And before we go to Week Three in earnest, the cherry on top...

As reported here last week, Azeez Al-Shaair of the Texans was fined for putting the name of a Palestinian girl on his eyeblack -- consistent with league rules.

Even so, he did it again last week.

And, correctly, he was ordered by the game officials to remove his eyeblack completely.  If he did not, he would be ejected from the game.

Here's another college football example of the game out of control...

Another pet peeve of mine:

It's all about the quarterback.

So the quickest way to victory on the field?

INJURE HIS ASS WITH A CHEAP SHOT!

Oregon-USC:

Sliding feet 1st was supposed to be a way to protect QBs, instead it's turned into an easy head shot: pic.twitter.com/VHAeQeIy9E

— College Sports Only (@CSOonX) September 27, 2026

If I'm the referee, that's an Oregon touchdown for the flagrant foul plus the unsportsmanlike action afterward.

And I eject the USC player TWICE.  Once for the hit, another for flagrant intent to injure.

The quarterback was taken in an ambulance.  The USC player smiled on the sidelines.

Arrest that cocksucker too.  Assault and battery, intent to do grave harm.

You know what?  Green Bay MIGHT get off the hook at the rate things are going.

Further comments on social-media buzz of the out-of-control nature of football...

#1:  The SEC needs action against Coach Sarkasian of Texas.  It is clear he is fully excusing the conduct of his players, even though...

#2:  Colin Simmons and Raleek Brown should be arrested and thrown in a local jail tonight.

I am not kidding, nor am I saying metaphorically because their actions took place on the Tennessee field.

Both of them not only violated FCC indecency laws which are going to bring broadcast partner ABC onto the carpet, but at least Simmons violated Tennessee's indecency laws.

Don't believe me?  Read the definition of "nudity" under Tennessee's indecency statute:

"(1) “Nudity” or “state of nudity” means the showing of the bare human male or female genitals or pubic area with less than a fully opaque covering, the showing of the female breast with less than a fully opaque covering of the areola, or the showing of the covered male genitals in a discernibly turgid state. Nudity or state of nudity does not include a mother in the act of nursing the mother's baby;"

When Simmons represented himself as putting his fist in front of his crotch, he was representing a penis in turgid state, as if FOOBAW MAN FROM TEXASS (read:  God...) had the biggest dick in the stadium and wasn't afraid to show it.

He should be EXPELLED from the University of Texas, so should Brown.

He won't be.  He's GOD because he's FOOBAW MAN FROM TEXASS...

And this shithead Simmons is making $2,500,000 in NIL money from the likes of Dodge Ram and Nike.

Don't bother asking for boycotts or removals.  Someone will just take his place.

Speaking of God, maybe this one from another state heading to Oklahoma...

And he did all this with Pigfucker in attendance?  Hell, Kegsbreath is probably creaming about this sow!

#3, I want to reiterate something from the other incident really making the rounds this afternoon -- the slam tackle from the #1 tight-end recruit heading to Oklahoma.

He was ejected and suspended a game for unsportsmanlike conduct earlier this season.

He should've been ejected from last night's game for injurious conduct, one of the definitions of a flagrant (disqualification) high-school football foul.

We haven't even hit October 1st yet.  Let that process.

2026 NFL Week Two Fine Blotter: The Saturday Announcement

As has been made apparent, the illegal celebration fouls are completely out of control, one way or the other.  After what I saw put over the broadcast airwaves through actions by players of the University of Texas this morning, I do not want to hear another fucking word about the taunting penalties or the celebration fines.

I am wondering if part of this is a disturbing trend I'm seeing on social media this season -- an increasing number of tauntings and fights and spearing and all that stuff at kid and high school levels.  This DOES come down from the NFL, and the fact is the kids are seeing these actions in the NFL and emulating them, up to and including intent to injure and starting brawls.

The start of the season has basically made celebration fouls, especially those depicting alcohol (which is fucking hilarious, but that's another thing), a Point of Emphasis.  And it's clear that, after this fine blotter, it needs to be strengthened.  As in New York has to get in and have these flagged as "non-football acts", including notifying the officials if flags aren't on the field.

I wish the NFL would come out with a directive on that and state it openly, but I do wonder if they're getting the message that the boys are NOT all right and that things are out of control.

How out of control?  Above and beyond what I've already blogged about today:  As of Friday, I counted no less than THIRTEEN incidents of illegal celebrations to be on today's Fine Blotter and Game Accountability situation.  

Just in Week Two.

And that's BEFORE we find out on Saturday how many more there might be...

Here's that list of just those thirteen (and one more from the same incident as one of them, not reported previously, updated for the fine amounts in the Saturday Game Accountability announcement.

• Cincinnati:  Ja'Marr Chase, $29,852 for two incidents
• Cincinnati:  Tee Higgins, $59,704 for FOUR incidents.  Between the two, FIVE obscene gestures and a vulgar act of it's own merit.  Four of the six were committed in the second quarter.  Three of them in a 69-second span.  NONE were flagged.
• Detroit:  Amon-Ra St. Brown, $59,704, FOUR incidents during the game.  All vulgar acts, three in the third quarter, once again, NONE WERE FLAGGED.
• Dallas:  Jake Ferguson, $13,611, "drinking" the ball.  This one probably stands, ball as prop.
• Dallas:  Brevyn Spann-Ford, $10,417 for participation in the same illegal celebration.
• Indianapolis:  Matt Gonclaves, $8,847 -- another ball as prop "drinking" situation, so that one probably stands.
• San Francisco:  Kyle Juszczyk, $14,926 for his illegal celebration, making him a TWO-TIME LOSER if that stands.

NONE OF THE FOURTEEN INCIDENTS WERE FLAGGED!!!!

Bud Light has opened up a fans' celebration situation and placed the combined totals of Ferguson's, Gonclaves' and Juszczyk's fines in it.  (Not clear yet as to whether they will add Spann-Ford's ten grand to the "jar" after today's announcement.)  No word yet on what actually it's going to do -- free beer, contests for cash, hasn't been announced yet.

Someone please explain to me why Chase, Higgins, and St. Brown are allowed to play this week, by the way.

So there's that.

There were four others in the same ilk, totaling EIGHTEEN such incidents this week:

• San Francisco:  Kyle Juszczyk received a second $14,926 fine earlier in the third-quarter drive, NOT FLAGGED, spinning the ball and drinking.  Again, ball as prop, that one should stand. And you can add his name to the list I gave above of players who should be ejected or suspended.
• Detroit:  Jahmyr Gibbs, $14,926, making him a TWO-TIME LOSER in two weeks
• Detroit:  Pennell Sewell, $14,926 
• Detroit:  And a FIFTH NFL player who should've been tossed/suspended:  Jameson Williams:  $14,926 for participating with St. Brown, Gibbs, and Sewell in the toking session, and another $11,941 for a separate taunting incident.

By the way, that is eight different Unsportsmanlike Conduct incidents for the Lions and six for the Bengals.  I would hope there were unannounced team fines in both cases.  If there weren't, I would then almost certainly believe you will see much of this reversed.

There were also three other Taunting fines this week, making a total of TWENTY-ONE Unsportsmanlike Conduct fines out of the 38 this week:

• New Orleans:  Chris Olave, $11,941
• New York Jets:  Geno Smith, $11,941
• San Francisco:  Upton Stout, $7,501

Well, we can finally get to everything else:

Face Masks:

• Atlanta:  Jake Matthews, $11,941
• Baltimore:  Roquan Smith, $11,941 That was the uncalled facemask on the controversial touchdown.
• Cincinnati:  DJ Turner, $11,941
• Cleveland:  Sam Williams, $6,361
• Detroit:  Tyler Lacy, $7,315
• Detroit:  Devin White, $7,222
• Pittsburgh:  Payton Wilson, $8,480

Late Hit:

• Arizona:  Karson Sharar, $5,372

Roughing the Passer:

• Baltimore:  Trey Hendrickson, $17,911, body weight
• Kansas City:  Jaden Hicks, $6,707, blow to the head
• San Francisco:  Keion White, $13,770, body weight

Striking/Kicking/Kneeing/etc.

• Tennessee:  Calvin Ridley, $12,537 -- I have him down as a two-time loser, but that's not going to get capitalized in this case, because I think it's apparent Ridley won his appeal from Week 1 on a similar charge, or this fine would've been doubled.
• Washington:  Odafe Oweh, $12,537

Helmet fouls (again, I'm not sure on these specifically regarding the new three-strikes rule):

• Chicago:  Tyrique Stevenson, $22,342.  Biggest single fine of the week.

Which leaves these as Points of Emphasis strikes:

• Buffalo:  Chauncey Gardner-Johnson, $11,194, hip-drop tackle, first strike
• Denver:  Alex Singleton, $17,911, defenseless player rule, first strike, TWO-TIME LOSER.
• Washington:  Jeremy Reaves, $10,277, defenseless player rule, first strike

And then three fines which were completely unmarked other than Unnecessary Roughness, so we don't know what these are for and whether these qualify under the PoE -- we assume they were not:

• Green Bay:  Ty'Ron Hopper, $8,325, on the opening kickoff, not flagged.
• Green Bay:  Chris McClellan, $7,167, a fourth-quarter hit on a muffed punt.  It was flagged.
• Tennessee:  Jeffery Simmons, $11,941, first-quarter incident, not flagged.  And he got away with an Unsportsmanlike Conduct fine of his own in the fourth quarter, when he went to the Philadelphia fans in attendance near his sideline, grabbed his crotch, and yelled "SUCK MY DICK!" after Tennessee took the lead.

