Thursday, August 31, 2023

August 31, 2023 News and Notes

  • Over 92,000 packed the football stadium in Lincoln, NE Wednesday night for a world record for a women's sporting event -- a volleyball match between Nebraska and Omaha.  So how many will "pack" the place for their next home match??    
  • New Houston coach Dana Holgorsen blames Texas and Texas A&M for not being in a better conference.  Ya think?  You're about to see it really bad once it gets to the point there aren't 120 schools in the material top division...
  • But only the 40 or so the likes of Sports Illustrated drew up Wednesday as an "inevitable conclusion" in college football.
    • Houston is finally entering the Big XII this year.
    • Texas and Oklahoma leave it at the end of the year.

 

Wednesday, August 30, 2023

August 30, 2023 News and Notes

  • Sounds like Father (or Mother) Time has finally finished off Venus Williams.  The 43-year-old phenom was ousted in the first round of the US Open, 6-1 6-1, by Greet Millen, a qualifier from Belgium.
    • Serena retired after last year's US Open.
  • The more we hear of the CM Punk situation in London, the more likely they might as well cancel this weekend's AEW Chicago pay-per-view All Out.
    • Did not have a vehicle pick him up at the airport.  Tried to use public transportation and got lost.  Was lucky to find fans to point him in the right direction.
    • Punk and AEW head Tony Khan have completely lost contact -- his apparent suspension from the pay-per-view was relayed to him through his lawyer.
    • They are still investigating the "Gorilla Position" (right near the curtain, just before you go out) incident with Jack Perry (both have been suspended by the company), and there was talk that Punk quit the company on the spot (before his match with Samoa Joe), forcing a possible reshuffle of the card.
    • Apparently, there had been a number of statements regarding the use of glass in hardcore/deathmatch spots in the company, and Perry decided to mouth off, on camera, during his pre-show match with Hook (the son of ECW legend Taz -- who commentates for the company) that the glass being used on a British car was, in fact, real, and not sugar glass.
    • A second possible incident, though verification on this one is spotty, involves a carryover effect between Punk and long-idle Miro (FKA Rusev in the WWE).  Miro and Punk talked, there was some at least allusion to "you wanna fight me too?", but there's no word as to whether the two former WWE talents were joking at that point -- and no word as to how many other people backstage believe otherwise!
  • Tony Khan, after the show, estimated that, by what is considered "WWE math" (including comps, visitors, etc.), he could've claimed over 90,000 in attendance at Wembley on Sunday.  The 81,305 stated was a 100% paid number, and exceeds any similar number the WWE (or any other company) has actually had reported on any given night. 
  • The Angels finally threw in the towel, placing six players on the waiver wire as the teams will be making waiver moves to gain playoff-eligible players by the deadline at the end of the month.
  • Sports Illustrated made their Daily Cover:  "The Inevitable College Football Super League".  It's happening.  Just a question of when.  

Tuesday, August 29, 2023

Can we please arrest these fascist bigots/racists yet?

Libs of TikTok, that conservative terrorist organization on the Internet, struck again today, when an Oakland elementary school was deemed "racist to Whites", so fucking terrorist retards from the site phoned in BOMB THREATS.

The same level of fucking bomb threats phoned in to the likes of transgender gamers, hospitals acceding to gender-affirming care, etc.

And this on the day when the EFF threw away all their remaining credibility and actually supported absolute free speech...

Including that of Kiwi Farms...

You know, the Kiwi Farms of which I wrote about thusly in Post #4500...

"They state that they believe the Kiwi Farms-esque threats to transgender gamer Keffals are nothing but "free speech", even if they do, in fact, result in her death.  Last report, the third attempt to house them has gone to the full-scale Dark Web in TOR.  This, after various European lethal bigots were being given instructions to bomb restaurants Keffals frequented after she had been exiled from her home nation of Canada because of the first wave of death threats."

"Dear idiots...."

Suspension Blotter: Here is, as of the cutdown date, the entire apparent list...

Today was the day the NFL teams cut their rosters to their Week One 53-player limit.

These players will begin the season under suspension.  All, I believe, have already been covered.

  • New York Jets:  Brandon Echols, suspended one game for a 2022 car crash which left the other driver partially paralyzed.
  • Dallas Cowboys:  Ronald Jones, suspended two games for a stimulant/diuertic/masking agent.
  • Atlanta Falcons:  Breon Borders, suspended two games, same reason.
  • Indianapolis Colts:  Chris Lammons and
  • New Orleans Saints:  Alvin Kamara, three games each for an altercation with other parties in Las Vegas just before the 2022 Pro Bowl.
  • Jacksonville Jaguars:  Cam Robinson, four games, PED policy, but not sure whether this was a PED ding (which would be six games) or a second stimulant/diuretic/etc. hit (which would be five games).  This one costs Robinson nearly $4,000,000.
  • Seattle Seahawks:  D'Wayne Eskridge, six games, domestic violence.
  • Detroit Lions:  Jameson Williams, six games, non-NFL gambling.
  • Kansas City Chiefs:  Charles Omenihu, six games, domestic violence arrest which cost the (team he was then on) 49ers any shot at a Super Bowl berth.
  • Tennessee Titans:  Nicholas Petit-Frere, six games, non-NFL gambling.
  • Denver Broncos:  Eyioma Uwazurike, life ban -- reinstatement after one year possible (though unlikely) -- gambling on NFL games (and involved in the Iowa/Iowa St. scandal, which could get him two years in prison in the state).

The rest of these are free agents:

  • Sean Chandler, two games, stimulant/diuertic/masking agent.  Signed and released by Arizona during training camp.
  • Perrion Winfrey, two games, robbery incident in July 2023, for which he was fired by the Cleveland Browns.
  • Isaiah Wilson, three games, undisclosed, but probably a number of Personal Conduct issues.  Last seen in the NFL in the Giants practice squad for the 2021-22 season.
  • Mazzi Wilkins, three games, undisclosed, though a mugshot matching his name, at least, is on a 2022 DUI charge in Florida.  He is currently on the Injured Reserve list of the USFL, no word on whether they will honor the suspension.
  • Travis Jonsen, three games, 2021 DUI, for which he was fired by his last NFL team, Tampa Bay.
  • Will Richardson, three games, 2022 DUI.  Last in the NFL in 2021 with Jacksonville. 
  • Damon Arnette, three games, July 2022 drug arrest.  Last in the league in early 2022 with Kansas City.  Fired by the Raiders the previous year for videos of threats and firearms, which may also have contributed.
  • Stanley Berryhill, six games, non-NFL gambling.  Fired by the Lions after the suspension.
  • Ryan Smith, one year, second offense PEDs.  Two stints on the practice squad last year, last with Tampa Bay.
  • Amani Bledsoe, one year, second offense PEDs, for which he was fired by Atlanta.

Life bans (full season, can be reinstated (like Calvin Ridley was) by the Commissioner after one season) for gambling on NFL games:

  • Quintez Cephus
  • CJ Moore
  • Shaka Toney
  • Rashod Berry
  • Demetrius Taylor
  • Isaiah Rodgers

Well, I found out something interesting...

Any mention I made of the Club Remittance Policy the last three seasons (and this offseason) is invalid.

The NFL got rid of it as a COVID situation during the pandemic -- but NBC's Pro Football Talk notes it may get brought back in 2024.

Back to last Friday night...

 From ESPN 1000's Peggy Kusinski, without further comment:



Monday, August 28, 2023

We are officially losing our grip, people...

Denver.

Two fans hit the field and tried to accost Ronald Acuna Jr. of the Braves.


