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...)

The rest of the preseason NFL suspension blotter...

Source:  MSN.

Already covered:

• New Orleans:  Brock Rechsteiner, six games, PED policy.
• Atlanta:  James Pearce, eight games, personal conduct, attempted murder
• Buffalo:  Phidarian Mathis, three games, apparently an alcohol-related personal conduct offense from 2025.
• Washington:  Dorrance Armstrong, one game, personal conduct, assault charge in 2025.

Here are the rest that we know of:

• Tennessee:  Nazeeh Johnson, six games, PED policy -- according to his admission, sounds like it was a fertility drug banned by the league.
• Minnesota:  Jeshaun Jones, three games, PED policy, unknown.  Might be alcohol like Mathis, might be failure to cooperate several times with the program.
• Indianapolis:  Probably the highest profile one, Cam Taylor-Britt, one game, personal conduct, reckless driving arrest in 2025.

And we thought the Micah Parsons injury carrying over into this year would be enough...

Now REALLY scratch the Packers off.

Josh Jacobs, probably the second-most relevant player on the team to Jordan Love, has been charged with two misdemeanors, down from several felonies, for a domestic violence incident at his Green Bay house.

....

Ezekiel Elliott game?

Dez Caught It?

How can you be so fucking stupid to even get NEAR something like this as an NFL player?

And double so as a Green Bay Packer???

The world of college sports is ending, people...

The recent court rulings rendering NFL training-camp invitees eligible to return to college and the NCAA has finished the job.

We're just watching the final downfall:

• The Big XII has banned all professional athletes from any sport.
• The SEC is going further:  Any school which offers professional athletes a path of return is DONE WITH THE CONFERENCE.  They lose their voting rights, half their athletic budget, and their head coach for at least half a season.
• The Big Ten has at least banned NFL returns.
• The ACC, the last of the "Power 4", is considering joining them.

The question now is simple:  Who's the first school which is gonna walk?

Jokes aside, the NFL put out a far larger notice today.

And it is endemic to the Fine Blotters I used to post here.  We'll see if I get the time and want this year.

An OFFICIAL NFL Points of Emphasis For Supplemental Discipline has been released.

The NFL has put out the following five Player Safety Fouls for Point of Emphasis this year:

• Horse Collar
• Hip Drop
• Launching
• (Illegal) Hit on a Defenseless Player
• Blindside Block

The big news?  Any player who receives a Supplemental Discipline (and gets it to stand -- fine or suspension) for at least three of these fouls gets an automatic one-game suspension on top of any other suspension accrued.

I think I have a lengthy project ahead of me, if the NFL still has the data on its website from last year.

EDIT TO ADD:  Rats.  No, they took the 2025-26 ones down.

There is, of course, something the players get in exchange:

First, if a player commits only a single offense in certain other Supplemental Discipline categories, their fine will be returned, 100%.

If a player receives only a single offense in the Player Safety Fouls Point of Emphasis, their fine will be half-returned.

And all players, at least with respect to the Player Safety Fouls Point of Emphasis suspension, will start the 2026-27 season on a clean slate with respect to the current policy.  Not 100% sure whether that means long-time situations might get increased fines for a "first offense" of these fouls, but they will not already be counted against for THIS policy.

I will want to see if the league actually publishes the policy, as there are two other important parts:

1) Increased team fines for "excessive" Player Safety Points of Emphasis violations by a given team.  This is probably on top of the other team fines for excessive violations -- though those fines now are going to be more malleable, given possible rebates.

2) Any player receiving two violations under the Player Safety Points of Emphasis will require that the player and his coach submit to a meeting with the NFL.  No word on whether those meetings will be in-person or virtual.

Gee, is this any shock?

Think these WNBA attendees were sending a message as to the only value of WNBA players, or women at large?

For the second consecutive night (both Thursday night and last night), a WNBA game was disrupted by fans throwing sex toys onto the court.

Does anyone need the dots connected here?

They don't give a fuck, Natasha Cloud.  The only reason you even exist to them is SEX.  And when you realize that, you'll realize the ass-kicking these motherfuckers need and deserve!

Discipline Blotter: Argentina Trump Cup Aftermath

Someone please explain to me why Argentina was not disqualified from the World Cup for the altercations at and after the Final.

If I go any further as to rationale, it would violate the blog's boycott.  But let's just say that Argentina walked around like it owned the place, and threw a violent hissy-fit when they found out they didn't...

Today, the suspensions came down:

Leandro Paredes has been banned from all international play for one year (10 matches) and fined $90,000 for assaulting two Spain players after the match.

Nahuel Molina was banned seven matches and fined $90,000.

Thiago Alamda was banned one game, fined $30,000.

One of the coaches has also been banned three games and fined $30,000.

The Argentinian federation has been fined $210,000 for an array of offenses in the semifinal and final.