If you got to the end of this, thank you.

Before we get to the Fine Blotter, what the NFL is up against...

I said yesterday that I think the NFL is seeing what's happening at lower levels and reacting -- with both the illegal hits and the after-play stuff.

Here's an example.  The slamming player (who damn well should've been ejected) is a Kentucky Player of the Year and the #1 recruited tight end in the nation.  This is what he did after a goal-line interception -- a clear ejection-level slam for injurious conduct in high-school football:

#1 Ranked TE & OU Commit @SenecaDriver just Gronk Spiked a DB after an INT 😳 pic.twitter.com/doP22ACEw9

— Red Dirt Media (@RedDirtMediaCo) September 26, 2026

That's me:  He's ejected, suspended, and referred to the school for a school suspension.  That is clear Intent To Injure. 

AND WAIT, THERE'S MORE!!

In another tweet, we find out that the player, Seneca Driver, has already been ejected and suspended from a game for unsportsmanlike conduct earlier in the season!

EDIT TO ADD ANOTHER ONE FROM TODAY:  12:25 PM PDT

Texas and Tennessee are playing a top-15 matchup in Tennessee today.

A Texas player, Collin Simmons, a member of the #1 team in the nation, celebrated a sack today by mocking urinating on the field.

I won't dignify that by posting it.  It's all over the Net.

Yes, he was flagged.  No, it should've been flagrant and he should've been gone.

And since the game is on ABC, that's an FCC violation too.  So they can expect to be fined, which I hope they turn over to the University of Texas.

(And yes, I filed one.)

AND WAIT, THERE'S STILL MORE!!!

A SECOND FCC violation by the University of Texas.

Raleek Brown scored the first touchdown in the 20-17 win.

For his touchdown celebration, he pantomimed smelling his balls and passing out.  Brown was NOT penalized.

Smelling your own balls and passing out is INSANE pic.twitter.com/u6WhphiDJA

— Hater Report (@HaterReport) September 26, 2026

Upon Further Review: You expected NORTHWESTERN to be given a fair shake over the B1G's new darling, Indiana?

From the new X account tied to this blog directly (which will almost certainly be banned within four weeks once some transphobic ass like Nancy Mace starts in):

The Big Ten was supposed to be allow viewers to listen in to the replay review but the audio only worked from the Referee, not the Replay Center.

Would have been helpful to see how the Replay Center didn’t have this out of bounds at the 11. But alas 🤷🏻‍♂️ https://t.co/1bDGAUnvmV

— OfficiatingObserver17 (@RefObserver17) September 26, 2026

2026 NFL Fine Blotter, Week Two, Part Three: Whatever happens, New York MUST get involved...

Another charge of persistent unsportsmanlike conduct:

• Detroit:  Amon Ra-St. Brown:  Over $56,000 -- we'll get the precise number tomorrow -- for four different incidents of Ra-St. Brown mock-smoking during play.

OK, NFL.  It's time for New York to get involved.

You have to have league officials watching each game.  They have to be able to buzz the officials to throw flags on this crap.

If the fines stand, then all three players involved should've been suspended for Week Three.  Because all three players should've been ejected from their games for the Unsportsmanlike Conduct Rule.

There needs to be a league directive, and I'm afraid the time has come:  ANYTHING other than Hand The Ball To The Ref, Shut The Fuck Up, And Go To Your Huddle Or Sideline, is 15 yards and a strike to ejection.

EDIT TO ADD 1:50 PM PDT 9/25/26:  Now that Super Fraud has it's own X account -- for now...  (I don't see that lasting four weeks with my political stands), ANOTHER taunting/illegal celebration fine:

• Dallas:  Jake Ferguson was fined, presumably the about 14 grand, we'll find out tomorrow.  Another "drinking of beer" celebration.

This one probably should stand.  There's an important distinction.  The use of a ball as a prop has been a penalty and a fine for a number of years.  THAT should allow this one to stand where Juszczyk's has to be an issue.

Manchester City Found Guilty Of Financial Foul Play

But it's so serious, the question is:  What can really be done, short of expulsion from the English soccer pyramid?

ESPN has received information that Manchester City has been found guilty of basically all of the 115 Financial Fair Play charges which have been literally hanging over its head for the last several years.

Manchester City has not denied, in concept, they have been found guilty of all of the charges except one.

Obviously, City will appeal any determination as such, and any sanctions as a result.

The initial investigation took four years, and to get to this point took another three and a half.

The charges of violation of Financial Fair Play rules span from 2009 to 2018.  Manchester City won three Premier League championships directly in that span -- then, in 2018-19, they won the domestic treble:  Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup.  The finished in the Champions League positions four of the other five years in that span.

And that's before they won four in a row from 2020-21 to 2023-24.

Throw em out.  Part and parcel.

It can very easily be concluded the entire Manchester City championship run of the last FIFTEEN YEARS has been due to Financial Foul Play.

This isn't one or two guilty verdicts -- this is ONE HUNDRED AND FOURTEEN.

What other penalty can there be but expulsion from the Premier League and from English soccer?  Even if the ramifications of it mean the end of the Premier League, which some pundits think might be a good thing.

There is no basically zero basis nor legitimacy in ANY of this fifteen-year run of dominance.

Since 2009:

• 8 Premier League championships
• In the Champions League every year since 2010-2011
• 6 FA Cup Finals
• 2 FA Cups
• Only 2 Champions' League finals, one of which they won, both in the 2020's.

And not a shred of it legitimate.

Not one.

2026 NFL Fine Blotter, Week Two Part Two: The People's Fines?

And this is the biggest fine of the year, if the MSN report of that is true.  We'll find out Saturday.

But the Cincinnati Bengals' two star players, Ja'Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, have been fined over $80,000, per the report, for The People's Elbow.

Six Times!

I'm actually surprised the league didn't buzz the officials for a "non-football act" penalty for that.

Six times???  And no flags???

Look, I might have some issues with the FOOBAW MAN, but you better have a DAMN GOOD REASON for that one...

Pat McAfee got one right between the eyes on Monday.

And I'm not surprised I can't find audio or video to back it up.

On Monday, Pat got a Tweet from someone who wanted to see him "Kirk'd on air live."

And he asked what that meant...

The show basically stopped when they all realized it was a call for assassination.

I'm sure McAfee is a right-wing prick -- given his time in WWE and now on ESPN.

But that is quite the stretch...  Unless you're willing to try to pull it off.

Take it from someone who knows.

Barring probably a major off the field incident in the next 72-96 hours, we have our DUD OF THE WEEK for Week 3...

I don't know how much can be worse than this, so I'm awarding the gold medal right damn now for Week 3.

The Green Bay Packers.

Are we seriously now trying to tank Arch Manning to the [correction, see below] ...?  I could actually see a rigging angle which has that as the outcome at this point.

17 yards is all you got on the ground -- at least a team record if not an NFL record going back to 1933.

35-14 to a team who lost 34-3 last week -- and it wasn't even THAT CLOSE.

If Matt LaFleur is still the coach as of the close of business tomorrow...

Correction:  Dallas traded the better of their first round picks to the Jets as part of the package to get Quinton Williams in November.  So the Jets are now looking to be the Tank Bowl team.

2026 NFL Week Two Fine Blotter, Part One: Ummmmm, No, NFL....

Where's my Picard "Why Me?" Facepalm when I need it?

I think I might've seen the most ridiculous fine.

It will be announced on Saturday and I probably will put it on the list, but I found out about it today and, well...  this one's anal.

• San Francisco:  Kyle Juszczyk becomes the first known TWO-TIME LOSER.  He got just over $20,000 last week for a helmet foul.  This week, he's fined $14,926 under the "illegal celebration" rule.

This one had better get appealed and reversed.  Juszczyk's nickname is "Juice", so, when he scored a third quarter touchdown, he mimicked opening juice and chugging it --as he apparently has for a long time.

The NFL fined him because they saw the action as a chugging of beer, and declared that offensive and outside the sportsmanship parameters of the league...

....

....

A league which has been married to beer and other alcoholic beverages since TIME FUCKING IMMEMORIAL!!!

Now, if you HAVE changed the rules to "Basically anything other than handing the ball to the ref is 15", fine.  Blame the culture of the game for having had to, but there are indications that it is getting there.  One of the taunting fouls in either a college or pro game earlier in the season was for the player declaration he had achieved a first down -- USUALLY that's not covered unless it's in the face of another player.

Juszczyk claims he doesn't even DRINK beer!!  So the only thing I can think of -- and it would be long overdue if it actually were the case, is the "Basically anything other than handing the ball to the ref is 15" Principle.

The league has tried this before -- back in the days of the sack dances and all of that.  So it's POSSIBLE.  Not likely, but possible.  This one, however, has gotta come back unless there's more to this than has been reported.

And the most unsurprising living CTE case in the history of football continues...

Antonio Brown is going to plead out to his attempted murder case -- two weeks after the victim basically said they didn't wanna be part of it anymore.

As I believed when this started, is anyone at all surprised that the biggest CTE case in the history of the NFL got tied up in an attempted murder rap?

Seriously??

Not by my hand, but Antonio Brown is a dead man walking.  The only question is who he finally pisses off enough to get offed.

After Further Review, Jake's Slop Plays, Week 2

There I go.  After four tries, got X account #12 banned for telling Nancy Mace the truth about transgenderism and why I'm still on the outside.  Fuck Elon, I'll be back.  Only question is when.