August 28, 2023 News and Notes

  • It appears as if CM Punk and Jack Perry are out of All Out in Chicago.
    • Pending an ongoing investigation into the bust-up before Punk's All In match with Samoa Joe in London, in which, according to various sides, the only two things all can agree on are that it did get physical and it ended with Punk trying to choke Perry out.
    • And if it doesn't get resolved by this weekend, look for the Chicago crowd to shit all over the card.
  • Four title changes at the card:
    • Saraya (FKA Paige) got a hometown win of the AEW Women's World Championship.
    • Hook got his FTW belt back from the aforementioned Perry.  Apparently, the incident happened after his pre-show match and before Punk opened the show.
    • Before they had a main event which had many twists, but no true turns, MJF and Adam Cole won the Ring of Honor tag team championship over Aussie Open.  After the main event, MJF (who actually played babyface most of the match!!!)
    • Bad Ass Billy Gunn and The Acclaimed won the AEW Trios (Six-Man) belts over The House of Black.
  • Luis Rubiales, the president of the Spanish soccer team, is under fire for showing how little he cares for women's sports.  After planting a big smacker right on the lips of Spain's star player after their victory in the Women's World Cup, he's been getting called on to resign -- he has not, as of yet.

40% of all repetitive-head contact athletes who died before 30 had CTE, study finds...

Proof that this rigged sport is KILLING PEOPLE...

And here's an even worse part they buried in the lede:
The study published Monday in JAMA Neurology drew its findings from a cohort of 152 donors - 63 of whom were diagnosed with CTE at the time of death. The donors died between 2008 and 2022, and their age at death ranged from 13 to 29. Almost all of the brains studied showed the earliest stages of CTE.   

 Even if they were not diagnosed...

Sunday, August 27, 2023

August 27, 2023 News and Notes

  • So far, Wrexham's first professional season back has been a bit of a bumpy one.
    • Through five rounds, only one team has scored more than they have in League Two (Swindon Town has 15 goals in four games, Wrexham, 14 in 5).
    • The problem?  They've also given up 14 goals, the most in League Two, two over Doncaster Rovers, four over anyone else.
    • They have one win in five games, but at least they drew three of the four others, and sit 16th in the 24-team league.
  • Today is billed in the UK as the biggest professional wrestling event in history -- and this might not be that much of an exaggeration.  AEW is having it's first overseas pay-per-view, All Out London, and has nearly sold out Wembley Stadium, in a tickets-sold number which will rival any Wrestlemania night, and may beat them all.
    • As of latest report, August 19, the event has, in fact, surpassed all WWE single-day event totals of tickets sold.  The record, as best people can know, was Wrestlemania 32 in Dallas, where, though WWE claimed a crowd of over 100,000, the number of tickets sold was about 80,700.
      • This is not an uncommon ploy.  WWE claimed 93,173 for Wrestlemania 3, but most people who've done research believe only about 77,000 tickets were actually sold for the event.
      • As of August 19, All In London has sold 80,846.
      • The reports have become spottier, because of production changes and difficulties in figuring out corporate luxury boxes, but the best guess they have is, as of yesterday, the crowd has passed 81,000 sold tickets.
      • The event is apparently NOT a sell-out.  About 2,000 tickets appear to remain.
      • 81,035 was the announced PAID attendance, and AEW claims a world record for a single-night professional wrestling event in paid attendance.
    • And a CM Punk altercation.  It appears that "Jungle Boy" Jack Perry stepped to CM Punk just outside of view of the fans, got choked down, and legit thrown out of the stadium by Tony Khan. 
  • Arizona State will not be going to a bowl this season.  Violations under Herm Edwards when he played to win more than just the game. 
  • El Segundo, CA is the World Champion of Little League baseball -- 6-5 win over Curacao in the Final, walk-off homerun by Louis Lappe.

And someone needs to put an end to horse racing...

I know it's the lifeblood of all the sportsbooks when major games aren't in session, but enough is damn well enough.

Yesterday was the Travers Stakes at Saratoga, but the real story is two horses were put down on the track for leg injuries.  One leading his race, another galloping out after his.

We seem to be getting more of these the last three years or so.  Why?

Somebody's getting killed in the NFL this year...

Mark it down.

Another preseason game stopped with a head-neck injury -- this one was called off when Daewood Davis took a flagged headshot coming across the field (intent may be another question), movement in all extremities, but stretchered off.

That's two.

Somebody's getting killed this year by a headshot.  Mark it down.

Saturday, August 26, 2023

August 26, 2023 News and Notes

  • Reports have at least one of the people shot at the football game in Oklahoma last night as killed.
  • A White man has killed 3 in a Dollar General in Jacksonville, FL, near an HBCU campus.  It IS believed to be racially motivated, and the shooter is also deceased.

Oof.  Not a good day at all...

  • A California team will face Curacao in tomorrow's College World Series World Championship.
  • Kurt Busch has been forced to retire from NASCAR due to a massive concussion suffered last year.

What is it said, they always come in threes???

I can't say this one particularly surprises me, but this one's a gut punch.

I've been a game show fan ever since I first became aware of my surroundings (I wanna say age 4, somewhere 1973...).

I can't say we didn't expect this -- especially after the similar experience with Betty White, who died literally days before she turned 100.

Bob Barker has joined his long-time wife Dorothy Jo -- passing this morning at age 99.

Friday, August 25, 2023

What the FUCK????

 

In Section 162...

During the game...

Left-center field...

Almost 22,000 in attendance tonight and NOT ENOUGH WAS NOTICED TO STOP THE GAME...

With a gun(person -- no word yet on if a shooter was caught) INSIDE THE STADIUM.

EDIT TO ADD 10:50 AM PDT 8/26:  Same night, four were shot at a high school football game in Oklahoma.  Reports indicate there may well have been two shooters and that it was also officer-involved, but that the shooters apparently got away.

And it sounds like another #DiedSuddenly anti-vaxx thing can get debunked:

Bronny James, who suddenly collapsed last month at a workout, was announced today as having a "significant Congenital Heart Defect which can and will be treated".

Sounds to me like another case of the Long COVID aggravating a known heart condition.

Again.

Here we go again Blotter: Eris shutting down isolated schools

  • Runge Independent School District (Texas, SE of San Antonio):  Closed one week (Aug 22-29).  10 cases, all among staff.  (ABC)
  • Two school districts in Kentucky:  Closed Tuesday and Wednesday of this week, virtual classes Thursday and Friday.  Widespread illness in Magoffin School District, including 40 COVID cases, strep throat and stomach viruses.  Kentucky River District also closed due to an unidentified surge in cases.

Thursday, August 24, 2023

Suspension Blotter, Part Continuing...

MLB:
  • San Diego Padres:  Robert Suarez will be sitting ten games.  Substance-check failure for the 209th MLB ejection of the year.
NFL, two free agents:
  • Travis Jonsen was fired by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2021 season for a DUI, and not being of enough use to keep around.  The NFL pretty much put the door on his career, suspending him the first three games of this season, meaning now two full years-plus out of the league.
  • Mazzi Wilkins has also basically had the NFL shut on him, banned three games to start this season, probably for something in 2021 while he was with the Ravens.  He was in the USFL last year.

August 24, 2023 News and Notes

  • It appears Steven Strausburg will be retiring...
    • ... and, perhaps more ominously, with Ohtani's injury possibly being the same thing...
      • No, it's worse for Ohtani.  Recurrence of the UCL tear, and another Tommy John surgery...
  • I guess the reports holding him out were true...  Windham Rotunda...  You knew him better as "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt.  Had been semi-mysteriously held out of WWE for health reasons for a while now.
    • He passed away today at 36.
      • And yes, according to wrestling blogger Sean Ross Sapp, this one was admitted Long COVID, exacerbating a heart condition.

  • And this, one day after the passing of the all-time legend Terry Funk.  To go into his accomplishments would take several posts of their own.

Wednesday, August 23, 2023

I am trying to recall if this is the one that I picked up from Incarcerated Bob?

Nope.  JAB128 sent a comment on my statement on the Eris variant, and the possible restrictions to come.

It was from a new entry in Brian Tuohy's website news feed (he's had a couple bouts with COVID pre-Eris which have knocked him on his ass) surrounding Game 7 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals between Boston and Philly, and a claim by one of the 76ers that the league wanted a close Game 7 Boston would win, for entertainment and for the better Eastern Conference Final matchup:

From Gilbert Arenas' No Chill Podcast from Fubo:


This Blog Should Not Exist: Part 3.12: Yet Another Round of "What We Are Up Against"...