#1, why is Argentina not disqualified, stripped of all ranking, and it's $32,000,000 runner-up prize money?

#2, why are they not disqualified from the 2030 Centennary Cup?

Discipline Blotter: I wonder if this means the end of joint practices...

The viral brawl in which the Steiner kid who's already suspended for PED's German suplexed a player has gotten both the Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints $500,000 league fines for lack of sportsmanship.

Once again, I must remind you:  One of the things that the believers state with respect in their belief the NFL is not rigged is the fact that the league's largest cash-cow, the Cowboys, hasn't won a title or sniffed one in decades.

Again, a champion (not unlike some of the rigged music competition shows) represents the brand -- and it's as true for the NFL as it is for American Idol.

EDIT TO ADD 5:05 PM PDT:  Sounds like the Giants and Dolphins are probably next.  Big brawl today at a joint practice.

Youth Sports. ESPN. Bad Idea: Part Two.

I will be STUNNED if we get through the 10-day tournament in Williamsport, PA without a violent incident.

The qualifiers from Davenport, IA are the center of a Houston Astros-like sign-stealing exhibition, according to MSN reports.

It's the "runner on second" who taps his leg to let the batter know what pitch is coming, says the team from Wisconsin.

Someone is going to take a fastball to the dome in this tournament.

NFL Suspension Blotter and some political MLB news...

First, three more suspensions:

• Atlanta Falcons:  James Pearce suspended the for 8 games, personal conduct.  For being accused of taking his car and ramming it into his girlfriend during a domestic dispute.  Let that process.  Attempted murder gets you only 8 games in the NFL.
• Buffalo Bills:  Phidarian Mathis:  Banned for the first 3 games.  Sounds like a repeat offense of failing to cooperate with the Substances of Abuse policy.
• Washington Commanders:  Dorance Armstrong, 1 game for personal conduct, assault and resisting arrest charges under probation in 2025.

And then, it sounds like the vibes against San Francisco's Pride celebrations worked for the Giants:

The Giants and the Bay Area host the All-Star Game for MAGA League Baseball in 2028.

And yet another story of why youth sports on ESPN is a BAD IDEA...

Every year, we seem to get at least one story a year as to someone breaching the rules to try to get their local sports on the Little League World Series (and softball as well) on ESPN.

Developing story out of Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The Tulsa National softball team was disqualified at the championship game (one before they would go on ESPN for the Softball World Series, completed Sunday) for an ineligible player.

And now the story gets even messier:  The same has happened to the baseball team from that very same organization.  Disqualified at the championship game, as they were waiting to see who they would play.

No less than three other organizations in the tournament protested, giving at least five charges that the baseball team was also illegal.

Stay tuned.  I could foresee this getting all the way to arrests.

UPDATE:  They sued and won.  They'll play for the ESPN berth Tuesday.

AND ANOTHER TUESDAY AFTERNOON:  A higher judge reversed the decision.  Tulsa National is OUT.

Sports To The Right, Continuing WNBA Part: It's 3:25 Eastern on Monday...

Chicago plays tonight.

There is still no word on any suspension for DiJonai Carrington for either the two-armed shot to the face of Sophie Cunningham or the hateful social media screed after.

The shit is about to hit the fan if we don't hear it.

Especially in Florida, a state with no WNBA team.

The governor of the supposed "Free State of Florida" wants to make that kind of hit an off-court crime.

I would have no problem, except the fact that it's clear that it's because a MAGA cunt bitch got hit for be a bigot MAGA cunt bitch.

If this applied to all sports and levels, I wouldn't have a problem with it.  Will we see the "Cicarelli Rule" become law in Florida, possibly in other states too?

Sports to the Right, Part Eight: Tick, tick, tickticktickticktick....

Another Fever game, another few ticks off the time bomb:

This one is on the court.

In a moment that does want me to say "Hit her again!  Hit her again!!  Harder!!!  Harder!!!!", Sophie Cunningham got a two-handed/armed shot to the face by Chicago's DeJonai Carrington.

Quite correctly, she was thrown out of the game under the NBA/WNBA's "Excessive and Unnecessary" Flagrant Foul Tier II criteria.

But, on top of that, ESPN has reported that Carrington then took to her Twitter to yell "White Privilege!" at Cunningham and her Indiana Fever.

The suspension is expected Sunday or Monday.

Early NFL Suspension Blotter: And there's a 163 1/3% chance he's not making the Saints roster...

Brock Rechsteiner has been suspended the first six games of the season, but they say no one knows why.

Brock is the son of Scott Steiner.

I think anyone who's seen Scott Steiner the last 20 years or so can figure it out.

ROIDS!!!

EDIT TO ADD:  Confirmed.  PED policy.

Sports To The Right, Part Six: If you believe that, Mr. Denninger, why does Fauci still live?

