announces a new contract at $25M a year for 4 years, over half guaranteed.

I know it's a running joke and that I'm one of the few people to believe it:  But this is such a disastrous and utterly-shambolic attempt that no one takes it seriously.  I think it's clear that any of the top college teams of those two years could've made mincemeat of these Browns.

The sickest part is, Haslam probably gets away with it, partially due to the fact that he is not directly telling the Browns to lose, but also partially due to the fact that Haslam accepts that as his role in the cooperative nature of the NFL.

Jackson probably has no case in arbitration or court, sadly.  To do that, such a venue would have to have at least a good deal of knowledge of a functional NFL roster.  Most courts, especially in such an inconvenient result as officially impinging the integrity of Our Holy National Religion Of Football Man, have no interest in taking up such an endeavor.