Oh, far-right Libertarian Karl Denninger wankers on The Market Ticker....

Well, at least you motivated this post -- a general assortment of comments to this Denninger post on the only way to stop radicalism...

So here's some of the idiots who talk a good game, and really do need some use for their gun collection other than naked gun porn (and some comments of my own where I feel the need):

1) Many of these comments surrounded the situation in Maui, where it will become clear (if it is ever admitted) that the death toll is probably underestimated by at least one order of magnitude, if not two:

Frat:  "Until and unless people start (metaphorically or literally, at this point I don't care) punching these assholes in their fat faces, this shit will continue. When reasonable people become unreasonable, they become ungovernable, and interesting things happen."

It's one of the few things I can say I agree with some of these people on -- one of the questions I have been asking their side repeatedly is the concept of when "When in the course of human events..." has passed and it's time to stop bluffing...

2) Dingleberry:  "Correct. When dealing with the progressive hordes....as Hoffa it was who once said:

Do unto others......first."

Stop bluffing and start doing then, kid.

There are multiple reasons I may get into further down the list, but at least one is to understand the reality that the amount of money in the system is not going to reduce until the population does.

What you saw in 2020 and 2021 was the desire to attempt to keep 340,000,000 people alive in this country -- something you don't want on your side of the equation:  either as a econ-math situation or a personal responsibility one.

The only way you put personal responsibility into a society is to kill the rest of us.  So stop yammering.

3) Greenacr:  "It's simple. How do you deal with a Bully? A solid strike to the nasal area. He will never bother you again."

Nope.  Complete falsehood.

Now, it'll escalate the situation and force the Bully to decide whether he wants to kill you/put you in the hospital/etc. or back off, but the fact is that you will also find out that, in many cases, the Bully has more rights than you do.  First, because he's violent in the first measure, and second, that makes him of more use (athlete, enforcer, worst-case scenario garbage disposal in prison behind everybody's back...) than you.  That's one of the reasons you will never see it dealt with in school.

4) Karl himself:  "One reason that I don't have concern for "yute" sort of problems where I live is that absolutely nobody will tolerate that shit and whether some blue zoo "activist" wishes to try to agitate with the local sheriff or not is immaterial. We know where THEY live too (they park their cars right outside their houses!) and they're not stupid enough to play that game with a bunch of rednecks down the street, all of whom have gas lawn mowers and know when they're at work because the car isn't there.

The reason we had a civilized society was that IF you pulled that sort of shit decades ago the response was immediate. There was no hand-wringing or "call 911 and wait 30 minutes" sort of crap. 911 DID NOT FUCKING EXIST when I was growing up and certainly didn't in the decades before.
"

If that had been the case, I'd have been dead by age 20.

No joke or exaggeration.

I know what you are talking about, Mr. Denninger, and the entire conservative fantasy which comes with it. 

Were you correct, my first college town would've had me dead within SIX MONTHS for what I was doing there, and they would've thrown a celebratory party upon my elimination from the gene pool.

(AND there would've been a non-zero chance they'd have killed my next-older brother, who also attended the same school, for not doing it first!)

Karl, you're lying.  And the fact I sit here in 2023, much less 1989 or so, is evidence of that fact.

I am a person you need dead, Mr. Denninger, and you have no idea as to why.

Several then bring up the Maui situation, with for another Kyle Rittenhouse, but then we get to the motivation that had me post this:

5) Metalqueen:  "I suspect this new round of fucking bullshit is to cover for the Hawaiian genocide (yeah I said it), Ukraine being fucking DONE, undeniable PROOF of election fraud to be revealed, and Hunter turning on his dad to save his own ass."

THEN START SHOOTING US, YOU COCKSUCKING MOTHERFUCKING CUCK COWARD!!

Let's go over how many different ways this is fucked up:

  1. This is in response to reports of the Eris variant, mentioned in a previous post, and the belief that mask requirements are coming back.  And if what I've seen the last...  72-96 hours??  is any indication, they are.    
  2. Hawaiian genocide???  You are then not only required to start shooting on the basis of the deaths outright due to the number of people burned out by "shelter in place", etc., you are also required to start shooting on the basis that you must, then, conclude that the fires were intentionally set and the destruction of that town was intentional, planned, and so was the death of every person inside of it who could not get out.  So what the fuck are you waiting for?   
  3. Ukraine fucking done, eh?  You know, the only reason Ukraine isn't fucking done is because Putin believes he can win.  I, on top of that, also believe that Putin has some very powerful friends here (and they aren't all orange, am I right, Mr. Bitcoin Candidate?), and he still feels he can undercut NATO by taking the US out of the equation.
  4. Election fraud to be revealed?  Metalqueen (and millions of other Trump cultists who believe this), WHY ARE YOU THEN ALLOWING ANOTHER ELECTION -- ANY OTHER ELECTION -- TO TAKE PLACE?  If you honestly believed the 2020 election to be that fucked, a violent overthrow of the 2021 Congress (before it ever seated) was a necessary step...    
  5. And Hunter turning on his dad...  You'd think, at some point here, that a larger militia movement than just one man in Utah would try to work out what then would have to happen next.     

You're bluffing.  And you best stop now.  Show or go.

6) About the latest vigilante country music song to hit #1, here's RTP to debunk:  "Now we know why the "men north of Richmond" singer had refused an $8million recording offer. He's on somebody's payroll who is running an op."

Almost certainly has to be. One of the greatest benefits of the present situation is to know that the general Republican is an abject moron.  You would think that, given the list of "grievances" and what happens to lone wolves like the man who killed two homeless in NYC and Washington, the guy who openly DID want to kill Biden in Utah, and almost every school and mass shooter out there, they'd realize they need to mass up.

This is why January 6th is such a moment of disgrace for them: They HAD THEIR SHOT.  They had inside help (some think including Marjorie Taylor-Greene).  And they had the numbers.

And they turned it into a social-media LOLFest.

7) To the last end, to Ingar:  "It is infuriating to see gangs of yutes engaging in robbing clothing and other stores and getting away with it. An individual with a 12ga. pump shotgun loaded with OO Buck could put a quick end to that. But he'd likely be tried for attempted murder by some Soros financed DA."

Only way it's gonna stop -- and you need more than one man, or five...  And YOU DON'T GET IT.

And I hope, as I said in another post here, the size of some of these robberies is putting an end to the "$900 limit" canard.

THEY.  DON'T.  CARE.  (And, speaking personally, the only reason I don't join them is, quite frankly, I still have work I believe is positive to do on the outside here.  As a concept of what some righties are now stating as robberies being "personal reparations", I'd have more than a few pre-adult grounds of that myself...)

Jail would be an improvement for many of these people.  You are confusing "consequence" with "deterrent".

You pain for lack of the former, when the real problem is the lack of the latter.

The criminal justice system provides precisely two real deterrents to crime:  Prison rape and death.  All others lead either to those two ends or to recidivism.

Start shooting (militia-style and military-level consideration under 2A as an actuality), or shut the fuck up.


Tuesday, August 22, 2023

Uh-oh....

And this isn't going to go like anyone trying to control it wants it to go...

We COULD be at the beginnings of either another outbreak, a shooting Civil War, or both, over Eris...

Eris is not a hurricane, and earthquake, or any other disaster...

It is the newest purported COVID strain, and a lot of people on the White Right are getting awfully suspicious of it.

I can tell you, in my unscientific watchings, that a number of people in large-gathering events have reported coming down with COVID, including (just stating as knowledge, sorry Caitlin) anime voice-actress Caitlin Glass.

I don't think, at this point, I need to tell you how some of this news is being received by the types of fascist financial blog Zerohedge:

  • Morris Brown College in Atlanta:
  • Conspiracy theorists are claiming this strain is coming from Canada -- so, what, it's in the wildfires, jerks???   
  • Lionsgate Studios has begun to enforce new mask restrictions.
  • It appears that Los Angeles has seen an uptick in cases, though hospitalizations remain low.
And with right-wing cultists claiming "They're going to do the COVID Thing again.", I think it's clear the day you start seeing doctors and clinics get shot for pushing COVID prevention is...  very close.