And it's time to see what Jake the Awake has for his slop-play video for Week 2.

10)  Chargers-Raiders.  No score, first quarter, 3rd and 5 at the Charger 22.

Justin (S)Herbert beats two Raider defenders and puts the ball right into his receiver's hands...

Right into the receiver's hands...

A receiver who then intentionally juggles the ball, pops it into the air, and you get the interception.

9)  Dolphins-49ers.  14-6 49ers, first drive of the third quarter.  SF on the Miami 12.

And we get to see yet another example of a team TRYING to go 0-17.

George Kittle (after some defensive holding), is just tapped on the shoulder and let go by the Miami defender.  Kittle catches a touchdown with NO ONE WITHIN TEN YARDS!!!

San Francisco wins 35-13.

In this day and age, that one is so obvious that there should be an investigation.

8) Jaguars-Broncos.  13-6 Jacksonville, late third quarter, Jacksonville has the lead and the ball near midfield.

I won't QUITE agree with the thought of throwing it over the middle, but where Trevor Lawrence actually threw it was where the only person who could've caught it was one of the Denver Broncos.

Denver wins 20-13.

7) Chicago-Minnesota.  A field goal, and it's NOT "Return of the Doink".  6-3 Minnesota, 6 minutes to go, chip shot 23 yard field goal for the Bears.

#87 for the Bears needs an investigation, because he completely "misses" the snap count, gets passed right by, BLOCKED!!!

Then Jake turns his attention to Doinks -- he isn't quite ready to break out the music yet, but he explains his rationale for the segment in an aside.  He starts with the third Minnesota field goal, which doinks IN from about the same distance as the blocked Chicago one -- and, unlike some of the manipulations he charges, this one looked like it was a called shot off the upright!

Then he shows New England-Pittsburgh and claims possible manipulation of the late third-quarter field goal which gives New England a 13-3 lead.  This one looks a bit more natural, even though he could (and almost certainly does) make the claim that the kick was nowhere close before the manipulation sent it through.

And he correctly notes that doinks used to be exceptionally rare -- until, what was it, the Double Doink of that Bears kicker in the playoffs and the NFL and its fans got a hard-on for Doinks?

#6:  NOW he breaks out the music:  "Return of the Doink" time.

He shows the Minnesota made Doink FG again.

He then shows (again, he did so during his rationale segment too) a Chargers-Raiders FG attempt from 59...  And the magnet pull probably pulled it back to the upright, but it was missed.

Two more this week, I think that makes four now, if not five.

#5:  Back to Chargers-Raiders again, for the third time in this video.  24-14 Raiders, 3 minutes to go, 3rd and 11 deep in Chargers territory for the Chargers.

It's Herbert's second interception.  And THIS ONE is Herbert's fault, or so alleged.

Clean pocket, no real pressure, underthrown into triple coverage where the only person who could've caught it was a Las Vegas Raider.

#4:  Philly-Tennessee, and this was the play he used as a "hook" at the top of the video.  (Did a better job with the separation this week.)

And this was the Cliffhanger Game Winner (so if there's three more than this on his list...).  20-17, less than 15 seconds to go, Philly on the Titans 3.

One receiver falls down, both defenders bite, and the receiver that splits them is wide open in the end zone for the game-winner.

The 28-minute video is barely half over, and we are on #3:  Cleveland-Tampa.  1:23 to go in the third, 1st and 10 for Cleveland at their 45 after a face mask.

16-9 Tampa, and DeRapist Rapist completes a pass to Denzel Boston for about 15 in the air.  The other 40 on the ground came after three defenders all missed their tackles and a fourth couldn't catch him.

Cleveland won 23-19.  This is prototypical of the types of plays Jake looks for.  Complete slop on the part of the defense that makes it look like the offensive player made a play, but...

16:32 of the video, and it's #2:  Baltimore-New Orleans.

The worst of the scripted interceptions, according to Jake, and it's Lamar Jackson.  And it's a game-decider, being the final drive, 20 seconds left, Baltimore down by 7 at the New Orleans 37.

This one was so bad, my peer facilitator in my hometown I had a meeting with alerted me to this one unprompted!    Overthrown by SEVEN YARDS after a blown coverage, only guy who could catch it was the safety for New Orleans.  Ballgame.

So you have two game-deciders on this list (three if you count one of the Returns of the Doink/the blocked field goal coming before it...).

So he has nine minutes or so for #1, and we return to Chicago-Minnesota.  Chicago has the ball inside the Minnesota 10, 1st and goal.

Caleb Williams rolls out, directs traffic...  Vikings defender falls down...

I can't buy this one, especially because of #2 and #4.  Yes, he has a blocker in front of him, but he also has another Viking defender bearing down on him BEHIND the blocker.  So he surrenders the play.

And, apparently, his hamstring.

Jake's position is many of these injuries are scripted.  I don't agree.  He could've caught a cleat in the turf because he had to avoid the first tackler, and there goes the hamstring there and then.

And, many think, the very real possibility the Bears season may have gone with it.

Jake spends the rest of the time talking about the doctor on call for FOX to analyze the injuries (that, again, Jake finds fake)...

Let me put it this way:  When Jaxson Dart got injured on Monday Night, that was the end of that game.  Rapeis Winston couldn't move the team if he had a forklift to do so.  So that injury to Dart basically took all the wind out of that game.  Why would you want to fake that?  Serious question.

Accountability... Whoda thunk it?

And coming from about the last coach one might EXPECT to show it...

Deion Sanders has expelled a number of players from his Colorado team after several players were seen laughing on the sideline as they were getting thrashed by Northwestern 41-7.

OK, Deion -- I respect that and specifically that.

The next thing you need to do is start investigating those former players, because I can tell you exactly a scenario in which that would happen, but I don't think you want to go there.

Otherwise, your statement is absolutely correct:  "I don't understand how in the world you can find joy, or you can find a laughing matter when I'm right behind you walking [into the locker room]," Sanders said Saturday. "I don't understand that, and I addressed it, and I'm going to put my foot in it, not on it."

2026 Week Two Political Stock Up And Down

Again, too early to tell -- though I think we're getting an impression from that ring you showed off Sunday night, Mrs. Kelce!

Stock up, no particular order:

AFC:

Buffalo:  Yeah, rigged as fuck, but that was a solid win over Detroit.

Cincinnati:  Don't look now, Cincy is 2-0.  Can't say either of the teams they beat look THAT good, but they're doing the work.

Kansas City:  Duh.

NFC:

Minnesota:  Gotta give em credit for the win over Chicago, even if the no-TD game is WTF...

Seattle

The NFC West:  Six wins between the four teams.

Holding off:

San Francisco:  Still not sure where the Rams are going to be this year yet with the whole Puka Nacua thing (incident AND injury), so don't know how their 2-0 looks yet.

Las Vegas:  Yeah, yeah, they're 2-0 and have New Orleans this week.  Reality hits NEXT WEEK when Kansas City comes to town.

Stock Down:

AFC:

Pittsburgh:  What the Hell was that?  The High End Talent made sure the Bullshit was NOT real, and that got messy fast!

New York Jets:  How did you let THAT ONE get away?

NFC:

Chicago:  Proving the whole Week One track meet was fraudulent.

DUD OF THE WEEK AWARD:

Nominees:

The Miami Division II Football Team.  I do wonder if the Hurricanes could beat you fuckers right now.  Those first two weeks have been DISGRACEFUL.  And Week Three doesn't get any easier:  Here comes Kansas City.

Atlanta.  What.  The Fuck.  Was THAT?  You better hope you don't slam your Penix in the car door Thursday night in Lambeau.

The LA Chargers.  We thought you were supposed to be at least outside players for the playoffs -- and you lose to the Cardinals AND the Raiders, by identical 26-14 scores?

Tampa Bay.  How do you lose to DeRapist Rapist and CLEVELAND?  I guess the only thing which could be worse is if Shedeur was the quarterback.

Quarterback injuries.  At least three major ones this week took a lot of the steam out of games, including the Monday nighter.

Bronze medal:  The AFC South.  Jacksonville's win over Cleveland is the only win the entire division has through two weeks.

Silver medal:  NBC in general, Cris Collingsworth in particular.  So you start with a Chiefs rim-job piece before the game, Collingsworth can't get off Mahomes' dick, and you just HAD TO have Taylor showing off the ring after her husband's touchdown.  Yeah, this is going to be a legitimate game.

(And yes, that one call in the overtime aside, because the league was going, instead, for the LAST...  POSSIBLE...  SECOND... angle with Mahomes and the Chiefs.)

Gold medal:  Keenan Allen, the other probable catalyst for Sunday night.  So you get charged for your DUI formally during the season, and you expect the league not to take immediate action -- at barest minimum, to ensure a result against your team...

2026 Week Two Score Report

Well, this week looked a bit more sane than Week 1 -- at least after Thursday night...

• 647 points this week, not even 40.5 this week after basically a 50 per last week!
• 1,438 points for the two weeks, then.  Average:  44.94
• Home teams were 7-9, 17-14 for the season.
• 6 Cliffhangers in 3 games this week -- GB snags an overtime FG to Escape From New York, a double in Tennessee with a go-ahead FG for TEN at 1:56, only to get the winning TD pass for Philly at 9 seconds, and Sunday night's shenanigans.
  5 Last Chance Misses, including Chicago getting four shots from the 20 and inside the last four plays...
• Also including a 4-bagger in Kansas City for the rig-job Sunday night.  Long pass play at the gun almost gets there for Mahomes, and three overtime field goals for the triple-cliffhanger on top.
• 7 non-competitive games -- which means, of the first 32 games, fully 13 never were within eight points at any point in the fourth quarter.  There's going to be a LOT of shit football this year.
• Only one other game finished within eight points, and one other was within 8 at some point in the fourth quarter but didn't finish there.
• 9 Cliffhangers in five games, 11 Last Chance Misses, 4 other games finished within 8, and 3 were within 8 at some point in the fourth quarter but didn't finish there.

