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, 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.

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.

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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

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

Pre-season Week 2 Fine Blotter

Forgot to do this -- Week 3 should be out later today.  I doubt, again, that any incidents here will count as strikes on the new policy until regular-season Week 1.

Policy-level fines first:

Helmet fouls:

• Arizona:  Karson Sharar, $5,372, on the opening kickoff
• Dallas:  Malik Davis, $6,735
• Las Vegas:  Dre Ogunbawale, $7,222

Hip Drop Tackle:

• Cincinnati:  Shaka Heyward, $5,972

Defenseless Player:

• Arizona:  Dadion Taylor-Demerson, $7,148
• Arizona:  Wydett Williams, $4,935 (all three Arizona fines in the first half, only Taylor-Demerson's was flagged)

Blindside Block:

• Kansas City:  Jake Briningstool, $4,972

Outside the Points of Emphasis:

Conduct, all this week for Taunting:

• Buffalo:  Chase Lundt, $5,868
• Las Vegas:  Jermod McCoy, $6,729
• Tennessee:  Cedric Gray, $7,131

Striking, etc:

• Tampa Bay:  Ted Hurst, $6,985

Sounds like the big loser of the preseason week was facemasks:

• Indianapolis:  Trey Washington, $5,583
• New Orleans:  Treyton Welsh, $5,583
• Seattle:  Andre Fuller, $5,112
• Seattle:  Aaron Smith, $4,917 (the two Seattle fouls were three minutes apart in the fourth quarter, but to the NFL's credit, both of these were flagged)
• Tennessee:  Oluwafemi Oladejo gets the biggest fine of the week, $10,625.

Throw the Clippers out of the NBA

Said the same thing on the Kevin McHale situation in Minnesota a lot of years back, and I think that might pale to this.

The repeated salary-cap transgressions of the Clippers mean:

• Owner Steve Ballmer and President of Business Operations Gillian Zucker are banned from the league for at least one year.
• President of Basketball Operations Lawrence Frank for at least six months. 
• The team is fined $30,000,000
• And they lose their next five first-round picks.
• Leonard is fined $700,000.

Throw em out.  Go one team fewer, all non-involved players become immediate free agents.

Asshole in Milwaukee Alert!!!

(And I'm not talking about myself, circa spring of 1998...)