Especially given the fact that a poll of Republican voters for next year's primaries indicate that Trump voters trust Trump (71% believe he is their first source of truth) the better part of double that of even religious leaders (42%).

So when does The Golden Trump to worship become real, fucktards?

August 22, 2023 News and Notes

  • And the next step toward the end of Wander Franco's career and life on the outside:  Major League Baseball has just placed him on administrative leave.  
    • Reports now indicate at least two underage girls are involved -- one publicly, and one going just through Dominican police.
  • James Harden has, at the very least, been fined $100,000 for comments indicating he would sabotage the 76ers next season, and demanded to be allowed to play somewhere else.  How about in some lesser pro league, one of the biggest locker-room diseases in the NBA?   
    • The National Basketball Players Association, the players' union, has filed a grievance Tuesday afternoon against this fine.
  • Jon Rahm is in protest to the PGA Tour - and the PGA Tour denies it.
    • It appears, Rahm alleges, that in almost every round, Rahm is noting people attempting to distract or disconcert the golfers in the means to attempt to win live-action bets on the tournaments they are playing in.
      • And this can be as little as turning to their friend and saying "I betcha $10 he's going to miss this putt.", Rahm states.
      • Now, it's not probably anything new -- except now it appears that at least Rahm has had his antenna activated, due to people trying to win those bets by directly and unduly influencing said putts through loud noises or other distractions.   
  • It appears that the Oakland-Las Vegas situation has opened the floodgates.  Now, not only has Milwaukee laid some groundwork to leave, but now, so have the Chicago White Sox -- and they have a stated destination of Nashville!
    • This would probably be in 2029 or 2030, though.
  • And on the same day that report comes out, GM Rick Hahn and Executive Vice President Ken Williams have both been canned from the fourth-worst team in baseball this season so far.
  • After the USWNT's crash-out in the Women's World Cup, Sweden is now the #1-ranked team in the world via FIFA.
    • Shouldn't that be #2 to Spain, regardless of numbers?  
  • State Farm has cut, after twelve years, their ties with COVIDIOT-12.
  • An Atlanta judge has done the unthinkable:  The Georgia election-fraud trial of The Trump Nineteen is allowed to be televised!!!

Sunday, August 20, 2023

2023 Week 1 Preseason Fine Blotter

Yes, we have located at least one:
  • Pittsburgh Steelers:  Kwon Alexander:  $43,709 for a helmet foul (repeat offender).
  • Houston Texans:  Jacobi Francis:  $4,833 for ripping the helmet off by the facemask.

Dateline: Georgia, and our first high school football riot of the 2023 season...

Benedictine 42 - Jenkins 0

But, in the third quarter:


And since...


GOOD GOD...

(Hat-tip to Frank Sulkowski of WJCL...)

August 20, 2023 News and Notes

  • Newport Beach, CA police arrested Saints tight end Jimmy Graham for narcotics and obstruction.
    • The Saints believe Graham had an epileptic episode.
  • All six games of the emergency doubleheaders went off.
    • Dodgers swept the Marlins after losing big Friday night (their first loss in 12 games) -- both Saturday games were 3-1.
      • Second game was 2 hours and 5 minutes.
    • San Diego was swept by Arizona -- 6-4 in the afternoon, 8-1 in the evening.
    • Angels and the Rays split:  Angels won the opener 7-6, lost 18-4 to the Rays in the nightcap.
  • Unbelievably, with what will be Tropical Storm Hilary bearing down on the LA area about at the time (I think I saw a 4:05 PM Pacific start), the NFL preseason game between the Saints and Chargers is still on (as of 10:30 PM Pacific Sat. night)!
  • Nothing was mentioned of Cash Wheeler's arrest on AEW programming -- the match for London a week from today is still on.
  • The CONCACAF Leagues Cup was won by Lionel Messi.
    • Yeah, Inter Miami won in penalties in the final over Nashville, but this was men among boys.
      • Messi, debuting for Inter Miami, scored in all seven games of the tournament, completely outclassing the MLS and Liga MX opposition.
  • Spain is the women's soccer champion of the world for the next four years.  A 1-0 win on Sunday over European champions England to win the Women's World Cup in Australia and New Zealand.

Saturday, August 19, 2023

Three-Quarters Pole in the MLB Kayfabe Standings.

Don't fool yourselves:  Assholes vs. Cobb County.

But here are the current standings to make you think otherwise:

American League:

East:  Baltimore is 76-47, 2.5 up on Tampa Bay (75-51), 8.5 up on Toronto (68-56).

The situation with the Yankees is now officially dire:  7 in a row has them three below .500, last in the division by 5 games, 16 out of first.

Central:  Minnesota is 64-60, 5 up on Cleveland.

West:  Texas is 72-51, 2.5 up on Houston (70-54), 4 up on Seattle (68-55)

Wild cards:  Tampa Bay (75-51), Houston (70-54), Seattle (68-55)  Toronto is 1/2 game out at 68-56, Boston is 3 out at 65-58.

Best:  Baltimore is 2.5 up on Tampa, 4 up on Texas, 6.5 up on Houston, 8 up on Seattle, 8.5 on Toronto.

Oakland's (34-89) Tragic Number for the division is 2.  On August 20th.  A loss and a Texas win eliminates Oakland from the AL West.  Their playoffs Tragic Number is currently 9.

National League:

East:  Cobb County is 80-42, best record in the game by 4 1/2 over Baltimore and the Dodgers.  13 1/2 up on Philadelphia now at 67-56.  Miami is 3 over .500 at 64-61.

Central:  Milwaukee is 67-57, the Cubs and Reds both 3 back at 4 over .500.

West:  The Dodgers are 76-47, 12 up on the Giants (64-59), 13 on the DBacks (64-61).

Wild Card:  Philadelphia 67-56, San Francisco 64-59, Cubs and Reds both 4 over .500, so they're materially tied, as are Miami and the DBacks 1/2 out.  Five teams for two spots within one game of each other:

San Francisco 64-59
Chicago          63-59
-------------------------------
Cincinnati       64-60 (% points)
Miami             64-61
Arizona           64-61

Slight cleanup here...

JAB128 sent a comment about a Don Van Natta Jr. note about how badly the NFL does not like the concept of the Gruden lawsuit moving forward.

However, by mistake, he didn't link it.

The Rich Eisen Show, however, gave about six minutes of video here:


And if you need another idea of the uselessness of all this...

Isaiah Bolden of the Patriots got carted off in Green Bay tonight.

Seventh-round pick, so he's one of those fourth-stringers no one else but the families and the gamblers care about in the preseason (tm Incarcerated Bob), covering a slant pass.

Collided with a teammate, went down, head-neck injury.

Has feeling in all extremities, etc.

Friday, August 18, 2023

August 18, 2023 News and Notes

  • The Dodgers, Angels, and Padres are all at home this weekend.
    • The problem is, so is the first tropical storm/hurricane in Southern California in any number of years.
      • All three teams will play one game tonight and a day-night doubleheader tomorrow to get their series in.
  • Central American baseball insider Hector Gomez indicates that the allegations against Wander Franco are probably true and his career is OVER.
  • Speaking of costly career-over moves...  Just nine days before what is being billed as "The Largest Event In Professional Wrestling History", AEW's All In in London's Wembley Stadium (and it's not THAT FAR from the truth -- it appears about the only event researchers can find which is selling more than this show was the Dallas Wrestlemania), Cash Wheeler of FTR has been arrested -- aggravated assault with a firearm.
    • Apparently happened several weeks ago.
    • Arrest warrant July 28
    • Not guilty plea two weeks ago
    • And yet, this Wednesday, they put together a trilogy match between FTR and The Young Bucks.
      • Bail was set at $2500, no contact with the other side, but also no restrictions on travel -- and now we get to see what AEW does.