It's official, the NFL wanted to kill somebody yesterday...

And we haven't broken the planet...

The Titans field in Tennessee was so hot yesterday..

(HOW HOT WAS IT???)

The field temperature was measured at 157 degrees Fahrenheit.

So hot some of the cleats for some of the players yesterday actually MELTED.

Yeah, they wanted someone to die yesterday.

Week Two, After Further Review, Week Two: Not a doubt in my mind... But the NFL wanted to make sure for both itself and Vegas...

After the DUI earlier in the week, there was no chance Indy was going to win.

So why, Chiefs lovers ask, was THIS PLAY allowed to be reversed?

Referees overturned what was initially called a game-ending fumble after a 48-yard catch by Laquon Treadwell pic.twitter.com/ppwyOw6eWD

— Jomboy Media (@JomboyMedia) September 21, 2026

Why?

For the last...  possible...  second...  field goal for the Chiefs, including Mr. Taylor Swift with the Mrs. showing off the ring after he scores the first touchdown of the night.

EDIT TO ADD Monday Morning 7:45 AM PDT:  AND Colts coach Shane Steichen says the 4th and 8 that they took the FG, went for the tie, and gave the ball back to Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs for the winning drive, they'd have gone for it...  if the coverage was right?

You can't make up this comedy!!!

And, not only that, but they get the Vegas bettors on the Chiefs -6.

The house wins, three different ways.  NBC gets a last-second overtime winner, the Chiefs win, and the Chiefs do not cover.

Week Two, After Further Review, Part One: I think I've seen an NFL anomaly...

I don't usually pull out stuff during the week, but this one needs a mention.

When I'm not banned from searching, I will search #Rigged on various platforms.

I found this play from Baltimore-New Orleans today.  It was called a touchdown.

Ladies and gentlemen, I think we have found a play that can be declared for BOTH TEAMS SIMULTANEOUSLY.

Not only is that not a touchdown, but there's a nice little facemask in the play too!

ABSOLUTELY...ROBBED! #rigged https://t.co/agDEUIsxu6

— Downfield Read (@DownfieldRead) September 20, 2026

EDIT TO ADD 5:25 PM PDT:

And that took one week.  Given the call last week, how is this not at least an incomplete pass?

NFL Officiating, along with its product overall, has declined significantly in my opinion over the past several years.

Game altering decisions. This is an incomplete pass. 10 people sitting at a bar could all agree on it. Nope! Not the NFL! https://t.co/k0kWplFLUU

— OfficiatingObserver17 (@RefObserver17) September 20, 2026

Some thoughts on Week Two

• Last week the Bears scored 59 points.  This week:  3.  Minnesota is 2-0 in two of the ugliest wins this league has produced in some time.
• And, while we're on the subject: Last week, the Panthers gave up 59 points and lost 59-37. Well, they got one thing consistent this week: They scored 34 -- but only gave up 3!!!
• The 49ers will go 2-0, and the march toward a very probable 0-16 for the Dolphins continues apace.  As I start this bullet-point post, it's 35-6 San Francisco over Miami in the 3rd.
• Somebody's getting fined this week...

“The players have no idea”

New Orleans Saints player Julian Blackmon says on Instagram “bad day for the sportsbooks” as he hauls in a telegraphed on purpose Lamar Jackson interception. Of course which made it a great day for the books. They will all burn pic.twitter.com/WLvrBLoU3l

— Behold A Pale Horse (@BeholdPaleH0rse) September 20, 2026

Hmmm...  Methinks the players are often co-participants.

• Oh great...  DeRapist Rapist actually won one.  In a lightning storm where most sane NFL fans would ask if it could take both teams out, the Browns actually won one -- 23-20 over the Buccaneers in Tampa.
• Early in the day, several taunting calls got even a friend of Tom Grossi angry enough to rant over X, and got that trending.  And most of Football Nation America wants mouths to be allowed to be shot off.  You do realize, it's punches next...   

Allegedly... Does anyone still not want to believe Emmanuel Clase threw games outright?

Prosecutors filed in an Order of Particulars in Federal Court on Friday that, in their case of Emmanuel Clase spot-fixing, they have identified 18 particular pitches they intend to present to the jury as "spots" Clase meant to fix for spot-fixers in the Dominican Republic.

At least one of them was in a Cleveland Guardians playoff game (which, to be accurate, they won 7-0), according to ESPN.

Does ANYONE want to try to tell me that Clase didn't throw games outright, and has just done so in such a controlled manner that he's not been caught, even under investigation by both MLB and the Federal government?

Anybody?

2026 Week One Fine Blotter, The Saturday Report

Here's the page.  They're doing it a bit differently this year.  Instead of a week-to-week dropdown menu, they're listing them all on one page.  They usually do the full report around 4 Eastern.

And the new policy and the Points of Emphasis and the one-time amnesties at the end of the season are now in effect.

20 more fines this week, 22 total, three of them under the Points of Emphasis, three more are helmet fouls I think should fall under the PoE.

Conduct:

• Chicago:  Jahdae Walker, $5,620, Taunting
• Dallas:  Javontae Williams, $11,941, Taunting
• Seattle:  DeVon Witherspoon, $11,941, Taunting
• Washington:  Stefon Diggs, $14,926, other illegal celebration or vulgar act.  Jumped, straddled the goalpost support.

Late Hit:

• Dallas:  DeMarvion Overshown, $9,527
• Denver:  Alex Singleton, $11,941

Roughing the Passer:

• Carolina:  Derrick Brown, $17,911, a late hit.
• Green Bay:  Lukas Van Ness, $17,911, blow to the head
• Houston:  Mario Edwards, $8,263, blow to the knee or lower body
• LA Rams:  Tyler Davis, $6,225, blow to the head

Other non-Points of Emphasis:

• Dallas:  Donovan Ezelraku, $11,941, face mask
• Kansas City:  Trey Smith, $6,750, chop block
• San Francisco:  Jake Tonges, $9,266, leg whip (And a good reason for the rule -- Tonges injured himself with the leg whip -- OUT FOR THE SEASON.)
• Tennessee:  Calvin Ridley, $12,537, Striking, etc.

Actually, I stand corrected:  Rereading the policy, not all helmet fouls are actually strikes against the policy -- which I think is bullshit, they're the biggest fines many weeks (including the only two fines over 20 grand this week), and has been a Point of Emphasis in this league several years.  So while we straighten this out, here are the helmet fouls:

• LA Rams:  Nate Landman, $11,111, helmet foul
• San Francisco:  Kyle Juszczyk, $20,033, helmet foul
• Detroit:  Jahmyr Gibbs got the biggest fine of the week, $23,207 for a helmet foul

Which leaves these as the Points of Emphasis fouls, all of which constitute STRIKE ONE against the offenders for possible suspension and can only be half-amnestied if not repeated.  A second such fine in the season will result in a league meeting.  A third is a one-game suspension.  (Pending appeals)

• Buffalo:  Sam Frankin, $9,425, blindside block
• Green Bay:  Evan Williams, $7,027, defenseless player foul
• Miami:  Chris Johnson, $17,911, hip drop tackle

Officials Accountability:

• Of the 20 fines, only 11 were flagged.
• Of the 3 Player Safety Points of Emphasis fouls, only TWO were flagged.
• NONE of the three helmet fouls were flagged.
• The four of the six I think are within the policy which were not flagged:
• Gibbs' should stand. It was use of the helmet in the end zone after he scored. That should've been 15 for a late hit.
• No video on the Landman helmet foul.
• How the Hell did the refs miss the Kyle Juszczyk foul, sans rigging?  Clear leading with the helmet to block at the point of attack!
• No video, apparently, on the Johnson hip drop tackle either, and that was the one which was not flagged.

Early 2026 Week One Fine Blotter Part One: Two uniform violations...

We haven't had the normal Gameday Accountability situation yet -- that's tomorrow at about 1 Pacific.

But two eyeblack violations have hit the Internet.

• Arizona:  Kei'Trel Clark, $6,651 for a "Glory Be To God" message, which has enraged the MAGA crowd.  I again remind them to look up the rule.  ANYTHING not approved by the league is fined.
• Houston:  Azeez Al-Shaair, $11,492 for the name of "Hind Rajab", a Palestinian girl killed by Israeli forces.  Kyrie Irving of the NBA has offered to pay the fine.

Wow, that was a scripted production...

There was no doubt that the Bills were going to win the first game in their new stadium tonight.

The Lions more than made sure of that with a number of indisciplined penalties, effectively zero defense, and basically a full surrender job after a turnover at 34-24 in the fourth.

But they still scored another touchdown to make it 41-31, and make the Buffalo Bills the first team in NFL history to go 2-0, giving up over 30 points in both games.

Let me give you an idea of how thrown this was on the part of the Lions -- AND how much the NFL had to struggle not to completely lose it's Amazon audience.