(Neither of these are 100% due to sports, but both have many facets within sports in them.)

I had been meaning to write this post for several days after Karl Denninger posted this after Dr. Fauci 5th Amendment'ed his way through a Congressional hearing.

Anyone who paid attention knows Anthony Fauci tried to save this nation from exactly what will now kill it.  The sceptre of individual freedom to do whatever one wishes, even in the face of a threat to the public health.

In fact, our supposed Cabinet member in charge of health has openly now said that individual freedom trumps the public health.  Robert Kennedy Jr. did that on CNN last week.

Well, boy:  FUCK FREEDOM.  OK?

That same freedom is what got your dad and his brother killed.  One as President, and the other one would've been five years later!

That same freedom is what got 15-20 million people killed due to COVID -- a number far more than you or yours will ever choose to admit, because of the fact that you believe the vaccines did it.

And since you won't admit to that number, let me show my work.

CDC studies in 2023 showed that basically everybody had gotten the disease by then.  Even at a 1.5% death rate THEN, that would be over 5 million, or a number about three times the amount the American public was given.

There are two reasons I give numbers far greater than that.  The first is the Bureau of Labor Statistics underreporting the American population which is not in institutions or prisons or the like.

The second goes from the facts of US life expectancy at the time:

2019:  The life expectancy in total was 78.9 years, and going up.  Women were well over 80.

2020:  The general life expectancy went from that 78.9 to 77 in one year...

2021:  And from that 77 to 76.4, a nearly 3% drop in total, by the end of 2021.  This would represent a death rate of over 10 million THEN -- unless everybody had COVID by the end of 2021, not 2023, you can add several million to that number for 2023, and several more million to now.

And would you not know it?  In the five years since, the life expectancy number has recovered.  You'd think, with all the right-wing bleating about vaccines, that number should've stayed at the 2021 number, if not further shrank.

You're lying, Kennedy.  And so are the Republicans in the Senate who grilled Fauci and believe he orchestrated a mass-death scenario for America and the world through COVID.

Some questions:

If the US government had any real interest in seeing millions dead as you charge, why would I not be among that number for both economic and public-safety reasons?

If you believe what you believe about Fauci's role, why does he still live?  Why was he not executed by the US military at that point?

And about 80 million of the rest of us, who you've set a clock seeing us all dead because of what you believe the vaccines will do to us?  (Never mind that it's Long COVID, and in a case that the entire concept of organized sport in this country basically now becomes a crap shoot that you can die due to heart complications no matter how fit you are, in far larger numbers than what was before COVID.)

All for your freedom.

FUCK FREEDOM.

You want to see what "freedom" gets you?

You remember July and August?  When the country was on an ever-increasing path of violence -- and not just the BLM protests, but wilding riots of teenagers in Manhattan?

When MLB games were being boycotted because of the riots?  That the players took the field, laid their jerseys down, and left for a couple days?

I can't give you the question I want to (I've already had one visit from the Secret Service during the subhuman cretin's second term...), but if we put COVID out there to stop Trump...  Figure it out, liars.

We lose this country without Fauci's work.

But I think that's what you, Karl Denninger, and those who support you wanted.  As well as the MAGA Movement.

You saw the opportunity to slay 50 million Americans you wanted dead as defective or as undesirable, and you're too pussy to fire a shot for your supposed Second Amendment rights.

And COVID has won.  The only reason we haven't already lost 50 million is because of the work we were able to do in that first year.

Some of us remember how little people really cared.  The 2020 MLB nor NFL seasons should've been completed -- but, at that point, we probably do lose the nation.

Sports To The Right, Part Four: Enemies of Baseball

(No, this was not originally scheduled.)

I hope you all have something to do next year, around the first of April and onward.

Because, after last night, there is now effectively zero chance (outside of an owner- or Trump-enforced season) that there will be any professional baseball of the regular stripe.

The fact that the Dodgers are getting two-time defending American League Cy Young award winner Tarik Skubal is bad enough.  What makes it even worse (and makes me wonder if the upcoming lockout is going to be just one season) is that they gave effectively nothing in return.

And that MLB is going to stand for this is indicative of some very ugly political realities...

MLB is MAGA.  There's a very real chance they've gotten through to the Dodger ownership and they're MAGA too -- and that now the brass of Major League Baseball is rigging a dynasty to kill the game as you knew it.

The Dodgers are now enemies of baseball.

So are Rob Manfred and the MLB leadership.

MAGA League Baseball wants to bleach itself, wherever possible.  MAGA League Baseball wants rid of LGBTQ support.  MAGA League Baseball wants there to be one elite team or a small group of elite teams -- which will create the same illusion of competition the NBA fails to purport.

And the Dodgers are now in full economic and political lockstep.

I do genuinely wonder how many people, last night and today, have finally given up on the National Pastime of Delusion.