Thursday, August 17, 2023

August 17, 2023 News and Notes

  • The US Women's National Soccer Team coach has "resigned".
    • Vlatko Andonovski announced that late Wednesday.
      • And, in case anyone is wondering, he's Macedonian.
  • The investigation surrounding Wander Franco and a possible 14-year-old girl is being led, reports have been given, by the equivalent of the "Special Victims Unit" in that country.
    • They may have information next week, which probably means Franco may not be playing again this season, even if the truth indicates the social media information was false.
      • Franco is a season and a half into a $182,000,000 contract -- which he gained after less than half a season with the Rays.
  • The Little League World Series ESPN whoredom has begun.
    • On the field, Panama has no-hit the Czech Republic in opening-round play.  
    • The tournament takes a seeded double-elimination format.
  • To give you two pieces of information surrounding the realities of the rigged NFL, two gems from the supposed fantasy-football "experts" at ESPN at a 10-team mock draft done as the end of their promotional Fantasy Football Marathon this week:
    • In a reality where fantasy football used to be a hard rule of taking the running back first, the first round of the draft featured six pass-catchers and four running backs.
    • In total in the 16 rounds:  75 pass catchers, 52 running backs.  And people wonder why the latter aren't getting paid.   
  • There has been an interesting report, speaking of the Worldwide Leader in Snorts, about former NFL offensive lineman Michael Oher and his adopted family.
    • Oher now claims they never adopted him, but defrauded him for the rights to his NFL money.
    • Lawyers for the family say otherwise, and claim the reverse:  Oher is trying to extort $15,000,000 from said family.  Hoo boy...   
  • It appears the judge who authorized the raid on a home of the 98-year-old owner of town newspaper in Kansas has his own DUI to cover up that the newspaper was ALSO investigating (on top of the one of the police chief)...
  • It appears as if two schools known for basketball -- one on each coast and both linked to moving their basketball programs to the Big XII -- won't be coming.  Gonzaga and UConn both had discussions with the move.

Wednesday, August 16, 2023

August 16, 2023 News and Notes

  • Two goals in the last 20 minutes will make it an all-Euro final for the Women's World Cup.  England beats hosts Australia 3-1.  England faces Spain for the world title.

Tuesday, August 15, 2023

College Football Will Be Run By The NFL Within Ten Years

The dissolution of the Pac-12 Conference this summer, and it's sudden nature, in the face of such complete (justifiable!) lack of interest, read in what media deals the old conference could get once UCLA and USC were already gone, has spurred significant talk of the future of college football.

In my travels of rec.sport.football.college, I have made my position clear:
  • The amateur/NCAA model is dead.  Whatever the under-the-table situation did to start it, NIL finished it.  It will be some form of professional ball.
  • You will start seeing "lesser divisions" dropping schools from football (expense, liability, etc.), especially as NIL deals force the talent which might've "stayed home" in FCS/D2/D3 to go to D1...
  • ... which will then funnel all the talent upward, and eventually you will get:
    • One national super-conference, 32ish schools
    • The NFL will run it as it's college-level minor-league (which is what most of the true "minor league football" actually is -- one of the reasons a number of "NFL opportunity" spring leagues haven't taken a great degree of root (two versions of the XFL, the second version of the USFL has still not left the one-city model, so no one shows up for anyone else's games, blowing up the cred of that league, the death already of the AAFL)
    • Most of the rest of football will become a "club sport", not unlike rugby and the like, in most other colleges -- whatever tradition keeps going will be at that level.
Because of the following things that at least have been placed in discussion:
  • Washington Post:  A "Super League", with the next decade basically falling to two super-conferences.  The rest of the schools, the article notes, would be a "footnote".
  • This off comments from the Nebraska AD that they aren't done.
    • Almost indicating that the ACC is the next domino to fall, and, probably by 2026 at the latest, we get to three conferences.
  • There's even been at least one Twitter post regarding a 5-6 tier English-soccer style promotion-relegation system.

August 15, 2023 News and Notes

  • Looks like early deaths are going to get the Died Suddenly crowd up in arms from the sports world:
    • Former Seattle running back Alex Collins, gone at 28.
      • Now it appears the reports indicate:  Motorcycle crash.
    • Former first-round draft pick in the NHL Rodion Amirov, brain tumor diagnosed in 2021 (so people will think he got THAT from the vaccines too).  He was only 21.
      • Look, people...  We are going to get to the point, probably fairly near in the future, that athletic competition may become quite the impossibility due to the long-term effects of COVID and the Right's complete and deliberate ignorance of same...
  • ... and it's not just COVID/Long COVID...  Malaria and leprosy have reemerged in Florida?  Add dengue fever to what the mosquitos are carrying down there, with the malaria...
  • And people are getting stupid again, part...  Dateline:  Ireland.  Queues of people around Bank of Ireland branches as the ATMs seem to have forgotten the limit on withdrawals also applies to the amount of money people have in the bank!

Monday, August 14, 2023

And here's Round Four in Georgia: Having to find 11,000 votes now has Trump and 18 others charged...

The next round of indictments is in.  19 people, including Trump and Giuliani, 41 counts.

  • Trump:  13 counts:  Including a RICO Act count, three rounds of solicitation of violation of an oath of an officer, conspiracy to impersonate an officer, two rounds of conspiracy for false statements and writings, conspiracy to file false documents, two rounds of conspiracy for forgery, filing false documents, two rounds of false statements and writings.
  • Rudy Giuliani:  13 counts:  RICO Act, Solicitation-Violation of Oath X 3, False Statements and Writings X 3, conspiracy to impersonate an officer, conspiracy for forgery X 2, conspiracy for false statements and writings X 2, conspiracy to file false documents.
  • Then-Attorney for Trump John Eastman:  RICO Act, Solicitation-Violation of Oath, conspiracy to impersonate an officer, conspiracy for forgery X 2, conspiracy for filing false documents, conspiracy for false statements and writings X 2, filing false documents.
  • White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, seen by some on the Left as flipping:  RICO Act, Solicitation-Violation of Oath
  • Kenneth Chesebro, an attorney who wrote a memo that he believed he could concoct fake electors to turn over the election:  RICO Act, conspiracy for false statements X2, conspiracy for forgery X 2, conspiracy for impersonation, conspiracy to file false statements
  • Jeffrey Bossert Clark, Asst. Attorney General, Environment and Natural Resources:  RICO Act, Attempt to Commit False Statement and Writing
  • Jenna Lynn Ellis, a member of the "strike force" attempting to overturn the election:  RICO Act, Solicitation-Violation of Oath
  • Ray Stallings Smith, III -- an Atlanta lawyer:  RICO Act, False Statements X 2, Solicitation - Violation of Oath X 3, Conspiracy to Impersonate an Officer, Conspiracy for Forgery X 2, Conspiracy for False Statements and Writings X 2, Conspiracy to file false documents.
  • Robert David Cheeley, another area lawyer:  RICO Act, Conspiracy for Forgery X 2, Solicitation - Violation of Oath X 2, Conspiracy to Impersonate an Officer, Conspiracy to make false statements X 2, Conspiracy to file false statements, False Statements, and Perjury.
  • Michael Roman, Director of Election Day Operations for Trump:  RICO Act, Conspiracy for Forgery X 2, Solicitation - Violation of Oath, Conspiracy to Impersonate an Officer, Conspiracy to make false statements X 2, Conspiracy to file false statements
  • David Shafer, chairman of the Georgia Republican Party:  RICO Act, Impersonation of an officer, Forgery X 2, False Statements X 3, Conspiracy to File False Statements, Conspiracy to File False Statements.
  • Shawn Still, one of the alternate electors and a current member of the Georgia State House:  RICO Act, Impersonation, Forgery, False Statements X 2, Attempt to make false statements, Forgery.
  • Stephen Lee, an Illinois pastor:  RICO Act, Attempting to Influence Witnesses X 2, Influencing Witnesses, Conspiracy to Solicit False Statements.  Apparently trying to threaten a poll worker in the Georgia situation.  
  • Harrison Floyd, currently vice-president of the Black Conservative Foundation:  RICO Act, Conspiracy to Influence Witnesses, Conspiracy to Solicit False Documents
  • apparently relating to...  Trevian Kutti, a publicist for Kanye West who got put into all of this by the Trump people:  RICO Act, Conspiracy to Influence Witnesses, Conspiracy to Solicit False Documents
  • Sidney Powell, former Federal prosecutor, faces disbarment in Texas for all this:  RICO Act, Conspiracy - Election Fraud X 2, Conspiracy for Computer Theft, Invasion of Privacy, and Trespass
  • Cathleen Latham, a Georgia Republican county chairwoman and a fake elector:  RICO Act, Conspiracy - Election Fraud X 2, Conspiracy for Computer Theft, Invasion of Privacy, and Trespass, Impersonation, Forgery, False Statements, Conspiracy to make false statements
  • Scott Graham Hall (not THAT Scott Hall):  RICO Act, Conspiracy - Election Fraud X 2, Conspiracy for Computer Theft, Invasion of Privacy, and Trespass
  • Misty Hampton:  RICO Act, Conspiracy - Election Fraud X 2, Conspiracy for Computer Theft, Invasion of Privacy, and Trespass