• The Buffalo Bills got almost 300 yards of offense in their first four drives in the first half, all resultant in touchdowns.
• It's 27-7, third down, Buffalo's driving again about their 40 yard line.  Josh Allen scrambles and appears to have the first down if he keeps running.
• So he shovels the ball off to a receiver, who drops it because he didn't expect, fourth down, the game's first Buffalo punt.
• With 6 seconds left, Detroit decides to run the ball to confuse the Buffalo defense, and Buffalo gets called for tripping the ball carrier.  (Only thing that would've mattered was the distance -- there WAS one second left and Detroit had a time out.)  Bugger if we could see it on the replay.
• Field goal -- 27-10 at halftime.
• At that point, I call it during the halftime...

So let's see.

A "bad decision" for the first Buffalo stop, a phantom tripping call, and it's 27-10 at half.

27-17 incoming, and perhaps more?? #TNF #Rigged ???

— Michael Falkner (@MichaelFalpxmr) September 18, 2026

• Wouldn't you know it?  27-17 after about a six-minute drive.
• But then the Bills dogwalk the Detroit "defense" on an EIGHT-MINUTE drive for 34-17.
• Then Detroit decides people still need to be watching the game in the fourth quarter -- five-minute drive, 34-24.
• They get the stop...
• And then 3 and out, and that's the surrender.
• Touchdowns are traded for 41-31, the final.

And I guess we, at least for Sunday, have to go on Record Watch.

The 72 points tonight means the first 17 games in this NFL season have now scored 862 points.  An average of 50.71 points per game.

That is an NFL record for 17 games.  Remember that Week 1 tied the NFL record for most points in a Week 1 with 2002.  Only one game in that Week 2 beat the 71 -- and that was a 45-39 overtime game, also with Buffalo winning, this time over Minnesota.

OK, found it... The probable domestic violence angle to Monday Night's arranged Chiefs victory...

Jonathon Cooper of the Broncos pled not guilty just before the season started to a felony charge of strangulation and three misdemeanors.

The alleged altercation was in June, according to the Associated Press.

There's your answer, boys.

Cooper, like Jacobs, is on the Commissioner's List.

Time to amend my Dud of the Week List for Week 1.

Nope, we have a new winner.

And since I've already awarded the medals, this gets the DIAMOND MEDAL -- above gold.

And it deserves it too.

The winner?

The NFL itself!

For complete ignorance of the laws of this nation and the resultant abuse of the YouTube copyright system.

Why?

This.

This is what shitposter UrinatingTree had to do to get a Week 1 Sportsball commentary piece out this week, after a number of attempts yesterday ended in NFL copyright takedowns to refuse monetization of the video.

I tried everything I could to get this out tonight, but couldn't get it done. I'm sorry, guys. I think I have a solution that gets through, but I'm worried it'll be borderline unwatchable. https://t.co/dKMQO7fMfQ

— UrinatingTree (@UrinatingTree) September 17, 2026

Don't get me wrong.  I am certain UrinatingTree is getting targeted here.

After all, he's talked so much shit about the Steelers that, without even Tweeting them directly, they blocked him.

And before anyone questions it, here's the Fair Use Index from the US Copyright Office themselves.  Unless they want to declare all game content to be damaging to the monetary interests of the NFL, this qualifies under Fair Use.

The NFL does not want their games shitposted, even by someone as skilled as the Yinzer.

So what happens next?  Do the game streams of commentary from the likes of UrinatingTree and Tom Grossi get yoinked?  After all, the disclaimer on all the other sports is "pictures AND accounts"!

Assholes.

EDIT TO ADD, about a week later:  A few days later, I have to be fair here, the NFL rescinded it and the OG Cut, as Tree put it, was posted.  We'll see what happens THIS WEEK...

After Further Review, Jake The Awake, Week 1

I don't agree with a lot of his non-football stands, but Jake the Awake does a nice job of chronicling plays he believes show the "rig-aroni with a side of baloney" the NFL has.

Unlike me, Jake concentrates more on what he calls "slop plays" -- plays that show that the players are more like professional wrestlers and choreograph plays to ensure results.

(With one usual exception that I think we will see at least one of.  I'll get to that.)

So, here's Week One's Top 10 of Jake's Slop Plays.

And, already something to note:  Denver missed so many tackles Monday (28) that they gave up the most yards after missed tackles in eight years (247).  So, knowing Jake as I do, I have a feeling there will be more than one play from that game to back up the top of the video bullet point there.

This isn't even in his Top Ten, but the first part shows that two Broncos players basically pantomime tackling Patrick Mahomes on his touchdown run.

10)  Detroit-New Orleans. 14-0 Detroit, and they have the ball after a New Orleans turnover in the 3rd quarter.

Amon Ra-St. Brown appears to have a route that's going to take him through three New Orleans defenders.  First defender takes the other receiver, second one pratfalls, the safety never helps, St. Brown catches wide open for the score.  21-0.

9)  Dallas-Giants.  58 seconds to go in the half, 7-7.

Dak Prescott, per Jake, is the most-highlighted player in the history of his Slop Plays series, and it's interceptions, usually.  Scrambles backwards INTO pressure.  Throws an abject DUCK a mile into the air off his back foot, only player who can get it is the player who can pick it on the sideline for the Giants.

Stands to reason, doesn't it?  Prescott would have to be a coparticipant in a lot of this with how the league cannot feasibly afford the Cowboys to be representatives as champions.

8)  Packers-Vikings.  No, this is not the drive in which the Vikings were all but handed a score either through mass indiscipline or the refs. 25-22, 3rd and 17.

And the Vikings just jailbreak the shitty Packer O Line, which had the worst pass block rate in the league for Week 1 -- and not close!  Back-to-back sacks, back-to-back fumbles, and the Vikes get the ball to start the rout.

7) Packers-Vikings, next drive.   4 minutes to go, 32-22, and Jordan Love needs to make a comeback...

And he throws a pick that almost gets returned all the way -- three plays later, it's the Vikings' third touchdown of the quarter for the final score.  Even though he had three open receivers on the play, including one cutting at the other side of the field with NO ONE CLOSE.

6) And here we go with the exception, when Jake breaks out his singing voice.  "Return of the Mack" -- I mean, "Return of the Doink", a chronicle of all the videos of doinks, which Jake almost certainly correctly notes are magnet-assisted.

SF-Rams in Australia (if the ref is going to use the goal signal for a field goal from Aussie Rules, doesn't that mean this one is only worth one point if it had been made?), Arizona-Chargers (particularly flagrant one, looks like the kick is straight to the left and curves out to doink out the RIGHT SIDE), and I thought I heard at least one in the Monday nighter as well which was MADE...

5) Chicago-Carolina -- you almost could've seen this one coming for at least one play.  24-24 near halftime.

Caleb Williams escapes pressure and finds a seam in the pocket to start running.  No problems here.  And he's got one guy to beat...  Except the guy literally runs out the back of the end zone to take himself out of the play for the free touchdown, Williams' second on the ground in the first half.

4) Eagles-Commanders.  17-16, six minutes to go in the game.

Three guys give Dallas Goedert a cushion, and all of them can't be arsed to make the play.  42 yards later, Goedert gets his second TD of the game, and that basically IS the game for Philadelphia.

3) New England-Seattle, and it's the suspicious interception.

Off the back foot again, and the only guy who can get it is wearing Seahawks colors.  Game over, champs win, thanks for coming.

2) Chiefs-Broncos. 7-7. late second quarter.

Rashee Rice gets the ball and one player completely misses him, even though he is otherwise squared up on him.  He doesn't even remotely attempt to wrap up on him.

1) Chiefs-Broncos, no score...

Until at least two players don't even try to tackle Mahomes for the Chiefs first touchdown.

2026 NFL Week One Political Report

It's far too early, obviously, to speak in terms of an order of teams in each conference.

That, however, said:  We CAN at least go Stock Up and Stock Down, in no particular order.

AFC:

STOCK UP:

Kansas City.  Boy, did that game look familiar.  Seven times in the first three quarters, ESPN showed Mrs. Travis Kelce.  Patrick Mahomes was healthy.  The referees appeared to be in full effect.  And the Broncos had no material chance whatsofreakingever.

Baltimore.  In what many believe might be Lamar's last real shot in Baltimore, they got off to a good start.  But if Mahomes stays healthy, could it also be familiar to see Lamar hit a granite ceiling?

Buffalo.  Another "same ol' song and dance" motif.

STOCK DOWN:

New England.  That looked awfully suspicious in the opener.  The real question is going to be what happens, especially to Drake Maye, going forward.

LA Chargers.  One of the most listless performances of the entire weekend.

Denver.  Got run over by the Patrick Mahomes buzzsaw, and it really makes you wonder what shot they really have to accomplish anything.

NFC:

STOCK UP:

Chicago.  The problem being that people are really believing that defense in Chicago is completely non-existent.  One pundit even joked that the Bears might need to break the scoring record for a team for a season to have any real shot at a successful year.

Detroit.  Got a lot of help to beat New Orleans, and if that plays out more later in the year, the NFC North is open to them.

San Francisco.  Especially with the LA Superteam flaking apart, that win might be FAR LARGER than any will admit.

Seattle's more a "we'll see".

STOCK DOWN:

Dallas.  Especially if you're going to continue to be given the media front-and-center of the league's most-valuable franchise, you gotta do better than that!

Green Bay.  Gee, did that look familiar -- with the shoe on the other foot, Mr. Jacobs???

BTW, Green Bay opened a 6.5 point favorite at the Jets.  It's been bet to -4.5 already, and I'll be surprised if they're giving more than a field goal.