August 14, 2023 News and Notes

  • Wander Franco of the Tampa Bay Rays is either being investigated or is the subject of social media posts being investigated by MLB.  He did not play Sunday and was out of the dugout by the fifth inning.
    • It appears the social media posts are claiming an underage relationship between Franco and a 14-year-old girl in the Dominican Republic -- and authorities there are investigating.
    • Franco is not making the trip to San Francisco for the next series while the investigation goes on.  I hope this is only a question of due diligence at this point.
      • Uh oh.  The Rays have put him on the Restricted List and is out at least for the current length of the road trip.  He's still getting paid...
  • Can we put this canard to bed now?  Four days after a 30+-person mob took a Glendale store for $300,000, another mob, this one of 30-50 people, took an LA Nordstroms for the better part of, if not, $100,000...
  • A Kansas town is in shock, as the owner of its newspaper died of a heart attack after the 98-year-old woman had her house raided by the local police.  It appears the paper was investigating a DUI by the town's police chief, according to reports.
  • We are at 199 MLB ejections, and it's only August 14th.
  • So the Patriots get Ezekiel Elliott.  There's a career that's over, then.   

Sunday, August 13, 2023

August 13, 2023 News and Notes

  • Next major name to apparently Saudi-whore his name out there in soccer:  Neymar.
  • The class of 2023 for the National Basketball Hall of Fame was enshrined last night:  Included Tony Parker, Dirk Nowitzki, Pao Gasol and Dwayne Wade.
  • Various discussions surrounding Jim Harbaugh's four-game NCAA suspension.  One report says it will be reduced -- another says a deal of some form was rejected.
  • Final Four for the Women's World Cup:  Sweden to take on Spain, England to take on hosts Australia.
  • In an upset, Tetsuya Naito has won the 33rd edition of the G1 Climax, evening his lifetime singles record with NJPW ace Kazuchka Okada at 7 and 7.  It is his third G1 win, and earns him the Challenger Rights to face the NJPW World Champion on January 4 at Wrestle Kingdom.
    • One Challenger Rights defense match has been set for the Fall:  Naito has to defeat Jeff Cobb, who defeated him in the tournament.

Saturday, August 12, 2023

August 12, 2023 News and Notes

  • Not much has changed in many years in New Japan Pro Wrestling, if the 2023 G1 Climax Final is to be any indication.
    • Tetsuya Naito defeated Will Ospreay in one semifinal.
    • Kazuchka Okada defeated EVIL (who upset (and earned an IWGP World Heavyweight Championship match against this Fall) his former partner SANADA in the quarterfinals) in the other.
    • Since 2012, either Okada or Naito has won the tournament six times -- this will be the seventh.
      • Okada has won four times (2012, 2014, 2021, 2022).
      • Naito has won twice (2013, 2017).
        • It is, however, the first time the two will face each other in the Final.
        • The winner receives the Challenger Rights to challenge whomever is the IWGP World Heavyweight Champion at the main event of Wrestle Kingdom 18 at the Tokyo Dome on January 4, 2024.
          • The Rights must be defended and are usually defended in the Fall against any wrestler who defeated the Rights-holder in the G1 Climax.
            • This would appear to make Okada the favorite to win his fifth G1 Climax and his third in a row.  This is because of the fact that one of the two men who defeated Naito in the tournament was Shane Haste, a lower-level member of New Japan Pro Wrestling of America.  The other was Jeff Cobb.
            • A far more attractive Rights match awaits Okada if/when he wins:  Will Ospreay would get the chance.
            • An Okada win would tie him with Masa Chono with the most G1 Climax wins in history -- five.
  • It appears at least four ACC schools do not want Cal-Berkeley or Stanford in the conference.  Then who does?  The Mountain West?  It appears we finally have our first two demotions out of the Power Four/Five:  Washington State and Oregon State are being relegated out.   

Friday, August 11, 2023

This Blog Should Not Exist, Part 3.11: Two stories with ominous clouds on the horizon.

First, meet Darren Bailey.  Running for Congress, Republican from Illinois -- if he makes it that long.

This was his response to a 4-3 verdict by the state Supreme Court upholding the state's assault weapons ban:

"I’m standing here on my front porch. This porch kind of became famous through the governor’s run and became famous when I was speaking on nonsense. And I made a statement. And sometimes when we make these statements, we don’t know where this is going to go. But if need be, this front porch will be my final stand. I will not allow anyone to infringe on my property on my Second Amendment rights. I will not allow anyone to come and take anything from me. And if need be, as I quoted before, I will die on this front porch before I give up any of my Second Amendment freedoms."

I'd say that's an offer, much like the guy from Utah.

Would you think so much of the Second Amendment if I had a gun, knowing that I would use it offensively?

Hey, you might have some balls, but you're probably going to end up in the ground, just like that guy from Utah this week...

==========

And that's if it all doesn't go up in the next few months.

Two arch-Conservative lawyers (William Baude of the University of Chicago and Michael Stokes Paulsen of the University of St. Thomas) of the Federalist Society (so you know these are no friends of liberals of any kind!!!) have said the following about Donald Trump and the 2024 election in the 2024 University of Pennsylvania Law Review:

  • Since Section Three of the 14th Amendment is, in the view of these legal scholars, enforceable on it's face without further action, Donald Trump is (in their view) already and irrevocably disqualified from the Presidency and the 2024 election for same or any other office.
  • And Section Three also nullifies all contrary situations, including that it can act as a bill of attainder, an action ex post facto, and in situations which may be covered by the First and Fourth Amendments.
That's a strong statement -- so the first question intelligent people should ask is:  What's the endgame?

First off, the abstract states that all relevant judges, etc. should enforce this.  But what if they choose not to, and additionally do not even believe the events of January 6, 2021 constitute an insurrection?

You could even get to the point where Donald Trump could be removed from ballots in some states, not in others, and you eventually have a situation where any of the following things could happen:
  • A brokered Republican convention, at best
  • Two different Republican candidates, at worst
  • A non-zero chance of four, perhaps even FIVE (Biden, 14th Amendment Legal R, Trump, No Labels, perhapsRFK Jr. splintering off to a third-party) relevant candidates come November
  • The Presidential election devolving to the House under the 12th Amendment
  • or even a 20th Amendment Section 3 selection of a President by the Congress
    • ... which would probably require a material nullification of the 2024 election, part and parcel.  And if this line of thinking actually gets some traction, that's not an impossibility.
So what, gentlemen, is your endgame?  As much as Biden may not be the President the rest of us want, it's clear that Trump has such a lead among the opposition that many among them say they'll overwhelm the system and write him in!

The problem is:  Would those votes count?  If Trump is disallowed, for example, in California, that answer is NO.  Only "certified write-in candidates" can be counted in the state.

As usual, stay tuned.

With the destruction of Maui due to wildfires occurring as we speak, Tony Khan is putting his money where his mouth is...

His annual "Fight For The Fallen" event is doing something a little different this year:


Hoo boy. Sounds like they just blew up the Canadian junior hockey league...

... or at least the one in Quebec, seen as one of the toughest.

  • Fighting is now five and an automatic game.
  • The instigator gets suspended one game.
  • An aggressor gets two.
  • And a player is suspended a game for each fighting major after his first.
It's getting a lot more like the NCAA rules.

August 11, 2023 News and Notes

  • Another seven Iowa and Iowa State athletes were charged with falsifying their identities to place wagers illegally -- some of them on their own games.
    • Including the starting running back for Iowa State, Jariehl Block, who was accused of placing over ONE THOUSAND such wagers, including at least three in games he played in.  THIS is the type of player I've been wondering about with the NFL situations -- now you start looking at plays involving him vs. Iowa, Kansas State, and Texas Tech.   
      • He joins who would've been the starting quarterback at Iowa State this season, Hunter Dekkers, among the now-14 to be charged.
    • Arland Bruce IV of Iowa was the starting wide receiver the last two years, and placed wagers illegally underage through someone else's account in NINETEEN games in which he participated.  He has transferred to Oklahoma State to lose his eligibility.
    • Reggie Bracy of Iowa has transferred to Troy to finish his education after prison.  Played 14 games and wagered in two of them in which he played (games with Michigan and South Dakota State).
    • Isaiah Lee of Iowa State actually made a money-line wager on Texas to defeat Iowa State in 2021 through his fiancé.  Iowa State won 31-7.
    • DeShawn Hanika of Iowa State, Iowa's Jack Johnson, and Iowa State's Jake Remsburg all used their mothers' accounts to bypass situations.
  • Former New York Giants player Blake Martinez has been expelled from a trading-card game marketplace site for scamming Pokemon card collectors and players.
  • We may have our answer on a striking young track prospect:
    • Suriname's Issam Asinga may be disqualified from this year's World Championships due to experimental doping of a metabolism drug.
      • Which may well have aided a July 28th time of 9.89 seconds (which would be an under-20 world record) at the South American Championships -- which would make the 18-year-old Asinga the youngest man ever to break 10 seconds at 100 meters...
      • He has posted a negative test from that meet -- but the positive for that was a July 18th test which may nullify the time and see him suspended, pending the B result from the July 18th test.
  • There is now some rumbling that the Milwaukee Brewers may not be long for Milwaukee.

Thursday, August 10, 2023

Oh, this could be rich...

Report today in the sports media.

Phil Mickelson has apparently, according to a book about to be released by a professional gambler and this information sourced to a sportsbook (and, at this level, I can't think a legal one -- the author claims he gave Mickelson off-shore betting information in 2008) with three damning allegations:

  • 2010-2014:  858 bets of $220,000 and 1,115 bets of $110,000 (the reason being that those bets are probably at -110 odds and win 200K and 100K respectively).
  • A 30-year record of $100,000,000 in losses, with over a billion dollars (yes, B) in handle.
  • And perhaps the most damning of all, Mickelson tried to place a bet through the author of the book for the 2012 Ryder Cup for Team USA to win.
    • Mickelson, as you probably well know, was ON Team USA.

August 10, 2023 News and Notes

  • Michael Lorenzen of the Nationals has become the fourth no-hitter of the season.  7-0 over the Phillies.
  • Henry Ruggs III will spend 3-10 in prison for DUI murder.
  • It appears the end of Rashaud Breeland's NFL career has not been taken well.  After being out all of 2022, he was arrested today in Charlotte, NC:
    • Stolen Mercedes
    • 62 grams of mushrooms
    • 5 pounds of marijuana
    • and 8 guns, including two AK-47s and AR-15's.
  • Several Northwestern coaches have taken to wearing T-shirts protesting their fired head coach for hazing.  The AD has called the move tone-deaf -- and I have a feeling more firings are coming.
  • Speaking of...  Baltimore fans have taken to chanting "Free Kevin Brown".  His suspension is scheduled to end Friday, but if I'm that much an asshole, maybe it's time just to release him!
  • David Purdum with a bunch of NFL betting pablum:
    • It appears the sucker-thought of Aaron Rodgers is working, at least in betting circles:  The Jets, even with the worst combined record in the NFL the last five seasons, are now down to the seventh choice at New Jersey's Caesar's sportsbooks at 16-1.
      • With the second-most money to win the Super Bowl behind Cincinnati.  Philly, KC, and Buffalo round out the top five.
      • But they also have the most money of any team in the bet to miss the playoffs (they give +115).
    • It appears, for some strange reason, the betting public thinks the Bears will go worst-to-first.  PointsBet has him #1 in bets and money for the MVP, and at least one bettor laid $3,000 at 100-1 in February, aiding the Bears to the second-highest sportsbook liability.
    • PointsBet also has the Bears with the most money and bets to win their division of any division.  I guess that would make sense if you are one of those who believe Minnesota is about to fall off a cliff.   
    • The Raiders (from 7.5 to 7.0) have the most under money on their win total.  The Falcons (from 7.5 to 8.5) are the other direction!
  • 49ers CEO Jed York is standing accused of insider trading.
  • A girl who made an Internet reputation for being a stupid, arrogant, White girl bitch has apparently died.  Lil Tay and her brother have both died -- and it appears from reports that it was violent.  It could well have been from the family.  Tay shooting her mouth off caused a serious break within the family.  She was 15.  Police are investigating.
    • Glad I said "apparently"...  Now there's a second report stating that Tay and her brother are OK.

Wednesday, August 9, 2023

Did someone find his nuts, only to lose his mouth?

We appear to have a live one in Utah, as the FBI shot and killed Craig Robertson today, as it appears he was fully ready and prepared to actually carry it out on a future Biden visit to the state:


Maybe if you'd waited and put it all in a manifesto, big shot, you'd have had an actual chance of pulling it off.  Because it does sound like you were serious!


Tuesday, August 8, 2023

August 8, 2023 News and Notes

  • The Baltimore Orioles will be looking for a new, more compliant, announcer, it appears.  Kevin Brown was suspended for this statement he made July 23rd -- he's been banned by the team ever since:
"This has been maybe the toughest ballpark to play in.  The Orioles have a chance to do something special today.  Already clinched a split in the series -- winning two of the first three -- trying to pick up a series win behind Tyler Wells today."

At this point, a graphic notes that the last time the Orioles won a series at Tampa was 2017.

The Orioles are getting rightly blasted, because if you suspend Brown, then everyone involved in that segment, from the truck to the producers to the graphics person, they have to go.

But here's the other thing:  The announcers are basically pawns of the owners.  The day and age of Vin Scully is long and gone.  If you want impartial or at least objective announcing, you may almost want to hit mute and do it yourself!

Monday, August 7, 2023

August 7, 2023 News and Notes

  • Another MLB brawl, more suspensions.
    • Chicago White Sox:  Tim Anderson gets six for being one of the dirtier players in 2023 MLB.
    • Pedro Grifol sits a game as well.
    • Cleveland Guardians:  Jose Ramirez gets three for one of the cleanest right hands since that Toronto-Texas melee.
    • Relief pitcher Emmanuel Clase, manager Terry Francona, and coach Mike Sarbaugh sit one game each.
    • Several fines were also dispatched.
    • At least half a dozen games this weekend had ejections, sending the season total to 181.
  • The Houston Texans will soon be looking for a new minority owner:  Javier Loya has been charged with one count of rape, six more of sexual abuse, and others.  The NFL has banned Loya from the league during the legal process.  Gee, where do we think they got the DeShaun Watson environment from...   
  • Today's reason not to get a PS5:  Last weekend was the EVO Fighting Games Tournament in Las Vegas.  They ran so many PS5 matches that the controller ports melted on more than a few of them!

Sunday, August 6, 2023

This Blog Should Not Exist, Part 3.10: It's also good on the Left that the USWNT crashed out.

Sweden wins in penalties, the final one literally being called because of the technology in the ball determining that the whole of the ball had crossed the whole of the line by a millimeter.

And the American Right is throwing a defeat parade at the USWNT's elimination from the World Cup.

If you're on the Left, you should be too -- but for a very different reason.