Carolina.  Oh dear God no.  The defensive coordinator should've been fired today for THAT performance.

LA Rams.  You not only get blown out by the 49ers in Australia, you've now lost Garrett for at least a month.

2026 Week One Score Report

Starting with an addendum to the Dud of the Week.

That performance by the Denver Broncos was an embarrassment to the league.  It won't make the stand for the award, but that gets at least a mention.

Not that the game wasn't basically certain for the Chiefs and Mahomes to begin with -- including, according to vlogger Tom Grossi, showing Taylor Swift SEVEN TIMES in the first three quarters.

• Another way you can probably think the game was rigged.  They needed 41 points to tie the record for the most points in a Week 1. (791)
• They got exactly 41 points for the 791 total.  And that was after a 13-10 and 27-7 pair of games to start it.
• Another interesting statistic from Reddit:  For the first time in league history, a 16-game week has ended with every game having a different point differential.
• Home teams were 10-5 this week, including every game late window on forward except the Chargers.
• 3 Cliffhangers this week -- Three instances in two games in which a tying or winning score comes in the last two minutes or overtime (Buffalo, double in Detroit), 
• 6 Last Chance Misses -- in which any play in the last two minutes feasibly can tie or win the game but is missed.  However, that was only in four games.  Washington missed a tying two in the last two minutes, then the onside.
• And then we had a four-bagger in Detroit.  Cliffhanger for the Saints at 1:07, a field goal missed at the gun for the Saints.  An overtime touchdown for Detroit, but with the new rules, New Orleans could get the touchdown back -- but then missed the two-point conversion to win it.  2 Cliffhangers, 2 Last Chance Misses
• 6 games were non-competitive, in which the game never got within eight points in the fourth quarter.
• And 2 more were within 8 at some point in the fourth quarter, but finished outside it, meaning half the schedule ended up comparative blowouts.
• And the final 3 games finished within 8, but, in all three cases, the winning team had the ball for more than the final two minutes.

2026 Week One Score Report, before the Monday Nighter....

Noted on Reddit (and I apparently have been reinstated to X again -- that makes TWICE on account #...  10?  12???)...

Anyhow, it has been noted that the record for Week 1 scoring was set in 2002 at 791 points, which would be an average of 49 and change for the week.

Even after a 13-10 opener and a 27-7 game in Australia, we now stand at 750 points -- a flat 50 per game.

Now, both quarterbacks are coming off major injuries, etc.  But if the Monday nighter can get 41 or more....

After Further Review, Week One, Part Two: The Packer Fan's Lament

Said I'd cover this if I found it, and I did.

Found it on Reddit.

One drive, four different plays.

And only one of them MIGHT have been a 100% good call as it had a part to play in the go-ahead touchdown in the fourth quarter for Minnesota.

It's 22-17 Green Bay.

Play One:  3rd and 11, 11:03 to go.  First down for illegal contact, #7 Green Bay.  A sack is negated.

He has a five-yard zone, but appears to be committing defensive holding on the play -- not illegal contact.  The contact appears to begin at the five yards.

Play Two:  3rd and 3, 9:15 to go.  First down for roughing the passer, Clay Matthews Rule.

Watch that he's gonna get fined for this.  You can't put weight on the quarterback.  Your only possible mitigation is if you believed #74 Minnesota shoves him into the quarterback.

Play Three, no call.  3rd and 3, 9:09.  Jaire Alexander is mugged by #76 of Minnesota, no call.  Vikings gain 28 on the play.

Play Four:  3rd and 5 at the Green Bay 6.  Defensive holding negates an interception.  That may have been the only 100% call of the four.

Dud of the Week, entering Monday Night of Week 1

Yep, Monday night had a big one.  Not big enough to crack the top three, but to add a mention to it...

DISHONORABLE MENTIONS:

Drake Maye.  Look, you may be early in your third year and all, but you are the defending AFC champions and would otherwise have some political pull ("Patriots Are Champions" and all...).  23/33 isn't bad -- three picks, including a suspiciously-underthrown ball at the end to hand the game to Seattle for the Champs' Opener is another thing.

The Carolina defense, or whatever that was which approximated it.  The good news:  The league got a game in the 90's this week.  (According to Wikipedia, it tied for the 12th highest scoring game in the history of the league at 96 -- 59-37.) The bad news for Carolina is Chicago hung nearly 60 on them.

Pro Football Reference and Stathead.  Who now charge $9 a month for what I used to be able to do for free.  I'd like to try to find the last defense who literally got 60 hung of them, but it's now $9 a month to do so!

That one was unplanned, but the rant stands.

HONORABLE MENTION to Statmuse, who apparently has it.  59 points ties for the 23rd most points in the history of the league by one team.  The last team to get 60 or more was, shockingly, the Las Vegas Raiders, who hung 63 on the LA Chargers on a Thursday night squash December 14, 2023 -- just three months after Miami hung 70 on Denver!

Back to the DISHONORABLE MENTIONS:

The Tennessee Titans.  If this turns out to be a shock year for the Jets, this may be retroactively removed.  But no one has confused the Jets for any degree of a football team in quite a while.  So you lay a non-competitive 23-10 egg at home to the JETS????

Added Monday Night:  The Denver Broncos.  Look, I know there was a lot of help -- including that Mr. Travis Kelce was shown in her skybox with Tom Cruise seven times in the game.  That said, you could've deigned to show up, right???

And now, the medalists:

THE BRONZE MEDAL (again, pending tonight):  The two apparent front-runners in the annual UrinatingTree Tank Bowl for the #1 Draft Pick:  The Cleveland Browns and the Miami Dolphins.

You could've deigned to show up.  Either of you.

And I think the bigger indictment might be on the Browns, because they are money-stuck on DeRapist Rapist, even though it's clear that motherfucker doesn't have any business in the NFL at all -- on the field or off the field considerations.  But yesterday's decision-making may expose that Prime Time's kid has even less!

And, without Tua now, the Dolphins might have no one anyone is going to care about.  So that's two candidates right there for Arch Manning's services if the rigging and pimping of the Manning kid continues at Texas.

THE SILVER MEDAL:  Matt LaFleur in general.

If the games were any bit of legitimate, LaFleur would be fired this morning as the coach of the Green Bay Packers.

Why?

• 22 in the fourth and 29 unanswered yesterday for the Vikings to blow out the Pack in the opener.
• 25 in the fourth to go from 20-6 up to a 31-27 loss in Chicago in last year's playoffs.
• 14 unanswered in the fourth to lose to Baltimore in Week 17.
• 16 unanswered in the fourth and overtime to go from 16-6 up to lose 22-16 in the second regular-season meeting to Chicago.

The Packers have now lost six in a row.  The last four of the regular season last year, the playoff game, and the opener this year.  That list is just fourth quarters in that losing streak.

The NFL rigs its games so that you win them in the fourth quarter -- often with ridiculous comebacks.

If there were any legitimacy to the contests at all, it's long past time for LaFleur to go.

However, it isn't.  And, as a result, in part...

THE GOLD MEDAL, THE DUD OF THE WEEK:  The next two major names on the NFL Discipline Blotter, probably:  Puka Nacua and Josh Jacobs.

You don't think the league is sending a message here in both of these cases.

Puka Nacua, after torpedoing last season with his mouth against the league, is in a civil lawsuit against a woman who claims Nacua threw an antisemitic slur (apparently not his first that month, according to Wikipedia!) and bit her last New Year's Eve.  He went into rehab in the offseason.

In the Australia game, a Rams superteam favored to go to and win the Super Bowl was blown to bits by the San Francisco 49ers 27-7 in a game not nearly THAT close.

And now superteam acquisition Myles Garrett is going under the knife for a knee and will miss at least four weeks.

And then Josh Jacobs, the star running back of the Packers, who pled no contest to misdemeanor charges stemming from a May arrest.  And you saw above what happened to the Packers, after another supposed fourth-quarter collapse...

... with many Packer fans bitching about the calls.  If I can find video, I'll get back to you on that.  But I have six words for you Packer fans:

Dez Caught It and Ezekiel Elliott.

Get used to it.  The Pack won't even go .500 this year.

After Further Review, Week One

EDIT TO ADD:  I had, at that point in time, been terminated from X again (#10, 12, or whatever) for telling someone that if they wanted to declare me demonic, they'd have to shoot me.

(Considering I've said that dozens of times on a dozen or so X accounts, and I disagree wholeheartedly with any other outcome, but that's more for a politics post than this one...)

Anyway, I did find this one on Facebook.  Someone please explain to me, sans rigging, how this is not a New Orleans touchdown...

I have no question in my mind that it would be a forward pass, if the ball had any REMOTE chance of going forward.  This one did not.

That should've been a lateral and six -- and Detroit won in overtime when New Orleans failed a two-point conversion under the new NEW overtime rules (both teams must get the ball, regardless of the result of the first drive -- even a touchdown now!).

EDIT TO ADD:  Oh you are fucking serious.

In another rule that punishes defenses and is probably capriciously applied, apparently a pass that backward in that situation is declared a forward pass in the NFL (when it is convenient for the league to do so!).

I wish I were kidding.  My complaint stands, because the Saints defender has barred the Lions QB's arm Tuck Rule-style.

Called it. The league does not tolerate star players with domestic violence...

22-17 Green Bay after 3.

39-22 Minnesota at the end.  22 unanswered in the fourth.

And Packer Fan is bitching about the calls in the fourth.

Dez Caught It -- and that's the first part of learning why.

The Packers won't even be in this year's playoffs.