I don't know if I actually posited this possibility when Simone Biles dropped out of Tokyo 2021, but I can't rule it out (and the only thing that could would be access to records I couldn't ask for and don't want to).

But here's a couple questions I think we all need to ask of ourselves as a nation regarding anyone purportedly representing it in any manner:

1) Why would you represent THIS Disunited States?

2) Why would you want to share that representation with people whom you might find completely incompatible?

Let me just give you two examples:

The USWNT:  How many of these women would be literally shot if they were known to be LGBT (given that a number of them are)?  It's clear that Megan Rapinoe is going to have to find another place to live -- fast.

Simone Biles:  How can she represent an American Olympic movement which all but certainly had her raped, fondled, fingered, degraded, etc. before she finally says "ENOUGH!"?

It's one thing (and correct) to say that the rest of the world has progressed, but, especially with the bleating of the Trump MAGA crew the last three weeks, why would I fucking want to represent the United States in tiddly-winks, much less soccer or any other major sport?

If you SERIOUSLY want to apply the bleating of the American Right to this, you would need purity tests, loyalty tests, etc., including:
  • No lesbians, bisexuals, or transgenders of any kind.
  • Political compatibility with the American Right
  • No woman less than an "8", measured by the Bikini Calendar put out beforehand (and this isn't that far from reality -- there was a magazine article before that famous US tournament a number of cycles back where Brandi Chastain was topless, putting two soccer balls where her breasts were)
  • etc.
I mean, seriously:  What, of this group, would want to give their full effort to THIS America?

An America many of which are about to be killed or hounded in.

Saturday, August 5, 2023

The Smell of Desperation, Non-Pac-12 Edition...

Can someone please just shut down these content creators?

NOW???

Kai Cenat, a YouTube prankster now streaming on Twitch (and is now the service's most-subscribed streamer), announced a giveaway in Union Square of New York City, including gift cards, electronics (including PS5s), etc. on Thursday.

He is now in police custody for inciting the riot which ensued -- a TWO THOUSAND PERSON MOB which took literally a full Stage 4 Alert and 1,000 cops to quell.

Update: Down to the Pac-4.

Big XII just took in Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah.

And given how little California people care about sports unless the team is winning, I would not rule out Cal-Berkeley and/or Stanford just throwing in the towel completely.

August 5, 2023 News and Notes

  • Noah Gregson can find a new team which is more amenable to the racist post he liked on Facebook.  He's been suspended from his NASCAR ride and team.
    • NASCAR has also suspended him.
  • Ricky Rubio is stepping away from basketball -- mental health.
  • Dillian Whyte has popped hot for drugs.  Fight with Anthony Joshua is off.
  • Today is the Pro Football Hall of Fame ceremony in Canton after the ceremonial Return Mass Of The Fourth-String Irrelevants on Thursday night.
    • Joe Thomas
    • Zack Thomas
    • DeMarcus Ware
    • Darrelle Revis
    • Ronde Barber
    • Chuck Howley
    • Joe Klecko
    • Don Coryell
    • Ken Riley
      • The last two go in posthumously.
    • The crowd appears to be extremely small for the inductions, especially for a class of this size.  I'm not 100% sure it's not because, frankly, there is no real "headliner".
  • 52 games to go, the New York Yankees would actually be leading the Minnesota Twins by 1/2 game in the AL Central.  Since they're in the AL East, four games over .500 means last place in the division and 11 behind Baltimore.
  • The storybook run of Wrexham gets off to a tough start.  A 5-3 home loss in their League Two opener to MK Dons.  MK Dons was relegated from League One last year.
    • And the media wants to pile on.  Remember, doofi:  This team was relegated from League One, meaning, if they were able to keep everyone together, they're probably one of the best sides in League Two.

Friday, August 4, 2023

Yay, Football's Back (/s). So's the Suspension Blotter!!

Yes, the fourth stringers get to decide who wins...  (Yip.  Pee.  twirls smallest finger)

Yes, it's the preseason, where Incarcerated Bob has it right:  The only people who care after the first (I would say series rather than quarter) are the parents of the fourth-stringers and the gamblers.

As for the Suspension Blotter, three more to add to the list:
  • New Orleans Saints:  Alvin Kamara's penalty for that incident in Las Vegas.  He'll sit three games for it.
  • Indianapolis Colts:  Chris Lammons also gets three games for the same incident.
  • Kansas City Chiefs:  Charles Omenihu banned six games, ironically for the domestic violence incident in January which eliminated the 49ers and helped the Chiefs win another Super Bowl.
    • So why do you take him, knowing he's suspendable damaged goods, and given the fact that his suspension eventually led the title back to you??  Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...
Spotrac now has 22 players suspended in the offseason who will start the season with suspensions.
  • The Lions already have to cut a maximum check under the Player Remittance Policy for suspensions -- they have 5 for gambling on NFL games, including three life bans.
  • Indianapolis also has to cut a 3-suspension maximum check for Lammons and their two life bans for gambling on NFL games.
  • Also cutting extra checks so far:
    • Atlanta (2 suspensions)
    • Jacksonville (2, maximum at any level, Cam Robinson's PED suspension costs him nearly $4 million)

Another (comedic) NFL gambling story

The NFL (and most of the other US sports leagues) received a letter from Rep. Dina Titus of Nevada this week, and responded to formally request help with dealing with what Johnathan Nabavi calls "the illicit sports betting market".

This is over and above the 34 states and DC which have legalized efforts.

There are three major comedic elements to this story.

  • Two of which are statements by Nabavi:
    • "There is no higher principle at the NFL than safeguarding the integrity of the game,"
      • If that's the case, where are the arrests of a number of players who committed what, at best, would be considered suspicious acts during games in the 2023 season alone.
    • "Our efforts to uphold game integrity have been ongoing throughout the history of the league and our commitment has not wavered since the Supreme Court's decision. The increased accessibility of sports betting has made our efforts even more important."
  • The third is effectively two-fold.
    • Anyone who knows of sports betting in this country (much less the billions around the world) knows there's a massive such market...
    • ... one which has connections like Floyd Mayweather in it, unless you can actually think Mayweather OR his Money Team can walk up with the kind of money they like to lay down without triggering "loss protection" and "loss prevention" situations.
Keep lying, NFL.  Keep lying.

The Pac-12 is done.

Colorado voted to rejoin the Big XII last week.

And today, Washington and Oregon are leaving for an 18-team Big Ten -- next year.

This is now your Pac-Seven:
  • Arizona
  • Arizona State
  • Cal-Berkeley
  • Oregon State
  • Stanford (and they're talking independent at this point)
  • Utah
  • and Washington State
And late word that Arizona, Arizona State, and Utah are being actively courted by the Big XII.

Thursday, August 3, 2023

Three gambling stories, possibly related...

1) We now have charges in the Iowa and Iowa State gambling scandals.

At least seven athletes have been charged with concealing their personal identities on gambling sites.

Two of them are quite interesting:  One is just now life-banned gambler Eyioma Uwazurike of the Broncos, who faces two years in prison.

Another is a former quarterback for one of the Iowa schools.

2) The Iowa authorities are stating there is no match-fixing evident in any of these situations.  Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure.... 

3) Want to know how "Suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuure"?  This little ditty from Las Vegas:

August 3, 2023 News and Notes

  • Vince McMahon has received a Federal grand jury subpoena in his situation with hush payments against female workers in the company he sexually harassed.
  • Alvin Kamara will be suspended a portion of next season -- to be determined in a direct, in-person meeting with Roger Goodell regarding an incident in Las Vegas, previously reported.
  • Domingo German's season is over -- he's entering alcohol rehab.
  • The sports minister of Somalia has been suspended by the Somali government and forced to apologize when the country (without entering a formal track team) had a runner in the World University Games take literally twenty seconds for her to run 100 meters.  There is belief the woman in the race may have been the sister of the sports minister.
  • Gwendolyn Berry has been banned from next year's Olympics:  Topical steroid, had a prescription but did not obtain the proper clearance, so banned through Paris.
  • World #2 Germany has crashed out of the Women's World Cup in the group stages.
    • With World #1 United States almost doing the same.