Is DraftKings getting smart?

When Packers-Vikings opened, the Packers were -1.5 at DraftKings.

When Josh Jacobs pled no contest, the Vikings were -1.5.

The Vikings are now -2.5.

This may be one of the oddest football victories I've ever heard of...

Dateline:  Florida

Buchholz High is playing West Port in a Florida high school football game.

Buchholz scored on three of it's first four offensive plays to go up 21-0 about three minutes into the game.

Then, as they go to kick off for at least the third time in three game minutes, lightning in the area suspends the game and then calls it.

I can attest from my Debbie Gibson MLS trip in 1997 -- severe weather in Florida is NO JOKE this time of year!

The interesting part of it?  The game was recorded as a 21-0 victory for Buchholz, even though just three minutes and eight seconds of the game were played.

No chicanery involved.  Just file this under "how is that allowed"?

Buchholz is 4-0.  West Port has won a game this season.

A Day of Conspiracy Theories, Part III: Clancy Case and the one holdout...

OH SHIT.

When I end up having to agree with a right-wing slut on X, we've got a problem.

A lot of people, however, were standing up for the one juror, presuming he was male, who held out that Lindsay Clancy was sane.

I wonder how they might be feeling today.

NBC 10 Boston has reported that the holdout juror, a Black male, was arrested in 2021 for domestic violence.  Charges were dropped, true -- but would that not have been enough for a pre-empt??

There's also, NBC 10 found, a restraining order against the guy.  Which it would have to have been believed would've been reported at the time of the questionnaires -- resulting in what would have to have been immediate disqualification.

In 2025, NBC 10 learned, a nephew referred to in the restraining order was shoved to the ground by the juror and punched in the face.  That did get a restraining order.

Sassafrass84 is correct, but not in the way she wants:  The jury was factually tainted, and probably in a perjurious manner.

A Day of Conspiracy Theories, Part II: America Day and Dick Cheney

You know what today is.

25 years ago today, over 3,000 New Yorkers, many of quite a bit of money, where annihilated when the World Trade Center fell, the Pentagon was hit, and a fourth plane taken down by the passengers in Pennsylvania.

I don't think I need to tell you of the conspiracy theories which have followed in the last 25 years (most surrounding that the act was not of a plane variety but as a direct bombing run on at least the first three planes' part).

To that end, a couple questions:

• We all knew where President Bush was.  If this was just a coordinated attack on the basis of felling American institutions, why didn't a plane take out that elementary school in Florida, and him?  (Sans incompetence, which I'll get to in a second.)
• The standing theory is that, when the planes were effectively swapped out in a missile scenario, the planes were taken to undisclosed areas and the passengers eliminated there.  If that was the case, however, don't you think someone would've tried to escape the plane or overpower the terrorists (much as what happened with Flight 93 over Pennsylvania)?

Another conspiracy theory is that both towers of the World Trade Center were taken out with controlled explosions from underneath.  This would probably account for the visible collapse of both towers during that phase of it.

But wouldn't such explosions take out the better part of multiple city blocks?  How do you not lose half of Manhattan in that scenario, especially in the massive plumes of smoke which made Manhattan all but uninhabitable for the better part of September 11, 2001?

Now, that does NOT mean I don't believe in one major conspiracy theory:  That agents of the United States government (led by Vice President Dick Cheney), in the aim of a secretive plot called the Project for a New American Century, orchestrated the attack with the aid of the relevant Saudis, etc.

And I'll give you a number of pieces of at least suspicion to that end (several correctly asked -- and it's one of the few things he IS right about -- by Karl Denninger):

• Nothing then-prohibited was on the planes, even though one would have to wonder how else you deal with box cutters (one of the threatened weapons the terrorists used) or similar implements would have any other use thereto.
• Saudis were allowed, under the national stop, to use private planes to leave the country.  Who were they and why were they allowed to leave?
• Two of the hijackers apparently rented a room from an FBI informant.  A year before.
• The general incompetence of the American government at large.  And I can give you two points on that:  Any such attack SHOULD FIRST target the President (no matter whom he or she may be nor their political party), especially if the aim is to fell American institutions -- first financial, then military, then...
• ... there's always been the question of the fourth plane and it's destination.  I think any person can figure out with clarity that fourth plane was to take out an in-session Congress.  But the second point of incompetence is that the time distance between the first and fourth plane was so large that, once the terrorists took over the fourth plane, the passengers knew they were dead and were going to take the terrorists with them and force at least that portion to fail.  Which see Flight 93 over Pennsylvania.

Not LIHOP.  Not MIHOP.  Full orchestration.

One more comment to Karl:  I get that you basically make clear that, if you were President at the time, you'd have nuked Mecca.

At that point, you would then be forced to nuke Islam straight off the planet Earth -- meaning any nuclear-capable Islamic state goes with them, including making sure Saudi Arabia no longer exists.

Why?  Something you don't get, either foreign or domestic.

The concept of people who have absolutely nothing left to lose.

You nuke Mecca, rightly or otherwise, and you start a holy war with a culture of people who have no problems martyring themselves for their 72 virgins (one of the reasons your premise of sending them to Hell fails -- even if they are going there, they don't believe so here!).

Something to keep in mind.

A Day of Conspiracy Theories: Part I: COVID

I have long asked this question of the White Right Anti-Vaxxers...

And, though the answer is not directed at me personally, I must give points for the attempt to actually frame an answer to the question consistent with the "it's the vaccines" belief.

(In fact, given more reflection, I think it's likely that this person actually falls into the "There Was No COVID At All" camp, which has it's own ramifications.)

I do frequent White Right rags like the supposed American Thinker to see what the people who want to kill me and those close to me think.

Well, today, I actually see an article from Antonio Chaves (which I will not link).

I have long asked the question that if it is the vaccines, how do you explain the nearly 3% drop in life expectancy in the United States in 2020 and 2021, knowing that the vaccines were not largely available to the general public until well into 2021?

Chaves' answer?  The opioid epidemic.

He DOES provide a significant chart -- an Asian death year over 2010 baseline chart of the COVID Era which shows a far more significant death pattern between the ages of 25 and 45 (I would dare say, the "Died Suddenly" crowd, those most susceptible to dying of cardiac arrest where no known other cause would be other than either COVID, Long COVID, or what they believe is the vaccines...), and since the accepted numbers from the CDC attribute a massive explosion in deaths in that age range to the opioid epidemic (since 2000), that all the excess deaths in that age range can basically be, instead, applied to opioids instead -- driven by the isolation protocols of the day.

There are several problems with this:

• If this were the case, why has the life expectancy recovered since the vaccines became widely available?  
• It would stand to reason that the only way the life expectancy could recover at that point (especially if 25-45 were drugging themselves to death in obscene numbers) is if basically all the addicts died off.  True especially because many of said addicts would be unemployable 25-45s, and hence the end of the isolation protocols would make no material difference to them.
• You still don't account for the number of dead FAR EXCEEDING even the admitted COVID death tolls (almost certainly now the better part of an order of magnitude)...  If you're willing to state that you believe that comes from a massive number of opioid deaths (which would be declared desirable deaths by the right-wing, not unakin to the fat, lazy, etc. you wanted to die to COVID...)
• Since you don't, then, believe any virus then existed, are you then willing to make the charge that staff at nursing homes throughout the country committed mass murder by smothering their clients when they were no longer of (financial) use, etc.?

I give you points for actually answering the question consistent with your political stands.

But I think you are far under the mark unless you are willing to make even more monstrous charges than the vaccines or the fact there was no virus at all.

Well, does this mean Puka Nacua has blown up the Rams again?

Still under league investigation for a New Year's Eve allegation he bit a woman, Puka Nacua and the Superteam Rams promptly laid one hard in Australia this morning:  27-7 -- and it was never really competitive.

Certainly not the kind of game the NFL would like to present, especially with two marquee teams, in it's International Series...

Unless...

Stay tuned on this one.  Puka Nacua admits issues with alcohol and a dark time in his life.  They're probably delaying further legal action so he continues to play.

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

And Green Bay's Josh Jacobs has pled no-contest to his misdemeanors, clearing the way for a six-game suspension for domestic violence under the Personal Conduct Policy.  He is now on the Commissioner's List -- but I do not anticipate that will be for long.

You DO get paid on the Commissioner's List -- you DO NOT under suspension.

And I think the books get it:  Minnesota is a 1.5 point favorite.

Take them and give the point and a half.  My advice only.

Extension and Further Remarks From Last Night's Pigfucker Bribe

The more I think about it, the more I think it's endemic to this blog.

Donald Trump's $5,000 a head bribe if the Republicans retain both houses of Congress is massively inflationary in the Republican mindset.

And then there's the question of how to pay for it.

I think it's clear how he's going to pay for it:  A massive pile of millions of American dead bodies.

It's BLOOD MONEY.

Start with the transgenders, that's 3 million gone.

Then you kill all the homeless, that's another million admitted and probably far more.

Then the lifers in prison and the mentally ill.

Are we getting to the point of a trillion dollars believed saved yet?

If not, then you get to the noncompliant, and then start sprinkling in some "Communists and Socialists" (read: Democrats).

PS:  And then a Zerohedge commenter with another prescient point.  Most of the money, he believes, is going to end up in prediction markets or fantasy sports (or both).

And then I remembered how much of a stake the Trump regime has in the former!

PPS:  The Republicans will hold the Senate.  I've always believed it, but last night's stunt by Fetterman to actually appear in support of Trump at the REPUBLICAN midterm convention should seal the deal for the general public.  Even if the Democrats get to 51, he then jumps.

As the minority party, he can drag the party to the right.

Well, Pigfucker's finally done it...

He is openly bribing the country to vote his oinkers back into Congress.

I guess it IS consistent with running the country like a business -- but, at tonight's first-ever midterm Republican convention, he's bribing every American adult with $5,000 each if the country votes both halves of Congress Republican.

LSU folds. Dammit.

I really wanted to see the SEC throw LSU out and see what happens next.

But the pressure to do so finally got them to remove the two training-camp invitees (who are now considering suing everybody) when they finalized their roster.

The vote is cancelled.

This Michigan-Western Michigan situation is going to get someone sued...

And I would not rule out, if you want to be a Wolverine fan, etc., that it wouldn't be NBC.

I return you to the video in which NBC clearly shows the ball never touched before the clock went zero:

It's a different video, but it's the same thing I showed before.  The relevant replay starts at about 10 seconds or barely 11.

I have screenshotted the relevant situation.

If you blow it up big enough, you can see the ball, just past the goalpost support and not touched by any player on either team, in or out of bounds.  The clock clearly reads triple-zero.

Why am I so precise?

Because the Big Ten Conference is officially claiming this did not happen.  (Again, I have to link the video instead of just embedding the Tweet for a few more days.)

The Big Ten has an official position that THAT SAME CLOCK read 0:01.  Watch the video in the link.

Someone has just committed sue-able malfeasance.  Because either NBC is trying to manufacture something which is not the case to manipulate the game on their end (which probably is NOT legal, in the face of the Big Ten doing otherwise -- in the infinitesimal chance the Big Ten is not lying through their teeth), or NBC is being thrown under the bus by the Big Ten and being so accused.

If the Big Ten is telling the truth (and I do not believe they are), they are telling you you can never trust another NBC telecast, at any level.  If I'm the Big Ten Conference at that point, I want a new broadcast partner, first available opportunity.

For the record, I believe the Big Ten spliced the video.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA....

LIV Golf is apparently in the process of filing for bankruptcy this afternoon -- Chapter 11 in New Jersey.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...

A sacrifice to the altar of football -- a different one which I'm surprised doesn't happen more...

Condolences in Iowa today.

A member of the band at the University of Iowa died after being removed from life support -- dead after trying to perform in 90+ degree heat at Iowa's opener last Saturday.

Horn player Derek Phillips died after he collapsed as the band was preparing for a halftime show which was scrapped as a result.

He was a third-year student.

Two other interesting college football stories this Tuesday...

Both stand to reason, but I'm shocked the second one took public pressure to do it:

1) With Brendan Sorsby not allowed to play anymore, the Big XII's lawsuit and moves to expel Texas Tech are no more.

2) The Mid-American Conference has formally reversed course and wants reversal of the game result from Saturday.  Good fucking luck, but you've at least exposed them.

The SEC is NOT playing around...

The battle of LSU and NFL training-camp invitees is so severe, the SEC is prepared to throw LSU out of the conference entirely...

IN FORTY-EIGHT HOURS.

Along with amending their lawsuit against LSU, the college presidents of the other SEC schools will meet Thursday to throw LSU out of the conference.

And here might be your start of a national super-league.  It would expel LSU from the national championship and probably all meaningful play in college football.

This might well compel LSU to decide to start feelers to see if other schools want to join them.

The action IS apparently in opposition to all present court situations on the subject (though I begin to wonder, rubber meeting road, if this would mean the entire existence of the NCAA would then be also in such opposition!).

Coach Lane Kiffin (yes, THAT Lane Kiffin) openly said that the rout win over Clemson on Saturday might well have been more lopsided if the training-camp invitees (two of which are practicing with LSU as we speak) or other professional players were allowed to play.  This is what precipitated the escalation.

That said, two questions:

• Since LSU has refused the demands of the conference, would this not mean expulsion is the only option?  And would they not be thrown out anyway for the tampering of Coach Kiffin in the first place?
• Second, what happens to the games this year -- and is there a discussion as to whether anyone who attempts to play an interscholastic competition against LSU also is expelled from the SEC?

Stay tuned.

In other news, Catturd is a moron.

He is anyway, but ultra-right-wing X poster Catturd stepped in it this morning in a manner far more endemic to this blog.

Since I'm still on disqualification, I'll link it here.

And he's already being owned on it.

The NFL opener is tomorrow in Seattle for the champs, as is tradition.  (The game was moved to Wednesday to accommodate the Australia game.)

The Australia game is Thursday night our time, Rams vs. 49ers.

Can't embed the post, but I can link it:

Truer words have not been said on the situation of college football.

And, after yesterday's rig-job, people will WELCOME that result.

Follow-up on the Michigan-Central Michigan rig-job...

I'd really like to know what clock they're using.

Go back to the video I posted.  It shows a brief moment of the replay with an auxiliary clock (NOT the unofficial NBC one on the scorebug -- watch the brief replay on the video I posted or any longer replay you have).  And, as I have always understood, that is the clock they use for time determination on review.

The ball is still several frames in the air before the player touches it (and yes, the player was out of bounds when he jumped, so he would be out and the ball incomplete at the moment of touching) -- and since you are video-reviewing, you can stop it at 0:00 live.

The conferences and Central Michigan have released statements accepting the result.

How much more did they pay you, Central Michigan, to walk away from state superiority in the Big House?

Asking for a friend.

This scares me, knowing what I'm going through...

I've had a health challenge or two in my late 50's this summer.  Vein procedures have apparently been partially botched, leading to blood clots in some of my veins -- and I've had irregular heartbeat and afib a couple times this summer.

So it scares me of the latest professional wrestling news out of Pittsburgh.

It's still in the semi-unconfirmed phase as far as the resolution, but the word out of an independent Pittsburgh wrestling show tonight is that Andy Williams, former AEW "The Butcher" of "The Butcher and the Blade" tag team, collapsed at the end of his match, leading to a CPR attempt and a trip to the hospital.

Reports coming in just as I type this indicate Williams has died.

EDIT TO ADD:  And now conflicting reports, including from the independent company, saying he isn't.  If the initial place which reported it (which DOES NOT have a good reputation in the classic "IWC") is proven to be false, someone is getting fucking sued.

AND FURTHER:  It appears we have confirmation, including condolences from AEW.  Williams has apparently passed away.

===================

AND MORE BAD NEWS:  Memphis wrestling legend Bill Dundee has been confirmed passed away as well.  He was 82.

AND THEY SAY IT HAPPENS IN THREES:  Jerry Oates, who carved out a solid wrestling career, has also passed away today.

And we've got a live one in Week One!!!

Western Michigan defeated #16 Michigan 12-7 today at the Big House.

That's not what anyone will tell you.

Ladies and gentlemen, a rigged result.

This Blog Should Not Exist, I Don't Remember What Part After 3.xxx: The Clancy Case, And Killing Us All And Letting Their God Sort It Out

This is included in that long-dormant series for reasons which, I hope, will become obvious by the time this is over.

I am left with some thoughts after the Clancy mistrial:  She admitted to killing the kids, but postpartum depression, etc. put the trial to an insanity defense.

And it appears that a jury of nine women and three men in Massachusetts had only one (presumably male) juror not go with the insanity defense.  Mistrial, we'll do it again.

And the bleating and the raising of the groyper pro-rape contingent on X (to the point I have drawn a second suspension in less than 12 hours on my...  10th...  12th...  more???  X account yesterday for basically telling one of them that if we meet, I will kick his ass and he better come armed to shoot me -- and he better if he wants to spew the bullshit) has left me with the following thoughts:

1) If you are interested in removing not only the privilege of voting, but also all involvement of women in places of power, influence, or safety...  How, in that world, can you have any more children being born at all?  Because the ultimate place of those three things is motherhood - and in polite White Right circles, that's the only purpose you have for women in the first place.

If some or all women aren't fit for voting or office or safety issues, etc. because of hormone possibilities, they sure as fuck aren't fit for carrying or raising children.  Especially in a world where all privileges and positions are removed from women.  Would that not immediately result in retaliation against the power (murdering more children)?

2) Some people (probably pro-rape men, mostly) are asking that if the hormonal defense can be used for murder, then why can't it be used for rape??

....

....

Like it has been for years by valuable men like the Stubenville, OH football team, the Stanford swimmer, etc.?

Rapists like Bill Cosby and Donald Trump?

3) People are forgetting she doesn't "get away with it" if she does get the insanity defense.  That means she probably gets permanently locked up.

Of course, I guess any result short of someone finding where she is being kept and shooting her full of holes (or doing so in open court) would not satisfy people.

Which, of course, leads to my fourth and final point...

4) Much like courting transgenderism as mental illness of it's own right, is this another move toward identifying those to be considered mentally ill and executing them all?  (Transgenders, eventually the LGBs, homeless people, many prisoners, etc.?)

Something to keep in mind as the White Right Men (and some of the women almost certainly raped and beaten into submission) are spouting off...

Pre-season Week 3 Fine Blotter

This'll be quick.  Only five for the week.

Point of Emphasis, both for helmet fouls:

• Buffalo:  Jalen Kilgore, $5,560
• New Orleans:  Danny Stutsman, $7,011

All the others:

• Indianapolis:  Cam Taylor-Britt, Striking, etc., $7,791
• Minnesota:  Jermar Jefferson, Face Mask, $5,583
• Pittsburgh:  Donelko Slaughter, Taunting, $4,917